NeXTSTEP Programming: Step One: Object-Oriented Applications

So obj-c is c with some extensions.....Maybe it is, but after opening most of the Cocoa books on the marked, a lot of people find Cocoa to be quite a distance from c.Mostly because c-code is easy and (for a newcomer) not very abstract in a geeky way. In this book, every c-coder will be familiar with the syntax. There is even sample code which doesn't use IB. And the code is highly readable. This book is very well written and the applications that is included is downright cool. A calculator , mathematica very light, a graph app that outputs mathematic functions (sine, cos..)I have heard that Simson is coming out with a new book this spring. Here is one buyer.NextStep Programming will bring you far.

(Caveat: I'm only about halfway through this book right now.)I picked up a copy of this book a couple of years ago, and it sat unused on my bookshelf. I'd even tried selling it at a couple of garage sales, to no avail. I probably wouldn't have ever missed it if I hadn't read Apple's /Learning Cocoa/ as my first attempt at Mac OS X programming. But /Learning Cocoa/, like proverbial Chinese food, leaves you hungry soon after completing a big meal. Garfinkel and Mahoney's /Nextstep Programming/, on the other hand, is a satisfying smorgasbord.Like most Mac OS X users, I had little exposure to NeXTstep; I'd certainly never developed for it. So one of the most striking things about it is just -how little- has changed since the late 80s--Project Builder and Interface Builder are practically identical (but with added spaces in their names), terminology is mostly the same, the APIs are very similar, and the icons are -identical- (although prettied up for Aqua). So /Nextstep Programming/ will automatically feel familiar to any reader who's only launched the apps and played with them for a few minutes.Unlike /Learning Cocoa/, /Nextstep Programming/ is cohesive and comprehensive. In the spirit of the best tutorials, each chapter adds a few more features to the same program (a calculator in the early chapters, and a baby Mathematica-like app later). Along the way, code snippets are presented with good behind-the-scenes commentary of what's going on at each step of the way. One small gripe, however, is that the authors argue against creating -too many- classes, so classes like the Controller for the calculator wind up doing double- and triple- duty in performing mathematical functions, interface updates, and delegation responsibilities for the application.It's amazing how much information is still accurate and relevant after nine years. It's also not surprising that there's a fair amount of bit rot in the examples: the Nextstep/Cocoa classes had the prefixes "NS" or "CF" added to their names, so "View" and "Window" are no longer valid; many method signatures have also changed, but changes are generally minor (i.e. "objectAt:" in a List becoming "objectAtIndex:" in an NSArray); the memory management architecture has changed; and Quartz's PDF engine has replaced Nextstep's Display PostScript architecture. But working around the differences by finding out what the OS X "cognates" are is part of the fun of the book, and has certainly helped me to learn more.Because I haven't read any OS X programming books other than /Learning Cocoa/, I can't compare /Nextstep Programming/ to them. But because /Nextstep Programming/ is still so useful, I don't intend to read anything newer except to learn about certain newer technologies. I highly recommend finding a cheap used copy of /Nextstep Programming/.