Pro Core Data for iOS from Xcode 4 to Xcode 3

Last summer, Apple released a developer preview of Xcode 4 under NDA. When Michael Privat and I began writing Pro Core Data for iOS in August, we figured Apple would release the final version of Xcode 4 and lift the NDA by the time we completed the book. After all, it had taken about a year to write The Definitive Guide to SWT and JFace. We used Xcode 4 for screen shots, instructions, guides, examples — in short, we based the book on Xcode 4.

Well, we didn’t take a year to write the book; we took nine weeks. Of course, various editing tasks ran past the initial writing, but we finished those tasks, if I recall correctly, in November. And then we waited.

And waited.

And waited a little longer, and then we and Apress realized that Xcode 4 probably wasn’t coming out for awhile, so we discussed and decided to backport the book to Xcode 3. I thought the effort would be trivial — 20–30 minutes a chapter to redo screen shots and a bit of narrative — but it consumed more time than I thought. After two weeks, though, we had made all the changes necessary, and the reviewers and editors vetted it all, and publication day is near! Amazon claims January 31, 2011. We’ll have a few more review tasks between now and then, but we’re happy that the book will soon hit shelves and mailboxes. Look forward to it!