Rating: 
Summary: Better than the O'Reilly Cocoa books
Review: After tediously working through two O'Reilly books on Cocoa programming, I bought this book based on review recommendations. I was confused through both O'Reilly books, but Hillegass finally made sense, plus there aren't nearly the number of programming errors (half of my time with the O'Reilly books was spent on the errata pages and looking at the downloaded corrected programs to change the book examples so they would work). This book is solid, and made me feel like I was accomplishing learning throughout the book. Hillegass uses great analogies, informative history tidbits, and well thought out examples. Additionally, he puts in programming challenges at the end of many chapters that give the student a new goal to use information learned in the chapter. In short, Hillegass is a great TEACHER, a qualification often lacking in other programming books.
Rating: 
Summary: this book is pretty good, but...
Review: here's what i discovered while i was trying to learn Cocoa: this book, by itself, was not sufficient for me to really "get off the ground" with Cocoa. Now, don't get me wrong, this really is a good book and, in most areas, Mr. Hillegass explains the material quite well. my problem was that after i had worked --perhaps struggled would be a better description -- through the first 4 chapters of the book i was still left feeling somewhat confused about how to go about writing a Cocoa progam. for some reason things just weren't "clicking" as well as i thought they should be.not being the quitting type, i began to search for other books on Cocoa programming. i purchased the O'Reilly book "Learning Cocoa With Objective-C", second edition. after reading a few chapters in the O'Reilly book, then going back and re-reading the material in Mr. Hillegass' book, things began to click. since that time, the approach has proven the most useful for me is to read the O'Reilly book until i get stuck on a particular topic, then cross-reference with Mr. Hillegass' book in order to get a different perspective/explanation. in addition, working through *all* of the examples in both books has proven tremendously helpful. if i had my way, i'd combine the material from both books into a single book. :) in summary, if you buy this book and find that you are having trouble grasping the concepts, try purchasing the "Learning Cocoa with Objective-C" -- make sure to get the 2nd edition -- and see if getting a different perspective/explanation works for you.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent tutorial introduction to Cocoa.
Review: This book is an excellent introduction to Cocoa. It is basically what "Learning Cocoa" should have been. It is clearly not the only Cocoa book that you will want, but it will get you to the point that you can read and use other sources. The examples are well chosen and build up incrementally, so you can clearly see that code that is associated with new features as you add them. The book does get to full-up applications, but only simple ones. In this sense, I think this book joins nicely with "Cocoa Programming" or "Building Cocoa Applications". This book does the introductory and tutorial build up better than the other books, I think, although in less detail, and then you can go on to more elaborate applications elsewhere. The book presumes knowledge of C and the rudiments of object-oriented programming. You can get this as go, from Apple's "The Objective C Programming Language" but you'll need to go slower and be prepared for some puzzles along the way. Also, you really need only minimal knowledge of C, mainly understanding of pointers, to work through the examples in the book. There are a few weaknesses in the book. The description of the tools, Interface Builder and Project Builder, is sparse, and the book is now a bit out of date with the current incarnation of the tools that Apple is actually shipping. The differences are minor, but can sometimes be perplexing for beginners. Also, the tools (IB in particular) can be set up in various window "modes" that totally change the layout of parts of the tool. This isn't mentioned here, or in any other Cocoa book I've seen. These however, are minor quibbles in an excellent introduction to Cocoa programming. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to start programming under Mac OS X.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Introduction
Review: Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X is a GREAT way to learn the basics of programming Mac OS X! I've been a Mac user since 1988, but have always been terrified of programming it. Instead I'd gone the evil route and programmed Delphi for Windows. NO MORE. I'm excited about programming my Macs! THE BAD
The title is probably a misnomer, which is causing a lot of the negative feedback here. "Complete Introduction to the Power Of Cocoa" would have been more appropriate. This book isn't any type of reference book. Nor is it a text on programming philosophy. Nor is it a "Learn Objective-C" manual. And it's not a comprehensive "learn everything about Cocoa" book. My positive remarks about these perceived liabilities are in "THE GOOD" paragraphs below. There ARE some typos in the book, but no real errors in the code that I've discovered. In many chapters, you're adding to a program you've built from an earlier chapter. On two or three occasions, variable names in the "new" chapter are different from the "old" chapter. But when doing the build, it became quite obvious and wasn't really much of an impediment -- if you can't follow the program flow and detect the problem by time you reach these chapters, you probably rushed or shouldn't be programming! Still, though, it IS a legitimate "bug" in the book. It's probaby useful that you know something about object-oriented programming. I don't mean knowing C or C++ or Objective-C -- just know a little about object-oriented concepts. Chances are, if you're a modern programmer, you already know enough to make this "bad" point meaningless. If you're a very advanced object-oriented programmer, you may want to FORGET some of what you know to appreciate the pure simplicity of the Objective-C/Cocoa object model! THE GOOD
It's an in-depth introduction to programming Cocoa in Objective-C. It will get you excited. It will spark your imagination as you work through the example code. You will want to learn Cocoa and forget everything else. If you know programming in general, you probably DON'T need to know C or C++ or even Objective-C prior to working with this book. I came to it with an Object Pascal background with no working knowledge of C. If you can THINK then you can pick up Objective-C as you work through the book. It's REALLY very simple, even in comparison to Object Pascal. The book is very well supported on the website. There's even a page-search function with errata and user-feedback in case you get in trouble. I've used it for help with a couple of the chapter "challenges." RECOMMENDATIIONS
Buy this book, and work through it, and try the challenges. You'll often HAVE TO work through the Cocoa documentation to do the challenges, but this is good because you'll need to learn how to use the documentation to do any serious work. When you're done with the book, you'll be confident and thrilled, and be ready to buy a true reference book (which I'm just getting ready to do!).
