On May 1, 2012, at 8:50 AM, Fritz Anderson wrote:

> NIBs _are_ how it works. They don't contain or generate code. They don't 
> contain or generate scripts. They don't exercise much of the API you're 
> trying to use. They contain archived objects and their connections.

True, but the beginner may not have the slightest clue as to what those objects 
in Interface Builder are and what functionality they provide and how they 
should be properly connected. I have often found that once you understand a 
class and its methods by reading the documentation again and again and even 
doing some coding, then when you look at it in Interface Builder a light will 
go on and you will exclaim eureka, now I understand what this is trying to tell 
me! But for me it has NEVER been the other way around. I have NEVER learned a 
concept first Interface Builder and have it make sense.

I have often thought that Interface Builder was created by very gifted 
programmers who knew the underlying objects and API and to them it all makes 
perfect sense but they are completely oblivious to the fact that it makes 
almost no sense to a beginner. Apple has done an incredible job with the Cocoa 
API, documentation, and developer tools but the learning curve can still be 
overwhelming.

My advice to a beginner is start very small and work your way up. Read the 
documentation, get a good book like Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X Third 
Edition by Hillegass, and start working your way through the examples. There 
are no shortcuts. Hillegass covers the document architecture in Chapter 10 
starting on page 157 which is almost half way through the book.

Maybe it is just me, but that has been my experience.

--Richard


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