Hi guys

I recently installed to osx on my amd box and hardly haven't booted Windows ever since, because it runs so smooth.

I would like to start developing software for the mac, but I'm not yet sure what language to take. I'm getting the impression that Objective-C is the commonly used language, although C++ seams to be used as well. I have decent Java and C#.NET skills, and some basic knowledge of C/C++ (although not very experienced).

What language would you guys suggest in order to develop software for the mac platform (preferably a Cocoa application)? Java is not an option as it takes Apple ages in order to release a new version... and also I didn't manage to upgrade to Java6 on my amd machine.

Any help apreciated!

You could possibly harness your .NET experience with Mono, an open source implementation of the .NET Framework. I don't have much experience with it at all, but you can give it a whirl and see if that works. Of course, not all functions are implemented yet, but it's better than nothing.

Objective C appears to be the most common language. I have no experience with it. I am only a basic, "hello world" kinda programmer, and then in C#.

Neat, didn't know mono is also available on osx.

I suggest that you start with AppleScript/AppleScript Studio. It lets you create extremely powerful applications in a simple English like language. And if you use AppleScript Studio, you can take full advantage of the Xcode development interface and Interface Builder for designing beautiful GUIs. AppleScript combined with other languages like shell or bash, and even Perl, can be very powerful and effective, plus there is lots of support for it in mailing lists and forums.

lol, he means real development, go buy a book on Obj-C and learn that or finish learning C++ which will be far more valuable than Applescript and probably even Obj-C if you want to expand into other environments. or you can learn shell or bash, considering those are even real languages xD

Yes, I was indeed talking about 'real' programming languages. I guess for now I will stick to Obj-C (I heard that those apple APIs are only available through obj-c) but probably use C++ as well in combination.

Thanks for your responses!

Objective C will be easiest for you if you have C#/C/C++ experience.

Oh yeah, forgot about bash/shell. Those languages are relatively easy and simple to learn and they are powerful too, plus you can use them on Linux/UNIX/OS X/FreeBSD, pretty much any *nix system and then some.

I don't see why you shouldn't use Java. Most of the functionality required for apps is covered with version 1.4 so there is no need to update to the latest version.