This class is designed to get people up to speed quickly with Cocoa programming. The class runs for 5 days (4 1/2 really, since people tend to split after lunch on Friday) and is on the "big nerd ranch" (see below). We had a mix of complete Mac coding newbies (like myself) to people that had been doing Mac for years, but where fairly new to Cocoa. The format is light lecture then lab work. Aaron would help out during the labs and research questions for the advanced folks at that time. The class is based on the book and I will get into the pluses and minuses of that below.

Aaron set out to try and create a very intensive class when he built this up. He found that at hotel based classes people vanish for lunch and dinner and no one gets to really know each other that much. Sooo, we have the Big Nerd Ranch, which is a property Aaron has a deal with for the class. It is set out in the mountains near Asheville, North Carolina and is VERY nice. The class occurs in what I would call a "loft" in a large lodge. There are individual guest rooms and a nice rustic feel to the place. People take walks, etc, and the property is very pretty. Most of the meals are eaten on site and the lodge owner has a good chef on the staff (Say hi to Brent). The result of all this a very relaxed environment where you really get to know the fellow students. You also spend more time on the machines, with most people drifting back after dinner to try out some of their own stuff. Aaron hangs around the loft all evening to help out, so you get bonus help at that time. Let me put it this way: I would _love_ to take the kids on vacation to this place. To have that _and_ code was nirvana (or nerdvana?). Two of the people had SO's along, and they had a blast while we slaved away inside.

As I mentioned, this is based on Aaron's book and follows it fairly closely. Topics include:

• What is Cocoa?
• Project builder introduction.
• Interface builder introduction.
• Objective C.
• Controls (ala buttons, sliders, et all).
• Helper objects (aka delegation).
• Archiving (aka saving) and the document class.
• Using multiple NIBS.
• User defaults.
• Notifications.
• Alerts and similar panels.
• Localization.
• Drawing and custom views.
• Images and mouse events.
• The responder chain and keyboard events.
• Fonts and attributed strings.
• Cut and Paste and nil-targeted actions.
• Categories (advanced objective-C, really).
• Drag and drop.
• Timers.
• Sheets.
• Formatters.
• Printing (yes, we actually "printed" stuff!) No physical printers, just preview, but this was cool.
• Working with NSTextView, or "you can write the Apple Works word processor in 15 minutes".
• Using Java with Cocoa, which the class opted to skip.
• Interface builder palettes, or how to add your own things to interface builder.

As you can see, that is a lot to cover. My brain is very full at this point. In addition, "graduates" are added to the alumni mailing list and you can ask more questions, etc of Aaron and others after the class is over. We also covered a few items not in the book (working with UNIX commands from within Cocoa, and some other little tidbits).

This is, of course, where it gets interesting. I can say this easily: compared to other courses I have been in (for other topics, not Cocoa), this was one of the best I have seen. Every day was useful and packed with information that I seemed to have retained (time will tell). In addition, Aaron is a _very good_ teacher. He is fun to be around, knows his stuff, and knows how to explain it. The nerd ranch venue vs a training center or hotel is a stunning idea and well worth it. The extra unstructured time mixed with low logistics interference greatly increases the value of the course.

Here is the tricky part: since you can grab the book and do the same exercises, is it worth the entry price? My answer is "yes", as I would believe is the answer of the rest of my class, some of whom where there on their own dime. I think you could get 80% of the way with just the book, but being able to ask someone who _knows_ about the best way to do X or Y is invaluable.

I will probably also put my money where my mouth is on this. Aaron is planning on offering an advanced class starting where this one leaves off in 6 months or so. I do not believe I can justify to my present employer that I go to another class (my objective was to get application OO experience. Our group does not do Mac software). I believe I will go however, on my own dime.

To get more information your best off visiting the big nerd ranch's website. The class is one week and costs $3500, which includes all meals (and they are good ones!), private room w/ view and own bath, etc, transportation to and from the airport, and a few little extras like a t-shirt. When I was comparing this to the Apple class, (which is I believe $2500), they ended up being near the same price after you added in a "biz" class hotel and meals, taxi ride or car, etc."