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Re: Thoughts on Cocoa source code
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Re: Thoughts on Cocoa source code


  • Subject: Re: Thoughts on Cocoa source code
  • From: Saagar Jha via Cocoa-dev <email@hidden>
  • Date: Wed, 9 Oct 2019 10:43:31 -0700

Saagar Jha

> On Oct 9, 2019, at 10:19, Turtle Creek Software via Cocoa-dev
> <email@hidden> wrote:
>
> Why is Cocoa source code hidden?
>
> Many of the frustrations we had with the 64-bit update attempt were caused
> by Cocoa's lack of visible source. It was a "black box" that often required
> trial-and-error to figure out. Yeah, the headers are visible, and Apple has
> info online. But sometimes that was not sufficient to understand the actual
> implementation details.
>
> When debugging, the stack trace inside Cocoa was just a bunch of
> rarely-helpful Assembly. No way to set breakpoints inside Cocoa classes, or
> step through their C code. More mysteries and headaches.

You can set symbolic breakpoints inside of Cocoa. And a good disassembler will
get you a significant portion of the way there if you’re trying to debug in the
internals of a method.

> I personally learned C++ while using the PowerPlant library from
> Metrowerks. Its source files were totally exposed. Seeing comments and code
> really helped. When designing or debugging, it was possible to step through
> their code and see exactly how it functioned.  Cocoa would be so much
> easier to use if its source was accessible like that.
>
> In fact, why isn't Cocoa open source?  Apple open-sources Swift and the
> Darwin kernel. Surely the GUI can't be any riskier to expose to developers?
>
> Our programmers found several PowerPlant bugs over the years. We fixed them
> right away in our copy, and reported them so they were fixed in the next
> update. Apple could get the same benefit for Cocoa. Seems like a win-win.
>
> Someone suggested that I send comments to Tim Cook or whomever at Apple.
> That seems a good idea, but I'd like to see discussion results, first.
> Assemble more viewpoints.
>
> Casey McDermott
> TurtleSoft.com
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References: 
 >Thoughts on Cocoa source code (From: Turtle Creek Software via Cocoa-dev <email@hidden>)

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