Filed under: Developer, Holidays
Gifts for the beginning developer
Whether you've just started writing your first lines of code or you've just moved over to the Mac/iPhone platform as a developer, this guide is sure to please.
Books
Cocoa Programming in Mac OS X ($31.49 on Amazon)
There are really two excellent books that should be on every Mac developer's bookshelf. First is a book by the magnificent Aaron Hillegass. Aaron not only teaches at the Big Nerd Ranch, but he also wrote a Cocoa (Objective-C) programming book that some would consider to be the Bible of Cocoa development; he has also been programming for over 18 years. His book, Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X is an excellent place to start for anyone looking to develop on the Mac; he covers topics from the history of Cocoa, to classes, to creating custom views -- it truly is all there.
iPhone Developer's Cookbook ($26.39 on Amazon)
Written by former TUAW Blogger, Erica Sadun, this book helps anyone with previous Cocoa programming experience begin to program on the iPhone. This isn't the standard programming book in which the author tries to teach you something through instruction. Rather, Erica has designed this book so the reader can learn through examples. If you have been waiting to jump on the theoretical iPhone application bandwagon, then this book can definitely help you master iPhone development.
Hardware
It doesn't take a developer to want Santa to bring hardware, but most of the time being a developer means you need certain hardware. One such piece of hardware is external hard drives. Who couldn't use a little extra storage now and then? I personally recommend the Western Digital MyBook hard drives for their cost and storage options.
Always being able to view your code is a must, therefore most developer's like to code on a huge display. There's truly nothing bigger than the Apple 30" Cinema Display; however, if you're pressed for money, you can find Dell monitors with bigger screens for a lot less dough.
Apple Developer Memberships
If you are not already a member of the Apple Developer Program, then you really should consider it. While it can be a little expensive, the experience that you can get out of it might just be worth the cost. They offer memberships for online, students, select, and premier.
The online and student memberships are basically the same, with the exception of the price. The online version is free and offers limited access to Apple's developer tools. The student membership costs $99 and includes a hardware discount.
The select membership gives you a ton of resources including: joining in Apple's software seeding program (meaning you'll get a copy of Apple's pre-release software like Snow Leopard), code-level technical support, coding head starts, ADC videos on iTunes, and the opportunity to attend the compatibility labs. However, the select membership costs $499 (US) per year.
Stocking Stuffers That Programmers Will Love.
Books
Cocoa Programming in Mac OS X ($31.49 on Amazon)There are really two excellent books that should be on every Mac developer's bookshelf. First is a book by the magnificent Aaron Hillegass. Aaron not only teaches at the Big Nerd Ranch, but he also wrote a Cocoa (Objective-C) programming book that some would consider to be the Bible of Cocoa development; he has also been programming for over 18 years. His book, Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X is an excellent place to start for anyone looking to develop on the Mac; he covers topics from the history of Cocoa, to classes, to creating custom views -- it truly is all there.
iPhone Developer's Cookbook ($26.39 on Amazon)
Written by former TUAW Blogger, Erica Sadun, this book helps anyone with previous Cocoa programming experience begin to program on the iPhone. This isn't the standard programming book in which the author tries to teach you something through instruction. Rather, Erica has designed this book so the reader can learn through examples. If you have been waiting to jump on the theoretical iPhone application bandwagon, then this book can definitely help you master iPhone development.
HardwareIt doesn't take a developer to want Santa to bring hardware, but most of the time being a developer means you need certain hardware. One such piece of hardware is external hard drives. Who couldn't use a little extra storage now and then? I personally recommend the Western Digital MyBook hard drives for their cost and storage options.
Always being able to view your code is a must, therefore most developer's like to code on a huge display. There's truly nothing bigger than the Apple 30" Cinema Display; however, if you're pressed for money, you can find Dell monitors with bigger screens for a lot less dough.
Apple Developer Memberships
If you are not already a member of the Apple Developer Program, then you really should consider it. While it can be a little expensive, the experience that you can get out of it might just be worth the cost. They offer memberships for online, students, select, and premier. The online and student memberships are basically the same, with the exception of the price. The online version is free and offers limited access to Apple's developer tools. The student membership costs $99 and includes a hardware discount.
The select membership gives you a ton of resources including: joining in Apple's software seeding program (meaning you'll get a copy of Apple's pre-release software like Snow Leopard), code-level technical support, coding head starts, ADC videos on iTunes, and the opportunity to attend the compatibility labs. However, the select membership costs $499 (US) per year.
Stocking Stuffers That Programmers Will Love.- If you've been looking for geeky clothing, then look no further than the wonderfully designed T-Shirts and other clothing from ThinkGeek.
- It's no secret that programmers (and geeks alike) love caffeine, therefore most programmers would love to just have a gift card or bag of coffee from Starbucks or other coffee company. Also, a pack of Mountain Dew might also work just as well.
