Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Dragonlance1561

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 16, 2007
68
6
I have been looking around on the web and I have seen mixed answers about Objective-C and Cocoa being compatible with windows and linux and other OS's. I'm thinking that Objective-C is while Cocoa is not. Am I correct?
 

ray648

macrumors regular
Jan 10, 2008
118
0
Yes, you are correct. Objective C can be compiled on any platform with a suitable compiler, including windows and linux, but Cocoa is apple specific.
 

ChrisA

macrumors G5
Jan 5, 2006
12,576
1,691
Redondo Beach, California
..Objective-C and Cocoa being compatible with windows and linux and other OS's. I'm thinking that Objective-C is while Cocoa is not.

You are correct.

Apple uses the Open Source gcc compiler as part of x-code. gcc runs on every computer and OS known to man (almost) and gcc does Objective-C (and C, C++, FORTRAN, Ada and Java as well). So the language itself is portable to every place that gcc runs.

Cocoa however is Mac-only.

OK
 

Dragonlance1561

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 16, 2007
68
6
ok thanks, I'm learning C++ now, how transferable is knowledge of C++ to Objective-C? From what I have read it's quite transferable.

Also, can anyone point me to any websites or books that will teach me to make GUI's on other OS's (mostly windows) in Objective-C and/or C++?

I want to be able to write my source code on my mac so I can't use MS Visual C++ for windows. Linux isn't a big issue, mainly windows i want to run my programs on, and I know i can just use interface builder on mac. (but learning the hard way is always a bonus)

EDIT!: Even better would be books or websites about making cross-platform GUI's if possible.
 

Cromulent

macrumors 604
Oct 2, 2006
6,802
1,096
The Land of Hope and Glory
ok thanks, I'm learning C++ now, how transferable is knowledge of C++ to Objective-C? From what I have read it's quite transferable.

Also, can anyone point me to any websites or books that will teach me to make GUI's on other OS's (mostly windows) in Objective-C and/or C++?

I want to be able to write my source code on my mac so I can't use MS Visual C++ for windows. Linux isn't a big issue, mainly windows i want to run my programs on, and I know i can just use interface builder on mac. (but learning the hard way is always a bonus)

EDIT!: Even better would be books or websites about making cross-platform GUI's if possible.

Windows uses Win32 or the .Net platform to do its GUI programming. Mac OS X uses Carbon or Cocoa. No matter what you do you will need to write separate code for the GUIs for each platform.

A better solution would be to use the Qt framework which is written in C++ and works on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux and would allow you to do all your GUI programming for all platforms on the Mac and would just require a recompile on the other platforms (assuming of course the rest of your code is platform agnostic).

Edit : Of course this means you won't be able to use Interface Builder at all but would need to use Qt Designer to build your GUIs. See http://www.trolltech.com/qt for more information.

Oh and as long as the applications you write are open source it is free. If you want to write commercial software you need to pay a license fee.
 

Dragonlance1561

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 16, 2007
68
6
Edit : Of course this means you won't be able to use Interface Builder at all but would need to use Qt Designer to build your GUIs. See http://www.trolltech.com/qt for more information.
That sounds great to me. I would rather just learn C++ for now anyways.
Oh and as long as the applications you write are open source it is free. If you want to write commercial software you need to pay a license fee.
I am doing this for personal use and school work, no commercial use intended.

P.S.
(assuming of course the rest of your code is platform agnostic).
What does agnostic mean I never seen that word before.:eek:
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.