Cocoa without XCode [closed]

Question

I would like to develop Mac applications, but don't want to use XCode. I have many reasons...

1. It's VERY slow...
2. It's complicated...
3. The Interface Builder seems like cheating and is not as satisfying. (I know, old school)
4. The whole developer tools set takes a lot of space and takes a long time to download (meanwhile slowing the rest of my computer down)

I know it's possible because I have seen some scripts compiled with gcc. Are there any tutorials? Are there any tips? I know how to run it, but I just need help learning how to use it without XCode making code for me. Is this a good plan, or is this just destined for failure?

Answer 1

AppCode.

AppCode is an IDE for Objective-C developers building native Cocoa apps for MacOS X or iOS who strive for higher coding productivity and better code quality.

EditRocket.

EditRocket can compile and execute Objective-C programs. EditRocket uses the gcc compiler to compile Objective-C programs

GNUstep.

GNUstep provides a robust implementation of the AppKit and Foundation libraries as well as the development tools available on Cocoa, including Gorm (the InterfaceBuilder) and ProjectCenter (ProjectBuilder/Xcode).

THE COCOTRON

The Cocotron is an open source project which aims to implement a cross-platform Objective-C API similar to that described by Apple Inc.'s Cocoa documentation. This includes the AppKit, Foundation, Objective-C runtime and support APIs such as CoreGraphics and CoreFoundation

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Take a look at build and run a Cocoa Mac application on the command-line post.
alternatives to XCode for iPhone development? (OR: how to make XCode suck less?).

Answer 2

I'm not sure what code you think Xcode is generating for you, but if you want to use another IDE then you're free to. Xcode includes all the standard UNIXy command line tools (though, as of 4.3 you have explicitly to make them available by launching Xcode exactly once and ticking a box in the settings), so you'd use standard GCC methods.

Besides the observation given e.g. here that you'll want to link against the Foundation framework, there's really not much to say.

For the record, the interface designer doesn't generate any code and is therefore no more 'cheating' than using a paint package to draw your graphics.