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I have problem with the autocomplete in ActionScript (Flash CS6), so I tried to change the IDE.Unfortunately I find Flashdevelop but it's a windows version.
Is there IDE for developping in ActionScript (Flash) on Mac osx.
You can try Intellij IDEA (is not free like FlashDevelop), I use it and it is better then Flash Builder(I used both) it is missing a UI designer(I think there is a plugin, the developers I know hand code the UI in mxml(drag dropping is for beginners) but a UI designer is useful sometimes.
If you want to spend money, checkout FDT, IntelliJ IDEA and Flash Builder. If you look for something free, there's a free very limited FDT version.
Other then that there also were some standard text editor which people enhanced with some basic dev functionality, for example:
http://www.sephiroth.it/python/sepy.php tried this some years ago and it was unstable on macs. might have improved since then.
Textmate
jEdit
VI http://vrichard86.wordpress.com/2012/12/02/how-to-write-your-own-as3-project-using-vi-and-how-to-compile-it-under-ubuntu-linux-actionscript-3-0/
If you really want to develop bigger projects on a mac I would suggest using one of the paid projects, since productivty with the free products usually is noticable lower.
I found Sublime Text 2 (mac osx) is very simple and useful in AS3 in addition to that the autocomplete is very fast.
Currently i am using Mac OS X 10.6.4 and i want to know what are the tools(automated & manual) that i can install in my mac for testing purpose.Generally i need this for different kind of Website & Mobile platform testing.
There are plenty of open source tools for testing. Many are cross platform and will work on Mac.
Specifically, I recall watching the demo of Project Sikuli which looks very innovative and simple to use. It is work in progress, though.
Ottomate is one that I saw seemed pretty interesting. It might only be for Safari though unfortunately. Eggplant is another one as well. I'm trying to find a solution to this problem as well.
I've been using MacBook Pro for a few months at home, and I was wondering if there's a good book or guide that can help me be a better programmer on Mac. Maybe Mac-equivalent of Beginning Linux Programming. Note I am not looking for resource on how to program Mac application, instead I am looking for more general guide of using Mac for general development environment.
As a background, I am a Windows programmer by day. I've also done some Linux and BSD over the years, esp in school, like socket programming, graphics, make install type stuff. At home, I'll be doing Java, Scala, PHP, etc. on Mac.
So far, I've been using Eclipse, QuickSilver, and TextMate. VMWare Fusion, XCode and NetBeans are set up, but I don't use them. A DVI KVM switch is hooked up to real keyboard, trackball, and monitor. Recently stayed up till late fighting with MacPorts, and figured out I needed x86_64. The most struggle I had was configuring PHP. I don't know why they don't ship with MySQL and GD library. I eventually figured it out Googling around, and built the extensions from source. I have a feeling that I didn't get the memo and didn't read some basic guide on how to become a programmer on Mac, like how the whole architecture works. How can a Windows programmer be sufficiently productive on Mac OS X?
Related: Setting up a Mac for programmers
Edit: The specific type of application I want to develop doesn't really matter in my opinion. It could be Java, Scala, PHP as I mentioned or Cocoa, C++, or whatever.
What I am looking for is specific book, resource, advice on how to be more effective programmer on Mac, preferably something beyond "install XYZ".
Having converted from Windows to Mac OS X about five years ago, I often find myself thinking the same thing. I just cannot be productive on Windows (as much, I can be productive) as I can on Mac OS X.
To be honest, there are lots of small differences between Mac OS X and Windows. I find the biggest reason for people thinking like this (at it normally only applies to gamers and developers) is that they are trying to use the Mac like a Windows machine. You need to learn to accept that you have to use the command key, not the control key, etc.
It sounds like you are using a Mac because you have to as opposed to because you want to. It really is a much better platform than Windows once you get used to it.
I think a lot of Windows programmers come to Mac and don't try to learn it properly because they are complacent thinking they know it all because they have "used Windows all their life". I guess once you discover Spotlight, Expose, Mac OS X Keyboard shortcuts, etc. You will find your self being MUCH more productive that you ever were on Windows.... and its actually a fun OS to use.
Checkout some of the best Mac applications you can get here and here. You can also do a search for "top 100 mac apps".
Also, I noticed you were trying to setup some kind of web server directly into Mac OS X. It does ship with one, but if you are going to add MySQL and some other extensions I wouldn't go the MacPorts route. Get VMWare Fusion or VirtualBox (open source) and run the server in a VM. Much cleaner. I have a subversion/trac FreeBSD VM that handles my local version control.
I would like to add that if you don't presently use Xcode, you should definitely learn it and use it asap. It's a much nicer IDE to use than Visual Studio and it will make your life much easier.
Don't forget you have probably spent years on Windows help sites, you're going to a small degree need to do that with the Mac. Whenever you have a problem about using the Mac, ask a question on ServerFault. We are all more than eager to help you out.
Good luck.
You seem to want an overview of how Mac OS X works at a system level, more than recomenations about tools and so forth. If that's the case, I'd start with the (very basic) Mac OS X System Architecture Guide from Apple, then move on to Getting Started with Mac OS X, which should give you enough of an overview to get started.
