Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X

The smart presentation style and easy-to-understand code examples help make this text an excellent resource. It also helps that Hillegass is a truly engaging writer. He first explains how legacy NeXTSTEP platform has evolved into Cocoa on the Mac OS X. Starting with short examples illustrating the actual Cocoa tools in action, the author gets you started with simple programs for a random number generator, a raise calculator and other comprehensible examples. Rather than just listing APIs and classes, the emphasis is on hands-on Cocoa development. An early standout section provides a nice tour of essential Objective-C features you'll need to learn to use Cocoa effectively.

This book covers the several dozen built-in Cocoa controls, from basic text and buttons to more advanced widgets (including lists and tables). Subsequent sections look at user interface design (using the Interface Builder to create nib files) and how to add programmatic processing behind the visual layout. Along the way, the author introduces coverage of essential Cocoa APIs for strings, arrays and dictionaries. Later chapters look at saving and loading documents (and user defaults) and how to tap the powerful graphics abilities available in Cocoa. (Besides image and basic drawing, there are short sections on PDF support and printing.)

More advanced user interface features get their due by the end of the book, including cutting and pasting data through the Cocoa pasteboard and also adding drag-and-drop support. Final sections look at creating new controls for use with the Interface Builder palette, and, briefly, how to use Java with Cocoa (an option that the author doesn't necessarily recommend). Throughout this text, the author provides more advanced, challenging problems at the end of each chapter for the "more curious" reader. This approach helps that beginners will not get lost in the details of Cocoa development, but will give the more advanced reader something more to do.

While there a comparably fewer books on Mac OS X compared to other platforms, readers are lucky to have this one available. Anyone who wants to get onboard with Cocoa development will be well served by this title. It's a fine tutorial that earns high marks for its approachable, clear examples and an excellent presentation by an author who knows his stuff and, better still, knows how to teach it to others. --Richard Dragan

Amazon.com
Suitable for anyone with a little C/C++ programming experience who wants to create software for the newest Mac platform, Cocoa Programming for Max OS X provides a slickly packaged and approachable tutorial that will get you started creating state-of-the-art Mac programs.

The smart presentation style and easy-to-understood code examples help make this text an excellent resource. (It also helps that Aaron Hillegass is a truly engaging writer.) He first explains how the legacy NeXTSTEP platform has evolved into Cocoa on the Mac OS X. Beginning with short examples illustrating the actual Cocoa tools in action, the author gets you started with simple programs for a random-number generator, a raise calculator, and other comprehensible examples. Rather than just listing APIs and classes, the emphasis is on hands-on Cocoa development. An early standout section provides a nice tour of essential Objective-C features you'll need to know to use Cocoa effectively.

This book covers the several dozen built-in Cocoa controls, from basic text and buttons to more advanced widgets (including lists and tables). Subsequent sections look at user interface design (using the Interface Builder to create nib files) and how to add programmatic processing behind the visual layout. Along the way, the author introduces coverage of essential Cocoa APIs for strings, arrays, and dictionaries. Later chapters look at saving and loading documents (and user defaults) and how to tap the powerful graphics abilities available in Cocoa. (Besides image and basic drawing, there are short sections on PDF support and printing.)

More advanced user interface features get their due by the end of the book, including cutting and pasting data through the Cocoa pasteboard and also adding drag-and-drop support. Final sections look at creating new controls for use with the Interface Builder palette, and, briefly, how to use Java with Cocoa (an option that the author doesn't necessarily recommend). Throughout this text, the author provides more advanced, challenging problems at the end of each chapter for the "more curious" reader. This approach keeps beginners from getting lost in the details of Cocoa development, but gives the more advanced reader something more to do.

While there are comparably fewer books on Mac OS X compared to other platforms, readers are lucky to have this one available. Anyone who wants to get onboard with Cocoa development will be well served by this title. It's a fine tutorial that earns high marks for its approachable, clear examples and an excellent presentation by an author who knows his stuff and, better yet, knows how to teach it to others. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered: Brief history of the Mac platform (from NeXTSTEP to Mac OS X), basic Cocoa development in Objective-C, using Project Builder and Interface Builder tools, tutorial to Objective-C (instances, variables, using classes, arrays and other containers, custom classes), the Objective-C debugger, basic Cocoa controls (building user interfaces), tables and data sources, event handling and delegates, archiving documents (encoding and decoding, saving and loading documents), Nib files, window panels, saving and retrieving user defaults (including using dictionary classes), notifications (observers and more on delegates), alert panels, localization (including string tables, a English and French example, the nibtool utility), custom views and drawing, drawing images and mouse events (plus coordinates systems and autoscrolling views), responders and keyboard events, fonts and strings (including attributed strings and PDF support), pasteboards and nil-targeted actions, using Objective-C categories (a code reuse feature), drag-and-drop support, timers, sheets and drawers, formatting strings, printing support, on-the-fly menu updating, text editing with text views, basic tutorial for using Java with Cocoa, and custom Interface Builder palettes (and inspectors).

