Cocoa(R) Programming for Mac(R) OS X (3rd Edition)

“Aaron’s book is the gold standard for Mac OS X programming books—beautifully written, and thoughtfully sculpted. The best book on Leopard development.”

—Scott Stevenson, www.theocacao.com

“This is the first book I’d recommend for anyone wanting to learn Cocoa from scratch. Aaron’s one of the few (perhaps only) full-time professional Cocoa instructors, and his teaching experience shows in the book.”

—Tim Burks, software developer and creator of the Nu programming language, www.programming.nu

“If you’re a UNIX or Windows developer who picked up a Mac OS X machine recently in hopes of developing new apps or porting your apps to Mac users, this book should be strongly considered as one of your essential reference and training tomes.”

—Kevin H. Spencer, Apple Certified Technical Coordinator

If you’re developing applications for Mac OS X, Cocoa® Programming for Mac® OS X, Third Edition, is the book you’ve been waiting to get your hands on. If you’re new to the Mac environment, it’s probably the book you’ve been told to read first. Covering the bulk of what you need to know to develop full-featured applications for OS X, written in an engaging tutorial style, and thoroughly class-tested to assure clarity and accuracy, it is an invaluable resource for any Mac programmer.

Specifically, Aaron Hillegass introduces the three most commonly used Mac developer tools: Xcode, Interface Builder, and Instruments. He also covers the Objective-C language and the major design patterns of Cocoa. Aaron illustrates his explanations with exemplary code, written in the idioms of the Cocoa community, to show you how Mac programs should be written. After reading this book, you will know enough to understand and utilize Apple’s online documentation for your own unique needs. And you will know enough to write your own stylish code.

Updated for Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5, this revised edition includes coverage of Xcode 3, Objective-C 2, Core Data, the garbage collector, and CoreAnimation.

Customer Reviews:

A must have.

This book is excellent. The explanations are short and very clear. The author makes cocoa really easy to learn, step by step. There are good and instructive exercices he calls challenges.
You can really get to work right after reading this book and completing the so called challenges. And it will certainly be a handy reference book.
A must have.

2008-08-15

Great Book

Great book that beginners and experts alike can gain valuable knowledge from. Though you really need to know a little bit about Java or C so that you have a little background on programming so you will have something to compare it to Cocoa programming.

2008-08-12

Best book for programming on Mac OSX

It's the best book i know for programming on Mac OSX !

Thanks from Berlin Germany !

2008-08-10

Great reference for potential Cocoa developers!

Honestly, I was quite apprehensive because I'm a newbie to programming, with just a passing knowledge of Objective-C (gained from online resources). However, after going through 80% of the book (and looking forward to the next few chapters), I can say that this is definitely a great resource for any beginner who wants to learn how to write Cocoa programs. At the same time, concepts which I first found difficult to comprehend in Apple's online documentation became much easier to understand after they were discussed in the book.

IMHO, anyone interested to become a Mac developer should read this amazing book + Apple's great online documentation. I guess the only way to improve it would be to include sections on iPhone development for the 4th edition. Thanks for a great book Mr. Hillegass, and for making Cocoa fun to learn! =)

2008-08-06

This truly is the "Cocoa Bible"

The author is probably the only professional Cocoa instructor, and if not the only, at least the one that's been so the longest. As such, his book is absolutely amazing. The instruction takes you through everything you need to know to start writing your own Cocoa applications. The pace in which he introduces topics is just right. It's structured to make you question things, then he immediately answers any question you might have had. And by the end of the book, you're also taught how to teach yourself anything else you may find yourself needing to know about the Cocoa frameworks. The beginning of the book is also a great crash course in Objective-C, that is, if you already know another OO-language. This gets my highest review, a first for an instructional material.

2008-08-05