Programming Mac OS X with Cocoa for Beginners

This book aims to provide beginners with an introduction to programming Mac OS X Apps with Cocoa, using XCode, the free developer tools provided by Apple, Inc. Some knowledge of another programming language, preferably Objective C Programming is assumed.

This wikibook was written for users of Mac OS X 10.3 or 10.4, it should also work for newer versions of Mac OS X such as 10.5 and 10.6. For programming Mac OS X with Cocoa for Beginners using Mac OS X versions 10.7 "Lion", or 10.8 "Mountain Lion" or later, use the following wikibook instead: Programming Mac OS X with Cocoa for Beginners 2nd Edition.

In general, this text is written to be followed in order from start to finish. As each topic develops, it builds on the code written previously to add complexity and functionality.

Getting Started

• What is Cocoa?
• Installing the developer tools
• Getting around in Xcode and Interface Builder

Lessons

• First Cocoa program - Hello World
• Objective C, the language and its advantages
• Some Cocoa essential principles
• Building a GUI
• Containers - arrays, and dictionarys
• A more ambitious application
• Graphics - Drawing with Quartz
• Document-based applications

Wiki oriented lessons

• Implementing Wikidraw
  • Wikidraw's view class
  • More shapes
  • An Inspector calls
  • Archiving
  • Adding finesse