Last week Apple released a version of the XCode IDE that will change everything when it comes to developing apps for iPhone, iPad and Mac. This latest version of XCode is called XCode 4 and it is shipping with tons of new (and more refined features) that will really help us as developers. I’ve been working with XCode 4 (the developer preview) for months now and here are the features that I am most excited about (note: read to the bottom to see how you can get up to speed with XCode 4 for free):
Top 5 New XCode 4 Features
Single Window
The biggest complaint that I get when teaching people how to use XCode 3 is that XCode 3 seemed to spawn tons of windows creating a virtual jungle to wade through when trying to find your place in your project. XCode 4 solves this problem by limiting everything to only one window. This is huge and needs to be seen to be truly appreciated.
New Navigation Scheme
This is another way to address the problem with organizing the complex resources involved in an iOS app project. The navigation scheme gives us lists of files, symbols, search results and more. This stuff again helps us find what we need quicker.
Interface Builder Built In
This is huge. In the bad old days you had to use Interface Builder separately from the main XCode program. While this worked this causes huge problems with my iOS developer students because the files Interface Builder uses are not automatically saved when XCode 3 projects were built. This has caused way too many wild goose chases in class when students innocently forget to save Interface Builder files.
In XCode 4 this is fixed. Now you can simply click on an Interface Builder file and it comes up for editing right in XCode and you don’t have to worry about saving it.
Version Editor
XCode 4 now has much better integration with version control systems like Git and Subversion. These systems essentially protect you against unintended changes that you make to your source code. In XCode 4 you are really get some cool features like the ability to compare two versions of your source code files right next to each other right in XCode 4.
New Compiler
XCode 4 has a new compiler (the program that turns your code into stuff that iOS devices can use to run your app). The compiler is called LLDB. LLDB is much faster than what was used previously and LLDB’s efficiency will make it easier to use the debugger.
The biggest complaint that I get when teaching people how to use XCode 3 is that XCode 3 seemed to spawn tons of windows creating a virtual jungle to wade through when trying to find your place in your project. -Chopard LUC Swiss made watches