New job, new text editor.
I have recently started a new job. This has given me the opportunity to be working full time in swift, and return to Xcode as my primary IDE. I had been using vscode as a daily driver previously, in python and typescript.
I had forgotten just how good Xcode is! It felt like going back home after a long time away. Now do not mistake me, vscode is also great. It is terribly useful, with great customization, and plugins for almost any purpose. However, Xcode far out-shines it for it’s specific purpose.
And in the time I’ve been away, there’s been some improvements. Here’s a few things that I don’t remember using before:
- The caller hierarchy. Find text has always been a go-to, but the symbol navigator was never particularly useful to me. But the new caller hierarch is a great summary.
- Find symbol. Just a little bit smarter than find text. Sometimes helpful, sometimes missing what you’re looking for, but combined with the previous point; an excellent search trio.
- Folder references and groups with folders have been around for a while, but we never quite got them integrated in my previous role.
- Swift Package Manager! I have never cared for the weight cocoapods brings along with itself, so having a native dependency manager is welcome.
- The new inline pull request comments are pretty neat, but I haven’t found them to be terribly reliable. It seems that sometimes comments are missing.
- Initially, I did really miss the peek editor from vscode, for viewing a symbol definition. But jumping into the file, and tapping back on my mouse has replaced them just fine.
- Swift concurrency. Really a big improvement over the completion handler pattern, especially after returning from using typescript.
I know many developers do not care for Xcode, but I really like it. Perhaps I may be biased, I have used it for my entire career, aside from the last few years. Some might even suggest that I’m suffering of stockholm syndrome, and that Apple has trapped me in their own little network of tools. But I’m okay with that, and happy to have returned.