Setting Up Your .NET Core Development Environment (macOS)

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3 January 2017

As a developer who’s made the switch to .NET Core, one of the most exciting aspects has been the ability to work seamlessly across different platforms. As someone who has previously worked primarily with Java on macOS and Linux, I’m thrilled to finally be able to develop in C# on macOS without the restrictions I once faced. This makes the shift to .NET Core feel like a breath of fresh air, as it opens up possibilities for cross-platform development that were previously out of reach for .NET developers.

In this post, we’ll walk through the essential steps to set up your development environment for .NET Core on macOS. Whether you’re building your first .NET Core application or transitioning from another platform, the setup process is straightforward and easy to follow.

1. Installing .NET Core on macOS

Before you start developing with .NET Core on macOS, you’ll need to install the .NET Core SDK. Here’s how you can do that:

1. Visit the official .NET website and download the latest version of the .NET Core SDK for macOS.
2. Open the downloaded file and follow the installation instructions. You’ll be guided through installing the SDK via a simple installer.
3. After installation, open the terminal and check that everything is working by typing the following command: dotnet --version If everything is set up correctly, you should see the version of .NET Core installed on your system.

2. Setting up Visual Studio Code with C# Support

Although Visual Studio is a powerful IDE for .NET development, Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is lightweight, free, and works great on macOS. Here’s how to set it up for .NET Core development:

1. Download and install Visual Studio Code from the official site.
2. Launch VS Code and navigate to the Extensions tab on the left sidebar (or press Cmd+Shift+X).
3. In the search bar, type “C#” and install the extension provided by Microsoft, which enables rich C# development within VS Code.
4. Once the extension is installed, restart VS Code for the changes to take effect.

3. Creating a New .NET Core Project

Now that you have everything set up, let’s create a simple .NET Core project to test if everything is working correctly:

1. Open the terminal, navigate to the directory where you want your project, and run the following command to create a new console application: dotnet new console -n MyFirstApp This command will create a folder named MyFirstApp with the necessary files for a basic console app.
2. Navigate into your project folder: cd MyFirstApp
3. To build and run the project, use the following command: dotnet run

You should see the default “Hello World” message printed in the terminal. This confirms that your .NET Core development environment is set up and working as expected.

4. The .NET Core Project Structure

A newly created .NET Core project follows a simple and intuitive structure. Let’s briefly go over what each folder and file does:

• Program.cs: This is the entry point of your application. The Main method in this file is where execution starts.
• MyFirstApp.csproj: This is the project file, which contains metadata about your project, such as references to packages and dependencies.

By default, a simple console application doesn’t require much else. However, as your projects grow, you’ll see additional folders and files to handle libraries, dependencies, and configurations.

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