[WelMac] [phpug] Mac's for PHP

[Jo Booth]

On 24/08/2006, at 16:43 , Keran McKenzie wrote:

> I would strongly recommend going the path of the Apple .... :)
> K.
>
> On 23/08/2006, at 9:52 AM, John Jones wrote:
>
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> Our Wellington campus is considering switching to teaching PHP on  
>> Mac. I know there's no problem with this, but I would be  
>> interested in getting feedback from anyone using Mac's as a dev  
>> platform in terms of what the + or - 's are.
>>
>> thanks
>>
>> John Jones
>

PHP is PHP - generally you use the same tools - so the skills are  
transferable, but teaching anything has gotta be easier on a Mac.

So, aye, I use an iMac G5 or two for all my development work - both  
at work and home - and recently had a play with the new intel based  
Macs running Parallels Desktop. Truely having cake and eating it stuff.

I have in the past (G4 eMac in 2003-2005) run the Server Logistics  
PHP/MySQL/Apache/etc etc package with Apache 2 - as well as the built- 
in PHP/apache 1.3 - coming from a linux background (switched in '97)  
using OS X (switched in 2001 to a 300 Mhz iMac G3 running apache/php/ 
mysql) was like a wet dream - unix core, with a gui that just works.   
Of course things are a hell of a lot better on the Mac platform in  
2006 with OS X 10.4 "Tiger" than 2001. System wide technologies that  
enhance productivity way beyond that i've ever experienced on Windows  
or Linux, make a Mac running OS X my only choice.  If you're in the  
creative space, you can't go wrong. Lack of viruses too ;)

XCode, the Apple IDE, has started getting my use recently - with a  
few tweaks it is a halfway decent php/web development tool - and a  
lot more besides.
With the proposed OS X 10.5 "Leopard" features including Web  
development tools, as well as the solid Web core already I see a  
strong roadmap for web based development on the Mac out of the box.

Third party tools such as SubEthaEdit for collaborative development,  
integrated with file transfer tools such as CyberDuck provide very  
cheap and very powerful tools for extensive php/web stuff.

Of course i've also run Macromedia Studio - Dreamweaver/Fireworks/ 
Flash etc on the Mac ever since I could, and while it's not my  
favourite set of tools - it's pretty much identical to the PC  
version.  With Parallels - you can run any linux or windows  
development application at 95% native speed - while still using the  
(best) OS you can get.

Packaging tools such as fink, and built in gcc compilier etc mean you  
can install pretty much any open source application from source or  
just run a binary.  I've used fink to keep up with a recent build of  
PHP and apache for test purposes, while in parallel running stable  
older php 4/5 versions for other work.

Using Windows back in the day I used Opera as a web browser and mail/ 
chat application, switched to linux and kept it, and still use it  
today on the Mac, with Opera 9. Having a platform on which you can  
run pretty much anything is a huge bonus, you aren't locked into  
using the wrong tool for a job.  As mentioned by the previous poster  
Firefox and a 'million' other browsers run natively on the Mac, and  
i've installed Internet Exploder in a Paralells build too, to keep an  
eye on when it stops being a bad browser ;)

Using OS X Server too - i've had a lot of success, with open source  
based applications in use - qualified and gui'fied by Apple - you  
have a rock solid server technology, that runs on pretty much  
anything (i started running OS X server on the 300 Mhz G3 iMac when I  
upgraded my desktop), serving 100s of websites, doing mail and  
application technologies.  Netbooting a office full (classroom full)  
of Macs off a standard OS build with access control and version  
control gives you a powerful way to centrally administer groups of  
users.

Collaborative stuff like Bonjour for zero configuration of local  
servers and services, and iChat etc - provide great tools for  
classroom and distance learning.  I've seen and taken part in  
meetings where several mac users with laptops form ad-hoc network  
using wifi, and collaboratively write notes and code in the session  
using SubEthaEdit.

With the recent Mac Pro range, you even can even get your Mac  
workstation for 14% less (NZD) than the equivalent dell. ;)
I still have 10 year old iMacs running near latest versions of OS X -  
and each build of OS X has made them faster.  Weird stuff , if you've  
ever installed a Microsoft "upgrade"

I think i've said enough.  If you plan on a hardware purchase in the  
next few years, start with a intel based Mac (or 50), and you won't  
look back.


Jo 'Mangee' Booth
Geek (and VP of WelMac - the local Mac user group)

AIM/iChat/ICQ: OSXx86


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