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Windows to Mac Switch - Coding Questions

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A question for the web designers out there...I have been buiding websites for 4 years now on a windows platform. Over the last few weeks I have been reading into Mac OSX and I'm thinking of making the switch (I have my eye on a 15" PowerBook).

So the gist of this post is, can I code just as well on OSX as I do on Win XP?

The tools of my trade include Homesite, TopStyle, Photoshop and Firefox. I also require PHP, mySQL and Apache to run smoothly.

Now I know I cannot get Homesite on the Mac but I can use BBEdit. Likewise, I cannot get TopStyle but I can use Style Master. PhotoShop is not a problem as is Firefox.

What I'd like to know is does anyone actually develop on a Mac? I'm thinking that because it's based on a UNIX platform it should actually be better for PHP, mySQL and Apache. I've tried Linux but I don't like any of the editors available.

Question is aimed solely at handcoders and not the Dreamweaver gang :)

Many Thanks

Comments

  • newfoundglory
    newfoundglory Posts: 1,912 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    There won't be a difference. Its just an operating system - a BSD unix based OS at that. You get all the standard text editing tools for Mac and Linux, and of course if there is one you can't find you have the selection of virtually any Linux or BSD open source application out there. If you are worried about editors and such, i'd check that out before you buy. I find it hard to believe this isn't an editor for Linux or BSD that you like... since there are absolutely loads out there!!??

    Obviously, most windows software you buy, you have to buy again to run on a Mac. This is probably true for Photoshop!

    From playing with my housemates powerbook, i think Apache actually comes installed with 10.3 (could be wrong), but of course there is the Fink project which ports Unix and Linux applications to make sure they compile and run under OS X (you should have noooo problems getting php/apache/mysql to work)

    I'd sit on the idea of moving to a Mac though until the next OS X, 10.4 tiger is announced (which should happen this month).

    http://fink.sourceforge.net/index.php?phpLang=en
  • I've got a mac in the spare bedroom running Jaguar (OSX 10.2.8). Apache comes pre-installed, just tick a box to turn it on. I installed MySQL and PHP packages as well, no problem. Took about 5 minutes in total.

    All my code is XHTML 1.0 but I tend to use either markdown or textile markup to make the code within BBedit - you can find instructions for installing either of these markup structures on macosxhints.com.

    Looking VERY seriously at switching from the PC in the near future, I'm going to be in the market for a laptop and the ibook is looking very tempting as I am much more comfortable with a mac than a PC now (never did grow to like XP, still using 2000).

    G
    Wot, no sig?
  • Getafix
    Getafix Posts: 126 Forumite
    Thanks guys you've put my mind at rest.
    I've been living under the misconception that Mac's are for designers only!
    I find it hard to believe there isn't an editor for Linux or BSD that you like... since there are absolutely loads out there!!??
    Well it was a combination of a few things really - terrible driver support for my ATI video card - no decent CSS tools - GIMP just isn't Photoshop. A lot of ppl say that the only thing stopping them from adopting desktop Linux and dropping Windows, is the unavailability of the Macromedia Suite and Adobe Photoshop.

    Don't get me wrong, there are certainly some great Linux distro's out there, but OSX just feels complete. Plus I get to carry on using Style Master!

    I await the release of Tiger :)

    Thanks again!
  • newfoundglory
    newfoundglory Posts: 1,912 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Apple is becoming quite popular; a lot of programmers are starting to realise its just FreeBSD unix underneath all the pretty stuff on top and are beginning to switch. I haven't got a Mac, but I use FreeBSD all the time on my laptop.
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