Max/MSP and Xcode, correction: Okay, while it might be handy to have a copy of CodeWarrior around, I’m happy to say I was wrong about developing externals. Despite what the PDF documentation says in the Max/MSP SDK, you can now develop Mac externals using Xcode. Check out the new documentation, posted by David Zicarelli. I’ll be moving happily over to Xcode! Thanks, vallen! Now all we need is someone from Apple marketing to say something snarky about how Xcode is more advanced than anything else on the planet, and anyone who uses anything else is a loser.
It’s the arcane post of the week: Yes, this series will bring all the stories the fewest readers care about, direct to you. But I care about them (because I care about arcane things), and we’ll see if someone else does, too. This week’s entry: it looks like CodeWarrior, the long-beloved Mac development tool, is nearly at its end. Metrowerks is no longer supporting the product (though they’ll still happily sell it to you unsupported — uh, thanks), and “after Q1 2006” you won’t be able to download at all. (Or thereabouts, since it’s obviously still there.) Why am I bothering to mention a dead development tool in the first place, particularly with Apple’s own Xcode included free with every copy of Mac OS X? Two reasons: first, we’ve already heard noted music developer Propellerhead complaining that their PowerPC code was faster on CodeWarrior than Apple’s Xcode. Now, granted, I’m not sure why this is and I haven’t heard anyone else griping about Xcode performance (though you will hear them griping for other reasons), but I’ll leave that whole issue to others.
More importantly, Max/MSP/Jitter from Cycling ’74 still requires CodeWarrior for creating externals on Mac, a key means of extending Max’s already-deep capabilities. Yes, I expect Cycling will fix that in a future release, but it makes it sound as though CodeWarrior would be a smart download for backwards compatibility.
Pay US$99 for an unsupported product that’s waiting for the executioner? No way. But if you can convince Freescale’s automated form (hint, hint) that you’re an educator, you can use the learning edition. And I’m guessing if you’re writing Max/MSP externals, you’re either in an academic institution now, or were at some point, or could probably fit in if you happened to visit. Go download and enjoy. Oh, and send us your externals.