Cocoa mail archive
Re: Guidance for Cocoa's steep learning curve
FROM : David Casseres
DATE : Thu May 22 05:59:24 2008
That's the best roadmap I've ever seen.
On May 14, 2008, at 6:19 PM, Erik Buck wrote:
>
> The obstacles, misconceptions, and prerequisite concepts that need
> to be mastered when learning Cocoa vary dramatically based on the
> past experience of the learner. I am a very experienced Cocoa
> programmer. I am also an author of the thickest Cocoa Programming
> book and have another Cocoa book due out real soon. I have some
> guidance.
>
> To relate my background, I started using NeXTstep (the precursor to
> Cocoa) that included Interface Builder and Objective-C and App Kit
> in late 1988. I had heard of object oriented programming but didn't
> "get it". I had attended a one day seminar on "C with Classes"
> which later became C++. I left the seminar no wiser than when I
> arrived. I had worked for eight years with C and a variety of
> assembly languages. I had been using Ada for a year.
>
> I became excited about NeXTstep software development, worked on many
> hobby projects, and from 1991 on I worked extensively with NeXTstep/
> Openstep/YelowBox/Cocoa as well as C++ and many other technologies.
> I founded a company in the early 90s and developed an industry
> leading application. I sold the intellectual property to a Fortune
> 500 company in 1996, and my company continued to work in the
> industry until late 2002. I am now "Senior Staff" for a different
> Fortune 500 company in a related industry.
>
> Here is my guidance based on some arbitrarily chosen categories of
> learners:
>
> === If you have never programmed before
> 1) Learn any programming language (it may seem hard, but every
> 'real' programmer knows many languages and you have to start
> somewhere)
> 2) Learn C and at least learn to recognize low level operations like
> bit manipulation, pointers, intrinsic types, pointers to pointers,
> pointers to functions, etc. Without this, you will be lost and
> dangerous when writing Cocoa programs in Objective-C.
> 3) Learn Objective-C. It takes about 1 day for an experienced C
> programmer.
> 4) Start the long process of learning the Cocoa frameworks, the C
> standard library, and some of the Unix libraries.
> 4A) Learn Cocoa conventions and common patterns. These are not
> optional. Clear understanding of the following is required to write
> graphical Cocoa applications: two stage allocation and
> initialization, designated initializers, memory management,
> selectors, dynamic messaging, accessors, the responder chain,
> delegates, target/action, data sources, archiving & unarchiving
> (e.g. freeze dried objects in .nib files), the view hierarchy, key
> and main windows, and above all the Model View Controller pattern.
> 4B) Study Apple's sample applications, work tutorials, experiment,
> and build a few hobby projects.
>
> === If you are primarily an experienced "dynamic" language
> programmer (perl, Ruby, Python, Smalltalk, TCL, etc)
> 1) Learn C and at least learn to recognize low level operations like
> bit manipulation, pointers, intrinsic types, pointers to pointers,
> pointers to functions, etc. Without this, you will be lost and
> dangerous when writing Cocoa programs in Objective-C.
> 2) Learn why C and therefore Objective C use a pre-processor with
> separate headers and separate implementation files. Come to grips
> with the edit, COMPILE, link, debug cycle.
> 3) Learn Objective-C. It takes about 1 day. You will realize the
> Objective-C is very dynamic and flexible but has its own idioms.
> 4) Start the long process of learning the Cocoa frameworks, the C
> standard library, and some of the Unix libraries.
> 4A) Learn Cocoa conventions and common patterns. Many will be
> familiar to a Smalltalk programmer. These are not optional. Clear
> understanding of the following is required to write graphical Cocoa
> applications: two stage allocation and initialization, designated
> initializers, memory management, selectors, dynamic messaging,
> accessors, the responder chain, delegates, target/action, data
> sources, archiving & unarchiving (e.g. freeze dried objects in .nib
> files), the view hierarchy, key and main windows, and above all the
> Model View Controller pattern.
> 4B) Study Apple's sample applications, work tutorials, experiment,
> and build a few hobby projects.
> 4C) If you object to Cocoa's memory management conventions, learn to
> love them because in the world of C, automatic garbage collection
> can not solve all of your problems.
>
> === If you are primarily an experienced C++ programmer (In my
> experience you will have the hardest time)
> 1) Forget everything you think you know about Object Oriented
> programming (no offense intended).
> 2) Break every ingrained C++ habit and idiom because the design
> philosophy of Objective-C and Cocoa is exactly the opposite of
> almost everything C++ encourages.
> 3) Learn Objective-C. It takes about 1 day for an experienced C
> programmer. You will realize the Objective-C is very dynamic an
> flexible. Many patterns and idioms in C++ are unneeded in Objective-
> C. Objective-C classes tend to be more high level and straight
> forward, and you tend to use fewer of them. You may feel
> disoriented without the accustomed "bondage and Discipline" [http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?BondageAndDisciplineLanguage
> ], but I strongly advise you to learn an appreciation for freedom
> and the flexibility to send any message to any object even if the
> receiver did not exist when your application was compiled and
> linked. For many, an appreciation for Cocoa's undo mechanism breaks
> the ice. (although dynamism is ubiquitous in Cocoa)
> 4) Start the long process of learning the Cocoa frameworks.
