make MacOSX applications with RS XE2 (step-by-step)

[Stoney]

Also, on Mac in the majority of IDEs, Lazarus included, I found the 3-key shortcuts and all these weird-looking special buttons difficult to get used to.

There is just one 3-key shortcut you need on Lazarus: CTRL+SHIFT+C , which is code completion: You have made the interface section of your class, place your cursor in there somewhere and press this combination and Lazarus magically builds you the implementation part. (It's also the same combination as on any other platform.)
Most other useful combination are just two keys:
CMD + R : Run and debug application (Lazarus and Xcode)
CMD + U : Unindent code block
CMD + I : Indent code block


My setup is exactly the other way round: I'm using Lazarus on Mac OS X with a display port adapter for my big screen if I need it. Debugging is working, I made a tutorial on how to set it up a while back and for Windows I made a FPC cross-compiler. Everything works smoothly (granted, sometimes Lazarus is not as responsive on Mac OS X as on Windows), but I didn't use Windows for development in quite a while.

[LP]

There is just one 3-key shortcut you need on Lazarus: CTRL+SHIFT+C , which is code completion:

The 3-key combinations I find particularly annoying are Step into/Step over, Toggle form/unit view, View Object Inspector, View Units and View Forms. In Delphi/Lazarus on Windows the first three are 1-key, while the other two are 2-key. Debugging keys are essential and very common to use; I can't believe you have to hit 3 keys for every single line of code, same applies to Form/Unit view.

Most other useful combination are just two keys:
CMD + R : Run and debug application (Lazarus and Xcode)
CMD + U : Unindent code block
CMD + I : Indent code block

In Delphi they are F9, Tab and Shift+Tab respectively (Delphi versions previous to XE 2 need CnWizards for code block indentation). They are shorter and more intuitive.

[Stoney]

I think after a while you get used to the shortcuts, at least that has always been my experience.
I don't think the Lazarus team will change the shortcuts on Mac OS, as most of them are the same on Xcode, which is I find rather pleasing, personally, as I've been doing a lot of Xcode development these days.