30 April 2012

Why do Objective-C files use the .m extension?

Here's a quick answer to this age-old question: "Why do Objective-C source code files use the .m extension?"  I was searching around teh interwebz and found this on StackOverflow.
Brad Cox, one of the two main creators of the Objective-C programming language, even chimes in and gives a funny alternative explanation of why this is so.

On the less serious side...

Thought y'all might enjoy this. It really captures how i feel trying to think of a good idea for the final project.

29 April 2012



Interesting commentary on the "true cost" of the iPhone by CNN. If I'm correct, their analysis doesn't take into account the "cost" of programming, which in a sense would be difficult to quantify. It is a bit unfortunate that Apple does not manufacture in America, though.

27 April 2012

50th Anniversary of Objects


Here is a recent talk featuring Alan Kay, the Xeroc PARC Pioneer that Dr. Lambert mentioned in his talk this week.  Although born in 1940, he looks like he could be in his 40's -- which just goes to show you that creative fields like CS keep you young!

26 April 2012

Some shortcuts and helpful links

For those like me who would love some shortcuts to make Xcode a bit easier, here are a few shortcuts that might help you perform certain recurring tasks faster.

Also, this link is a book that would probably come in handy for everyone for the final projects, though I haven't really gone through it.

25 April 2012

Course Book available Online

I know this is probably too late to be useful to most people, but I recently discovered that Safari Books Online has a digital copy of Learning iOS Programming that can be accessed for free through the library's subscription to Safari Books.  The book isn't listed in the library's catalog, unfortunately, but you can find it by clicking here.  If that link doesn't work, then try accessing the page directly here, but you probably have to be physically on campus for this one to work.
Even if you already have the book, it might be nice to have this page bookmarked so you can have it wherever you have your laptop and an internet connection.  Also, it's searchable, so that's nice too.