Cocoa Programming for OS X: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide (Big Nerd Ranch Guides) 5th Edition

This is a great book for OSX Cocoa development in Swift. It assumes basic knowledge of Swift, which is straightforward for anyone who has worked with an object oriented language like Java or C++, as Apple has a clear and beautifully formatted guide at https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/Swift/Conceptual/Swift_Programming_Language/TheBasics.html#. Read that first, and you'll be set.The format of this book is modular, with many modules dependent on previous ones. I read it cover to cover, and followed along with the exercises, which can be a little tricky as Swift has changed in many ways from version 1 to 2. Errata are published in a couple of places, with the most robust at https://github.com/bignerdranch/cocoa-programming-for-osx-5e/blob/master/Swift2.md, and is worth perusing as it explains why the changes to code in the text are necessary. Exercises are a central part of the worth of this book, and unless you want to type in every character of every exercise, you'll want to do some cutting and pasting. I read the book on Kindle for Mac, which makes cutting and pasting quite painful, as line ends are stripped and an attribution is inserted with every paste. The better solution is to go to https://github.com/bignerdranch/cocoa-programming-for-osx-5e and to hit the "Download ZIP" button in the upper right hand corner of the page, and you'll have every project in its entirety updated for Swift 2. I even used it to solve an Interface Builder problem that I was having by inspecting the bindings in a project and comparing them to how I had (incorrectly) made them. Finally, although it appears somewhat currently moribund, there's a forum for the book at http://forums.bignerdranch.com/viewforum.php?f=511 with errata, solutions, and some good additional explanations.The greatest strength of this book is the succinct insights that the authors sprinkle throughout the chapters. OSX Cocoa programming isn't just Swift: it's a whole ecosystem, and often I've found myself wondering when coding for Apple devices, "why on earth do they do that?" I have an entirely new appreciation for how this OS works thanks to these authors, and that is incredibly useful in approaching a code problem on this platform.If I had one minor gripe, it's that the authors could have worked in loading and parsing a flat file somewhere. They do file operations a bit in Chapter 35, NSTask, with pipe handling, but nearly every starter book on any system includes file read/write, and for very good reason: it's a very common need. After reading this book and with the resources out there on the web, I'm sure I'll quickly figure it out, but the code the authors include is terse and beautiful, and I would have liked to see how they would do it.All in all, this is easily one of the best how-to programming books that I've read. When I learned Objective C, I read one book on the language and one on the Cocoa ecosystem, and I didn't get half as far as I am now after reading this book. If you've worked with an objected oriented language and you want to learn Cocoa for OSX with Swift, read the guide on the Apple website to learn the language--it will take 2 hours, tops--and then read this book and do the exercises. You're in for a treat.

I'm excited!!If BNR was all about marketing, this book would be titled, "Swiftian Cocoa Programming for OS X Using Swift!," because that's where the Mac/iOS world is heading, and rather quickly. But instead, the title is much more subdued, retaining the naming pattern from the first edition (published in 2002), modified only when Apple changed the OS name from "Mac OS X" to just "OS X." But make no mistake: this book is all Swift, all the time.This book is also greatly expanded from that first edition, growing from the original 383 pages to the current 533, and from 27 chapters to the current 37, reflecting the tremendous growth in the platform itself.What have remained the same from that first edition, though, are the clear instructions and the production values of the physical book itself. Some books (I'm looking at you, Harbison & Steele, also in its fifth edition) move to cheaper, thinner paper, and a more sepia-coloured page as time goes on. (H&S still has great content; it's just tough to read.) The BNR book has stayed with a heavier stock paper and a bright white page. Quality instruction in a quality product.I'm still near the beginning of this just-released book, and will update this review as I progress further when time allows, but it's already clear to me that the high standards of the previous books have been retained here as well.I've loved their instructional style ever since I took the Cocoa class in person years ago (for "Panther" 10.3), and I'm thrilled to see it carry on.Swift+Cocoa, here I come!

