Starting a New Project

Because Xcode is a professional tool for writing large programs, there is a bit of setup required each time you want to work on a new program: a “project” must be created. The following steps for creating a project may seem overly complicated for the programs we will be writing in this class, but the process will become familiar with practice. (These instructions are for Xcode 16.4, and show it running on macOS Sequoia. It is likely that Xcode will go through some minor version updates throughout the semester that shouldn't affect the steps. If you are using an earlier version of Xcode or a different version of macOS, the process is similar but the interface may be slightly different — check with the instructor if you run into problems.)

Upon starting Xcode:

  1. You should see the “Welcome to Xcode” dialog box; click the “Create a new Xcode project” button. (If you do not see the “Welcome to Xcode” dialog, select “New > Project…” from the File menu.)
  2. You will be asked to choose a template for your project. Select “Command Line Tool” from the “macOS” tab, then click “Next”.

  3. You will then be asked to choose options for your project. Most of these are unimportant for our purposes, but you're required to supply a value.

    For example, type the name of your project for the Product Name, and some form of your name for the Organization Identifier (ideally the Organization Identifier should look like a domain name, but neither value really matters for us).

    More importantly, choose “C++” as the language and then click “Next”.

  4. Finally, choose a location to store your project and click “Create”.

    (I would also recommend unchecking the box labeled “Create Git repository on my Mac”. Git is a wonderful version control tool that you'll want to learn about at some point in time, but it goes beyond our needs for the programs we'll be writing in CISP 301.)

  5. Your project is ready to go! Click on the main.cpp file in the Navigator on the left to view the starter file that Xcode creates for you.

    (If you don't see the Navigator, or parts of the interface appear to be “missing,” click the button in the upper-left corner of the window to show the Navigator on the left, and the button in the upper-right corner of the window to hide the Inspectors on the right. A Debug area will open at the bottom of the window when you attempt to compile and run your program, with additional show/hide buttons.)

You'll repeat these steps every time you want to create a new program.