How to get started with OS X programming
From ArticleWorld
Apple's OS X is starting to prove more and more of an option for many users. If you plan to start programming on it, it is not a bad decision at all. OS X carries a deep Unix heritage, and Unix, having been around for a few decades, is the host of many development tools used by professionals.
Apple also offers a suite of impressive tools, the spotlight catcher being Xcode, one of the best and most respected IDEs (Integrated Development Environments) around. Xcode is distributed freely, probably the most important things of all.
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The stairway
- Pick a language. Although Objective-C is the standard in OS X, and you will eventually have to learn it, its object-oriented features could make it rather difficult to learn. Python, Pascal, a flavor of BASIC, or, why not, AppleScript, might be a better starting point, but be prepared to be unable to take advantage of the full power of OS X.
- Get a good book. Sure, there are a lot of tutorials floating around the Internet, but nothing can show you around better than a well-written book. The book you choose depends on the subject and recommending one is impossible, as everyone has their own needs. Reading reviews before buying the books is a good option though.
- Learn some basic computer science along the way, too. Many books do not cover subjects like sorting algorithms or binary search, but they will prove useful. You do not need to know math or computer science, but they will surely help you and make it easier for you to develop your programs.
- Write. The importance of practicing is impossible to stress enough. Even if you are writing the 1000th Notepad clone in the world, the experience will prove useful as long as it offers some challenging.
- Be prepared to learn new things along the way. Not just the language, but strategies in writing software, interesting tricks you find in code snippets and everything else.
- Discover Cocoa. Cocoa is one of the most mature APIs of the moment, and also one of the most powerful. Although you can use it with Java too, Apple stopped supporting this some time ago, so you will probably be stuck with Objective-C. But do not let that discourage you: Objective-C is an excellent language, and knowing it will be a valuable asset.
- Use Apple Developer Connection. It is one of the largest communities around, grouped along a suite of common tools and providing a lot of help.