Re: Cocoa's Popularity
Re: Cocoa's Popularity
- Subject: Re: Cocoa's Popularity
- From: David Remahl <email@hidden>
- Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2002 22:52:32 +0100
>
At 9:51 AM -0800 3/20/02, Matt Neuburg wrote:
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> Just watch versiontracker for a month and you'll have enough statistical
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> data to prove anything you want. The number of new Cocoa apps being written
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> on a daily basis is simply astounding.
>
>
Funny you mention that. Just today on VersionTracker I came across a free
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Cocoa app that's very close to something I'm working on myself. It's not the
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first of its genre, but it's the best I've seen so far. I've stumbled onto
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similar beat-me-to-the-punch apps at least twice this year (more, if you count
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multiple attempts at the same thing). Maybe my app ideas are simply obvious,
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so lots of people have the same idea. I prefer to think OS X heightens
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programmer creativity across the board. ;) I think one contributing factor is
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that Cocoa gives the individual programmer the power to create very powerful
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and elegant apps.
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>
Not only are many of the new apps free or cheap (and some even quite good),
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there seem to be quite a few programmers happy to share their source code
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(JewelToy comes to mind, but there are plenty of examples). Does anyone know
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if there is a similar culture among Windows shareware and freeware
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programmers? I wouldn't be surprised; I'd just be interested in hearing about
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how it compares.
Albeit slightly off-topic, the windows freeware/shareware culture is lame.
If on the other hand we look to the gnu/linux world, there are hordes of
opensource developers dedicating their time to projects they believe in.
Freeware and shareware are definitely an important part of Mac culture, in a
way it is not on the PC.
>
> I've been watching this sort of
>
> thing since 1990 and the old info-mac days, and I have *never* seen this
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> degree of glut of new apps for Mac.
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>
It's nice to hear this from someone who can make a first-hand comparison.
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>
> On Sun, 17 Mar 2002 09:53:02 -0800, Shawn Erickson
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> <email@hidden> said:
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>> Well Cocoa is part of every copy of Mac OS X
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>
>
> And the developer tools and docs are FREE. Again, this is a total first in
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> the history of Mac, a complete reversal of Apple's previous policies of not
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> supplying any tools themselves and charging heftily for developer info. m.
>
>
I think this is a huge factor in developer enthusiasm. The tools are free and
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good, and there is a common shared lore about how to develop Cocoa apps.
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Also, all the experienced NextStep programmers out there are a gold mine of
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enthusiasm and knowledge that people outside the Cocoa community may
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underestimate.
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>
I wonder if discussions like we have on this list are qualitatively different
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from discussions among Wintel developers. To me, it's downright fun to talk
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about Cocoa and to read the issues people raise. A petty part of me hopes we
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have *more* fun that developers on other platforms. ;)
>
>
--Andy
Hehe, I'm pretty sure we can say that mac programmers have more fun than
programmers in general :). One important reason is that the number of
hobbyists is very large, and as programming for many of us is not a
profession, that changes the atmosphere a lot compared to lists where
everyone is working on it.
In the PC world I see that there are two kinds of programmers:
1: Those who get paid to program Windows programs for the 95% of the world's
computer users. They have to use windows API's and have boring days.
2: Those who have a genuine interest in computers and programming beyond a
professional one. As programming for Windows totally lacks both charm and
thrill, all those move to Linux, leaving no good shareware/freeware for
Windows.
Sorry for the rant.
/ David
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