Step into Xcode:
The Official Web Site

This is the support and news web site for Step into Xcode: Mac OS X Development, by Fritz Anderson, published by Addison-Wesley early in February 2006. The book is available through Amazon.com, and should be available at all the usual brick-and-mortar retailers like Barnes & Noble and Borders.

Unsolicited Testimonials

(… and haven’t you always wanted unsolicited testimonials?)

• Your book has changed the way I develop code.  The techniques I've learned from reading Step Into XCode will not only make me far more efficient at producing bug-free code, but  make the coding process all the more enjoyable.  I consider this book essential to anyone who plans to develop for Mac OSX.  I was astonished at how little I knew about XCode and how little I was taking advantage of the numerous features Apple's IDE has to offer.  Step Into XCode has unleashed the power of Apple's celebrated dev environment and as such, empowered me to deliver better quality code with less effort, and within a shorter dev cycle.  Step Into XCode is a must have, must read.
  — Kevin Callahan, author of Accessorizer
• I highly recommend it. Fritz delivers exactly what Xcode has needed for so long: a deep narrative covering common development tasks. … Fritz’s book reads more like a story than a reference. It’s a rare book about an IDE you’ll want to read front-to-back, cover-to-cover.
  — Jon Rentzsch
• I have been programming for OSX for about two years and I have already learned a few things even in these introductory chapters which will speed up my development process.
  — Bruce Truax
• [I]t seems to be just what I've been looking for. Thanks for writing it.
  — Wally Grotophorst
• Step into Xcode is a great book! … [I]t's the best book on any IDE I've ever seen.
  — Michael Ströck

About the Book

The first part of Step into Xcode takes beginning and intermediate programmers through the process of developing a Mac OS X application with Xcode, showing the workflow behind successful use of Apple's development tools in a practical manner. The application starts as a BSD command-line tool, and progresses to a graphical application making use of Mac OS X 10.4 “Tiger” technologies like Core Data and Spotlight.

Other points covered in Part One of Step into Xcode include:

• Working with the debugger from the very start.
• How the Xcode tools leverage GUI design for Cocoa.
• The structure of Mac OS X applications and binaries.
• Understanding property lists.
• Using source-code management (SCM) tools to take control of your projects.
• Building fat universal binaries for PowerPC and Intel processors.
• Localization.

Part Two takes you through features and uses of Xcode that don't come out in a preliminary walk-through. It covers:

• Effective debugging techniques.
• How CodeWarrior veterans can feel at home in Xcode.
• How Makefile veterans can make sense of an IDE.
• AppleScript Studio.
• How Xcode can help you get control over a large Makefile-based project.