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JetBrains AppCode: an Objective-C IDE That Makes a Difference

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21–30 of 52 posts

Re: JetBrains AppCode: an Objective-C IDE That Makes a Difference

#21
post #19

The one feature I'd love from any tool with iOS development would be something that automates and facilitates certificate and profile creation and handling. Right now it seems I make a single mistake along the way and everything is messed up.

I've done this. Feel free to hack up my scripts: http://procbits.com/2011/10/10/automating-generation-ios-pus... http://procbits.com/2011/10/07/automating-the-mac-os-x-keych...

All code is open source on Github as referenced in the articles.

Re: JetBrains AppCode: an Objective-C IDE That Makes a Difference

#22
post #3

I might be missing something, but was are the advantages of this over using Xcode? I'm all for options, and $50 to $150 usd is not prohibitive for an IDE, but since Xcode is free and directly from Apple, there must be some really good features for me to switch IDEs.

The main reason I use IntelliJ products (IDEA for Java and AppCode for iOS) is the keyboard support. These guys are serious about making sure every feature is easily done with the keyboard. Xcode drives me crazy because I feel like I'm always reaching for the mouse or tabbing through fields or buttons to drive the UI.

The most common refactorings, like rename method/variable/field or change signature are all easily done through the UI. Example: rename (anything) is Shift-F6, , enter. I do this all the time.

Re: JetBrains AppCode: an Objective-C IDE That Makes a Difference

#23
I'm a longtime Jetbrains fan (ReSharper and TeamCity).

I looked into AppCode a bit earlier when it was still rough. Getting tight integration is the key for me. Refactorings would be nice (XCode has Rename already), but really what I want are snippets, or something to take some of the drudge code away.

For instance, to add a property I have to add 4 lines of code in 4 different places. This should be one action (which can be overrided later).

Also, code navigation. This was terrible in XCode 3, better in 4, but nowhere near ReSharper or IntelliJ.

Re: JetBrains AppCode: an Objective-C IDE That Makes a Difference

#24
I really, really love Jetbrains. Even though I'm not an iOS developer, it's still nice to see that they are working to add their own flavor to the mix with other languages.

I wish so much that they would create a Visual Studio replacement. I'm primarily a Ruby/PHP developer and use their PhpStorm and RubyMine products constantly, but whenever I am stuck doing something in .net and have to open up Visual Studio, I just get a gross vibe from the entire experience... And this is with Resharper installed as well!

I see Visual Studio get a lot of support on HN, so maybe I am just weird, but I've never enjoyed using Visual Studio as a whole.

Re: JetBrains AppCode: an Objective-C IDE That Makes a Difference

#25
post #24

I really, really love Jetbrains. Even though I'm not an iOS developer, it's still nice to see that they are working to add their own flavor to the mix with other languages. I wish so much that they would create a Visual Studio replacement. I'm primarily a Ruby/PHP developer and use their PhpStorm and RubyMine products constantly, but whenever I am stuck doing something in .net and have to open up Visual Studio, I jus…

"I see Visual Studio get a lot of support on HN, so maybe I am just weird, but I've never enjoyed using Visual Studio as a whole."

Me neither. I switched from Visual Studio (C#) to Emacs (Common Lisp) -- and a short stint on the AllegroCL IDE -- and I do not miss Visual Studio one bit. It always struck me as odd to see Visual Studio getting praised here. I can only assume it fares better than Netbeans or Eclipse?

