Learn to write apps for some of today's hottest technologies, including the iPhone and iPad (using iOS), as well as the Mac (using OS X). It starts with Objective-C, the base language on which the native iOS software development kit (SDK) and the OS X are based. Learn Objective-C on the Mac: For OS X and iOS, Second Edition updates a best selling book and is an extensive, newly updated guide to Objective-C.
Objective-C is a powerful, object-oriented extension of C, making this update the perfect follow-up to Dave Mark’s bestselling Learn C on the Mac. Whether you’re an experienced C programmer or you’re coming from a different language such as C++ or Java, leading Mac experts Scott Knaster and Waqar Malik show how to harness the power of Objective-C in your apps!
- A complete course on the basics of Objective-C using Apple’s newest Xcode tools
- An introduction to object-oriented programming
- Comprehensive coverage of new topics like blocks, GCD, ARC, class extensions, as well as inheritance, composition, object initialization, categories, protocols, memory management, and organizing source files
- An introduction to building user interfaces using what is called the UIKit
- A primer for non-C programmers to get off the ground even faster
What you’ll learn
- Learn Objective-C programming, the gateway to programming your iPhone, iPad or Mac
- Write apps for the iOS and/or OS X interfaces, the cleanest user-interfaces around
- Understand variables and how to design your own data structures
- Work with the new Objective-C features now available in this update like blocks, automated reference counting (ARC) and class extensions
- Work with new tools available like Clang static analyzer and Grand Central Dispatch (GCD)
- Undertand UIKit and how to build simple user interfaces easily and effectively
- Explore using the latest Xcode
Who this book is for
For anyone wanting to learn to program native apps in iOS and/or OS X, including developers new to the iOS-based iPhone and iPad as well as OS X-based Mac computers. This book is for developers new to Objective-C, but who have some programming experience.
Table of Contents
- Hello
- Extensions to C
- Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming
- Inheritance
- Composition
- Source File Organization and Using Xcode 4
- More About Xcode
- A Quick Tour of the Foundation Kit
- Memory Management and ARC
- Object Initialization
- Properties
- Categories
- Protocols
- Blocks and Concurrency
- Introduction to UIKit
- Introduction to the Application Kit
- File Loading and Saving
- Key-Value Coding
- Using the Static Analyzer
- NSPredicate
Appendix: Coming from Other Languages
Scott Knaster is a legendary Mac hacker and author of such bestselling books as Hacking Mac OS X Tiger and Macintosh Programming Secrets. His book How to Write Macintosh Software was required reading for Mac programmers for more than a decade.
