Downloading and installing Visual Studio for Mac

In this section, we will take a look at how to download and install Microsoft Visual Studio for Mac as well as the Xamarin Platform SDKs for both the iOS and Android platforms.

Installing Visual Studio for Mac and Xamarin

Before we can begin developing applications for the Xamarin platform, we will need to download Visual Studio for Mac. Simply follow these steps:

1. Open your browser and type in https://www.visualstudio.com/.
2. Next, hover your mouse cursor over the Download for Mac button and click on the Community 2017 for Mac menu option to proceed:

Downloading Visual Studio Community 2017 for Mac

3. Next, once the Visual Studio for Mac installer has been downloaded, double-click on it to display Visual Studio for Mac – Installation.

4. Then, click on the Continue button to proceed to the next step in the wizard, which can be seen in the following screenshot:

Visual Studio for Mac - Installation

5. Next, ensure that the checkboxes for Android, iOS, and macOS, as well as .NET Core, have been selected under the Platforms group and ensure that the checkbox for Xamarin Workbooks & Inspector has been selected under the Tools group, which can be seen in the following screenshot:

Choosing Visual Studio for Mac Platform Components

6. Next, click on the Install and Update button to proceed to the next step in the wizard and begin installing the Visual Studio for Mac IDE along with the Xamarin platform SDK and tools, which can be seen in the following screenshot:

Visual Studio for Mac Downloading Components

7. Finally, Visual Studio for Mac - installation will proceed to download and begin installing the Microsoft Visual Studio for Mac IDE, as well as downloading the components for the platforms that you have selected.

Now that you have installed the Microsoft Visual Studio for Mac IDE and the Xamarin Platform SDK, as well as the tools for both the iOS and Android platforms, our next step is to explore some of the features of the Visual Studio for Mac IDE, which we will be covering in the next section.