Concurrent Programming in Mac OS X and iOS by Vandad Nahavandipoor

Summary: good introduction to queues within Objective-C

This book is really short one. But don’t be fooled by it’s size. In fact it’s very comprehensive. One remark here – regarding title. It might be slightly misleading. Book is related to queue mechanics within Mac OS X and iOS rather than treads. But let’s take a look at the content. At the very beginning Vandad leads you through the, so called, Block Objects. They have really awkward syntax, but Vandad does a good job here and explains how to construct them. He uses analogy to C and Objective-C related constructs. He also introduces Grand Central Dispatch (GCD) that is a heart of queues. After basis are laid he goes to the topics related to queues and ways of utilizing them. Here, he presents examples that show how to develop parts of code that will utilize queues. This way, you can easily get in touch with the paradigm. Great advantage is that you can easily download source codes from the book page. They work with the XCode 4 out of the box.

This book, in my opinion, is addressed to experienced users. You will definitely require Objective-C knowledge, and basics of Mac OS X or iOS programming. However, if you are a beginner, simply write the tittle down and come back for it later, when you are ready to go. Or, maybe, when your application will require task based development.

Product page:

O’Reilly: http://oreilly.com/catalog/9781449305635/
Amazon (in Books): Concurrent Programming in Mac OS X and iOS: Unleash Multicore Performance with Grand Central Dispatch
Amazon (Kindle): Concurrent Programming in Mac OS X and iOS: Unleash Multicore Performance with Grand Central Dispatch