Re: Xcode 4 related questions
Re: Xcode 4 related questions
- Subject: Re: Xcode 4 related questions
- From: Quincey Morris <email@hidden>
- Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2011 02:46:54 -0800
On 10 Mar 2011, a whole lot of people wrote:
> [a whole lot of stuff]
Here are a few additional points to consider:
1. Speaking *without* sarcasm, I'd say complaining about what you don't like is good, up to a point. A groundswell of opinion is going to affect what gets changed in the future, and affect the priorities of changes. Everyone knows, though, that complaining on this list is a very low-effectiveness kind of activity, right? The pragmatic truth is, if you actually want to get listened to, submit a bug report.
2. There have been a lot of "I don't like feature X, therefore Xcode 4 is badly designed" opinions spoken today. This is not a valid argument.
3. There's also been a lot of "I don't like the way feature X is implemented, so give me a choice between optional ways of using X". One of the principles implicit in Mac HIG design is that every option (in any application) is a design *failure*. (I'm slightly overstating, to make my point.) A perfect design would satisfy everyone without anyone having to choose options. This is, of course, why Apple is famous for "leaving things out" of their designs. If you don't at least acknowledge this principle, you're missing something important in Mac software development.
Of course, some options are unavoidable. I'm not saying that in practical terms there shouldn't be any. I'm saying that a designer responding to complaints by adding options is committing something of a design cop-out. (Cf. iPad mute/rotation-lock switch in iOS 4.3: a design cop-out forced on Apple because no one could think of a better solution. Some options are unavoidable.)
4. There's been a general assumption in opinions spoken today that the Xcode development team at Apple kind of threw all the cards up in the air, and implemented a new UI based on they way they landed. At least *consider* the possibility that they studied historical bug reports (including complaints), direct feedback via WWDC face to face discussions, and possibly even did some formal study of how developers actually work. At least consider the possibility that they have *evidence* that the new UI will help a lot more people than it inconveniences.
5. My impression from the Xcode 4 previews is that a major guiding principle in the redesign is the *abstraction* and *conceptualization* of the vast number of individual functions that Xcode must perform. (E.g. workspaces and schemes.) That makes it harder to just pick up and go. I think the jury is still out on whether this level of abstraction is comprehensible or not. At the very least, though, your brain is going to hurt for a while.
6. For existing (3.2) Xcode users, the change to Xcode 4 is something analogous to a switch to the metric system**. I believe the sad truth is that when such a sweeping change occurs, the old guard (us) is *never* going to be comfortable with the new system, although new users may adopt it without difficulty. That doesn't mean we can't be productive with the new system, but it's going to take an entire generation or two -- however long that is in developer lifetimes -- for the changeover from an uncomfortable to a comfortable developer community to occur.
FWIW, I haven't switched over to Xcode 4 yet. [I tried one of the developer previews and gave up due to a combination of features half implemented, and being unable to understand the new Xcode 4 way in the 2 days I spent on it.] But soon.
** I mean for Americans, of course, the rest of the world having mostly come to its senses.
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