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Book: Cocoa Programming for Max OS X Second Edition by Aaron Hillegass
Author: Aaron Hillegass
There was a period of time where I thought I might become a Mac developer. My entrepreneurial ambitions were always small. When I saw developers like Daniel Jalkut or Brent Simmons talk about being “Indie Developers” the lifestyle, (from the outside), was appealing. Do good work, sell it directly to people, live a comfortable life.
So I purchased Cocoa Programming for Max OS X Second Edition, worked my way through a few examples, but never ended up finding the time to build something that would have been worth selling. You can see some evidence of this online in my early, four part series about using jQuery to create a developer tool that would separate out and highlight independent objective C arguments. (Despite my best efforts it looks like the interactive parts of those articles have succumbed to CMS bit rot).
While I never became a Mac developer and never fully used what (the excellent) Cocoa Programming for Max OS X had to teach me, that series and this book did point to the direction my career went. The next 10 years could easily be called Building Tools for Web Developers so they Better Understand Programming and I ended up running my own small, less ambitious version of what Aaron has done at Big Nerd Ranch.
Also, the final paragraph of chapter 1 is a mantra I’ve long kept to ward off the less welcoming inhabitants of programming communities and my own inner critic.
Before going any further, assure yourself that you are not stupid and that some things are just hard. Armed with silly affirmation and a well-rested mind, you are ready to conquer Cocoa
A rare bit of empathy and humility that I’ve tried to bring to my own writing over the years.