Review: Becoming Productive in Xcode Screencasts

Making good use of Xcode has become a popular topic. We published 14 Essential Xcode Tips, Tricks and Resources for iPhone Devs a month ago and it’s still our most popular post.

When Mike Clark from the Pragmatic Programmers asked us to review his new Becoming Productive in Xcode screencast series, I mistakenly figured that — given the time I’d spent preparing our piece — there’d be little new to learn. There’s a lot to learn from these screencasts; read on for details:

Episode 1: Essential Shortcuts

Whenever I learn a new editor, I stumble along using little more than basic text editing skills and a few advanced tasks whose keystrokes I’ve somehow memorized. Eventually I find myself working with someone who has really mastered the editor and, in no time at all, modeling their usage, I’m a power-user. Mike’s first episode, “Essential Shortcuts”, makes a great power-user stand-in.

In 37 tight minutes, Mike models all of the navigation, workspace and editing tasks and shortcuts that you’ll use every day in Xcode. The screencast flows well, and includes useful not-obvious bits about virtual folders, smart groups, and advanced filtering using the search bar with the details view. The keyboard-shortcut inclined will learn to use the mouse less, and the organizationally obsessed will learn how to group, bookmark, fold and skip right to the precise bit of code they’re looking for.

The screencast does a good job demonstrating the features that make Xcode a true IDE, and not just an editor, such as refactoring support, navigating object hierarchies, code completion and framework awareness.

You won’t use some of what he demonstrates on a daily basis, but knowing that you can do something means that, when you need it, you’ll be able to figure it out.

Episode 2: Power Moves

The second episode covers text macros (text fragments that expand into functions, control structures and other common text blocks), user scripts (external code that processes file text or automates tasks), templates (for projects and files), and building.

The sections cover each of the topics thoroughly. However, with the text macro section as the exception, this episode describes topics that I don’t use day-in and day-out.

I found the build-section interesting, particularly when Mike explains build-phases, but treating the build as opaque has worked for me so far. For whatever reasons, I just haven’t found the need for user scripts or custom templates.

It might very well be that, as a single-developer, these don’t apply to me; they might be useful for a larger team.

Summary

If the first hour you spend in Xcode is spent alongside Mike’s “Essential Shortcuts” it’ll be time well spent. It’s be the fastest way to get up to speed and, at $5USD, it’s a bargain. Hold off on the second episode until you need custom macros or templates, user scripts, or tweaks to the your build process.