Learn Cocoa on the Mac (Learn Series) Review
When I worked with the author of "Learning Cocoa on the Mac", Jack Nutting, at Integrity Solutions in St. Paul, Minnesota in the mid-90's, I had the strong sense that we were part of a very special group of people, at a very interesting time in the software business. The NeXT computers and software we were using to develop applications for our customers were years - perhaps decades - ahead of their time, and we felt convinced that NeXTSTEP was poised to dominate the enterprise software industry. Thanks to the power of NeXTSTEP's software frameworks, we were able to develop powerful, user-friendly, mission-critical software with astonishing speed and effectiveness. Furthermore, NeXT seemed to be taking the technology in a direction that would allow for much greater adoption, as it worked to develop versions of NeXTSTEP for SPARC and Intel processors.
Then came the World Wide Web, and the dot-com boom. Desktop applications gave way to Web-based applications, which made much more sense for big enterprise deployments as well as (of course) "consumer-facing" applications. For a while, NeXT's WebObjects (now the framework that powers Apple's iTunes Music Store and MobileMe web services) was the framework of choice for big enterprise software projects.
Then Apple bought NeXT, and Steve Jobs returned to Apple as CEO. Jobs quickly realized (to his credit) that if Apple was going to survive and prosper, it needed to focus on the consumer market. Sun's Java and Microsoft's ASP quickly rushed in to fill the void as Apple abandoned its support for OpenStep and enterprise development. NeXT's advanced technology became the foundation of Apple's OS X, and the future of the platform became intimately linked with the success of Apple's hardware.
Many NeXTSTEP developers simply accepted these changes and moved on to other platforms. A stalwart few however (like Jack) kept the faith and continued working with these awesome tools right through to the present day. Today, a growing number developers are being attracted to the Mac platform as Apple keeps turning out great products and increasing its user base. In recent years, the stunning success of the iPhone has given rise to a new generation of Objective-C developers creating great apps for the consumer market. This book is perfect for experienced developers wanting to develop software for the Mac, whether they be newcomers or NeXTSTEP old-timers returning to the fold.
It's hard to fully appreciate the power, beauty, and simplicity of the Cocoa frameworks until one has spent some time working with its alternatives. In the Microsoft world, VisualC++ and .NET provide similar functionality, but with far less elegance and a much steeper learning curve. In Java, AWT and Swing have nothing like Interface Builder, and the various Java layout managers are notoriously complex and difficult to work with. And web-based technologies such as Flex and ExtJS are only now just starting to rival the Cocoa UI frameworks. On the back end, Apple's CoreData framework, drawing on years of engineering done on its ancestor, NeXT's Enterprise Objects Framework, is unsurpassed as an Object Relational Mapping (ORM) tool.
Happily, this book (unlike so many others in this category) doesn't spend several chapters reviewing the history of computing back to the bronze age. Neither does Jack fill up several chapters extolling the virtues of Cocoa and its NeXTSTEP heritage. Instead he jumps right into the meaty stuff.
Jack's writing style in this book strikes a perfect balance between entertainment and substance. There are abundant useful tips sprinkled throughout, introduced at just the right time. This is not intended as a reference book; it's meant to be read from start to finish. Even if you already have some exposure to Cocoa or iPhone development, you will learn new things along the way.
Any book on a living, breathing technology like Cocoa is bound to be somewhat obsolete before it is published, and this book is no exception. Apple released Snow Leopard as this book was being written, so the author was challenged by having to deal with the significant changes from Leopard to Snow Leopard. In addition, while the book is primarily about writing desktop apps, it also attempts to document some of many important differences between the iPhone and desktop SDK's, though it could perhaps go a bit further in this regard - for example, when introducing a major new class or concept, we aren't always told whether it's desktop-only.
Learning Cocoa on the Mac walks the reader step-by-step through the process of building several "real" (albeit somewhat whimsical) applications. It starts by building out the user interface (View), then moves into the Controller layer, and finally covers the Model layer via CoreData. Concepts such as Key-Value Coding are introduced in the context of these projects, which really helps them "stick", as opposed to introducing them in an abstract way and hoping the reader will apply them later. This approach demonstrates good OO design principles and shows how the various parts of Cocoa map to the "holy trinity" of MVC.
While Learning Cocoa covers several of the "assistants" built into XCode, which can automate some aspects of programming, it also covers powerful high-level concepts such as Cocoa Bindings and the Responder chain in great detail. Whenever an automatic or otherwise seemingly "magical" technology is introduced, Jack always takes pains to explain what's going on under the hood. This isn't a book for entry-level programmers who just want to dip their toes into Cocoa; Jack gets you in deep with the technology, but always in a patient, clear, and thorough way. This book is destined to become a classic. I recommend it without hesitation.
Learn Cocoa on the Mac (Learn Series) Features
- ISBN13: 9781430218593
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Rating : 
Price : $39.99
Offer Price : $24.82
Overviews
The Cocoa frameworks are some of the most powerful frameworks for creating native desktop applications available on any platform today, and Apple gives them away, along with the Xcode development environment, for free! However, for a first-time Mac developer, just firing up Xcode and starting to browse the documentation can be a daunting task. The Objective-C class reference documentation alone would fill thousands of printed pages, not to mention all the other tutorials and guides included with Xcode. Where do you start? Which classes are you going to need to use? How do you use Xcode and the rest of the tools?
