# Learning Cocoa Programming



## loom001 (Mar 28, 2003)

Ok don't flame me if this is not the right spot for this, just have it moved.  I would like to learn to program in Cocoa.  I was wondering where I should start?  Are there go web resource, or books?  Here is the hitch I am a complete NEWBIE to programing, I know nothing, zip, Nada.  I need to start at ground zero.  What I a looking for is an easy way to start.  On top of knowing nothing about programing I am also a newbie to Mac OS X.  Any help that you can provide would be appreciated!  Thanks in advance!


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## Giaguara (Mar 28, 2003)

There are some good books around.

First - a pocket reference to Objective-C can be useful. (I have seen about one of them in bookstores)

Then - http://www.bignerdranch.com/Book/
That is an online guide or tutor for Hilleglass: Cocoa Programming For Mac OS X - if you have a search in Amazon.com (or Amazon.co.uk) you will find about 5 books about Cocoa programming. Hilleglass' is a good one, good for even beginners - furthermore the O'Reilly books (there are 2 of them for Cocoa) ae good and easy to learn.


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## Arden (Mar 28, 2003)

Cocoa is a framework for programming Objective C that uses Project Builder for the actual coding, debugging and compiling and Interface Builder for creating the UI.  The point of Cocoa is that it uses a number of standard Aqua protocols, so programs are relatively easy to design and many features of the UI carry over from one to the next.

I'd recommend a good book on Cocoa and Objective C, or if you want you can peruse Apple's own tutorials included with the developer tools (though I can't say how well you will learn programming from these).


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## loom001 (Mar 28, 2003)

So Do I really need to start with Objective C?  That sounds like where a Newbie needs to begin?  Most of the books that I am looking at seem to say you need some C background to learn Cocoa and navigate the examples in the book. Maybe ground Zero is Objective C?  If that is the case is there something like a Dummies book, but much better written?

Thanks


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## loom001 (Mar 29, 2003)

Since this has not been a hot topic, here is what I decided to do.  Not recommending this just sharing.  I went out an purchased from Barns and Nobel Learning Cocoa with Objective-C.  By James Duncan Davidson ISBN 0-596-00301-3.  Was recommend by several people on amazon, and BN.

Amazon Learning Cocoa with Objective-C 

BN Learning Cocoa with Objective-C


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## cbaron (Apr 1, 2003)

Well... For a real newbie, you may start with programming the command line in C, learn something about Object Oriented Programming, and then move to Cocoa/Objective-C. In fact, you won't go far without any knowledge on these.

I may suggest some good tutorials sites such as CocoaDevCentral.com , Project Omega or O'Reilly Mac Dev Center.

Good luck


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## loom001 (Apr 1, 2003)

Thanks for the links they have been helpful!


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## G4Mystic400 (Apr 17, 2003)

I've been jumping around several languages in school, and I found that once I took an advanced learning C++ class everything came together. I highly recomend C++ above all over languages when learning Objective-C! It was a lot easier for me to understand the heap and memory management in Objective-C after doing it in C++. And once you've gotten both languages in, you can meddle around in Objective-C++ which is the mixture between the two (very fun!).

-James


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## loom001 (Apr 23, 2003)

yeah that is the route that I am going.  I am going to tackle C++ first and then move on to other things.  Looks like C++ will give me a good fondation for alot of other things.  Thanks for the info!


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