Cocoa Design Patterns

Description

Table of Contents

Preface     xix

Part I: One Pattern to Rule Them All     1

Chapter 1: Model View Controller     2

Chapter 2: MVC Analyzed and Applied     17

Part II : Fundamental Patterns     28

Chapter 3: Two-Stage Creation     29

Chapter 4: Template Method     43

Chapter 5: Dynamic Creation     53

Chapter 6: Category     63

Chapter 7: Anonymous Type and Heterogeneous Containers     77

Chapter 8: Enumerators     85

Chapter 9: Perform Selector and Delayed Perform     99

Chapter 10: Accessors     107

Chapter 11: Archiving and Unarchiving     123

Chapter 12: Copying     135

Part III: Patterns That Primarily Empower by Decoupling     147

Chapter 13: Singleton     148

Chapter 14: Notifications     159

Chapter 15: Delegates     175

Chapter 16: Hierarchies     191

Chapter 17: Outlets, Targets, and Actions     206

Chapter 18: Responder Chain     220

Chapter 19: Associative Storage     232

Chapter 20: Invocations     242

Chapter 21: Prototype     255

Chapter 22: Flyweight     263

Chapter 23: Decorators     268

Part IV: Patterns That Primarily Hide Complexity     274

Chapter 24: Bundles     275

Chapter 25: Class Clusters     282

Chapter 26: Façade     302

Chapter 27: Proxies and Forwarding     312

Chapter 28: Managers     328

Chapter 29: Controllers     337

Part V : Practical Tools for Pattern Application     364

Chapter 30: Core Data Models     365

Chapter 31: Application Kit Views     379

Chapter 32: Bindings and Controllers     393

Appendix: Resources     404

Index     407

Back Cover

“Next time some kid shows up at my door asking for a code review, this is the book that I am going to throw at him.”

-Aaron Hillegass, founder of Big Nerd Ranch, Inc., and author of Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X

Unlocking the Secrets of Cocoa and Its Object-Oriented Frameworks

Mac and iPhone developers are often overwhelmed by the breadth and sophistication of the Cocoa frameworks. Although Cocoa is indeed huge, once you understand the object-oriented patterns it uses, you'll find it remarkably elegant, consistent, and simple.

Cocoa Design Patterns begins with the mother of all patterns: the Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern, which is central to all Mac and iPhone development. Encouraged, and in some cases enforced by Apple's tools, it's important to have a firm grasp of MVC right from the start.

The book's midsection is a catalog of the essential design patterns you'll encounter in Cocoa, including

• Fundamental patterns, such as enumerators, accessors, and two-stage creation
• Patterns that empower, such as singleton, delegates, and the responder chain
• Patterns that hide complexity, including bundles, class clusters, proxies and forwarding, and controllers

And that's not all of them! Cocoa Design Patterns painstakingly isolates 28 design patterns, accompanied with real-world examples and sample code you can apply to your applications today. The book wraps up with coverage of Core Data models, AppKit views, and a chapter on Bindings and Controllers.

Cocoa Design Patterns clearly defines the problems each pattern solves with a foundation in Objective-C and the Cocoa frameworks and can be used by any Mac or iPhone developer.

Author

Erik M. Buck founded EMB & Associates, Inc. in 1993 and built the company into a leader in the aerospace and entertainment software industries by leveraging the NeXT/Apple software technology that would later become Apple's Cocoa frameworks. Mr. Buck has also worked in construction, taught science to 8th graders, exhibited oil on canvas portraits, and developed alternative fuel vehicles. Mr. Buck sold his company in 2002 and currently holds the title of Senior Staff at Northrop Grumman Corporation. Mr. Buck received a B.S. degree in computer science from the University of Dayton in 1991 and is a frequent contributor to Cocoa mailing lists and technical forums.

Donald A. Yacktman has been using Cocoa and its predecessor technologies, OpenStep and NextStep, professionally since 1991. He coauthored the book Cocoa Programming and has contributed to the Stepwise website as both author and editor. He has worked for Verio/iServer and illumineX in the past. At present he works as an independent consultant assisting in the design and implementation of Cocoa and iPhone applications. Mr.Yacktman received B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical and computer engineering from Brigham Young University in 1991 and 1994, respectively.

Reader Review(s)

Praise for CocoaDesign Patterns

“This long-needed book is a great resource for Cocoa newcomers and veterans who want to get the why behind the what. The list of patterns gives historical perspective and answers many developer questions and the last three chapters-covering Core Data, AppKit, and Bindings-are a must-read; they reveal insights that might otherwise require hours of discussion with Apple engineers or access to source code.”

-Tim Burks, Software Developer and Creator of the Nu Programming Language, www.programming.nu

“This book is a comprehensive and authoritative treatment of design patterns and their practical applications in Cocoa projects. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to advance from intermediate to expert proficiency as a Macintosh developer.”

-John C. Randolph, Vice President Engineering, Stealth Imaging, Inc.

“Cocoa Design Patterns is a fantastic book that will show you the ins and outs of software design patterns, how Cocoa makes use of them, and how to apply them to your own applications for better, more robust, and more maintainable software.”

-August Trometer, Owner of FoggyNoggin Software

“Cocoa Design Patterns is superb! It is highly readable, thoroughly enjoyable, and filled to the brim with wisdom that will make you a more efficient and effective programmer. The authors utilize a consistent and self-contained approach to each chapter, making it easy to return to use as a reference. However, the material is so interesting and vital to Cocoa programmers that you'll want to read it from cover to cover.”

-David Mandell, Independent Developer

“Erik and Donald's book really helped me out with the conceptual side of programming. It caused me to realize where I was going wrong in my code and helped me sort out my design issues.”

-Eoin Houlihan

“This book is recommended for any programmer interested in a deeper understanding of Cocoa. Reading it might have helped me become a better software engineer in any object-oriented language. I'll keep it handy as a constant reference and look forward to reading it again more carefully.”

-Daryl Spitzer