Mac OS X Panther in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition

Xcode

Xcode is the centerpiece for all Cocoa and Carbon application development. It lets you construct and manage projects, which it defines as collections of files (source code, libraries, and resource files) that go into an application. Included in Xcode are context-aware text editors (featuring syntax highlighting and “smart” indentation), and frontends to the GNU project’s gcc compiler and gdb debugger.

Some of the new features that have been added to Xcode include:

• Code completion

• Built-in API reference documentation

• Distributed builds via Rendezvous

• The ability to import projects from CodeWarrior

• Integrated support for CVS and Perforce source control systems

Xcode’s window has two main sections:

• The Groups & Files pane on the left, lists all the files a project uses, including Classes, Targets, Executables, Bookmarks, and NIB files.

• The View on the right lists the files associated with the items you select in the Groups & Files pane. If you click on the Show/Hide Editor button (the one to the left of the Search icon in the toolbar), the view on the right splits in half, revealing the contents of the file selected in the upper half, as shown in Figure 15-1.

Figure 15-1. The main Xcode window

Items you’ll find in the Groups & Files pane include:

Files and Classes

This view displays, in the left frame, a list of all files a project uses. They are arranged logically, not necessarily adhering ...