I started my career on Linux/Unix, and moved over to Windows and Visual Studio. XCode feels pretty alien to me. My feeling is that I’m not in control with XCode. It could be the case that I simply haven’t understood how to use the IDE, I am new at developing for Apple OSs. One thing that kind of irks me, is that nobody seem to have found a clean way to compile for multiple platforms (iOS and Mac OS X), using the same sources. I’ve found two ways to “hack it”, but the hacks sound fragile.
I’ve been pondering the idea of using simple make files instead of XCode (except for the occasional use of Interface Builder).
Is this a sane route to go? Has anyone done this? Are there any major drawbacks I need to be aware of before I take the leap, or should I just bite the bullet and wait for the enlightenment?
Use Xcode, use as many high-level tools as possible. The “loss of control” is replaced by more focus on the application, which IMHO is a great tradeoff.
It is kind of like the loss of control when I went from assembly code to “C”, but it was worth it. We keep moving to higher level of abstraction and that allows us to accomplish more, focus on the big picture instead of the minor details.