> 4A) Learn Cocoa conventions and common patterns. These are not
> optional. Clear understanding of the following is required to write
> graphical Cocoa applications: two stage allocation and
> initialization, designated initializers, memory management,
> selectors, dynamic messaging, accessors, the responder chain,
> delegates, target/action, data sources, archiving & unarchiving
> (e.g. freeze dried objects in .nib files), the view hierarchy, key
> and main windows, and above all the Model View Controller pattern.
> 4B) Study Apple's sample applications, work tutorials, experiment,
> and build a few hobby projects.
>
>
> === If you are primarily a Java programmer
> 1) Learn Objective-C. It takes about 1 day. You will realize the
> Objective-C is very dynamic and flexible. Many patterns and idioms
> in Java and C# are unneeded in Objective-C. You may feel
> disoriented without the accustomed "bondage and Discipline"[http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?BondageAndDisciplineLanguage
> ], but I strongly advise you to learn an appreciation for freedom
> and the flexibility to send any message to any object.
> 2) Start the long process of learning the Cocoa frameworks, the C
> standard library, and some of the Unix libraries.
> 2A) Learn Cocoa conventions and common patterns. These are not
> optional. Clear understanding of the following is required to write
> graphical Cocoa applications: two stage allocation and
> initialization, designated initializers, memory management,
> selectors, dynamic messaging, accessors, the responder chain,
> delegates, target/action, data sources, archiving & unarchiving
> (e.g. freeze dried objects in .nib files), the view hierarchy, key
> and main windows, and above all the Model View Controller pattern.
> 2B) Study Apple's sample applications, work tutorials, experiment,
> and build a few hobby projects.
>
>
> === All
> Once you understand in principal how all of the basic Cocoa patterns
> are implemented, learn about Key Value Observing, Bindings, Core
> Data, etc. These use advanced patterns that seem like magic until
> you have mastered the basics.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> Cocoa-dev mailing list (<email_removed>)
>
> Please do not post admin requests or moderator comments to the list.
> Contact the moderators at cocoa-dev-admins(at)lists.apple.com
>
> Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription:
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>
> This email sent to <email_removed>
DATE : Thu May 22 05:59:24 2008
That's the best roadmap I've ever seen.
On May 14, 2008, at 6:19 PM, Erik Buck wrote:
>
> The obstacles, misconceptions, and prerequisite concepts that need
> to be mastered when learning Cocoa vary dramatically based on the
> past experience of the learner. I am a very experienced Cocoa
> programmer. I am also an author of the thickest Cocoa Programming
> book and have another Cocoa book due out real soon. I have some
> guidance.
>
> To relate my background, I started using NeXTstep (the precursor to
> Cocoa) that included Interface Builder and Objective-C and App Kit
> in late 1988. I had heard of object oriented programming but didn't
> "get it". I had attended a one day seminar on "C with Classes"
> which later became C++. I left the seminar no wiser than when I
> arrived. I had worked for eight years with C and a variety of
> assembly languages. I had been using Ada for a year.
>
> I became excited about NeXTstep software development, worked on many
> hobby projects, and from 1991 on I worked extensively with NeXTstep/
> Openstep/YelowBox/Cocoa as well as C++ and many other technologies.
> I founded a company in the early 90s and developed an industry
> leading application. I sold the intellectual property to a Fortune
> 500 company in 1996, and my company continued to work in the
> industry until late 2002. I am now "Senior Staff" for a different
> Fortune 500 company in a related industry.
>
> Here is my guidance based on some arbitrarily chosen categories of
> learners:
>
> === If you have never programmed before
> 1) Learn any programming language (it may seem hard, but every
> 'real' programmer knows many languages and you have to start
> somewhere)
> 2) Learn C and at least learn to recognize low level operations like
> bit manipulation, pointers, intrinsic types, pointers to pointers,
> pointers to functions, etc. Without this, you will be lost and
> dangerous when writing Cocoa programs in Objective-C.
> 3) Learn Objective-C. It takes about 1 day for an experienced C
> programmer.
> 4) Start the long process of learning the Cocoa frameworks, the C
> standard library, and some of the Unix libraries.
> 4A) Learn Cocoa conventions and common patterns. These are not
> optional. Clear understanding of the following is required to write
> graphical Cocoa applications: two stage allocation and
> initialization, designated initializers, memory management,
> selectors, dynamic messaging, accessors, the responder chain,
> delegates, target/action, data sources, archiving & unarchiving
> (e.g. freeze dried objects in .nib files), the view hierarchy, key
> and main windows, and above all the Model View Controller pattern.
