Help me understand object oriented programming, please

July 13, 2008 4:50 PM

I'm looking for an introduction to the concepts of object oriented programming. My goal is to be able to learn Objective C for Mac OS X development.

I've done a lot of procedural programming/scripting both personally and professionally using languages like Perl, PHP, VBScript, etc. I understand the fundamental concepts of computer programming but OOP has always escaped me. Are there any good primers on the subject, preferably (but not necessarily) targeted to new Objective C developers?

posted by saraswati to computers & internet (8 comments total)

This previous AskMe may help point you in the right direction.
posted by JohnFredra at 4:56 PM on July 13

I found I never got it until I had a task for which objects were the natural way to frame things.

There's no point writing a highly procedural program in an OOP (give or take, caveats here and there). You need to find the right project to code for, for which OOP is the right solution. If you're planning on writing a graphical Mac application this will happen naturally, and follow the directions in the above linked AskMe and others.
posted by edd at 5:01 PM on July 13

I saw that in the related questions. I've tried diving right into learning Objective C but everything was assuming that I already understood the concepts of OOP. I guess I'm looking for an introduction to OOP first, then looking to learn Objective C.
posted by saraswati at 5:03 PM on July 13

The book that did it for me was Class Construction in C and C++ by Roger Sessions. If you're familiar with basic C syntax, I think it's a good place to start. If not, you'll need some degree of that for working with Objective C.

But any random OOP tutorial can probably teach you a minimum of the lingo involved, after which I think a good Cocoa book (like Hillegass') should be fairly accessible.

Be a little careful, though. edd's cautionary point is worth observing. The Java world suffers somewhat from not doing so.
posted by weston at 5:16 PM on July 13

Canonical OO reference: Gamma et al., Design Patterns, Addison-Wesley, 1995, ISBN 0-201-63361-2
posted by Rhomboid at 5:29 PM on July 13

Canonical OO reference: Gamma et al., Design Patterns, Addison-Wesley, 1995, ISBN 0-201-63361-2

I was going to suggest this as well (Amazon link), but it's definitely not a introductory text. Find a good intro book and take this on second. It's a lot to wrap your head around, but it's both essential and fantastic once you do.
posted by Nelsormensch at 6:03 PM on July 13

Introduction to The Objective-C 2.0 Programming Language is Apple’s own book targeted for people with little or no experience with OOP or Obj-C. Install the OS X Developer tools and explore; there’s a huge amount of documentation.
posted by ijoshua at 7:14 PM on July 13

I liked Steven Kochan's book Programming in Objective-C. It's the first time I actually understood objects, what they store and how they work. The book starts with procedural programming and then moves into objects at a decent pace.

Mr. Kochan has a new one coming out in time for fall semester that covers Objective-C 2.0.
posted by infinitewindow at 9:06 PM on July 13