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Re: Why Cocoa (say vs Carbon)
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Re: Why Cocoa (say vs Carbon)


  • Subject: Re: Why Cocoa (say vs Carbon)
  • From: "Dennis C.De Mars" <email@hidden>
  • Date: Wed, 26 Feb 2003 22:19:34 -0800

This is one of those threads that get hijacked by the first response; as interesting as the debate on the RealBasic blurb is, I don't think it really addressed your original question.

First of all, let's get something straight, Carbon _is_ OS X native. It is easier to access some OS X features from Cocoa (but still possible in Carbon). There have been arguments advanced on this list that Cocoa apps have some advantages for end users, but if you are looking for differences in the application as seen by end users you are missing the main difference between Carbon and Cocoa.

The _big_ difference is that developing in Cocoa is much easier and faster than developing in Carbon. When writing new apps, Cocoa is definitely the path of least resistance.

Now, if you are starting with an existing body of Carbon code, you have to consider the following: working, debugged code is very labor-intensive to produce, so if you are starting with a large body of working, debugged code in Carbon, it may very well not be worth the effort to rewrite in Objective-C.

Personally, I am rewriting a couple of apps that I have developed in Carbon. The reason is that I intend to significantly extend these apps (in one case I was intending to rewrite it anyhow) and the amount of existing code is relatively small. Even so, i can reuse some of the code (that is not tightly tied to Carbon). The rewrite effort will be justified in the amount of time I save in doing the extensions. However, if you have a lot of code and the extensions required are relatively modest, it would not be worth the effort to rewrite. I would surmise that most large Carbon apps fit into this category (not being worthwhile to rewrite).

To reiterate, advantages to the end user don't weigh heavily in the decision to rewrite because a Carbon app can support virtually all OS X features, although in some areas it requires more effort and not all Carbon developers have completely availed themselves of all the opportunities to do so (this situation is slowly improving with time). The main advantage of Cocoa is the ability to more effectively leverage the developer's time.

So, you have to ask yourself what you intend to do with this app you've inherited. Will you be adding a lot of new code? How much code is there now?

- Dennis D.

On Wednesday, February 26, 2003, at 05:46 AM, J. Todd Slack wrote:

Hi,

This is really elementary, but I haven't done any Objective-C development before.

I have a carbon app now that I "inherited"

I don't need an OS 9 version, so I was thinking about re-writing the app in Objective-C.

Can anyone tell me why I should do this? I mean are apps faster, respond better? What does making it OS X native really gain me?

-Jason
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References: 
 >Why Cocoa (say vs Carbon) (From: "J. Todd Slack" <email@hidden>)

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