Xcode "How To" books, are there any?

Question

Level 1

4 points

Xcode "How To" books, are there any?

I am running El Capitan on my iMac, and wish to get back into doing some C language coding. I have upgraded to the new Xcode, but cannot find any books, manuals or online instructions on how to use the tool. All I want to do is play around with C. I am not writing for commercial markets, only my own enjoyment. The instructions in the old Beginning Mac OS X Programming book and the Learn C on the Mac book no longer apply to the current version of Xcode.

If there isn't a way to get back to basic C, is there a BASIC compiler around I can use?

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.4)

Posted on May 4, 2016 11:43 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

Keith Barkley

Level 6

19,718 points

May 4, 2016 6:00 PM in response to Banjo Brad

Just start XCode, Select "Create a new XCode Project", Select an "OSX - Application, and click on the command line tool icon

Give it a name, and I use com.me as the identifier and select "C" for the language.

Select a place to put the folder, and on the next screen click on the main.c to the right.

Click the triangle at the top and the hello, world stub will compile and run.

Reply

Answer 2

Banjo Brad Author

Level 1

4 points

May 4, 2016 6:04 PM in response to Keith Barkley

Man, it was much simpler when things worked the old way. I'll have to see if the old methods still work

Thanks for the rapid response,Keith, now maybe I can get a hi/lo temp record going and a couple of other simple programs that I want to mess with.

I think my main problems are that I learned to code back in the 70's on CP/M, then DOS. Used QBASIC, then PL/I, and finally got around to trying C, just as I got involved with life. I still miss CP/.M and DOS and command line driven system.

Reply

Answer 3

hokanst

Level 2

301 points

May 8, 2016 3:04 PM in response to Banjo Brad

You could also use the text editor of your choice and use the Terminal to compile. Call "clang …" with the appropriate parameters to compile the file(s).

Reply

Answer 4

May 5, 2016 7:12 AM in response to Banjo Brad

as hokanst said, you are free to use the command line, but I like instant syntax checking, code completion and debugging in one interface, though YMMV.

Once you use the IDE a few times it is pretty easy. XCode has a lot of options because it does a lot of things, not just C command line programs.

Reply

Answer 5

Banjo Brad Author

Level 1

4 points

May 8, 2016 3:09 PM in response to Keith Barkley

Yes, I like xCode, my problem was the change in format with all of the lead-in. I have no real use for the "identifier" garbage since I will not be doing anything that will need it. Compared to what the old Apress Learn C on the Mac look to xCode, this new interface needs some getting used to.

Thanks to both of you for the input, it has been helpful - now to find time to get back into the fun part of computers!

Reply