Programming Basics in Objective-C

Abstract

Objective-C is a very elegant language. It mixes the efficiency of the C language with the object-oriented goodness of Smalltalk. This combination was introduced in the mid- 1980s and is still powering the fantastic applications behind the iPhone and Mac OS X. How does a language that is over 20 years old stay relevant and useful after all of that time? Well, some of its success has to do with the fact that the two languages that make up Objective-C are very well tested and very well designed. Another reason is less obvious; the various frameworks available for the iPhone and Mac OS X make developing full-featured applications much easier. These frameworks benefit from the fact that they have been around for a while, which equates to stability and high functionality. Last, Objective-C is highly dynamic. While we won’t be focusing on this in this chapter, the dynamic nature of Objective-C provides a flexibility not found in many compiled languages. With all of these great features, Objective-C and the corresponding frameworks provide an excellent palette from which a masterpiece can be created!