Cocoa is one kind of programming that you can perform with Apple’s Developer Tools. Cocoa is a collection of tools and libraries that allows you to get the most out of Mac OS X programming. Many features make Cocoa great, including the following:
This is how technical books should be written. If you want to learn Cocoa programming for Mac OS X, I highly recommend this book. The author does an excellent job of walking the reader through the need-to-know parts of developing Cocoa software on the Mac. Cocoa continues the lineage of several software frameworks (mainly the App Kit and Foundation Kit) from the NeXTSTEP and OpenStep programming environments developed by NeXT in the 1980s and 1990s. Apple acquired NeXT in December 1996, and subsequently went to work on the Rhapsody operating system that was to be the direct successor of OpenStep. It was to have had an emulation.
- Modular object-oriented design
- Use of frameworks
- Visual interface design
Why program with Cocoa?
Object-oriented programming is all the rage these days, and for good reason. By programming with an object-oriented design, your code can more closely model items in the real world.
The use of frameworks is another great aspect of Cocoa development. Experienced programmers may be tempted to call them by another name — libraries. Frameworks are collections of classes that provide you, the Cocoa developer, with a specific type of functionality.
The object-oriented nature of Cocoa, combined with a large collection of frameworks to perform all sorts of tasks, forms an unbeatable code-reuse duo. Computer programmers can be a lazy bunch, not wanting to repeat a single task. To aid developers in their pursuit of reusable code, Cocoa offers a wide array of classes, tools, and code. After you’ve completed some programming tasks, you can even store the results in your own framework for use in other projects. Thus, Apple gives you reusable code out of the box, and you can reuse your own code as well. The object-oriented design of Cocoa makes this reuse possible.
To help facilitate your Cocoa development, Apple was nice enough to provide you with a large selection of tools and utilities. With these tools, you can begin creating Cocoa software from the ground up. When you’re finished programming, the tools will even build the application, prepare it for distribution, and put together an installer.
In the toolkit
![Cocoa Cocoa](/uploads/1/2/6/5/126574820/708097358.png)
To begin programming with Cocoa, you need to find the development tools. They reside in the following directory on your hard drive.
/Developer/Applications/
If you don’t have them, you’ll need to install the tools.
If your copy of Mac OS X didn’t come with a copy of the Developer Tools CD, you can still get your hands on a copy of the Developer Tools software through the Internet. Visit the Apple Developer Connection to register for a free account:
https://connect.apple.com
You won’t need all the applications that Apple provides in the /Developer/Applications directory. In fact, you can probably get away with using only two: Project Builder and Interface Builder. Your Cocoa development process, including the Project Builder and Interface Builder applications, might look like this:
1. Create a Cocoa project.
Most Cocoa projects begin their lives in Project Builder. Project Builder is the heart of your Cocoa development. This is where you store the various elements that make up your Cocoa projects.
2. Build an interface and add it to the project.
Joined at the hip, Interface Builder forms the other half of the conjoined twins that are Apple’s Developer Tools. Interface Builder is a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor for creating attractive Mac OS X interfaces that conform to Apple’s Aqua standards. Interface Builder does other tricks too, including writing some of your code for you in Project Builder.
3. Add some code to the project.
You’ve built an interface, and now it’s time to make it do something. You use Project Builder again for this task, because it puts a suite of code-editing tools in your hands. You get built-in documentation, plus code that’s colored to make it easier to perform your programming tasks.
4. Test the code.
Again, Project Builder interfaces with the included debugging tools to help you produce bug-free code. There’s also nothing wrong with trial-and-error testing, where you use your application, looking for mistakes or errors in its operation.
5. Build an application.
Project Builder compiles, links, and builds your final executable application.
Project Builder
Project Builder is the main application that you use for all your Cocoa projects. Project Builder serves a number of roles in the Cocoa development process.
Project Builder acts as the central repository for all the files in your Cocoa projects. Using a familiar document approach, Project Builder lets you organize the components of a Cocoa project in one easy-to-use document.
You use Project Builder also to write and edit Cocoa source code. As you write code for a project, Project Builder guides you by coloring the syntax. It also offers convenient one-click access to all the functions in your code.
Your Cocoa project may have other types of files beyond code, and Project Builder is prepared to help you work with them. For example, if you want to include images in your project, Project Builder lets you view them in the main project window without skipping a beat. There’s no need to use another application to view those images. Project Builder displays them right in the code editor.
When you get stuck, Project Builder gives you access to the complete collection of Cocoa documentation. You can view and navigate the documentation with Project Builder in much the same way as you would a Web browser.
After you complete your Cocoa project, you use Project Builder to compile, link, and build a final application. You can then distribute the application to friends, co-workers, and even the world (as long as they use Mac OS X).
Project Builder wears many hats. If you’re accustomed to other development environments, you may be surprised to discover that Project Builder performs tasks that require multiple tools in other environments.
