General Java prerequisites:

• Eclipse (http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/)
• Git (There are countless distributions for all platforms. http://git-scm.com/book/en/Getting-Started-Installing-Git lists a few options)
• A Github (www.github.com) account for (For pull requests, primarily)
• Recent versions of the JDK / JRE (which support Java 1.6) for your platform. (Java is our reference implementation)

General C# prerequisites

• Microsoft Visual Studio 2012. http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/eng/downloads
• Git (There are countless distributions for all platforms. http://git-scm.com/book/en/Getting-Started-Installing-Git lists a few options)
• A Github (www.github.com) account for (For pull requests, primarily)
• Have the latest versionhttp://json.codeplex.com/releases/view/74287

Setting up a Java development environment:

When working with S.IM.PL, it is important to be able to run our reference implementation (written in Java). To set up a development environment, do the following:

0. Install a JDK and JRE that supports Java 1.6. (Since S.IM.PL Java supports Android, we've pegged the version of S.IM.PL at Java 1.6 until the Android platform supports later versions of Java)
1. In the terminal of your choice, Git clone the simplJava repository with the command:

git clone https://github.com/ecologylab/simplJava.git

Make sure to get the case right! If you see messages like the following, you've probably mistyped the repository URL:

fatal: https://github.com/ecologylab/simpljava.git/info/refs?service=git-upload-pack not found: did you run git server-info on the server?

2. The simplJava project is broken into a few different directories:

-> simplCore : Contains the core implementation of S.IM.PL
-> simplTests: Contains all of the Unit Tests for S.IM.PL
-> simplPlatformSpecifics: Contains platform-specific implementations of some S.IM.PL functionality. (To support differences between Sun Java/ Android, etc) 
-> simplTranslators: Contains the implementations for the S.IM.PL translation infrastructure. (Translation converts objects from one source language to another.)

3. Start Eclipse. When Eclipse asks you to create a workspace, use the directory you cloned simplJava into. (Or any directory above it.)

4. Inside Eclipse, select File -> Import. In the search box, type "Existing Project" and select "Existing Projects into Workspace."

5. Set the root directory to the root directory of your workspace. You should see all of the projects for the S.IM.PL folders. Import the simplCore, simplTests, simplSunSpecifics, simplAndroidSpecifics and simplTranslators projects into your workspace.

6. If you don't have the Android development tools, close the simplAndroidSpecifics project. (Right Click-> Close Project). Otherwise, you'll have build errors to contend with.

7. At this point, you've successfully set up your development environment in Java! Feel free to move onto the Tutorials (https://github.com/ecologylab/simpl/wiki/Tutorials) or just try hacking away on S.IM.PL!

Setting up a C# development environment

0. In the terminal of your choice, Git clone the ecologylabFundamental.NET repository with the command:

git clone https://github.com/ecologylab/ecologylabFundamental.NET

Make sure to get the case right! If you see messages like the following, you've probably mistyped the repository URL:

fatal: https://github.com/ecologylab/ecologylabFundamental.NET.git/info/refs?service=git-upload-pack not found: did you run git server-info on the server?

1. The 'EcologylabFundamental.NET' project is broken into a few different projects:

-> Simpl.Fundamental: Contains the core implementation of S.IM.PL
-> Simpl.Fundamental.DotNet: Fundamental platform specifics
-> Simpl.Serialization: Contains serialization information
-> Simpl.Serialization.DotNet: Platform specific type information
-> Simpl.Tutorials: Contains the Book.cs and Main.cs files used in the tutorial.

2. Start Microsoft Visual Studio 2012, click "Open Project", and navigate to ecologylabFundamental.NET. Select the project "EcologylabFundamental.NET".

3. Be sure the Json.NET DLL is installed, included in relevant folders, and referenced by relevant projects. http://json.codeplex.com/releases/view/74287

4. At this point, you've successfully set up your development environment in C#! Feel free to move onto the Tutorials (https://github.com/ecologylab/simpl/wiki/Tutorials) or just try hacking away on S.IM.PL!