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[Erik Svedäng]

I'm thinking about breaking up with windows and visual studio 2005...

How good is Xcode for developing programs (games) in C++ ?

All the functions for objective c/cocoa development seems nice (refactoring, code completion, class diagrams, predictive compilation), do they work well for c++ too?

[Saint]

I only use Xcode on and off for test projects (when I don't want to reboot the powerbook into winXP), and I much prefer MSVC. Seeing as they haven't been working on it as long as MS, the debugger and compilers are not as good, and I personally find the IDE hard to navigate and lousy to give me a decent overview, but I guess if you're more used to OSX that might be different for you.

That being said, disregarding the fact that I'm much more used to MSVC and more comfortable with the UI Xcode is a solid IDE and some things (most notably the handling of configurations) are a lot better than MSVC. Maybe not the specific things you mentioned (I find external tools and VAX to do better than Xcode there), but again, if you like the general layout of OSX apps then you'll probably like Xcode.

... Most of that didn't make any sense, I guess ... I was only looking for a reason to post a link to this video from Apple WWDC in case you needed something to get started, and it turned into a rant 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDgt7V4szwc

[Ivan]

Xcode was one of the reasons I started using OSX. It's probably the best IDE I have ever used. That's all I can say. From debugging to profiling to just everyday UI interaction, I have had only the most positive experiences with it. I broke off my long time love affair with vim because of it if that's any indication. I don't care much for Cocoa and all their insano interface builder stuff, so I use it as a code-only tool for C and C++ projects and I am very happy.

[Erik Svedäng]

Ok, thanks for the replies! I should probably try it hands on.

I wonder if they have it installed on apple store macs...

[Massena]

Xcode was one of the reasons I started using OSX. It's probably the best IDE I have ever used. That's all I can say. From debugging to profiling to just everyday UI interaction, I have had only the most positive experiences with it. I broke off my long time love affair with vim because of it if that's any indication. I don't care much for Cocoa and all their insano interface builder stuff, so I use it as a code-only tool for C and C++ projects and I am very happy.

You could use vim as an external editor, but that was always a little odd for me, since I constantly need to be changing windows and going all over the place. Have you ever tried using both? (vim/xCode)

[Corpus]

I tried using XCode, but I wasn't sure that I would be able to compile programs for Windows as well as Mac so ultimately opted for the greater transparency of Vim and Bash.

I might try learning to use XCode sometime, though.

[Ivan]

You could use vim as an external editor, but that was always a little odd for me, since I constantly need to be changing windows and going all over the place. Have you ever tried using both? (vim/xCode)

I use vim for pretty much everything that doesnt require an IDE (web stuff, xml, blah blah), but as you said, switching between the IDE and another editor is a pain. If you use vim, you might as well use Makefiles and vim macros.

[Pigbuster]

I love Xcode to death, but the only other IDE I've used is Flash, so I'm not sure I have an authoritative voice on the subject.

I'm have no idea how to make a Windows executable with it, though.

[jcromartie]

I tried using XCode, but I wasn't sure that I would be able to compile programs for Windows as well as Mac so ultimately opted for the greater transparency of Vim and Bash.

I might try learning to use XCode sometime, though.

If you're compiling C on OS X you're using gcc, no matter if you're using Xcode or the terminal.  In other words: you can't compile programs for Windows under OS X anyway, so why not make use of the tools that are there?

I set up my projects with cross-platform code in a main `src` directory, and then a `macosx` directory with my Xcode project and any mac-specific implementation details.  Windows build stuff goes in the `windows` directory.

[Mattias Gustavsson]

In other words: you can't compile programs for Windows under OS X anyway

A slightly related question... Is there any way of building OSX executables using Windows? (probably not, but thought I'd ask...)

[Ivan]

A slightly related question... Is there any way of building OSX executables using Windows? (probably not, but thought I'd ask...)

Nope. Even if you could force gcc to output a mac binary, you'd still need to link it to all the libraries that you wouldn't have.

[Mattias Gustavsson]

Oh, I wouldn't have a problem buying OSX or dev tools or whatever it is that holds the libraries needed.

I'm sort of considering some cross platform development (OSX and Windows), and I'll be getting a Mac (probably a mini) to develop and test on etc. But I was thinking more if I wanted an automated build process, with one build machine building both executables... Not really expecting that to be possible though, but since I've been able ti build both Dreamcast, Playstation 2 and Xbox/Xbox360 executables on Windows, I was thinking that there might just be a way...

[jcromartie]

But I was thinking more if I wanted an automated build process, with one build machine building both executables... Not really expecting that to be possible though, but since I've been able ti build both Dreamcast, Playstation 2 and Xbox/Xbox360 executables on Windows, I was thinking that there might just be a way...

Well, console dev tools have always been designed to compile from a different platform than the console itself, since you can't expect a PS2 to compile its own executables (without an OS or a decent shell, not to mention processing power).  The people at Naughty Dog did some crazy stuff with the PS2 and a Lisp compiler that updated the executable code on the fly, though.

As far as automating Windows and OS X builds: you can set up an environment using virtualization that would meet your needs.  If you code in OS X and have Windows running in VMWare or Parallels, and you have a job in Windows that monitors your source control (SVN or whatever), then it can just run the Windows build whenever source control is updated.  I can imagine a Rake script that would do the trick.

[ravuya]

I've wanted to automate my Windows builds from my Mac before. Sadly, I haven't figured out a good way to do it.

[X3N]

(holy crap 2 months old? should I start a new thread?)
I was looking for the Indie Iphone Programming thread.. I was going to ask some questions about arrays and working with COCOS2D. Do any iPhone coders live on Tigsource?