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Apple, GCC, & Two-Finger Scrolling

iPod nano & MacBook by FHKE

When I was first learning about the new Macbooks and deciding if I wanted to buy one, I went to the Apple store to ask some questions. This was my first time talking to an Apple sales rep so I had no idea how advanced they were. Being a programmer, as I’m sure many Mac users are, I asked the Apple rep if Mac OS X came with GCC. I knew right then, by the deer-in-headlights look on his face, that he had reached upper bound of his Mac OS X knowledge. Like a true salesman, though, he recovered gracefully by enthusiastically demonstrating the two-finger scroll, like some kind of replacement for GCC. Needless to say, I now have a Macbook… and it runs Linux.

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  • why linux just keep os X leopard on it. works fantastic :D
  • Lack of package management for one.
  • I have actually found it quite easy to do some development on my Mac. My only gripes are because how PHP is bundled with Leopard, I cannot use 3rd party extensions, so I would have to compile my own PHP installation. Alo, Java 6 is not _really_ available. They have a developer preview, but it's a hassle to run any java program with it.

  • It's a new OS. All the PL profs at Purdue use Mac OS X and, for example, Prof. Vitek is all about Java so they are bound to get it working. It'd be bad business to leave so many people out in the cold.

    People always complain when a new OS comes out (not saying that you are complaining; just in general) when there are problems but really, it's unavoidable.
  • i like to think of it as Two Finger Panning... Because are not limited to the confines of 1 directional scrolling... Personally I think you have to give him props for being as stupid as he was... i mean WOW... i still think we should make an xkcd comic out of it!
  • Yea I have to admit, I was impressed when I first used the "two-finger panning" for scrolling around a zoomed in pdf doc. It's nice to say the least, but definitely not a replacement for a compiler =)
  • Yeah, but does Linux have two finger scrolling?
  • I wonder if that feature does exist on Linux. I kind of like it but it also seems just fluffy enough that the serious coders wouldn't want to spend too much time on it.
  • dude
    Amusingly, OSX does come with GCC, you just have to install it. A procedure that is arguably simpler than install GCC on Ubuntu.
  • I'm unfamiliar with installing GCC on Mac OS X so I Google'd and came up with this:
    http://www.tech-recipes.com/mac_system_administration_tips726.html
    Is this the process you had in mind?

    On Ubuntu, sudo apt-get install build-essential grabs GCC and other common build utils like make.

    I'm happy with either OS. Both Ubuntu and Mac OS X are both infinitely easy enough for me. The point is the Apple sales rep had no idea what packages were available :)
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