Programming on Mac
Hello guys!
I am an computer engineering student and I wanted to ask you how much useful the Macs are when it comes to programming.
I need C, C++ and Java for my programming. I use a windows desktop now. I wanted to ask you guys if I could use a MacBook Air for programming.
Will I be able to compile and run C, C++, Java programs on Mac OS X.
Or u can give an advice on how are the Macs for Computer Engineering??
Thank you!! 
Comments
With the Development Tools including Xcode installed, the Mac is arguably the best programming environment on any platform. Unlike your current environment where the development environment costs an arm and a leg, Apple's development environments have a long tradition of being free. Prior to MacOS X, there were several expensive third-party development environments for the Mac, but Apple Macintosh Programmers Workbench (MPW) was absolutely free. The development environment for NeXTstep/OpenSTEP was free. For most of its history, Xcode was free. Under Snow Leopard, Apple moved Xcode to the Mac App Store and jacked its price up to $5.00. However, it is my understanding that this fantastic IDE is now free once again. Xcode is built around GCC, the GNU Compiler Collection. GCC includes Unix-standard C, C++, and many other languages. Although Java is now an optional download, Xcode includes built-in support for Java. You may run any of Xcode's supported compilers and many others from the Terminal command line if that is your choice.
You will be well-served if you go to the Programming area of this forum and ask questions about the specific types of programming that you want to do. C and C++ are not types of programming. They are programming languages.
Thank you very much for your reply Mr. Me. It was very helpful. But I didn't understand the thing about programming area of this forum. Where is that? Please guide me. Thanks once again!
My bad. This forum does not have a an devoted to programming. However, other Mac fans site have such areas. The Software Programming and Web Scripting area of MacOS X.com comes to mind.
As Mr. Me says, Macs have excellent support for programming in C, C++, and Java, and Apple's Xcode software is free. However, I would also check with the faculty of your Computer Engineering department to find out what platforms and tools they recommend.
Instructors may only be familiar with certain programming tools, and might be unable or unwilling to assist with problems if you are using something else. I would expect a school to use Eclipse, which is a free, open source IDE that runs on Macs, Windows, and Linux; It's probably the most commonly used tool for Java development, and does C/C++ as well.
Classes *might* require proprietary languages or platforms beyond what you list. "Write a WPF Application in C#" (Microsoft Windows technologies). I would hope that any such classes would be electives. However, you can also use Boot Camp or a virtual machine to run Windows on a Mac.
Once you get into specific programming questions, I would recommend looking into www.stackoverflow.com!
Thanks a lot for your help mbmcavoy. As you said, I have checked with my faculty and they are quite comfort able with Mac OS X. So I think I will buy a MacBook Pro. And If any problem occurs, I have my windows desktop or I will run windows on the Mac. Just tell me what option of the following 3 is best for running Windows on Mac: 1. BootCamp. 2. Parallels. 3. VMware Fusion
Thank you!
Glad to help!
I have not personally run Windows on my Macs, so I can't relate direct experience. I've looked into it a couple of times, but always found a native OS X solution...
Boot Camp is a dual-boot solution, so you can select OS X or Windows at boot time. If you want to switch, you need to then reboot into the other. If you want to frequently switch back and forth or multitask, this is noot good; a virtual machine will leave OS X always running, and you can start and stop Windows when you want in parallel. I have heard good things about Virtual Box, and it is free.