Re: WebObject Support on the development tools

On 28/11/2007, at 3:58 AM, Mike Schrag wrote:

>>  Mind you, three years ago I talked to a couple Xcode people at =20
>> WWDC and said "PLEASE ... Give me a plugin API.  I will make cool =20
>> things if you just open it."

Apple has not been very good at making Xcode useful for other =20
languages. I had another language going well in CodeWarrior, but =20
ProjectBuilder then Xcode proved not only a moving target, but targets =20=

that never really provided you with what Mike was asking for.

Hence I really have a love/hate relationship with Xcode, but I suppose =20=

I've got used to it over the years. Perhaps it is not so apparent now, =20=

but clearly the early Project Builder was just a thin veneer over a =20
Unix development environment. Xcode =96 like Unix =96 still has zillions =
=20
of configuration options and it is very difficult to work out what to =20=

set, even though I have used this for years. And it has been even =20
worse for Java and WO development.

>>  But Apple doesn't see that as a priority, so you get what Apple =20
>> decides to give you.

They seem to be opening up to Ruby and Python in a big way, but they =20
still seem to be very much in control of what languages are allowed on =20=

their platform. Mind you, you have to say that their business strategy =20=

has been focused and has worked.

>>  At this point, Apple decides to give you a subpar Java IDE =20
>> (relative to the world of Java IDE's -- I'm not just talking =20
>> Eclipse here -- pick any of them, IDEA, NetBeans, Eclipse, whatever =20=

>> -- they hands down beat Xcode in terms of Java productivity tools). =20=

>> This is one of the large impediments to making a nice WOB =20
>> replacement ... I don't think you can make a nice enough end-user =20
>> experience in pure SWT, but I don't think you can make a capable =20
>> enough tool in pure Cocoa.
>

Ian=