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Summary: Getting started in Cocoa
Review: First, I have to say I loved this book, I actually read half of it on a trip, not being in front of my computer, and still enjoyed the clear style and the gradual addition of new concepts and tools, chapter after chapter. Then I could hardly wait to be back home and start doing it for real. Now for the potential buyer. WHAT IT IS NOT: a reference book (no list of classes etc...) or a technical book for advanced programming; a book about Java or Carbon; an introduction to object-oriented programming; an introduction to C. WHAT IT IS: an excellent introduction to programming in Objective C in the Cocoa environment of Max OS X, provided you know enough about
object-oriented programming (some basic understanding of C++ is preferable too). WHAT YOU LEARN: Objective-C in Cocoa; using Apple Developer Tools; building an application in Mac OS X; how to make optimal use of Cocoa classes and API, knowing how they were conceived and meant to be used; a number of basic concepts and tips that really get you started. THE PLUS that make this book so interesting: very good and clear writing; some amusing brief 'historical' insights; you really feel the author knows what he is talking about; the author gives personal views (clearly stated as advices, not rules); follow-up, errata, examples, comments, and more on his web site; still completely useable with OS X.2 (a couple or very minor changes that are listed on the web site anyway), so that's the good time to buy it (price is down, but content is still up to date). Final comment: Objective C in Max OS X is very powerful and enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: A valuable addition to your programming bookshelf
Review: An essential book if you are serious about programming on OS X. If you already possess a background in Objective-C and wish to demystify Cocoa, this book is for you. The author's style and delivery are very clear and the explanations and examples are well thought out. Hillegass' experience as a teacher shows in this book and it is obvious he has tested and refined this text in a real classroom situation. I'm looking forward to an Advanced Cocoa Programming for OS X book in the near future.
Rating:
Summary: The most illuminating book on Cocoa
Review: I already understood object-oriented programming and was eager to learn about Cocoa. I read this book and the O'Reilly books. "Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X" was clearly the best. Judging from the Cocoa mailing lists, everyone seems to agree that this is the best place to start with Cocoa programming. I was worried that it might not be ready for Mac OS 10.2. A few of the screenshot are clearly dated, but overall the book is completely 10.2-compatible. Also, there was extra information at the Big Nerd Ranch website to ensure that I had no problems using the book with Mac OS 10.2. I like the clear, readable style, and I thought the material covered was truly useful. I actually emailed the author, and I found him quite pleasant and helpful. I hope he writes an advanced book.
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Summary: The one to get
Review: Absolutely great programming book for learning Cocoa. In my opinion, this book is much better than the one written by Apple. The examples are easy to follow; the text is well written and entertaining in places; the figures and illustrations are clear and add to the text; the general layout and formating is attractive; the supporting web site includes errata. All in all, Apple should give Hillegass an award or something for his contributions to the Cocoa cause. I hope he follows up with "Advanced Cocoa Programming".
Rating: 
Summary: Skimps on details
Review: If I could I would have given this book zero stars, but at least the publisher used recycled paper. The author briefly covers Objective-C, but doesn't delve very well into the differences between Objective-C and C/C++, Java or for that matter SmallTalk (on whose syntax Objective-C is based). That is my biggest gripe. Objective-C is C in name only. There was no discussion of the pitfalls of Objective-C. I had to dig on the net to find out you can't create Objective-C objects on the stack. I would be reading the book and be thinking about how I would solve a particular problem in a different language, and there would be no discussion along those lines. You can program in Java to create a Cocoa app, and Apple provides its tutorial to get a programmer going, but the author actually tries to dissuage his readers from using Java. It doesn't even serve as any sort of proper Cocoa API reference. I guess I'll just stick with Apple's documentation.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous for anyone with less-than-recent experience
Review: I came into this book from the standpoint of a long time ago having done some degree of programming in Java and a larger degree in C and other languages, carrying a basic understanding of object oriented programming, never having done Mac development. I'm 1/3 through this book and am finding it just about perfect. From little things like a quick reminder of what @ means in C (yes, it has been a while), to very good work-through examples and effective textbook-style 'challenges' at the end of each chapter. This book is far superior to 'Learning Cocoa'. Buy it.
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