Dec 97 - Getting Started
Volume Number: 13
Issue Number: 12
Column Tag: Getting Started
Getting Started With Macintosh Programming:
Circa 1998
by Dave Mark , Copyright 1997, All Rights Reserved
A long, long time ago, I wrote an article for MacTech Magazine (called MacTutor, at the
time) answering the question, "How do I get started with Macintosh Programming?
About once a year, I update the article and do my best to pass it around to the
community. This is the 1998 version. Learning to program the Macintosh can be
incredibly rewarding and enjoyable. I've been doing it for about 13 years, and I still
get a charge out of seeing my thoughts and ideas come to life on my Mac's screen. If the
idea of being able to build your own Mac applications sounds like fun to you, read on.
Don't let the turmoil at Apple discourage you. I think Apple will be around for a good
long time. I mean, think about it. Would you rather use a Mac or a Windows machine?
To me there is no comparison. I want my Macintosh.
A quick caveat: Just so you know, I work for Metrowerks and write Mac programming
books and both are recommended in the following pages. If you have any doubts about
the contents below, find a friend with Mac programming experience (or find a
newsgroup or on-line forum) and ask for yourself. I don't mind! ; ) Want to get in
touch with me? Check out my web site http://www.spiderworks.com or send me email
at dmark@metrowerks.com.
The Three Basic Steps
Start Off by Learning
So how do you learn to program the Macintosh? For starters, you'll need to decide on a
programming language. In my opinion, there is no better way to start your
programming education than with C. The C programming language is the most popular
programming language in the world. Once you know C, you've got a language you can use
on just about any computer in the world. More importantly, C++, Objective-C, and
Java are all supersets of C. In other words, learning C will give you a leg up on
learning any or all three of these important languages.
To be fair, there are other opinions on the best language to start with. For example,
there are quite a few people who think that Pascal is the easiest language to assimilate.
Though I agree that Pascal is a great programming language, and is less cryptic than C,