Re: I love Cocoa, but...
Re: I love Cocoa, but...
- Subject: Re: I love Cocoa, but...
- From: daniel <email@hidden>
- Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2005 15:51:47 -0800
I agree that this is an area where sufficient documentation/guidance is lacking. Apple could help out a bit more here than they are now. I know, application design is not platform specific, but in many ways because Apple has taken on the role of advocating a programming language with specific pattern leanings, they could be a great source for better advice in this area. They also happen to employ a large number of the world's experts on MVC objective-C based application design.
In my own attempts to get my head around these issues, I have found that searching the web and libraries for these subjects is helpful:
- "smalltalk". if you find a good book on smalltalk programming, it's probably a good book on Cocoa programming as well.
- "model view controller" (MVC) - it's good to get as much exposure to MVC thinking as possible. Beware that there are vastly divergent ideas out there about what "correct" mvc design is. I tend to lean towards what the smalltalk documents say.
- "design patterns" - good object design seems to be closely linked to an understanding of standard design patterns as described online and in books like "Design Patterns" by Gamma, et. al.
Erik Buck has hinted on this list (I think) that he is working on a forthcoming book dedicated to Cocoa Design Patterns. I am anxious to read this but I don't know when or if it's still planned for release. The book "Cocoa Programming" has some pretty good teasers in this direction.
Daniel
On Jan 28, 2005, at 3:30 PM, Christopher Drum wrote:
...something that becomes painfully obvious to me as I use it is that I need more training in the early stages of the design process of my programs. I've been able to muddle through problems and cobble together some neat toys, but I kind of feel like I'm attacking every problem with a shotgun. I shoot wildly, trying various approaches to a problem until something works, but a lot of my energy misses the target as well. Sometimes I find it difficult to translate a real-world concept into objects (i.e. - figuring out which class should "own" a particular ivar or method). Maybe this is just what I should expect of myself at this stage of my programming development?
What resources can the list suggest for someone who is relatively new to programming (about 1 1/2 years of C++ and Objective-C, with a year of AppleScript before that) and needs to understand the logic of program design better?
Books, training CDs, online courses... the format of the training doesn't really matter so much to me, so long as it's clear, concise, easy to follow (for example, I found Aaron Hillegass' book easy to follow) and doesn't presume I want to be a full time computer scientist who has five years of advanced calculus under his belt. I want to write clean, clear, concise code that is easy to expand upon and repair/enhance in the future. From what I can tell of my skills so far, I could achieve this much more easily if I planned my projects from the start more intelligently.
Thanks, and I hope this post isn't an intrusion into this particular list (but I just don't see a better one on Apple's mailing lists),
Christopher Drum _______________________________________________
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