[Ilja]

As a java, php, asp, vb, somewhat c++ and perl programmer I'm getting interested to learn object-c. Is it a steep learning curve? Is it fully Object Oriented? Is there a good API and good documentation?

[davecom]

Originally posted by Ilja:
As a java, php, asp, vb, somewhat c++ and perl programmer I'm getting interested to learn object-c. Is it a steep learning curve? Is it fully Object Oriented? Is there a good API and good documentation?

Objective-C is a fairly small object oriented superset to C. You should be familiar with C before starting. Read the Objective-C introduction on Apple's website (PDF document) or buy a book on Cocoa.

[DaGuy]

Objective-C is not hard at all. You could learn that fairly quickly. Learning your way around the Cocoa framework is a whole different story; not that it's hard, it's just vast.

[alien]

There are some ObjC documents here. Take a look at the one at the bottom, named "The Objective-C Programming Language".

Objective-C itself is pretty easy to learn. It's kind of C with Smalltalk additions. The real issue is how to learn Cocoa. There are some tutorials at O'Reilly's MacDevCenter, but you probably want a good book. Take a look at reviews before you buy one.

[macaroni]

Originally posted by Ilja:
As a java, php, asp, vb, somewhat c++ and perl programmer I'm getting interested to learn object-c. Is it a steep learning curve? Is it fully Object Oriented? Is there a good API and good documentation?

Learning Objective-C is not tough and very easy to learn. In my opinion, it is far much simpler than C++ and presents a very high level approach in working with objects similar to Java but with much cleaner/simpler code.

The whole Cocoa Foundation Kit and Application Kit Framework is a little bit tricky, not tough but tricky; you just need to ask and read to uncover the so called "ahhhh" answer which I constantly find myself doing.

I just started learning Cocoa and I am happy with the progress that I am making (not huge strides) but far much better when I learned C++ back in the day.

I don't really know to much of books that focus on just the Foundation Kit of Objective-C but the books on Cocoa seems to suit me just fine.

[ameat]

i have a background similar to yours and bought a book the other day and highly recommended it if you are looking for more than just a quickstart book. as others have said, learning obj c is no big deal. it has conceptual features from many of the languages that you're familiar with.

i feel that learning the frameworks is like learning any other tool. unless you know what the tool is capable of, it's very difficult for you to use it. again, the above book seems to be doing a good job going through all of the major framework features and architecture in an attempt to familiarize you enough so that you know where to ask your next questions with an educated foundation.

[Catfish_Man]

It's a piece of cake. I'm an amateur (student) Java programmer and I picked Obj-C up in my spare time. I much prefer it to Java in a lot of ways now.

[Ilja]

Thanks for all the feedback Very usefull

I'm curious in what way people prefer it above Java though. And in what whay it's similar to C++, since I hate that language...

But guess I can find out myself by the resources you gave me.

[Catfish_Man]

Originally posted by Ilja:

I'm curious in what way people prefer it above Java though. And in what whay it's similar to C++, since I hate that language...

Well, it's an object oriented extension to C, just like C++ is. It just doesn't have all the crazy C++isms with new/delete, pointers, multiple inheritance, stuff like that. It's OO features are a lot closer to Smalltalk. I hate C++ too. I switched to Java after spending a while trying to figure out C++ pointers. Really most of the main reasons I like it better than Java are Cocoa, not Objective-C:
1) Interface Builder
2) Speed
3) More consolidated classes (instead of String and StringTokenizer, Cocoa just has NSString and its componentsSeperatedByString method). This is mainly a matter of opinion, but I like it.