Can i create a home window without using a NIB file

Question

I hate interface builder, it is a really counter-intuitive piece of junk. Please don't try to convince me otherwise I prefer to do it all in code. Right now i have my whole product running dynamically, creating all the interface objects programmatically as my positioning is all calculated on the fly.
However I still have one NIB file (MainWindow.NIB) that creates the home window and somehow links to my AppDelegate class, which is the startup class for my app. I see that my main.c routine calls UIApplicationMain() which somehow loads the main nib (hidden magic here), and then eventually my AppDelegate() method which is of calss UIWindow() gets called with an initialize() call followed by applicationDidFinishLaunching() call and off we go.
Can I create the window dynamically by not using NIBs? Now that we have ipad and iphone to contend with, I would want to create a window that is either 320 x 480 or 768 x 1024 depending on what machine I am on. I would like to get rid of the NIB because I don't understand the wiring stuff and I tried to make a NIB myself but now get a cryptic error message, and anyway the NIB has a fixed size and my app wants to be dynamic now that we have two screen sizes.
The second part of the question is how do you know what kind of machine you are on? I don't see a Gestalt() routine like in the old mac days so you can tell what machine it is.

Answer 1

There are always less-informed people who think that a STATIC development tool is somehow more powerful than a flexible dynamic interface computed as one goes. The idea of a static screen form that you control dates back the 80's; modern interfaces are DYNAMIC and interface builder cannot construct those; sure it can perhaps help you lay out things, but if the user turns on certain features then new controls are visible. We have built products with over 500 controls in them and as only perhaps 25 are needed at any one time the software rearranges the screen in the most optimal form at all times. The more advanced the product the more one chafes at a static design tool.