Simply OS X or Windows for development?

Axidium

Hi I am looking to buy a new laptop in the coming weeks. I have been a Windows user ever since I started with computing but I am not too convinced with Windows 8/8.1.

So I was thinking of maybe giving Mac/OS X a shot. My question is are Macs good for programming/development. And yes I have heard of Linux and I use it. How does Mac compare to Windows in terms of networks, programming and technical things like that.

It seems to me like the Mac is more for editing video and photos and that Windows is for the more technical things like computer networks and programming. Can Mac do what Windows can in that area?

I would like to hear some thoughts from developers who used both platforms. I know what Windows 7 and openSUSE/Linux are like.

Thanks in advance.


PS. Please no OS wars!

ChRoMe

Axidium wrote: »

Hi I am looking to buy a new laptop in the coming weeks. I have been a Windows user ever since I started with computing but I am not too convinced with Windows 8/8.1.



PS. Please no OS wars!

Why not just buy a windows 7 laptop?

Also a lot of the answers revolve around what platforms you write code for....

Cool Mo D

Axidium wrote: »

Hi I am looking to buy a new laptop in the coming weeks. I have been a Windows user ever since I started with computing but I am not too convinced with Windows 8/8.1.

So I was thinking of maybe giving Mac/OS X a shot. My question is are Macs good for programming/development. And yes I have heard of Linux and I use it. How does Mac compare to Windows in terms of networks, programming and technical things like that.

It seems to me like the Mac is more for editing video and photos and that Windows is for the more technical things like computer networks and programming. Can Mac do what Windows can in that area?

I would like to hear some thoughts from developers who used both platforms. I know what Windows 7 and openSUSE/Linux are like.

Thanks in advance.


PS. Please no OS wars!

What kind of programs do you want to develop?


If you are a windows developer, then no. You can use Mono to develop .Net applications on OS X, but if this is your bread and butter, stick to Windows.

The main IDE on Max is Xcode, which is also the only real way to write applications for Macs, iPhones and iPads. If you are interested in programming for the iPhone, you need a Mac.

If you are more interested in scripting, or dynamic languages like Perl, Python or Ruby, then the Mac is a good choice, and works very similarly to Linux distributions. It has the same basic set of command line tools as modern linux distributions, and there are several package managers available to install the range of open source programming software. It's almost as good as linux for this, and quite a bit better than Windows, where Cygwin is the best package management option, and it is not good.

If you want to develop Java or Android applications, then that is the same on Mac and Windows - install Eclipse plus the plugins, and get going.

One important advantage Macs have is that they come with several languages installed out of the box, including Python and Ruby, which are very nice first languages to teach yourself programming with.

In short, if you want to develop using Microsoft technologies, buy a Windows machine. For everything else, the Mac is at least as capable, and may be easier.

Tar.Aldarion

Only reason to get a mac is if you want to develop for their products, otherwise I wouldn't spend the money personally, just get a windows/linux machine with better hardware for the price. I think you can piece together laptops on pcspecialist with no OS and can just stick linux on, which would be my preferred development machine.

Axidium

ChRoMe wrote: »

Why not just buy a windows 7 laptop?

Also a lot of the answers revolve around what platforms you write code for....

I forgot to mention that I want to move from Windows 7 so it's either Windows 8 or OS X.

Axidium

Cool Mo D wrote: »

What kind of programs do you want to develop?


If you are a windows developer, then no. You can use Mono to develop .Net applications on OS X, but if this is your bread and butter, stick to Windows.

The main IDE on Max is Xcode, which is also the only real way to write applications for Macs, iPhones and iPads. If you are interested in programming for the iPhone, you need a Mac.

If you are more interested in scripting, or dynamic languages like Perl, Python or Ruby, then the Mac is a good choice, and works very similarly to Linux distributions. It has the same basic set of command line tools as modern linux distributions, and there are several package managers available to install the range of open source programming software. It's almost as good as linux for this, and quite a bit better than Windows, where Cygwin is the best package management option, and it is not good.

If you want to develop Java or Android applications, then that is the same on Mac and Windows - install Eclipse plus the plugins, and get going.

