Beginning Mac Programming: Develop with Objective-C and Cocoa (Pragmatic Programmers)

You already know the reasons to get into Mac programming: millions of users rely on the Mac as their primary operating system. If you are searching for a new job, acquiring a skill set, or simply inspired to develop software for the Mac, Beginning Mac Programming is the practical and straightforward introduction to the basics you need to create innovative applications that people will seek out, discuss, and rely on. Beginners welcome! Contents 7 Introduction 10 The Intended Audience 11 What's Involved? 11 What's Needed? 12 Acknowledgments 13 Let's Go 14 Your First Application 15 Introducing Xcode 15 The Main Event 18 The Cocoa Framework 22 Application Resources 23 Chapter Summary 29 All About Objects 30 The Application Construction Process 30 An Introduction to Objects 31 Object Inheritance 38 Writing Code for Our Own Objects 40 Chapter Summary 55 Object Messaging 56 Defining a New Method 56 The Target-Action Mechanism 59 Sending Messages from Our Code 64 Chapter Summary 73 Variables and Memory 74 How Memory Works 74 Using Variables 79 The Scope of a Variable 88 Memory Addressing 90 Pointers Again 94 Chapter Summary 96 Passing Information Around 97 Returning Values 97 Methods and Arguments 105 Class Methods 111 Passing Values by Reference 115 Chapter Summary 117 Objects and Memory Management 119 Memory Considerations 119 Allocating Memory for Objects 121 Creating Objects in Code 124 The Object Life Cycle 129 Denying Responsibility 133 Initializing with Arguments 137 Utility Class Methods 140 Chapter Summary 144 Collecting Information 145 Introducing Arrays 145 Using Arrays in an Application 148 Object Mutability 154 A New Application 160 Chapter Summary 181 Branching Out 183 Introducing if and else 183 All About the Truth 199 Stylistic Conventions 202 Switching Around 205 Writing Init Methods 208 Adding Conditional Statements to the Shopping List Application 210 Chapter Summary 217 Looping and Enumerating 218 Introducing Array Enumeration 218 Counting 221 Traditional for Loops 224 Enumerating an Array with a Traditional for Loop 228 Other Types of Loop 231 A Simple Change to Our Shopping List Application 234 Chapter Summary 236 Objects, Encapsulation, and MVC 238 The Main Types of Object 238 Designing Model Objects 241 Reworking the Shopping List Application 251 Creating a Shopping List Item Object 262 Reworking the Shopping List Application... Again 269 Introducing Objective-C 2.0 Properties 271 Chapter Summary 277 All About Views 278 Simple Geometry in Two Dimensions 278 Working with Windows and Views 282 The View Hierarchy 290 Custom Views 295 Back to the Shopping List Application 306 Views and Cells 310 Chapter Summary 318 Mac OS X and Cocoa Mechanisms 320 Delegation 321 Notifications 337 Working with Events 347 Responders and the Responder Chain 359 Archiving with NSCoding 367 Chapter Summary 374 Where to Go from Here 376 Important Technologies 377 Finding Information 382 Book Summary 386 Developing for the iPhone OS 387 Installing Xcode 403 Bibliography 408 Index 409 Symbols 409 A 409 B 410 C 410 D 412 E 412 F 413 G 413 H 413 I 413 K 414 L 414 M 415 N 416 O 416 P 417 Q 418 R 418 S 418 T 420 U 420 V 420 W 421 X 421 Z 421

Beginning Mac Programming takes you through concrete, working examples, giving you the core concepts and principles of development in context so you will be ready to build the applications you've been imagining. It introduces you to Objective-C and the Cocoa framework in clear, easy-to-understand lessons, and demonstrates how you can use them together to write for the Mac, as well as the iPhone and iPod.

You'll explore crucial developer tools like Xcode and Interface Builder, and learn the principles of object-oriented programming, and how memory, data, and storage work to help you build your software.

If you've ever wanted to develop software for the Mac, this book is for you.

Beginning Mac Programming takes you through concrete, working examples, giving you the core concepts and principles of development in context so you will be ready to build the applications you've been imagining. It introduces you to Objective-C and the Cocoa framework in clear, easy-to-understand lessons, and demonstrates how you can use them together to write for the Mac, as well as the iPhone and iPod. You'll explore crucial developer tools like Xcode and Interface Builder, and learn the principles of object-oriented programming, and how memory, data, and storage work to help you build your software. If you've ever wanted to develop software for the Mac, this book is for you. - Publisher. Introduction Your first application All about objects Object messaging Variables and memory Passing information around Objects and memory management Collecting information Branching out Looping and enumerating Objects, encapsulation, and MVC All about views Mac OS X and Cocoa mechanisms Where to go from here Appendix A. Developing for the iPhone OS Appendix B. Installing Xcode