Aaron Hillegass, Adam Preble - Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X

If you are developing applications for the Mac, or are hoping to do so, this book is just the resource you need. Does it cover everything you will ever want to know about programming for the Mac? Of course not. But it does cover probably 80% of what you need to know. You can find the remaining 20% — the 20% that is unique to you—in Apple’s online documentation.

This book, then, acts as a foundation. It covers the Objective-C language and the major design patterns of Cocoa. It will also get you started with the two most commonly used developer tools: Xcode and Instruments. After reading this book, you will be able to understand and utilize Apple’s online documentation.

There is a lot of code in this book. Through that code, we will introduce you to the idioms of the Cocoa community. Our hope is that by presenting exemplary code, we can help you to become more than a Cocoa developer—a stylish Cocoa developer.

This fourth edition includes technologies introduced in Mac OS X 10.6 and 10.7. These include Xcode 4, ARC, blocks, view-based table views, and the Mac App Store. We have also devoted one chapter to the basics of iOS development.

This book is written for programmers who already know some C programming and something about objects. If you don’t know C or objects, you should first read Objective-C Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide. You are not expected to have any experience with Mac programming. This hands-on book assumes that you have access to Mac OS X and the developer tools. Xcode 4.2, Apple’s IDE, is available for free. If you are a member of the paid Mac or iOS Developer Programs, Xcode can also be downloaded from the Apple Developer Connection Web site ( http://developer.apple.com/ ). Enrollment in these programs enables you to submit your applications to the Mac and iOS App Stores, respectively.