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Technical Q&As
A full suite of free developer tools is available to Mac OS X developers, who can speed up their development process by using these tools to prototype, compile, debug, and optimize their software products. Xcode, Apple's integrated development environment, can be used with Cocoa, Carbon, or Java. Apple also provides a wide selection of open-source tools, such as GCC, which is used to compile in Mach-O, the native runtime environment of Mac OS X.

Tools Resources
A guided introduction and learning path for developers new to Mac OS X developer tools.   Essential information for developers using the Xcode software development tool set.   Descriptions of low-level system libraries that are typically included with a compiler to support a specific programming language.
Tools Topics
View the complete Tools Technical Q&As List.
Open-source and Apple-specific tools for code generation and debugging.   Open source developer tools, including GCC and GDB.   Tools and techniques for packaging software in bundles, installing software, and obtaining dynamic configuration information in Mac OS X.

Tools for measuring and evaluating code performance.   A mechanism for performing operations and controlling applications or other software using statements written in simple, flexible languages such as AppleScript or JavaScript.   Tools and techniques for source-code maintenance and versioning. Xcode currently supports CVS and Perforce.

Apple's IDE for creating Mac OS X software, integrating many Apple and open-source tools to develop applications, libraries, plug-ins, and more.    

View legacy technologies, including technologies, features, products, APIs, and programming techniques that are no longer supported or have been superseded.