Programming in Objective-C

Unix

Programming Mac OS X: A Guide for Unix Developers

Format: Paperback
Author: Kevin O'Malley
ReleaseDate: January, 2003
Publisher: Manning Publications
Rating:

Broad, not deep
The book is exactly what it says it is, a wide overview of all of the different ways for 'Programming Mac OS X'. This book is a case in point for accurate titles. It starts with a brief history of the operating system, then talks about the operating system basics. It then covers at a high level building applications with Java, Objective-C, Carbon, Applescript and Perl. This includes sections on the tools to use to develop in these languages, and in some basic introductions to get you started on that platform.

In Manning style the graphics are effective, and the code samples are not overused and are well commented. Chapters three and four, which cover Project Builder and the standard compilers, stand out as the heart of the book. Chapter seven, on Applescript, is particularly appreciated because of the lack of documentation or books on this subject.

The book fills a unique roll. It covers all of the different programming possibilities at a level that gives you perspective of the entire playing field. If you want to drill down into say, Java programming, you will need to buy another book. But if you are unfamiliar with OS X and you are looking to program for it, you should take a look at this book to get a feel for the possibilities.

Good Introduction to Mac OS X programming tools
As such, I think it does a pretty good job. The intent of this book is to introduce Unix developers to Mac OS X. It doesn't go in to great depth; for example another reviewer complained about its lack of coverage for Carbon or mixed mode programming. That's not entirely fair though given its intent: while some Unix developers may be interested in producing OS9 capable apps, my bet is that most are just going to ignore anything prior to X entirely - and they should! There is a small appendix that covers the history of Mac OS prior to X, but it does not cover programming and I don't think it should.

I do have some minor criticism. I had never even looked at Project Builder/Interface Builder (the programming IDE) before picking up this book. There's a good sized introductory chapter on using this for a simple project. I worked through it, but it wasn't entirely easy sailing. I'm not sure whether that was because Project Builder has changed slightly since this writing, or if the author is just so familiar with it that he accidentally used incorrect language here and there. In any case, I found myself confused at certain points. However, there were no show stoppers: if you are a developer, you will understand the goal and enough of the concepts not to get hung up by these small errors or omissions. While I might wish these things were more carefully reviewed by having an unfamiliar user actually run through them, I don't see this as a major weakness at all.

In addition to Project Builder and Interface builder, this covers Objective-C, and Applescript. It isn't going to teach you much about either of these; you'll need other books for that. But it will introduce you to them, lead you through building a simple example applicatio, show you how the Apple debugging tools work, and show you how to create HTML documentation for use with Apple's Help Viewer.

Better for UNIX developers who have never seen a Mac before.
. This was a pretty average book in my opinion.. not terribly compelling in spots, and occasionally a bit over-the-top in its love affair with the Mac.

IMHO, it's really a book designed to show UNIX developers how to become Cocoa developers, and if you fall into that category of developer and are new to the Mac, then the book may be worth a quick read.

What this book won't help you with is working in Carbon environments, or working in mixed MachO/CFM environments, or working on projects that are built partially with Project Builder and partially with other tools (such as Code Warrior).

Unfortunately, most commercial Mac based development has to deal with one or more of these mixed-environment issues for a variety of reasons I won't go into here.

Finally, the book's coverage on debugging tools is also rather disappointing. Certainly GDB deserves at least a whole paragraph to itself *somewhere* in the book.