News On “Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X” 3rd Edition !!!

For all those eager to learn Cocoa programming, yet stuck (blessed?) with 10.5 and Xcode 3, you know who you are… there is no way to run older versions usually. However, you can actually run Xcode 2.5 on Leopard! I know, I know, you want to use garbage collection, right? Well, it’s not the panacea you think it is for everything.

But for those who are still trying to learn using the Hillegass book with Xcode 3, this come from the proverbial horse’s mouth in a post to the Cocoa-Dev list:

From: Aaron Hillegass
Subject: Using “Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X” with Xcode 3.0

Friends,

I am getting some emails that go something like this:
“Hey! I just bought ‘Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X, 2nd Edition’ and
none of your directions work on Xcode 3. I hate you, I hate you, I
hate you.”

I understand your frustration, and I am sincerely sorry if you feel
that you have been cheated. The tools have changed a lot, and the
third edition won’t be ready for several more months. Let me point
out, however, that the frameworks themselves have changed very little
and the ideas in the book are still useful.

To use the 2nd edition with Xcode 3, you need to know how the new
tools are used. In particular:
1) You don’t create classes in Interface Builder any more. Create the
class in Xcode, and type in the outlets and actions.
2) You don’t have to explicitly reparse the .h files — Interface
Builder will automatically reparse the file every time it is saved.
3) Instead of control-dragging for every pointer IB, you control-click
on an object to get its connection panel, and drag from there.

To get comfortable with these changes, I suggest that you do Apple’s
tutorial before starting on my book:
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/ObjCTutorial/

Skip my Palettes chapter! It is hopelessly out-of-date and unusable.

It will still require some patience to get through the book. If you
don’t have the patience, return the book to wherever you purchased it
– the new edition with Core Data, more Bindings, Web Services, View
Swapping, NSTask, Xcode 3, and Objective-C 2 will be available in the
Spring or early Summer.

Will I destroy my apology/helpful email with something crass and
commercial? I can not resist: I will be using a draft of the 3rd
edition of “Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X” at the Cocoa Bootcamp, Jan
14 - 18. If you want a seat, call 678-595-6773 to reserve one:
http://www.bignerdranch.com/classes/cocoa.shtml
We can send an instructor to your company, if that is more convenient/
cost-effective for you.

Also, Big Nerd Ranch will be running its first WebObjects course in
Germany, March 10 - 14:
http://www.bignerdranch.com/classes/webobjects.shtml
To register for that, call +49 (931) 9911-485.

Sincerely,
Aaron HIllegass
Big Nerd Ranch, Inc.