Objective-C Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide (Big Nerd Ranch Guides)

I've been wanting to learn Objective C for a descent while so I can one day soon start creating my own iPhone apps. I'm pretty familiar with programming in VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) which is used in your Microsoft Office products for automating certain tasks. In the past, I'd started reading some other books on Objective C, but I always tended to put them down after a few days of reading. The main reason was that they'd jump head long into something totally foreign to me at times and only briefly explain it. So I was left grasping for straws at times to understand things.This book however does a great job of explaining the fundamentals of Objective C. It starts off with the fundamentals of programming that are pretty identical among most modern programming languages. So if you've programmed some in another programming language the material covered seems pretty familiar, you just are really noting the slight differences in the language compared to the one you are used to.From there they slowly expand into other topics, working in a gradual way with short manageable chapters that make you seem like you're flying through the material. The material is concise and not real in depth. And for people like me, that want to know what everything in the code example means, they let you know when to be patient and when they're going to cover it later.About the only complaint I can make so far is that they mention about using the File menu. And for those of you used to PC's, there really is no File menu that I can find so far in the XCode 5 program. So when you're at the very beginning of learning how to open the program and shut it down they don't really guide you by hand so-to-speak on how to do the very basics, of using XCode 5 like they should.But otherwise it seems really well written so far and I'm moving pretty fast through the book. Granted programming books aren't per se fun to read. But this one is kind of hard to put down compared to others.***Update 3/10/2014***I found the file menu as described by my comment below. It may sound stupid to regular Apple users that a person can't find the File menu when pretty much every regular Apple user knows it is at the top of the screen instead of at the top of the window like with PC's. But it is a good idea to point that out when you're going over very basic stuff where people who are used to PC's and who rarely to never use an Apple/Mac are trying to get used to the differences. Overall though, the book is very well written.

I have purchased and studied several other Objective-C books and this one, by Aaron Hillegass and Mikey Ward is the best, by far. Here's my thoughts:1. Comprehensive: dives into and explains many nooks and crannies, not only in Obj-C but also iOS and OS X.2. Very well written, step by step, but with plenty of excellent information about why the code or concept works the way it does.3. The chapters are organized well, and short and sweet, providing a bite-size approach to tacking this huge (and daunting, at times) challenge of learning. It's doable to go through one chapter a day, building knowledge, insight, and confidence.4. The chapters have very good challenge exercises: you should do all of them! Don't undermine your learning by skipping them.5. Last, BNR provides very helpful on-line resources: discussion forum, errata, and other.Now, a couple of weeks ago Apple announced Swift and for a while I wondered if anyone (such as me) would ever want to know or continue studying Objective-C. I believe a deep knowledge and comprehension of Objective-C will remain important for at least a couple of years:1. Swift works hand-in-hand with Obj-C, and while it's different, there are powerful ways to leverage Obj-C frameworks. Since Swift is so new, I imagine that we'll be using Obj-C frameworks for quite a while, as needed.2. Learning the vocabulary of object-oriented programming, particularly as Apple uses it, is very important of course, and while Swift is different, many Swift concept descriptions have references to Obj-C to increase understanding.3. Obj-C programs will be around for years, and so if you want to work in Apple Land, well, they'll be there waiting for maintenance, and enhancement.So long story short: this is an important and useful book. Highly recommended.

Coming from a dev background I found the book to be a little bit geared more towards learning object oriented programming in Objective-C than learning Objective-C. My goal for this book was to get familiar with the syntax and language so I would have preferred more meat, especially in the iOS part. I think it's a good starter book but if you're an experienced developer and are familiar with Object Oriented programming this may be a bit simplistic for you. It's written very well and clear, I moved through it very quickly which is nice. Lots of examples clearly explaining the concepts they are trying to get across. This is my first Big Nerd Ranch book and now that I'm done with this and ready to move on to something more iOS related I'm definitely going Big Nerd Ranch for my next book.

kindle is very good service

Great book, a little bit outdate. The work uses XCode 5 and specifically Chapter 31, is not possible to write example code if you have the latest OSX and/or XCode 7.However, it explains from zero to advance the Objective C Language.

Good format from start/review of C to introduction of Objective C

As an experienced programmer in a variety of languages, I decided to investigate Objective-C so that I could produce software for my new MacBook. Having tried a Web-based tutorial and lost the plot, I chose this book and, although I've not yet reached the end of it, I'm delighted with it. Objective-C is definitely not for the faint-hearted but the book is carrying me along nicely. The end of chapter challenges are particularly useful and I commend them to anyone trying to follow the text. My routine is to read a chapter, go through the chapter again entering the examples into my MacBook and then complete the end of chapter challenges. On those rare occasions when I've failed to rise to the challenges, the forum on The Big Nerd Ranch Web site has proved enlightening and got me through. I recommend the book as a starter into Objective-C for anyone with some modern programming experience. I'm not sure whether it is as suitable for the complete programming novice.

ein hervorragender Einstieg in Objective-C. Der C-Teil am Start war 'ne nette kleine Wiederholung, die habe ich recht schnell überflogen. Für Nichtkenner von C ist dieser Teil allerdings sehr zu empfehlen und gegebenfalls an anderer Stelle zu vertiefen. Auch wenn man Objective-C lernt, um für IOS oder MAC-OS zu entwickeln, früher oder später kommt man an C nicht vorbei. Zeitkritische Algorithmen und hocheffiziente Routinen lassen bestenfalls in Assembler schneller und kompakter schreiben als in Standard-C. Und... C ist vollständig kompatibel und läßt sich spielend in alles einbinden. Die schnellen kleinen Erfolge, welche hier zwischendurch erzielt werden, machen das Durcharbeiten sehr kurzweilig. Das ist natürlich nur für Lernende, die sich an den Rat der Autoren halten: "Jedes Beispiel nachvollziehen", zu erfahren. Das Buch ist die ideale Vorbereitung für eins der weiterführenden Bücher der Big Nerd Ranch, je nach dem, ob man für OSX oder IOS programmieren möchte. Objective-C-Programmierer ist man nach dem Durcharbeiten des Buches noch lange nicht, aber bekommt einen guten Ausblick auf das, was man mit der Sprache am Ende erreichen kann.Wenn man der englischen Sprache auch nur ein bischen mächtig ist, sollte man auf jeden Fall die Originalausgaben nutzen. Die deutschen Übersetzungen geben den speziellen Stil der Big Nerd Ranch Bücher nicht authentisch wieder. Hillegass's Art zu Schreiben ist selbst mit besten Übersetzung nicht zu kopieren.