Reddit reviews Cocoa Programming for OS X: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide (5th Edition) (Big Nerd Ranch Guides)
We found 8 Reddit comments about Cocoa Programming for OS X: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide (5th Edition) (Big Nerd Ranch Guides). Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
There really isn't a difference for iOS except for your UI layout. iOS will also have more file restrictions as well.
But, that same group does have a Mac series: https://www.amazon.com/Cocoa-Programming-OS-Ranch-Guides/dp/0134076958
I know you pointed out that you're interested in OS X, not iOS, but the reality is that most of the good, up-to-date materials on development for the Apple ecosystem are centered around iOS.
There is a Big Nerd Ranch book on OS X development with Objective-C, but it's from 2011. The advent of Swift should give publishers an incentive to update their material on OS X development. A new, Swift-oriented version of the book I linked above is slated (as per Amazon, anyway) for release next month. I look forward to purchasing it myself.
raywenderlich.com also has great tutorials. Most are iOS-oriented, but I found a couple for OS X:
Getting Started With OS X and Swift Pt1
Getting Started With OS X and Swift Pt2
Getting Started With OS X and Swift Pt3
Core Controls and Swift Pt1
Core Controls and Swift Pt2
Don't get discouraged about your lack of experience. The fact of the matter is that app flow in the OS X and iOS realms is not easy to understand at a glance. I can assure you that everybody who writes software in the Apple ecosystem was once confused about the same exact issue.
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Big Nerd Ranch has a pretty good OS X book. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0134076958?keywords=big%20nerd%20ranch%20os%20x&qid=1452094223&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1
Also the iOS equivalent are bibles for OS X and iOS developers.
There's also Cocoa Programming for OS X, which is very good.
P.S. Also, check out their related Swift book.
If you want to write a truly native Mac-only desktop application, you should be using Cocoa and Swift. Here's a recent book that will help:
https://www.amazon.com/Cocoa-Programming-OS-Ranch-Guides/dp/0134076958
The other "first-class" language is Objective-C.
If you think you might want a cross-platform desktop app, or if you don't want your knowledge to be too Mac-specific, you probably want either Qt or wxWidgets. You can use both of those frameworks from a number of languages including C++ and Python. They both let you create really nice desktop applications for both Mac and Windows, but you won't get quite the level of polish and integration compared to using Swift/Obj+C and Cocoa.
This is the one I'm looking forward to (not out until April). I've got the previous (Obj-C) version, and am working my way through it in conjunction with Apple's Swift language guide. But really looking forward to the next revision (which I linked) which will cover Swift.
Take my opinion with a big grain of salt as I'm very much in the preliminary still-learning stage, but I've always seen this one well-reviewed.
>Why is it so hard to figure out where to start?
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>It's no secret that software development has exploded in the past 20 years. New software startups pop up like dandelions in the spring. It then follows that a lot of people think software development is a good career choice and are afraid of missing out on a lot of great opportunities.
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>Software developers are, in general, pretty opinionated. I doubt this is unique to developers, but it gets tiresome when you've dealt with it for years. If we're not fighting over what operating system is better, then it's what language is better. If it's not that, then it's code editors, or databases, or frameworks, or bug trackers, or development processes, or...or...or. It's like we enjoy fighting.
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>In a time where more and more people are becoming developers, it's not enough to be just "a developer" anymore. No, to feel superior now, developers need to somehow differentiate themselves from both the non-developer “rabble” and their fellow developers.
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>This mentality has lead to more coding languages being developed that purport to "fix" issues with other languages. New frameworks are built to "fix" issues with previous frameworks. And on and on.
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>All this leads to a huge amount of choices, opinions, and resources. Naturally, that makes starting to learn, daunting.
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>Since I'm a developer too, I'm susceptible to the same opinions and biases that I just railed against. The difference is, I'm right. I'm kidding, seriously, calm down everybody. Here are my suggestions.
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>Choose your
weaponlanguage>
>As someone once said: “the weapon doesn’t make the man.” It’s probably a quote from some B martial arts movie or Dragonball Z, but the philosophy holds true for programming languages. A good developer is a good developer regardless of language. However, you need to start someplace, and if you pick your first language wisely, you’ll drastically shorten the time to hit your goal.
