Volume Number: 23 (2007)
Issue Number: 10
Column Tag: Editorial

From the Editor

October. What a wonderful month - one of my favorites. Here in the North East U.S., Autumn is now going full swing, leaves dot the ground, we get very low-humidity days a... a new operating system from Apple! Or so we're told. As I write this, nothing official has been announced, however, we're anxiously preparing for the arrival for OS X 10.5, aka Leopard. We'll have plenty of coverage after its release. For now, though, you should go find a fireplace and put your feet up and read the remainder of this issue! (Or perhaps, for our readers in the Southern Hemisphere, get your beach chair).

This month's cover story is all about ssh. It's built in to OS X, so it couldn't be easier to start using, and most readers have by now. However, most people use it in the most basic fashion: grabbing a remote shell. Did you know how much else it can do? If any single application can be called a networking Swiss Army Knife, ssh would be it.

Dave Dribin once again leads us down The Road to Code. This month, we're introduced to object oriented programming. Of course, it's all presented in Dave's crystal clear style. If you've been traveling down the Road thus far, this month's addition will leave you a more powerful programmer, and wanting more at the same time!

Joe Froehlich returns to help clear up more Windows mysteries for the Mac user. This time, he tackles Windows networking and browsing. When a Windows machine is networked it gets its view of the world very differently than OS X does. So, for the Mac admins that have had to support Windows machines, and Samba, and Boot Camp, etc., and didn't quite understand what NetBIOS or a master browser are, check out Joe's guide to Windows Networking (for the Mac user!).

Another returning author is José Cruz. This time, he details the tar archiving program, and shows you how to integrate tar directly into XCode's IDE. Brush up on your command-line skills, learn a new application and become more productive in XCode.

The MacEnterprise team brings us tips on integrating your OS X machine with ActiveDirectory. Sometimes, it's necessary. More often than not, it's a smooth process thanks to Apple's continuing efforts on its ActiveDirectory plug-in. However, sometimes you need to probe the system a little bit to determine the values to enter into the plug-in. Let Philip Rinehart guide you through the steps needed.

This month's MacTech Spotlight features David Sinclair, owner of independent development house Dejal. David has written a good number of utilities, some of which I use, and some of which are really picking up steam. He's great proof that there's work out there for creative apps - the Mac community is almost insatiable in this regard. There's never been a better time to be developing and creating for OS X. So, check out David Sinclair, and then go back and read the Road to Code, and get busy with some development!

Edward Marczak,

Executive Editor