Xcode
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Xcode | |
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 Xcode 2.4.1 building |
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| Developer: | Apple Inc. |
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| Latest release: | 2.4.1 / November 1, 2006 |
| Preview release: | 3.0 / August 7, 2006 |
| OS: | Mac OS X v10.3 (Version 1.x) Mac OS X v10.4 (Version 2.x) |
| Use: | Integrated Development Environment (IDE) |
| License: | Proprietary software |
| Website: | http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/xcode/ |
Xcode is Apple's suite of tools for developing software on Mac OS X. Xcode 2, the latest version, is bundled free with Mac OS X v10.4, though is not installed by default. The latest version is version 2.4.1; it contains "stability, performance, and security enhancements"[1] and is available for free from Apple Developer Connection.
The main application of the suite is the integrated development environment (IDE), also named Xcode. The Xcode suite also includes most of Apple's developer documentation, and Interface Builder, an application used to construct graphical interfaces.
The Xcode suite includes the free software GNU Compiler Collection (GCC), and can compile C, C++, Objective-C, Objective-C++, Java, and AppleScript, source code with a variety of programming models, including but not limited to Cocoa, Carbon, and Java. Third parties have added support for GNU Pascal,[2] Free Pascal[3] and Ada.[4] The Xcode suite uses GDB as the back-end for its debugger.
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[edit] Major features
Among the highly touted features of the Xcode suite is the technology to distribute the building of source code over multiple computers. Xcode has two systems for distributing compilation. The original system uses the Bonjour protocol and the free software distcc. The more recently added system, called Dedicated Network Builds, scales better to larger configurations than distcc but does not support Bonjour's auto-discovery service.
Xcode can build universal binaries which allow software to run on both PowerPC and Intel-based (x86) Macs, and can build 32- and 64-bit applications for both architectures.
Xcode also includes Apple's WebObjects tools and frameworks for building Java web applications and web services (previously sold as a separate $699 product).
In August 2006, Apple announced that DTrace, a dynamic tracing framework created by Sun Microsystems and released as part of OpenSolaris, would be integrated into Xcode.
[edit] History
The Xcode suite, like Mac OS X itself, had its roots in technology from NeXT. Prior to the October 24, 2003 release of Mac OS X v10.3, Apple referred to the suite of tools as Developer Tools. The Xcode IDE was developed from and superseded Apple's earlier IDE, Project Builder.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Apple.com: Xcode
- Download Xcode
- Become an Xcoder - PDF for learning how to write Cocoa in Xcode
| Mac OS X Developer Tools |
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Interface Builder · Xcode · others |