For example, Project Builder functions as a
- Project organizer, managing files and resources in your Cocoa projects
- Code editor, allowing you to write and edit Cocoa code
- Browser, displaying built-in documentation or other kinds of resources in your Cocoa projects
- Compiler and linker, spitting out a complete Cocoa application at the end of the development process.
Interface Builder
Interface Builder is a constant companion to Project Builder. Interface Builder’s main purpose is to create interfaces. With it, you can build Aqua interfaces that adhere to Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines.
Interface Builder provides a complete set of controls that you can add to your application. From windows and drawers to buttons and sliders, Interface Builder gives you drag-and-drop access to a full suite of interface elements to make your software the best it can be. Don’t forget that Interface Builder is an Apple product. No one knows the Macintosh user interface better than Apple, so you can be certain that the controls in Interface Builder follow the strictest Apple guidelines.
Interface Builder’s features aren’t limited to WYSIWYG interface editing. You can also create classes that have no visual representation. Although you don’t actually write the code in Interface Builder for your classes, you do define the basic structures and methods for them there. You can also connect the interface to your classes using simple drag-and-drop techniques.
After you complete an interface, Interface Builder creates the header and implementation files for you and then inserts them into the desired Project Builder project. Although Interface Builder’s strongest features pertain to designing and creating great-looking interfaces, many other features make it much more than an interface-building tool. It plays a big part in the Cocoa programming experience.
This document is the starting point for learning how to create Mac apps. It contains fundamental information about the OS X environment and how your apps interact with that environment. It also contains important information about the architecture of Mac apps and tips for designing key parts of your app.
At a Glance
Cocoa is the application environment that unlocks the full power of OS X. Cocoa provides APIs, libraries, and runtimes that help you create fast, exciting apps that automatically inherit the beautiful look and feel of OS X, as well as standard behaviors users expect.
Cocoa Helps You Create Great Apps for OS X
You write apps for OS X using Cocoa, which provides a significant amount of infrastructure for your program. Fundamental design patterns are used throughout Cocoa to enable your app to interface seamlessly with subsystem frameworks, and core application objects provide key behaviors to support simplicity and extensibility in app architecture. Key parts of the Cocoa environment are designed particularly to support ease of use, one of the most important aspects of successful Mac apps. Many apps should adopt iCloud to provide a more coherent user experience by eliminating the need to synchronize data explicitly between devices.
Relevant Chapters:The Mac Application Environment, The Core App Design, and Integrating iCloud Support Into Your App
![More Cocoa Programming For Os X More Cocoa Programming For Os X](/uploads/1/2/6/5/126574820/808007664.png)
Common Behaviors Make Apps Complete
During the design phase of creating your app, you need to think about how to implement certain features that users expect in well-formed Mac apps. Integrating these features into your app architecture can have an impact on the user experience: accessibility, preferences, Spotlight, services, resolution independence, fast user switching, and the Dock. Enabling your app to assume full-screen mode, taking over the entire screen, provides users with a more immersive, cinematic experience and enables them to concentrate fully on their content without distractions.
Relevant Chapters:Supporting Common App Behaviors and Implementing the Full-Screen Experience
Get It Right: Meet System and App Store Requirements
Configuring your app properly is an important part of the development process. Mac apps use a structured directory called a bundle to manage their code and resource files. And although most of the files are custom and exist to support your app, some are required by the system or the App Store and must be configured properly. The application bundle also contains the resources you need to provide to internationalize your app to support multiple languages.
Finish Your App with Performance Tuning
As you develop your app and your project code stabilizes, you can begin performance tuning. Of course, you want your app to launch and respond to the user’s commands as quickly as possible. A responsive app fits easily into the user’s workflow and gives an impression of being well crafted. You can improve the performance of your app by speeding up launch time and decreasing your app’s code footprint.
Relevant Chapter:Tuning for Performance and Responsiveness
How to Use This Document
More Cocoa Programming For Os X 2017
This guide introduces you to the most important technologies that go into writing an app. In this guide you will see the whole landscape of what's needed to write one. That is, this guide shows you all the 'pieces' you need and how they fit together. There are important aspects of app design that this guide does not cover, such as user interface design. However, this guide includes many links to other documents that provide details about the technologies it introduces, as well as links to tutorials that provide a hands-on approach.
More Cocoa Programming For Os X 1
In addition, this guide emphasizes certain technologies introduced in OS X v10.7, which provide essential capabilities that set your app apart from older ones and give it remarkable ease of use, bringing some of the best features from iOS to OS X.
See Also
The following documents provide additional information about designing Mac apps, as well as more details about topics covered in this document:
Cocoa Programming Pdf
- To work through a tutorial showing you how to create a Cocoa app, see Start Developing Mac Apps Today.
- For information about user interface design enabling you to create effective apps using OS X, see OS X Human Interface Guidelines.
- To understand how to create an explicit app ID, create provisioning profiles, and enable the correct entitlements for your application, so you can sell your application through the Mac App Store or use iCloud storage, see App Distribution Guide.
- For a general survey of OS X technologies, see Mac Technology Overview.
- To understand how to implement a document-based app, see Document-Based App Programming Guide for Mac.
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