Windows vs Linux vs MacOS vs Others

[KateMid]

Which operating system is better for software development?

[nohal]

Originally Posted by KateMid

Which operating system is better for software development?

Any you are proficient using. Also depends on what you want to develop and what tools you want to use for it.
From the 3 computers laying in front of me on the table right now I have written most of the code in the last year on the Macbook and the Windows machine (which was most of the time used as a terminal screen connected to some Linux machine and is not running Linux itself only because it belongs to a corporation with Windows-only IT infrastructure).

[CarinaPDX]

Originally Posted by KateMid

Which operating system is better for software development?

All three operating systems have excellent software development tools. The question really ought to be where do you want your app to run? If you are a Windows user, or want to address the largest market, then stick with Windows. If a Mac user then do it there. Linux has an advantage in that developing for Linux means that it is very easy to make available for the Mac also (but not so much the reverse), but to be fair there are cross-platform tools available for multi-platform distribution on all three. This assumes that you are intending to use a basic Intel/AMD computer for running the app. If you want to develop software for a Raspberry Pi or other small computer then Linux would be the choice.

So what software are you thinking of writing?

Greg

[Jdege]

Originally Posted by CarinaPDX

If you are a Windows user, or want to address the largest market, then stick with Windows.

That would have been a reasonable answer, not so many years ago, but MS has gone cross-platform.

As of .NET 5.0, their development tools and generated executables will run on Windows, Mac, or Linux.

[CarinaPDX]

Originally Posted by Jdege

That would have been a reasonable answer, not so many years ago, but MS has gone cross-platform.

As of .NET 5.0, their development tools and generated executables will run on Windows, Mac, or Linux.

I think it is still a reasonable answer, for someone who wants to develop just for Windows. Do not assume that everyone wants to develop cross-platform apps. And for cross-platform C# and .NET are popular among the Windows crowd who want to access the other platforms. But C# and .NET are a definite minority for Mac and Linux development - these platforms have excellent cross-platform tools of their own that excel on their own platforms and also work well on the others. I think the preference is to use the platform and tools that are most familiar, and then make choices that allow for multi-platform deployment if desired. For someone just asking about which platform to use I doubt that multi-platform is on the near horizon.

Greg

[Jdege]

Originally Posted by CarinaPDX

I think it is still a reasonable answer, for someone who wants to develop just for Windows. Do not assume that everyone wants to develop cross-platform apps.

There is no developing just for Windows, anymore. Even if you're developing on Windows you're developing cross-platform. And what with cloud-based pretty much everything, you're deploying cross platform as well. Even in Azure, most everything you're building runs on Linux.

[CatNewBee]

Originally Posted by samanta

You can develop perfectly on any operating system. Many developers choose to use a Linux or Mac though as they are based on Unix. A lot of developer tools are built for Unix systems first so they are typically easier to set up on Unix systems. It is also generally accepted that the Unix command line is superior to the windows command line. Read more on agile sdlc and hope it helps

... except for windows. Unix / posix command line worthless, but powershell can do a lot of magic in widows what the Unix shell cannot.