It's not clear from your question what you intend to actually make with your programming time, but if you decide to persue Cocoa/OS X development, I recommend Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X by Aaron Hillegass.
I have a similar situation like yours. I use Windows for development and about a year back purchased a MBP for home (as I shifted to an office). I find it really difficult to get any real work done on my MBP. Somehow am used to the Windows environment with dual screens. But let that not stop you. A couple of software which I suggest you should get are:
Transmit - Good ftp client
MAMP - Runs a webserver nearly out-of-the-box. Good for basic development
Quicksilver - Helps in quick finding of applications
Spaces along with gestures (Configure your gestures to move from one screen to another, I use three fingers glide. its amazing)
Entourage - for email
Terminal - for ssh (putty alternative) (included)
Dreamweaver/BBedit/Textmate (all pretty decent. but i love editplus on windows. not a fan of IDE)
I assume your question is not about learning COCOA and more about being more effective using a MAC. Well, the above tools might help you.
Unfortunately, your question isn't very clear as to what you really want.
If you're looking to write anything cross-platform, it can be very helpful to have a virtual machine for testing. When in Linux, I've always used VirtualBox, and it works on OS X as well.
Also, as for choice of IDE, a lot of it comes down to your preference. Eclipse is nice because there's a plugin for almost everything for it. My experience with TextMate is limited, but my local Ruby Users Group swears by it.
Finally, a suggestion for not just Mac, but any platform really. Learn your hotkeys, set up new ones for things you commonly do, and use them frequently. Not having to take your hands off the keyboard to click a mouse through a few menus can really improve productivity. It may take a little time for them to grow on you, but once they become second nature, you'll wonder how you lived without them.
Basically, you can apply all your Linux/UNIX knowledge that you already have to the Mac. If you use the Terminal (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app) you can run all your favorite UNIX commands. Mac has a special command called "open" which is equivalent to the Windows "start" command (used to launch programs and files). You can also use "open -a" to open an application by name (e.g. "open -a Finder").
You might want to reconsider Xcode. Xcode opens more quickly than Eclipse and provides very good syntax highlighting, brace matching, block indenting, and more. Xcode doesn't have to be used as an IDE, you can also use it as a code editor, just like you are currently using TextMate.
For code editing (and everything else), try Aquamacs (http://www.aquamacs.org). It's a Cocoa-native build of Emacs, and it's brilliant for any programming task.
As a developer coming from a Windows background, I'd always find the different Powertoys and Sysinternals apps as invaluable tools in aiding programming. Is there something similar for a developer to watch for in the Mac world?
A lot of those types of tools are included with the Mac OS, and some are available separately from Apple.
There's no Mac equivalent of the registry - everything goes in the file system somewhere - and you can use fs_usage to watch that. In a terminal:
sudo fs_usage
Check out Instruments, part of the Apple developer tools distribution.
Top 10 DTrace scripts for Mac OS X is an article that describes ten really useful tools that are Mac equivalents of some of the Sysinternals tools such as ProcessMon, FileMon, etc.
The post's author created some of the scripts when he made the DTraceToolkit, which he says Apple then customized and enhanced for inclusion by default in Mac OS X.
Some script names look like they end with the word "noop," which might be a bit confusing--it's actually "snoop." As in spying on system activity.
Mac OS X comes with a lot of unix tools like sar, top, etc. What metrics are you looking for specifically?
Not as such. Some of the Powertoys implement features that are built-in to the OS, some are available as various utility programs.
As for Sysinternals, there are quite a lot of them. If you want specifics I'd need a better idea of what you use, but you could probably duplicate 90% of the functionality just from a terminal window. Learning how to use bash and the normal Unix utilities would be a very good skill to have.
http://newosxbook.com/index.php?page=downloads provide almost exact counterparts, albeit in CLI mode - with the upside that they also work on (jailbroken) iOS.
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I recently switched over to a MacBook Pro so I'm still really new at Mac software ecosystem. What is the best guide or what tips do you have to quickly get adept at using Mac for developing on both Mac/Unix and MS platforms (*.NET, SharePoint, SQL Server, etc) using VMWare Fusion? For example, I've setup NetBeans, FlexBuilder, Eclipse, TextMate, VMWare Fusion, OpenOffice, FireFox, dragged Terminal.app to my dock, upgraded the Ruby installation and related gems and so on... Things I've not done but looking at (based on other's experiences) include QuickSilver (is it all that different than SpotLight?), MacPorts (or Fink?), getting started with iPhone, Android, and so on. You can tell from my inexperience that I don't know what the best ways of doing things are yet, and don't want to get in the habit of just installing things and then leave files and stuff laying around slowing the system down. If you have any really cool tips about setting up a developer's Mac please share them!
Update: The nature of my job is I'm always working with new/different technologies, some Windows/MS based, some not, and with the Mac (and Fusion) even the MS based stuff is more enjoyable to me.
