New Programer looking for advice on a Project

In article
,
mariposas rand mair fheal greykitten tomys des anges
wrote:

> In article ,
> "Madcat" wrote:
>
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I am a novice programer (Pascal and Basic in HS). I am interested in
> > creating a card game that is a variationof canasta. I know noone will
> > make a this game for the mac so If i want it I will need to make it.
>
> apple only ships c variants with their developer tools
> and various scripting languages like tcl python perl
>
> you can get other compilers like pascal on your own and isntall them
>
> like it or not you should learn c
>
Apple also supports Java, with its development environment XCode.
however, the advice "learn C" is valid - everyone is going to expect
that you know it.

Apple supplies an integrated development environment called XCode, with
which you can program in C or Objective-C or Java. Objective-C is an
extension of C. If you use XCode and write in Objctive-C, you can take
advantage of Cocoa, which is a rich library of software for graphical
user interfaces and other programming needs.

A card game program is a fairly complicated thing. To deal nicely with
the complexity, you will probably need to learn "object-oriented
programming." This is a way of designing and writing software that is
a step or two up from the procedural programming that comes most easily
with a language like Pascal.

So... it looks like you are going to want (or need) to learn:

C;

Objective C;

Cocoa;

the use of XCode;

object-oriented programming and design.

That's a lot. But I bet this card game will not be your last program.
It will be the first of many. The initial investment in knowing C and
object-oriented design will be directly applicable almost anywere.
Objective-C is (mostly) an Aplpe-specific language, but knowing it will
make other languages easier to learn. Likewise, knowong Coca and XCode
will make it easier to learn other frameworks and IDEs.

You will need some books. Here's a list:
Stephen Kochan /Programming/ /in/ /Objective/ - /C/ . This does not
presume that you kow C or object-oriented programming.

Aaron Hillegas, /Cocoa/ /Programming/ /for/ /Mac/ /OS/ /X/ . This is a
very friendly book that will get you going with XCode and Cocoa.

Alan Cooper /About/ /Face/ : /the/ /Essentials/ /of/ /User/ /Interface/
/Design/ .

And then there is Apple's Web site: full of useful material.

--
Chris Henrich
http://www.mathinteract.com
God just doesn't fit inside a single religion.
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