Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, OS, Software, Odds and ends, Leopard, Developer
Cocotron lets you develop in Cocoa for Windows, with a little extra work
But of course it wasn't exactly one-click. They had to implement a number of Apple-specific methods, and there were UI bugs, strings support, and dreaded Vista compatibility to work out. But the good news is that Cocotron is all open source, and from what the Mac Daddies say, the devs working on the project are super helpful and supportive. So, not only is it getting better every day, but every bit of implementation that gets done is something that won't have to be repeated. Sounds like a lot of "fun" (for varying values of "fun" of course) for developers to be had here.
The lines between Mac and PC, no matter what the commercials say, are blurring more and more every day, and this could turn out to be a way to develop in an environment as welcoming as Cocoa, and then bring programs back into an environment as widespread as Windows.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jesse said 4:30PM on 11-03-2008
I'd like to see Objective-C move onto other platforms like linux. Only problem is, it's useless without a well done API like Cocoa.
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RobK said 5:12PM on 11-03-2008
Another platform that claims to do the same thing (write Objective C Cocoa cross platform applications) is GNUStep.
GNUStep lets you write Objective C Cocoa applications that run in NOT ONLY Mac and Windows BUT ALSO Linux.
I hope Cocotron supports Linux soon.
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Anderson said 7:36PM on 11-03-2008
AFAIK the difference is that GNUStep has to be compiled directly on a Windows machine where Cocotron supposedly will allow to compile to different environments from within XCode.
Also, does GNUStep support something like Interface Builder and bindings or is everything hand coded? Why doesn't Cocotron make use of GNUStep's further developed Cocoa-inspired Framework?
RobK said 8:35PM on 11-03-2008
Well you are partly right. It looks like Cocotron uses Xcode has its IDE. GNUStep uses its own IDE (Project Center and Gorm).
But GNUStep does run on more than just Windows. It runs on a MAC, Linux and Windows etc (unlike Cocotron which looks like it ONLY runs on a Mac with its Xcode IDE). So you can compile your GNUStep Objective C programs on not only Windows but also a Mac and Linux.
GNUStep looks more flexible and mature than Cocotron and has been around for much longer. But I think the main reason GNUStep has not taken off is its lack of support for native widgets (or window control elements like buttons and scroll bars, etc). The GUI of NextStep developed apps look very ugly IMHO.
But the GUI of Cocotron developed apps look just as good as a regular Mac app since XCode is being used.
I just wish that Coctron would add Linux support. So one can develop an app to run not only on a Mac and Windows BUT ALSO ON LINUX!
John B. said 10:21PM on 11-03-2008
This article looks awfully familiar... You know, TUAW, you have to wake up pretty early in the morning to sneak one like this by your readers.
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Joe Anonymous said 7:32AM on 11-04-2008
At one time, there were rumors that Apple would be doing this - at the time it was called yellow box or some other color box. I believe that dropping it was a huge blunder for Apple. Apple's APIs are great programming environments and offering the ability for Mac OS X apps to be recompiled to run on top of Windows would have been a great incentive for people to use the Mac APIs.
The downside is that if you could get Mac apps on Windows, there might be less incentive to buy a Mac, but I believe that wouldn't have had a big impact. I use Mac OS X because the OS is easier to use and less frustrating - not because of any individual apps.
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Steve said 12:23AM on 11-05-2008
Apple's Yellowbox wasn't just a rumor. It was the original name of Cocoa. I actually have Apple's Yellowbox for Windows and it worked wonders. The reason why they did it, was because Yellowbox was an OpenStep standard, a standard designed for multi-platforms. Today Cocoa has changed to much so it's not OpenStep compliant.
Jash Sayani said 8:36AM on 11-04-2008
Apples platform will lose some of its value... As you would be able to run some of those Cool OS X apps on Vis *beep* !!
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