Using Parallels for Software Development

[rtharper]

So I'm in a Windows Programming class (I took it for the prof, and I needed an elective =p), which uses C++, C#, the Win32 API, and .NET. Long story short, I need Windows for 14 weeks. I'd rather not install Boot Camp. I never use Windows and don't plan to use it after this class. So, I was wondering if any of you have used Visual Studio .NET through parallels? Any problems using/compiling/executing?

 

[ewinemiller]

I'm running .NET 2005 off a boot camp partition under Parallels. I've noticed no problems so far. The only limitation I've really hit is that I can't test/fix my threaded code that way, so I do boot camp when that comes up.

Good luck

 

[mkrishnan]

Does that restriction apply to any code that has more than one thread? Doesn't that make it pretty useless? Or do you just mean you want to test thread efficiency, and so being in a virtualized machine has issues?

It seems like, if you have Windows, you might as well install a partition you can use with a combination of Bootcamp and the latest Parallels/beta (which can just use the Bootcamp partition). If nothing else, you've always got a testing platform to see, e.g., how your web code runs in MSIE.

 

[rtharper]

It seems like, if you have Windows, you might as well install a partition you can use with a combination of Bootcamp and the latest Parallels/beta (which can just use the Bootcamp partition). If nothing else, you've always got a testing platform to see, e.g., how your web code runs in MSIE.

I don't do web development, and almost never write code for Windows. I work almost exclusively in various unix environments.

 

[ewinemiller]

Does that restriction apply to any code that has more than one thread? Doesn't that make it pretty useless? Or do you just mean you want to test thread efficiency, and so being in a virtualized machine has issues?

Parallels only exposes one CPU to the virtualization so if you've got anything where you testing a problem that only shows when there are dual processors, you need to do it in boot camp. It is unlikely something you will need to deal with in a 14 week Windows programming course.

 

[balamw]

Parallels only exposes one CPU to the virtualization so if you've got anything where you testing a problem that only shows when there are dual processors, you need to do it in boot camp. It is unlikely something you will need to deal with in a 14 week Windows programming course.

Doesn't VMWare Fusion support virtualizing both CPUs?

B

 

[mkrishnan]

Parallels only exposes one CPU to the virtualization so if you've got anything where you testing a problem that only shows when there are dual processors, you need to do it in boot camp. It is unlikely something you will need to deal with in a 14 week Windows programming course.

Ahhh, so multi-threaded apps simulate fine, as long as there is no issue related to actual use of more than one core / processor? Thanks for the education! And yeah, utterly irrelevant to a 14 week class.