macOS X Code and a Mac a decent idea for a CS student?

[Wolfpup]

I may take some programming classes-could even end up majoring in CS, I'm not sure. I'm just wondering if I'd be at a huge disadvantage by using a Mac with like X Code when taking C++ clases or Java or the like?

(I might not end up taking anything, but I'd like to have this option open.)

 

[robbieduncan]

Depends on the exact course. If you just need generic environments it's fine. If you have to use some specific Windows libraries/toolkits it's no use.

 

[Wolfpup]

Okay, thanks! At first it would just be generic C++ I think. I do like that Microsoft has that free C++ compiler for Windows (although I have no idea how it compares to X Code-could be worse for all I know).

 

[plinden]

If you do Java courses you can download and use Eclipse, which is crossplatform. Or if you have an Intel Mac you can install Windows in Parallels and use MS's free Visual C++ Express if you were doing a Windows-oriented C++ class.

 

[ChrisA]

I may take some programming classes-could even end up majoring in CS, I'm not sure. I'm just wondering if I'd be at a huge disadvantage by using a Mac with like X Code when taking C++ clases or Java or the like?

(I might not end up taking anything, but I'd like to have this option open.)

It depends. The beginner 101 level classes with titles like "C++" generally have very specific requirements and they will want all students to use the same environment. Later CS classes are not programming classes and they will let you use whatever computer system and programming languages you want. OK at least that's how it worked ages ago in the schools that I want to.

 

[LtRammstein]

I'm somewhat in the same boat with you. I'm a 2nd year Computer Engineering student, and I asked myself the same question. I recommend for the first year to use what the professors/teachers want. This will usually be Visual Studios 2004 (maybe 2005). Use that and get used to it. It will also help you understand debugging and compiling. As your skills improve you can slowly move to XCode. I don't recommend using XCode as your main environment because it's compiler is nothing compared to Visual Studio's.

Now for Java, you can use Eclipse (good program), but I was trained on BlueJ, which is free, but hard to get used to because the program is Java-based. I haven't tried coding in Java on XCode, but I won't because I despise Java with a passion.

 

[gnasher729]

I may take some programming classes-could even end up majoring in CS, I'm not sure. I'm just wondering if I'd be at a huge disadvantage by using a Mac with like X Code when taking C++ clases or Java or the like?

(I might not end up taking anything, but I'd like to have this option open.)

If it's good for every single professional MacOS X developer in the world, then it should be good for you.

 

[SamMiller0]

I may take some programming classes-could even end up majoring in CS, I'm not sure. I'm just wondering if I'd be at a huge disadvantage by using a Mac with like X Code when taking C++ clases or Java or the like?

I made it through 5 years of undergraduate and 3 years of graduate school as a computer engineer. All while using a sawtooth G4, quicksilver G4, 17" powerbook, and a mac mini.

 

[Wolfpup]

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[YoNeX]

Our current environemnt is Linux (CentOS), Emacs, GCC compiler for the regular C++ courses. For my assembly class, we use LC3-simulator and LC3-assembler with Emacs again as our editor. But quiet frankly, the teachers don't care which editor you use, as long as it doesn't mess up the formatting when the code gets submitted to them.