Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 21-25 of 73
 Good for the most part, but some serious flaws. July 28, 2009
Scott A. Nelson (Altoona, PA United States)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Coming from a C++ background this book is pretty easy to pick up and whiz through. For the most part there is a lot of detail about specific Objective-C features however there are some serious flaws if a beginner is reading this book.
First off the books organization could use some work. The book frequently uses pointers and memory management tricks before ever getting to pointers or memory management. If someone does not have experience in this area it could be a large hurdle for them.
Second there are errors in this book code wise. Only one I spotted but in a programming book that number should be zero. (Page 227 - 228) Someone with coding experience can spot it immediately but if a beginner were looking at this they may not catch the syntax errors. (Unless its just my copy of the book that is missing the end of the add function and the beginning of the sub function).
The third thing is some of the Objective C language features and keywords could use better explaining. @property being one of them, categories being another. The author goes into good detail on most of the subjects in the book but some are lacking.
Overall it is a good book and probably the best objective C book out there. Worth picking up but some subjects covered in the book may require you to do some research.
 Excellent for Base Objective-C July 23, 2009
J. Brutto (Macungie, PA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Possibly one of the best introductory books to a language I have reviewed.
The author clearly took time in arranging the book and carefully weighing the scenarios, organization, topics, etc. covered. Written to cater to **BOTH** the novice and experienced developer (which truly amazes me) this book is a must-have for all those beginning their work with Objective-C. It covers all the basics and provides wonderful transition into the next series of books everyone will most likely look at: advanced Objective-C, iPhon/Mac GUI development, etc.
On and off the author did make it feel like he was holding your hand a little too much, but it was minimal. Even to a novice, some of the "it's OK if you're confused" sections may seem slightly too patronizing, but aren't insulting. The other thing missing is the explanation that the base command-line complication of Objective-C will work on Linux/BSD systems as well! Something key to the Mac world these days.
The book, however, is an excellent breeze-through for the advanced and a wonderful introductory guide to the language (and programming in general, for that matter) for the novice.
 Best Pathway to iPhone Development July 9, 2009
G. Ellisberg (LA, CA USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
If you are like me (and probably tens of thousands of other software developers), you are wanting in on the meritocracy that is Apple's App Store. Write the right app for the iPhone or iPod Touch and you can make decent money with little business overhead. Getting there is to climb a tall mountain of learning, though--especially if you have never coded on the Mac OS X platform before (or even in C, as was my case). Every book I have read on iPhone development requires you to know more than even I, an experienced developer on other platforms, know. If you are new to C, Objective-C, OOP, Xcode, Cocoa or a subset of these required knowledge bases, there simply is no better way to build this foundation than Kochan's book (as far as I have found, anyway).
I have been buying and reading (and then trying to apply the concepts) of programming books since 1980. I guess that I have read over 20 books on programming and development on various platforms. This book ranks as the BEST programming book I have ever used. Even for an experienced developer (albeit from the past) this book will logically step you through the C programming language, an easy-to-understand explanation of Object-Oriented concepts and programming, into the Objective-C extensions, and finally into the Cocoa and iPhone libraries and classes. Kochan eases you into each new topic without making you first confront all of the complexities of Interface Builder and linking UI elements to your code. By first using simple Xcode console output (and limited console input), you learn the underlying programming language before putting it all together with Apple's classes and interface elements. When you have to confront things like Objects, messages and the cryptic C syntax and the somewhat arcane pointers and in-your-face memory management tasks on top of the iPhone/iPod Touch interface and thousands of APIs, it is easy to be completely overwhelmed. Get there step-by-step with Kochan's book, and you will be a far more able iPhone developer with only occasional thoughts of slashing your wrists. It will take time, but your patience will pay off in a deeper understanding of how and why you build an iPhone app the way Apple requires.
A great starting point for anyone! July 3, 2009
A Vizz (USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The book is well written and informative, teaching the language under the assumption of no previous programing knowledge gives anyone a chance to learn Objective-C. Though those with previous programing knowledge even a little may have a bit of a head start and may want to just skim the first couple chapters.
I read the book with some prior, minor, knowledge of C++ so it helped a bit. I also plan on reading the book a 2nd time to gain a better grasp of the language.
As some said there is a few typos but none of which really inhibit the learning process. The writer of the book is very active in his own forums always out to help anyone in need of assistance, and has helped me a few times. Also all the answers (to the exercises) and programing examples are available on his forum as well which is a nice added bonus.
All in all I would suggest this book to anyone looking to learn Objective-C
Excellent book for beginners! June 28, 2009
Smooth Shaver (Orlando, FL)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I purchased several other books on programming iPhone applications and they all assumed knowledge of C and object oriented programming. This book explains EVERYTHING so that a beginner can understand.
Showing reviews 21-25 of 73
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