Shiny

Michael Cohen and Dennis Cohen’s book, The Mac Xcode 2 Book is out. I’ve actually held it in my hands, and now, thanks to the wonders of Amazon, you too can buy a copy. It’s a shame Steve Jobs decided to withdraw all Wiley books from the Apple stores, because this book really really belongs there.

Right now, Dennis and Michael’s The Mac Xcode 2 Book is the only book available about Xcode 2. Xcode 2 is the IDE for Tiger/Mac OS X 10.4, and, while their book assumes you already know something about programming, it’s a good, fun, and exceedingly readable yet thorough introduction to writing code on the Mac, using the free tools that come with Tiger.

I should have a page up soon with more information about the book, and about Xcode 2, and, with any luck at all, some updated information about the new tools in Xcode 2.1 for porting to MacIntel, but in the meantime, here’s a review from Amazon from someone I don’t know—but who’s clearly spent some time with the book.

Reviewer:

Curt (Boston, MA)

It’s about time someone wrote a programming book that shows the reader how to get things done with the tool at hand while staying halfway engaging. This book goes far beyond that, believe me. It’s loaded with useful info and is a good read as well. The authors show how all of Apple’s tools work, both by themselves and with each other, to meet the needs of the broad range of developers. Beginning coders will learn the important development basics they’ll need to know, while the advanced folks get a rundown and real-world examples for Xcode features and techniques that will help them to streamline their development processes and refine their products. All the while, the pages are full of entertaining explanations and examples. The book presents useful tips to those engaging in small, medium, and large development projects without favoring any particular approach, avoiding the “methodology wars” that often color works on software development. Great resource.