From ActionScript to Cocoa / Objective C
By 
Andy Jacobs is an established Flash and ActionScript developer who has recently begun to work with the iPhone. In the process of learning Objective C and Cocoa’s ways, he’s put together a handful of extremely well written tutorial blog posts aimed specifically at people who understand ActionScript and want to learn how to migrate over to iPhone development.
So far in his series of blog posts, Andy has covered:
- The Basics – An initial comparison of how objects are put together using Objective C and ActionScript.
- Arrays
- XML
- JSON (Part 1 and Part 2)
Have you seen any similar blog posts or series covering migrating from other languages to Objective C? Ruby or Python, perhaps?
More ActionScript stuff, but:
https://www.bit-101.com/blog/?page_id=1868
Might I suggest that it would be better to learn about Objective-C from an expert in it, instead of a newbie? This guy’s Objective-C is all kinds of butchered, both in the “ugly” and the “broken” senses, and is a poor example for people who won’t know any better.
Mike, if by “this guy” you mean me, yes, you are right. I’m an Obj-C noob and already I see many of the flaws in what I wrote there. I also gave more than one disclaimer / warning to that fact and recommended several good beginner books.
On the other hand, my articles were written for Flashers / ActionScript people. To ActionScripters (as well as those familiar with similar languages such as Java), Obj-C is a scary, very alien looking thing. While I agree that it would be good to learn from an expert, most Objective-C experts communicate way over the heads of the target audience. Though my code may be ugly in those tutorials, it has sparked many people to start learning more about it.
Mike, you didn’t really make a suggestion, just a statement. Are you the expert who is posting free tutorials about ActionScript to iPhone translation? If so, what’s your site url? If not, what is his/her site url?
If the Objective C code is incorrect, a polite and supportive example correction would have been more helpful than your counter-productive criticism.
Although I wasn’t aware of Keith’s posted iPhone tutorials, I have read 3 or 4 of his books and have benefited from doing so. You can’t call him a “newbie”. So, maybe he’s new to one of the most OS and hardware dependent languages ever… (it’s new to most.)
Experienced developers seeking new solutions and learning new languages/technologies, then sharing what they’ve learned should never be referred to in a derogatory manor; they are building bridges, pioneering, and encouraging others to follow suit. If you can offer help, you should. Otherwise, please be quiet.
Anyone know when the flash cs5 is going to be released? I am itching to try out creating iphone apps with it…!