labc-4da@rosebud.berkeley.edu (Bob Heiney) (03/03/89)
The NeXT machine, which I have yet to see in person, has piqued my curiosity about Objective C. Unfortunately, I can't find any references for the language. Can anyone suggest some good books? Is there a public domain compiler for Objective C? If so, where can I anonymous ftp to get it? My thanks in advance.
johnl@ima.ima.isc.com (John R. Levine) (03/08/89)
In article <21084@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> labc-4da@rosebud.berkeley.edu (Bob Heiney) writes: >The NeXT machine, which I have yet to see in person, has piqued my >curiosity about Objective C. Unfortunately, I can't find any >references for the language. Can anyone suggest some good books? No, but I can suggest a so-so book: Brad J. Cox, "Object Oriented Programming, an Evolutionary Approach," Addison-Wesley, 1987, ISBN 0-201-10393-1 Cox is the creator of Objective C. I find that the book wanders and gets bogged down in boring detail, but it certainly explains the language. Since the book came out the language has changed in some small syntactic details, but nothing major. Cox also wrote an article on Objective C in the first issue of IEEE Software, in 1984. If you want a good intro to object oriented programming, try the Eiffel book: Bertrand Meyer, "Object-oriented Software Construction," Prentice-Hall, 1988, ISBN 0-13-629049-3. Meyer is Mr. Eiffel, so the book is almost entirely in terms of Eiffel. (There is one page on Objective C, in the chapter on other languages.) Nonetheless, it explains object oriented design far more compellingly and is better written, even though Meyer is French. -- John R. Levine, Segue Software, POB 349, Cambridge MA 02238, +1 617 492 3869 { bbn | spdcc | decvax | harvard | yale }!ima!johnl, Levine@YALE.something You're never too old to have a happy childhood.
rudolf@neptune.uucp (Jim Rudolf) (03/09/89)
In article <3430@ima.ima.isc.com> johnl@ima.UUCP (John R. Levine) writes: >In article <21084@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> labc-4da@rosebud.berkeley.edu (Bob Heiney) writes: >>The NeXT machine, which I have yet to see in person, has piqued my >>curiosity about Objective C. Unfortunately, I can't find any >>references for the language. Can anyone suggest some good books? > >No, but I can suggest a so-so book: > Brad J. Cox, "Object Oriented Programming, an Evolutionary Approach," > Addison-Wesley, 1987, ISBN 0-201-10393-1 >Cox is the creator of Objective C. I find that the book wanders and gets >bogged down in boring detail, but it certainly explains the language... The Cox book is not one to get if you are looking for an Objective-C book. It is a good book if you want a thorough introduction to object-oriented programming, but it only uses Objective-C for examples. I don't think you can learn Objective-C from this book alone. Nonetheless, I recommend it because it'll teach you more about OOP than you'll get out of an Objective-C book with only a chapter or two devoted to OOP concepts. Jim Rudolf ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Internet: rudolf@oce.orst.edu "All opinions herein are mine" UUCP: {tektronix,hp-pcd}!orstcs!oce.orst.edu!rudolf ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
dkk@athena.mit.edu (David K Krikorian) (03/10/89)
In article <9291@orstcs.CS.ORST.EDU> rudolf@oce.orst.edu (Jim Rudolf) writes: >In article <3430@ima.ima.isc.com> johnl@ima.UUCP (John R. Levine) writes: >>In article <21084@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> labc-4da@rosebud.berkeley.edu (Bob Heiney) writes: >>>Can anyone suggest some good books? [on Objective C] >> >>No, but I can suggest a so-so book: >> Brad J. Cox, "Object Oriented Programming, an Evolutionary Approach," >> Addison-Wesley, 1987, ISBN 0-201-10393-1 > >The Cox book is not one to get if you are looking for an Objective-C book. So, I'll ask this once again. What IS a good book to get? Are there ANY Objective C books? (not just books that refer to Objective C) I've seen this question several times, but only one attempt (by John) to answer it. Thank You, David Krikorian MIT Project Athena