One important advantage Macs have is that they come with several languages installed out of the box, including Python and Ruby, which are very nice first languages to teach yourself programming with.

In short, if you want to develop using Microsoft technologies, buy a Windows machine. For everything else, the Mac is at least as capable, and may be easier.

Thanks. I mostly code in Java, not necessarily Android apps but programs. So I could do that on both. I just wanted to see if Mac could do what Windows can. I am not interested in Microsoft development technologies just yet, that's not a factor I will consider in my decision.

Cheers anyway.

Axidium

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

Only reason to get a mac is if you want to develop for their products, otherwise I wouldn't spend the money personally, just get a windows/linux machine with better hardware for the price. I think you can piece together laptops on pcspecialist with no OS and can just stick linux on, which would be my preferred development machine.

Well the truth is, I am willing to spend around 1300€ on a new ultrabook so I was thinking the new Mac Book Air. I really don't like Windows 8 all that much so I think it's the perfect time for me to try something new like OS X.

Talisman

Axidium wrote: »

Thanks. I mostly code in Java, not necessarily Android apps but programs. So I could do that on both. I just wanted to see if Mac could do what Windows can. I am not interested in Microsoft development technologies just yet, that's not a factor I will consider in my decision.

OS X can do what Windows can and vice versa.

The one real world advantage that Apple hardware has over other PC manufacturer options is that it is licensed to run OS X. You can possibly run a hacked version of OS X on other PC hardware but out of the box it only runs on Apple hardware.

You can also dual boot a Mac to run Windows if you ever want to go back to Windows on native hardware as opposed to a virtual machine by using Boot Camp.

Fussgangerzone

Axidium wrote: »

Well the truth is, I am willing to spend around 1300€ on a new ultrabook so I was thinking the new Mac Book Air. I really don't like Windows 8 all that much so I think it's the perfect time for me to try something new like OS X.

I may be talking out of my hat here, but would the air not be comparatively low spec for your money?

I've worked a lot on Windows and OS X, mostly for web stuff, occasionally in sites running locally on Tomcat.

I find Windows is better, once you spend some time setting it up for what you're doing. OS X is better from the word go, but you can only take it so far, ie: you can hit a brick wall in terms of what tools you can use.

On the other hand if you want to be down with the cool kids and use all the latest cutting edge languages, you might actually have an easier time of it OS X, if not in life, as there seem to be more tools for say, Ruby, on that platform.

In my experience, networking on a Mac is bloody painful compared to Windows, but things might have improved since the last time I tried.

As for Windows 8, I actually prefer it to Windows 7 at this stage. It's faster, and once you don't spend much time in the Metro UI there's no difference. Just remember to set up preferred programs for all your file types so you spend less time looking at .jpg logos in "cinema/how the hell do I get out of here" mode.

You'll get your work done either way, I'd say.

Graham

Fussgangerzone wrote: »

OS X is better from the word go, but you can only take it so far, ie: you can hit a brick wall in terms of what tools you can use.

Apart from when developing for Microsoft Technologies, what tools are missing?

Tar.Aldarion

He can pick either but depending on what you want I would always go for higher specs when developing, running VMs, compiling code and so on. If it's only lightweight it won't really matter.

Fussgangerzone

Graham wrote: »

Apart from when developing for Microsoft Technologies, what tools are missing?

I can't remember any specifics, but I used to find that there simply wouldn't be an OS X version of some tools. Of course, that can go the other way.

There are also cases where software simply will not work with the current version of OS X, as Xcode and so on seem tightly tied in with your operating system. On windows, it's far less common to run into this problem, as it offers compatibility going a lot further back.

So in a case where on Windows, I'd be slotting in the software and working away, on OS X, despite there being an OS X version of the software, I'd have to give up and start looking for another solution. I suppose that's the brick wall I'm talking about. Apple are notoriously unkind to people running older software.

I do like the UNIX-like terminal in OS X, and prefer it to Powershell, though Linux of course has the best terminal.

Colonel Panic

The terminal in OS X isn't UNIX-like, it's a UNIX terminal emulator running bash by default.

