Programming in Objective-C

Programming in Objective-C, Fourth Edition

Updated for iOS 5 and ARC

Programming in Objective-C is a concise, carefully written tutorial on the basics of Objective-C and object-oriented programming for Apple's iOS and Mac platforms.

The book makes no assumptions about prior experience with object-oriented programming languages or with the C language (which Objective-C is based upon). Because of this, both beginners and experienced programmers alike can use this book to quickly and effectively learn the fundamentals of Objective-C.

Readers can also learn the concepts of object-oriented programming without having to first learn all of the intricacies of the underlying C programming language. This unique approach to learning, combined with many small program examples and exercises at the end of each chapter, makes Programming in Objective-C ideally suited for either classroom use or self-study.

The fourth edition of this book has been updated to cover the significant changes that first appeared in iOS 5 and Xcode 4.2, including the use of Automatic Reference Counting (ARC) to improve and simplify memory management in Objective-C programs.

“The best book on any programming language that I’ve ever read. If you want to learn Objective-C, buy it.”—Calvin Wolcott

“An excellent resource for a new programmer who wants to learn Objective-C as their first programming language—a woefully underserved market.”—Pat Hughes

Table of Contents

1 Introduction

2 Programming in Objective-C

3 Classes, Objects, and Methods

4 Data Types and Expressions

5 Program Looping

6 Making Decisions

7 More on Classes

8 Inheritance

9 Polymorphism, Dynamic Typing, and Dynamic Binding

10 More on Variables and Data Types

11 Categories and Protocols

12 The Preprocessor

13 Underlying C Language Features

14 Introduction to the Foundation Framework

15 Numbers, Strings, and Collections

16 Working with Files

17 Memory Management and Automatic Reference Counting

18 Copying Objects

19 Archiving

20 Introduction to Cocoa and Cocoa Touch

21 Writing iOS Applications

A Glossary

B Address Book Example Source Code