What is missing in Objective-C that you don't want to program with it

Question

Now that Apple relaxed the restrictions on developer tools/programs, I wonder what tempts developers to other languages than Apple offers by default, Objective-C, which is quite fun to program with. What missing feautures makes you not to program with it but something else?

Answer 1

Lack of Objective-C expertise or a large/complex code base in another language would be among common reasons.

Cross-platform coding might well be another.

Answer 2

Testing some concepts in Objective-C can sometimes be kind of tedious to set up. Sometimes you just want to see how a single method works or play around with an object's functionality to see how it works.

Setting up a new project is somewhat tedious, and it's not always feasible to incorporate the test code in to a new project.

In this case, I do one of two things:

1. Keep an empty project around specifically for testing things
2. Drop down to the Terminal and use irb (or PyObjC) to play with the objects in Ruby or Python.

In a nutshell, the thing that's missing is the ability to use Objective-C in an interpreted manner. You have to use another language (like Ruby or Python) to do this.

Answer 3

I haven't done any iPhone development yet, but generally speaking, here's a few reasons:

• Cross-platform development
• The other language suits your coding style better
• The other language is a better tool for the job
• You are comfortable in the other language and don't have the time / budget / motivation to learn Objective-C
• Existing libraries / codebase
• Specific tools you might want to use

Answer 4

I recently wrote some networking code in Python, then had to translate it into Objective-C for use on the iPad. A typical line of clear Python would become five or ten lines of busy-work C. I just work faster in higher-level lanugages; the language puts up less resistance, requires fewer forms to be filled out.

Answer 5

I have ported a couple of tiny language interpreters (for my own use, not for App store distribution) to the iPhone. This allows me to write short snippets of code on the road, without having to carry my Mac, and run them locally. I don't know of any small Objective C interpreters, and the language is not really designed for interactive use.