If you got a random Twitter response from a stranger about Objective-C, chances are it was me.
I have “objective-c” as a saved search in my Twitter client, to watch what people say about it.
Frequently, I see people asking questions about what the best way to learn Objective-C would be.
I end up saying the same thing over and over again, so I figured I’d put it on my blog and just point people to my link, that gives the details as to why I’m recommending “Programming in Objective-C 2.0” by Stephen Kochan.
What caught my eye initially was something he said in the introduction of the book.
When contemplating writing a tutorial on Objective-C, a fundamental decision had to be made. As with other texts on Objective-C, I could write mine to assume the reader already knew how to write C programs. I could also teach the language from the perspective of using the rich library of routines, such as the Foundation and Application Kit frameworks. Some texts also take the approach of teaching how to use the development tools, like the Mac’s Xcode and Interface Builder.
I had several problems adopting this approach. First, learning the entire C language before learning Objective-C is wrong. C is a procedural language containing many features that are not necessary for programming in Objective-C, especially at the novice level. In fact, resorting to some of these features goes against the grain of adhering to a good object-oriented programming methodology. It’s also not a good idea to teach all the details of a procedural language before learning an object-oriented one. This starts the programmer off in the wrong direction, and gives the wrong orientation and mindset for fostering a good object-oriented programming style. Just because Objective-C is an extension to the C language doesn’t mean you have to learn C first!
So, I decided neither to teach C first nor to assume prior knowledge of the language. Instead, I decided to take the unconventional approach of teaching Objective-C and the underlying C language as a single integrated language, and from an object-oriented programming perspective. The purpose of this book is as its name implies: to teach you how to program in Objective-C 2.0. It does not profess to teach you how to use the development tools that are available for entering and debugging programs, or how to develop interactive graphical applications with Cocoa. All that material can be learned elsewhere, after you’ve learned how to write programs in Objective-C. In fact, mastering that material will be much easier after you have a solid foundation on how to program in Objective-C. This book does not assume much, if any, previous programming experience. In fact, if you’re a novice programmer, you should be able to learn Objective-C as your first programming language from this text.
– Stephen Kochan, Programming in Objective-C 2.0, page 9
He starts off, basically, by saying that you can start with Objective-C as your first language. You don’t have to learn 2 or 3 other languages before you can tackle Objective-C.
There’s more. There is a forum for the book. There are also paid training classes. I haven’t taken any of the paid classes, but I’m seriously considering it.
The forums are at Programming in Objective-C 2.0 Forum
Seriously… this is the gift that keeps on giving. The author is also on Twitter, but I don’t want him to get spammed, so I’ll let you figure out how to follow him there.
Steven is an excellent writer. What has struck me about the whole thing is this… he WANTS you to succeed. He WANTS you to learn the language, and be productive with it.
It shows in the depths of his responses, and how often he does so.