Objective-C Programming
The Big Nerd Ranch Guide
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4.4 • 16 Ratings
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- $37.99
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- $37.99
Publisher Description
Want to write iOS apps or desktop Mac applications? This introduction to programming and the Objective-C language is your first step on the journey from someone who uses apps to someone who writes them.
Based on Big Nerd Ranch's popular Objective-C Bootcamp, Objective-C Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide covers C, Objective-C, and the common programming idioms that enable developers to make the most of Apple technologies. Compatible with Xcode 5, iOS 7, and OS X Mavericks (10.9), this guide features short chapters and an engaging style to keep you motivated and moving forward. At the same time, it encourages you to think critically as a programmer.
Here are some of the topics covered: Using Xcode, Apple’s documentation, and other tools Programming basics: variables, loops, functions, etc. Objects, classes, methods, and messages Pointers, addresses, and memory management with ARC Properties and Key-Value Coding (KVC) Class extensions Categories Classes from the Foundation framework Blocks Delegation, target-action, and notification design patterns Key-Value Observing (KVO) Runtime basics
Customer Reviews
A Nice Intro
I came into this endeavor (to learn iOS development in a casual, relaxed, non-work environment) with 30 years of programming experience with C, OpenGL, PHP, and just a hint of C++. This book and the Big Nerd Ranch series is highly regarded. That's bad for me because most times I expect to be blown away and I usually never am. This was no exception. While I did enjoy the casual presentation and the nice introduction to Objective-C without immediately jumping into iOS or Cocoa development, it still seemed a bit like a textbook. The projects were very simple and straightforward terminal apps. I think only one or two projects dealt with an iOS and then a Cocoa app. The last section was on Advanced Objective-C. Good stuff, but too overwhelming for a newbie Objective-C guy like me. It was still a good book and I plan to start on their iOS Programming book when I finish this review.
I was hoping for a lighter more casual book like the Head Start or Head First series from O'Reilly. To be fair, I should (and probably will) read Programming In Objective-C by Kochan, which is considered the Objective-C "bible". I did give it 4 stars because I thought it was good although I was hoping for something more casual and light.
Winning Pedagogy!
This books is written by folks who know how to teach others about programming in Objective-C, and it really shows! The book is a delight to read, well paced, and brimming with fantastic content. Thank you for this! I love the challenges!
Pointers (yuck!)
I love this book because the chapter on memory and pointers is very clear. Also, each chapters is succinct and not one hundred thousand pages long.