# Programming Mac OS X with Cocoa for Beginners 2nd Edition/Installing Apple's Developer Tools

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### Mac OS X Version

Before you can begin developing Mac OS X applications using Cocoa, you need to install Apple's free developer tools. First check your version of Mac OS X by choosing "About This Macintosh" from the Apple menu. Find your Mac OS X version below and follow the instructions for your version of Mac OS X.

## Version 10.5 or Earlier

You will either need to:
1. Update your Mac to the latest version of the OS by following the directions in the following link: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4459406
2. Or you can read the first edition of this wikibook instead of reading this edition by following the following link: Programming Mac OS X With Cocoa First Edition

## Version 10.6, "Snow Leopard"

Consider updating your version of Mac OS X to the latest available from Apple.
If you want to try updating your version of Mac OS X, from your Apple menu, choose "App Store..." and find the latest upgrade of Mac OS X and try to download it. The App Store Application will automatically determine whether your Mac hardware is compatible with an upgrade to the latest version of Mac OS X or not and if it's not, a message will be displayed telling you why you can't upgrade. If you were able to upgrade your Mac OS X version, follow the instructions below on this page in the section entitled "Version 10.7 Or Later". If you can't upgrade, then continue reading and following the instructions in this section.
To check if you have Xcode 4 installed do the following:
* Open your disk at the top level
* Look to see if you have a folder called "Developer". If you don't then you'll have to install Apple's Developer tools from your system disk which gives you Xcode 3 which is covered in the first edition of this wikibook
* Open the Developer folder and then open the Applications folder that is within the Developer folder. Do a Get Info on Xcode. If you have version 3 then you'll have to use the first edition of this wikibook
* If you have Xcode version 4, then you can use this second edition of this wikibook.
If you have Xcode 4 installed, then you can continue with this edition of this wikibook. If have Xcode version 3 installed then you'll have to read the first edition of this wikibook by following the following link: Programming Mac OS X with Cocoa for Beginners 1st Edition.

## Version 10.7 "Lion", 10.8 "Mountain Lion", 10.9 "Mavericks", or Later

You can download Apple's Developer Tools (known as Xcode) from Apple's Mac App Store using the following instructions:
* From the Apple menu, choose "App Store...". This will open up the "App Store" application on your Mac.
* In the upper, left-hand corner, there is a search box. Type "Xcode" into the search box. This will find the latest version of Xcode.
* Xcode is free, but you will have to have an Apple ID to download apps from the Mac App store.
* Download Xcode. This will take awhile as the Developer tools are quite extensive.
* When the download is done, you will have developer tools for both iOS and for Mac OS X
* Go to your developer folder at /Develop, open the "Applications" directory and find "Xcode". Note that newer versions of Xcode can be found in the "Applications" folder on the main hard drive.

## Ready to Begin

If you plan to work through this wikibook, a good idea is to add the Xcode icon to the Dock for easy access. To do this, simply drag the Xcode icon in the Finder to the Dock.
Now we are ready to begin developing apps.
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