About the blog
This blog is to document my thoughts and finding as I strive to build my first Cocoa applications for my new MacBook Pro.
I started using Apple’s Cocoa Application Tutorial. I coded the currency converter application but didn’t go past chapter 4. I’ll pick up chapters 5 and 6 later.
I’m now going through Aaron Hillegass’s Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X, 2nd edition. I’m not sure where I’ll go after that.
I’ll probably spend a post or two about more general switching issues, and maybe a WordPress question every once in a while. (This is my first experience with WordPress.)
About the name
I was trying to come up with a clever name based on Cocoa. I initially considered hot chocolate, but decided that it was too obvious. However, a reference to Hot Chocolate would be much more indirect. Their most famous song is easily You Sexy Thing, so that’s where the name comes from. Here it is backwards: You Sexy Thing -> Hot Chocolate -> hot chocolate -> cocoa -> Cocoa. This idea comes primarily from my wife, who had made this connection before.
I just hope I don’t get too many folks looking for some other sort of sexy thing.
About the Goal
I have an idea for a Mac application that I’ll describe in more detail as I get closer to writing it.
More generally, I’m looking for an outlet for my coding inclinations. I’ve (somewhat) recently moved to a non-coding position at work and I can feel the pull of solving problems through thought and typing rather than persistence and negotiation.
I’m also looking to sharpen and broaden my knowledge of design patterns through application and practice.
About my background
Although I did plenty of hobby coding on my family’s Commodore 64 and various IBM clones, my first professional programming experience was using Access Basic. I then moves my way up to VBA, down to VBScript, over to JavaScript, up to C++, back down to VBScript, up to VB.NET, and finally landed writing C#. Most of my experience and thoughts on this blog will probably come from a C# and .NET perspective.
Now days I no longer code professionally. Instead I soft of manage a team of software architects. (It’s a long story.) I enjoy it immensly, but I don’t think managing people keeps my mind as sharp as writing code, and I kind of overdosed on sudoku earlier.
Contacting me
If you have questions, comments, or concerns, or you just want to say hello, send me an email at krismarkel at gmail dot com.