Beginning C++

[boyfarrell]

Hello all,

I do a little bit of programming (mostly scientific equation number cruching) on MATLAB, however it's still a little slow, even after I've vectorised my code etc. So, I have been learing C++ over the last few weeks. (This is all on my PC by the way.) HOWEVER, I'm changing to mac , I would like to know how I go about compiling C++ on MacOS X?

What interface/debugger do you guys use? My PC has MS visual C++. I would like to use something open source if possible. But baring in mind that I'm a beginner, this might slow me down? Are there comercial packages avaliable, Borland etc ... ? Which ones would suit me best?

Could I do number crunch in cocoa?

I will be programming a lot of vectors, is there a way to use the velocity engine or graphics card to whizzz through my code?

Phew, a lot of questions! What do you think? Dan.

 

[kainjow]

Use Xcode

Or if you're comfortable with the command line, any text editor and /usr/bin/gcc will work (what Xcode uses).

 

[boyfarrell]

Might sound like a stupid question but...


What is the difference between Xcode and Cocoa?

 

[elander]

XCode is the preferred application to write code in for Mac OS X applications.

Cocoa is one (of many) APIs that you can use when you create executable files (applications, tools, extensions etc) for Mac OS X. It comes with a framework, a library if you will, full of ready made objects that you can (and should) base your applications on, either directly or by extension.

XCode has a sister application, Interface Builder, that you can use to create all the visible stuff (menus, windows, buttons etc), and also connect the GUI to the other objects in your code.

My advice is that you become a member of Apple Developer Connection (it's free if you don't want to become a seeding member). That will give you access to a lot of documentation, new tools and other things that come in handy when you program for Mac OS.

http://developer.apple.com/

[edit]
By the way, XCode is on your installation CD/DVD, so you don't have to go out and buy it. It can also be downloaded from Apple Developer Connection, which is probably a better alternative if you have a broadband connection, since that version is more recent. There you can also find a new (a couple of weeks old) reference documentation that you can download.
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