I use a Mac.

The OS(X) is just a nightmare with only a few exceptions.

This is not one of the exceptions.

The Problem: I am learning C++ (C Plus Plus) and want to compile and execute some simple programs – math and text manipulation mostly.

Looking for help on anything “tech” for a Mac is like trying to kill someone with a crayon or a piece of felt.

Here is the problem I finally tracked down (6 hours of reading forums).

It turns out that the sym link for the C++ (G++) compiler is linked to 3.3 – here are a few C&P’s form the command line:

lrwxr-xr-x     1 root   wheel            7 Nov 24 22:09 g++ -> g++-3.3
-r-xr-xr-x     1 root   wheel       268808 Dec 24  2005 g++-3.3
-rwxr-xr-x     1 root   wheel        80484 Dec 24  2005 g++-4.0

also

lrwxr-xr-x     1 root   wheel            7 Nov 24 22:09 gcc -> gcc-3.3
-r-xr-xr-x     1 root   wheel       264712 Dec 24  2005 gcc-3.3
-rwxr-xr-x     1 root   wheel        80484 Dec 24  2005 gcc-4.0

Simple enough – symlinks are easy to manage.

See how this works over the ling haul – I put this post up in the hope that someone will hit this and not have to deal with Apple or any of the “experts” on the forums.

Why no XCode?

1. All the programmers I respect clearly state how much it sucks compared to other dev environments (I use KoMoDo and love Active State products)
2. $99/year – no
3. I am not interested in writing for Apple or IOS
4. My goal is embedded devices

XCode and the whole “Apple” thing is just a joke to me and I already have better tools and other goals.

The way to make a fair dollar with many apps is simple. You will need scrolling.

This same method is the dividing point between what should be a killer ap on the Droid and what you would expect on the iPhone. The exact app is not important.

Droid: App is free and works great but scrolling is a dog.

iPhone: App is $3.99 and scrolls nice.

Is scrolling worth the $3.99 or $0.99 or however the dev sets it?

Probably.

Yeah, most of the time.

Also, it is no longer an iPhone, Android, Blackberry, or whatever thing. I say this with the anticipation of Adobe Flash in CS5 firing out files for iPhone,  and I imagine more to come. Bonus – ECMA 5 was recently finalized.

So imagine one common language, guided by a larger common model, allowing multiple platforms to receive from a single codex.

Hmm, the circuit you run on is much getting less important.

Oh yeah, remember there is JQuery Touch (demo). So the walls are closing in on some ideas, but generally opening up for the masses.

So, that money thing. Free gets the crap scroll.

Paid gets the smooth glide.

The NPR dedicated app’s newest version is now, well, working mostly.

The last release was a H-U-G-E step forward but it was very broken. It started with all of my favorites going away. From there is just got worse and worse.

Well, they fixed most of them.  And after I re-favorited everything the new version pulled my old list in (wonder if I found anything new?).

They still have a few weak spots. The 2 that still standout are:

1. Scrolling is not smooth. This is the only app that does not flick scroll smooth.
2. Location translation does not work. In other words, I am  MST and my programs are all localized from the station with no correction to “localize”. This may seem petty, but it is not. The iPhone is still essentially a *nix system and time math is inherently very easy to perform.

Not going to bitch too much.  The app still hangs if you do not want your location shared, it chugs a lot, streams are not held as good as the program 2 versions ago. But I still like it.

The addition of “On Demand” is real cool.

Lessons learned?

1. Test your app
2. Use other apps
3. Think about what you are going to do to existing users when you update
4. Include an incoming feed for “what you are doing” in the app to address the bug list(s) and anticipated release time frame
5. Have a forum / blog / something to catch your errors. I am SURE the email account they provided was En Fuego (that’s E-span-yo-la for On Fire).

Signing off – Ableton Denver site is coming..

It is looking like I will be hitting the iPhone dev scene come November.  I preparation I am exploring app needs.  I think that the first app (needing to be simple) will be the sacrifice app.

Here’s how it works:

Select from a long list of animals, sea life, and insects to sacrifice for any and all pagan needs.  Computer crashing, try sacrificing a goat! Your car got towed, that calls for 2 chickens!

There are so many conventional needs for an app that allows you to sacrifice at will. Some of the features include:

• Ability to sacrifice multiple animals
• Schedule sacrifices as calendar appointments, reoccurring events, or a specific series
• Choose your deity(s) or have the app select one at random for you
• “In Honor Of” field allows you to target your sacrificial power towards a the noun of your choice
• Full reporting on your sacrifices to help you understand effectiveness

If you have any feature requests put them in the comments section.

Before I drop $100 for a dev account I wanted to outline my need and see if anything comes through the wire.

App Description:

Provide reasonably accurate BPM calculations based on file size, bit depth, and type.

Details:

Example (not real math here) 245.98 kb file in stereo @ 16bit in .wav format = 95.78 bpm.

I am totally aware that this type of math is not totally stable, but preliminary calculations on the files are coming through just fine.

If you know of this app OR want to colaborate on building it contact me (commets are fine!).

Purpose: If you use Ableton you will appreciate this need.

Now there are some accolades for Apple, such as my recent post here.  My white Mac Book is fun.  It is also my first ever Mac product.

Now don’t get me wrong, Micro$soft is ROYALLY pissing me off.  But Apple is so so very far from filling in the gap.  These operating systems are equal by every rational calculation.
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I just got off the phone with Sweetwater. I ordered a new TC Electronics Konnekt 24D for use with Ableton Live and general recording.

A quick conversation with my order engineer exposed that he is a 10 year+ Apple / Mac user for audio.  He, as well as every Apple user I have ever met, did not understand or ever bring up the Core Audio (wikipedia apple) aspect of Apple products as they relate to Windows and audio interfaces. More On This