Mac for a Windows Developer?


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Hello!

I'm a developer for the Win32 platform (mainly .NET and Visual C++). My home computer and my laptop are powered by Windows, of course (my work computer too).

I'm in love with the Macs, but I don't know if it's worth to buy one, and using it only for "no developing" use. Is it possible to have a wireless network with my Mac and my Windows-based-computers without flaws?

Anyone of you are Windows developers and use a Mac at home?

Thanks! (and sorry for my horrible english ;) )

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Yes, the multi-platform wireless network is very possible - since the wireless router is platform independent, you shouldn't have any problems. Mac<->PC file sharing, however, is another world unto its own ;)

You'd be amazed at how straightforward Mac development is these days, if you do want to try it, especially with the advent of Xcode; it's great to see Apple finally taking a full stand behind Mac development for the masses.

Overall, you won't regret it ;) I bought my first Mac a year and a half ago, and have since expanded to three - along with my Windows/Solaris/BSD machines.

-Berz

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Cocoa is a great framework to program in. You can use ObjC, Java, Python, Squeak, and other languages with it to program. ObjC is it's primary language, which is very similar to C/C++, but with some Smalltalk-y quirks. The framework is easy to use, VERY easy to find documentation on it, and does a great job of encouraging good coding practices. Interface Builder is also a terrific package, and turned me from a crappy UI programmer (on windows) into someone that can make a pretty professional looking UI.

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Hi my name is Ari and I'm a windows developer at work :blush: and a mac user at home. :D

I personally started off with an eMac and eventually bought a 12" pBook (First Generation) with an Airport Extreme wireless card. I'm planning on getting a Linksys WiFi G router to shared my internet access.

What attracted me to macs was OS X and the BSD underpinning as I had done some linux develpment aswell at work.

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aristotle-dude, don't you miss sometimes to have a windows-based computer at home? For testing some of your programs for example...

berz, what is the matter with the PC <-> Mac file sharing? Is very problematic?

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aristotle-dude, don't you miss sometimes to have a windows-based computer at home? For testing some of your programs for example...

berz, what is the matter with the PC <-> Mac file sharing? Is very problematic?

I don't like to bring my work home. :) When I'm visiting the other IT team on the mainland, I take my pbook and connect back to my workstation via Microsoft's Remote Desktop Client for OS X. With Panther, I could even join the active directory domain if I wanted to but all I need is a valid IP address and the MS RDP client.

If they started to require that I have the ability to connect from home, I'd buy a VPN compatible router (100 bucks canadian) and connect to the network with the Remote desktop client on either my pbook or eMac.

Finally, I can test programs with Virtual PC if need be but using Remote desktop is faster especially if I connect to a Terminal server.

Some companies also use Citrix (Terminal server is really citrix lite) and there is a native OS X client for that as well.

PS. I had a PC for a while in conjunction with my eMac and I was sharing files no problem. Only printer sharing was a problem under Jaguar.

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