Is it possible to program iPhone in C++

Question

I'm all for language diversity, but Objective C is insane. So I'm curious: is it possible to code iPhone apps with C++ while using the Cocoa API, etc?

Answer 1

Short answer, yes, sort of. You can use Objective-C++, which you can read about at Apple Developer Connection.

If you know C++ already, learning Objective-C would be pretty simple, if you decided to give that a try. More info on that topic is at the ADC as well.

Answer 2

Although Objective-C does indeed appear to be "insane" initially, I encourage you to stick with it. Once you have an "a-ha" moment, suddenly it all starts to make sense. For me it took about 2 weeks of focused Objective-C concentration to really understand the Cocoa frameworks, the language, and how it all fits together. But once I really "got" it, it was very very exciting.

It sounds cliché, but it's true. Stick it out.

Of course, if you're bringing in C++ libraries or existing C++ code, you can use those modules with Objective-C/Objective-C++.

Answer 3

First off, saying Objective-C is "insane" is humorous- I have the Bjarne Stroustrup C++ book sitting by my side which clocks in at 1020 pages. Apple's PDF on Objective-C is 141.

If you want to use UIKit it will be very, very difficult for you to do anything in C++. Any serious iPhone app that conforms to Apple's UI will need it's UI portions to be written in Objective-C. Only if you're writing an OpenGL game can you stick almost entirely to C/C++.

Answer 4

I use Objective-C to slap the UI together.
But the hard guts of the code is still written in C++.

That is the main purpose of Objective-C the UI interface and handling the events.
And it works great for that purpose.

I still like C++ as the backend for the code though (but that's mainly becuase I like C++) you could quite easily use Objective-C for the backend of the application as well.

Answer 5

Having some experience of this, you can indeed use C++ code for your "core" code, but you have to use objective-C for anything iPhone specific.

Don't try to force Objective-C to act like C++. At first it will seem to you this is possible, but the resulting code really won't work well with Cocoa, and you will get very confused as to what is going on. Take the time to learn properly, without any C++ around, how to build GUIs and iPhone applications, then link in your C++ base.

Answer 6

I have a C library code that I want to use with an iPhone app I am developing. The C library works fine with the iPhone simulator as they both are buit for Intel arch but as I try to compile code for iPhone, it gives undefined reerences for the C library functions. How could I compile the C library code for iPhone arch i.e. arm. The library use Make for compilation and Xcode stuff is different which i am having a hard time understanding. Any approaches to suggest..?? I am thinking of using the iPhone toolchain to build the C code manually through command-line. But, what I need to specify with "./configure" is the real issue..

Any help.

Thanks, John

Answer 7

I'm currently writing an Objective-C++ framework called Objective-X, wich makes PURE C++ iPHONE PROGRAMMING possible. You can do like this:

#import "ObjectiveX.h"

void GUIApplicationMain() {    
    GUIAlert Alert;
    GUILabel Label;
    GUIScreen MainScreen;

    Alert.set_text(@"Just a lovely alert box!");
    Alert.set_title(@"Hello!");
    Alert.set_button(@"Okay");
    Alert.show();

    Label.set_text(@"Ciao!");
    Label.set_position(100, 200, 120, 40);

    MainScreen.init();
    MainScreen.addGUIControl(Label.init());    
}

and compile it using GCC's appropriate commandline options. I've already compiled this helloworld app&it w0rkX0rz like a charm. ;-) It'll available soon on GoogleCode. Search for Objective-X or visit http://infotronix.orgfree.com/objectivex approx. a week later!

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