Let me start by saying that most Mac developers are migrating to Cocoa programming. This book, on the other hand, instructs one on how to write software for OS versions 8, 9 (OSs that use the CarbonLib) and also OS X in Carbon. On top of that, the book states very clearly that all the projects use MetroWerks Code Warrior for coding and compiling and Resorcerer for resource editing (mostly pre OS X, but also for OS X). This implies a big investment on the part of the user, and in a sense it swims against the Cocoa and X-code current.

So, is Carbon Programming is a loser?! Well, not really. First, the author is knowledgeable and tries to explain most of the stuff in clearly. Sometimes the author takes a bit longer to explain something; other times the author just gives a hint on why "this is the way it is". Generally, I found that there was always something to learn in every page. And even though I was not particularly interested in the non-X part of the book, it was always a learning experience when reading the non-X material (difference in memory management in the earlier chapters, for instance).

The book is long because it discusses and proposes code for both OS X and earlier. If one is interested only in the OS X part, a lot can be skimmed over or skipped altogether. Most of the programming can be done in the X-code environment. There, in the X-code environment, most of the stuff is already done for you (you do not need to create a "window resource", for instance). A note about the preceding statement, I have not tried coding the book's carbon code in X-code, but in asking around it seems feasible to do it. It is among my future projects and I'll report back on this one.

The book is also encyclopedic; that is, one can read the book just to understand some of the inner workings of the Mac OS operating system (if you program, then you must, to read it). Therefore, conceivably one can read this book to understand Mac OS in its most recent flavors (8, 9, X). However, its size does not make Carbon Programming comfortable for bathroom or bed reading. As in its author's name, it is a Brick...

My only problem with Carbon Programming, besides having to work on it for more time that I should have had to (thanks for the patience Maria... :>), is that in the chapter on AppleEvents, the author focusses only on the required suite for AppleScript and some other suites more appropriate for OS 8 and 9. However, I am still learning and I might see that the "snowball of knowledge" is rolling.

What do I think of the book? My opinion is, if one is interested in programming for Mac OS, even though not in Carbon, the book provides enough information to teach programming. It would be also a great reference. One can see how to do something in Mac OS 8, 9, and finally OS X and use some of the concepts to improve one's own programming technique. A note here, by programming I mean memory management, UI behavior, etc. I do not mean writing the code.

The strength of this book is in its wealth of information. Its weaknesses are in its size and the fact that part of this wealth of information is about the older systems. Also, it does not talk about X-code or Project Builder. Those, mind you, are my pet peeves; one could feel differently about programming for older systems. Nevertheless, if you program, it is a great reference.

Overall rating: certainly not for the casual user. Considering the wealth of knowledge it provides, I'd buy it!

Reviewer: Deivy Petrescu Who suffered through the duration of this review and dragged Maria with him! He'll probably extend this review and he'll place it in the MLMUG programming SIG site.

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© 2004 by Deivy Petrescu & MLMUG
Posted 07/20/04
Updated 09/15/04