Mac mini
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I have it in mind to investigate Apple's wares since it's been a long, long time since I last used a Mac of any description. I've considered a Mac Book (the wife would probably confiscate it and claim I'd bought it for her), a Mac Pro (don't want another desktop cluttering up the place), an iMac (seems expensive for what it is - although budget isn't a constraint) and a Mac mini. I'm favouring the Mac Mini, largely because it's more reasonably priced, the spec appears to be ok (if not mind blowing), it's small and presumably I can plug my existing monitor, keyboard and mouse into it. However, are there any gotchas with the Mac mini? I'd like to muck around with Apple's development tools - are there any stupid constraints that prevent this or other limitations I should be aware of?
print "http://www.codeproject.com".toURL().text Ain't that Groovy?
martin_hughes wrote:
I'd like to muck around with Apple's development tools
Apple has development tools? I didn't even think they had a true C++ compiler. Marc
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martin_hughes wrote:
I'd like to muck around with Apple's development tools
Apple has development tools? I didn't even think they had a true C++ compiler. Marc
Apple give every person who buys a Mac their development tools. I assume their C++ compiler is not great, because Mac applications are written in Objective C, not C++. That's assuming that's even true, I don't know, I do know you can write your business logic in C++ if you like, but the UI is going to be OC.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. "I am new to programming world. I have been learning c# for about past four weeks. I am quite acquainted with the fundamentals of c#. Now I have to work on a project which converts given flat files to XML using the XML serialization method" - SK64 ( but the forums have stuff like this posted every day )
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martin_hughes wrote:
I'd like to muck around with Apple's development tools
Apple has development tools? I didn't even think they had a true C++ compiler. Marc
No idea. I read on wikipedia (and from what CG said above, I gather this might be true) that they ship a modified version of the GNU Compiler Collection. I'm lead to believe that you can C++ to your heart's content, if that's what floats your boat, with the GNU CC. Whether it's a true C++ compiler, I don't know - I wouldn't know a false C++ compiler if it came up, smacked me over the head with a bag of turnips and then forced me to read every tome on Design Patterns in Java ever written, twice.
print "http://www.codeproject.com".toURL().text Ain't that Groovy?
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No idea. I read on wikipedia (and from what CG said above, I gather this might be true) that they ship a modified version of the GNU Compiler Collection. I'm lead to believe that you can C++ to your heart's content, if that's what floats your boat, with the GNU CC. Whether it's a true C++ compiler, I don't know - I wouldn't know a false C++ compiler if it came up, smacked me over the head with a bag of turnips and then forced me to read every tome on Design Patterns in Java ever written, twice.
print "http://www.codeproject.com".toURL().text Ain't that Groovy?
I think it's possible to download the sources for GCC, G++ and LD and build them on the Mac. Either way, I've got a cross-compiler if you need it with C++ package included - it just doesn't link anything in by itself, so you'll need to be fairly explicit in what you include
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martin_hughes wrote:
I'd like to muck around with Apple's development tools
Apple has development tools? I didn't even think they had a true C++ compiler. Marc
They use the GNU C++ compiler and it works ok. I am in the process of porting WPF app to Mac (yes you read it correctly. WPF to Mac not vice versa). I use a little C++ weherever I get chance because I don't like programming in plain old C. BTW: Jim Crafton's excellent VCF library is written in C++ and works on Mac.
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I have it in mind to investigate Apple's wares since it's been a long, long time since I last used a Mac of any description. I've considered a Mac Book (the wife would probably confiscate it and claim I'd bought it for her), a Mac Pro (don't want another desktop cluttering up the place), an iMac (seems expensive for what it is - although budget isn't a constraint) and a Mac mini. I'm favouring the Mac Mini, largely because it's more reasonably priced, the spec appears to be ok (if not mind blowing), it's small and presumably I can plug my existing monitor, keyboard and mouse into it. However, are there any gotchas with the Mac mini? I'd like to muck around with Apple's development tools - are there any stupid constraints that prevent this or other limitations I should be aware of?
print "http://www.codeproject.com".toURL().text Ain't that Groovy?
I will not recommend mac mini. I will certainly recommend an iMac. The trick of ordering an iMac is not to order with minimum memory and upgrade yourself later on.
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I think it's possible to download the sources for GCC, G++ and LD and build them on the Mac. Either way, I've got a cross-compiler if you need it with C++ package included - it just doesn't link anything in by itself, so you'll need to be fairly explicit in what you include
Thanks - I think if I do get a Mac I'll mostly be looking at Objective C, but if I do need to do any C++ and run into problems, I'll bear this in mind.
print "http://www.codeproject.com".toURL().text Ain't that Groovy?
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I have it in mind to investigate Apple's wares since it's been a long, long time since I last used a Mac of any description. I've considered a Mac Book (the wife would probably confiscate it and claim I'd bought it for her), a Mac Pro (don't want another desktop cluttering up the place), an iMac (seems expensive for what it is - although budget isn't a constraint) and a Mac mini. I'm favouring the Mac Mini, largely because it's more reasonably priced, the spec appears to be ok (if not mind blowing), it's small and presumably I can plug my existing monitor, keyboard and mouse into it. However, are there any gotchas with the Mac mini? I'd like to muck around with Apple's development tools - are there any stupid constraints that prevent this or other limitations I should be aware of?
print "http://www.codeproject.com".toURL().text Ain't that Groovy?
I bought a Mac mini out of the same curiosity. In fact, I got a discount on one that someone had opened and returned. The main "gotcha" is that the poor thing is woefully under-powered. Mine had minimal RAM (512MB), and the hard drive is a laptop hard drive. I ended up buying RAM and opening it, which is kind of like opening up an iPod -- everything is close together, and the experience is like biting off your own leg to get out of a trap. I've considered doing something about the hard drive, but am trying to keep away from it. That said, maybe there's a souped-up version on offer, with a 7200 RPM drive. It's unobtrusively small, and could be a good introduction to the world of Apple.
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I have it in mind to investigate Apple's wares since it's been a long, long time since I last used a Mac of any description. I've considered a Mac Book (the wife would probably confiscate it and claim I'd bought it for her), a Mac Pro (don't want another desktop cluttering up the place), an iMac (seems expensive for what it is - although budget isn't a constraint) and a Mac mini. I'm favouring the Mac Mini, largely because it's more reasonably priced, the spec appears to be ok (if not mind blowing), it's small and presumably I can plug my existing monitor, keyboard and mouse into it. However, are there any gotchas with the Mac mini? I'd like to muck around with Apple's development tools - are there any stupid constraints that prevent this or other limitations I should be aware of?
print "http://www.codeproject.com".toURL().text Ain't that Groovy?
I`m using a Mac mini (or mini-Mac, as I lke to say) to do iPhone development, using Xcode - it works fine. I went for the highest spec version, since upgrading it later is difficult - but, by the time one has added the options, the price is not as appealing. I also went for a Logitech Bluetooth mouse and the Apple Bluetooth keyboard, which work great. Everything works so smoothly and elegantly, set up is so quick and easy, it is well worth the extra. It is also *very* small and quiet. Good luck, Mike
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Thanks - I think if I do get a Mac I'll mostly be looking at Objective C, but if I do need to do any C++ and run into problems, I'll bear this in mind.
print "http://www.codeproject.com".toURL().text Ain't that Groovy?
As far as (the docs I'm reading from apple about Obj. C) I know, obj. C is a superset of C. The first line of the docs say,
Objective-C is defined as a small but powerful set of extensions to the
standard ANSI C language. Its additions to C are mostly based on
Smalltalk, one of the first object-oriented programming languages.It feels absolutely like COM.