Visualizing Cocoa
Visualizing Cocoa
- Subject: Visualizing Cocoa
- From: email@hidden
- Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2001 19:17:17 -0400
I think one of my big problems with trying to get a grip on Cocoa is
visualization--or rather the lack thereof! A simple procedural program
is essentially linear, it seems to me, which is to say one dimensional.
A more complex procedural program, one with conditionals or loops, is
two dimensional. In both cases it is child's play to diagram the
program on a sheet of paper. And therefor easy to Grok at a glance
what's going on. If I understand Cocoa right--a big IF since I feel
like I'm still waiting for the FIRST shoe to drop--the construct here is
three dimensional. It is exceedingly difficult to lay out a Cocoa
program on a sheet of paper. Bits and pieces, yes, but not an entire
app with all the objects and their outlets, delegates, protocols,
categories, et cetera. All interconnected in myriad ways! If this view
is correct, then I am fighting an uphill battle because I have _never_
been able to internally visualize three dimensions. Probably explains
why I took up photography. It would also explain why I was able to nail
Fortran and am still thrashing around with Cocoa. I "get" the basics:
polymorphism, encapsulation, dynamic binding, inheritance, the MVC
paradigm; but I can't visualize how all of these things hook up to solve
a problem.
I stand by my assessment that Apple's documentation leaves a lot to be
desired, and I have seen enough other people articulate this better than
I to know I'm right; however, given my visualization problem, it might
NOT be quite as bad as I first thought. So, does any of this ring a
bell with anyone; if you had, or have, this visualization problem how
did you get past it? What I really need is an application that will
display Cocoa in three dimensions, with or without red and blue glasses!
Animate the sucker and use it as a debugging/stepping tool, and who
knows what other wondrous things. Apple, Pixar, and Omni? Group
effort? Thoughts?