I code on all three platforms but whatever I do I keep ending up in Linux just because it’s so more powerful and useful (but hard). Second best is macOS even though lately it’s been a suck fest. I have coded in Windows for Windows but it’s clunky, awkward and riddled with bad APIs. If you don’t want to know what a machine does or appropriate problems, chose Windows. Also it doesn’t give you the mechanical sympathy which Linux breathes. Linux is better if you want to run something with raw technologies. Sure it’s harder to learn, so macOS is a better starting point, if you can afford it.
Also I think Linux is a lot less opinionated than the others which means it’s easier to come up with your own ideas.
Ask HN: Why use Linux for coding?
21–30 of 46 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why use Linux for coding?
#22Eh. Everything is basically just there, or very very easy to get (just apt-get it). It's very easy to have a working development environment that doesn't get in the way.
Plus, every aspect of the operating system is ready to be explored, if you want. If there's something you don't like, just change it, rebuild your program, and you're good to go.
Re: Ask HN: Why use Linux for coding?
#23Because windows 7 will simply never be fully compatible environment for ruby + gems with native extensions.
So I prefer to run Linux in a vm and focus on coding vs. trying to fit a square peg into a round hole and spend my time o troubleshooting the environment.
Re: Ask HN: Why use Linux for coding?
#24It's the best OS for me because I containerize as much as I can (I use a separate docker-compose file for every client, for example). I've tried Docker on Mac, Windows and Linux, and it _just works_ on linux. The others were a major pain.
The added benefit of doing it this way is that I'm not really tied to a machine - all I need to do is clone my repos onto a new machine and I'm basically good to go.
Re: Ask HN: Why use Linux for coding?
#25I code on all three platforms but whatever I do I keep ending up in Linux just because it’s so more powerful and useful (but hard). Second best is macOS even though lately it’s been a suck fest. I have coded in Windows for Windows but it’s clunky, awkward and riddled with bad APIs. If you don’t want to know what a machine does or appropriate problems, chose Windows. Also it doesn’t give you the mechanical sympathy wh…
I agree except I might swap macOS with Linux, because there's a lot of helpful macOS-only software, a good selection of proprietary software, and I think macOS is generally easier to deal with.
I recently moved to a job where my development laptop is Windows-based, after having a Macbook Pro at the last gig (I'm told we're working on getting Macs for developers). Windows 10 is still pretty bad in a lot of ways, large and small. Not having homebrew, apt, or yum to manage packages is a pain. I'm using elementaryOS running in VMware Workstation as my primary dev environment for the time being...
Re: Ask HN: Why use Linux for coding?
#26Almost all developers I personally know use a Mac. I know a few that use Linux on occasion. I personally know of no developers that actively use Windows for writing code. However, I'd argue that using the OS you use for development is less important than understanding what is happening when you run software on any platform.
Ultimately you'll need to deploy software somewhere, and you will need to understand what is happening when the software has a problem. You often won't have a choice about the operating system on which your software is deployed, and you will still be expected to understand the OS well enough to work with it.
I say focus on understanding what is happening to the extent that you can. Always be curious. Always learn. Always strive to learn what question you should be asking to get the answers you seek. And when the trusted advisors & Google fail to answer your questions, that's where the real adventures begin. And, if you'd like to make money, don't forget make find a way to get paid.
Re: Ask HN: Why use Linux for coding?
#27I've been "coding" full-time for two years now and I use Windows as primary operating system, the biggest issue/pains that I've experienced is: 1) Most of the tutorials online are written for linux 2) installing dependencies on windows is a bitch sometimes (75% of time I can get stuff to work on windows other times I give up because of lack of availability of certain packages and compiling issues). It's my opinion th…
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Re: Ask HN: Why use Linux for coding?
#28Since stuff that I write runs on Linux I use Linux for everything.
Re: Ask HN: Why use Linux for coding?
#29I installed Nim programming to Windows 10. Windows Defender deleted it immediately.
https://blog.wekan.team/2018/02/time-well-spent/index.html
Quote from Windows Weekly 557 https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/557?autostart=... "Future of Windows apps is to have Visual Studio on Mac and deploy software to Linux Docker containers."
There is no Windows servers anymore at top 500 supercomputers. It's all Linux.
Re: Ask HN: Why use Linux for coding?
#30To the degree there is a better operating system for starting to program, the operating system a beginner uses is orders of magnitude less important than just sitting down and writing code. The best operating system for learning to code is the operating system you are using. The only certain thing Linux is the best operating system for is learning Linux. Learning Linux is not learning to code. It is not a step on the…
I disagree. The best operating system to use for learning to program is the operating system that stays out of your way, allows you to easily install your dev environment, and allows you to keep things reasonably up to date. For me, that's using Linux. The last thing I want to do when learning a new programming language is waste a lot of time trying to install all of the dependencies/libs/compilers, being nagged by t…
Over time, a person's needs change. The argument that Linux is the best operating system for learning is equivalent to one that Emacs/Vim/Eclipse/VScode/PyCharm/etc. is the best editor/IDE for learning to program or that Python/Javascript/C/VB/PHP/Java/etc. is the best language for learning to program.
The important part of learning to program is sitting down to program and sticking with it despite its difficulty. Developing habits of mind is what makes a person a programmer. A lot of beginning programming resources are OS agnostic because they run on the web and Firefox/Chrome/Edge/Safari/etc. are fungible (and of course HTML/CSS/Javascript are also OS agnostic).