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Enrico Detoma
Enrico Detoma

Reputation: 3179

Qt Creator vs Xcode for Qt development on the Mac

I'm about to start a Qt project on the Mac and I'm not sure which IDE to choose between:

Which are the advantages/disadvantages of these two IDEs for Qt development on the Mac?

Upvotes: 9

Views: 11153

Answers (4)

trojanfoe
trojanfoe

Reputation: 122381

You also need to consider eclipse. I have spent the last week using Qt Creator and being a long-time eclipse user (for both Java and C++) I find it inferior. Once (if) Xcode 4 support is added to Qt, this might change, but at the moment my vote goes with eclipse even without the 'Qt Integration' available (i.e. just using the 'C++ Makefile project with existing sources').

Upvotes: 0

David Huang
David Huang

Reputation: 31

Both options have issues. Qt Creator has problems with projects that have complicated project hierarchies (complicated in terms of folder structure.)

With Xcode, there are issues if you want to have some objective-c source in your project and if you want to be able to step into Qt source while debugging.

Most of my development is done on the Mac using Xcode and BBEdit. I switch over to Developer Studio on Windows for testing or if I need to be able to step into Qt while debugging.

Given the amount of time we all spend working working in these environments, you should try both and use what suits you best.

Upvotes: 2

Stephen Chu
Stephen Chu

Reputation: 12832

Qt Creator has much better integration with Qt in code editing, UI designing, and debugging. And it's the same across platform.

My issue with Creator on the Mac is it's debugging facility is not on a par with other platform. The python script-able debugger is not as functioning as, say Windows version of Creator. This is not Qt/Nokia's fault since the gcc/gdb on Mac are versions behind. Apple switched its focus to LLVM and left gcc tool chain, eh, to its natural death on the platform.

I actually do much of my developing on a Windows VM. Only switch to Mac for building and debugging something that's only Mac-specific.

Upvotes: 7

Patrice Bernassola
Patrice Bernassola

Reputation: 14416

Personally I'm using QtCreator in order to have the same on all platforms. The main advantage I give to it is that it have been developed for Qt.

The main advantage I give to XCode is its integration to MacOSX.

Now for you it depends:

  • If you always use XCode, You should continue using it for Qt to keep your marks
  • If you always use QtCreator, you should continue using it
  • If you start developing on MacOSX (or you've never used XCode) you should use QtCreator

Then my advice is: use the IDE you prefer to use

Upvotes: 13

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