Bitwise Magazine

Objective-C Book Reviews

For books on Mac/iOS programming

Wednesday 18 January 2012

The principal application programming language both of the Mac and Apple’s various iOS devices is Objective-C. It is not the easiest of languages to learn. A beginner may find its mix of C and Smalltalk-like syntax baffling. Even an experienced programmer is likely to have problems, not only learning the language but also getting to grips with the Xcode development environment. Here I look at four books that might help you get over a few of the barriers…

These are the books… Objective-C Fundamentals $44.99 by Christopher Fairbairn, Collin Ruffenach, Johannes Fahrenkrug Manning Publications ISBN-10: 1935182536 ISBN-13: 978-1935182535 Objective-C Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide $39.99 by Aaron Hillegass Addison-Wesley ISBN-10: 0321706285 ISBN-13: 978-0321706287 Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X (4th Edition) $49.99 by Aaron Hillegass, Adam Preble Addison-Wesley ISBN-10: 0321774086 ISBN-13: 978-0321774088 Advanced Mac OS X Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide $59.99 by Mark Dalrymple Addison-Wesley ISBN-10: 0321706250 ISBN-13: 978-0321706256 At first sight, three of these books appear to be aimed at more or less the same type of reader: Objective-C Fundamentals, Objective-C Programming and Cocoa Programming (...)

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Camtasia 2 For Mac

Mac screen-recording tool

Saturday 7 January 2012

$99 / £76.50 (inc VAT)
Upgrade from version 1: $49 / £38.50
http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia-mac-features.html

Screen recording software is invaluable if you want to make software demos or tutorials. On a Mac, you can use the free QuickTime player to make simple screen recordings. However, its recording capabilities are limited (full screen or rectangular area but no fixed-size presets or selected windows) and there is no editor. So it's fine for very simple recordings but it's not suitable for creating good quality screencasts. On Windows, my favourite screen recording program is TechSmith's Camtasia. Recently, TechSmith released Camtasia 2 for the Mac and I was keen to see how that compared with the Windows version. First impressions were good. In common with the Windows version, Camtasia for the Mac is divided into two parts: the recorder and the editor. The recorder takes the form of a (...)

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Adobe Flash, alive or dead?

The problem of Flex

Wednesday 4 January 2012

Adobe Flash is dead. I’ve read that so often recently on blogs and in forums that I was almost starting to believe it might be true...

Mark Twaine is said to have remarked "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated" after reading his obituary in a newspaper. The reports of the death of Adobe Flash have, I think, also been greatly exaggerated. This is my take on the story.

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The Comic Sans Liberation Front

The bandwagon is rolling but I won’t be jumping on…

Saturday 31 December 2011

My New Year’s Resolution this year is to be less forgiving of stupidity. Detractors of the Comic Sans font come high on my list of offenders.

I first became aware of the mouth-foaming passion that the Comic Sans font arouses after I published a free eBook on Ruby programming. I decided that, since Ruby was a frothy, friendly kind of language I would use a frothy, friendly kind of font for the code listings. A boring font like Courier is ok for a workaday language such as Java or C#. But Ruby deserved something more frivolous – Comic Sans would do just fine. Little did I know what a terrible thing I had done. Soon my book was being denounced on forums and comment-threads all over the damn' place. Some people were of the opinion that anyone who could use Comic Sans must be inherently untrustworthy and possibly bordering on the demented. So, instead of judging the book by the information it contained, they judged it by (...)

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Taming the Mac Mouse

Get the little blighter under control!

Tuesday 27 December 2011

One of the thing that’s been driving me up the wall when using my Mac is the damn’ mouse’s habit of sending my documents whizzing off screen when I’m least expecting it. I’m using the iMac’s ‘Magic Mouse’ which is a cute looking thing that has no buttons at all yet pretends it has two buttons plus a built in touch-pad. Sounds a great idea. But in practice, it just tries to do too damn’ much.

The horizontal scrolling thing is especially infuriating. If I just happen to touch the mouse with a finger and then move the mouse to the left or right, my active document scrolls out of view. Whoosh! Now you see it, now you don't! For example, if I'm writing in Word, all my text suddenly vanishes beyond the edge of the Word window leaving me with a seemingly blank document. Grrrrr…. Why would anyone ever want that to happen? What is the point of it? Is there any application that anyone has ever used in which this is a desirable feature? I tried using the Mac's built-in mouse configuration tools but they didn't fix the problem. So I did myself some Googling and pretty soon I discovered that I'm not the only person who finds this behaviour frustrating beyond endurance. People (...)

