Complete solution for writing Mac OS X application in C++

If you want to use C++ instead of Objective-C, and still want to avoid an intermediate layer of libraries (such as QT), you can use Carbon.

I would use XCode instead of Eclipse simply because Eclipse is way slower when dealing with hardcore C/C++ programming (compiling, debugging, testing).

When I first started to program in Mac OS X, I was in the same page you are now. I thought it was better to stick to the language I knew (C++) and use an older library (Carbon). For some reason I don't remember now, I forced myself into Cocoa (Objective-C). Looking back, I think it was a good thing because:

1. Objective-C is not fundamentally different to C++
2. Cocoa is better, faster and simpler than Carbon
3. iPhone Dev is exclusively Cocoa (Carbon is not supported)

You should not avoid learning Objective-C and Cocoa. It should in fact be the first thing you do. Unless you have a solid background in Smalltalk, you're unlikely to have been exposed to a large (set of) framework that is as well-designed.

Objective-C is not that hard. If you know C++ it will take you a day or three of applied effort to learn the conventions.

The Cocoa APIs and conventions take longer, but those come in time.

Good luck!