Raleigh, NC—In January, Steve Jobs announced that Apple had more than 140,000 applications in its App Store. That's a lot of apps, and the number grows every day. Users are now tempted to create their own software programs, to join in the action. But developing on the Mac, iPhone and iPad isn't easy for beginners—they need a guide to show the way.
In his new book, Beginning Mac Programming: Develop with Objective-C and Cocoa (Pragmatic Bookshelf, $34.95), author Tim Isted shows that the path from user to software developer is within reach. Step by gentle step, Isted shows non-programmers how to move from idea to application. They'll learn how to:
- code in Objective-C, the programming language behind Apple applications
- program within the Cocoa framework Apple provides for developers
- find and use free tools for developers, including Xcode and Interface Builder
- connect with Apple's thriving developer community and expanding base of users
By the second chapter of the book, readers start coding their first program.
"We'll be jumping headfirst into creating applications on the Mac that look and behave like the other Mac applications you're used to," Isted tells readers. "We'll certainly be learning general programming principles, but we will be putting them into practice in real-world situations, right from the start. Over the course of the book, you'll learn enough that you can fend for yourself, with enough knowledge of how the Mac programming world works that you know where to go to fill gaps in your knowledge with information from the right sources."
He adds: "This book is designed for those of us who don't have a degree in computer science. It's intended to be read by people who've spent time working with the Mac, perhaps as power users of their applications, or at least people with the confidence that they know enough to explain the difference between, say, a menu and a window. Most importantly, the book is intended for people who have little or no previous programming knowledge."
It's easy to learn by doing—with guidance from a gifted author. By making it easy for the rest of us, Isted has produced what may be the book that gives birth to a thousand apps! Mac users can finally go from insight to application—without a computer science degree.
Advance Praise
"An absolute must for anyone considering taking up programming on the Mac platform."
—Danny Greg Cocoa Developer, Realmac Software
"This book is great; it thankfully eschews the 'traditional' dry format of teaching programming and takes you on a journey that will leave you itching to get on and write your own programs."
—Robert McGovern
"If you want to get into Mac programming quickly, at your own pace, this is your book."
—Uli Kusterer Software Engineer, The Void Software
For a review copy or more information please email pragprogpr@oreilly.com. Please include your delivery address and contact information.
Tim Isted has been writing software for Macintosh computers since 1995. He also builds web applications using Ruby on Rails, PHP, and .NET, and has been known to develop for Windows machines, too.
Additional Resources
For more information about the book, including code, errata, discussions, full table of contents, excerpts from the book and more, see the catalog page for Beginning Mac Programming: Develop with Objective-C and Cocoa.
Publisher: Pragmatic Bookshelf
Tim Isted
ISBN: 9781934356517, 352 pages,
Book Price: $34.95 USD, £24.99 GBP
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Pragmatic Bookshelf is an imprint of the Pragmatic Programmers, LLC. Our titles are distributed to bookstores internationally by O'Reilly Media.
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