Mac OS X Leopard - ARCAism

Source Trees:
• Source Trees are global directories on your root file system where Xcode will look for
project files and resources.
• Source Trees are managed via the Source Trees preference panel.
SCM:
• SCM stands for source code management, also known as version control.
• If you don’t know what version control is, put this book down and Google it. It will
change your life.
• Xcode supports CVS, Perforce, and Subversion.
• The Repositories tab is where you add your project servers.
• The Options tab contains preferences such as which editor to use for differencing and
whether to autosave.
Documentation:
• Xcode’s documentation system is fantastic, but none of its options are actually on this
panel.
• This panel actually contains the various locations of documentation.
• I can only think of very contrived examples of why you would ever change this.
You might think that the Preferences panel is the only place to set up preferences for Xcode,
but in fact Xcode has hidden preferences all over the place. Some of these are based on scope—
for example, the different project and target settings. Others are based on tradition, such as
right-clicking or Ctrl+clicking the toolbar to edit its configuration.
At the end of the day, while Xcode is much easier to use than traditional command-line
tools, it’s designed to be powerful, efficient, and endlessly configurable. If there’s some way in
which you want to exert your will over Xcode, don’t assume it doesn’t exist just because you
can’t find it. It’s likely it does exist, but is hidden somewhere obscure.
Documentation
CHAPTER 25 MAC OS X DEVELOPMENT: THE TOOLS 451
After setting up Xcode, you’re greeted with the new Welcome to Xcode window, shown in Figure
25-2. Aside from assembling everything you need to start programming with Xcode, the
welcome window uses RSS syndication to deliver up-to-the-minute news and documentation.
This combines the accuracy and timeliness of web-based documentation with the convenience
and accessibility of having the documentation right in Xcode.
Clicking A Quick Tour of Xcode is not only a good way to get acquainted with Xcode, but it’s
also a good way to meet your new best friend, the documentation window, shown in Figure 25-3.
Like much of Xcode 3, this has been radically redesigned in Leopard.
There are several ways to get to the documentation window, aside from the Welcome to
Xcode window. When in Xcode’s editor, you can hold Option while double-clicking a term to
automatically search for it in the documentation window.
You can also activate the documentation window by selecting Documentation from the
Help menu. This means you can also launch it from the keyboard by typing Option+Cmd+?.
That doesn’t seem memorable, but it’s really easy to type. Press the adjacent Option and Cmd
buttons with your left hand and the adjacent ? and Shift buttons with your right.