- Just because we're programmers doesn't mean that we can't rock out ... just like anyone else, we would gladly accept iTunes Gift Cards.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
mmendoza27 said 10:13AM on 11-25-2008
That Cocoa programming book by Aaron Hillegrass is the next on my list. Programming in Objective-C by Steve Kochan is also a great book, I picked it up in an effort to learn something new. I recommend it.
On a side note, do developers really use 30" monitors? I'd think 24" would be perfect and economical enough.
Reply
tyler said 10:19AM on 11-25-2008
"There's truly nothing bigger than the Apple 30" Cinema Display; however, if you're pressed for money, you can find Dell monitors with bigger screens for a lot less dough."
Contradiction much?
Reply
ryan10ad said 10:35AM on 11-25-2008
Do we have any other people reccomending Erica's book? I'm not putting the women down (she is a vital part of the jailbreaking, which I admire) but other people are suggesting that this book isn't suited to a guy who has a mac and whats to get going on the iPhone. Any other books / reviews?
Reply
papasteves said 11:54AM on 11-25-2008
Actually, there are a few iPhone dev books coming out. It's a bit of a race to get it printed, since the NDA has been lifted.
I'd suggest one in the works called iPhone in Action. If you visit the publisher site, you could download the first chapter for free and actually buy the book in early access to view the available chapters in ebook format immediately: http://manning.com/callen/. There's also a discount code for 35% off at MacTech: http://forums.mactech.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/398366/35_off_iPhone_in_Action_book#Post398366.
Kelmon said 10:38AM on 11-25-2008
"Programming In Objective-C" by Steve Kochan (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Programming-Objective-C-Stephen-Kochan/dp/0672325861/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1227627244&sr=8-1) is highly recommended since you won't get far without knowing how to program in Objective-C. Aaron's book touches on details of the language but not very much and he assumes you already know at least C.
Amazon is advising that Steve has a new edition of his book due to arrive in January 2009 so you'd be advised to wait for that new edition, which covers Objective-C 2.0, if you can:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Programming-Objective-C-2-0-Developers-Library/dp/0321566157/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1227627436&sr=8-2
Reply
KA said 11:28AM on 11-25-2008
"There's truly nothing bigger than the Apple 30" Cinema Display"
Yes there is – me.
Reply
SpinThis! said 1:17PM on 11-25-2008
I don't work for O'Reilly but I can recommend O'Reilly's Safari Books online. I stopped buying actual physical technical books because tech stuff changes so fast and left with information that's sometimes good, sometimes clearly outdated. You can dig through thousands of books....including all the ones mentioned here and also download PDF copies you can use to print if you want a hardcopy. They also give you access to a few lynda.com videos and books in progress (they call those rough cuts). It's a great resource for the developer. Not for everyone—imo paper is still easier to read, especially on the can—but it's still handy with a big or multi-monitor environment.
That said, I've dug through Cory's recommended books via Safari (they have all of them mentioned here) and they're all pretty good reads. I'm still trying to get my head around Objective-C—I'll have to check out Kaplan's book on the subject.
Reply
SpinThis! said 1:28PM on 11-25-2008
oops, Kochan.
hmm they do have his new book as a rough cut... excellent... http://safari.oreilly.com/9780321605559
Christina Warren said 3:40PM on 11-25-2008
Thanks for the link! I just got the print/pdf/online bundle (they only charge you for the online/pdf now, they charge the other half when they ship the book). I really loved the first edition of his book but the new one is significantly updated and covers the iPhone SDK too.
FWIW, Hilgass's book (which is excellent) and Erica's book are both solid reads too.
Icelander said 4:16PM on 11-25-2008
An even better gift than the books would be a membership to O'Reilly's Safari service. For about the price of two books you can get access to every book O'Reilly has published in a searchable database.
I don't know anyone who sits down and reads a programming book cover to cover, so the ability to search, and to have it online, is awesome.
Reply
-wsn said 6:37PM on 11-25-2008
Hi
While I may have just gotten a 'bad' one, i just returned one of these WD 'My Book' drives.
It was one of the worst ext drives i have ever owned. The speeds were horrible, and that is when it 'wasn't' dismounting on it own.
I'm sticking with my Drobo...
Cheers
-wsn
PS: Beware of the 1.6TB Seagate drives also... many have bad firmware and Seagate were really horrible to deal with in admitting it. Many of the small manu's have disqualified them.
Reply
-wsn said 6:45PM on 11-25-2008
-Typo-
1.5 TB Seagate's
-wsn
poketnrjsh said 1:59PM on 12-07-2008
What is that "Starwar"...thing in the picture on the page up from this? Not to get off topic here, sorry.
Reply