[xCraftyx]

I'm getting a macbook on friday and my friend wants me to pick a language for him to learn. I'm going to tell him either C# or C++; my question is if i install Parallels Desktop on my mac, can i install .NET framework and write C# code to help him while windows and leopard are running seamlessly?

[JackOfAllTrades]

Hell, you can download and install mono if you want, and not worry about Parallels Desktop or VMware Fusion. The downside is that there are no debugging capabilities in the included IDE as of yet.

[girasquid]

Based on what I've heard, mono is still pretty brutal to use; you will need fairly good *nix skills to get it up and running. Things my have changed since I lasted played with the framework(6 months or so ago), but that's how it was back then.

As long as your Mac is beefy enough, you should be just fine running as many virtualized OS's as you want - I use VMWare Fusion and run 2 XP Pro installs right next to Leopard just fine. I can't speak to Parallels, but VMWare Fusion lets you tweak the amount of memory each instance gets - which means that you could constrain your installs to as small(or large) a memory footprint as you want.

[xCraftyx]

Ok, so as long as i run windows though Parallls or VMWare and install the .NET framework on windows i should be ok?

[ValPaliy]

MHO: Have him learn C++. Not the .Net version. Later on, when mono is in good state, he can switch to C# and/or any other .Net language. Cheers!

[xCraftyx]

ValPaliy, on 19 Jan, 2009 - 02:59 PM, said:

MHO: Have him learn C++. Not the .Net version. Later on, when mono is in good state, he can switch to C# and/or any other .Net language. Cheers!

Okay, at this point i'll probably do that for simplicity's sake lol

[GWatt]

If you want to install the mono framework under mac it's fairly easy. You can download the pre-built stuff which comes in the standard form of a .pkg bundled inside of a .dmg. You can also compile from source, but probably not what you want to do. It includes MonoDevelop, which is the mono IDE.
When I had to use C# on my mac I installed XP Pro under virtualbox. and then installed VS 2008 under that. Since my school had an MSDN deal which included XP Pro and VS 2008 that made perfect sense for me.

The most compelling reason for me to use the official .NET framework was that some of the functionality I needed for my course was not part of the mono framework because those features had not been incorporated into the libraries yet.

If you have access to MS Windows and VS 2008 I would use that. If you don't or you feel adventurous then give mono a try.

edit:
btw, VirtualBox is freeware that does the same thing VMWare fusion or parallels does.

This post has been edited by GWatt: 19 January 2009 - 04:08 PM

[girasquid]

xCraftyx, on 19 Jan, 2009 - 02:54 PM, said:

Ok, so as long as i run windows though Parallls or VMWare and install the .NET framework on windows i should be ok?

Yup!

[markhazlett9]

xCraftyx, on 19 Jan, 2009 - 12:58 PM, said:

I'm getting a macbook on friday and my friend wants me to pick a language for him to learn. I'm going to tell him either C# or C++; my question is if i install Parallels Desktop on my mac, can i install .NET framework and write C# code to help him while windows and leopard are running seamlessly?

Ok yes you can... although a much easier way to do it would just to install the mono project and run .Net natively. Also I would recommend Objective-C as it's the language for Mac OS X and the iPhone so that would be a good one to learn. And with objective C you can use XCode to program with C and C++ libraries. And running parallels on a mac is like running windows natively. You have access to all the features that a regular windows user has.

This post has been edited by markhazlett9: 19 January 2009 - 05:40 PM

[xCraftyx]

GWatt, on 19 Jan, 2009 - 03:04 PM, said:

If you want to install the mono framework under mac it's fairly easy. You can download the pre-built stuff which comes in the standard form of a .pkg bundled inside of a .dmg. You can also compile from source, but probably not what you want to do. It includes MonoDevelop, which is the mono IDE.
When I had to use C# on my mac I installed XP Pro under virtualbox. and then installed VS 2008 under that. Since my school had an MSDN deal which included XP Pro and VS 2008 that made perfect sense for me.

The most compelling reason for me to use the official .NET framework was that some of the functionality I needed for my course was not part of the mono framework because those features had not been incorporated into the libraries yet.

If you have access to MS Windows and VS 2008 I would use that. If you don't or you feel adventurous then give mono a try.

edit:
btw, VirtualBox is freeware that does the same thing VMWare fusion or parallels does.

I have a copy of Windows and VS2008 so it looks like I'll use that if i need it. I've used virtualbox to run linux on here so it's my fallback plan if i don't like Parallels or VMWare

markhazlett9, on 19 Jan, 2009 - 04:38 PM, said:

xCraftyx, on 19 Jan, 2009 - 12:58 PM, said:

I'm getting a macbook on friday and my friend wants me to pick a language for him to learn. I'm going to tell him either C# or C++; my question is if i install Parallels Desktop on my mac, can i install .NET framework and write C# code to help him while windows and leopard are running seamlessly?

Ok yes you can... although a much easier way to do it would just to install the mono project and run .Net natively. Also I would recommend Objective-C as it's the language for Mac OS X and the iPhone so that would be a good one to learn. And with objective C you can use XCode to program with C and C++ libraries. And running parallels on a mac is like running windows natively. You have access to all the features that a regular windows user has.

I'll have to take a look at Mono, I haven't done much research on it. I'm learning C++ right now and you can use it to develop MacOSX apps as well so i figured I would just keep learning it. I almost switched but Objective-C looks messy.

On a side-note, C++ is pushing my patience...C++ Primer 5th Ed. jumps around like a rabbit on crack

This post has been edited by xCraftyx: 19 January 2009 - 09:01 PM

[markhazlett9]

I would take a look at the free e-books available to you with the apple developer connection. They might give you some insight

[GWatt]

I just thought I'd say that when I write apps for mac I usually write in C++ using the Qt framework. I think it's amazing. If the Qt framework didn't exist I would probably do everything in Objective C instead.
But since Qt is mind-bogglingly amazing I use that.

This post has been edited by GWatt: 20 January 2009 - 01:19 AM

[indrora]

Dot Dot Dot...
running SharpDevelop or VS08 under VirutalBox/WinXP guest works fine. I've done it for years and it's worked fine for a good long time.

[markhazlett9]

indrora, on 20 Jan, 2009 - 12:27 AM, said:

Dot Dot Dot...
running SharpDevelop or VS08 under VirutalBox/WinXP guest works fine. I've done it for years and it's worked fine for a good long time.

Very true, Virtual Box is amazing, I have 6 virtual machines in it right now and it handle's them all very well... including Windows 7!

[xCraftyx]

GWatt, on 20 Jan, 2009 - 12:15 AM, said:

I just thought I'd say that when I write apps for mac I usually write in C++ using the Qt framework. I think it's amazing. If the Qt framework didn't exist I would probably do everything in Objective C instead.
But since Qt is mind-bogglingly amazing I use that.

Qt framework? I'll check it out

markhazlett9, on 20 Jan, 2009 - 07:32 AM, said:

indrora, on 20 Jan, 2009 - 12:27 AM, said:

Dot Dot Dot...
running SharpDevelop or VS08 under VirutalBox/WinXP guest works fine. I've done it for years and it's worked fine for a good long time.

Very true, Virtual Box is amazing, I have 6 virtual machines in it right now and it handle's them all very well... including Windows 7!

Really? Damn i may have to rethink buying parallels