not being the quitting type, i began to search for other books on Cocoa programming. i purchased the O'Reilly book "Learning Cocoa With Objective-C", second edition. after reading a few chapters in the O'Reilly book, then going back and re-reading the material in Mr. Hillegass' book, things began to click. since that time, the approach has proven the most useful for me is to read the O'Reilly book until i get stuck on a particular topic, then cross-reference with Mr. Hillegass' book in order to get a different perspective/explanation. in addition, working through *all* of the examples in both books has proven tremendously helpful. if i had my way, i'd combine the material from both books into a single book. :)

in summary, if you buy this book and find that you are having trouble grasping the concepts, try purchasing the "Learning Cocoa with Objective-C" -- make sure to get the 2nd edition -- and see if getting a different perspective/explanation works for you.


It was once great -- don't buy this version   November 7, 2007
 15 out of 20 found this review helpful

So, with the advent of XCode 3.0, this book is no longer even remotely related to the current state of things. [PLEASE SEE MY EDIT BELOW]

It relies HEAVILY on XCode for its examples (as does coding for the Mac), and the 3.0 version's interfaces, pre-defined project types and overall coordination are just too far off to make any sense.

I got the first example built, eventually, and it did run (you'll probably find success if you make Foo's Class type "Foo" instead of NSObject in the Inspector) -- but then the NEXT example instructed to start a "Foundation Tool" project -- and well -- they don't have those anymore.

On his website, he promises to have a new version of this book next year -- wait for it. Trust me. Really. Don't buy this one. Kudos to the author -- but we're three years off now, going on four.

There REALLY is no redeeming value in this book until the next version comes out. Then, make this your #1 choice.

[EDIT] Well, I'm wrong. Sorry. I installed XCode 2.5, and breezed through the example (in fact, in a sick way, my pains with 3.0 made this easier). So I have a new warning and comment:

WARNING: Do NOT use this book with anything later than XCode 2.x ... you'll just be baffled and frustrated. Clearly from my comment, I'm an XCode noob -- but once I got the right version, it's great.

COMMENT: DO pick this book (it's basically THE book for learning Objective-C). The Author's website (www.bignerdranch.com) promises to have a new version out in 2008, so all the better.


Excellent but does not cover well bindings...   May 11, 2005
 14 out of 14 found this review helpful

This book is simply excellent. It really goes into what cocoa is all about one step at a time. Starting with a very simple app and slowly getting into more complex topics like undo, drag and drop, etc...

It is full of screenshot, so you can easily implement the examples on your own. Everything is neatly detailed, with a lot of 'click here', 'drag this object from here to there' to make sure you are not lost using interface builder.

Of course, don't think that you can go through this book without knowing obj-c. This is NOT an obj-c intro (some people were complaining about this in other reviews !!) Come on... If you want to learn obj-c, simply get 'Programming in Objective-C' by Stephen G. Kochan...

The only problem with this book is that the technology is moving really fast. Apple is really taking care of its developers and introducing new concepts/ideas all the time... So, it makes it hard for any book to really stay up to date...

Two major new technologies not (well) covered in this book are:

1/ Bindings (not well covered)
This second edition has been updated to cover some of the new 10.3 topics/tools, but I don't believe Aaron spend nearly enough time on 'cocoa bindings'. They completely change the way you approach an application and litteraly save you hours by taking care of all the 'glue code'.

CocoaDevCentral has some amazing articles which really show you how powerful bindings can be. Check out this one for instance and see for yourself:
http://cocoadevcentral.com/articles/000080.php

2/ Core Data (too new to be covered)
Core Data, a new Tiger technology is (of course) not covered. Another amazing technology which will help you get rid of a lot of glue code. Again, check these 2 articles on CocoaDevCentral:
http://cocoadevcentral.com/articles/000086.php
http://cocoadevcentral.com/articles/000085.php
Apple keeps amazing me ;-)


The Best Book Ever   December 17, 2001
 13 out of 21 found this review helpful

I'm slightly biased, because I am the author, but I think this may be the best book ever. I've read the book dozens of times, and each time I find something new and delightful in it. It is useful, clear, timely, and even humorous at times.