Apple Confirms Deprecation of ATS.framework in Xcode 4.6 Developer Preview 1

Apple has released Xcode 4.6 Developer Preview 1 this week, adding support for iPad mini and iPad 4, SDKs for OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion and iOS 6, and more. The Mac maker also confirms that the ATS.framework is being deprecated.

In addition to the aforementioned inclusions, Xcode 4.6 DP 1 brings Auto Layout support on both OS X and iOS, and an enhanced OpenGL debugger for iOS which analyzes performance and suggests improvements.

Localization workflow can now share a single base .xib or .storyboard file for multiple locales, and Debugger watchpoints can now be set when running on a connected iOS device.

When using properties, Objective-C @synthesize command is generated by default. Objective-C also adds literal syntax for numbers, arrays, dictionaries, and expressions, in this new release of Xcode.

Supported on both OS X Lion and OS X Mountain Lion, Xcode 4.6 is now enhanced for the MacBook Pro with Retina display, according to a person who is familiar with the software.

The PDF accompanying this Developer Preview of Xcode also mentions the deprecation of the ATS.framework.

According to our source, Apple says that “Source code using ATS APIs will generate warnings while being compiled. For 10.8, there will be no loss of functionality but there could be areas where performance will suffer.

Programmers are instructed to replace all their ATS code (including ATSUI) with CoreText as ATS functionality will be completely removed in future releases of OS X.

Xcode 4.6 is also the last major release that will include the llvm-gcc compiler and the GDB debugger, according to Apple. Developers will need to include the LLVM Compiler and LLDB debugger in their workflows.

Apple offers more information about this change on its Mac Developer Library.

Developers enrolled with Apple can download the new Xcode 4.6 from the company's Dev Center.