Objective C book for experienced programmers

From a pure Objective-C language point of view an experienced programmer can probably learn very effectively from the free PDF on the Apple website.

Note that the language and the frameworks used to build applications are separate (unlike say Java). Once you understand the language you have the arguably bigger task of learning Cocoa or Cocoa Touch.

 

I would read the linked .pdf, and then skip to the 2nd half of the Kochan book. It deals with the foundation framework.

 

Also check out the document by
Pierre Chatelier which offers an introduction to Objective-C for people versed in C++.

 

If you want a book, this had some useful tips. But Apple's documentation is more than sufficient.

http://www.amazon.com/Xcode-3-Unlea...=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278582661&sr=8-2

 

Possible help with XCode/Objective C

O'Reilly has a fairly recent book out by Scott Stevenson, "Cocoa and Objective C Up and Running". I got an electronic version cheap ($10) during a sudden O'Reilly sale and am working though it slowly. Though a neophyte can pick it up, it seems to be geared toward people who have at least some knowledge of programming (doesn't matter what language; he teaches the rudiments of C as he goes.)

Generally the "animal cover" books by O'Reilly are quite good. So far this seems like a good purchase. Check Amazon for the most recent reviews.

 

I'm not sure why you say "unlike Java". The Java language and Java libraries are two separate things, just like with Obj-C. The only exceptions to that are a handful (literally) of classes and interfaces with special language support. Those classes are:

Object
String
StringBuilder
Throwable
Iterable
Array

Obj-C also has similar builtin language support for NSString (@"" syntax), NSFastEnumeration (for (item in collection) {} syntax), and NSObject (@synchronized). So the situation is pretty similar for both languages; both languages have some builtin integration with a few library classes, but for the most part the library is independent of the language.

A better example of a language with no builtin integration with its standard library is C++. Though even C++ has one exception to that rule, the typeid operator, which returns an object of type std::type_info.

I totally agree with the main point of your post though, that learning the libraries is a lot more work than learning the language itself.

 

I was in a similar position, I found it most useful to look at some examples on the web that did something similar to what I wanted to do, then at least I knew the approximate place in the documentation to look for more information. (Apple by the way probably has the best documentation Ive ever seen...)