Graham

Fussgangerzone wrote: »

I can't remember any specifics, but I used to find that there simply wouldn't be an OS X version of some tools. Of course, that can go the other way.

There are also cases where software simply will not work with the current version of OS X, as Xcode and so on seem tightly tied in with your operating system. On windows, it's far less common to run into this problem, as it offers compatibility going a lot further back.

So in a case where on Windows, I'd be slotting in the software and working away, on OS X, despite there being an OS X version of the software, I'd have to give up and start looking for another solution. I suppose that's the brick wall I'm talking about. Apple are notoriously unkind to people running older software.

I do like the UNIX-like terminal in OS X, and prefer it to Powershell, though Linux of course has the best terminal.

So to summarise, some none specific software doesn't run on OS X and some other none-specific software doesn't run on the current version of OS X even though it runs on the older versions of OS X.

Talisman

Fussgangerzone wrote: »

I may be talking out of my hat here, but would the air not be comparatively low spec for your money?

I've worked a lot on Windows and OS X, mostly for web stuff, occasionally in sites running locally on Tomcat.

I find Windows is better, once you spend some time setting it up for what you're doing. OS X is better from the word go, but you can only take it so far, ie: you can hit a brick wall in terms of what tools you can use.

On the other hand if you want to be down with the cool kids and use all the latest cutting edge languages, you might actually have an easier time of it OS X, if not in life, as there seem to be more tools for say, Ruby, on that platform.

In my experience, networking on a Mac is bloody painful compared to Windows, but things might have improved since the last time I tried.

As for Windows 8, I actually prefer it to Windows 7 at this stage. It's faster, and once you don't spend much time in the Metro UI there's no difference. Just remember to set up preferred programs for all your file types so you spend less time looking at .jpg logos in "cinema/how the hell do I get out of here" mode.

You'll get your work done either way, I'd say.

Out of curiosity when was the last time you tried? In my experience OS X can connect to networks far more easily than Windows.

Windows was my platform of choice until 2005, since then I've used OS X as my primary platform. The one area that Windows beats OS X in my experience is VPN support only because corporate networks use the Windows platform and invariably require a Windows VPN client / Internet Explorer for access.

Fussgangerzone

Graham wrote: »

So to summarise, some none specific software doesn't run on OS X and some other none-specific software doesn't run on the current version of OS X even though it runs on the older versions of OS X.

Yeah, often where different versions of XCode were involved if I remember correctly.

Fussgangerzone

Talisman wrote: »

Out of curiosity when was the last time you tried? In my experience OS X can connect to networks far more easily than Windows.

My worst experiences with networks on OS X were about 3 years ago. Shared servers inside an office.

I've had experiences this year where Windows users on a network with a proxy had a far easier time than OS X users (myself included), but in that case, it's more likely to be the fault of the sysadmin, who I had no faith in.

Colonel Panic

Fussgangerzone wrote: »

Yeah, often where different versions of XCode were involved if I remember correctly.

But what, specifically?

Fussgangerzone wrote: »

My worst experiences with networks on OS X were about 3 years ago. Shared servers inside an office.

I've had experiences this year where Windows users on a network with a proxy had a far easier time than OS X users (myself included), but in that case, it's more likely to be the fault of the sysadmin, who I had no faith in.

So an issue with your work environment?

Fussgangerzone

Colonel Panic wrote: »

But what, specifically?

Fliuched if I can remember now.

Colonel Panic wrote: »

So an issue with your work environment?

In the latter case, I suspect it was.

SpaceTime

Can I just point out that if you have a Mac, you're not limited to using OS X.
You can install and run Windows either by directly booting into it or running it various virtualisation packages on top of OS X.
There's also no difficulty using various flavours of Linux either.

I tend to use OS X as my primary operating system and Windows 7 (I can't stand 8!) as a secondary OS.

Also, OS X is built on a UNIX-ish base so you can do a lot of command line UNIX stuff without any bother at all.

If you like the Macbook Air hardware and you would like the option of Windows or OS X, there's nothing stopping you from using it.