More than 2 years ago we reviewed the excellent "Core Mac OS X and Unix Programming" book. Now, a new edition has been released and it's renamed to "Advanced Mac OS X Programming". We take a quick look as to what has changed since the first edition.
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Member since:
2005-10-11
This is probably not the correct place to ask, but I was in Borders today and I had a thirst to buy the most basic MacOSX programming book.
I need something simple and that I would be able to complete. Before tackling anything like the book Eugenia just reviewed.
Any recommendations?
Edited 2005-11-03 04:48
Member since:2005-06-29
Most beginner books I've seen won't centre around Mac OS X, in fact most are written with instructions and examples for Windows; however, any good beginner book on programming will stick to the standard library for whatever language you choose and as such the code itself should be good on any platform with a compiler. When you finish that beginner book you then get a more advanced one that may be specific to your platform of choice.
For C++ I recommend "C++ How to Program" by Deitel & Deitel, or if you have a lot of trouble learning C++ you could try "Learn to Program with C++" by John Smiley. The second book is easier to learn from, but the first goes further and imo is still a good book for beginners. As for other languages I've never really worried about them :-) .
Member since:2005-07-06
I've taken classes from Deitel and while he is an excellent teacher in person, I think his text books leave something to be desired. When his first C++ book came out I thought it was not the best book for best OO practices. Something from Booch might be better. Just my opinion of course. YMMV
I feel old. 
I took "C Programming" and "Data Structures in C" from Deitel while I was working at DEC many eon ago.
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Try this, "Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X" -
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0321213149/qid=113099...
It's pretty friendly ...
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Member since:2005-07-20
Member since:2005-10-11
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When I first started programming on a Mac (and it really hasn't been that long) the book that helped me the most was "Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X" by Hillegass. I got a bit stumped by the Objective C language and picked up "Programming Objcective C" by Kochan to compliment it. Not completely Mac based, but ObjC is the lagnuage used in the Cocoa framework. I can't endorse these two books enough.
I'm a bit of a UNIX geek and love system level programming. I will definitely pick up "Advanced Mac OS X Programming" when I get some free time to play.
Member since:
2005-07-26
Spent all this money on my powerbook. And have been playing with the Dev tools. Sounds like a good book to get to start writing some fun apps...
I always find it hard thinking of an app to write or do though. I mean what app can one write that isnt already out there? Or what apps are out there that could use improving upon?
Still kinda upset about books I lend out that never seem to return to my collection... better follow up on those...
Member since:2005-06-29
"I always find it hard thinking of an app to write or do though. I mean what app can one write that isnt already out there? Or what apps are out there that could use improving upon?"
I felt exactly the same way after becomming familiar with Java, then I dropped Java and started learning C++. Eventually the feeling gets frustrating but once you learn enough you start to shake it. The main thing is to learn the API for the platform you're using, or if you use several platforms use a toolkit that covers them all and has GUI, thread, and network support. I still don't know enough to write anything incredibly useful, but my experience with Java was that comming up with programs to write, no matter how simple, improve your skills and eventually you get to where you're writing something you're proud of.
Member since:2005-07-06
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Learn from this book:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0672325861/104-3432102-7821565?v=g...
Programming in Objective-C
by Stephen Kochan
Aaron is one fine trainer and brilliant developer but you're best served knowing the language and its syntax before you study with Aaron who wants to dive into the Frameworks and show you what they can do.
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I'd like to develop for games. Users in my user group are always going on about games they want to play and not having the games PC/platforms have.
Of course I'm not going after Valve but it would be nice to work on MMORPGs [I like 'em].
The thing is: you can't build something of that magnitude on your own, and there aren't exactly many outfits out there where you can ply the trade.
What is one to do?
Member since:
2005-07-06
I would definitely look at getting involved with some existing projects...head over to sourceforge and I'm sure you'll find something worth working on. Working with other guys with more experience is the best way to learn IMO (provided you find a good team who are willing to help out, Mac folks are friendly people so I'm sure that wouldn't be a problem).
That being said, is there a decent RSS aggregator for Mac? The RSS spec is pretty simple, and it would expose you to some useful programming concepts.
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