How much is "some" in C programming?

Based on my experiences, learning C did nothing to help me understand Objective-C and Cocoa. - Learning C will not help you understand Cocoa. - Learning C will teach you language fundamentals that you will need to understand as an Objective-C programmer. - In learning Objective-C, you must learn C. It isn't necessary for everyone to learn the latter before moving onto former, just as long as one accepts that he or she will have to know it all in the end. - I have never met anyone who went through K&R and didn't come out the other end as a better programmer. You don't have to start in that town, but it's a worthwhile visit. If you've absolutely no programming experience, I would actually recommend a counterintuitive idea: learn C# instead of C. If you have absolutely no programming experience, you lack the ability to validate anyone's recommendation. It's important to remember this whether you're the one recommending things or the one listening to recommendations. The best advice I ever got was not "learn XYZ because of ABC", it was "start here because I can help you". Find a mentor who can help you formulate the questions you don't know you need to ask. If you don't know any Obj-C people but you know C people, start there. If your buddy is a Python kid, rock that. If you work with JavaScript people, pick that up.

K&R is old, but it is so well-written (and concise) that it beats off the pants of the other books. Learning C-99 and ObjC is trivial after learning K&R. Skipping K&R is like trying to build a house without laying down a solid foundation.

Picking up the differences between K&R 2nd C and C99 is trivial. Every badass engineer I know has a copy of K&R. I have a copy of K&R. You should get a copy of K&R (2nd edition). Once you've finished it and really understand it, no other halfway decent documentation will challenge you. (Chapter 5 is also going to guarantee that you understand pointers.) In fact, K&R is so well-written that you will probably laugh at most other "learn xyz books" because of the poor, convoluted way so many of them are written. As far as Obj-C goes, the ADC documentation on the language is good and clear. Many people swear by the Kochan book mentioned by hippybear. The Hillegass book on Cocoa is excellent and no new Cocoa programmer should be without it. I have looked at taking a few courses in C at a local community college. Would this be a good start? It certainly won't hurt, assuming the instructor is good.

I've been doing self-study in Objective-C using http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0321566157/metafilter-20/ref=nosim/, which is written expressly to move the programming novice into Obj-C without having to do prior study in C first. I haven't tried to program since the C-64 was fashionable, so it's been a bit of a slog, but it seems to be a well-written book which will allow you to sidestep the C prereq. Coupled with the http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/itunes.stanford.edu.2024353965.02024353968 course which is posted on iTunes (link requires iTunes), I'm hoping to make some good forward progress with learning this topic.

http://theappleblog.com/2009/06/01/43-iphone-development-resources/ is another long list of good books.

Have you tried the examples in the Hillegass book? It's been years since I learned C, and I learned it in a classroom setting, but I program some Objective C (mostly Java, but some Obj C) these days, and it seems like all you really need from C is the basic syntax of the language. Depending on your aptitude, you may be able to pick up what you need by thinking over Hilegass's examples. In terms of references, I haven't read either of these, but I've had generally good experience with O'Reilly books: http://oreilly.com/catalog/9781565923065/, or for a more concise overview, http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596006976/. Since you're dealing with object-oriented programming, it might not hurt you to look at a Design Patterns book, either. The canonical example is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_Patterns_(book) by the "Gang of Four," but there are more accessible options out there. A friend of mine who bootstrapped herself from C to Java last year swears by "Head-First Design Patterns for Java," but since you don't have an interest in Java, that probably isn't the best solution for you.

hmm i appear to have digressed there for a moment, apologies for the noise

Based on my experiences, learning C did nothing to help me understand Objective-C and Cocoa. 'Objective-C' is a major misnomer: it's more object-oriented than even C++ could ever hope to be. If you've absolutely no programming experience, I would actually recommend a counterintuitive idea: learn C# instead of C. I'm a total Mac geek and I'm saying this. For my job, I started on C# after six or seven years of C++ and a failed attempt at Objective-C. C# was the perfect bridge, and it made Objective-C logical for the first time. (More importantly, you don't have to burden yourself with memory management in C#.)

Dave Mark's "Learn C on the Mac" is excellent and you learn XCode at the same time.