Mac Programming

[rskm137]

Hello all -

I have been slowly teaching myself C# in a Windows environment and since I now have this awesome hackintosh, I would like to learn a little programming on the Mac side.

My question is this. Where is the best place to start? Any books, websites, or forums I should check out? I'm not looking to be a pro developer or anything, but just to create little applications in my spare time as a hobby.

Thanks,
Ryan

 

[flyingturtle]

I wondered where to start as well recently and did a little research. I come from a Windows (Dot.NET) and Linux background -- C#, Python, PHP, etc.

You probably want a book on the language, Objective-C and one on the framework, Cocoa.

I picked up these two books as they were often recommended:

* Programming in Objective-C 2.0 (2nd Edition) by Stephen G. Kochan
* Cocoa(R) Programming for Mac(R) OS X (3rd Edition) by Aaron Hillegass

The Objective-C book is straightforward and good read on the language. I like the fact it's dedicated just to the language, so you'll be doing console/terminal programming at the start. If you are coming from Windows or Linux, this should be familiar. Later on the author delves into using the Mac IDE, Xcode, and developing GUI apps, like using the Cocoa framework and even shows how to make a simple iPhone app at the end.

The Hillegass book on Cocoa was really recommended and I can see why. The writing style is lively so it makes a fun read, and he gets you programming right away, letting you absorb things before he gets into the in-depth theory behind Cocoa. I really recommend this book.

I'm still wet behind the ears regarding Mac-OS development so I'm sure others can chime in.

Oh yeah, don't forget to sign-up for a developer account at http://developer.apple.com/

Lots of tutorials, guides, sample code and SDK for download there.

I'm working on iPhone/iPad apps so I had to pay $99 to get access to beta kit for the iPad, but for you, it should be all free to download all the development tools for general Mac programming and access to the online developer resources.

 

[adamsmasher]

I played around with RealBasic 5 or 6 years ago and made a logging program for a D&D game I was in (/nerd). I had programming classes in college for C++ and Java and taught myself a lot of Perl and PHP to use in webdesign, so it was interesting to work in a WYSIWYG environment when it came to programming. Flyingturtle's suggesting is probably your best bet though - definitely worthwhile signing up at the apple developer website.

 

[rskm137]

I played around with RealBasic 5 or 6 years ago and made a logging program for a D&D game I was in (/nerd). I had programming classes in college for C++ and Java and taught myself a lot of Perl and PHP to use in webdesign, so it was interesting to work in a WYSIWYG environment when it came to programming. Flyingturtle's suggesting is probably your best bet though - definitely worthwhile signing up at the apple developer website.

Thanks for the advice, it's much appreciated!

I wondered where to start as well recently and did a little research. I come from a Windows (Dot.NET) and Linux background -- C#, Python, PHP, etc.

You probably want a book on the language, Objective-C and one on the framework, Cocoa.

I picked up these two books as they were often recommended:

* Programming in Objective-C 2.0 (2nd Edition) by Stephen G. Kochan
* Cocoa(R) Programming for Mac(R) OS X (3rd Edition) by Aaron Hillegass

The Objective-C book is straightforward and good read on the language. I like the fact it's dedicated just to the language, so you'll be doing console/terminal programming at the start. If you are coming from Windows or Linux, this should be familiar. Later on the author delves into using the Mac IDE, Xcode, and developing GUI apps, like using the Cocoa framework and even shows how to make a simple iPhone app at the end.

The Hillegass book on Cocoa was really recommended and I can see why. The writing style is lively so it makes a fun read, and he gets you programming right away, letting you absorb things before he gets into the in-depth theory behind Cocoa. I really recommend this book.

I'm still wet behind the ears regarding Mac-OS development so I'm sure others can chime in.

Oh yeah, don't forget to sign-up for a developer account at http://developer.apple.com/

Lots of tutorials, guides, sample code and SDK for download there.

I'm working on iPhone/iPad apps so I had to pay $99 to get access to beta kit for the iPad, but for you, it should be all free to download all the development tools for general Mac programming and access to the online developer resources.

Thanks for the tips. I was perusing the web after I posted to see if I could get some consistent, solid leads and I saw the same recommendations for the most part. I'm definitely going to check these books out the next time I am at Borders/Barnes & Nobles (which will be tomorrow). I do have a developers account but have yet to put any use to it. Hopefully that will change soon

Thanks guys
Ryan

 

[flyingturtle]

In addition to those two books, I bought a few iPhone books which talked about creating various applications. I'm using these iPhone books for ideas to make applications (mainly I'm making converting graphic novels into iPhone/iPad apps, and also making interactive travel guides)

Since you're doing general Mac programming, I'd also look at Mac programming books for whatever you plan to do, gaming, etc. The two books I mentioned give you the necessary background to do what you want, but I'm sure specific Mac programming can give you examples of what you plan on doing. Although, iPhone/iPod Touch develop is pretty fun and you can just use the emulator.

BTW, there are videos available too on the Apple's developer site.

 

[tonymacx86]

And don't forget about the free iPhone development resources on iTunes-

http://deimos.apple.com/WebObjects/Core ... anford.edu

Great free videos detailing all you need to know to write/develop iPhone apps. Great stuff here- I've just begun making my way through Cocoa and Xcode.

Good to see some developers here! Let's do an open source app.

 

[flyingturtle]

Good to see some developers here! Let's do an open source app.

That's a good idea. i always learn faster and better when working with others.

 

[rskm137]

Good to see some developers here! Let's do an open source app.

That's a good idea. i always learn faster and better when working with others.

Same here. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be much help until I get a bit more familiar. *goes back to learning*

 

[intrus22]

Nice, i'm also studying Objective-C, i come from C++ in Windows.

tonymacx86 i think it would be a good idea to open a "Programming" section in the forum

I will post there some nice links i've come across as well as good books i've seen and reading at the moment.

 

[soneill]

I work as a software engineer for a small college. We primarily do web development work on the Mac. Pretty basic Java, Javascript, PHP, etc. We use MAMP for a dev platform on our local machines and promote to the server which is a Linux box. Page development is done in Coda or Dreamweaver depending on content.