Cocoa Programming: A Quick-Start Guide for Developers (Pragmatic Programmers)

✍ Scribed by Daniel H. Steinberg

• Publisher: Pragmatic Bookshelf
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 454
• Series: Pragmatic Programmers
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

As a web developer, I was a little worried about picking up a compiled language to add to my toolbelt, since the paradigm is so much different from the normal scripting and object oriented programming I'm used to, but so far "Cocoa Programming: A quick start guide for developers" has been an excellent introduction. I am a big fan of PragProg books in general and this book is no exception. Written in a clear and conversation tone, this book is helping me get up to speed with the Cocoa framework from the very practical point-of-view of the XCode/InterfaceBuilder workflow and introducing Objective-C concepts in a way that is illuminating and not intimidating.

Its not a deep resource manual, there are other books that do that, but if you're looking to see what is like to build OS X applications, this is a great first step.

✦ Table of Contents

Contents......Page 7
Moving In......Page 15
Learning the Language......Page 18
Installing the Tools......Page 19
Exploring the Frameworks......Page 20
In This Book......Page 21
Using What's There......Page 24
Creating Your Project in Xcode......Page 25
Creating the Appearance with Interface Builder......Page 26
Testing the Interface with the Cocoa Simulator......Page 31
Finishing the Interface......Page 33
Wiring Up the Components......Page 35
Fixing the Build......Page 39
Sharing Your Browser......Page 41
Exercise: Rinse and Repeat......Page 42
The Nib File......Page 43
Sending Messages Without Arguments......Page 48
Reading the Docs......Page 50
Methods with Arguments......Page 53
Dynamic Binding......Page 56
Problems Sending Messages......Page 57
Links Back to Yourself......Page 58
Exercise: Multiple Connections......Page 59
Creating ``Hello, World!''......Page 62
Logging Output to the Console......Page 63
Using an Existing Class......Page 66
Refactoring Code......Page 69
Creating a New Class......Page 72
Creating and Using a Class Method......Page 75
Creating a New Object......Page 76
Further Refactoring......Page 78
Initializing Your Objects......Page 79
Logging Objects......Page 82
Exercise: Other Initializations......Page 83
Solution: Other Initializations......Page 84
Instance Variables and Properties......Page 86
Pointers......Page 87
Working with Nonobject Types......Page 88
Getters and Setters......Page 89
Converting the Accessors to Properties......Page 92
Dot Notation......Page 93
Property Attributes......Page 96
Exercise: Adding Properties......Page 98
Solution: Adding Properties......Page 99
Removing Instance Variables......Page 100
Memory......Page 102
Reference Counting......Page 103
Finding Leaks with the Clang Static Analyzer......Page 104
Fixing the Memory Leak on Mac OS X......Page 106
Properties and Garbage Collection......Page 107
Creating a Flashlight......Page 109
Finding Leaks in Instruments......Page 111
Fixing the Memory Leak on the iPhone......Page 112
Using Zombies......Page 113
Cleaning Up in dealloc......Page 115
Retain and Release in a Setter......Page 116
The Autorelease Pool......Page 117
Using Convenience Constructors......Page 120
Exercise: Creating and Using a Convenience Constructor......Page 121
Solution: Creating and Using a Convenience Constructor......Page 122
Outlets and Actions......Page 124
Using an Outlet......Page 125
Exercise: Creating and Using an Outlet......Page 128
Solution: Creating and Using an Outlet......Page 129
Declaring an Action......Page 130
Connecting and Implementing the Action......Page 133
Solution: Hiding the Button......Page 135
Solution: Toggling the Interface......Page 136
Introducing Another Outlet......Page 137
Creating Selectors from Strings......Page 139
How We've Created Objects......Page 141
Creating Our Controller Class......Page 143
Creating an Instance of Our Controller in IB......Page 144
Declaring an Outlet and an Action......Page 146
Forward Declaration......Page 149
Exercise: Finishing the Controller......Page 150
Solution: Finishing the Controller......Page 151
Awake from Nib......Page 152
Disabling and Enabling the Buttons......Page 153
Still Needs Work......Page 156
Understanding Delegates......Page 158
Turning the Background Red......Page 162
Application Delegate......Page 165
Delegates for Your Web View......Page 166
Setting the Window Title......Page 167
Exercise: Updating the URL and Setting Buttons......Page 169
Cleaning Up......Page 170
Solution: Adding a Progress Indicator......Page 173
Creating the iPhone Project......Page 175
Creating the Look of Our Browser......Page 177
The WebView's Limitations......Page 178
Loading a Web Page at Launch......Page 179
Tweaking the Text Field in IB......Page 181
Using the Text Field Delegate......Page 183
Using a Third Delegate to Implement the Buttons......Page 184
Exercise: Adding an Activity Indicator......Page 185
Solution: Adding an Activity Indicator......Page 186
Organizing with Pragma Marks......Page 188
Posting and Listening for Notifications......Page 191
Solution: Creating a Model......Page 192
Registering for Notifications......Page 194
Responding to Workspace Activity......Page 195
Holding on to the Controller......Page 197
Solution: Registering for Notifications......Page 198
Posting Notifications......Page 199
Solution: Receiving the Custom Notifications......Page 201
Creating Protocols for Delegation......Page 203
Solution: Creating and Setting the Delegate......Page 204
Creating and Using a Protocol......Page 205
Requiring Methods......Page 207
