Can I use xcode to program in c#?

Question

I develop almost entirely in c#, but own a mac computer. I have windows running in parallels desktop to work with Visual Studio. I wanted to develop in c# for mac os and downloaded monodevelop, which is great except for its GUI designer I completely hate it and don't know how people can even use it. I mean, after how easy it was to create GUI applications with the Visual Studio designer I feel so weird to work with it.

I investigated about it and found out that apple's interface builder could solve that problem for me. However, the only way to get it now apparently is downloading xcode, since apple doesn't distribute it as a stand-alone app now. (That's what I think)

I knew that Xcode doesn't support c#, but I read about some plugins with which you can add those functionalities.

Can you tell me if its possible to add this compatibility to xcode? Or if you know alternatives to monodevelop that have a GUI designer that is more similar to VS.

Answer 1

As of version 2.8, MonoDevelop support using XCode with both MonoTouch (for iOS) and MonoMac. Here is the link to the release documentation.

Yes, you have to download XCode and, if I recall correctly, there may be a nominal charge for it, but the minimal cost (if any) will be worth the improved productivity.

Having said that, using XCode's interface builder takes a LOT of getting used to for someone coming from the VS world.