Xcode Developer Toolset Updated to Version 4.6 - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Xcode Developer Toolset Updated to Version 4.6

by

Xcode4 6
Following the release of iOS 6.1, Apple has updated its Xcode developer toolset as well. The new version, Xcode 4.6, includes improvements in code completion heuristics, new compiler warnings, and other coding improvements.

What's new

- Includes SDKs for OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion and iOS 6.1.
- Code completion heuristics are more accurate, and use an optimized default data set.
- New compiler warnings help identify potential bugs when using ARC and weak references.
- C++11 support for ‘user defined literals’ and ‘unrestricted unions’ features.
- Debugger can inspect elements within NSArray or NSDictionary objects.
- Analyze now performs deeper cross-function static analysis of Objective-C and C++ code.
- The number of indexing passes is reduced due to improved dependency checking.
- Additional bug fixes and stability improvements.

Xcode 4.6 is available as a free download from the Mac App Store. [Direct Link]

Top Rated Comments

175 months ago
About Time


- Debugger can inspect elements within NSArray or NSDictionary objects.

This should have been in XCode 3! Been needing this for years and has added hours to my life adding logging statements to see the contents of these.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Stella Avatar
175 months ago
Hey Bro, I understand your frustration, but Apple does have other tasks on hand... give 'em some luv!!!






Love & Peace,
yehudah

Being able to inspect dictionaries and arrays using the debugger is functionality that a developer would expect to exist.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
175 months ago
Awesome news, the latest Xcode is quite good. And clang has the best C++11 support to date, much better than MSVC 2012.

Here are the changes from 4.5.2 to 4.6:

$ xcrun clang --version
Apple clang version 4.1 (tags/Apple/clang-421.11.66) (based on LLVM 3.1svn)
Target: x86_64-apple-darwin12.2.0
Thread model: posix
$ xcrun clang --version
Apple LLVM version 4.2 (clang-425.0.24) (based on LLVM 3.2svn)
Target: x86_64-apple-darwin12.2.0
Thread model: posix

$ xcrun git --version
git version 1.7.10.2 (Apple Git-33)
$ xcrun git --version
git version 1.7.12.4 (Apple Git-37)
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Saladinos Avatar
175 months ago
Apple generally prefers you work with Objective-C style objects. Core Foundation is just there to enhance C compatibility... They haven't even given Core Foundation ARC yet. It's a bit of a second-class citizen in general.
Yeah but C compatibility is kind of important. Also, unless you're targeting iOS6 (and NSMapTable, which I'm unsure if this new inspector will detail), it's the only way to get a dictionary that doesn't copy its keys or retain its values.

As for bracket autocompletion, the problem is this:

4 + 3

4 + 3 )

(4 + 3 ) now press space...

( )4 + 3 ) why does XCode insert this bracket?!

I like the bracket autocompletion in general, but this one thing just annoys the hell out of me. There's nothing to complete here, the brackets are already closed.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
175 months ago
Well, here's one very obvious bug that's still not fixed:

Press Cmd+F to open a find dialog, type some query that gets lots of results, press Enter to select next result, it works fine, but Shift+Enter has a problem - it goes to previous entry, then to next one, effectively looping in place.

On the other hand, Cmd+G and Cmd+Shift+G work fine without the bug.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DaveP Avatar
175 months ago
This should have been in XCode 3! Been needing this for years and has added hours to my life adding logging statements to see the contents of these.

WooHoo! 2001 here we come!
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iCloud iPhone 17 Pro

iPhone Users Who Pay for iCloud Storage Get Two New Perks on iOS 27

Thursday July 2, 2026 6:10 am PDT by
If you pay for certain iCloud+ storage plans beyond the 5GB that Apple offers for free, you will receive two more perks on iOS 27 at no additional cost. A summary of the two new iCloud+ perks on iOS 27:Increased daily usage limits for some new Apple Intelligence features, including image generation in the revamped Image Playground app. HomeKit Secure Video cameras receive generated video...
iPhone 4 on Black Feature

Apple Facing One of Its Worst Leaks Since the iPhone 4

Thursday July 2, 2026 9:53 am PDT by
Apple supplier Tata Electronics recently suffered a cyberattack that resulted in thousands of confidential files being published on the dark web, and this reportedly included some photos and documents related to the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro. We have elected not to share any of the leaked photos in this story due to the illegal nature in which they were obtained, but they can easily be found...
American Express Gold Apple Pay Feature

American Express Announces New Apple Pay Feature

Tuesday June 30, 2026 10:27 am PDT by
American Express today announced that you can now redeem Membership Rewards points when checking out with Apple Pay on the web and in apps on the iPhone and iPad. When checking out with Apple Pay on iOS 18 or iPadOS 18 or later, tap on your eligible American Express card (Platinum, Gold, Green, and others) and select the Membership Rewards points option. You can use points to cover all or...