Cocoa in a Nutshell

emmastory writes "The Nutshell series includes some of the most well-worn and useful technical books I own, and Cocoa in a Nutshell is one of the newer Mac-related additions to the collection. If you're familiar with the format of the series, probably the biggest question you'll have is whether or not this book is as good as the other Nutshell handbooks - the short answer is Yes, it's just as good as its predecessors." Read on to see the logic underlying that conclusion, in the rest of Emma's review. Cocoa in a Nutshell author Michael Beam, James Duncan Davidson pages 545 publisher O'Reilly rating 8 reviewer Emma Story ISBN 0596004621 summary A good overview of the language and API reference.

Cocoa is a great thing to learn, and if you've got some relevant experience with other languages, this book is a great way to learn it. It's one of the Apple Developer Connection recommended O'Reilly titles, and comprises a complete and thorough reference to the language that most Cocoa developers will appreciate.

I say most Cocoa developers rather than all of them because this is of course a Nutshell handbook - it's not intended to serve as a step-by-step tutorial for those without any prior Cocoa or object-oriented programming experience (for that, there's Learning Cocoa with Objective-C). Readers completely unfamiliar with the language may find the book a little bewildering, it's true. However, that's not to say you need to have already mastered the language before picking up the Nutshell book - the first part contains quite a decent introduction, and if you're already familiar with something like Java, this will probably be all you need. I have a couple of years of experience with C and Java myself, and although this was my first Cocoa book, I didn't feel lost when reading the book's first half.

Coauthor Michael Beam notes that "The 'In a Nutshell' format had always been a very efficient means of communicating information, particularly for more experienced developers. Cocoa is a very verbose and wordy API; that is, the method names are long and can have many arguments. It is often the case that a developer can be moving along in his code, and he knows what method to use, but can't remember the precise syntax. This book seeks to provide a quick way to look up that syntax." I think that's a goal it achieves admirably, and as long as readers are aware they're buying a reference and not a gentle introduction to programming, they won't be disappointed.

It's primarily the second half of the book that serves as a complement to Apple's documentation for the Foundation and AppKit classes. Apple's Cocoa site is better than it used to be, and it does include a basic API Reference along the line's of Sun's site for the Java API - you can use it for the kind of syntax-checking Beam is talking about, and many developers do just that. If you're already in the habit of looking things up on the Apple site, the API documentation in this book won't change your life. I prefer it to the web version, partially because there's slightly more explanation of the various classes, but not everyone will feel the same way.

So, who should buy this book? The intended audience is pretty much the same as that of the other programming-related Nutshell books. If you're completely new to programming, don't bother. You'll be much better off starting with something that assumes no knowledge of programming concepts and skills. On the other hand, if you're an experienced Cocoa developer who'd rather use Apple's Cocoa site than shell out for a book, there's really no reason to do so. But plenty of people don't fall into either of these categories. If you've got some OOP experience, and especially if you've already fumbled your way through a little bit of Cocoa but would like to learn more, you'll find the overview section very useful and the reference section convenient. (It's probably also worth noting that, at least at the moment, Amazon is offering Cocoa in a Nutshell for $15.98, down from $39.95. Even if you're not totally convinced it's worth forty bucks, it's definitely worth sixteen.)

You can also purchase Cocoa in a Nutshell from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page

Comments

What the hell?

[ajlitt]

Everyone knows the proper woodcut to put on the cover is a coconut, not some stupid dog.

Re:What the hell?

[bigcreek]

You do know that cocoa doesn't come from a coconut, don't you?

Re:What the hell?

[Anonymous Coward]

Ugh!

I bet next you'll say that peanuts don't come from peas, eh Mr. Smartypants?

Re:What the hell?

[Gzip Christ]

Everyone knows the proper woodcut to put on the cover is a coconut, not some stupid dog.

I was actually hoping this guy would make it on the cover.

Handed out free at last year's WWDC

[remahl]

O'Reilly handed out the book for free at WWDC '03 ot all attendees. (I have to question how smart it can be to hand out a book for free to such a large portion of your target population).

It looks nice, especially the part on the text system, but I can't say I've used it a lot in the year that has passed.

Re:Handed out free at last year's WWDC

[PCM2]

(I have to question how smart it can be to hand out a book for free to such a large portion of your target population).

O'Reilly has never been all that stingy with the freebies. It's possible that:

1. The cost of the book was partially subsidized by your WWDC '03 enrollment fees
2. O'Reilly wants to build mindshare among what remains a relatively new audience for them (Mac developers)
3. In the long term, O'Reilly expects a significant portion of its business to come from the Safari service, rather than dead-tree editions.

Re:Handed out free at last year's WWDC

[benwaggoner]

And you have to fill out a card with your contact info to get the book, and O'Reilly catalogs start showing up at your address a few weeks later.

They're good catalogs - I don't mind.

The API is pretty well documented

[Mrs. Grundy]

I've flipped through the Cocoa nutshell book at the store. Personally, I didn't think it was worth it simply because the documentation and help browser are so nice in XCode. I mean you can option click or command click on a method or class and it takes you right there. What would be really nice is a book of cocoa design patterns and in-depth looks at some of the more confusing classes rather than a listing of classes and methods with little explanation.

Re:The API is pretty well documented

[dasmegabyte]

Well, when you're dealing with a 1024x768 display on a 600 MHz iBook, it's nice to have an external reference. JavaDocs are pretty good too, but my "Java in a Nutshell" series (including JFC in a nutshell and java enterprise in a nutshell) books are indispensible, despite each weighing more than the computer itself!

And vice versa ...

[BabyDave]

FYI, Amazon also sell nuts in a cocoa shell.

