MPPB - Tools

By its very name this project specifies its toolset: Power Plant (PP), a C++ framework provided by Metrowerks as part of the CodeWarrior (CW) Product and some of its provided supporting tools.

We will work with students who have CW as far back as version 5 (that's when MY subscription started), but there may be a delay in answering questions that are specific to any but the version that i happen to be usig at the time. When the other mentors and i don't happen to be using a the version of an application that someone is having a 'version-specific' problem with, help from students who are using that version will be particularly welcome! I am making an effort to keep the course generic enough that students will be able to use whichever version they have access to (and are using with an appropriate license!). We'll use the following tools in this exercise:

CodeWarrior IDE 2.1
MWDebug 1.7.4
Constructor 2.4.4a1
MW Profiler v1.6.6
MW ZoneRanger 1.9.2
ResEdit 2.1.3
Resorcerer 2.0

The CodeWarrior IDE (Integrated Development Environment) provides a text editor, C and C++ compilers, a full set of libraries, and a linker. You can plug in 3rd party substitutes for any of them, and the IDE also supports the use of third party source control systems and other add-ons, but we will limit the toolset for this exercise to the standard IDE and its related support tools. Participants are also welcome to ask about the use of non-stock tools, but in most cases they will then be depending on participants other than myself to provide answers. All questions that relate to using the stock IDE or any common add-ons (etc.) to build the participant's MPPB project are on topic for the Dev-Projects mailing list.

MWDebug. The best thing i can say about this tool is that, because of it, i have never had to use MacsBug to debug a program. The provided debugger allows you to singles step through code and investigate the state of your variables as the program executes. All questions that relate to using MWDebug to debug or otherwise examine the participant's MPPB project are on topic for the Dev-Projects mailing list.

Constructor. Power Plant uses a specific resource type (PPob) build the program interface. I've tried to use a conventional resource editor to create PPob files and i don't recommend it to anyone. MW provides Constructor to facilitate building PPob files, and having used ti to build literally hundreds fo interface files i can say it makes the job MUCh easier. All questions that relate to using Constructor to create the user interface for the participant's MPPB project are on topic for the Dev-Projects mailing list.

Profiler. I have not used this tool extensively, as speed has not been an issue in my previous effort, but i expect to use it more in the near future. We will discuss its use in the later phases of the exercise. All questions that relate to using Profiler to analyze and/or performance tune the participant's MPPB project will be on topic for the Dev-Projects mailing list when i specify that we have reached that phase of the exercise.

ZoneRanger. This tool helps the developer monitor the allocation and disposition of memory. We will discuss its use in the later phases of the exercise. All questions that relate to using ZoneRanger to analyze and/or performance tune the participant's MPPB project will be on topic for the Dev-Projects mailing list when i specify that we have reached that phase of the exercise.

ResEdit. This is Apple's official resource editor and a copy of it is included on your CodeWarrior CD. ResEdit has been through a number of revisions since it's initial release, and it is a mature and very useful product for even the casual Mac OS developer. Although there are alternate tools that may be used to create and edit resources, the use of a versatile, GUI-based, WYSIWYG-type editor is in keeping with the "Mac way" and its use does significantly simplify the process of creating and editing the resources that must be defined as part of building a Mac OS application. Questions on the use of ResEdit in the creation of the participant's MPPB project are on topic for the Dev-Projects mailing list.

Resorcerer 2.0. This is a commercial developer's tool that i happen to use in place of ResEdit. It's a better product for my use for a number of reasons, but its not exactly cheap and is not a mandatory item for the casual developer. The official resource editor for the MPPB exercise will be ResEdit, since that's freely available to the participants, but unofficially i'll actually be using Resorcerer to do my work and will answer questions about its use on the class discussion list for anyone else that uses it. DISCLAIMER: I'm not associated with this product.

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