This book answers these questions and more, helping you find your way through the jungle of classes, tools, and new concepts so that you can get started on the next great Mac OS X application today. Jack Nutting is your guide through this forest; he's lived here for years, and he'll show you which boulder to push, which vine to chop, and which stream to float across in order to make it through. You will learn not only how to use the components of this rich framework, but also which of them fit together, and why.
Jack Nutting’s approach, combining pragmatic problem-solving with a deep respect for the underlying design philosophies contained within Cocoa, stems from years of experience using these frameworks. He’ll show you which parts of your application require you to jump in and code a solution, and which parts are best served by letting Cocoa take you where it wants you to go. The path over what looks like a mountain of components and APIs has never been more thoroughly prepared for your travels. With Jack’s guidance, the steep learning curve becomes a pleasurable adventure. There is still much work for the uninitiated, but by the time you’re done, you will be well on your way to becoming a Cocoa Master.
- Begin to really get to grips with the full Cocoa toolset—practical, hands-on learning
- Become familiar with the core concepts at the heart of every Cocoa application
- See which parts of the iPhone SDK overlap with the Mac OS X development tools so you can explore both Mac and iPhone development
- Packed full of goodness and enthusiasm for the Cocoa frameworks from a developer perspective
What you’ll learn
- How to actually make your own Cocoa applications—this is much more than just a quick introduction to Cocoa!
- Which classes, of the dozens included in Cocoa, are truly central to Cocoa development
- How to best use MVC architecture concepts in a Cocoa application
- How the various pieces of the Cocoa frameworks fit with each other and into the MVC architecture
- Which parts of Cocoa truly enable “visual programming”, letting you reap the benefits of proven, reusable code libraries that Apple gives you for free
- How to recognize recurring design patterns used throughout Cocoa, and put them to proper use in your own code
- How to approach Cocoa from different programming environments
- How to use the facilities provided in Snow Leopard to create software that distributes itself automatically among all available CPUs, improving the user experience for your users.
Who is this book for?
Anyone with basic understanding of object-oriented programming who wants to try out Mac OS X application programming, as well as iPhone developers who want to extend their knowledge of Cocoa Touch to include the Mac-specific technologies included with Cocoa.
Table of Contents
- Must Love Cocoa
- Hello, World
- Lights, Camera... Actions! (and Outlets, Too)
- GUI Components
- Using Table Views
- Cocoa Bindings
- Core Data Basics
- Core Data Relationships
- Search and Retrieve Core Data With Criteria
- Windows and Menus and Sheets
- Document-Based Applications
- Exceptions, Signals, Errors, and Debugging
- Drawing in Cocoa
- Advanced Drawing Topics
- Working With Files
- Concurrency
- Future Paths
Customer Review
One of the finest Cocoa books out there - EX600 -
I'm a big fan of Apress books as I find they offer very good value for money. I visit the Apress site on regular basis to check out upcoming titles on iPhone and Mac development. There was one book that was announced quite some months ago, but the release date kept slipping and slipping.
That book is called "Learn Cocoa on the Mac".
First of all, I'd like to point out that this book does *not* cover iPhone development. This is about Cocoa and Mac applications. Of course, with Cocoa Touch being a subset of Cocoa, you will recognize design patterns that you use on the iPhone and of course topics like Core Data can be used in both Cocoa and Cocoa Touch.
The chapters in this book are:
1. Must love Cocoa
2. Hello, World
3. Lights, Camera... Actions!
4. GUI Components
5. Using Table Views
6. Cocoa Bindings
7. Core Data Basics
8. Core Data Relationships
9. Search and Retrieve Core Data with Criteria
10. Windows and Menus and Sheets
11. Document-Based applications
12. Exceptions, signals, errors and debugging
13. Drawing in Cocoa
14. Advanced Drawing Topics
15. Working with files
16. Concurrency
17. Future paths
I'm not going to go through all the chapters in detail as the titles are clear enough.
You can see that the base of subjects is *very* wide and that is what makes this book a really great one. I find the explanations of the subjects and the samples really great. I felt really comfortable and got more confident going through this book, occasionally going through chapters very fast because of my knowledge of Cocoa Touch.
The nature of this book is really great. We all know that there are dedicated books on subjects such as Core Data and graphics. However, "Learn Cocoa on the Mac" does a great job of giving great introductions and clear explanations of what is going on. It goes deep enough into its subjects to make you understand what's going on.
I love this book. I had great expectations of it and it didn't disappoint. This goes easily in my personal top 3 of Cocoa books.
Cocoa, Xcode and Interface Builder kick-start - Staffan Nöteberg -
Jack Nutting has played, worked and turned Cocoa (and it's NeXTStep predecessor) inside out since the 80s. You can see that. He knows not only how but also why. And he shares that knowledge in this book.
Cocoa is a huge scope. An introductory book must select what is most important to learn first. This book does that. Furthermore, it is a great introduction to Conan O'Brien and Andy Richter...ehh, I mean Xcode and Interface Builder. The only thing that the book demands is that the reader has basic knowledge in Objective-C.
One of my principles as a writer is that more pictures and fewer words, doesn't make it harder to grasp - quite the contrary. This book is richly illustrated with screen shots, and the language is both simple and efficient.
This is a book for those who finally want to start to implement a killer app for the Mac desktop.
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