Re: Xcode - An Apple Embarrassment
Re: Xcode - An Apple Embarrassment
- Subject: Re: Xcode - An Apple Embarrassment
- From: Nathan Sims <email@hidden>
- Date: Wed, 29 Feb 2012 09:37:39 -0800
Frustrations and operational bugs aside, I believe the underlying issue many developers have is that the Xcode 4 redesign is based on a flawed model: an all-in-one "this way or the highway" workflow. No one seems to know why it was changed. What was the problem in Xcode 3 that brought us Xcode 4? New management team, perhaps?
Xcode 3 (and previous) had an inherent flexibility that allowed a developer to develop HIS OWN WAY. I started out using Xcode 3 very simply, with a single project, using a single window. I grew to using it to develop 4 interrelated projects in tandem (a client, server, and 2 libraries). Awesome! I naturally think multithreaded and Xcode 3 allowed me the flexibility to develop that way -- if I chose to. But now, in Xcode 4, that's all been taken away, replaced with a changeling Xcode (ostensibly) dictated by someone at Apple who thinks he knows better than I do how my mind works and how I should be doing my development.
Sadly, this Windowsesque mindset has now beset all of Apple. Look at Lion, look at iOS, look at iCloud, heck even look at Objc 2.0. End-use flexibility is getting straightjacketed whilst the underlying complexity is increasing out of bounds. One can see that Xcode 4 is based on a bad design in the way that it requires a flood of tabs, buttons, and command key sequences to band-aid over the complexity choking the fundamental things that ought to be simple and direct. No slick implementation can make up for a flawed foundation.
I was taught by a great professor who had spent his entire career developing large projects (industrial, defense, aerospace). His projects always worked because he knew how to control design complexity. In short: Keep the core design simple and flexible and you'll have a 10X greater chance of producing a robust, extensible, and usable software product in the end.
Maybe Apple could learn from this, and produce an awesome Xcode 5...
Just my 2 cents...
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