The Mac Xcode 2 Book [Paperback]

Michael E. Cohen (Author), Dennis R. Cohen (Author), Andy Ihnatko (Series Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0764584111 | ISBN-13: 978-0764584114 | Publication Date: June 24, 2005 | Edition: 1

Learn the code. Astound your friends.

Yours free with every Tiger -- a to-die-for package of sophisticated software development tools called Xcode. Whether you're already immersed in soft- ware development or just considering a dip in the programming pool, Xcode lets you create applica- tions, plug-ins, applets, utilities, extensions, and much more. And here, liberally laced with irre- sistible fun facts and foolishness, is a complete crash course in Xcode. You're gonna love it.

Trust us.
* Build your first application right away
* Understand Xcode's built-in compilers, program editor, and debugger
* See how Xcode speaks your favorite language
* Meet the Interface Builder and some classy data modeling tools


"Chock-full of delicious hints, tips, and details. Informative and enjoyable from cover to cover!"
--Mike Rossetti, Staff Engineer, Intuit QuickBooks Mac Engineering Team, ClubMacApp

"You have the makings of a hero, you know . . .

"This is a great time to be a Macintosh programmer. Sure, software developers have always been lionized as the true heroes of society -- their movements obsessively tracked in gossip magazines, their achievements recognized in almost obscenely extravagant red-carpet awards telecasts.

"But Apple's own Xcode gives today's programmers unprecedented advantages. Xcode does it all. The system that allows a curious newbie to add a few buttons and menus to an existing AppleScript is the exact same one that Apple uses to build the next version of the Macintosh operating system. Today, we're all playing in either the deep or the shallow end of the same pool. Awesome, isn't it?"
--Andy Ihnatko

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Learn the code. Astound your friends.

Yours free with every Tiger — a to-die-for package of sophisticated software development tools called Xcode. Whether you're already immersed in soft- ware development or just considering a dip in the programming pool, Xcode lets you create applica- tions, plug-ins, applets, utilities, extensions, and much more. And here, liberally laced with irre- sistible fun facts and foolishness, is a complete crash course in Xcode. You're gonna love it.

Trust us.

• Build your first application right away
• Understand Xcode's built-in compilers, program editor, and debugger
• See how Xcode speaks your favorite language
• Meet the Interface Builder and some classy data modeling tools

"Chock-full of delicious hints, tips, and details. Informative and enjoyable from cover to cover!"
—Mike Rossetti, Staff Engineer, Intuit QuickBooks Mac Engineering Team, ClubMacApp

"You have the makings of a hero, you know . . .

"This is a great time to be a Macintosh programmer. Sure, software developers have always been lionized as the true heroes of society — their movements obsessively tracked in gossip magazines, their achievements recognized in almost obscenely extravagant red-carpet awards telecasts.

"But Apple's own Xcode gives today's programmers unprecedented advantages. Xcode does it all. The system that allows a curious newbie to add a few buttons and menus to an existing AppleScript is the exact same one that Apple uses to build the next version of the Macintosh operating system. Today, we're all playing in either the deep or the shallow end of the same pool. Awesome, isn't it?"
—Andy Ihnatko

About the Author

Michael E. Cohen has picked Apples throughout his 25-year career as a teacher, programmer, multimedia designer, Webmaster, and writer.

Dennis R. Cohen has been programming since punch cards. Now on his 12th Mac, he has authored, coauthored, or contributed to more than 30 books.

Andy Ihnatko, self-described as America's 42nd Most-Beloved Industry Figure, is the Chicago Sun-Times' technology columnist and the totally irreverent blogger at www.andyi.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 350 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (June 24, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764584111
• ISBN-13: 978-0764584114
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,542,571 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

At various times in my life I've been a writer, a teacher, a Web designer, a multi-media developer, a programmer, and a postal worker. I leave it to you to figure out what these various professions have in common

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Uncommonly Good, June 22, 2005

By 

Curt (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mac Xcode 2 Book (Paperback)

It's about time someone wrote a programming book that shows the reader how to get things done with the tool at hand while staying halfway engaging. This book goes far beyond that, believe me. It's loaded with useful info and is a good read as well. The authors show how all of Apple's tools work, both by themselves and with each other, to meet the needs of the broad range of developers. Beginning coders will learn the important development basics they'll need to know, while the advanced folks get a rundown and real-world examples for Xcode features and techniques that will help them to streamline their development processes and refine their products. All the while, the pages are full of entertaining explanations and examples. The book presents useful tips to those engaging in small, medium, and large development projects without favoring any particular approach, avoiding the "methodology wars" that often color works on software development. Great resource.

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's an excellent introduction to Xcode, February 15, 2006

By 

Siobhan Pris - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mac Xcode 2 Book (Paperback)

This is a book about Xcode, Apple's IDE for Mac OS X.

It is not a book about how to program.

It is not a book about Cocoa.

It is about Xcode. That's why the word Xcode is in the title. This book *only* deals with using the Xcode environment. It's an introduction to Xcode 2.0. That's it. That's what it does.

Furthermore, it's a book in the Ihnatko series. Andy Ihnatko is not really known for his programming skills. He's known for being funny, in a wacky media-driven way. This book is in Ihnatko's style, in that it has a lot of humor. It's written by two very experienced programmers/software engineers, people who've worked on products you've used.

It covers a lot of territory--including things like using Subversion with Xcode, how Interface Builder works, some pointers about using Malloc and debugging, and a discussion of the build process. It covers things in an introductory fashion, offers some practical suggestions about implementation and process, and third party tools, and points you to more information. It does that in an amusing but helpful fashion, and it does it well.

A lot of the reviewers here are complaining that the book isn't about programming, or Cocoa or some other book they wanted. Don't blame the book for your foolishness. You can search the book right here--take a look. There's an excerpt and even the index, all avalable from this Amazon page. See if it the book has what you need, but don't blame the book for not being what you wanted it to be; that's your problem for trying to make something other than it is.

The Mac Xcode 2 Book is a good introduction to, and overview of Xcode, written in a humorous style that manages to convey a lot of information in a small space.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Too many jokes, December 21, 2005

By 

Paul Lipps - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Mac Xcode 2 Book (Paperback)

From what little I could get though of this book, it looks like there should be some good technical information in this book which is why I am giving it two stars instead of one.

The problem is there is just way too many jokes in this book for me, to the point it's very annoying. I mean literally nearly ever sentence contains a joke.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a stick in the mud and I enjoy humor, but this is just way over the top. It really makes the book hard to read and follow the topics.

Unless you like this over the top style of writing, I would look for another book on Xcode.