This book is amazingly great for someone who already has experience with object oriented development. The progression is at just the right speed and it walks you through the basics of swift and foundation without getting too simplistic (I have found other books that assume you have never written code and start from ground zero). The 5th edition was written before swift 2.0 however the code samples have been updated for the changed syntax and is still very relevant. The only down side is that you sometimes have to compare the sample to what is in the book in order to determine what has changed in the syntax.

I've been writing iOS apps for about five years now and wanted to find a good book on creating for Mac also. The problem is that there aren't a ton of recent books on the subject and the online content offered by Apple isn't always easy to parse through. The subject of Mac OS development is a big one and can be intimidating.This book is a rare find because:- it is recently published and seems to even match the general behavior of tools in Xcode 9.1- it explains a lot of the background for what it is teaching, with strong, concise overviews of key concepts.- it teaches by creating things manually in many cases instead of relying on coding templates. This explains the often poorly-documented connections between entities in Interface Builder and code.I can't say how easy this book would be to pick up for someone completely new to the Apple development tools (Xcode), but I'm finding it to be very well written with no obvious errors and provides just enough confidence to a reader doing the exercises to imagine writing their own applications.I don't often like books of this type, but I'm really enjoying this one.Well done.

Ausführlich und trotzdem klar und verständlich.

Despite having more than 20 years of experience in object oriented programming, I found this book very difficult to follow, right from the start. Much more frustrating, though, was the discovery that Swift 3 is not backwards compatible with Swift 1.0. When I code their examples in Swift 3, there were so many errors. I gave up on this book after 3 chapters. If you're using the latest version of xCode (in 2016) you'll have Swift 3; don't waste your money on this book!

Je programme avec Xcode depuis des années et j'ai toujours autant de plaisir à lire cet ouvrage (et ses différentes versions). Le livre est très pédagogique, les indication sont non seulement techniquement exactes mais elle sont bien structurée et permettent de comprendre le style et les bonnes pratiques de la programmation Cocoa.

Most people that wish to learn Cocoa programming are looking to program for the iOS mobile platform and material on developing specifically for the Mac OS X platform is scarce. I had made a couple of attempts to learn OS X programming in the past but found Objective C off-putting, but the arrival of Apple's new language Swift encouraged me to have another go.It's worth noting that this book is not intended for complete programming beginners. The authors make it clear that the target audience is people with programming experience in other languages such as C++, Java and C# who want to learn how to develop for the OS X platform. It is also not intended to be a complete introduction to the Swift programming language. There is a primer chapter on Swift and this may be sufficient for experienced programmers to pick up the basics, but it's not a complete tutorial.The book's main focus is developing Mac applications using Xcode 6 and it provides tuition in the form of a series of tutorials that the reader is intended to follow. This is not a reference book at all and you will probably only benefit from it by following along with the tutorials.I was very impressed with the pace of the tutorials and also the order in which the concepts were presented. I really felt that I was making steady progress as I worked through the chapters. The topics covered are very well chosen and include some topics that are too frequently missing from similar publications, such as switching between Views.There is also a very good supporting forum for the book with a separate area for each chapter. Here the authors answer questions that students might have as they follow along and also highlight errata. This could be particularly useful as new versions of Xcode and Swift are released and the publications falls out of date a little (which is inevitable).Overall, I am very pleased with this purchase. The book isn't overly long and stops short of advanced topics but it is an excellent introduction to OS X programming in Swift. The core concepts are explained really well and it provides a solid foundation on which to build. I'm hoping they will release an update to their Advanced Cocoa Programming book and if they do I will definitely be purchasing that too.

私はCでのプログラミングの基本くらいしか分かっていなかったのですが、せっかくMac使ってるんだから、SwiftでのOSXアプリ開発をやろうと思っていました。ですが、 XcodeでのGUIを組んだことがなく、また、Xcode+Swiftでの書籍となるとiOSアプリ向けばかりで手をつけることができずに悩んでいました。そんな中、本書に出会いました。英語であるため、理解するのに時間がかかるものの、Cをかじったことがある人であれば、Xcodeの基本的な使い方、GUIを作成するエッセンスを学ぶのに適した書籍です。最終的には自分の作りたいアプリに適したライブラリを探し、使いこなせることが必要になってくるかと思いますが、本書でまずはスタートラインを切ることができたと感じています。