How To Start Xcode4 Opengl Project For Mac

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Using xCode in Mac OS X for C Programming Writing and Running C Programs in the Mac OS X 10.4 Environment using xCode JL Popyack January 2005 Sophisticated students with refined palates may find themselves using Apple Macintoshes, and wish to compile and run C programs on their machines. Because Microsoft's Visual Studio only runs in the Windows environment, however, it is impossible to use Visual C directly on a Macintosh. We should point out that by installing VirtualPC, a Macintosh user may create a Windows simulator on their machine and thereby run Microsoft Visual C.

  1. How To Start Xcode 4 Opengl Project For Mac Pro

However, VirtualPC is quite memory intensive, and since it requires both an installation of Windows XP and Visual Studio, the user may find that extra memory is required and execution speed is still too slow to make this a viable solution. Fortunately, there are other possibilities for a Macintosh user who wants to compile and execute programs in ANSI Standard C. First of all, OS X is written with a UNIX BSD kernel, which means that the C language is an integral part of the operating system, and C programs may be run from the Terminal window using the cc C compiler. Likewise, C programs may be run using the CC compiler. Furthermore, the GNU compilers are included with the UNIX installation, so that the gcc and g compilers are available for compiling C and C programs, respectively. Follow this link for.

Note that none of the aforementioned compilers provides a graphical user interface (GUI) however, nor do they provide an integrated enviroment in which programs can be compiled, linked, and executed. Apple has come to the rescue by providing the xCode environment in OS X 10.3 (and the Project Builder environment in previous versions of OS X). The xCode environment provides a graphical user interface for the gcc compiler and the UNIX execution shell, which means:. xCode provides a GUI editor (similar to the program editor in Visual Studio). xCode provides an interface that includes a project into which program files are loaded. xCode allows the user to compile a program and displays any error messages generated.

xCode allows the user to run a program and provides an output window with the results. The directions below describe how to create, edit, compile, and run a C program in the xCode environment. Since xCode was derived from Project Builder, the directions for using Project Builder are very similar. Open xCode by finding it in the Applications window on your Macintosh. Your first duty will be to create a new project. Do this by choosing 'New Project' from the 'File' menu! An 'Assistant' window should open that allows you to create the project (see below).

You should select 'Tools - C Tool' to create the project. Next, you need to create a project.

In our example below, we have given it the name 'myProject'. Fujitsu mhv2080at drivers for mac. The default path '/myProject/' appears. You can change this, but it makes sense to use the default. In the 'myProject' window, you will see that a program named 'main.cpp' has been created and installed in the project by default. (Sometimes these wizards are a little too helpful, if you know what I mean.) This program almost certainly does not do what you want it to do, but it is a fully-functioning C program. This means you can compile and run it right now.

Project

Go ahead, if you must. We'll wait for you to get it out of your system. When you are ready to get down to business, you should select File-Save As.

And give this file another name. In our example, that name is 'myProgram.cpp'. We can actually think of much more clever names, but are resisting the impulse. Notice that after saving the program with a new name, the new program is installed in your project, and 'main.cpp' is pretty much forgotten. This stands in contrast to Microsoft Visual C, which keeps main.cpp in your program even after you decided to get rid of it. How about editing myProgram.cpp so that it contains a working C program.

We know you will find the urge to write a 'Hello, World!' Program irresistible. A variant appears in the example below. Notice the icons in the toolbar that say 'Build', and 'Build and Go'. The simplicity of this interface makes one wonder what all the other compiler designers are thinking. In case it is not obvious, clicking the 'Build' icon will build the project - that is, it will compile the program file(s) and link the code for any other included libraries, producing an executable ('double-clickable') file. Clicking the 'Build and Go' icon will not only build the project, but run the program!

Notice that in the window that appears, you also have access to various debugging tools. These are fairly self-explanatory.

How To Start Xcode4 Opengl Project For Mac

In the figure shown below, the sample program has been executed, the user has entered data when prompted, and output has been produced. The output can be saved in a file by selecting 'Save' from the 'File' menu. In summary, the xCode environment provides an integrated development environment for Macintosh programmers that is intuitive to use and makes use of the acclaimed GNU compilers. Who could ask for more?

Important OpenGL was deprecated in macOS 10.14. To create high-performance code on GPUs, use the Metal framework instead. OpenGL is an open, cross-platform graphics standard with broad industry support. OpenGL greatly eases the task of writing real-time 2D or 3D graphics applications by providing a mature, well-documented graphics processing pipeline that supports the abstraction of current and future hardware accelerators.

At a Glance OpenGL is an excellent choice for graphics development on the Macintosh platform because it offers the following advantages:. Reliable Implementation. The OpenGL client-server model abstracts hardware details and guarantees consistent presentation on any compliant hardware and software configuration. Every implementation of OpenGL adheres to the OpenGL specification and must pass a set of conformance tests. Performance. Applications can harness the considerable power of the graphics hardware to improve rendering speeds and quality.

Industry acceptance. The specification for OpenGL is controlled by the Khronos Group, an industry consortium whose members include many of the major companies in the computer graphics industry, including Apple.

How to start xcode 4 opengl project for mac mac

In addition to OpenGL for OS X, there are OpenGL implementations for Windows, Linux, Irix, Solaris, and many game consoles. OpenGL Is a C-based, Platform-Neutral API Because OpenGL is a C-based API, it is extremely portable and widely supported.