PS: Cocoa wird "Koko" ausgesprochen.


Cocoa ist nichts zum trinken.   April 4, 2005
Peter Langheinrich
8 aus 12 fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich

Das Buch hat bei mir einen zwiespaeltigen Eindruck hinterlassen. Es ist sicherlich das beste Cocoa-Buch, welches man finden kann. In dieser Aussage steckt viel Wahres, was aber nicht verwunderlich ist: Es ist das einzig nennenswerte Buch ueber die Programmierung in und mit Cocoa.
Fuer Einsteiger, die noch nichts mit Programmierung zu tun hatten, ist es definitiv nicht geeignet, einiges an Background sollte vorhanden sein. Dazu kommt noch, dass das Cocoa-Framework viele neue Wege geht. Die Methodik dieser speziellen Art der Programmierung muss erst einmal verstanden werden. Leider bietet das Buch hierzu kaum Hilfe.
Ebhenfalls unschoen ist die Tatsache, dass das Buch nicht wirklich als Nachschlagewerk taugt. Hierzu sind andere Ressourcen eher empfehlenswert.

Fazit: Kein schlechtes Buch, allerdings erwartet man wohl etwas zu viel, wenn man von ueberall her hoert, dass es das beste Buch zum Thema sein soll...


Sehr gutes Buch auch fuer Anfaenger und zum Nachschlagen   Mai 8, 2004
5 aus 6 fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich

Ich kann dieses Buch uneingeschraenkt empfehlen.
Bevor ich mich mit der Programmierung unter MacOSX beschaeftigt habe konnte ich C und hatte Grundkenntnisse von C++.
Die beiden Buecher Programming in Objective-C und Cocoa Programming for MacOS X ergaenzen sich hervoragend und koennen benutzt werden Objective C und Cocoa zu lernen ohne Vorkenntnisse von C++ oder anderen objektorientierten Sprachen.


Beste Cocoa Einfuehrung   Oktober 31, 2002
18 aus 19 fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich

Das Buch ist die beste Einfuehrung in Cocoa und hat mittlerweile fast Kultstatus. Ich habe bei O'Reilly 2 weitere Cocoa Buecher angefangen Online zu lesen, aber die waren eher etwas chaotisch gegliedert, und halfen wenig, ueber die anfaenglichen Verstaendnisprobleme hinweg zu helfen.
Es wird allerdings vorausgesetzt, dass man zumindest ein wenig C kann - das kleine Taschenbuch von Helmut Erlenkoetter sollte dazu etwa reichen. Ausserdem ist es hilfreich, wenn man schon etwas ueber das Konzept von OOP gelesen hat, muss muss aber sicher nicht ein grossartiger C++ oder Java Programmierer sein. Im Gegenteil: ich habe anhand des Hillegass Buches einiges verstanden, dass mir nun beim Lernen von C++ zugute kommt.
Das Buch soll nicht als Referenz verstanden werden, sondern tatsaechlich als Einfuehrung. Wer noch unerfahren ist und zunaechst keine eigenen Klassen basteln moechte, der kann die Seiten 49-72 zuegig durcharbeiten, und sich evtl. erst einmal ueber die weiteren Kapitel hermachen.
Die Erklaerungen sind ausfuehrlich, der Schreibstil ist witzig und als besonderes Bonbon kann man auf der Homepage des Autors auch Feedback geben, bzw. auch ein Problem mit Uebungen posten oder Kommentare anderer Leser einsehen.
Eine gute Investition.


spannend witzig und gut strukturiert   März 11, 2002
19 aus 21 fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich

witziger Erzaehlstil kombiniert mit kompakter Information. Objektorientierte Programmier-Vorkenntnisse von Vorteil. Ditaktisch gut aufgebaut. Viele Beispiele. Umfassende Einfuehrung der wichtigsten Bereiche, wie zB.: Drucken, Speichern, Grafik, etc.