Xcode makes it easy to conditionally compile code based on custom precompiler flags that you can define yourself. Combined with the Prefix.pch file and macros, this makes it easy for you to selectively enable parts of your application without needlessly uglifying your code.

I just recently made use of these features to create macros for Pinch Analytics so that I can easily turn it on or off for my builds. I previously voiced concerns on Twitter about the spyware-like ways that Pinch Analytics can be used and Keith blogged about his thoughts at the time (the mainstream tech press picked up on this a little while later; see my links from yesterday for other commentary on the issue, including Pinch Media's response by adding easy-to-implement opt-out).

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I just did a quick run-through of the various apps I use on a daily basis to see if there were any issues with Snow Leopard. I haven't done any in-depth testing but the following apps launch and appear to work well under Snow Leopard:

• Quicksilver
• TextMate
• Photoshop CS3
• Flash CS3
• Illustrator CS3 (it crashed the first time I tried File → New; ⌘-N but worked after relaunching it)
• Fluid and apps created by Fluid
• Tweetie for Mac
• My simple AIR app for signing in to T-Mobile WiFi networks
• My ClippyML AIR app for quickly visualizing copy/pasted HTML
• My little Turkish Characters AIR app
• Tweetdeck 0.26.4 (I'm assuming, thus, that AIR apps are OK under Snow Leopard)
• Little Snapper 1.5.1 (10082)
• AppZapper
• Zooom/2 2.2.5
• Charles 3.3.1
• Transmit 3.3.6
• VLC video player 0.9.8
• iAlertU (great for when you need to pop to the loo when in a cafe!)
• VMWare Fusion (if anything, it seemed really fast – tested with Ubuntu and Vista VMs – and I'm not even running the latest version)
• XCode 3.1.3 – Leopard version, not the Snow Leopard version that I'll be upgrading to later today – and the iPhone simulator.

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Visor for OSX (Visor.bundle) is a lovely Quake-like interface for Terminal that I absolutely couldn't live without. Unfortunately, upgrading to Snow Leopard disables it.

Re-enabling it, thankfully, is very easy: Go to Applications → Utilities, ⌘-click Terminal.app and select Get Info (or press ⌘-i) and check the Open in 32-bit mode checkbox. Finally, start Terminal.app and you should have your beloved Visor back.

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I just upgraded to Snow Leopard and immediately found myself severed from the Internet: I couldn't connect to the BTOpenZone WiFi network (or see any other networks) and neither could I connect with my T-Mobile USB stick.

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Whenever possible, I try to use existing icons for my apps. I do this for two reasons: firstly, designing a good icon is an art that takes a ridiculous amount of time and practice, and, secondly, using standard icons correctly in your applications makes your app consistent with other applications on the same platform and thus helps it meet user expectations.

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