Mac reloaded
Can an over three-year-old, basic-spec’d, 12-inch MacBook be a formidable programming machine? It would seem the device would be too old, the specs too outdated and weak. It turns out such a machine can be a very formidable programming computer.
About two months ago, my dad, a long-time mainframe developer, stumbled upon a 2017 MacBook that was on sale. Over three years old, the device had its battery swapped out by Apple for a fresh one and was sold as unused. It was probably just a device that wasn’t sold, and now the store tried to get rid of it and still have some revenue off it. The 12-inch device has the basic specs of those MacBooks, the 1.2 GHz Intel Core m3 chip with the built-in graphic card. It also has 256GB of SSD storage accompanied by 8 Gigs of RAM. The spec’s definitely don’t leave you in awe. Nevertheless, it wasn’t a bad offer, and temptation got the better of my dad, and he purchased his first Apple computer in years.
For as long as I paid attention, my father was a windows user. However, it turned out, he has quite an affinity for Apple, partly because the laptop that allowed him and his friends to start their own company was an Apple Powerbook 150.
He explained that the Powerbook of the early to mid-1990s was the only device that allowed them to do everything they wanted; create Flowcharts, run a Text Editor for Cobol, and also support the office programs. After doing a bit of research, I found out that the Powerbook 150, despite the name, had a stunning 4MB of RAM, expandable to a whopping 36MB, and used floppy disks.
The Setup
Back to current times, where the 8GB of RAM now seems gigantic, my dad started to set up his “new” MacBook. The first thing he needed to do is get the OS up to date. This was a point of discontent for my dad, as rather than being able to upgrade straight to macOS Big Sur, he had to download each of the previous macOS versions until finally arriving at the most recent.
Once the MacBook runs macOS Big Sur, it is ready to have the actual programs installed my father wants or needs (sometimes also both).
First of all, he installed Xcode. While being an incredibly powerful program, my dad installed it so that he has something to try it out when he has time and wants to play around. However, he doubts that he will ever get really into programming on Xcode. Accompanying Apple’s programming software, he also downloaded playgrounds. The only reason for that is that he likes to try these Programs that introduce you to programming. Also into this category falls his download of BlueJ, the Java practice environment. With those programming softwares installed, he turned towards his tools: BBEdit, Eclipse, Visual Studio code, and more.
The programs
I’ll give you a quick rundown of all his “essential” programs:
BBEdit is a powerful text editor, and my dad knew it already. While it is a paid software, in his opinion, it provides one of the best experiences of any editor considering highlighting different languages (Java, PHP, etc.) accompanied with other convenient features.
Next on the installation list is Eclipse with all the different flavors. Eclipse is an integrated development environment (IDE) for various programming languages. As it is an open-source IBM program, it isn’t hard to imagine that it will be on a computer of a mainframe programmer.
Alongside Eclipse, my dad also downloads visual studio code and some of his most commonly used languages, including Cobol, C
After those installations, StarUML and XAMPP follow. The latter is an open-source application that is very useful for developing around PhP web servers. Also, it features MySQL, something where my dad, who sometimes also dabbled with database-driven web development, finds himself right at home.
StarUML is also an open-source program that he uses to construct UML diagrams. StarUML, like BBEdit, is also paid.
Now the basic setup is almost complete. The only applications that were paid for were BBEdit and StarUML, while all the others were free. What especially astonishes my dad is how easy it is to install all those programs.
Some are on the App Store, and the rest are available to download and install without any issues. He also didn’t need to install tons of compilers. However, he attributed that to the installation of Xcode’s command-line tools. (Just recently, he found out that an update of Xcode gets rid of these tools, and he had to download them again.)
The only thing which is just slightly more “tricky,” for lack of a better word, to install, is the Cobol compiler.
As Cobol is commonly used in mainframe development and mainframes aren’t something destined to use by the average computer user or even tech enthusiast, most of the mainframe development programs are quite expensive.
However, there is a free Cobol compiler that is easily installed, called GnuCobol. The installation involves a bit of copying and pasting from the guide to terminal. However, it isn’t complicated by any stretch of the imagination.
After all of these applications and programs run, my dad is ready to start testing his machine. Altogether, the programs were completely free, except the previously mentioned BBEdit & StarUML. Furthermore, my dad is still in awe of how easy it was to install everything and get the different compilers and languages to run.
Using the MacBook
So far, my father has had no issues with his device. He pointed out that the one thing Apple manufactured computers always had been and continue to have usability. His opinion is based on creature-comfort features. For example, he mentions that the screen, even though not as high-res as other screens he had previously used on windows laptops, wasn’t fatiguing his eyes. Furthermore, to my surprise, he doesn’t dislike the butterfly keyboard and is impressed with his device’s extremely sleek form factor. The extreme portability and the compact form-factor make this device a lot more versatile than some of his other, beefier, and better spec’d out laptops.
He also mentioned that, most probably due to the replaced battery, the battery life on the MacBook was also impressive. Another aspect that is also part of the outstanding creature-comfort is the integration into the Apple ecosystem. Even though my father used Windows Laptops for as long as I can remember, he always was an iPhone user and also used other Apple products like the watch and AirPods Pro. Hence, the integration that came with the MacBook was also a point he really enjoyed.
Overall, a funny analogy my dad made sums things up quite well in his opinion:
“macOS is like the Rolls Royce of OS. Windows 10 is like a nice BMW, and Linux is like the Toyota Supra that can be customized however you like. However, all of the OS run, macOS is, in his opinion, by far the most comfortable and hence like the Rolls Royce of OS.”
Even though his MacBook is the standard spec’d device, he says he has hardly run into performance issues while dabbling with programming. However, it is important to notice that for a mainframe and database-driven web developer like him, features that would use a lot of processing power (emulators, etc.) aren’t in the focal point.
Even the most spec’d out computer won’t help you if your brain can’t provide the necessary processing power to code on that day.
Verdict
When I asked my father if he would recommend such a device, he excitedly said: “Absolutely! Even though surprising, it is a quite formidable developing and programming machine.”
The main reasons for this overwhelmingly positive verdict include the comfort and ease of use as well as the hassle-free installation of his own personal developing toolbox. It provided terrific utility for a more than three years old machine, and for everyone worried about the App Store, he can calmly say, you don’t really need it anymore.
The only time he had issues or an annoying experience with installing something was when he had to go through all the macOS versions. Other than that, he is thrilled with the deal he got, with the only two things he had to pay for being the MacBook itself and BBEdit.
The other stuff only cost some time to install and get running; however, nothing monetary. To him, this investment was worth the money in every way he can think of, and he can wholeheartedly recommend similar purchases.
The last point that is important to notice, though, is that this device isn’t my father’s main developing machine, e.g., it isn’t the one he currently uses for work. However, this isn’t because the MacBook couldn’t handle it but rather because the company doesn’t officially recommend using Apple computers.
As always, stay safe
Raffael
