ASP.NET Azure Webapp development on Mac

[moonman239]

So, I've decided I'd like to work on building an ASP.Net application. It's going to be rather simple, just pulling off pictures from a Website and perhaps storing them in a database. I have a Website set up on Microsoft Azure and a Visual Studio Online account. On my machine, I have Xcode and Eclipse, and I'd rather not use any other IDE if I can help it.

How do I set up Xcode or Eclipse so that I can build a Web app.

 

[NeilHD]

You might struggle with that - really you'll need Visual Studio. VS will do a lot of the scaffolding for you, not to mention the intellisense, and you'll need MsBuild to actually compile it.

If you really want to do it, have a look at this guy who has done it:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/webdev/archive/2014/08/12/develop-asp-net-vnext-applications-on-a-mac.aspx

But why not just look at Parallels, and stick a Windows install on there? Using Coherence you'll be running VS within OSX and it'll be basically like running it natively. (Disclaimer: I've not tried VS on Parallels).

 

[960design]

So, I've decided I'd like to work on building an ASP.Net application. It's going to be rather simple, just pulling off pictures from a Website and perhaps storing them in a database. I have a Website set up on Microsoft Azure and a Visual Studio Online account. On my machine, I have Xcode and Eclipse, and I'd rather not use any other IDE if I can help it.

How do I set up Xcode or Eclipse so that I can build a Web app.

Please forgive my idiocy here and my seemingly pushing of technology ( I swear I'm trying to better understand, in order to better assist ).

Is there a reason you've decided on ASP? Why not PHP? or Ruby?
A website can be setup locally on your computer and 'pushed' out to a live site when ready. Eclipse will work, NetBeans may be a little better (in my current opinion, my opinion on those switch back and forth each month), but for web development I use Coda2.

 

[moonman239]

Please forgive my idiocy here and my seemingly pushing of technology ( I swear I'm trying to better understand, in order to better assist ).

Is there a reason you've decided on ASP? Why not PHP? or Ruby?
A website can be setup locally on your computer and 'pushed' out to a live site when ready. Eclipse will work, NetBeans may be a little better (in my current opinion, my opinion on those switch back and forth each month), but for web development I use Coda2.

I can think of a few advantages:

1) ASP.Net is compiled, rather than interpreted. Because of this, you can easily build efficient webapps. Stack Overflow actually runs off a really good server infrastructure that uses ASP.Net (they can handle all those users with just a few servers.)

2) Visual Basic .NET is fairly easy to learn.

3) I can add ASP.Net development to my resume. I can potentially also take a job as a .Net developer.

Edit: I do have access to a Windows computer with Visual Studio 2013.

 

[NeilHD]

Do remember that Facebook and many other top sites are built in PHP. That said I work for a well known UK site and we run on asp.net/sql server.

Rather than learning vb.net I'd encourage you to look at C#, or at least look at both. Whilst they are both functionaly equivalent, vb.net is looked down on a bit in comparison (rightly or wrongly). Personally, I much prefer C# - the syntax is better and it's just easier to write clean code. Generally when we hire asp.net guys we expect them to know both but with an emphasis on C#.

 

[960design]

I can think of a few advantages:

1) ASP.Net is compiled, rather than interpreted. Because of this, you can easily build efficient webapps. Stack Overflow actually runs off a really good server infrastructure that uses ASP.Net (they can handle all those users with just a few servers.)

2) Visual Basic .NET is fairly easy to learn.

3) I can add ASP.Net development to my resume. I can potentially also take a job as a .Net developer.

Edit: I do have access to a Windows computer with Visual Studio 2013.

Thanks, that makes perfect sense. Just a little information for future proofing:
1) PHP/MySQL stack is slightly faster than ASP.NET/MSSQL stack
2) Yes but in my experience most jobs go to C# / asp.net developers not VB.net developer
3) And that is actually a very good thing. I hate to admit it but where I live there are far more .net jobs available than PHP developers even though PHP/MySQL basically owns 80% of the web.

So now I can better answer your original question: Visual Studio Express would be the way to go.

Go to lynda.com and register for the 30 day free trial.
Start with something simple, that gives you an overview and then focus on what you want to accomplish. I'd recommend starting here:
http://www.lynda.com/ASP-NET-3-5-tutorials/asp-net-essential-training/784-2.html

Good luck!

PS I've been a WebDeveloper for 10 years ( software developer for 30 years ) and currently work with technologies such as node.js, websockets, refactoring old school flash or shockwave to HTML5/CSS3/JS standards. Most of my paid work is within the PHP/MySQL stack, because I'm a hard headed idiot that refuses to embrace .NET, so good on you for expanding your horizons!

 

[Alphaforcex]

I too am a C# developer having a Mac and I'd like to share my setup. I am running w8 on VMware fusion. I am writing web API with Angular.js (web) and iOS client. I'd rather write the rest API in node.js if my work place is not using C#. I consistently come back to the same question why I need to go through all the trouble just to run visual studio.

Another work around I have is to run a VM on windows azure and I can just remote to my development machine on the cloud anywhere.

 

[poorcody]

I'll just chime in a with a few random thoughts:

* If you go ASP.NET, use Visual Studio. The two go hand-in-hand and nothing will be as productive as using it to work with ASP.NET

* I run Windows 7 in a Parallels VM on my Mac and use Visual Studio. It works really well and actually helps to keep your development environment separated from your other tasks. I think it's actually more productive than a straight Windows machine.

* ASP.NET vs PHP is a though call. I think PHP has a smaller learning curve, and keeps things simpler for simple sites. If I were going to scale to a complicated site with a lot of code, I would probably go ASP.NET. It does lock you into Microsoft servers, although with Amazon and Azure now that's less of an issue than it used to be. Just an opinion though; large commercial sites have been done with both. There are arguments to use either depending on circumstances.

* In the real-world, the native speed of PHP vs ASP.NET is much less relevant than the site's design. Neither is going to make a significant difference in terms of speed compared to how the site is coded and architectured.

* I would also recommend C# over VB.NET. Visual Basic used to be simpler, but to code well you need the advanced features of the languages anyway and I think C# you can do more with. I think C# has eclipsed VB.NET in the workforce anyway.