Programming Resource: NeXTSTEP 3.0 Programming Textbook

[Cory5412]

This isn't directly related to Classic Mac OS, but I figured that it seems like there's a fair amount of cross-over between NeXT-interested and Mac-interested people.

In looking for something being discussed on an IRC, I found (or re-found) this book, which is essentially a college textbook style tutorial on Objective C programming. It's less than $20 and probably worth the money if you want to get into OS X or *STEP programming and are starting from ground zero.

However, I also found that the author has made it available online (PDF, almost 5M).

I may have to find some of my installation stuff and get the development tools on my SparcStation Voyager and work through some of the tutorials. It also appears that old issues of NeXTWorld are available on his site.

 

[IPalindromeI]

Haha, what a name - he's Simon AND Garfunkel! He also wrote the Unix Haters' Handbook, the prime choice of outdated rants on Unix.

 

[CC_333]

Must be a huge S&G fan.

One of my favorite Paul Simon songs is The Sounds of Silence (the less well-known acoustic version from their debut album, Wednesday Morning, 3 A. M.).

Anyway, I will take a peek at that book and download the PDF. I've wanted to program for while now, but for some reason I find it difficult to get started, so I haven't really bothered (taking a programming class from a lousy instructor didn't help).

c

 

[IPalindromeI]

I really don't recommend Objective-C. It's a hybrid of C and Smalltalk, and that gives you the burdens of both. Swift is actually really nice and Apple is backing it with full force. If you want something more universal, C#, JavaScript, and Python are all safe horses to bet on.

 

[Cory5412]

Apple has a good "book" on Swift online and also from the iTunes Book Store which is probably what I'd start with if you don't have any NeXT stuff. It might be good to look through both, especially because the Garfinkel/Mahoney book is from when object-oriented programming was still fairly new.

C# has always been earlier for me personally, I don't have any book recommendations for that off the top of my head.