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Blow Up 3

Photoshop plugin

Monday 5 December 2011

Blow Up 3 $199
Alien Skin Software
http://www.alienskin.com/blowup/
Requirements: Photoshop CS4 or later; or Lightroom 2 or later; Intel Core 2 processor or compatible; Mac OS X 10.6 or later, Windows Vista or later

Blow Up 3 is a Photoshop (and Lightroom) plugin for enlarging images while retaining clarity. It has to be said that this is a specialised requirement: either you need it badly or you don't need it at all. If you need to magnify images to be printed on posters, for example, Blow Up may be useful (see also my review of Blow Up 2). If you just use photographs for your web site, it's probably unlikely to be of much interest. Normally, if you enlarge a small image, the larger image will end up with blurred or distorted edges and relatively poor definition. Blow Up 3 takes a smarter approach to enlargement by creating a vector-based ‘map' of your image and enlarging the image one small piece at a time in an effort to retain clarity at larger sizes. There are various presets to (...)

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Mastering XCode 4: Develop and Design

Book review

Monday 28 November 2011

Mastering XCode 4: Develop and Design $49.99 / £33.99
Joshua Nozzi
Peachpit Press
http://xcodebook.com
http://www.computermanuals.co.uk/scripts/browse.asp?ref=243244
ISBN-10: 0321767527
ISBN-13: 978-0321767523

If you are used, as I am, to programming in Visual Studio on Windows, trying to write programs in Apple's Mac IDE, XCode, is an uphill struggle. Not only am I still unfamiliar with the conventions of the Mac interface itself, but I am also new to the main XCode language, Objective-C, and its associated Cocoa framework. On top of all that, I can't figure out how to get XCode to do the things that are second nature to me in Visual Studio. Mastering XCode 4 is aimed at someone just like me. It claims that it will guide me through all the XCode tools and show me how to write and debug an app using the Cocoa framework. OK, so how well did it succeed? In brief, the answer is: it succeeded… up to a point. The book gives a good account of the XCode tools and it explains fundamental (...)

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Customize Visual Studio’s Colours – easy when you know how

How to banish the blues

Thursday 24 November 2011

Visual Studio is one of those rare pieces of software for which I have considerable affection. This is just as well since it’s one of the two pieces of software that I use every day. The other is Microsoft Word. ‘Affection’ is not a word that springs to mind in relation to MS Word. ‘Irritation’ is more to the point. I particularly dislike the bloody awkward, space-hogging ribbon-bar which very effectively hides away all the functions that used to be instantly accessible on menus.

At least Visual Studio still has menus. I dread, I quake with fear, at the thought that one day Microsoft might replace them with a ribbon. No, that would just be too horrible! Anyway, suffice to say that in my view, Visual Studio is head and shoulders above any other IDE for programmers. If you've had the misfortune to use Eclipse or XCode you will surely know what I mean. There are just two things I don't like. 1) Visual Studio 2010 has introduced auto-undocking windows. Nothing wrong with that apart from the fact that every time I double-click a tabbed document in the editor, the damn' thing undocks itself. Yes, I know I should avoid double-clicking the tabs, but I still do it often enough to find this behaviour annoying; and 2) the colour scheme! I don't mean the colours in the (...)

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Tiffen Dfx v3 Photo

Image processing filters

Tuesday 22 November 2011

Tiffen Dfx v3 Filter Suite Photo Plugin $199.95
Tiffen Software
http://www.tiffensoftware.com/

Tiffen Dfx Filter Suite is a collection of image-enhancing filters that simulate a number of ‘traditional' photography effects achieved using glass lenses and filters (Tiffen is a manufacturer of glass photographic filters), as well as various types of film stocks and photographic processing effects. There are 125 filters with thousands of individually configured variations or ‘presets'. The filters are available for use with a few popular image editing packages (listed at the end of this review) and there is also a standalone version available. I've been using Tiffen Dfx with Adobe PhotoShop. The tabbed effects are show at the bottom of the screen with configured 'presets' at the right-hand side. You can divide the screen to see the image before and after applying an (...)

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Free DVD Ripper For Thanksgiving

Limited-time offer

Friday 18 November 2011

Digiarty Software is giving away 30,000 copies of its WinX DVD Ripper Platinum software. But you have to be quick. This offer lasts until November 29th and has a limit of 30,000 copies.

