Product Description
According to Apple, "The Cocoa application environment is designed specifically for Mac OS X-only native applications. It is comprised of a set of object-oriented frameworks that support rapid development and high productivity. The Cocoa frameworks include a full-featured set of classes designed to create robust and powerful Mac OS X applications. The object-oriented design simplifies application development and debugging." Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X, 2/e teaches programmers and developers all the tools for Cocoa development. This book has a strong tutorial format and is completely updated for Mac OS X 10.2. The reader is guided through writing five applications and an InterfaceBuilder palette. Each project teaches several new ideas. As a new concept or technique is introduced, the text describes it in detail. This book will cover in depth the following topics: Cocoa: What is it?Where did it come from; ProjectBuilder, Objective-C, Controls, Archiving, Helper Objects, Multiple nibs, Getting and Setting User Defaults, Using Notifications, Custom Views, Responders and Keyboard events, Creating InterfaceBuilder Palettes, NSTimer, Updating Menus, Working with NSTextView and Using Java with Cocoa.
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Amazon.com Review
There's a reason that a large slice of the open-source movement has defected from running Linux on its laptops to running Mac OS X. The reason is the Unix core that underlies Mac OS X, and the development tools that run on that core. Cocoa makes it easy to create very slick Mac OS X interfaces for software (as well as to create applications in a hurry), and this new edition of Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X does an excellent job of teaching its readers how to put a Cocoa face on top of code (Objective-C code almost exclusively). If you know something about C and/or C++ programming and want to apply your skills to the Mac, this is precisely the book you want. Author Aaron Hillegass teaches a Cocoa class, and his book reads like a demonstration-driven lecture in a computer lab. That is, the book takes a heavily example-centric approach to its subject, beginning with simple announcement windows and proceeding to cover the more advanced controls and object-oriented features of Cocoa and Objective-C. Throughout, he hops back and forth between descriptions of the goal to be accomplished, listings of the code that does the job, and instructions on how to use the Mac OS X development tools to speed the development process. --David Wall Topics covered: How to write software for Mac OS X in Objective-C and, especially, with Cocoa. The new edition shows how to use NSUndoManager, add AppleScript capability to an application, do graphics work with OpenGL, and use Cocoa under Linux using GNUstep. As well, all the basic controls and design patterns are covered.
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 Not too helpful
This book is too high-level and not descriptive enough. Could be a good intro but doesn't really help to do some real-world tasks.
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 Lots of easy to understand but relevant examples
I'm new to Cocoa/Objective-C but have a fairly extensive background in software development in a variety of different languages. What I needed to get me started was something that gave a broad overview of the Cocoa Framework and some simple examples of how the Interface Builder and code fit together. This book did a great job of doing this. Unlike "Learning Cocoa with Objective-C" (a book I really struggled with) this book isn't really tutorial based and doesn't try and take you through how to build some big whiz-bang application. It's the sort of book that helps get you started developing your own application and whenever you have a question like "I wonder how to setup a NSTableView delegate" there's a very good chance that there'll be an example of doing just that in the book. After a few days with this book I was confident enough to start my own development, and haven't looked back since.
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 Excellent for getting on the Cocoa/XCode wagon quickly
The author employs an good teaching technique that leads step by step to understanding the workings of Cocoa and XCode. I am familiar with the Object Oriented Programming concept and that helped to understand the material covered. The hands-on exercises cover all the basics and are short and relatively easy. I also like the "tone" employed by the author. It's friendly, supportive and plain English.
There is some miss-match between the current version of Cocoa (2.0)/XCode (3.0) and the book, especially where it concerns Interface Builder and the illustrations. But it was fairly easy to figure out. Except for some chapters, like Creating Interface Builder palettes.
Overall I highly recommend this book, while I also hope that the author posts some addendum on the internet that shows the book's examples using the current version of the software.
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Excellent tutorials ( hwiguna )
I tried learning Cocoa on my own using online resources, but it wasn't until I followed the tutorials in this book that I felt that I really learned Cocoa. The explanations are to the point, examples are clear. The only negative thing I can say about the 2nd edition of the book is that it was written before XCode 3.0, so some of the steps are different from XCode 2.0.
If you're using XCode 2.0, get this edition, otherwise wait till 3rd edition comes out.
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 Great, but where is the errata website? ( rbp4 )
Hi, the other reviewers are right on with the positive feedback they give. My 2 cents and the reason I gave this 3 stars instead of 5 is simply that there is no published information on mistakes in this book, which is very frustrating. I am a beginner Cocoa programmer, but a very experienced C and Java programmer. When I run into things that don't work as described in the book I need to find out from a book FAQ, errata, or contact with the author whether it is his mistake or mine. This is just basic table stakes of publishing a tech book after 2000, and it is surprising that it is not possible with this book. So - beware, as with any tech book there are mistakes but you have to find and deal with them on your own. That said, I don't think there are many. Author - if you read this, please at least put up a simple page where readers can give feedback or you can post corrections, check page 72 for example.
Errata site found with the help below, bumping my rating up if Amazon will let me.
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