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macOS Buy Objective-C book now?

E

ELBdelorean

macrumors member
Original poster
May 18, 2010
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After researching around, I've pretty much noticed that Programming in Objective-C by Stephen Kochan seems to be consistent in book recommendations to learn Obj-C. I am wondering whether or not to buy this book now. Amazon says that the third edition will be available in April of 2011. Will there really be that much of a difference in the new edition? Thanks in advance.
 
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I just can't imagine what he would be including now that wasn't available at the time.

Second edition brought about dot syntax @selector's but nothing really new in the language has developed since then. Hell, Second edition even has a section on iPhone (making a simple iphone app).

EDIT: I could sell you mine for $20 if you're interested.
 
Note the book was originally intended for release in February and has been pushed back, it may yet get pushed back some more as the author mentioned on his site that he just completed a coast-to-coast relocation.

Don't count on the April release date.

B
 
Since it is up to date on the language, maybe it's just fixes for erratas and some reworked examples. There is a chapter on writing code for the iphone that may get updated. The current version should serve you well. I would think anything that would get updated you could pick up from apple documentation pretty easily after working through this book.

I personally like the book at the current edition.
 
I think the third edition will have a solid release date when Xcode 4 comes out, so I'll probably just get this edition. Thanks guys :)
 
Why don't you email the author and ask him what's new in the 3rd edition? I wrote Aaron Hillegass of Big Nerd Ranch once and he wrote right back.

Oh, and then let us know what he says. :)
 
XCode 4

The big difference will almost certainly be that he will rework all the examples using XCode 4(which unifies Interface Builder with the code) and probably the usual upgrades and whatnot.

Though the fact that he pushed the publication back to April probably tells you something about the official release of XCode 4. Technically everyone that downloaded the beta version of XCode 4 is under an NDA not to talk about it, which pretty much would preclude publishing a book on it before the official version is released.

If you are just absolutely dying to jump into iPhone/mac coding then buy it now, otherwise wait. 99% of what its the current version will be applicable to the future version.
 
Xcode 4 makes sense, but the current book doesn't focus THAT much on Xcode. But I can certainly see it needing some revisions in that regard.
 
According to Kochan's comment, the new edition was mostly spurred by the additions of blocks(?) to the Objective-C language. His post explains that changes required due Xcode changes are covered in his forum.
 
The reason I wanted this book is because I have the Big Nerd Ranch Guide to iPhone programming and it recommends this book if you do not know Objective-C/C.
 
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Okay, so the third edition was in fact partly delayed because of XCode 4's release. The other delay was caused by me!

The book will be out next month (end of June is the target). I just reviewed the final pages, so the release date this time is for real!

Just as an FYI, here are the main changes made to the third edition:

1. Slight reorganization of some chapters
2. Incorporation of feedback from forum members. For example, a more detailed description of some of the examples.
3. An introduction to blocks with examples
4. Replacement of deprecated methods with newer methods
5. Updated diagrams and steps for using XCode 4.

Cheers,

Steve Kochan
 
skochan said:
The book will be out next month (end of June is the target). I just reviewed the final pages, so the release date this time is for real!
Click to expand...

Glad to hear it! I have the second edition as an eBook from BN and my paper copy of the third has been on pre-order from Amazon for months now.

B
 
skochan said:
The book will be out next month (end of June is the target). I just reviewed the final pages, so the release date this time is for real!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info and a great book.
I bought the 2nd Ed. e-book a couple of months ago to use till your 3rd was available. Well worth the money. Can't wait for the 3rd. Sounds like some good additions.
Again, thanks.
 
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