macOS Book Recommendation: Xcode Unleashed vs. Hillegass 3rd ed

[droidix]

Complete newbie to the forum here. I would like to get into some Cocoa programming again and have the two following books:

• Core Mac OS X and Unix Programming (1st edition to the later Advanced OS X Programming)
• Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X (2nd edition)

I am planning on getting a new book to jumpstart my endeavor and was wondering if anyone thought the changes from the 2nd edition to the 3rd edition of Hillegass's book would merit picking it over this other highly rated book on amazon?

http://www.amazon.com/Xcode-3-Unleashed-Fritz-Anderson/dp/0321552636/

Thanks!

 

[sirjorj]

I have Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X Third Edition. This book really helped me get a feel for Cocoa development. Cocoa has one of the steepest learning curves of any development platform I've ever worked with, and the 'getting started' docs from Apple sure don't help much! I have not read any other Cocoa books so I cannot compare, but I am really impressed with this one and give it a recommendation.

jorj

 

[eviltobz]

from the first review on the linked amazon page:

As another reviewer so kindly mentioned, this book is not for those new to programming, objective-c, or object oriented development. It is Perfect for those of us with a strong background in development that are looking for a walkthrough of the Xcode development environment.

This book makes an excellent followup to Cocoa- Programming for Mac- OS X, Third edition This text moves well beyond cocoa development theory into giving readers a very visual (tons of color screenshots and diagrams) tour of the XCode environment

I'm also working through hillegass v3 at the moment and finding it to be a pretty decent book, but it seems that the xcode book is much more focussed on the IDE than the basics of programming with obj-c and cocoa, and that they are fairly complementary.

You said about getting into cocoa again. If you already had a good grip on it before then the xcode book may be your better choice, but if you'd got your toes wet then ran away screaming start with hillegass. I've got a degree in computer science and have been programming as a career on MS platforms for the last decade and I'm finding that trying to get my head into cocoa/xcode/interface builder/mvc/kvc etc is not entirely plain sailing, so unless you know that you just want to learn the ins and outs of the developer tools then start with hillegass.

 

[themoonisdown09]

I have and went through Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X Third Edition and I loved it. It's a great book to work through from start to finish even if you have experience with Cocoa programming.