What You Will Learn from This Book

When I contemplated writing a tutorial on Objective-C, I had to make a fundamental decision. As with other texts on Objective-C, I could write mine to assume that the reader already knew how to write C programs. I could also teach the language from the perspective of using the rich library of routines, such as the Foundation and Application Kit frameworks. Some texts also take the approach of teaching how to use the development tools, such as the Mac’s Xcode and Interface Builder.

I had several problems adopting this approach. First, learning the entire C language before learning Objective-C is wrong. C is a procedural language containing many features that are not necessary for programming in Objective-C, especially at the novice level. In fact, resorting to some of these features goes against the grain of adhering to a good object-oriented programming methodology. It’s also not a good idea to learn all the details of a procedural language before learning an object-oriented one. This starts the programmer in the wrong direction, and gives the wrong orientation and mindset for fostering a good object-oriented programming style. Just because Objective-C is an extension to the C language doesn’t mean you have to learn C first.