Xcode is Apple Computer's integrated development environment (IDE) for developing applications and other software for Mac OS X. It is shipped free with Mac OS X v10.3, but is able to develop OS X applications that can run on any version of OS X. It extends and replaces Apple's earlier tool, Project Builder , which was inherited from NeXT. However, Xcode officially does not work in Mac OS X v10.2.

Xcode works hand in hand with Interface Builder (also inherited from NeXT), a graphical tool used to create user interfaces.

Xcode includes GCC, and can compile C, C++, Objective C++, Java, and Objective C source code with a variety of programming models, including but not limited to Cocoa, Carbon, and Java.

Among the highly touted features in Xcode is the technology to distribute the building of source code using Apple Bonjour over multiple computers.

Mac OS X v10.4 will ship with Xcode 2.0, which will include visual modeling and graphical Remote debugging. It will also include Apple Computer's version of the GNU Compiler Collection (gcc 4.0).

External link

• Apple.com: Xcode