DVD ripper software capable of ripping both homemade and commercial DVDs to popular videos, such as rip DVD to AVI, MP4, H.264, MPEG, WMV, MOV, LV, 3GP, etc. It can also help users faultlessly rip and backup DVD to iPhone/4S, iPad, iPod, Apple TV, Android, HTC, Samsung, XOOM, Galaxy Tab, Kindle, ThinkPad, DELL Streak, PSP, etc. To get your free copy, go to http://www.winxdvd.com/giveaway/ and click the Get Register Code button until all codes run out.

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OS X Lion - two book reviews

Which is the better book for a beginner?

Thursday 17 November 2011

Mac OS X Lion in easy steps
By Nick Vandome
$14.99 / £10.99
ISBN: 978-1-84078-439-8
http://www.ineasysteps.com/books/details/?9781840784398
http://www.computermanuals.co.uk/scripts/browse.asp?ref=225547

Mac OS X Lion: Visual QuickStart Guide
By Maria Langer
ISBN-10: 0-321-78673-4
http://www.peachpit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=0321786734
http://www.computermanuals.co.uk/scripts/browse.asp?ref=236190

If, like me, you are a grizzled, dyed-in-the-wool Windows users and you suddenly find yourself left loose on a Mac computer, you are probably going to feel that you've been cast adrift on stranger tides, up a creek without the proverbial paddle. In short, OS X Lion (the latest Mac operating system) looks beautiful but it I can never figure out how the heck to get things done. These two books both claim to be able to help someone just like me. This is what the blurb says…. “With Mac OS X Lion in easy steps, you'll be able to unleash this powerful operating system and have it up and running in no time. In clear, accessible language, the book introduces you to the OS X environment and teaches you about the user interface. With these basics mastered, this full-colour, fully (...)

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Flash&Flex Developer’s Mag Now Available

Free download

Monday 14 November 2011

The November edition of Flash&Flex Developer’s Magazine is now available for download. It’s free, so what are you waiting for...?

This issue has articles on 3D game development, the Singleton Design Pattern plus reviews and interviews. And, as always, there is my ActionScript programming column. If you are new to ActionScript, this is the place to start. Download the issue here: http://ffdmag.com.

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Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 11 / Production Suite

Video Editing Package

Friday 11 November 2011

$94.95, £59.95 (standard) / $124.95, £79.95 (production suite)
Sony Creative Software http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/vegassoftware

I've been using Vegas Movie Studio HSD Platinum for a few weeks now and to say that I'm impressed would be to do it an injustice. In this price bracket it is, quite simply, a stunning piece of software. Vegas - edit video and audio and add text and effects If you've ever used any timeline-based video or animation software, you'll feel right at home with Vegas. Fundamentally its user interface comprises a set of timelines for videos and audio and you just import clips into them, edit and produce. Clips can be moved around on a timeline or cut and pasted using the mouse. There are a good number of ready-to-use transitions that blend one clip into another using everything from simple fades to quite fancy animated effects such as ‘clock wipes', ‘barn doors' and gradient (...)

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RAD Studio XE2 - Embarcadero interview

Delphi, Mac, iOS and more....

Sunday 30 October 2011

Embarcadero recently launched the latest release of its RAD Studio application development suite, which includes tools for developing using C++, PHP and Delphi, the Pascal language tool originally created by Borland. One of the new features of RAD Studio XE2 is its support for both Mac OSX and iOS development in addition to Windows. When I spoke to Embarcadero’s Chief Evangelist, David Intersimone, I asked him about RAD Studio’s cross-platform features. But, as a long-time Delphi programmer myself, I began by asking about Delphi…

Huw C: I understand that Delphi sales have been increasing over the past few years. Given the predominance of all those C-like language (C++, C#, Java and so on) I think some people might be surprised that a Pascal language is growing in popularity. What's the explanation? David I: There are several explanations for the resurgence of Delphi (and the Pascal language). First, since we have become part of Embarcadero Technologies increased investment in the RAD tools business has allowed us to provide to our customers year by year consistent releases with new functionality and higher quality. Customers have responded to this commitment with renewed confidence in Delphi and C++Builder. Second, the rise of multiple platforms beyond just Windows including cloud architectures, RESTful web (...)

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Mac v PC – Beauty and the Beast?

Over to the Dark Side…?

Monday 24 October 2011

Mac users look down on PC users: they think we have no taste. PC users look down on Mac users: we think they have no technical savvy. For almost thirty years I’ve been a PC user. Since the release of Windows 3.1 in 1992 I have been not just a PC user but also a Windows user. A few weeks ago, I did the unthinkable: I bought myself a Mac.

