.FLYINGHEAD BOOK REVIEW
.TITLE We review iPhone Open Application Development and more
.AUTHOR Joe Dolittle
.SUMMARY In this all-new book review shootout, we put two books to the test. Read on to learn how iPhone Open Application Development by Jonathan Zdziarski, and Switching to the Mac by David Pogue stand up to our editorial review.
.OTHER
In honor of all the over-hyped WWDC Apple iPhone announcements, we put two Apple-related books to the test. Read on to learn how [[http://www.amazon.com/dp/0596518552/?tag=zatzcom|iPhone Open Application Development]] by Jonathan Zdziarski, and [[http://www.amazon.com/dp/0596514123/?tag=zatzcom|Switching to the Mac]] by David Pogue stand up to our editorial review.
.H1 iPhone Open Application Development
.AMAZON_COVER 0596518552|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Tlhg52KvL._SL160_.jpg
Certain technologies bring out everyone’s hidden geek and the iPhone did the moment it was released. Even though Apple created the iPhone as a closed device tens of thousands of developers bought them with the expressed purpose of designing and running third-party software.
In this book, Jonathan Zdziarski — one of the original hackers of the iPhone — explains the iPhone’s native environment and how you can build software for this device using its Objective-C C and C++ development frameworks. [[http://www.amazon.com/dp/0596518552/?tag=zatzcom|iPhone Open Application Development]] walks you through the iPhone’s proprietary development environment offers an overview of the Objective-C language you’ll use with it and supplies background for the iPhone operating system.
You also get detailed recipes and working examples for everyone’s favorite iPhone features — graphics and audio programming interfaces for adding multitouch functionality to games the use of hardware sensors and the device’s vast user interface kit.
.TEASER Tap here for our evaluation.
.H2 Computing Unplugged’s evaluation
Overall, we liked this book, but were somewhat disappointed that it doesn’t cover the new iPhone 2.0 development environment, the iPhone App store, and how to develop software legitimately. Admittedly, the book was published before the new iPhone 3D was announced, but we would have liked to see at least one chapter on the new iPhone SDK.
Because of that, we had to drop a star and rate this a 3-out-of-5. Hopefully, there’ll be another edition that brings everything up to date.
iPhone Open Application Development by Jonathan Zdziarski, published by O’Reilly Media Inc., is 280 pages and has a retail price of $39.99. We give [[http://www.amazon.com/dp/0596518552/?tag=zatzcom|iPhone Open Application Development]] a rating of 3 out of 5.
.RATING 3
.PAGE
.H1 Switching to the Mac
.AMAZON_COVER 0596514123|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51kjRQsU7BL._SL160_.jpg
Is Windows giving you pause? Ready to make the leap to the Mac instead? There has never been a better time to switch from Windows to Mac and this guide will help you make a smooth transition.
New York Times columnist and Missing Manuals creator (and occasional ZATZ author) David Pogue gets you past three challenges: transferring your stuff assembling Mac programs so you can do what you did with Windows and learning your way around Mac OS X.
.H2 Computing Unplugged’s evaluation
We’re huge fans of all David’s books and this is no exception. Although David does make moving to a Mac seem easy, many of our readers report that apparently you need to change your wardrobe, dump your barber in favor of a "stylist," whatever that is, and start eating only vegetarian food. But if you’re willing to put up with becoming a metrosexual, then perhaps switching to a Mac is for you.
Switching to the Mac by David Pogue, published by Pogue Press, is 608 pages and has a retail price of $29.99. We give [[http://www.amazon.com/dp/0596514123/?tag=zatzcom|Switching to the Mac]] a rating of 4 out of 5.
.RATING 4
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
Learn more about [[http://www.amazon.com/dp/0596518552/?tag=zatzcom|iPhone Open Application Development]].
Learn more about [[http://www.amazon.com/dp/0596514123/?tag=zatzcom|Switching to the Mac]].
.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO
