I am developing an application for Mac 10.7 and above (10.7, 10.8, and 10.9 for now).
Based on my search on web -
OSX 10.8 and 10.9 only comes with 64bit flavour
OSX 10.7 supports both 32bit and 64bit Intel.
IN OSX 10.7 - If I develop for 64bit(x86_64) then application will work in 32bit as well.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3200553.
In this case, How ARC handled internally?
Can someone please validate and confirm my assumptions above?
Thanks
x86_64 is not emulated on 32 bit machines, so if you want your code to work on those, you'll have to build for it. The discussion you're linking to discusses kernel architecture, which is irrelevant for your purposes.
ARC does not work in 32 bit code, so if you want to support 32 bit machines, you cannot build with ARC (and yes, like many such tradeoffs, choosing to support the older alternative adds work and is potentially error prone).
Your best bet is to check the release notes. But if you try to compile for 32bit with a target SDK that doesn't support it Xcode will loudly tell you.
The last sold 32bit Macs were years ago. I'm but sure the hardware is even supported now.
You will benefit greatly from targeting 64bit only and the latest release possible. With the new strategy to make updates free, it keeps things simple.
Related
I'm new at programming on the Mac. I've got me a brand new copy of XCode 4.0. I've got people asking me what versions of MacOSX we'll be able to support but I'm not sure what to tell them.
I see options for selecting an "SDK" and other options for selecting a target version. It seems the lowest I can go is 10.4 though -- even though we'd like to support 10.3, if possible without a lot of pain.
My question is, could anyone give me a quick rundown of how sdk versions and target versions fit into this? As I'm coding, what kind of things do I need to watch out for to make sure I can still support the smallest version of MacOSX? Likewise, how do I figure the G4/G5 (PowerPC) versions of MacOSX into all this? For example, on Windows, if I write an app in c#, I know that all I need to do is make sure an appropriate version of .net framework is installed, regardless of the OS. Does something similar hold true for the MacOSX?
Thanks in advance.
I believe Apple has dropped PowerPC support completely, including Rosetta, in Mac OS X so 10.3 is out of the question.
If you want to support PowerPC, see this related question. It looks like a lot of work.
How can we restore ppc/ppc64 as well as full 10.4/10.5 SDK support to Xcode 4?
With the analogy to the .NET Framework, there isn't anything like that for Mac OS X built-in.
It is true for Mac OS X. If your program targets 10.3 SDK, it will be able to run on 10.3 or greater. I.e. the Base SDK project setting specifies minimum target OS version.
However, supporting 10.3 IS a lot of pain. Even 10.4 is not that easy, for example Objective-C 2.0 (most important, #property, garbage collection) is only available with 10.5 SDK or above.
The common solution in existing projects is to keep an old version of software available for 10.1-10.4 users, while the new versions will require 10.5 or greater (and also usually are Intel-only).
If you're starting a new project, you will probably want to distribute it via Mac AppStore, which only works on 10.6+, which means you can safely pick 10.6 SDK as the lowest target version.
Apple is way more harsh about upgrades than Microsoft. Mac users don't walk around with 10-years old systems on their laptops. The only reasons I can think of to still use 10.3 are using 10-year old mac, not having Internet connection and not knowing what “to update a software” means. So, I wouldn't care even about 10.4, not to say 10.3.
We're building an application for OS X, and we can't rely on our users all having upgraded to Snow Leopard, or whatever the latest version is. We want to make sure that as many people as possible can use our app, but we also don't want to throw away some improvements that were made in OS X version if only 1% of users are stuck using earlier versions.
Is there anywhere I can find information on the proportions of people that are using each version of the OS? Or is there some "common wisdom" on the issue that real mac developers know?
We don't need any superfancy graphics or 3d animation stuff, just plain old windowing APIs - but we've already run into one problem where "NSStreamDelegate" isn't supported prior to snow leopard.
Thanks!
Web stats from Quantcast, late February 2010.
North American stats, but might serve as a guideline.
Version %
10.6 27.3
10.5 52.1
10.4 17.2
Other 3.4
Omnigroup also provide some useful insight into updates to their installed base. You can click through to see breakdowns by major and minor versions on their site. For July 2010 they have:
Version %
10.6 53.3
10.5 21.0
10.4 25.6
Other 0.1
I think I'm one of the last holdouts with a still-functioning Powerbook G4. Its upgrade path ends with Tiger. On behalf of all those who won't get rid of computers that still work fine (if a bit slow by modern standards), please target 10.4 !
Of course by objective standards, you probably want to target 10.5. It adds nice programmability improvements, and really, I don't know a single person still using 10.4 other than me.
As for NSStreamDelegate, it has been available as an informal protocol (i.e. a category of NSObject) since 10.3. It is just that Apple decided to make it into a formal protocol, since Objective-C 2 has an #optional methods.
So, it's not that you're using new functionality only available on 10.6.
I would love to begin developing applications for the MAC OS X, although I have to idea where to start.
Problem: I currently do not, and cannot afford a new MAC OS X-based computer.
Solution: A very good friend loves trying out things that I've made for Windows, and also owns a MAC OS X computer, and is willing to test these new creations.
Now I am faced with another problem. I don't know which language to use to develop these apps in. I am a .NET Developer and seeing as though I can only use a Windows based PC to develop MAC apps, where should I start?
I've heard of Mono, and have used it on Linux before, would Mono be an option for MAC development on a Windows based computer, too? Are there any other ways around this?
Any help is appreciated. :)
Thank you
jt
You could start with a cross platform language like Java, Python or Ruby. The applications you write this way either work immediately on OSX or need only little adjustments. I work with Java to develop for OSX, windows and linux. Java is not too different from C# and comes completely free. With some extra work Java applications can look like native OSX or windows or linux.
But this way you don't get any of the special features of OSX. For these you do need the OSX environment objective-c and cocoa.
If you don't want your applications to be total shite that makes me cry, then buy a Mac and start reading and learning about what makes a high quality Mac OS X application. The standards for quality are much higher on this side of the river, you'll soon see.
You need to have MacOS X and use Xcode with Objective C; this is the native environment, and you won't be able to appreciate MacOS X UX without using it. You may be able to install MacOS X on a PC, although this isn't approved or supported by Apple.
Just don't take half measures, it isn't worth it.
Sorry for this late answer, but I am having the same problem.
After looking around, I have seen people be able to install OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) on their Windows 7 computers using a virtual machine. Maybe this website from lifehacker may help:
http://lifehacker.com/5583650/run-mac-os-x-in-virtualbox-on-windows
These people tell you how to install Snow Leopard. You may not install Xcode 4.33 on Snow Leopard, but it's worth a try. There also may be places where they show you how to install Lion itself onto their PC's, but Lifehacker has the most straightforward tutorials.
Hope this helps!
All the other answers are good. You need OS X and XCode. Since,at the moment you can't afford a Mac machine and seeing how the language of choice for both OS X and iOS is objective-c, you could start with learning C programming on windows. Objective-C is a superset of C. Knowing C Langauge will speed up your learning curve once you can afford to buy Mac. (or you might decide that C pointers are just too hard and save some money)
Also google how to create a hackintosh. I've seen couple articles on lifehacker on how to do it. It's not ideal but perhaps it would allow you to run XCode and create apps for iPhone or iPad.
I need to decide whether I should support Mac OS X 10.4 / Tiger, and the decision likely hinges on what percentage of mac users are still running Tiger. I didn't find anything too reliable on the interwebs nor on Apple's developer website. Let's ignore the impending Snow Leopard release and it's impact on Mac OS version usage distribution.
Does anyone know of a study that might provide insight? Any other suggestions on how to figure this out? If you quote any numbers/percentages please include a pointer to the source.
Take a look at the Sparkle+ stats, that the Adium project is collecting.
The stats are available here.
OmniGroup keeps track of the system configurations that use their software updater. The current split is roughly 60/40 in Leopard's favor.
Keep in mind that, judging from previous releases, Apple will likely drop official support of Tiger once Snow Leopard is released, which should be any day now.
It really depends on what user audience your software has (whether they're likely to upgrade or not). I don't have a study, but considering how each major update costs money, I'm sure there are many non-power users who are still on older editions.
You're better off targeting Leopard only, especially with Snow Leopard coming out at the end of the week with a lot of changes to key technologies. Apple moves pretty quickly and soon enough supporting Leopard will be your legacy support.
From the Adium Sparkle+ stats that weichsel linked to:
10.3 : 2170 ( 1.3%)
10.4 : 28645 (16.3%)
10.5 or above: 134269 (82.4%)
Well, simple situation. I happen to be a software engineer who uses mostly Delphi and C# for software development. Delphi is great for desktop applications while C# is ideal combined with ASP.NET for web applications. However, I am considering to teach myself more about software development for the Mac. Xcode and Cocoa would be the environments to start with. Learning new languages is no problem for me!
However, before starting to write code on a Mac, I first need to buy one and they're reasonable expensive so buying one is a decision that will take me a few months before I know which one I need. So, to help me right now, I would like to know the possibilities that I have to learn more about Mac development without the need for a Mac!
For example, does OS X work in a VMWare environment? Are the development tools also available for Windows? Is there a clear API overview of the OS X libraries?
Or should I first buy a Mac, play with it for a few weeks and then decide on how to develop software for it? In other words, should I start spending now, or in a few months? :-)
Perhaps a macmini would be the best bet but failing that:
MacOSX in VMWare: http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Vmware_how_to
Development tools for windows? I'd stick to XCode as it can compile multi-binary apps.
Here's the clearest overview I can think of: http://developer.apple.com/referencelibrary/MacOSX/index.html
Hope this helps!
Mac OS X works in a VMWare...
Unfortunately XCode works only on Mac OS...
There are versions of Max OS, which runs on x86 machines. You can avoid buying a Mac PC, but you have to pay for the OS and XCode...
EDIT: Xcode is free
You definitely want a Mac if you want to develop for the Mac. Even Java requires local testing.
That said, Macs are not very expensive and run Windows too.
If you want to learn and start programming before you have a Mac, I recommend either Java or .NET, specifically Delphi Prism.
See here my own first experiment with Delphi prism:
http://leaukiprog.blogspot.com/2009/07/delphi-prism-first-experiment.html
You can write a program for Windows, keep GUI code and other code separate and later replace the Winforms GUI with a native Cocoa GUI on the Mac.
I found that Pascal is a good language for accessing native APIs from .NET. Everything looks cleaner than with C#, I think.
The new version of Delphi Prism is coming out on the 25th, as far as I know.
You might also look into the GNUstep project. This will let you experience objective-c a little bit before you make the plunge, albeit with the GNU libs instead of cocoa.
Good Mac (or iPhone) software is an artisan product; it reflects the culture and tastes of Mac (or iPhone) users. Because the Mac is a premium platform, users tend to be more sensitive to the feel and polish of the apps. Thus to successfully program for the Mac/iPhone or even grok the Cocoa frameworks properly, you have to grok the Mac user experience. Although many coming from the Windows or other-UNIX world try to skip this step, they do so at their own peril.
So, as a Mac developer (who also writes for other UNIX OSes), my recommendation is buy a Mac and start using it, full time if you can. A Mac Mini is completely adequate for development and will set you back only a few hundered dollars, including the OS. Consider that on Windows, this is often less than the price of a full VS license. Everything else (Xcode, libraries, etc.) are free.
Once you have a Mac and begin to grok the feel of things, you'll discover that there are a number of development options. Besides the Cocoa frameworks--which can be used from Python (via the built-in PyObjC bridge), Ruby (via MacRuby or RubyCocoa)—-there are a number of other options. Qt from Nokia and Mono are viable. Often cross-platform apps written in Qt or Mono are disliked on the Mac because they don't feel "native" (see above), but really the problem is not the framework. If you get the Mac user experience you can write a very passable Mac app in a cross platform framework. You just have to intend to write a Mac app, not get a Windows app working on the Mac.
If you code in RealBasic or Lazarus, you can run and compile your apps for both Mac OS and Windows (and Linux in the case of Lazarus). RealBasic isn't that popular outside of the Mac Platform, and isn't free. Lazarus is still a little rough around the edges, but is basically a free version of Delphi.
Lazarus is working hard on a native COCOA port with the next major version of FPC (though that will probably be available only in 2011)
Macs use Objective C. The APIs are very useful and there are many tutorials online. You'll be using Xcode, the Mac equivalent to Windows' Visual Studio and Linux's Glade.
I love making cross-platform applications. In a few hours I can prototype an application in Mac and publish it online. Then it'll take a day or two to port to Windows.
A Mac looks expensive, but it's not if you look what you get for your money.
It is entierly up to you if you buy one or not. I guarantee you'll have a lot fun with it, next to programming. If you want a cheap Mac, just buy a Mac Mini for 500 dollars, which you can connect to the Display you already own.
I recommend doing this on Mac OS X rather than Windows, but again: it's up to you.
P.S. You can use VMWare, but I think it's slow if you have less then 4 GB RAM.
A Mac really isn't that expensive if you go down the second hand route, I was put off by the price of brand new Macbooks so I got a late 2007 model for £350 and added an extra gig of RAM to it.
Reasonably priced, less hassle for development as well!
If you want to have just a general feeling about ObjC and the object libraries, why not giving a try to GNUStep?
Take a look at it here:
http://wiki.gnustep.org/index.php/Main_Page