With the power of Roslyn, Visual Studio for Mac brings IntelliSense to your fingertips. IntelliSense describes APIs as you type and uses auto-completion to increase the speed and accuracy of how you write code. Quick Info tool tips let you inspect API definitions. Squiggly lines in the editor highlight issues in real time as you type. Download the installer from the Visual Studio for Mac download page. Once the download is complete, click the VisualStudioforMacInstaller.dmg to mount the installer, then run it by double-clicking the arrow logo: You may be presented with a warning about the application being downloaded from the Internet.
Well, now that Windows 7 has shipped, combined with the fact that my RTC flavor has been giving me a few problems of late – long boot times, system freezes and some flaky bluetooth support – I decided now would be a good time to flat-line my macBook Pro and install a fresh copy of Window 7 RTM.
For the record, i tend to rebuild my machines about once a year – as I've been known to be quite abusive on my equipment, lots of beta software, install, test, tweak, break; some for fun, others for work. Either way, my machines efficiency tends to degrade after about 9-10 months, so I've gotten into the habit of doing a clean build every year or so, often around the holiday, or when noteworthy new OS' ship.
Firstly, I must say, similar to my experience with Windows 7 beta 2 and RTC – the RTM installed very easily (and quickly!) Overall, I'm very pleased with Windows 7 – and I'd encourage any 'windows users' to upgrade, whether from XP or Vista – I'm confident your experience will be better than you expect 😉
A simple prep with bootCamp and off I went, maybe 20 minutes or so and I was up and running. I then updated drivers and began to get my environment back up to snuff. It's probably noteworthy to add, i run a few different OS' – macOS, ubuntu, redHat and Windows. I use the macOS primarily for my personal and hobby use, and windows primarily for business – as I tend to run alot of business apps, like office/visual studio and SQL Management Studio. Therefore, the apps listed below are installed on my Windows partition, since that's what I'm rebuilding now.
Since there are lots of great 'how to' articles on how to get Windows up on a mac, i thought I would take this post in a slightly different direction, outlining my application essentials, programs i tend to install time and time again on new machine builds – and what better time to knock out some documentation other than when Visual Studio is installing!! 🙂
Basics:
- MacBook Pro (late 2008, aluminum) – dual core 2.8Ghz, 4GB Ram, 320 GB 7200RPM hard drive
- Windows Experience Index comes in @ a respectable 5.3 (due to gaming graphics)
- Dual book Mac OSX w/Windows 7 Ultimate
- VM Ware Fusion w/Windows XP, Vista, Ubuntu & Red Hat.
- MS Office 2007 Ultimate w/SP1
- Western Digital 500GB Passport Studio (firewire 800!)
Browsers: latest flavors of: IE 8 (whether i like it or not), Firefox, Opera, Safari & Chrome https://promos-download.mystrikingly.com/blog/photoshop-photo-editor-for-pc-free-download.
Firefox AddOns: Del.icio.us, power twitter, xMarks, readItLater,
Development Tools: Top macbook apps.
- Visual Studio Team System 2008 + TFS team explorer w/SP1
- SQL 2008 Express & Mgt Studio w/SP1
- Visual Slick Edit 2009
- Adobe Creative Suite 4
- XML Spy
- Expression Studio 3
Other Utilities:
- Terminals
- Visio 2007 w/SP1
- Project 2007 w/SP1
- Misc: debugView, fiddler, processMonitor, reflector, treeSizePro, linqPad, pixie
- IM: Pidgin (personal), LCS/OCS (corporate)
- TweetDeck – twitter utility
- FolderShare
- SyncToy
- FoxIt Reader – pdf reader
- ClearContext – Outlook filing tool
- Flickr Uploadr
- MagicDisk – use this for mounting ISO files
- FileZilla – ftp client
- iTunes (both in OS X for personal use & iPhone sync + Windows for podCasts at the office)
- JetAudio Plus 7.5.3 (for non iTune playlists and quick access)
Well, that's my short list (of the top of my head anyway, i really should document this more formally – oh wait, i just did.) I'll update this a bit more in the coming days as I wrap up any final installs. I am happy to report, what used to take me 2-3 days to entirely rebuild my machine – can now be done in about one evening, thanks macBook Pro! I guess some credit also goes to Windows 7, and a few other time-saving utilities, backups and sync technologies – such as fireFox xMarks.
Visual Studio has not always been as user-friendly on the Mac as it is on a Windows machine. Lately, however, the stable release of VS for Mac is really starting to feel like a simple, but luxurious cousin to Visual Studio 2019. Different, but related. Installation on a Mac is quick, simple, and allows you to get into coding right away - whether you are already familiar or an Apple-only dev getting into something new like Xamarin.
Visual Studio for Mac bears a striking similarity to xCode's solution navigation feel, but brings the power of VS intellisense and an ability to focus on your code in a much cleaner looking environment. In my opinion, this brings the best of both worlds together. But don't take my word for it: here are five reasons to give Visual Studio for Mac another go!