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>Picking a language boils down to what you want to do. This is a quick list of general development goals and what language(s) are your best options to get there:
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>1. Front-end web development (user interface and interaction): Javascript, HTML & CSS
>1. Back-end web development (services that front-end web apps and mobile apps call out to): Ruby, Python or Javascript
>1. Mobile development: Swift (iOS) or Java (Android)
>1. Windows development: C#
>1. MacOS development: Swift or Objective-C
>1. Operating systems, file systems, embedded systems, etc: C/C++
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>Naturally, there are other options for each of these. Javascript is useful for items 1-5, for instance. But the list is a good starting place as-is.
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>How to find good resources to start learning
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>There are a ton of resources to learn to code out on the web. How do you sift through the chaff and find the real gems?
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>Most resources fall into the following categories:
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> Books
> Videos
> Blogs/tutorials
> Courses
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>Books are the traditional go-to resource. Search Amazon.com for your topic and read reviews. Make sure that any books you're considering are new. Languages change and older books could slow your progress.
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>A lot of people have gravitated to videos to learn coding and other topics. YouTube is the first place most people look. Fair warning, this is going to turn up a bunch of crap. Look at how many subscribers a given instructor has, and watch some videos to see if their style and method works for you. Another possible issue is that because video is more difficult to update for new versions of a language (or corresponding tools), some videos might be outdated.
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>For blogs and tutorials, a simple google search like "best python tutorial" or "best swift tutorial for beginners" is a great place to start. As with videos, you'll have to try a few to see how they work with your learning style.
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>Online courses are the newest resource on the scene. Codecademy is one that a lot of people find immediately. However, after I talked to a lot of people who tried it, none really thought it did a good job. Free Code Camp or The Odin Project are both highly regarded for web development. Udacity, Coursera, Udemy all have courses in different genres. Each has reviews so you can compare and only look at ones that helped others. My specific examples follow in the next section.
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>Where you should start, specifically
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>Each development goal in the above list is different enough to require different starting points. I’ll list the place that I’d recommend you start for each one. I have not personally tried all of them, but have come across them when doing research. There also might be better ones, and so if you know of any, let me know and I’ll update this list.
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>1. Front-end web development: Free Code Camp
>1. Back-end web development: Ruby (for Rails), Python (for Django), Javascript (for Node)
>1. Mobile development: Swift Lynda’s Swift Essentials (check your local library to see if you get a free Lynda account with a library card) or Flatiron school’s free Swift course, Swift Programming book or Java Head First Java, University of Helsinki’s MOOC
>1. Windows development: Head First C#, Pluralsight’s C# course
>1. MacOS development: Cocoa programming for OS X, or the same courses for mobile Swift
>1. Operating systems, filesystems, embedded systems: C++ How to Program book, C++ Tutorial for Complete Beginners
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>Once you pick your language and starting point and you start learning, some things will be obvious, but others will be difficult to understand. You’re going to run into trouble and with concepts and code errors. That’s normal. We’ve all been there. Getting unstuck takes practice too.
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>How to get unstuck once you’ve started
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>Once you start learning to code, you're going to run into problems that you don't know how to solve. This is normal and part of the process. You don't really learn unless you struggle through it. That said, you won't always be able to move forward without some help. So how do you find that help?
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>First off, forget books. They aren't a great place to start here, because the number and types of errors they can cover is so small.
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>Online is the easiest place to find help. Most devs look for solutions on StackOverflow or just google the error message (if they have one). Other solutions are to find newsgroups or forums dedicated to the language you're using.
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>How to use Google to get unstuck
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>When you first try to google an answer to your problem, you're going to run into the issue of what to search for. Experienced developers are really good at this part, but unfortunately, it's hard for beginners, who need it the most. So here I'll give you some expert hints on how to improve your search results.
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>1. Always include the name of the language you're using. If you're using a specific tool, database, or framework, include that as well. Don't include all of them, just the ones that you believe are relevant. This will take practice.
>1. If you're getting an error message, include that in quotes. Edit the message to contain only the core of the message so it doesn't reference any files, classes, path or filenames that are specific to your program or computer. The trick here is to make the error message as specific as possible while still being general enough to apply to others who are using the same language/tool/etc. but in a different context.
>1. If you're working through a publicly-published problem from a book or course, add that information to the search.
>1. Explain what you're trying to do, with the fewest words. This is tough for developers of all levels. For a beginner, you may have trouble coming up with the right terminology. This is where the books, tutorials, and course materials come in handy. They should use the right language if you're doing something similar to what's covered in them. If not, you're going to need to try some different wording. Remember, other beginners are going to be having problems too and might explain the problem the same way.
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>Here are a few examples I’ve used (minus the quotes):
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