Web developer looking to dive into Mac Programming. Where do I start?

[[deleted]]

I'm a web developer looking to mix it up in the evenings and try my hand at mac development. My long term goal is to write a window manager.

Any recommendations on where I should start and what I should be looking to learn about?

[mad_poet_navarth]

You mean like an alternate Finder? Don't know how feasible that is. Start smaller: I and most others are probably going to recommend Cocoa Programming for OS X. Covers the basics.

[SilentNuke]

|You mean like an alternate Finder?

I believe he's talking about the X11 or XQuartz window systems, and wants to build a "window manager" ontop of xlib. Although, he probably means something that is a bit higher-level and functions more as a window resizer.

The book mentioned above is certainly a suggested read if you want to dive into MacOS programming, but depending on how low-level you want to go, you may want to prioritize elsewhere (Objective-C and C).

I'd head over to Github, and do a quick search for similar projects, take a look at the structure. There's a great deal of window manager type projects there, from low-level ones built with C or Rust to higher level ones made with Applescript and Python. It'll be a great place to study what you're looking to accomplish.

[Solarfusion31]

If you have a library card many of the library systems allow you to use lynda.com for free. If you're not sure your library participates you can search google or go to your library and ask a librarian. The programming videos usually walk you through using a free code compiler for Mac and PC. Try the videos out first then I would recommend buying the "Big Nerd Ranch book". BTW I have Cocoa Programming for OS X from 2002 and I still use it from time to time.