Product Description

From the author of Programming in C,Programming in Objective-C 2.0 provides the new programmer a complete, step-by-step introduction to the Objective-C language. The book does not assume previous experience with either C or object-oriented programming languages, and it includes many detailed, practical examples of how to put Objective-C to use in your everyday programming needs.

Objective-C has become the standard programming language for application development on the Mac OS X and iPhone platforms. A powerful yet simple object-oriented programming language that’s based on the C programming language, Objective-C is widely available not only on OS X but across many operating systems that support the gcc compiler, including Linux, Unix, and Windows systems.

The second edition of this book has been updated and expanded to cover Objective-C 2.0. It shows not only how to take advantage of the Foundation framework’s rich built-in library of classes but also how to use the iPhone SDK to develop programs designed specifically for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Table of Contents

   1    Introduction

Part I: The Objective-C 2.0 Language

    2    Programming in Objective-C 

    3    Classes, Objects, and Methods

    4    Data Types and Expressions

    5    Program Looping

    6    Making Decisions

    7    More on Classes

    8    Inheritance

    9    Polymorphism, Dynamic Typing, and Dynamic Binding

  10    More on Variables and Data Types

  11    Categories and Protocols

  12    The Preprocessor

  13    Underlying C Language Features

Part II: The Foundation Framework

  14    Introduction to the Foundation Framework

  15    Numbers, Strings, and Collections

  16    Working with Files

  17    Memory Management

  18    Copying Objects

  19    Archiving

Part III: Cocoa and the iPhone SDK

  20    Introduction to Cocoa 

  21    Writing iPhone Applications

Part IV: Appendixes

  A    Glossary

  B    Objective-C 2.0 Language Summary

  C    Address Book Source Code

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17432 in Books
• Published on: 2009-01-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 624 pages

Review

From the Back Cover

Objective-C has become the standard programming language for application development on the Mac OS X and iPhone platforms. A powerful yet simple object-oriented programming language that’s based on the C programming language, Objective-C is widely available not only on OS X but across many operating systems that support the gcc compiler, including Linux, Unix, and Windows systems.

Programming in Objective-C 2.0 provides the new programmer a complete, step-by-step introduction to the Objective-C language. The book does not assume previous experience with either C or object-oriented programming languages, and it includes many detailed, practical examples of how to put Objective-C to use in your everyday programming needs.

The second edition of this book has been updated and expanded to cover Objective-C 2.0. It shows not only how to take advantage of the Foundation framework’s rich built-in library of classes but also how to use the iPhone SDK to develop programs designed specifically for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

About the Author
Stephen Kochan is the author and coauthor of several bestselling titles on the C language, including Programming in C (Sams, 2004), Programming in ANSI C (Sams, 1994), and Topics in C Programming (Wiley, 1991), as well as several Unix titles, including Exploring the Unix System (Sams, 1992) and Unix Shell Programming (Sams 2003). He has been programming on Macintosh computers since the introduction of the first Mac in 1984, and he wrote Programming C for the Mac as part of the Apple Press Library.  He maintains a web site and support forum for Programming in Objective-C 2.0 at classroomm.com/objective-c

Customer Reviews

Poor quality control, and not exactly for beginners...
Whilst the blurb on the back suggests this is suitable for "a new programmer who wants to learn Objective-C as their first programming language" I would beg to differ. Most introductory books have the sense to introduce basic concepts such as data types, loops and conditions, before overwhelming the reader with Object Oriented Programming concepts. As such I think a novice would find it pretty hard-going.

Having said that it's definitely useful when moving from another OOP language: the Objective C syntax is very different to what I've learn in Java and Python. If, like me, you prefer to have a book at hand rather than referring to online material, then it's also going to be useful, however...

I must admit I'm only 80 pages in, but I'm far from impressed by the quality control: it looks to me like they've rushed it out and it hasn't been properly proof-read. There are some pretty substantial errors that are likely to confuse the beginner (and had me scratching my head at points). A couple of examples:

"1.7e4... represents the value 1.7 x 10 ^ -4." (p.51) At first I thought the minus sign must be a misprint, but it's printed exactly the same way on an example where there should have been a minus.

"...before multiplication by the value of Objective-C (25)." (p.58) Where 'Objective-C' was obviously meant to be the variable 'c' in the example above this text but must somehow have been auto-completed to 'Objective-C'.

These are the kind of obvious errors that should have been picked up during a proper proof-reading and really don't inspire confidence. I just hope that at least the example code has been properly tested!

Excellent guide, but watch out for errors
I read this book in preparation for reading further iPhone and Mac programming books.
I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to learn the Objective C 2.0 language. The author makes no assumptions, however I am glad I already know the C language before reading this as there are some areas where concepts are introduced without much explanation.
Additionally, there are quite a few errors in the text, for example mixing up NSLog and printf - some of the examples seem to have come from a C language guide and modified for Objective C.
However, these are not too numerous and do not detract from the useful information.
Some additional details on the Objective C 2.0 language features would have been nice, such as further explanation of the 'dot' notation (how it works behind the scenes) and the options available for properties - including examples of the different styles. However, as this guide is aimed at the beginner I can accept these omissions and the book does suggest that further information can be found on Apple's developer website.

Excellent intro to Obj-C
An excellent introduction to Objective-C programming.

However... I suspect it'll be a bit heavy going for the new programmer. A knowledge of another programming language (C) is definitely an advantage. Also, as with the previous reviewer, I find the high volume of typographical errors (in the program examples as well as the text) really irritating [minus two stars for this].