PyObjC & PyGTK for GUI Development

I’ve been looking at at PyObjC and PyGTK for building out native user interfaces using python. Apparently, Mac OS X Leopard comes with PyObjC 2.0, so I’ll have to check that out. Here’s a nice tutorial on how to get starting building Cocoa apps with python and PyObjC, http://tinyurl.com/3d6b5z.

SoyLatte 1.0.2 Released

Looks like there is a new update to SoyLatte(Open Source Java Port for Mac OS X).

Landon Fuller posted the following as fixes in the the new release.

• The x86_64 JVM now correctly handles divide by zero. More info…
• The JVM crash log now correctly prints all loaded libraries, using _dyld_get_image_name() and _dyld_get_image_vmaddr_slide().
• Only transfer the number of bytes requested, not the entire file in FileChannelImpl.transferTo(). Bug fixed upstream by Greg Lewis, and reported by Michael Allman.
• On Mac OS X 10.4, CrashReporter will write a crash log for all ‘fatal’ signals, including signals caught and handled by the JVM. The JVM now disables CrashReporter’s mach task handler, preventing CrashReport from writing unnecessary crash reports.

He noted that work is currently being done to bring native graphics support.

SoyLatte

A while back I came across a cool open source port of Java 6 for OSX by the name of SoyLatte. Landon Fuller had taken the FreeBSD Java 6 Patchset and ported it over to the mac. For those unaware, OSX’s kernel is based on the mach microkernel with a FreeBSD subsystem. This allowed the FreeBSD patchset to be easily ported over, as a lot of the work was already done. As a Java developer, this was a great find.

Recently Apple has released Java 6 update 1 for the Leopard as a developer preview. This is a nice and certainly welcome update. Landon has merged the SoyLatte project with the FreeBSD Java project and both seem to be heading toward joining the OpenJDK. He has stated that he is looking to have an on-time release of Java 7 on the Mac.

I think Apple has done a great job with their Java implementation, as their Swing Look & Feel gives a more native gui than the Look & Feel on any other platform. At the same time, I welcome the SoyLatte port and I think it will play a very important role in Java development on the Mac.