At this week’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Metrowerks will be launching a new product, CodeTest Software Analysis Tools, that will allow Mac OS X developers who require code visibility and precise analysis of their applications to improve quality and reduce development costs.
“CodeTest’s tool set allows you to develop and work on the analysis of software created with CodeWarrior,” Greg Hemstreet, Metrowerks’ director of product marketing, Standard Products and Core Technologies, told MacCentral. “It analyzes the code that’s being tested for performance, instruction case capabilities, code coverage, memory issues, and more. It’s the first code coverage tool for Mac OS X, so we believe we’re filling a void for Mac OS X developers.”
CodeTest has been available for other platforms (Windows, Linux, Solaris, and the embedded market) for a while, which is why the new Mac version will be numbered as version 4.0.1. The Mac OS X version offers feature parity with the CodeTests for other platforms, Hemstreet said.
Metrowerks will be distributing beta copies of the product at WWDC to get feedback from Mac developers. A completed product should ship near the end of July. Pricing will be announced closer to the release date.
CodeTest includes four modules: CodeTest Trace, CodeTest Memory, CodeTest Performance, and CodeTest Statement & Decision Coverage. Each module provides a different type of info for different purposes. The product can be used to analyze the code for “classic” Mac, Carbon, and Cocoa applications.
“Many developers and companies have code that spans from classic applications to Mac OS X versions of software, so there’s a lot of legacy code that needs to be tested,” Hemstreet said. “With CodeTest, we’re providing a feature complete and deep product.”
At WWDC, Metrowerks will also briefly discuss the upcoming version of CodeWarrior (which will offer an improved, faster compiler and more) and PowerPlant X, the upcoming version of the application framework. PowerPlant is a methodology and set of software libraries that allows software developers to build applications.
“PowerPlant X will take advantage of Mac OS X capabilities, such as Carbon Events,” Hemstreet said. “PowerPlant X is a migration or extension of the existing PowerPlant, so existing PowerPlant applications can migrate with little difficulty and, if desired, in stages.”
Metrowerks is also making partnerships with other companies to attract a larger base of users. This week they’re announcing a prototyping tool bundle released in conjunction with Real Software, the company behind the RealBasic development environment. Metrowerks is also working with database companies such as OpenBase to bring database capabilities to CodeWarrior.
“We want people to understand that Metrowerks is still dedicated to the Mac and is adding new things that allow migration to Mac OS X,” Hemstreet said.