This blog has moved.

In an effort to keep my web presence in one spot, this blog has moved to my primary website: http://joris.kluivers.nl/

Zip.framework version 0.1

Today I released my first version of Zip.framework. The framework aims at providing functionality to work with archives directly in Objective-c. A small example:

ZipArchive *zip = [[ZipArchive alloc] initWithFile:@"/path/to/archive.zip"];
FILE *file = [zip entryNamed:@"some/file.txt"];
// do some reading on file

So no need to extract to intermediate files using command line tools or any sign of NSTask anymore. This first version only supports reading, writing to zip files is planned for future versions.

The framework is available as binary or source version. To get the complete Xcode project use svn checkout http://zip-framework.googlecode.com/svn/tags/version-0.1 zip-framework.

Code is released under the (new)BSD license.

Leopard Developer features

Matt Legend Gemmell posted a fairly long overview of all Leopard developer improvements. Since I didn't receive my Leopard DVD yet and Apple still needs some time to post new documentation this is what I waited for!

API improvements I find interesting:

• The Automator framework to run automator workflows from within my own applications
• Core Data and Sync Services now work together which makes syncing data stored in Core Data much easier
• Source lists and rule editors

It looks like Apple finally opened up a lot of API's they were using all along in Tiger which we now can use too. With Leopard it looks like OS X matured a long way for developers with way better API's. All improvements let developers create applications that look much more like the Apple applications (think iLife and SafarI) while in Tiger we had to create all Apple like features (think HUD windows) ourselves. We are now even officially allowed to use some Images that are used everywhere in applications by Apple (like the gear icon in almost every preference window).

Leopard Developer information

Almost two full days since Leopard was released. Loads of first impressions, screenshot galleries and even vista comparisons have been published. What's lacking is developer feedback and publications. No new API's have been published by Apple yet. The developer.apple.com website is actually offline at the moment. I also expected developers with Leopard beta access to publish their experiences from the past few months. The NDA for the Leopard Beta can be ignored now right, since the OS is released?

I expect my Leopard DVD to arrive in a few days, but in the mean time I would like to browse through the final version of frameworks like the RSS.framework for example (which was demonstrated to me at WWDC 2006). Guess Apple needs a few days to publish all the documentation so even Student developers can study the new Leopard features and API's.

Student developer membership

Today I renewed my Apple Student Developer membership! After not developing for the mac for a while and with Leopard being launched in 1.5 hours I thought it was time for a new membership. I've got loads of ideas for applications so expect more regular posts on this website soon.

Starting Cocoa programming: The books

Another article to learn how to start Cocoa programming: MacApper lists the books you might find usefull.

Start Cocoa programming

Found a nice article on how to start Cocoa programming. Wish I had this a few years back!