Exercise: Calling the Delegate Methods......Page 208
Solution: Cleaning Up......Page 209
Looking at the User Info......Page 213
Reading from a Dictionary......Page 214
Solution: Displaying the Name......Page 215
Reducing Redundancy......Page 216
Adding and Removing Entries with a Mutable Dictionary......Page 218
Exercise: Adding an Icon......Page 221
Solution: Adding an Icon......Page 223
Methods, Objects, and Nibs......Page 227
Splitting Nibs......Page 229
Preparing to Split Out the View......Page 231
Creating the View Nib......Page 232
Integrating a Nib File......Page 233
The File's Owner......Page 235
Exercise: Loading the View......Page 236
Creating the Window Nib......Page 237
Loading the Window Nib......Page 239
Exercise: Connecting the View and the Model......Page 240
Solution: Connecting the View and the Model......Page 241
Creating a Custom View......Page 243
Drawing Shapes into a Custom View......Page 245
Solution: Changing the Stroke Color......Page 248
Drawing Images......Page 250
Drawing Text......Page 252
Tables and Data Sources......Page 256
Exercise: Implementing a Basic Data Source......Page 259
Solution: Implementing a Basic Data Source......Page 260
Exercise: Introducing a Data Source......Page 261
Solution: Introducing a Data Source......Page 262
Filling Cells Based on Table Column Titles......Page 263
Table Column Identifiers as Keys......Page 265
Exercise: Adding and Removing Rows......Page 266
Solution: Adding and Removing Rows......Page 267
Manually Removing Rows......Page 268
Saving in Your Running Application......Page 270
Where to Put Application Support......Page 273
Saving to a Plist......Page 274
Reading a Plist......Page 275
Saving an Archive to Disk......Page 276
Setting the Factory Defaults......Page 278
Preparing to Set User Defaults......Page 280
The Preference Window Nib......Page 281
Enabling the Preferences Window......Page 283
Working with Radio Buttons......Page 285
Adding Preferences for View at Launch......Page 287
Solution: Launching with the Right View......Page 288
Eliminating Magic Numbers......Page 290
Customizing the Menu Bar......Page 292
Moving the Main Window......Page 293
Solution: Switching Views (Mostly)......Page 294
Lazy Initialization......Page 296
Key Value Coding......Page 298
Treating Objects Like Dictionaries......Page 299
Getting Variables Using KVC......Page 301
Undefined Keys......Page 303
Solution: Setting Variables Using KVC......Page 304
KVC and Dictionaries......Page 305
Keypaths for Navigating a Class Hierarchy......Page 306
Solution: Filling Tables Using KVC......Page 309
Arrays and KVC......Page 311
Codeless Connections......Page 314
A Target-Action Counter......Page 316
Introducing an Observer......Page 318
Registering an Observer......Page 320
Making Changes Observable......Page 321
Observing the Changes......Page 323
Solution: Adding a Second Observer......Page 324
The Ugly Way to Observe More Than One Attribute......Page 325
Selecting Methods Using KVC......Page 328
Implementing an Observer Object......Page 329
Updating Dependent Variables......Page 331
Cocoa Bindings......Page 334
Creating and Connecting the NSObjectController......Page 335
Binding More Objects......Page 338
Number Formatters......Page 339
Exercise: Connecting Two Counters with Bindings......Page 341
Solution: Connecting Two Counters with Bindings......Page 342
The Model for Our Bookshelf Example......Page 344
Creating the View for the Bookshelf......Page 345
Binding with the NSArrayController......Page 346
The Big Finish......Page 349
Core Data......Page 350
Entities and Attributes......Page 351
Using the Core Data Widget......Page 352
The Managed Object Context......Page 354
The Persistence Layer......Page 356
Introducing Relationships......Page 358
Choosing a Relationship's Delete Rule......Page 360
Updating the View......Page 361
Managing Dependencies......Page 362
Sorting......Page 363
Filtering Items......Page 365
Coding the Sort Descriptor......Page 366
Overcoming Limitations......Page 368
Creating a Category......Page 369
Category Cautions......Page 371
Private Methods in Class Extensions......Page 372
Solution: Extending Properties with Class Extensions......Page 375
Categories and Core Data......Page 376
Generated Classes in Core Data......Page 378
Accessing Properties......Page 379
Regenerating Class Files from Entities......Page 380
Blocks......Page 383
The Need for Blocks in Wrappers......Page 384
Declaring a Block......Page 385
Using Blocks in Wrappers......Page 386
Capturing Values......Page 387
Blocks and Collections......Page 389
Declaring, Defining, and Using Blocks......Page 390
Using __block......Page 392
Cleaning Up with typedef......Page 393
Exercise: Using Blocks in Callbacks......Page 394
Solution: Using Blocks in Callbacks......Page 396
Making the Beach Ball Spin......Page 398
Invocation Operations......Page 400
Block Operations......Page 402
Interacting with the Queue and Operations......Page 403
Custom NSOperations......Page 406
From Operation Queues to Dispatch Queues......Page 408
When to Use Dispatch Queues......Page 412
Quick Queue Overview......Page 414
Drawing Our Fractal......Page 415
Working Without Dispatch Queues......Page 416
The Main Queue......Page 418
Global Concurrent Queues......Page 419
Synchronizing on the Main Queue......Page 420
Private Dispatch Queues......Page 421
Synchronous Tasks......Page 422
But What About.........Page 426
What's Next......Page 427
Acknowledgments......Page 428
Dedication......Page 429
Bibliography......Page 431
A......Page 434
C......Page 435
D......Page 437
E......Page 438
I......Page 439
L......Page 440
M......Page 441
N......Page 442
O......Page 443
P......Page 444
R......Page 445
S......Page 446
V......Page 447
Y......Page 448
Z......Page 449