CodeWarrior Pro 8 by Metrowerks
Overview
Since the early days of the PowerPC, CodeWarrior Pro has always been the most powerful Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for serious Mac game programming. It compiles programs written in C, C++, Objective-C (Cocoa), and Java, and can compile for Mac OS, Windows, Linux, Palm, and most game consoles. Unlike the PC world, the Macintosh has very little competition in the professional-level compiler market; the only other mainstream choices include Apple’s Mac OS X-only Project Builder and several BASIC compilers, such as FutureBasic and REALbasic.
Over the years, CodeWarrior has outperformed other Mac development systems, while offering more flexibility and features, as well as optimized code — important issues for professional development. However, at $400 ($300 upgrade from CodeWarrior 7), CodeWarrior 8 now faces competition from Apple’s freely distributed development tools. In addition to the price factor, the current version of CodeWarrior has some issues with compiling under Mac OS X. New and more powerful versions of REALbasic and FutureBasic are also applying pressure to CodeWarrior’s position as the tool of choice for Macintosh developers.
What You Get
Inside the CodeWarrior Pro 8 box you will find two CDs labeled ‘Tools’ and ‘Reference’, as well as two small packets, ‘Quick Start’ and ‘Quick Reference.’ The ‘Tools’ CD includes the compiler and all necessary libraries; an easy install of the Mac compiler and libraries requires about 300MB of disk space. The ‘Reference’ CD includes sample code and tutorials. Although the printed documentation is rather sparse, the ‘Reference’ CD, which includes online documentation, and the free online classes at CodeWarriorU (codewarrioru.com) more than make up for it. Also, nearly all the tutorials and samples at Apple’s site and at nehe.gamedev.net (for those interested in learning to use OpenGL) come with CodeWarrior project files, which can be easily compiled with CodeWarrior Pro 8.
Standard Features
Recent versions of CodeWarrior have offered powerful code optimization. CodeWarrior allows you to choose the level of optimization you want, and whether it aims for small code size or fast execution speed. While it may seem that maximum optimization would be the logical choice, it can take an hour or two to compile at highest optimization compared to a few seconds at lowest. The project manager makes it very easy to organize source files and libraries, and to set up different build targets if necessary (such as building Mac OS and Windows versions in the same project). CodeWarrior Pro 8 also includes a useful debugger; you can mark certain lines of code at which it will pause and open the debugger window to step through each line, and see what each variable contains at any time.
CodeWarrior also includes Rapid Application Development (RAD) tools, including PowerPlant, a framework used to quickly set up interfaces with windows, menus, buttons and other elements which you can design yourself.
New Features
In CodeWarrior Pro 8 there is a RAD tool for Java programs, which should prove useful for even Java game developers. There is support for Cocoa and Interface Builder, which would eliminate the only real advantage Project Builder had over CodeWarrior Pro 7, if not for an annoying bug that I will go into later. There is also a new feature called ‘Code Completion’, where CodeWarrior automatically guesses what word you are trying to type and can fill it in for you, i.e. if you type player.lo it will list any variables you might have in that class that begin with lo, such as player.location or player.lowerbody. This is useful if you ever have trouble recalling variable names, or have exceptionally long ones. Unfortunately it means CodeWarrior will occasionally pause for a second or two to update its list of variable names, which can get irritating during large projects. Thankfully, Code Completion is off by default.
Also new in this version is a ‘Class Browser’ that can list all your classes and let you look through all their variables and member functions, which is useful if you have long source files or many classes, but it would be much more useful if it just showed the classes you use; as it is now, it seems to show all the classes you use and all the ones in any libraries you include.
Problems
Unfortunately there are still some bugs and annoying ‘features.’ Compiling and building under Mac OS X works, but in my experience it was not possible to actually run the build from within CodeWarrior; it would just load endlessly. Due to this bug, it is not possible to use the CodeWarrior debugger under Mac OS X. Fortunately this is not a problem for me because I do all development using Carbon and Mac OS 9, and the builds run perfectly under Mac OS X. However, this is a fatal flaw for any Cocoa developers in my opinion.
A minor irritation for my workflow concerned the IDE feature that opens all of the windows which were active when CodeWarrior was last used. Although this feature may be time saving for developers working on a single project, it is somewhat of an irritation for developers like me who work on multiple projects at a time.
Conclusion
For those who have yet to purchase CodeWarrior, or have been using older versions, CodeWarrior 8 is a mature and solid development tool for games and applications. It shines as a cross-platform alternative to Apple’s free Mac OS X developer’s tools and for Carbon development. Mac OS X developers face a harder decision when we factor in the price difference between Apple’s tools and CodeWarrior, and the issues with compiling under Mac OS X with CodeWarrior 8. Metrowerks does offer a possible solution in the form of CodeWarrior Mac OS X Edition — a less expensive subset of the Pro edition, with a Mac OS X-only compiler and no Java support. Metrowerks has a chart outlining the differences between the two editions on their Web site.
Overall, CodeWarrior Pro 8 was perfect for my OpenGL Carbon game development, but the only useful new feature in version 8 for my needs was Code Completion, which is helpful but not really worth the $300 upgrade price.
- Rated 8
- Version: 8
- Category: Development Environment
- Developer: Metrowerks
- Url: www.metrowerks.com
- MSRP: $ 599.00 ($299.00 upgrade)
- Mac OS X Requirements: Mac OS X v10.1.3, PowerPC G3 or greater, 128 MB RAM, 350 MB HD
