Tell Xcode 4 to Put Its Junk Elsewhere!

With Xcode 4 being distributed through the Mac App Store, the process was streamlined to make it easier to install. In my opinion it is way more annoying. Xcode just puts itself in the root directory without telling you it will be there. If you know it will be there from prior Xcode installations, then you know how big the files are. A total of almost 7 GBs of data are put there. With my SSD, I can't have 7 GBs of information sitting there, it is just too big. So how can you tell Xcode where to put its stuff? Remember when I said Apple stream lined the process to make it easier? Well, what they really did was sugar coat the installer. If you go to the Xcode installer file, right click on it, and click "Show Package Contents" you will see what is inside. What we want to open is the "Xcode.mpkg". This file is located in Contents -> Resources. If you run this installer it will walk you through installing Xcode like any other installer. Plus, when you get to the part where you are asked about installing the Xcode files, you can use the drop down menu to choose where to install the Developer Tools. See image below:

After that, proceed as usual with installing Xcode!

~Dave

PS: Lack of updates was due to preparation for the hurricane.

Xcode and Moving Files

Yesterday I noticed that Xcode was not recognized as "Installed" on my Hackintosh due to the fact that I had moved it to another drive. So, as I should have done originally, I created a Symbolic Link. However, it still was showing up as "Installed" in the Mac App Store. Then I remembered that my version was outdated, so what I did was I re-downloaded the installer and ran it. I was overjoyed to see that the installer recognized the symbolic link, and immediately went and updated the files. I then deleted the installer and checked the Mac App Store. To my surprise, it was recognized as "Installed"! Hopefully I have no issues down the line, but as of now this is great since I didn't want to keep a 10 GB developer kit on my SSD.

~Dave

Weekend Plans

The weekend is here and I have some things which I plan on learning. As part of my goal to learn code, I have invested in Xcode 4. For only $5, I get the entire Mac and iPhone SDK to use. Now, I by no means know how to use Xcode,but I will learn. I happen to find a great tutorial which teaches how to program using Objective-C. The tutorial is actually very straight forward. The reason I have found it easier to understand is because of what iProgrammingclub.com has taught me. My limited knowledge of python has allowed me to understand Objective-C better. Plus, as long as I take time to try each of the snippets of code, I will understand it better. Hands on always helps when learning a new language. Reading gets you no where.

My plan for this weekend is to learn as much about Objective-C as possible. I will, in the future, apply my knowledge of what I have learned to create something. I say something because I am not exactly sure what I want to create yet. So far I have only worked with code which I can execute in Terminal, meaning there is no user interface yet. I guess that is something which I will learn later on. Much of what I am learning now, although it is only numbers and some other functions, will help me later on. Each small snippet can help make a great program what it is. This is my plan for the weekend, what is yours?

~Dave