Mac users have probably noticed how so many applications nowadays are built on Cocoa, Apple’s native programming environment. One of the five major APIs for Mac, Cocoa easily manages dynamically located memory and offers a supplies powerful base objects. To make it simple, this means Cocoa handles memory well and can implement string objects in the GUI really easily.
As Adrian Sutton puts in an interesting read (via Daring Fireball), Cocoa is great to build applications, but it’s not necessarily the best and quickest environment on Mac. Adrian explains,
Cocoa requires Objective-C which is a much higher level language than pure C and with every level of abstraction comes increased memory usage and slower performance.
Still, more and more Mac applications are built with Mac’s native environment. We saw this as the perfect opportunity to pick out the best ones. Soon, we’ll also be taking a look at the best Mac apps which aren’t built on Cocoa.
- unRarX – Expands RAR archives and repairs them if they are corrupt. Opens up automatically when you double click on a RAR file.
- iStat pro – A widget to monitor every aspect on your Mac, from memory to temperature or battery. Can be displayed in simple or advanced view.
- Delicious Library – Great tool to catalog, organize and browse through your library. Delicious Library uses Spotlight to help you find books and works with iCal and Apple’s Address Book to manage your book loans.
- NetNewsWire – An advanced RSS reader which can sort RSS readers, gives you multiple views of posts and lets you create smart lists.
- VoodooPad – This notepad will do pretty much anything you ask of it. Categorize your notes with tags, link between documents, encrypt and save your workspace.
- Shiira – A customizable browser with a cool thumbnail view, page transition and sound effects, and RSS support.
- WhatSize – Scan your Mac and see what’s taking up so much space. WhatSize is efficient an will show you the exact size of each and every one of your files on your different drives.
