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Re: BigNerdRanch Cocoa Bootcamp
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Re: BigNerdRanch Cocoa Bootcamp


  • Subject: Re: BigNerdRanch Cocoa Bootcamp
  • From: Michael Jurewitz <email@hidden>
  • Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2006 04:03:50 -0500

First, on the topic of is Big Nerd Ranch worth the cost:  absolutely.

I recently attended the Cocoa training at the end of May in Atlanta. I have to say it was, hands down, one of the greatest and most useful experiences I've had as a programmer. I've had 4-5 years of experience with C/C++ and have been dabbling in Cocoa work for about a year, but Aaron's class really brought it all into focus. To give you an idea of who else attended, we had everyone from a high school student aspiring to know more about Cocoa, to programmers with years of professional experience in Java/C++. Your programming experience sounds sufficient for the course, too.

I think the great thing about Aaron's class is that it is extremely well structured, very recent and topical in its choice of technologies to learn, and is taught by a man who truly understands the frameworks and how they are to be used. Aaron is a patient teacher with a great attitude and willingness to help that can accommodate novice or expert. I'm sure I sound like a walking advertisement, but his class really is that good. I'd pay for it again in a heartbeat.

On the topic of WWDC or BNR: that depends on what you're looking to get out of it.

If your company has already decided that Macintosh programming is where it wants to be and now is the time to get up to speed on how to do it, then BNR might be a better choice. BNR will give you the experience and tools you really need to get started programming for the Mac. It will jump start whatever previous progress you've had and put you in a great place to start writing Cocoa apps.

WWDC is a fantastic event to learn a tremendous amount about the state of the platform, new technologies that are on the way, and to get some interesting lessons from the engineers themselves on how to use the technologies. It is not, in my limited previous experience, somewhere to go if you're looking for a week of intensive training on how to program for the platform. They have great hands-on sessions, labs, and engineers available to answer questions, but it is definitely not set up in a student-teacher format. It is much more freeform and I think caters better to established engineers on the platform.

So, if you're looking for training: BNR. If you're looking for more info on the platform and upcoming technologies: WWDC.


Michael Jurewitz email@hidden



On Jun 4, 2006, at 7:43 PM, ChrisB wrote:

I have been given the opportunity to attend my choice of the Cocoa Bootcamp in August, or the WWDC. Being new to Cocoa and Mac development in general I would like a bit of input on which would be more useful. My background is with PHP and Perl, but have made good inroads with Cocoa in the last few months of working through a few projects. Work will foot the bill on this one, but I want to know where the best use of the resources may be. WWDC has lots of small sessions that look very interesting, but without the schedule yet it hard to know and plan what I can and can't expect to hit. I figure you all here would be the ones to know.

Thanks,
Chris



On May 16, 2006, at 3:33 PM, David Hoerl wrote:

Trygve ,

I went on my own ticket, and I was out of work at the time!.

Here's the deal. if you want to get up to speed fast, and want to get a really good foundation, then do it. You can plunk around a lot on your own, learning a bit at a time and slowly getting the picture, but after an intensive week at hte camp, I went I started going gangbusters on my application, and after 3 months got a full time job doing Cocoa/CLI work (through their students listserver).

Before I went I printed out and read (and re-read) Apple's Objective-C manual (what a great document!) and I got the Kocher book too for reference (use it occasionally). [The Kocher book is good since provides instruction on doing CLI Obj-C programs, something I could find no online instructions for.]

After the week you will "get it" for the most part. You can also then post "stupid" questions on the students web site without getting flamed, and you will often get a personal response from Aaron or one of the other instructors.

BTW, the other instructors are **really** knowledgeable on Cocoa - you will not believe how fast they will type a solution onto your Mac when you get help during class.

Again, if you make the decision to jump in the pool, this is the way to do it. Do as Aaron says - work hard, then get a good nights sleep. Don't fight the class - go with what you are told, which often means proceeding before you completely understand the last exercise. Trust me, it will all fall together in the end.

I had years of C experience on the old Mac, but it didn't help me all that much get going with Cocoa. This class will push you over the "hump" in a week, and from then on you will be capable of going on your own.


David
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 >Re: BigNerdRanch Cocoa Bootcamp (From: ChrisB <email@hidden>)

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