Comments on: Help me understand object oriented programming, please

Question: Help me understand object oriented programming, please

saraswati — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 16:50:07 -0800

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?

By: JohnFredra

JohnFredra — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 16:56:45 -0800

This previous AskMe may help point you in the right direction.

By: edd

edd — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 17:01:11 -0800

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.

By: saraswati

saraswati — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 17:03:43 -0800

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.

By: weston

weston — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 17:16:33 -0800

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.

By: Rhomboid

Rhomboid — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 17:29:31 -0800

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

By: Nelsormensch

Nelsormensch — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 18:03:37 -0800

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.

By: ijoshua

ijoshua — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 19:14:25 -0800

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.

By: infinitewindow

infinitewindow — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 21:06:52 -0800

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.