Sebastopol, CA--O'Reilly & Associates has released Building Cocoa
Applications (O'Reilly, US $44.95), a step-by-step guide that shows
developers how to build sophisticated graphics applications for
Mac OS X using Cocoa.
"Cocoa embodies the principles of object-oriented programming from its
user interface down to its very core," says Simson Garfinkel, co-author
of "Building Cocoa Applications." "While it greatly simplifies the task
of building applications for Mac OS X, the Cocoa environment is also
different from the environments to which most programmers are
accustomed. As a result, the learning curve can be pretty steep if you
don't have competent instruction."
As one of the principle application development environments for
Apple's advanced, Unix-based operating system, Cocoa includes a
powerful collection of object-oriented tools and libraries. "Building
Cocoa Applications" is a no-nonsense, hands-on tutorial that teaches
through example--not only simple and self-contained examples of
individual Cocoa features, but extended examples of complete
applications with enough elegance and complexity that programmers can
put them to immediate use in their own environments.
"Since its release in 2001, Mac OS X has generated tremendous momentum
as a development platform," says Michael K. Mahoney, co-author of
"Building Cocoa Applications." "The combination of its Unix-based
foundation plus the Cocoa, Objective-C, and Java programming
environments makes Mac OS X the best and most comprehensive development
platform available, by far."
In "Building Cocoa Applications," Garfinkel and Mahoney lay out the
basics of an application in one chapter and then layer additional
functionality onto that application in subsequent chapters. This
practical, concrete approach gives developers a solid understanding of
what it really means to develop complete and incrementally more complex
Cocoa applications.
Fast-moving, entertaining, and full of helpful hints for developers,
"Building Cocoa Applications" is focused on Objective-C and delves
deeply into Cocoa's graphics capabilities.
"Cocoa is built on top of the Objective-C programming language--
a language that's simultaneously simpler than C++ and yet better suited
to creating graphical user interfaces," explains Garfinkel. "Whereas
most people find programming in C++ a chore, most Objective-C
programmers find the language to be a joy."
The book includes extensive source code, available for download from
the O'Reilly web site, along with an appendix listing additional
resources. Cocoa--and "Building Cocoa Applications"--is absolutely
essential for anyone doing serious, hands-on development work for the
Macintosh.
Additional Resources:
Building Cocoa Applications: A Step-by-Step Guide
By Simson Garfinkel & Michael K. Mahoney
May 2002
0-596-00235-1, 648 pages, $44.95 (US) $69.95 (CAN)
order@oreilly.com
1-707-827-7000; 1-800-998-9938
