Migration from patchy C++ knowledge to developing

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Hi,
I took a class over the summer in which i spent three weeks intensely learning c++. I was surprised how much i got down in that time and wanted to take that knowledge home with me. I am a mac guy. The first thing i did when i came home was to sit down at X-code and try to re-apply what i had learned. Then the reality of what i learned hit me- I had a patchy knowledge of c++ and no way to move pass applications off of terminal or other consoles. I knew i needed to take the next step so i bought/ and or downloaded multiple mac programming books such as- Learn C on the mac, Learn Objective c on the mac, Learn Ruby with Cocoa, Cocoa something by aaron hillgrass, OOP Demystified, C in easy steps, C++ in easy steps. I have all of these books and i want to move on to eventually mac osx programming and iPhone developing. My question for all of you mac people is where i should take my next step? Should i try to fill the patches in my c++ knowledge and once i have that done take a stab at cocoa and objective-c or do i jump right into cocoa and objective C. Either way once i do take a stab at objective c and cocoa what would be the best way of doing it? Should i read Learn Objective-C on the mac cover to cover and then try to find some cocoa book? I am lost in a sea of computer programming knowledge and i would love some direction. If anyone who is familiar with this subject and has any suggestions i would gladly appreciate them.

Thank you,
Dudebroman
PS. I know its a funny name
PSS. I am running snow leopard on a macbook pro
PSSS. I have X-code 3. whatever is the newest and iPhone SDK. I have been able to build some c++ command line apps with x-code so i kinda know how to use it.
:)
 
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If your target is the Mac and the iPhone, then skip any further C++. It will just confuse you. Same for the Ruby book.

Some would say that you should go through that Learn Objective-C book. That might be a good idea since your knowledge has been tainted with C++. You might also want to go through that Learn C on the Mac book also. That last one may not be needed since via C++, you have already done some C coding, and that Learn Objective-C book may cover much of the same material.

If you have the Aaron Hillegass book, preferably the 3rd edition, then you have a very good book for learning the Cocoa side of things.

The OOP Demystified can be read in parallel with the other titles. The negative of the book might be that is doesn't use Objective-C in the samples. So I've read. From the Amazon reviews, it would seem to be a good read.
 
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thanks xstep. so just i can be clear- you think i should drop the c++ and go straight to the learn objective-c book and aaron hillgrasses cocoa book? as well as use the demystified a little too?
 
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also is there an advantage of starting with learn objective-c or the aaron hillgrass cocoa book? does one build off of the other, would i understand everything better if i started one before the other, or should i read them parallelish
 
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Yes, drop the C++. If you ever need it in your Mac coding of the future, you can pick it up again.

Given that you have some programming experience, you could probably read both programming books in parallel. Aaron's book describes Objective-C to the extent that it needs to. If I was to teach a course, I'd go with learning the language first along with the OOP concepts. That will give you a much more solid foundation to move forward.

If you are gung-** to create something, then jump into Aaron's book if you think slowing down might diminish your interest. The other books will be there for you when you need them.
 

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