[hardcool]

hey guys
i was wondering if i could run Microsoft Visual basic, Visual C++ and Java on an ibook?

[ginoledesma]

MS VisualC++ is only for Microsoft Windows, but you can run Java applications on your Mac. Among the Java IDEs you might be considering are Eclipse and Apple's own XCode.

While you can program in C++ on the Mac, you won't be able to use APIs like the Microsoft Foundation Code, or things similar to that. If you intend to do cross-platform programming, I think Glade/GTK+ may do, though you will still run into the "requires library x to be installed" problem.

Otherwise, there's always RealBASIC...

[discotronic]

You could always try Virtual PC. It's slow but might be worth a try. Anybody have experience running Visual Basic and Visual C++ under VPC?

[vsurfer]

Originally posted by discotronic:
You could always try Virtual PC. It's slow but might be worth a try. Anybody have experience running Visual Basic and Visual C++ under VPC?

Bump. Good question, maybe throw ASP.NET in there for good measure too, with the MS Visual apps under VPC.

[Altair]

Java works really well but I have to warn you, it is slooow on a mac. Running just eclipse is enough to bring my powerbook to a near halt at times. It is slower than an equivalent speed pentium 3. For example, my pentium 3 733 pc performs the same as my powerbook in java.

[RadarBob2]

Gwad! Visual Basic? Masochist!

Metrowerks Codewarrior C++ compiler for Macintosh is a good option as there is also a Windoze version. When i bought mine about 3 years ago now, the PC version was included in the package at no cost. Supports Java too.

Apple provides OSX Java development tools as a free download. Java is *intergal* to OSX, meaning there is no virtual machine to install.

BTW I *most highly super, duper* recommend BBEdit for a code editor. www.barebones.com It's designed to integrate w/ compilers, and specifically Metrowerks it does.

[hldan]

Originally posted by Altair:
Java works really well but I have to warn you, it is slooow on a mac. Running just eclipse is enough to bring my powerbook to a near halt at times. It is slower than an equivalent speed pentium 3. For example, my pentium 3 733 pc performs the same as my powerbook in java.

Why would Java on the Mac be any slower than Java on Windows? Java is Java.

[ccsccs7]

Originally posted by hldan:
Why would Java on the Mac be any slower than Java on Windows? Java is Java.

I was wondering the same thing. I also don't get Altair's comparison.

[rglenn]

Originally posted by hldan:
Why would Java on the Mac be any slower than Java on Windows? Java is Java.

Because of differences in how the JVM is written / optimized for the processor.

[Altair]

Originally posted by hldan:
Why would Java on the Mac be any slower than Java on Windows? Java is Java.

Basically the windows virtual machine is highly optimized while the osx one hasn't been very optimized yet. I imagine the next version of java will be much faster than the current one.

[Dr.Michael]

Originally posted by hldan:
Why would Java on the Mac be any slower than Java on Windows? Java is Java.

Indeed, its the virtual machine.

I compared c programs on my powerbook and my thinkpad Pentium M 1.6Ghz under Linux. They run at nearly the same speed.

But the java implementation of Apple needs more optimization. It went better and better from 10.0 to 10.3. Now it roughtly reached the point where it is as fast as the old os 9 vm.

But that does not mean that java is not doing well on os x. I prefer writing my code on my powerbook (better than under Linux and mmmmmmuuuch better than under Windows). Apple integrated java nearly perfectly into their os. Looks like a native program if the developer wants.

For me OS X is the best platform for java (if this is allowed to say for a language that is made to run everywhere)