Programming in Objective-C 2.0

by Stephen G. Kochan

THE #1 BESTSELLING BOOK ON OBJECTIVE-C 2.0

Programming in Objective-C 2.0 provides the new programmer a complete, step-by-step introduction to Objective-C, the primary language used to develop applications for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac OS X platforms. 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 iPhone/iPad or Mac OS X programming tasks.
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 and the iPhone/iPad platform but across many operating systems that support the gcc compiler, including Linux, Unix, and Windows systems. The second edition of this book thoroughly covers the latest version of the language, Objective-C 2.0. And 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 for the iPhone/iPad platform. Table of Contents
1 Introduction
Part 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 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 Cocoa and the iPhone SDK 20 Introduction to Cocoa 21 Writing iPhone Applications
Part Appendixes A Glossary
B Objective-C 2.0 Language Summary
C Address Book Source Code
D Resources

Genres: Programming, Computer Science, Technical, Nonfiction, Software, Technology, Reference

600 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2008

Reviews

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've recently dived head-first into the Mac/Objective-C/Cocoa world. I have scads of related titles sitting around my home and office. I've been waiting awhile for this book to come out as I was looking for a good up-to-date reference on the Objective-C language.

As an overview of important concepts and a desktop reference this book didn't disappoint. I basically skimmed the book in about three days and filled a good amount of gaps in my Obj-C knowledge.

One downside to a perspective reader is the nearly-useless iPhone chapters that were added to the end of the book. They are two small to provide much information and seem to merely add weight to an already-quite-thick book. Otherwise, it's a great reference.

[Igor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is excellent book for every beginner in Objective-C. I had previous experience with object oriented programming but I had no experience with C or Objective-C, I started to develop applications before reading any books. After I read this book I started to develop more quickly and more optimized code, it helped me to eliminate memory leaks in my applications. I learned the basics and most common practices in Objective-C. All in all great and essential book for every starter in Objective-C.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really nice overview of Objective-C programming, and I also appreciated the format. Having learned C, C++, C# and also Java in my time, I find far too many texts begin with procedural programming, and then tackle object-oriented programming (especially books on languages like C++, which draw from C).

I bought this book because I am a beginner to Objective-C, and want to learn iPhone programming. The book could have done a bit more to explain the graphics frameworks available--there were a few thin chapters on the iPhone at the end of the text. I'm OK with it not being an iPhone guide, but a bit of graphics programming would be helpful.

If there was a book that actually taught some foundational best practices in working with graphics frameworks, these books would produce more functional programmers. Don't leave it to the API guide... we need more than just a list of API calls.

I did enjoy this book, and with the above caveats would recommend it to anyone starting out in Objective-C.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

I expected the book to be out of date (it was), but I also expected to get a good grounding in the basics of Objective-C (plus, it's the only one I could get from my library).

I think this book suffers from trying to be a little bit of everything to everyone.

It's written in a manner that could almost be called 'intro to programming', but yet fails to adequately describe many critical features of object oriented programming and the foundation of C (don't get me started on the section for polymorphism! let's just say, if you haven't done much programming, please don't use this book as your 'intro to programming' book).

And on to the subject of learning Objective-C.....well, I did pick up some details I didn't really know before, but found most of the discussion to be too superficial to give me a good in-depth knowledge about what I wanted to learn - I kept coming across topics and thinking 'hmmm... I need to find a book or site that explains that better'.

I'm a lover of books, so I'll continue my search for a good one, but for now I'm recommending online resources.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was somewhat disappointing. It was too basic to be of much use to me and where it could have been of use, it tried to stay so general that it never quite managed.

I think beginners might be better suited to a book that doesn't try to pretend that Objective C is used anywhere but OS X or iOS like this one tries. And intermediate and advanced users can look elsewhere.

The edition I read was also somewhat out of date and appears to predate Snow Leopard and iOS 5 with the relatively major changes that came there.

[Leonard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very well written book for all audiences. I would highly recommend this book for anyone who isn't already familiar with the C programming language. In fact a very large portion of the book is spent going over the basics, but like most OO developers I haven't written a C program in a decade so going back over the basics was beneficial. The chapter on memory management could have been explained better, fortunately the iphone developer's website does a great job covering this topic.

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The section on the language core is well described through object oriented principles, although the rest of the book is lacking in relevance. And why still, when absolutely no one needs to write math classes and functions anymore, must all the examples be of this nature. It may be consistent but it's not at all useful.

Read it for Part 1, get other book to learn how to use the frameworks and iOS.

[Baptzmoffire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very thorough, although I think the language could be a bit daunting to some. If you're intelligent and you're not afraid of getting used to a few "big" terms, this is the book for you. I love that he assumes you're an educated, thinking individual if you've picked up this book, and doesn't treat you like a moron. This is not a "For Dummies" type of book, but it is very, very concise and can teach you the basics of Objective-C in one fell swoop.

[Chinarut]

if your goal is to create an iPhone app and you're already familiar with C, skimming this book should be sufficient to familiarize yourself with Objective C syntax. the chapter on iPhone development just gives you a taste, I recommend you get a dedicated text assuming you're still on the bandwagon!

[Andries Burger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Currently busy working through this book. Not sequentially following it, since I've been in IT for over twenty years, but finding how things are done in the MAC OS environment with Object C and Cocoa.

[Mikhail Kumachev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really nice book for beginners in the Objective-C language. I've made my first steps in the development for Mac OS X and iOS with this book. My mark is 4, because I alredy have had some experience with other programming languages and some chapters for me was really boring :)

[Ray Pace · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the book a good read and learned about objective c.
I find it hard to go back too as a reference when I have a question.
The index appears to be very poor or incomplete so I spend time searching for things I remember reading about sometime earlier.

[Nicolas Miyasato · Rating 3 out of 5]

May be it's a little too basic, nothing advanced here.

[P Kolevaa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basic Objective-C syntax and foundation framework knowledge. Some of the information is given as granted without more detailed explanation.

[Dmitry Zvorykin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Первая часть, 66% книги, это обычное описание языка с нуля. Как будто есть ещё люди, которые не знают ни одного языка программирования. О, что же такое иф? С ума сойти, цикл FOR! Вот чудеса-то!
Некоторое внимание уделено архитектуре эппловских устройств. Во второй части интересный пассаж про MRC/ARC, это полезно.
Третья часть вся посвящена написанию одной тестовой программы. То же можно прочитать в любой хаутушке в сотнях блогов. Но в единой книге довольно удобно для восприятия, живенько и понятно написано. Хорошая книга.