Microsoft releases preview edition of Visual Studio for Mac

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in Mac Software
As anticipated earlier this week, Microsoft on Wednesday released Visual Studio for the Mac, bringing over one of its signature Windows developer tools.




The Mac edition is currently available only in a free preview build, but takes advantage of technology Microsoft acquired from Xamarin to support C# development for iOS, macOS, Windows, and Android, including access to the Xamarin Test Cloud. For server-based projects, the app supports Azure and .NET Core.

Users can integrate NuGet packages, and a number of third-party resources like Git and Subversion. Other features include Intellisense code completion, visual designers, and universal search across files, types, members, commands, and NuGets.

Traditionally Microsoft has encouraged developers to remain with Windows, but in recent years the company has become more platform-agnostic, willing to support other devices and operating systems -- so long as people use Microsoft software and services.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 11
    maysonmayson Posts: 6member
    In other words, a renamed version of Xamarin Studio, not a port of Visual Studio.
    libertyforallnetmage
  • Reply 2 of 11
    mystigomystigo Posts: 183member
    Save yourself 15 GB. Targets all get a big red X next to them with the helpful message "Load failed: Unknown solution item type" that pops up sometimes when you roll over them. This was on a VS 2015 project my team works on on Windows boxes. If only I could find where the 15 GBs went.
  • Reply 3 of 11
    RosynaRosyna Posts: 87member
    mayson said:
    In other words, a renamed version of Xamarin Studio, not a port of Visual Studio.
    Specially it's Xamarin Studio 7.0 and the release notes are the changes from Xamarin Studio 6.2.
  • Reply 4 of 11
    ajmasajmas Posts: 601member
    Is this a case of 'Visual Studio is dead', long live Visual Studio'? In other words is the rebranded Xamarin Studio the new Visual Studio on all platforms?
  • Reply 5 of 11
    RosynaRosyna Posts: 87member
    ajmas said:
    Is this a case of 'Visual Studio is dead', long live Visual Studio'? In other words is the rebranded Xamarin Studio the new Visual Studio on all platforms?
    No. It only applies to the Mac version. The Windows version of VS is still the full blown VS. the Mac version is missing basic features in the real version.
    netmage
  • Reply 6 of 11
    bestkeptsecretbestkeptsecret Posts: 4,265member

    So it only supports C# projects, not VB.NET projects? That's sad.

    What about the data-source options? I'm assuming they will bring MS SQL Server (at least the Express edition) support sooner or later, but what are we limited to at launch?

    Tying to GIT is good.

    I was hoping to ditch my Surface Pro to get the new MBP for work and not worry about Bootcamp of VMs, but looks like that isn't an option just yet.

     


  • Reply 7 of 11
    ipilyaipilya Posts: 195member
    OMG! The library files for VS total 10GB - but I guess (hate to admit) balances out with Xcode :(
    edited November 2016
  • Reply 8 of 11
    lowededwookielowededwookie Posts: 1,143member
    So how do you compile apps for iOS? Is it possible? Does it fob off compilation to Xcode or what?
  • Reply 9 of 11
    ipilyaipilya Posts: 195member
    FYI: The Storyboard is based on Xcode so you need it installed as well. Compile seems local... but who knows it could be calling into the utilities from Xcode as well. There is a configuration for signing the app. To deploy to an iOS device, you simply plug it in through USB and select it as the target (after adding your key of course). VS seems like the final shift for .Net App Development in that its now a single language (or two - F#) for all platforms which is the complete polar opposite of the original .Net objective of any-language for one platform.
  • Reply 10 of 11
    cwingravcwingrav Posts: 83member
    Microsoft's Visual Studio really was an innovative product YEARS ago when I first came across it (I think version 2 or 4). It's debugging engine was amazing at the time. That innovation seems to have stopped and all i see is bloat and features that I never use. Can anyone familiar with it comment on their experience? This is just out of curiosity. These days I do my development with so many different tools and platforms that I can't use one single development environment. I'm not looking to switch or anything, just curious.
  • Reply 11 of 11
    ailsa1ailsa1 Posts: 1member
    Looks like Visual studio has renamed its version of Xamarin Studio, which was not a part of Visual Studio. I also read some articles https://www.macobserver.com/news/product-news/mac-developers-microsofts-visual-studio-mac/
    https://www.mindstick.com/Articles/12378/visual-studio-for-mac-is-out-of-beta-preview-now-officially-available
Sign In or Register to comment.