Also try Learning Cocoa, an updated NeXT book

[green pizza]

The Nutshell books make for great reference material, but developers new to the NeXT / Mac OS X world would be better served by ORA's other book, Learning Cocoa. I paged thru this book a few weeks ago at a Barnes and Noble... the book is an updated version of the getting started guide NeXT published years ago... I highly recommended the original back then and still think it's a great way to learn NS / Cocoa as well as Objective C.

Re:Also try Learning Cocoa, an updated NeXT book

[fsmunoz]

Very true; I actually learnt the OpenStep API by using that NeXT book you mention and some GNUstep tutorials. My Obj-C experience is only on GNUstep (not Cocoa), but the information needed is the same.

On that note my next buy will be Programming in Objective-C; the reviews seem to indicate that it's a good book *and* ina rather unusual fashion as examples for both Cocoa and GNUstep.

Re:Also try Learning Cocoa, an updated NeXT book

[Dylan Zimmerman]

I would think that people entirely new to Objective-C and Cocoa would be best served by Cocoa Programming For Mac OS X, which was written by Aaron Hillegass. Hillegass worked at NeXT back when Cocoa was still called OpenStep and he went to Apple when they bought NeXT to teach the Apple developers about it. He wrote the first course on OpenStep programming and he's the founder of Big Nerd Ranch, arguably the best place for Cocoa classes.

It's a very good book. In it, he goes through everything from building a basic console app through building a simple editor for SGML.

Cocoa developers best friend

[Juanvaldes]

AppKiDo It parses the cocoa docs installed by XCode for quick easy access.

If you're doing a small Cocoa app...

[tcopeland]

...you might want to look at the RubyCocoa Objective C bridge.

For example, here's a script (from the RubyCocoa home page) that plays the system sounds:

require 'osx/cocoa'
snd_files =`ls /System/Library/Sounds/*.aiff`.split
snd_files.ea ch do |path|
snd = OSX::NSSound.alloc.
initWithContentsOfFile_byReference (path, true)
snd.play
sleep 0.5
end

Although he probably could have use Dir.glob rather than parsing the output of ls, but, anyhow...

Re:If you're doing a small Cocoa app...

[zephc]

and for Python users out there, here's the very capable PyObjC.

Might be worth waiting

[YouHaveSnail]

It's probably also worth noting that, at least at the moment, Amazon is offering Cocoa in a Nutshell for $15.98, down from $39.95.

That's probably a good indication that a new edition is on its way. Like most other frameworks, Cocoa is constantly growing. Apple recently added the controller layer and key value binding to support it. These things are important, but they aren't mentioned in the Nutshell book right now. $16 isn't a bad deal for a slightly out of date edition, IMO, but if you want a complete reference, wait a month or two. WWDC is coming up, and I would be surprised if O'Reilly didn't update this volume then.

Besides, if you're using Xcode, or even if you're not, you hardly need a paper reference to Cocoa. Xcode's code completion feature really helps jog your memory, and full documentation for all the classes is just a click or two away.

It's good marketing.

[ArsSineArtificio]

I have to question how smart it can be to hand out a book for free to such a large portion of your target population

It's pretty smart. O'Reilly aren't banking on the WWDC attendees only ever buying this one of their books. But they are banking on them being interested in this one, and from that gaining a favorable impression of them and their products.

O'Reilly Upgrades

[Colol]

Don't forget O'Reilly offers upgrades to their books. If you absolutely must have Cocoa in a Nutshell now, snag it from Amazon and then send in your title page and $27.97 when the new edition arrives. Cheaper than buying the old edition at full price and then upgrading to the newer.

If you can wait, of course, you'll get it cheapest of all.

Re:Might be worth waiting; where to look

[David Hume]

That's probably a good indication that a new edition is on its way. Like most other frameworks, Cocoa is constantly growing. Apple recently added the controller layer and key value binding to support it. These things are important, but they aren't mentioned in the Nutshell book right now. $16 isn't a bad deal for a slightly out of date edition, IMO, but if you want a complete reference, wait a month or two. WWDC is coming up, and I would be surprised if O'Reilly didn't update this volume then.

Well, there is no new edition of Cocoa in a Nutshell listed on the O'Reilly New and Upcoming Titles Page. Then again, the upcoming titles list only goes through June. Perhaps we can expect the new edition in July. ;) If you are interested in the book, it might be a good idea to keep an eye on this page.

problem with cocoa books

[OmniVector]

how can you properly use a language without understand what makes the language fundamentally different from others? each language has it's own set of useful features that make certain design patterns obsolete or easier. none of them cover the CORE of cocoa! obj-c. they all do a half-assed job in my opinion, so i bought and read a book just on objective-c. i highly recommend Programming in Objective-C by Stephen Kochan. I've written a large tutorial on the objective-c language by itself based off of many of his examples, and have provided links to other objective-c tutorials and cocoa/obj-c books at the bottom of the page.

Cocoa - GNUStep

[Moderation abuser]

For anyone interested, GNUStep implements the Cocoa API.

http://www.gnustep.org/

Look online instead

[akuzi]

There is nothing in this book that isn't on the developer cd documentation or online.

'Cocoa in a nutshell' contains a short introductory chapter on Obj-C, one on the Foundation library, one on App-Kit, one on Quartz and a few others, they're okay but not great.

If you want to learn Obj-C you'd be better of reading:

http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Cocoa/C on ceptual/ObjectiveC/

After that the rest of the book is a big Javadoc-style API reference to all of Cocoa.

If you really need it in dead-tree form then maybe it's useful, but otherwise look at:

http://developer.apple.com/referencelibrary/Coco a