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0 pointsrTX5CMRXIfFG3mo ago0 comments

> This means you've learned to work around its shortcomings.

All software of comparable size and complexity have shortcomings that everyone learns to work around. And a great many of those shortcomings are actually just highly subjective personal preferences. More than half of the complaints in this thread are, to me, a terrible idea.

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aylmao3mo ago

> All software of comparable size and complexity have shortcomings that everyone learns to work around.

This is part of the issue IMO. Is this size and complexity warranted?

Rust for example; its a complex language, can target pretty much all platforms under the sun, and yet it's configured with just text files, builds with just terminal commands, and works great with any text editor.

I've seen people in big tech work on codebases millions of files big with everything from VSCode to a russian text editor from the 90s. Linus Trovalds is building Linux with MicroEMACS. Why do I need a behemoth like Xcode to build a To Do app? Why does it have to be this "big and complex"?

RobMurray3mo ago

Xcode isn't necessarily the problem. Some people like it. That's fine. But apple forces it's use for iOS development. There are workarounds like Tuist, but you are still locked into Xcode for debugging, instruments, and even console output from an iOS device!

Nobody is saying not to use Xcode if you like it, but there should be a choice like there is for almost every other modern platform.

trinix9123mo ago

The big part of Xcode is the integrated Interface Builder. With SwiftUI it might slowly become irrelevant, but as of now, there's still no replacement for Xcode's Interface Builder. JetBrains' AppCode is/was a decent replacement for the code editor, but you still had to switch to Xcode for the UI parts.

rTX5CMRXIfFGOP3mo ago

Practical answer? I don’t know, man. I’m just building a todo list after all. Heck, I build more complex apps than that but front-end work is at such a high level of abstraction that, realistically, I just never bother. I don’t mind a smaller download size, but it’s just a nice-to-have.

The point about Xcode being complex, I disagree with. Honestly I could think of so many additional features to make my workflow easier.

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