The Apple programming world is certainly more appealing to developers than at any point since the release of the Macintosh platform in 1984. Naturally, the iPhone is partly to blame for the recent enthusiasm for developing in Objective-C. The Mac desktop app store is also quite a compelling little place to sell software. As an old Mac nerd, I remember the days when entire swaths of independent software developers for the Mac would band together and open a singular payment processing system for all of their applications. This is how Kagi got started.
And so, Apple began charging $5 for XCode, recently. It's a modest sum, but I personally am a bit cheesed off at having to pay $5 for the compilers. I know, that's a really silly thing to complain about, but we do exist in the age of free compilers, and LLVM is open source, right? Anyway, I am rambling, as I often do when I get into the realm of commenting on my personal computer use and preferences.
The real point of this long-winded intro is to point out that JetBrains is now making a push into the Objective-C realm. You can head over to their site and sign up for early access to appCode. It will be interesting to watch this IDE evolve. As we all know JetBrains users are fiercely loyal. It'll be interesting to see the reaction of those also loyal Mac users. Let us know if you get into the Early Access!