Title:** The Mac Xcode 2 Book **Author: Dennis R. Cohen, Michael E. Cohen, Andy Ihnatko (Series Editor) Publisher:** Wiley **Release Date: June 2005 List Price:** $29.99 **ISBN: 0-7645-8411-1
*Blurb: Yours free with every Tiger ? a to-die-for package of sophisticated software development tools called Xcode. Whether you’re already immersed in software development or just considering a dip in the programming pool, Xcode lets you create applications, plug-ins, applets, utilities, extensions, and much more. And here, liberally laced with irresistible fun facts and foolishness, is a complete crash course in Xcode. You’re gonna love it. —- Better yet, from Andy Ihnatko himself:
“You have the makings of a hero, you know . . .
“This is a great time to be a Macintosh programmer. Sure, software developers have always been lionized as the true heroes of society ? their movements obsessively tracked in gossip magazines, their achievements recognized in almost obscenely extravagant red-carpet awards telecasts.
“But Apple’s own Xcode gives today’s programmers unprecedented advantages. Xcode does it all. The system that allows a curious newbie to add a few buttons and menus to an existing AppleScript is the exact same one that Apple uses to build the next version of the Macintosh operating system. Today, we’re all playing in either the deep or the shallow end of the same pool. Awesome, isn’t it?” �Andy Ihnatko —-
Amazon Link:** http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0764584111/102-7243604-9311315 **Publisher Link http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0764584111.html *Authors’ Link http://www.digitalmedievalist.com/xcode/
—-Comments—-
Yes indeedy. Read the first chapter (available online at the Wiley url above). Maybe a first: a book for computer geeks written by people who know both how to code and how to use the English language. Beats the cr%p out of those lugubrious how-to tomes churned out at O’Roughly by the truckload. Imagine: the Cohen brothers (no relation to the auteurs of such great films as *Fargo and Blood Simple) actually trust and know how to use irony to make the sometimes odious task of learning a big software system almost pleasurable. The book is, oh, two to five percent longer than it might otherwise be, so sprinkled as it is with wry witticisms, but it’s gonna be worth it.
*Who here is beyond newbie / beginner status and owns this book? I’ve been developing Cocoa apps for nearly two years, but am frequently lost in XCode’s innards and would like a much deeper understanding (because I know there are features there I could benefit from and haven’t been able to figure out yet). Is this a good book for the more experienced among us? If so, I’ll order a copy today.
This book isn’t about Cocoa, or Carbon, it’s just about Xcode 2. Why not take a look at the Amazon page, which has the Search Inside This book feature, and take a quick browse? (Medievalist/LLS) *Didn’t say it was. ;-) But if you’re going to develop Cocoa apps, you’re going to use XCode. What I meant was, is there anything in there an intermediate XCode user could read to become an advanced XCode user. Even Amazon’s information doesn’t really show this either way.
*I figured you’d go to Amazon’s page for the book, look at the Index, pick a few key terms, and use the Search Inside This book to check coverage. (Medievalist/LLS) *Dennis and Michael Cohen’s The Mac Xcode 2 Book does go into some detail about Subversion and some of the debugging tools, but really, I think the book you’re looking for is Mark Szymczyk�s new book Xcode Tools Sensei. You can read about it here: http://www.meandmark.com/xcodebook.html (Medievalist/LLS) *I’m beginning to feel odd about posting anonymously here: I’m Michael Cohen’s wife, so naturally, I know the book is brilliant and think everyone should buy a copy :) But really, it is quite good, though you do need a slightly skewed humor quotient. (Medievalist/LLS)
About the humor– just imagine if Click and Clack from NPR’s Car Talk had written a book about Xcode. That’s about the level and frequency of the humor. It’s fine when you’re idly listening to the radio on a Saturday afternoon, but personally, when I’m actually trying to *learn something, I find it distracting. Maybe it’s just because I’m a programming newbie, but when I’m reading some sort of textbook like this, my brain goes into a mode that says “read everything, and try to retain it all,” and it’s really annoying to keep having to kick myself out of learning mode to dismiss nearly every other sentence that exists merely because the writer thought it would be a funny thing to say. There’s plenty of places in a programming book, like metaphors and example programs– heck, even the choice of variable names– where humor can be inserted without becoming a distraction. Sure, I hate dry textbooks as much as the next guy, but there’s a difference between having a conversational style and trying to cram in a joke-a-minute. (M.Boszko)
*Does it cover unit tests in Xcode2?
There has been some useful discussion of unit tests on the Xcode list at Apple this past week (week of July 12, 2005), including some useful advice about getting them to work. You can search the archives at http://lists.apple.com/archives/Xcode-users
Decent book, lots of good info, but it gets lost in the CONSTANT silly humor, some humor is good, but they spend a bit too much time making jokes and not enough on organizing the guts of what you need to know. The red WROX book is better at getting you what you need to know as a reference!
This is absolutely the worst book I’ve ever encountered. It doesn’t even cover debugging. Doesn’t expalin WHY you do anything (ala the O’Reiley books) and is just dripping in the most stupid, arcane, supposed “humor” that ever existed. You can’t even get to any useful information that even might be presented because of the drivel.
Pass this up big time.
If you are really a beginner and didn’t read anything else about xcode then it will be a good starter. Nothing more. In my feelings, they will have more succes when they enhanced the book for the pro’s —-