Re: JetBrains AppCode: an Objective-C IDE That Makes a Difference

#26
post #20
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disclaimer: I do Java using Eclipse for my day job, and have used one of their Java IDEs in the past (IntelliJ IDEA). The code-editing side of XCode compared to these IDE is like a relic from the 90's. Once you use a refactoring tool to rename a class and have it renamed everywhere in your project, you get a taste for what XCode is missing. There are several refactorings like this that shave a lot of time out of some…

What you have to realize is that refactoring is a dangerous concept in Objective-C, regardless of which IDE you use, because of Objective-C dynamic nature. Classes can be loaded or switched at runtime, non-existant methods can be called, and class and methods can be variables. Cleanly refactoring is much easier to achieve in a statically-typed language such as Java, which is why Java IDEs are so much better at automa…

This doesn't really ring true to my ears. I have some experience with Smalltalk, which is where refactorings were pioneered, and which Objective-C has some roots in. Smalltalk is even more "dynamic" than Objective-C. If you get the chance, I recommend playing around with Squeak or Pharo.

Re: JetBrains AppCode: an Objective-C IDE That Makes a Difference

#27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Off-topic: How would you compare Eclipse to IntelliJ IDEA and why did you choose Eclipse?

I've used both. I have a personally bought copy of IntelliJ, though I'm using Eclipse now. For the most part, they're both comparable. Both have powerful refactoring and code-generation abilities. For core Java development, there's no need to leave Eclipse. IntelliJ might provide some nice features, but overall it doesn't warrant purchasing a license. When combined with web development, other languages, or non-core d…

For the record, there's a free version of IntelliJ now. (Community Edition)

Re: JetBrains AppCode: an Objective-C IDE That Makes a Difference

#28
post #24

I really, really love Jetbrains. Even though I'm not an iOS developer, it's still nice to see that they are working to add their own flavor to the mix with other languages. I wish so much that they would create a Visual Studio replacement. I'm primarily a Ruby/PHP developer and use their PhpStorm and RubyMine products constantly, but whenever I am stuck doing something in .net and have to open up Visual Studio, I jus…

"I see Visual Studio get a lot of support on HN, so maybe I am just weird, but I've never enjoyed using Visual Studio as a whole." Me neither. I switched from Visual Studio (C#) to Emacs (Common Lisp) -- and a short stint on the AllegroCL IDE -- and I do not miss Visual Studio one bit. It always struck me as odd to see Visual Studio getting praised here. I can only assume it fares better than Netbeans or Eclipse?

Agreed. I used to think that I didn't like VS because I also didn't like .NET. I still don't like .NET, but after using other IDE's for other languages (primarily Jetbrains' products) I have grown to dislike it even more.

It feels like the Internet Explorer of IDE's to me. I am not sure whether or not my distaste is justified since I am well aware that it is a powerful IDE, I just hate how bloated it all feels. That and its incredibly annoying that once I wish to uninstall it, I end up having to uninstall about 20 other programs too. Very obnoxious.

Re: JetBrains AppCode: an Objective-C IDE That Makes a Difference

#30
post #24

I really, really love Jetbrains. Even though I'm not an iOS developer, it's still nice to see that they are working to add their own flavor to the mix with other languages. I wish so much that they would create a Visual Studio replacement. I'm primarily a Ruby/PHP developer and use their PhpStorm and RubyMine products constantly, but whenever I am stuck doing something in .net and have to open up Visual Studio, I jus…

"I see Visual Studio get a lot of support on HN, so maybe I am just weird, but I've never enjoyed using Visual Studio as a whole." Me neither. I switched from Visual Studio (C#) to Emacs (Common Lisp) -- and a short stint on the AllegroCL IDE -- and I do not miss Visual Studio one bit. It always struck me as odd to see Visual Studio getting praised here. I can only assume it fares better than Netbeans or Eclipse?

I can't speak for everybody, but I always rated Visual Studio because of its zero-effort code navigation and code completion. (No setup required, and it's surprisingly good at seeing through common preprocessor tricks.) The debugger is pretty good, too, the text editing experience is fine, the whole thing is 99% operable via keyboard, and the scripting language is bearable.

This probably doesn't sound like a rousing endorsement, but I've yet to find anything that's as good for reading and writing C, C++ or C# code.

(People using Visual Studio for anything else should definitely consider shopping around, though as general-purpose text editors go it is far from the worst possible.)

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