Mac or Windows - Best Dev Environment?

Solar2D General Questions/Discussion
#1

I’m on a Windows 7 PC for developing within Corona (business apps, no games). Immediately, I find that I cannot develop code for Apple on a Windows PC. And I subscribed to Corona so I wouldn’t have to learn native code - yet output to these two primary platforms.

MEDIA.*

In researching the API docs re media.*, I now discover that numerous calls will not output to the Corona Windows Simulator:

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The Corona Simulator for Windows does not support this API and it will do nothing when calling this function.

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QOTD

Should I just get a Mac laptop/PC - and switch to that unit for Corona development? If so, can someone recommend a minimum Mac hardware configuration that would be sufficient for this purpose?

I’m a newbie so I’m probably not familiar with any fixes/workarounds that apply to this issue.

Thanks.

#2

In order to build for IOS, you need a Mac. Using a Mac, however, will not fix your concern about the lack of output to the Simulator. The Simulator simply can not replicate everything on a real device; I don’t believe it makes a difference whether you are running the Simulator on a Mac or a PC. Regardless, for true debug and troubleshooting, you should be regularly building your app, loading it on a device and playtesting it. Of course, developing on a Mac will allow you to build for both Android and IOS, while using a PC, IOS development is not possible. 

#3

Thanks, James, especially for your insight re the Simulator. I hadn’t thought through the process far enough to realize that the Simulator cannot know, from a PC’s or Mac’s perspective, what’s going on re image storage on an actual smartphone, Mac or Android.

Now I can appreciate the build+transfer “process” to the actual device for final, real-time testing, which may prove temporarily challenging since I use an iPhone - but develop on a Windows PC. I do have an Android (Nexus10) - but I wanted to focus on smartphone-based apps. But that will definitely allow me to move forward, methinks.

#4

In order to build for IOS, you need a Mac. Using a Mac, however, will not fix your concern about the lack of output to the Simulator. The Simulator simply can not replicate everything on a real device; I don’t believe it makes a difference whether you are running the Simulator on a Mac or a PC. Regardless, for true debug and troubleshooting, you should be regularly building your app, loading it on a device and playtesting it. Of course, developing on a Mac will allow you to build for both Android and IOS, while using a PC, IOS development is not possible. 

#5

Thanks, James, especially for your insight re the Simulator. I hadn’t thought through the process far enough to realize that the Simulator cannot know, from a PC’s or Mac’s perspective, what’s going on re image storage on an actual smartphone, Mac or Android.

Now I can appreciate the build+transfer “process” to the actual device for final, real-time testing, which may prove temporarily challenging since I use an iPhone - but develop on a Windows PC. I do have an Android (Nexus10) - but I wanted to focus on smartphone-based apps. But that will definitely allow me to move forward, methinks.