I'd highly recommend MacPorts - you can quickly and easily install new packages with a simple
sudo port install package-name
Instead of having to deal with browsing a website to find the distribution, download a disk image, and run an installer, or downloading a tarball and untarring it, running a configure script, and running make, etc.
Find some cash and invest in extra memory for your mac. I know it's probably not the tip you want to hear, but honestly, it'll save you frustration in the long run. Apple ships these babies with way less memory than they deserve, and charges an arm and a leg for an expansion. I had a Mac Pro (quad-core Xeon) crawl to a halt until I got some real memory in there.
Another tip is to get a decent keyboard and mouse. Don't trust Steve Jobs with that "single mouse key for everything" crap. It works for ichat, not for real programming. Get yourself a real keyboard and a real mouse with multiple buttons. Configure your middle scrollwheel button to open expose or whatever it is that shows you all windows. Configure your fourth button for magnification.
Also, from your description it sounds like you don't really know what it is that you want to develop. If you're doing mac-specific things, get used to XCode ASAP and lose the rest. If you want to be doing windows programming, not sure why you would use a mac. If you want Java, you have Eclipse, you're ready to go.
Install all the Mac dev stuff, XCode etc., so you get the compilers.
For sure, Macports. Look through their catalog and install all the usual packages you're used to from Linux or other systems -- including development-related stuff like flex/bison, emacs, doxygen, m4, perl, python, etc.
I prefer "iTerm" over the built-in terminal. Don't forget to "export COMMAND_MODE=unix2003" that makes a number of things work the way you're used to.
I haven't given URLs for any of the things I've mentioned. That's what Google is for.
First, install XCode. This gives you the Mac OS X development environment, but most importantly it also installs GCC so you can build both your own projects and applications that are distributed as source code. After that I'd suggest checking out TextMate, a popular text editor for Mac OS X (as seen in the Rails screencasts). If you're an Emacs/Vim user, there's Aquamacs and MacVim.
Invest in a good text editor. See the following questions:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/100084/what-is-a-good-gui-text-editor-for-the-mac
Mac text/code editor
And by 'invest' I mean both money and/or learning time.
XCode is a good enough editor for Objective-C, but I wouldn't use it as my primary editor for everything.
(MacVim is my choice)
Install the latest version of Xcode (you will need this even if your not developing macintosh/iphone applications)
Install macports for most of your OSS tools (you'll need Xcode first)
To run tools that aren't OSS or are windows only install virtualbox I know there are alernatives (VM fusion is highly rated) but virtual box is free
Install an IDE if you do not want to use Xcode as your IDE (for example eclipse and netbeans)
Finally if you have some cash
Upgrade the ram if required (sw developers love ram especially if you are running a vm :) )
A second display, I can't imagine developing with less than two displays
I did the same in August this year, I bought a Macbook Pro (the small of them but with 200Gb 7200rpm and 4Gb of RAM), and I can tell you about my experience.
I'm a .NET developer and been ASP programmer for more than 10 years, so all I did was Microsoft related, never ever, aparat of installing and playing with Ubuntu, I had experience in the Linux world.
But my mind was on the iPhone SDK development and I even paid my inscription on the iPhone developer Program, all was lovely, I just loved my new Mac! But... Mac programming is a hobby for me, and believe me, Fusion, and even with my 4Gb and placed 2Gb for each OS, does not move as better as in a "normal" laptop, so after 4 month of struggling I formatted my laptop and created a Bootcamp partition (WOW, now I can use it for Windows!) and Fusion can run that Boot camp partition like a Virtual Machine image, and that is good for little times that I need to do something quick.
What you refer and as Uri mention, I don't thing that you know what you are going to do, having a "bunch" of apps in the laptop does say that, because, all you needed is Eclipse for everything else and XCode 3.1 with the SDK for Mac related apps, nothing more!
I was like you, but I realized that I didn't open any other programs that those 2, and except for compiling Objective-C code, was the Mac your better choice?
Instead of vmware fusion, virtualbox.org is free and worth a look.
My choice for a great all-around text editor would be TextWrangler.
Make sure you install Developer Tools (XCode) from your OS disc (and don't try and install GNU version over the top of it :P).
You've already done everything I have, except I'm using Virtual Box instead of VMWare.
I've found OpenOffice to be very slow compared to the actual Microsoft Office for Mac. If you have some budget, I'd recommend that over OpenOffice.
I can second the recommendation for QuickSilver - it's one of the best launchers I've used.
For IM clients, if you have contacts outside of the AIM network then you may want to try Adium - a free multi-IM-network chat client that has handy things like searchable transcripts.
Another general utility that I highly recommend is iStat menus - it gives you a realtime monitor of CPU, memory, disk, etc. right in your menu bar.
QuickSilver is a very good option and yes, it is a bit different from Spotlight due to the large number of plugins you can have. If you have NetBeans, maybe you don't need Eclipse. I'd even say that with TextMate (my editor of choice too), you don't need NetBeans either :)
I second MacPorts, it is more up to date than fink and closer to the FreeBSD ports system (where I come from).
Install Windows using Boot Camp. You can then dual boot between OSX and Windows, use windows as normal for MS development, and OSX for your other non MS stuff.