1. The C# Editor in Visual Studio for Mac is Completely New
Roslyn, the .NET compiler platform, is now in the Visual Studio for Mac editor - making your intellisense as powerful as its big brother on Windows. Marrying the functionality ported over from the Roslyn compiler with the (frankly, beautiful looking) simplicity of a native-feeling Mac UI editing experience gives this girl all the feels. It has full support for third-party Nuget packages for .NET Core (utilizing .NET Standard) along with Unity, Xamarin and Cocoa apps. Fresh prince of bel air font download.
I didn't notice a big difference gating my progress of a .NET Core app. At this point, I don't know why I would switch over to a windows VM in order to build a microservice API in .NET Core at all!
Finally, I'm loving that VS for Mac now includes 'Go to implementation' as an option in the latest release. Exciting! The C# experience is pretty great now.
2. CLI Developers Can Open .NET Core Projects in Terminal
Ah, the command line. Many developers love using it for .NET Core instead of the 'visual' click and drag aspect of the Visual Studio IDE. At first, the use of command line programming with ASP.NET Core was the only way you could build those apps. Wireframesketcher 6 2 1. Over time, and especially with the release of Visual Studio 2019, the File > New Project templates for ASP.NET Core apps have been baked into the install bringing a truly visual experience to that build.
Pro Visual Medication
For a while, it was unclear if the same command line net new project CLI functionality would be available on Mac, but I am happy to report that it is and it works beautifully! The use of the Terminal app brings that experience to you harcore command line devs.
3. Improved Build Time for Xamarin
Remember those build and deploy coffee breaks? Well say goodbye (unless you don't want to of course). On one of my Xamarin projects I saw a super impressive 30% faster incremental build time. That's not an insignificant improvement.
Modern warfare phone number. This metric is also supported by the April 2019 press release from the VS for Mac team. I used to design my development process in such a way that I could multitask to stay efficient and productive. I'm happy to report those days are gone with much improved build speeds, making the Xamarin app building process something I can say I truly enjoy.
4. .NET Core 3 Support Available Right Out of the Gate
Does Visual Studio 2019 have .NET Core 3 support? Yes, but that's no reason to jump over to your Windows machine! You can use all the same, wonderful new stuff on your Apple machine, too.
For a while, it was unclear if the same command line net new project CLI functionality would be available on Mac, but I am happy to report that it is and it works beautifully! The use of the Terminal app brings that experience to you harcore command line devs.
3. Improved Build Time for Xamarin
Remember those build and deploy coffee breaks? Well say goodbye (unless you don't want to of course). On one of my Xamarin projects I saw a super impressive 30% faster incremental build time. That's not an insignificant improvement.
Modern warfare phone number. This metric is also supported by the April 2019 press release from the VS for Mac team. I used to design my development process in such a way that I could multitask to stay efficient and productive. I'm happy to report those days are gone with much improved build speeds, making the Xamarin app building process something I can say I truly enjoy.
4. .NET Core 3 Support Available Right Out of the Gate
Does Visual Studio 2019 have .NET Core 3 support? Yes, but that's no reason to jump over to your Windows machine! You can use all the same, wonderful new stuff on your Apple machine, too.
In fact, I'd argue that Visual Studio for Mac is an excellent place to start learning how to build apps for .NET Core 3. With fewer small windows everywhere like it's Windows-based cousin, VS for Mac allows for a more-focused process.
5. Robust Source Control Options
This is where some 'same but different' comes into play. I find that developers coming over from Swift or Objective C development enjoy the experience of source control within Visual Studio for Mac. While there IS a difference in the process for Windows users, I don't find it particularly difficult. Visual Studio for Mac supports Git and Subversion built into the IDE, as well as TFS with a little more effort.
I have used the Github Desktop app for source control of my folders without much issue. This is also my source control workflow for VS Code, and while it is not integrated into the IDE of VS for Mac, it's also not a bad option. For the hardcore command line peeps, you can alternatively use Git inside the CLI tool Terminal, which is native to Apple OS. There is no learning curve here at all for developers who use command line.
Who Should Use Visual Studio for Mac?
Visual Studio for Mac is a strong choice for many developers and many use cases. Here are a few that come to mind:
.NET users building Xamarin mobile apps that require IOS builds will benefit tremendously from having all their development on a single machine. Num lock apple wireless keyboard.
Developers working with .NET Core, who love working on a Mac, and currently use a virtual machine or Bootcamp to run Visual Studio in a windows environment will benefit from not having to switch over from the Apple operating system constantly.
Unity game developers will find VS for Mac be very intuitive option.
The last group to come over will be .NET Framework developers who have worked with Visual Studio on Windows as their only option for .NET 4.7.2 for example. Sadly no, .NET Framework cannot run on VS for Mac. However, once you are ready to start building your apps or microservices in .NET Core - check it out!
New functionality, extensions and templates are all coming this next year to Visual Studio for Mac that make living in harmony with Apple + Microsoft a real joy.
Learn More About .NET Core, Xamarin, Apple & OAuth
Macbook Pro Visual Studio Tutorial
If you'd like to learn more about ASP.NET, Xamarin, or Apple, we've also published a number of posts that might interest you:
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