Developer tools for Mac

[tryin_to_learn]

My PC laptop is in its final death throes so I finally decided to take the plunge and have replaced it with a MacBook Pro. I’m trying to get the Mac up to speed with the various programs I’m going to need before I leave for a trip on 12/25. I’ve always used Dreamweaver but am not sure I want to shell out the bucks to get the Mac version. Someone told me I may be able to send the product code (for my PC version) to Adobe and that they might send me a code to download the Mac version for free. That’d be cool. But I also know that Dreamweaver isn't the only fish in the sea. Any suggestions for what I might use on my new Mac? Something that I can get up and running and be comfy using between now and 12/25?

Or – here’s another twist – I’ve ordered Parallels Desktop for Mac because there’s one web development program that’s a “must have” for me that is only available on Windows. I have no idea what to expect from Parallels but I've thought it might be slow or a pain to use so my original plan was to only use it for the things where I have no other choice. But I guess I COULD run my Windows version of Dreamweaver on that. Any thoughts on that option?

[kohoutek]

Just keep in mind that Parallels, VMWare Fusion, VirtualBox, and their kin all need lots of memory power.
I am on a Mac Pro (desktop) and have assigned VMWare Fusion 4 GB and it still isn't enough, really. I also have Parallels and its 4th iteration is said to be a lot better than the previous version I've used. I just haven't really tested the newer versions out yet.

As for having to pay for Dreamweaver..this is what Adobe says:

Can I upgrade from one platform to another for Macromedia Design and Development products? For example, if I own Dreamweaver for Windows now, can I switch to Dreamweaver for Macintosh when I upgrade?
A. No. You must purchase your upgrade product on the same platform as the eligible product that you now own.

A good alternative is Coda.

[ralph.m]

Yes, definitely check out Coda. Very impressive. I only use Dw because it came with the Adobe package. I wouldn't buy it for itself, though.

there’s one web development program that’s a “must have” for me that is only available on Windows.

Out of interest, what program was that? Are you sure there's not a Mac alternative.

Anyway, having virtual software for running Windoze is very handy for browser testing. I use VMWare, but I do find it a tad clunky, so I wonder how Parallels compares.

There are lots of other nice things for Mac, such as free Ps alternatives.

[gary.turner]

1. Don't waste your money or your time on Dreamweaver. It's an awfully expensive text editor (the wysiwyg mode turns out crap for code and should be avoided). Use a highly productive editor like Emacs or Vi(m).
   
2. You'll need an image manipulation program. Use the GIMP. People who are proficient in Photoshop have no problems in transferring their skills. For web graphics, it's the near duplicate in terms of capabilities. GIMP isn't for serious print graphics, though. Add a scaled vector graphics generator. My graphics person says Inkscape is superior to Illustrator, another massive savings. If you're not afraid of working with the command line, get the Imagemagick suite of utilities. You'll be amazed at what you can do by typing a few instructions. Many functions are far superior to what you can do in Photoshop, primarily due to better math algorithms, and some due to the finer granularity of control.
   
3. I can only speak of VirtualBox in Linux, but I've run multiple instances of Vista with only 512MB each. I am not running anything other than the basics plus multiple browsers not available for Linux. Anecdotally, Vista seems to run faster in a virtual machine than it does on the actual machine. :shrug:

Except for VirtualBox OSE, all my suggestions are free as in both beer and speech. VBox has (minimal) use restrictions, but is otherwise free.

cheers,

gary

[tryin_to_learn]

Yes, definitely check out Coda. Very impressive. I only use Dw because it came with the Adobe package. I wouldn't buy it for itself, though.

Out of interest, what program was that? Are you sure there's not a Mac alternative.

I downloaded a trial version of Coda last night. Haven't had time to try it yet but it certainly looks a lot cleaner and fresher than DW.

The program I need is TortoiseHg for revision control on some software I’m developing. I'm not the only person working on the software so switching to a comparable Mac program isn't feasible at this point. However, I installed Tortoise on my Mac/Windows last night but right now, I can only access it through the folders within Windows. I had hoped to be able to do my development on the Mac OS but use Tortoise from Windows for revision control. Does anyone know if there's something I need to do in Parallels (or TortoiseHg) to get that to work or is it not possible?

[tryin_to_learn]

1. Anecdotally, Vista seems to run faster in a virtual machine than it does on the actual machine. :shrug:

Amazing. Just amazing! LOL

Thanks for the tips about GIMP and Inkscape. I actually already have copies of Photoshop and Illustrator free from a previous job so I'll probably stick with those for now but it's still nice to know what's out there.

[ralph.m]

I installed Tortoise on my Mac/Windows last night but right now, I can only access it through the folders within Windows. I had hoped to be able to do my development on the Mac OS but use Tortoise from Windows for revision control. Does anyone know if there's something I need to do in Parallels (or TortoiseHg) to get that to work or is it not possible?

I'm not sure about Parallels, but with VMWare you certainly can have your files in Mac folders and access them from the virtual machine. It requires setting certain permissions to the virtual software, called "shared folders" in VMWare, so I suspect there's something similar for Parallels.

Just out of interest, do you really need to use Tortoise? I had thought any subversion program would be ok, but to be honest I've never used one so I'm not sure. One nice benefit of Coda is that it has version control build right in, so it's at least two products in one.

[tryin_to_learn]

I don't really know what I'm talking about but I think Tortoise is a Mercurial program, not a subversion. However, I think you may be right - I thought that I had to use the same software but maybe a Mercurial program for Mac would work just fine.

Meanwhile, I'll look for a shared folders thing in Parallels. That sounds like an option, too.

[ralph.m]

I don't really know what I'm talking about but I think Tortoise is a Mercurial program, not a subversion.

I'm also a member of the "don't know what I'm talking about club", but I was recently asked to do some collaborative work that involved using a subversion program, and the person in charge wanted me to use Tortoise--so I associate subversion with Tortoise, FWIW. (The project fell through in the end, so I didn't get to try it.)

PS
Tortoise is only for Windoze, so when I mentioned that I was on a Mac he said any mac subversion program would work just the same, so I assume it doesn't matter what program you are using for version control. Apart from Coda, there are other good ones for Mac, such as

Versions
Cornerstone
Subversion
svnX
GitX

[kohoutek]

I use Cornerstone for all my SVN needs. It's a fantastic tool.

If you're used to Tortoise, you might like the SCPlugin.
It's inspired by Tortoise.

[icantthinkofone]

Anecdotally, Vista seems to run faster in a virtual machine than it does on the actual machine.

Possibly for the same reason FreeBSD runs Linux programs faster than Linux.

[AlexDawson]

Coda has a version control system built into it's interface, I doubt you would even need to use something like Versions to get the thing working across multiple users (though I might be wrong on this). I really wish they would produce a version of Coda for Windows, Notepad++ is lovely but Coda just is so much slicker.

[tryin_to_learn]

Someone else had mentioned the version control feature in Coda. That might solve all my problems.