> 4B) Study Apple's sample applications, work tutorials, experiment,
> and build a few hobby projects.
>
> === If you are primarily an experienced "dynamic" language
> programmer (perl, Ruby, Python, Smalltalk, TCL, etc)
> 1) Learn C and at least learn to recognize low level operations like
> bit manipulation, pointers, intrinsic types, pointers to pointers,
> pointers to functions, etc. Without this, you will be lost and
> dangerous when writing Cocoa programs in Objective-C.
> 2) Learn why C and therefore Objective C use a pre-processor with
> separate headers and separate implementation files. Come to grips
> with the edit, COMPILE, link, debug cycle.
> 3) Learn Objective-C. It takes about 1 day. You will realize the
> Objective-C is very dynamic and flexible but has its own idioms.
> 4) Start the long process of learning the Cocoa frameworks, the C
> standard library, and some of the Unix libraries.
> 4A) Learn Cocoa conventions and common patterns. Many will be
> familiar to a Smalltalk programmer. These are not optional. Clear
> understanding of the following is required to write graphical Cocoa
> applications: two stage allocation and initialization, designated
> initializers, memory management, selectors, dynamic messaging,
> accessors, the responder chain, delegates, target/action, data
> sources, archiving & unarchiving (e.g. freeze dried objects in .nib
> files), the view hierarchy, key and main windows, and above all the
> Model View Controller pattern.
> 4B) Study Apple's sample applications, work tutorials, experiment,
> and build a few hobby projects.
> 4C) If you object to Cocoa's memory management conventions, learn to
> love them because in the world of C, automatic garbage collection
> can not solve all of your problems.
>
> === If you are primarily an experienced C++ programmer (In my
> experience you will have the hardest time)
> 1) Forget everything you think you know about Object Oriented
> programming (no offense intended).
> 2) Break every ingrained C++ habit and idiom because the design
> philosophy of Objective-C and Cocoa is exactly the opposite of
> almost everything C++ encourages.
> 3) Learn Objective-C. It takes about 1 day for an experienced C
> programmer. You will realize the Objective-C is very dynamic an
> flexible. Many patterns and idioms in C++ are unneeded in Objective-
> C. Objective-C classes tend to be more high level and straight
> forward, and you tend to use fewer of them. You may feel
> disoriented without the accustomed "bondage and Discipline" [http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?BondageAndDisciplineLanguage
> ], but I strongly advise you to learn an appreciation for freedom
> and the flexibility to send any message to any object even if the
> receiver did not exist when your application was compiled and
> linked. For many, an appreciation for Cocoa's undo mechanism breaks
> the ice. (although dynamism is ubiquitous in Cocoa)
> 4) Start the long process of learning the Cocoa frameworks.
> 4A) Learn Cocoa conventions and common patterns. These are not
> optional. Clear understanding of the following is required to write
> graphical Cocoa applications: two stage allocation and
> initialization, designated initializers, memory management,
> selectors, dynamic messaging, accessors, the responder chain,
> delegates, target/action, data sources, archiving & unarchiving
> (e.g. freeze dried objects in .nib files), the view hierarchy, key
> and main windows, and above all the Model View Controller pattern.
> 4B) Study Apple's sample applications, work tutorials, experiment,
> and build a few hobby projects.
>
>
> === If you are primarily a Java programmer
> 1) Learn Objective-C. It takes about 1 day. You will realize the
> Objective-C is very dynamic and flexible. Many patterns and idioms
> in Java and C# are unneeded in Objective-C. You may feel
> disoriented without the accustomed "bondage and Discipline"[http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?BondageAndDisciplineLanguage
> ], but I strongly advise you to learn an appreciation for freedom
> and the flexibility to send any message to any object.
> 2) Start the long process of learning the Cocoa frameworks, the C
> standard library, and some of the Unix libraries.
> 2A) Learn Cocoa conventions and common patterns. These are not
> optional. Clear understanding of the following is required to write
> graphical Cocoa applications: two stage allocation and
> initialization, designated initializers, memory management,
> selectors, dynamic messaging, accessors, the responder chain,
> delegates, target/action, data sources, archiving & unarchiving
> (e.g. freeze dried objects in .nib files), the view hierarchy, key
> and main windows, and above all the Model View Controller pattern.
> 2B) Study Apple's sample applications, work tutorials, experiment,
> and build a few hobby projects.
>
>
> === All
> Once you understand in principal how all of the basic Cocoa patterns
> are implemented, learn about Key Value Observing, Bindings, Core
> Data, etc. These use advanced patterns that seem like magic until
> you have mastered the basics.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> Cocoa-dev mailing list (<email_removed>)
>
> Please do not post admin requests or moderator comments to the list.
> Contact the moderators at cocoa-dev-admins(at)lists.apple.com
>
> Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription:
> http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/cocoa-dev/<email_removed>
>
> This email sent to <email_removed>
