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SubEthaEdit and Objective-C

Posted by dom Mon, 20 Mar 2006 09:30:00 GMT

Obviously when coding, we prefer SubEthaEdit over the Xcode internal editor. There is collaboration, of course, you don't get that in Xcode. But there is more. For example, take these two examples of Syntax Highlighting:

Xcode:

#import "NSNetServiceTCMAdditions.h"
#import "NSStringTCMAdditions.h"

@implementation NSNetService (NSNetServiceTCMAdditions)
- (NSArray *)TXTRecordArray {
    if ([self respondsToSelector:@selector(TXTRecordData)]) {
        NSMutableArray *result   =[NSMutableArray array];
        NSData         *TXTRecord=[self TXTRecordData];
        DEBUGLOG(@"RendezvousLogDomain", AllLogLevel,@"%@ - Data: %@",
                 [[[NSString alloc] 
                    initWithData:TXTRecord 
                    encoding:NSMacOSRomanStringEncoding] autorelease],
                 TXTRecord);
                 
        unsigned char *bytes=(unsigned char *)[TXTRecord bytes];
        unsigned char *bytesEnd=bytes + [TXTRecord length];
        while (bytes<bytesEnd) {
            unsigned char length=*bytes++;
            if (bytes+length > bytesEnd) {
                length = bytesEnd-bytes;
            }
            if (length>0) {
                NSString *string=[[NSString alloc] 
                                    initWithBytes:bytes 
                                           length:(unsigned int)length 
                                         encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
                if (string) {
                    [result addObject:string];
                    [string release];
                }
            }
            bytes+=length;
        }
        DEBUGLOG(@"RendezvousLogDomain", AllLogLevel,@"Array: %@",result);
        return result;
    } else {
        return [[self protocolSpecificInformation] 
                   componentsSeparatedByString:@"\001"];
    }
}
@end

SubEthaEdit:

#import "NSStringTCMAdditions.h"

@implementation NSNetService (NSNetServiceTCMAdditions)
- (NSArray *)TXTRecordArray {
    if ([self respondsToSelector:@selector(TXTRecordData)]) {
        NSMutableArray *result   =[NSMutableArray array];
        NSData         *TXTRecord=[self TXTRecordData];
        DEBUGLOG(@"RendezvousLogDomain", AllLogLevel,@"%@ - Data: %@",
                 [[[NSString alloc] 
                    initWithData:TXTRecord 
                    encoding:NSMacOSRomanStringEncoding] autorelease],
                 TXTRecord);
                 
        unsigned char *bytes=(unsigned char *)[TXTRecord bytes];
        unsigned char *bytesEnd=bytes + [TXTRecord length];
        while (bytes<bytesEnd) {
            unsigned char length=*bytes++;
            if (bytes+length > bytesEnd) {
                length = bytesEnd-bytes;
            }
            if (length>0) {
                NSString *string=[[NSString alloc] 
                                    initWithBytes:bytes 
                                           length:(unsigned int)length 
                                         encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
                if (string) {
                    [result addObject:string];
                    [string release];
                }
            }
            bytes+=length;
        }
        DEBUGLOG(@"RendezvousLogDomain", AllLogLevel,@"Array: %@",result);
        return result;
    } else {
        return [[self protocolSpecificInformation] 
                   componentsSeparatedByString:@"\001"];
    }
}
@end

So what are the differences and why do we like SubEthaEdit better?

• Cococa Class and Constant recognition
  NSString instead of NSString
  NSUTF8StringEncoding instead of NSUTF8StringEncoding
  This way you get instant validation if the things you wrote exist, or you put in a typo.
• Selector highlighting
  

  NSString *string=[[NSString alloc] 
                      initWithBytes:bytes 
                             length:(unsigned int)length 
                           encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
  

  instead of

  NSString *string=[[NSString alloc] 
                      initWithBytes:bytes 
                             length:(unsigned int)length 
                           encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
  

  We can't live without that.
• Memory Management
  All the retain count affecting methods (new, alloc, allocWithZone, copy, copyWithZone, mutableCopy, mutableCopyWithZone, retain, release, autorelease) are colored in a bold dark red so you can see instantly if a pair is missing. We are glad to be leak free in SubEthaEdit and this is one of the reasons. Memory management in Cocoa isn't hard, but you have to be thorough - and this helps a lot.

These three things really make all the difference in the world to us. What do you think?