- ISBN13: 9780470522752
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
Learn the primary programming language for creating iPhone and Mac apps The only thing hotter than the iPhone right now is new apps for the iPhone. Objective-C is the primary language for programming iPhone and Mac OS X applications, and this book makes it easy to learn Objective-C. Even if you have no programming experience, Objective-C For Dummies will teach you what you need to know to start creating iPhone apps. It provides an understanding of obje… More >>
Picked this book as a fairly long shot to re-introduce myself into C++ / OO programming. (Notice: I was a C / assembly / Magic developer between ’87 and ’97.) With all this background I hoped for some easy (and fun) reading about the latest version of Objective C. Boy, I was wrong… This book is definitely not for the “absolute beginner”. Though it runs through all the basic stuff at light speed, it is too dense for someone with zero programming experience.
Now to the good part. If you can work your way through the chapters, spend enough time with actually typing / compiling / running / analyzing those examples, you will have a good basic knowledge of Objective C (and C in general). I have fiddled with XCode for a while, but always ended up using something else for my in-house development needs. Thanks to this book, XCode and Obj C are my friends now.
Verdict: recommended with reservations. Better have some programming experience beforehand, but a good book to bridge the gap between other languages and Obj C.
Rating: 4 / 5
Picked this book because I’m a fan of the dummies series…love having thingS explained from the ground up, in easy simple conceptual terms. I’m no programmer, despite a *very small* amount of BASIC programming about 20 years ago…but I’m good with computers, so I thought this book to be a good choice.
Despite a good start in the first few chapters, this book is *riddled* with copy errors, omissions, typos and changes in object names – all really, really bad things to find in a programming book. I stuck with it through the first 120 pages, and then gave up in disgust. I’ve since found a few good sites on the web that explain things alot better (like Hot Cocoa”, and am hoping that the new Pragmatic Press books out later this year will fill the gap. Sadly, this book has even made me question ever wanting to buy another Dummies book – at least for programming topics.
Stay away from this one!
Rating: 2 / 5
I have just returned this book and I think it’s the first time I’ve ever done that.
What was the deal breaker?
Well it wasn’t the dry monotone voice of the book. Though its not helpful for a close to absolute beginner like me. My last short adventure with programming was with basic 15 years ago. It wasn’t the heavy use of programming vocabulary from the start with a very limited explanation of the meaning of the terms used, while not connecting the explanations to any related examples. I found my self constantly leafing back pages to see the difference between and expression and a statement just to get the jest of what is being explained.
It wasn’t the example program that is used and expanded throughout the entire book. An accounting utility for travel budgeting. I’m not sure I could think of anything less fun to code.
It wasn’t the fact that the author takes an approach where he has you write code and then explain what you did, giving the reader a feeling of being left in the dark.
The deal breaker was the hundreds of typos. I finally gave up on page 131. Where the first paragraph ends with: (I would also need to declare
The next thing you read is the line: That way the functions would operate on the right data.
What Neal Goldstein needed to declare I will never know. There is an errata list online that has a handful of corrections. But there are many, many more throughout the book. This adds to the general feeling of unnecessary confusion and desperation while trying to solve the mysteries of what the author is trying to say.
I studied up on what’s around and ordered “Programming in Objective-C 2.0 (2nd Edition) (Paperback)” by Stephen G. Kochan. Hopefully it’s a bit better at doing what is says it will.
Rating: 1 / 5
Okay, I want to state that I’m a newbie at programming. I’ve tried a few other books on Objective-C, but I`ve never gotten past the first few chapters. So with this review, I plan to do a couple of updates as I work through the book. The reason I chose this one is because it stood out in one simple area. The author had sense enough to type the code samples in the book in monospaced font with a light gray background. That way, as you read through the book, you can visually see when he’s instructing you to add code to a project.
I’ve started working through similar books that had lots of background content with the code and instructions not well highlighted. Now this may not be a big deal to those with coding experience, but when you’re brand new to a language, these little conventions really help.
Goldstein also does a good introducing an analogy for how Objective-C works in a computer. He avoids lots confusing lingo and knows how to illustrate what he’s describing.
For others who are newbies like myself, I suggest first making sure that you have the latest version of Objective-C 3.2.1. If you installed X-Code from your Snow Leopard disk, you will need to update or replace it from the Apple’s Developer Site with 3.2.1.
Secondly, I would get a book stand so that you can easily follow along with the author as you work through the book. I’ll try to throw up a picture of my set up. Also, if you can, get a second monitor for your computer. It’s really great have a second monitor when you’re working in projects like this one. You put instructions or code examples on one monitor and your current project on the other. It’s great also for say watching an instructional video on one monitor and following along on the other.
Finally (for now anyway) this book does provide the code examples on CD if you need them, and you probably will. No matter how carefully you follow along with the instructions, you’re not always going get things right. The code examples can save you some time and frustration.
I’ll be updating this book review as work through it.
Rating: 5 / 5
I have some programming experience (as well as engineering and finance degrees) so I am used to reading dry material, but this book is very hard to get through. There are many authors that do a great job of explaining programming in an easily understood, clear and non-condescending way. Unfortunately this is not one of those books. (Sorry Mr. Goldstein, next time get a better editor.)
I wish I could return this book, but I marked up the first couple of chapters. Now it is a paper weight.
Rating: 1 / 5