[comp.sys.mac.misc] Looking for good Mac programming references

fredrp@tdw206.ed.ray.com (Fred Ross-Perry) (03/30/91)

Hi,

As a programmer, I'm new to the Macintosh.  Can anyone receommend one
or two good books to get me started?  I know about Inside Macintosh, which
at five volumes seems a bit daunting.  Something with many examples would
help.  Also, I prefer C to Pascal.

I've started toying around with ProtoTyper and THINK C.  What do you folks
think of these?  THINK C has its own method for creating an interface, called
its "class library".  If I use this, I'll be tied to THINK C for life, is
that correct?

Thanks in advance,
Fred




-- 
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 Fred Ross-Perry         Raytheon Company
 fredrp@mar.ed.ray.com   Equipment Division
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                         Sudbury, MA 01776
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map@u02.svl.cdc.com (Mark Peters) (03/30/91)

fredrp@tdw206.ed.ray.com (Fred Ross-Perry) writes:

>As a programmer, I'm new to the Macintosh.  Can anyone receommend one
>or two good books to get me started?  I know about Inside Macintosh, which
>at five volumes seems a bit daunting.  Something with many examples would
>help.  Also, I prefer C to Pascal.

An excellent book is "The Macintosh programming primer" by S. Knaster    
(I think - if you need the author's name let me know and I'll look
at my copy).  This uses the THINK C environment for all its examples,
although it doesn't use the Object-Oriented features.

An okay book is "The Macintosh Revealed," which is actually a series of
books.

BTW, you're gonna have to have Inside Macintosh anyway if you're
going to do any serious programming, so if you can afford it, get it 
sooner rather than later.

>I've started toying around with ProtoTyper and THINK C.  What do you folks
>think of these?  THINK C has its own method for creating an interface, called
>its "class library".  If I use this, I'll be tied to THINK C for life, is
>that correct?

THINK C is the best development environment for small to medium sized
projects by one person.  For large projects involving more than one
person, MPW is the way to go.  MPW isn't nearly as easy to use as
THINK C, but it has everything you'll ever need, and then some.

I don't know much about ProtoTyper, but I do know about another 
interface builder called AppMaker from Bowers Development Corp.
AppMaker is excellent!  It would be much harder for me to learn
the Mac, C, and Object-Oriented programming without AppMaker.  

My professional experience was with a superset of Pascal, so being
able to use AppMaker to generate both C and Pascal versions (standard
OR Object-Oriented) of an interface is great.  AppMaker also generates
code for MPW (C or Pascal) and A/UX C.

I've heard many people say that AppMaker is superior to ProtoTyper,
but I don't have the first-hand knowledge required to judge.

--
Mark A. Peters                              ****** ======================
Control Data Corporation                    ****** == "What a save!!!" ==
Internet: map@svl.cdc.com                   ****** == "What an idea!!" ==

drenze@umaxc.weeg.uiowa.edu (Douglas Renze) (03/31/91)

In article <1488@sud509.ed.ray.com> fredrp@tdw206.ed.ray.com (Fred Ross-Perry) writes:
>Hi,
>
>As a programmer, I'm new to the Macintosh.  Can anyone receommend one
>or two good books to get me started?  I know about Inside Macintosh, which
>at five volumes seems a bit daunting.  Something with many examples would
>help.  Also, I prefer C to Pascal.
>
>I've started toying around with ProtoTyper and THINK C.  What do you folks
>think of these?  THINK C has its own method for creating an interface, called
>its "class library".  If I use this, I'll be tied to THINK C for life, is
>that correct?
>
>Thanks in advance,
>Fred

Well, I'm also learning to program the Mac (and I'm using THINK C).  A fantas-
tic book that I came across is "Using the Macintosh Toolbox With C" by Huxham,
Burnard, and Takatsuka.  It takes you through the toolbox step-by-step with both
code examples and full-fledged applications to show you what to do.
	I'm no programmer (I'm teaching myself how to program C), and this book
is even a huge help to me--that's how well it's written.
	FYI, its ISBN # is 0-895888-572-7, and it costs US $29.95.  I picked
it up at my local B Dalton.
	

Peace and Long Life,

Doug
		internet:  drenze@umaxc.weeg.uiowa.edu
		  Delphi:  drenze

PS,  if the authors happen to read this newsgroup or if anybody happens to know
     them, please pass on my appreciation for writing such a fantastic manual!

map@u02.svl.cdc.com (Mark Peters) (03/31/91)

map@u02.svl.cdc.com (Mark Peters) writes:

>fredrp@tdw206.ed.ray.com (Fred Ross-Perry) writes:

>>As a programmer, I'm new to the Macintosh.  Can anyone receommend one
>>or two good books to get me started?  I know about Inside Macintosh, which
>>at five volumes seems a bit daunting.  Something with many examples would
>>help.  Also, I prefer C to Pascal.

>An excellent book is "The Macintosh programming primer" by S. Knaster    
>(I think - if you need the author's name let me know and I'll look
>at my copy).  This uses the THINK C environment for all its examples,
>although it doesn't use the Object-Oriented features.

>An okay book is "The Macintosh Revealed," which is actually a series of
>books.

"The Macintosh Programming Primer" was written by Dave Mark and
Cartwright Reed, not S. Knaster.  Knaster did write "How to Write
Macintosh Software" however, which is also a decent book.
--
Mark A. Peters                              ****** ======================
Control Data Corporation                    ****** == "What a save!!!" ==
Internet: map@svl.cdc.com                   ****** == "What an idea!!" ==

kpmiller@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu (Kent P Miller) (04/02/91)

In article <31891@shamash.cdc.com> map@u02.svl.cdc.com (Mark Peters) writes:
>>As a programmer, I'm new to the Macintosh.  Can anyone receommend one
>>or two good books to get me started?  I know about Inside Macintosh, which
>An excellent book is "The Macintosh programming primer" by S. Knaster    
Ok, since I'm posting anyway, the authorS of those two (really good) volumes
are Mark and Reed.  They make a good Pascal book, too.
>An okay book is "The Macintosh Revealed," which is actually a series of
>books.
I have 2 or 3 volumes of this, and I haven't got anything out of them.  
I use the Mark and Reed books, Inside Macintosh (you really do need these), 
and the Usenet programming guide (ftpable from sumex).  If you want the
Usenet thing, you would probably be better off ordering it preprinted from
the guy that is doing it (don't know his address).

KeNT
-- 
-----------------------
Kent Miller
KENT@aardvark.ucs.uoknor.edu
Bitnet -> KENT@uokucsvx