Cocoa Programming is a comprehensive work that starts as a fast-paced introduction to the OS architecture and the Cocoa language for programmers new to the environment. The more advanced sections of the book will show the reader how to create Cocoa applications using Objective-C, to modify the views, integrate multimedia, and access networks. The final sections explain how to extend system applications and development tools in order to create your own frameworks.

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Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 18 Ratings

From an author - 2004-09-15
Reviewer Rating:
Disclaimer: I am one of the authors.
Cocoa Programming provides intermediate and advanced programmers with the knowledge and techniques to produce powerful full-featured Cocoa applications. Cocoa Programming communicates the wisdom and design experience of three top-notch veteran Cocoa developers and includes technical information and insights that are not available from any other source.

Cocoa is Apple's powerful and mature object oriented development technology for creating Mac OS X applications quickly and efficiently. Apple recommends that all new applications written for Mac OS X use Cocoa. Cocoa is distinguished from other object-oriented development environments in several ways: Cocoa is mature, consistent, and broad. Cocoa is based on a cross-platform specification and has evolved from a cross-platform implementation. Cocoa is extraordinarily extensible, flexible, and dynamic in part because of Objective-C, the language used to implement it.

This comprehensive book covers virtually every aspect of Cocoa application development from the tools used to build programs to sophisticated multi-media and low level implementation details. Topics ranging from client-server networking to game development are covered. Examples that can be used directly in application code and a companion Web site, http://www.cocoaprogramming.net/, provide a treasure chest of reusable objects that illustrate the best practices developed through years of use.

Great, but outdated - 2006-01-22
Reviewer Rating:
I've really gotten a lot out of this book, and I would highly recommend it, except for the fact that it came out in 2002 and only covers 10.1 (with an appendix entry discussing the new features in the "up-coming 10.2"). Many of the methods documented here have been long since "deprecated."

If you can find this book at a reasonable price, it would pair well with a more current book. I found it contained valuable information not present in some of the more recent books.

If this guy ever releases an updated version of this book, I would buy it in a Nano-second (a little iPod humour there)(Yeah, very little).

The best most comprehensive book on Cocoa - 2004-08-29
Reviewer Rating:
This book is huge and packed with information. It has more information than any three other books on the subject. However, it is an intermediate to advanced book, so if you are just starting out you might prefer a more introductory book.

I particularly like the logical organization of the book and the comprehensive coverage of most topics. (The book predates the latest "Bindings" technology.) Even if you have been a Cocoa programmer for years, you will learn new things from this book. It covers whole subjects that no other book mentions and is packed with useful examples. There is no fluff, and every page is dense with information. It does not have the best tutorials, and it has a formal reference style unlike many of the other Cocoa programming books. I promise that even if you have one or more of the friendlier books, you'll still want this one for when you get down to business.

Finally, I loved the coverage of the Model/View/Controller design pattern in this book. There is a whole chapter that shows concrete examples of design using Model/View/Controller in conjunction with Cocoa and Objective-C idioms. After applying the wisdom provided by this book, I finally understood the value of Model/View/Controller and its near ubiquitous application in Cocoa.

Very well written - 2006-05-04
Reviewer Rating:
(Review written July 2004, reposting because it disappeared) This is a big book, so I was at first leery about whether I would be able to get through it without becoming depressed or lost. I did get through it, I didn't get lost, and I felt in capable hands all the way through. Furthermore, it was worth every minute of time I put into reading it.

Although there are three authors of this book, listed alphabetically on the front cover, it reads as if written by a single author. It becomes readily apparent that the authors know Cocoa as well as the best programmers know it. But even more important to me was that they craft every single sentence with care for the context they're building, and they don't violate our faith with out of context material. Time and time again I was silently appreciating their skill and care for quality writing.

Great to bring you up-to-date, modern Mac OS X application development - 2005-07-16
Reviewer Rating:
This book is great for people who want to develop serious Mac OS X applications.

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