Review: CodeWarrior 9 for Mac OS

For years, weve thought of this product as combining Java and C/C++ tools in a unified setting. With Version 9, "Java support is receiving very strong consideration" as a possible future addition to the product, company officials told us, but the package that we received for review is for developers using C/C++ and Objective-C only.

The product is priced at $399 for Mac OS X development or $499 with the option of x86 code generation. "Classic Mac" support is a $100 add-on to either package.

The omission of Java aside, Version 9 will not disappoint productivity-oriented developers who want to make the most of Apples platform or who want to work in the cosmetically enhanced Unix environment of Mac OS X—with all the positive associations that Unix has for hard-core coders—while still grinding bits for deployment on x86.

CodeWarriors editing tools have extended their code completion aids to cover all three of the supported languages, and search facilities now provide new options such as looking only inside or outside comment blocks for targeted text strings.

With Apple now including a more-than-adequate set of its own development tools in the Version 10.3 "Panther" release of Mac OS X, Metrowerks is challenged to retain its favored position among Mac and multiplatform developers. The high technical quality and productivity of CodeWarrior are still strong points, but it remains to be seen if they will be enough to compete against whats now free.

Technology Editor Peter Coffee can be reached at peter_coffee@ziffdavis.com.