Book recomendations for learning Cocoa programming?

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+5 Q:

Book recomendations for learning Cocoa programming?

Hopefully this is not considered "Not programming related"...

I'm an experienced C/C++/Java programmer (Also many others, but not relevant) and I'm trying to program for a mac. I've tried learning things piecemeal by looking things up as I need them online. However, I've been finding that frustrating lately. So, I decided that I want a book that will just lead me through from the beginning.

I don't need a book that teaches programming, just something that teaches the Interface Builder, Cocoa libraries, Mac UI, probably Objective C.

However, I'm also not looking for a reference. I want something I can read straight through.

Any suggestions?

ETA: I should also add (although the answers seem to be answering this already) that this is for OSX programming, not iPhone...

+13 A:

Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X by Aaron Hilegass. Big Nerd Ranch has more detailed information on the books.

Robert S. 2009-06-03 16:09:21

I would second this, I am going through that book and it is very good at explaining things. Definitely not a snoozer.

Solmead 2009-06-03 16:16:42

+1. I own each edition.

Graham Lee 2009-06-03 16:37:51

Aaron is a great teacher, and the book is a reflection of his class. The style is approachable, the examples are clear, and the sheer amount of cocoa he manages to cover in a few hundred pages makes the price well worth it.

Jarret Hardie 2009-06-03 16:43:25

This is the book I was going to recommend when I saw this question. Solid from cover to cover, with only one exception: the chapter on Core Data is EXTREMELY Interface Builder dependent, and doesn't really explain what is going on under the hood.

mmc 2009-06-03 17:14:03

I too own this book and it got me started no problem, even though I had no experience in compiled languages whatsoever. Once you understand Objective-C though, the Apple Docs are actually useful (though hard to understand at times) if you want to do something new (or find something you learned earlier) because the classes and methods have generally self-explanatory names (NSFont, NSString, NSURL for example.)

Kyle 2009-06-04 02:58:47

This is the book to read.

stefanB 2009-06-04 11:10:32

+1 A:

O'Reilly's "Cocoa Programming: A Quick-Start Guide for Developers"

http://oreilly.com/catalog/9781934356302/

Description

Apple's Cocoa frameworks let you write powerful and attractive applications for Mac OS X or the iPhone. With this book plus your existing knowledge of object-oriented programming you can take advantage of Cocoa and create compelling, feature rich, compliant Mac applications for this industry-leading environment.

William Leara 2009-06-03 16:20:29

The book isn't even estimated to be released until September 2009.

Aaron 2009-06-12 22:31:27

+1 A:

For Objective-C, Programming in Objective-C 2.0 by Stephen Kochan is worth a look.

+1 on the Hillegass for Cocoa though.

MikeJ 2009-06-03 17:11:52

+1 I've taken a class led by Stephen, and both he and his book are excellent. He covers Objective-C brilliantly, and also explains a lot of the C fundamentals very well WITHIN the context of Objective-C.

Jarret Hardie 2009-06-04 01:08:08

It is not a book alone, but I learned all I needed to get started by downloading the full CS-193p class from Stanford. it is taught by Apple developers and I found it to be awesome. It comes with video recordings for all lectures, written supporting materials and a web site to get all code samples.

http://www.stanford.edu/class/cs193p/cgi-bin/index.php

Best of all, the class and all the samples are FREE. I found it invaluable.

MystikSpiral 2009-06-03 21:45:22

The poster specifically stated they were looking to develop for OSX, and NOT the iPhone.

Aaron 2009-06-11 02:29:04

ansaurus

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Book recomendations for learning Cocoa programming?

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