Difference between iPhone development and Mac OSX development [closed]

Question

This question is for all the programmers who code in iphone as well as the Mac OSX platform.

I have been searching on Google for quite some time, but I could not find any good answer, and so I am posting the question here. Please apologize if this is not a programming question.

1. Question on development overview:

   I would like to know how the iphone development tools are different from Mac OSX development tools.

2. Question on the programming language:

   Is the programming done in objective-c for mac-osx as well ? Will it be the same syntax and format (for example, to create a button or textField)... ?

3. Question on the libraries:

   If the programming is done in Xcode, how will the classes and libraries for touch and navigation be for the development in Mac OSX. ? And is there an interface builder ?

4. Question on Simulation and Testing:

   Is it as easy as iPhone development to simulate and test the app in a Simulator ?

Answer 1

• Tools are the same, you'll use Xcode just as with iOS Development.

• The same language and syntax is used.

• There are some differences, the most important being Garbage Collection, which is available on the Mac but not on iOS. View Controllers also play a different role and, of course, different libraries and APIs are used. Most of the UI elements you're used to on the iPhone (tabbar, navbars, ...) are not present on the Mac..

• In terms of testing, it is pretty straightforward like on the iPhone.

Answer 2

1. Many different UI elements and interactions.
2. The same.
3. Different.
4. IMHO yes.

You may want to check out these posts to help you transition:

Jumping from iOS to OSX

Removing iOS SDKs from OSX