While at NSConference, I had a chat with Dave Dribin and Jamie Pinkham about why Xcode could be a better IDE. They both asserted that it could be more than it is. Having never used another IDE seriously, I asked both of them what features were missing from Xcode that made other environments like IntelliJ and Visual Studio so much better.
A few examples they gave me were:
- The Resharper refactoring tool for Visual Studio runs circles around Xcode’s refactoring tools. I rarely use Xcode’s tools for more than renaming ivars and methods, so this seems nice.
- Syntax checking while you type. Much like you type a document and get misspelling underlined as you go, other IDEs apparently will tell you when you mistyped an ivar or method name.
- Automatic header generation based.
- Better autocompletion
- You get the point.
The ideas they offered were appetizing, but nothing I feel are giant voids in Xcode. That being said, I’d love to see Apple improve Xcode into the IDE everyone wants it to be, so I am proposing the following:
- File bugs on each enhancement you want to Xcode.
- Post the bug information to OpenRadar.
- Notify others via a blog post or Twitter so others interested in a similar feature can dupe it.
- Pray that the Apple Gods add support.
I’ll star the ball rolling: