MacPorts notes

Some notes on use MacPorts on the Mac.

Usage

Packages

Find new packages:

port search name 

 Find what is currently installed:

port installed  

Maintenance

Upgrade existing MacPorts database:

port self update 

Update outdated packages (e.g. after database update):

port upgrade outdated 

Remove old packages (e.g. after updating outdated):

port uninstall inactive

Clean up to save disc space ("du -hs /opt" to find existing usage before and after):

port clean installed

Mac terminal replacement - iTerm

If you ever use the command-line on the Mac, the default system terminal works, but having colour syntax highlighting and better presentation makes things a lot easier to read.

An alternative is iTerm:

iTerm history: Version 0.10 iTerm still works if you want simpler version. This was mothballed when the lead developer became a brain surgeon! (almost). It has been patched for OSX Lion. iTerm2 is still under active development. You can also get it with tmux support (but I don't use this).

Xcode 4.3 Complaints!

Just downloaded and trying Xcode 4.3.1. Quite frankly, after 4.0 and 4.1 I gave up and went back to Xcode 3.2.6. I'm sure this has been said in other places, but I think Apple have deprecated Xcode 3 too quickly and moved to something which was at best alpha quality (4.0), and is now beta quality (4.2+). That said, Xcode 4.3 does have a more "solid" feel about it.

Other people also have taken issue.

My issues with Xcode 4.3 are:

Key maps

The keys still clash with system defaults. I like Command+N for swapping desktops. Single-step etc clash with functions on laptop keys. Why not add the Xcode 3 mappings as an option? Why did you need to change them? You can use the Xcode 3 keys on a laptop or desktop keyboard quite happily. And not having to remember a whole new set of keys is a big win.

Editor

Simple things, like, which column am I in? Where is this displayed? This is basic stuff for a code editor.

How do I compile a single file? Seriously. Come on.

UI

You cannot drag any of the side panels around. What about making the sidebar items (project browser, objects, errors, etc) dockable/moveable so that you could have some on the right? E.g. file browsing on left, but then error list on the right. Or top and bottom of the sidebar? Should remember layout between sessions. Same for debugger features. -- If you have used Eclipse then there are lots of solutions and alternatives with a more flexible approach like that.

This is more of a minor one, but the toolbar at the top occupies too much space. It hardly displays anything. Maybe merge it into the title bar? Make icons smaller?

Top toolbar takes up too much space.

Version Control

I haven't really used these features because I use Mercurial. It's just what I use. Why not add Mercurial support, it is not going anywhere. It is a good DVCS. You have also removed Perforce support, please re-add.


Summary

Apple: I haven't used all of the features of Xcode 4, and I'm not a full time Apple dev. I know Microsoft are making Visual Studio worse, but do you have to try and compete with them? Xcode could be so much better if you didn't try and change everything at once. Leave the Xcode 3 key maps. At least then people can turn a blind eye to the other shortcomings of the IDE. I'm sure in a year or two it will be a better IDE, but right now please address the day-to-day usage issues instead of trying to cram in more functionality.

Development's ups and downs

Game development is sometimes testing! You get stuck on things, you go through boring phases, you wonder if you are going in the right direction. Often you have to fight though it to get that little reward that keeps you going.

Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another. - Walter Elliott

I do not think there is any other quality so essential to success of any kind as the quality of perseverance. It overcomes almost everything, even nature. - John D. Rockefeller

The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking places. - Author Unknown

It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer. - Albert Einstein

And I guess now I ought to stop reading quotes and do some work. :o)

UI for Allegro 5

I found a nice UI system called GWEN. It has lots of advanced features and is very easy to embed. It sits nicely on top of your application and can just be wired into its resources, to save competing systems, e.g. input or texture management.

Example of Gwen UI from the Gwen site.

I ported it to Allegro 5, which was quite easy as the renderer and input abstractions are well designed. I did it on the Mac, but it also works just fine on my old Windows XP laptop. Gwen also provides rendering backends for OpenGL, DirectX, SFML, and Windows GDI.

[Note] I have forked GWEN in order to fix various issues with Allegro 5, etc. There are notes in the readme and on the wiki. You may want to prefer this version if you are using Allegro 5. Please report any issues in the Github issue tracker for Gwork.

If you have used Delphi, or Windows Forms you'll probably find it quite easy to pick up. There are unit test examples from which to learn, but other than that you have to plough through the code at the moment. Hopefully more docs and comments will appear soon to ease the learning curve. There is a small tutorial on doing layout with docking.

One of the things that is really nice about Gwen is the skinning system. It is all laid out in one bitmap, along with the colour scheme at the bottom.

The default skin for Gwen.