If I need to use an application framework at all, why can't I write my own?

Writing your application without a framework is inadvisable, and while writing your own framework may give you complete control, it leaves you out in the cold if you run into trouble. Using a standard framework increases your application development speed and offers you support, documentation, maintenance, and access to the resources of a larger community of developers.

Why invest in PowerPlant when Cocoa is free?

PowerPlant was created over 10 years ago and is the most widely used application framework available for the Macintosh (Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and OS X's finder are testaments to PowerPlant's robust capabilities). Metrowerks provides PowerPlant as source code for developers to modify and enhance according to their needs. Therefore, as PowerPlant continues to evolve, so will the applications that are based on it. With minimal tweaking, developers will be able to recompile their existing applications with the latest PowerPlant releases to leverage new OS technologies. A forthcoming version promises to support more OS X features, as well as STL.

Cocoa, on the other hand, does not have the developer support or the maturity of PowerPlant. It only supports Mac OS X, which currently represents about 10% of the entire Macintosh installed base, whereas PowerPlant supports not only Mac OS X, but also Classic and even 68K architectures. If you are a C++ programmer, PowerPlant is the best alternative. For further discussion of the differences between Carbon and Cocoa APIs, read the excellent whitepaper by Geoff Perlman of REAL software.

How does REALbasic GUI editing compare with ResEdit, Constructor, and other commercial resource editors?

Using REALbasic as a GUI builder gives you several advantages over conventional tools. For one thing, it is much easier to use. You construct interfaces by dragging and dropping controls on a window. REALbasic interactively shows you the correct control alignment according to Apple's user interface guidelines. Second, REALbasic has a true WYSIWYG user interface builder. Instead of empty placeholders and cryptic codes, you see actual UI components. What's more, REALbasic supports all Carbon controls, including tab panels, bevel buttons, chaser arrows, and progress bars. You can also test the runtime look and feel by selecting a menu or pressing a key.

Do I have to learn REALbasic to use RADicode?

You may want to learn REALbasic's language syntax if you plan on building complete prototypes. REALbasic's UI editor is surprisingly easy to learn. But don't take our word for it; try REALbasic for yourself.

Why does RADicode convert just the UI, not all of REALbasic, to PowerPlant/C++?

Converting REALbasic's code to C/C++ in a way that would be generally acceptable to developers would require emulating REALbasic's runtime, which would diminish its utility. RADicode's mission is not to convert REALbasic developers to PowerPlant, but simply to provide them with better tools for working with PowerPlant.