The initial impetus for this decision was provided by a number of requests for help from students of my Ruby programming course, many of whom are Mac users. But I have to admit that I was also curious to find out if the Mac really is as great as its admirers would have us believe. Here, then, are a few thoughts… First, it has to be said that there are a great many things about the Mac, and its user interface, that take some getting used to. For example, the windows scroll in the opposite direction from those on Microsoft Windows. On Windows, I roll my mouse wheel downwards and the contents of the window scroll upwards. On a Mac, when I want to scroll upwards, I stroke my mouse in upwards! Obvious when you think about it but not what I'm accustomed to. Then there is the (...)

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Vue 10 digital landscape software due in November

E-On Software’s latest

Thursday 13 October 2011

I first reviewed Vue (Vue d’Esprit as it was then called) many years ago. It started life as simple scenery designer aimed at amateur users. But my, how it’s grown!

Vue is now an extremely powerful product which is used by some of the top professionals and has been used in a number of major Hollywood films. The latest update to Vue will ship next month. This is what to expect: Vue 10 adds a number of new and extended features such as: • Spline and Road Tools: Vue 10 includes a comprehensive spline toolkit that can be used for EcoSystems, terrain effects, building roads or creating objects. An automatic Path-finding algorithm can also be used to build realistic roads at the surface of terrains. • Dynamic Rocks: Vue 10 features a library of dynamic rock templates that can be used to instantly create single rocks, groups of rocks, or use them in EcoSystems. Each time the user creates a rock from a template, a new and unique variation (...)

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SuperTintin

Record your Skype calls

Tuesday 11 October 2011

SuperTintin $29.95
http://www.supertintin.com
Requirements: Win7/Vista/XP/2000, Skype 3.0 or above

If you want a simple, inexpensive way to record Skype conversations, buy a copy of SuperTintin. That's probably the shortest review I've ever written but it pretty much sums up all you need to know. OK, just for the sake of completeness, here are a few more details. SuperTintin is a program that can record your audio and video conversations on Skype. It can record both sides of the conversation or just one side, it can optionally record the video from either the remote or the local webcam or from both. Video size and frame-rate are selectable so you can record anything from small ‘picture in picture' videos to large (up to 960x720 videos). It can start recording automatically whenever you use Skype or it will record when you click its big red ‘Record' button. Skype, (...)

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Corel MotionStudio 3D

Animate those title clips!

Saturday 8 October 2011

Corel MotionStudio 3D
$99.99 / £79.99
Corel: http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/us/en/Product/1311092035419

If you want to spice up your videos with the addition of snazzy title sequences or simple animated effects, you may want to consider using Corel's MotionStudio 3D. Essentially this is a relatively simple modelling and animation tool that lets you add drag-and-drop text and objects into an editing space and animate them along a timeline. As with most other animation products, changes over time such as linear or rotational movement, scaling and lighting can be controlled by moving to a specific moment – a ‘frame' – on the timeline and making whatever changes you wish. This causes a ‘key frame' marker to be added to the timeline. The software then auto-calculates the changes needed to create a smooth animation between each of the key frames. When you want to (...)

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Learn ActionScript for Flash Development

New tutorial

Tuesday 4 October 2011

If you want to program Adobe Flash applications you’ll need to understand ActionScript.

The good news is that you can learn ActionScript programming from the ground up in my new series for Flash & Flex Developer's Magazine. The magazine is a free PDF download so why not go and get a copy today...!

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BB Flashback 3 Professional

Screencast recording tool review

Monday 26 September 2011

£124 (£149 inc VAT – but check the site for international prices and taxes)
Blueberry Software: http://www.bbsoftware.co.uk

If you need to create demos or video tutorials showing some software in use, you need some screen recording and editing software. The UK-based company, Blueberry Software, has just released a new version of its screen recording suite, BB Flashback. Here I put it through its paces. BB Flashback 3 lets you edit and annotate your recordings with keystrokes, text 'callouts' and interactive buttons Over the years, I've used many different screen recording tools including BB Flashback 2 AND TechSmith's Camtasia Studio 7. Of these, my favourite is Camtasia for the simple reason that it offers a very broad range of recording and editing features and is easy to use. BB Flashback is easy to use too but, in its early releases, it trailed far behind Camtasia in terms of its range of features. (...)

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