Category: Software & Technology

Apple expected to switch to Intel chips – Uh, excuse me?

I’ve really been enjoying writing code for the upcoming Mac OS X version of SwordSearcher. I’ve passed a few self-placed milestones in the code and I am progressing about as quickly as I had hoped to. I have people lined up for beta testing. My understanding of Cocoa (the framework for programming Mac OS X) has hit critical mass and I am able to think out problems in my head without having to refer to reference books.

Imagine my surprise when I read that Apple is now planning another architecture shift.

I really, really don’t understand this move. According to some recent news stories, Apple has actually managed to increase its desktop computer market share recently. They are on the right track. Now it looks like they are set to undo the progress and success of OS X.

The problem with a fundamental architecture shift, like switching from Power PC chips to Intel chips for the central processing unit, is that it will require all existing programs to be re-compiled for the new chips. As someone who has just invested a lot of development time on the current archetecture, I am not pleased.

I can only hope that XCode will allow me to easily cross-compile for both archetectures. In theory, this shouldn’t be too much of a problem — the underlying compiler is already cross-platform. As long as Apple takes care to make the frameworks the same on the new system, we (developers like me) just might be spared the agony of platform migration. But all programming is as much an archane art as it is science, and these kind of changes inevitably cause problems for developers, and by extension, end users.

For now, I will continue my development work as I have. But I do have to admit to being a little bit disheartend at Apple’s move. I can tell you one thing for sure: if I had read this news late last year instead of this month, I would have had a much harder time convincing myself to embark on this new Mac adventure of mine. No doubt other developers will feel the same way, which is not good for Apple.

Since I am keeping busy with programming on the Mac, I haven’t had much time to update my progress on the blog. Much apologies to those of you who have emailed me asking me for more information.

Anyway, I wanted to write a small update.

On Windows, I use a program called Wnbrowse to view the contents of any file on my hard drive in hex or ascii. This is quite useful, as I design my own data file formats for SwordSearcher and like to look at the raw data in a file I have generated while doing so.

I had to find an equivalent for OS X because Finder (the Mac equivalent of Windows Explorer) doesn’t include a “hex viewer.” After a little searching, I found Separator. It’s not quite as good as Wnbrowse for my use (I like how Wnbrowse lets me show any file as if it were a text file), but is good enough. Until I found this program I was doing things a really awkward way: I would use my Windows machine to browse my Mac hard drive and use Wnbrowse to view the files I wanted to see over the network. Obviously, using a native Mac program is a better solution.

I have been marketing SwordSearcher Bible Software for around ten years now. Throughout that time, there has been a common theme of email I receive on a regular basis: “will this work on my Mac?” — with variations such as “why isn’t there a Mac version?” or “do you hate Mac users?” (yes, seriously!). My response has always been the same: programming for a Mac is different from programming on Windows, and, I have never owned a Mac.

Well, sometimes I am a little slow to realize something. (Just sometimes.) In this case, what has taken me such a long time to realize is that there are people out there who want to buy my software for their Mac! Since this has finally dawned on me, I have decided to begin the adventure of programming for a Mac.

The new Mac Mini provided me with the perfect starting point. It is a nice, small “Mac in a box” that works with my existing monitor, keyboard, and mouse. A simple USB switch is all that I needed to be able to press a button and go between my Mac and my Windows PC.

I’ve been using this for some time now, and I have to admit that I am impressed by what Apple is offering now. Apple’s operating system, Mac OS X, is an extremely robust environment. Yes, it has it’s “lickable” interface (I say that because the well-rendered buttons and other objects of the GUI are so shiny and nice and shaped like hard candy — it makes you want to lick them). But underneath that shiny hood is an extremely powerful, bullet-proof Unix operating system. With OS X, Apple has turned the Mac from just a fancy user interface unsuited for power users, into a power user’s dream. All you have to do is open up a terminal window, and you have a fully functioning Unix command line with all the power and configurability that you could ever want.

Apple is doing something now that they should have done a long time ago: giving developers good development tools. And I mean giving. Everything I need to write software for Mac OS X is included free of charge. Apple has finally realized that they will never grow their market share without getting people to write software for their platform! The bottom line is that my Mac cost me just as much as my last Delphi upgrade — and the Mac comes with everything I need to program.

I have spent the last month or so getting up to speed with Mac development, using Cocoa/Objective-C. And I have found that while Apple’s tools (XCode and Interface Builder) are not quite equal to Delphi on Windows, they are sufficient and suited for the task of quickly building a working application.

So anyway, this is my first log entry in my Mac Adventures. I have committed to developing SwordSearcher for the Mac and I will try to keep this log up to date on my progress, and will probably post technical musings on XCode and rant about things I don’t like on the Mac from time to time :-) . SwordSearcher Mac will be designed from the ground-up to be a Mac program — it will not be a mere “port” of the Windows version. If all goes as planned, I should have SwordSearcher for Mac available at the end of 2005 or the beginning of 2006. If you are a Mac user interested in beta testing, drop me an email and I will let you know once a test version is available.

This does not mean that I am abandoning the Windows version of SwordSearcher. They will be developed simultaneously and I will be releasing updates to the Windows version indefinitely.

Learning new things is fun.