My latest two books are Cocoa Programming: A Quick-Start Guide for Developers which introduces experienced developers to the tools and techniques of programming Mac OS X, and iPad Programming: A Quick-Start Guide for Developers written with Eric Freeman.

A good editor helps you shape your story. An editor acts as an advocate for the reader and points out when you’ve lost the thread of your story—when you need more, when you need less. I’ve edited more than twenty books for The Pragmatic Programmers, was the founding editor for java.net, and also edited other online technology magazines.

Books allow you to stretch out and take your time to say what needs to be said. Articles require you to get to the point quickly and make sure every sentence counts. I’ve written well over a hundred articles for a dozen sites. An article allows me to quickly connect with a reader on a topic in which we are both interested.

The most important thing I’ve ever written is the Dear Elena blog. It is memories of my daughter and thoughts on my family. More than anything else, I wish I hadn’t had to write it. I’d prefer to still be grinding coffee and making multi-color pancakes with Elena at my side.