Mac Programming for Dummies (Paperback)

by Dan Parks Sydow (Author) "During the telecast of the Super Bowl in January 1984, a commercial - one that would air only a single time - told of the..." (more)
Key Phrases: resource picker, new event loop, new resource file, Movie Toolbox, Create New Item, Create New Resource (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
"The best, if not the only, book for the budding Mac programmer."

Long before the shelves were littered with titles like Chihuahuas for Dummies, there was this certain charm to Dummies books. They took difficult subjects and made them palatable. Along the way, the books were entertaining. Never condescending. Oh, those were the days. Fortunately, Mac Programming for Dummies is one of those old-flavor books. Like a few other authors, Dan Parks Sydow "gets it" when it comes to writing a Dummies book.

Macintosh programming is insane. I've tried it. I gave up. That was back in 1989 or so. Then one day I got an e-mail from a Mac user who enjoyed my C programming books and wanted something specific for the Mac. I picked up Mac Programming for Dummies, read it, and now recommend it to anyone wanting to program on the Mac. Sydow takes a complex, obnoxious task and boils it down into nice, happy, chewable chunks.

I admit I was disappointed at first. The book is really rather skimpy when it comes to actual programming--but it's a great read and highly informative. Sydow uses his knowledge of the subject to carefully orient the reader to the important programming aspects of the Mac--as opposed to rushing off and doing a "Hello, World" program. No, that approach wouldn't work on a Mac, which I now know after reading this marvelous book.

The book comes with a CD-ROM (which is the reason for the hefty cover price), and on it you'll find a miniversion of the popular Code Warrior programming package. On the downside, there aren't enough true programming examples or hard information, so you will need additional references if you plan on continuing a Macintosh programming career. But for a start, this book is awesome. --Dan Gookin --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
You know that your Mac is easy to use for word processing and building spreadsheets -- now find out how easy it is to use for programming. Even if you've never written a line of code, Mac Programming For Dummies, transforms you from plain ol' user into the propeller-head you were destined to become. Mac fanatic Dan Parks Sydow takes you behind the screens of the Mac's revolutionary graphical user interface so you can hack out your own user-friendly software. You discover how to use the ResEdit resource editor to customize the way that your Mac's operating system looks and acts, and then you plunge into the powerful programming language C. A CD-ROM bundled with the book comes chock-full of indispensable and fun tools, from a lite version of Metrowerks' industry-standard CodeWarrior C compiler and Apple's ResEdit, to an assortment of programming goodies.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 394 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 2nd Bk&CD edition (August 15, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764500422
• ISBN-13: 978-0764500428
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,968,503 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Misleading and basic, but gives a little taste of programmin, January 27, 2000

By	Matt Greer (West Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mac Programming for Dummies (Paperback)

This book is very simple and basic, using a "hold your hand" approach to programming on the Macintosh. The problem is you never really learn to program. The author seems more interested in having the reader play around with menus and windows than actually teaching how to create solid programs and build a programming foundation.

This book has some glaring errors like failing to distinguish well enough between the Apple toolbox functions and actual library functions and keywords of the C programming language. If this is the reader's first ever book on programming, they will walk away with a strange hybrid of Macintosh specific code and actual C code. They may be in for a rude awakening if they try to apply any of this knowledge on another type of computer.

The other problem with this book is the author often never describes fully what a specific function does or what a variable is for. Instead he takes the "just trust me" approach. This forces the reader to always stick with him and never allows them to explore their own ideas, which is a great way to learn how to program. Further enforcing this is the fact that the compiler that is included with the book is just shy of useless. It does not allow you to create your own programs, but only edit the programs the author provided. This format denies the reader the ability to create any of their own code, and thus removes a very important aspect of learning to program.

This book is very light reading and easy to handle for complete novices. So it could be a fairly decent way to get a small taste of what programming is like. The problem is this taste is misleading, and if the reader were to pursue even further they may find themselves confused or having to unlearn a lot of stuff.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good start book, just start, October 3, 2000

By	A worker (Northern California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mac Programming for Dummies (Paperback)

No doubt this is a good book for starter and in all just that. Some very basic like dialog box design or a little bit advanced like memory management are all missing from the book.

However, if you're first on Mac programming, take two days read this book to get rough ideas. Then read 'Programming Starter Kit for Macintosh'. It's an old title but contains some more info. CodeWarrior Professional CDROM includes the whole 2nd book.

But, where is a C++ book for CodeWarrior!!??

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best programming book ever, May 8, 1999

By	[e-mail] (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mac Programming for Dummies (Paperback)

Before I bought this book, I knew only the Basic language. I had bought several other books that did not help at all. The first day that I bought this book, I was instantly creating programs for my mac. I gave this book a five because it goes through each and every line of code and tells you exactly what everything does. Not like those other so called beginner programming books that show you the code and expect you to know what it all is for. After the basics, I could easily understand all the other C programming books on my shelf. As most beginner programming books only teach you programming in a text window, this book will let you access the toolbox from the first example. Shows how to create a window, use event handlers, create menus, draw pictures and text to the screen, play sounds and animation. I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in the field of Macintosh programming. Has everything you need to write a Macintosh program, Codewarrior Compiler, sample code ect.