As a C API, it integrates seamlessly with Objective-C based Cocoa applications. OpenGL provides functions your application uses to generate 2D or 3D images.

Your application presents the rendered images to the screen or copies them back to its own memory. The OpenGL specification does not provide a windowing layer of its own. It relies on functions defined by OS X to integrate OpenGL drawing with the windowing system. Your application creates an OS X OpenGL rendering context and attaches a rendering target to it (known as a drawable object). The rendering context manages OpenGL state changes and objects created by calls to the OpenGL API.

The drawable object is the final destination for OpenGL drawing commands and is typically associated with a Cocoa window or view. Relevant Chapters:, and OpenGL on Macs Exists in a Heterogenous Environment Macs support different types of graphics processors, each with different rendering capabilities, supporting versions of OpenGL from 1.x through OpenGL 3.2. When creating a rendering context, your application can accept a broad range of renderers or it can restrict itself to devices with specific capabilities. Once you have a context, you can configure how that context executes OpenGL commands. OpenGL on the Mac is not only a heterogenous environment, but it is also a dynamic environment. Users can add or remove displays, or take a laptop running on battery power and plug it into a wall.

When the graphics environment on the Mac changes, the renderer associated with the context may change. Your application must handle these changes and adjust how it uses OpenGL. Relevant Chapters:, and OpenGL Helps Applications Harness the Power of Graphics Processors Graphics processors are massively parallelized devices optimized for graphics operations. To access that computing power adds additional overhead because data must move from your application to the GPU over slower internal buses. Accessing the same data simultaneously from both your application and OpenGL is usually restricted. To get great performance in your application, you must carefully design your application to feed data and commands to OpenGL so that the graphics hardware runs in parallel with your application.

How To Start Xcode 4 Opengl Project For Mac Pro

A poorly tuned application may stall either on the CPU or the GPU waiting for the other to finish processing. When you are ready to optimize your application’s performance, Apple provides both general-purpose and OpenGL-specific profiling tools that make it easy to learn where your application spends its time. Relevant Chapters:, and Concurrency in OpenGL Applications Requires Additional Effort Many Macs ship with multiple processors or multiple cores, and future hardware is expected to add more of each.

Designing applications to take advantage of multiprocessing is critical. OpenGL places additional restrictions on multithreaded applications. If you intend to add concurrency to an OpenGL application, you must ensure that the application does not access the same context from two different threads at the same time. Relevant Chapters: Performance Tuning Allows Your Application to Provide an Exceptional User Experience Once you’ve improved the performance of your OpenGL application and taken advantage of concurrency, put some of the freed processing power to work for you. Higher resolution textures, detailed models, and more complex lighting and shading algorithms can improve image quality.

Full-scene antialiasing on modern graphics hardware can eliminate many of the “jaggies” common on lower resolution images. Relevant Chapters:, How to Use This Document If you have never programmed in OpenGL on the Mac, you should read this book in its entirety, starting with. Critical Mac terminology is defined in that chapter as well as in the. If you already have an OpenGL application running on the Mac, but have not yet updated it for OS X v10.7, read to learn how to choose an OpenGL profile for your application. To find out how to update an existing OpenGL app for high resolution, see. Once you have OpenGL content in your application, read to learn fundamental patterns for implementing high-performance OpenGL applications, and the chapters that follow to learn how to apply those patterns to specific OpenGL problems. Important: Although this guide describes how to create rendering contexts that support OpenGL 3.2, most code examples and discussion in the rest of the book describe the earlier legacy versions of OpenGL.

See for more information on migrating your application to OpenGL 3.2. Prerequisites This guide assumes that you have some experience with OpenGL programming, but want to learn how to apply that knowledge to create software for the Mac.

Although this guide provides advice on optimizing OpenGL code, it does not provide entry-level information on how to use the OpenGL API. If you are unfamiliar with OpenGL, you should read to get an overview of OpenGL on the Mac platform, and then read the following OpenGL programming guide and reference documents:., by Dave Shreiner and the Khronos OpenGL Working Group; otherwise known as 'The Red book.”. OpenGL Shading Language, by Randi J. Rost, is an excellent guide for those who want to write programs that compute surface properties (also known as shaders). Before reading this document, you should be familiar with Cocoa windows and views as introduced in.

See Also Keep these reference documents handy as you develop your OpenGL program for OS X:., and provide a complete description of the classes and methods needed to integrate OpenGL content into a Cocoa application. CGL Reference describes low-level functions that can be used to create full-screen OpenGL applications. OpenGL Extensions Guide provides information about OpenGL extensions supported in OS X. The OpenGL Foundation website, provides information on OpenGL commands, the Khronos OpenGL Working Group, logo requirements, OpenGL news, and many other topics.

It's a site that you'll want to visit regularly. Among the many resources it provides, the following are important reference documents for OpenGL developers:. OpenGL Specification provides detailed information on how an OpenGL implementation is expected to handle each OpenGL command. OpenGL Reference describes the main OpenGL library. OpenGL GLU Reference describes the OpenGL Utility Library, which contains convenience functions implemented on top of the OpenGL API. OpenGL GLUT Reference describes the OpenGL Utility Toolkit, a cross-platform windowing API.

provides code examples for fundamental tasks, such as modeling and texture mapping, as well as for advanced techniques, such as high dynamic range rendering (HDRR).