JetBrains AppCode: an Objective-C IDE That Makes a Difference

I really, really love Jetbrains. Even though I'm not an iOS developer, it's still nice to see that they are working to add their own flavor to the mix with other languages.<p>I wish so much that they would create a Visual Studio replacement. I'm primarily a Ruby/PHP developer and use their PhpStorm and RubyMine products constantly, but whenever I am stuck doing something in .net and have to open up Visual Studio, I just get a gross vibe from the entire experience... And this is with Resharper installed as well!<p>I see Visual Studio get a lot of support on HN, so maybe I am just weird, but I've never enjoyed using Visual Studio as a whole.

I love JetBrains products. These guys are awesome. I don't write Apple Code (iOS or Mac OS), but I'm sure it is really cool.<p>They built my favorite Java IDE, IntelliJ.

I might be missing something, but was are the advantages of this over using Xcode?<p>I'm all for options, and $50 to $150 usd is not prohibitive for an IDE, but since Xcode is free and directly from Apple, there must be some really good features for me to switch IDEs.

The one feature I'd love from any tool with iOS development would be something that automates and facilitates certificate and profile creation and handling. Right now it seems I make a single mistake along the way and everything is messed up.

I'm a longtime Jetbrains fan (ReSharper and TeamCity).<p>I looked into AppCode a bit earlier when it was still rough. Getting tight integration is the key for me. Refactorings would be nice (XCode has Rename already), but really what I want are snippets, or something to take some of the drudge code away.<p>For instance, to add a property I have to add 4 lines of code in 4 different places. This should be one action (which can be overrided later).<p>Also, code navigation. This was terrible in XCode 3, better in 4, but nowhere near ReSharper or IntelliJ.

Definitely worth checking out. Having refactoring support and non-broken SVN integration might be worth switching alone.

A Mac-exclusive app not being Cocoa is perverse.

I find it interesting that so many folks whine about how an application looks instead of how much it helps you do your job. AppCode doesn't tout itself as a beautiful Mac application. It's written by developers for developers. We have a saying at my office: 'If you can't code, it's likely that you care about pixel perfection.' I care about getting stuff done. I don't care about how pretty my application is when I'm getting the job done. I like things that increase my velocity (in my case over 50%). I feel like Xcode just gets in the way many times. Simple things like not being able to have the cursor in the middle of a line and be able to simply add a line under the current line (vi lovers: think 'o' from the middle of a line). In Xcode you have to go to the end of the line and hit enter. That is one trivial example of a time saver that AppCode offers. (There are MANY).<p>Instead of whining about pixel perfection, try taking a look at the things it does and the audience it targets. You probably don't code enough to actually have an opinion that matters much anyway.

Does it have vi plugin?

let's see if this can beat Apple at its own backyard