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Features of a Cocoa Application

It is possible to create a Cocoa application without adding a single line of code. Make a new Cocoa application project using Xcode and then build the project. That’s it. Of course, this application won’t do much, or at least much that’s interesting. But this extremely simple application still launches when double-clicked, displays its icon in the Dock, displays its main menu and window (entitled “Window”), hides itself on command, behaves nicely with other running applications, and quits on command. You can move, resize, minimize, and close the window. You can even print the emptiness contained by the window.

Imagine what you could do with a little code.

In terms of programming effort, Cocoa gives you, the developer, much that is free and much that is low-cost. Of course, to become a productive Cocoa developer means becoming familiar with new concepts, design patterns, programming interfaces, and development tools, and this effort is not negligible. But familiarity yields greater productivity. Programming becomes largely an exercise in assembling the programmatic components that Cocoa provides along with the custom objects and code that define your program’s particular logic, then fitting the whole assemblage together.

What follows is a short list of how Cocoa adds value to an application with only a little (and sometimes no) effort on your part:



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© 2006 Apple Computer, Inc. All Rights Reserved. (Last updated: 2006-12-20)


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