Why Linux is better for (most) developers!

Linux is a very popular choice among developers in 2022 45% of professional devs used Linux based operating systems which places it on par with Mac OS something we can't say of the general desktop use of Linux which just passed 3% Microsoft also acknowledges that as they've been working hard on implementing WSL a way to run Linux directly on Windows specifically for developers but what makes Linux so appealing for programming and what makes it a better choice than Windows or Mac OS for a lot of developers well we'll try to answer that in this video and we'll also try to tell you about our sponsor this video is sponsored by tux scare your all-in-one solution to make sure your Linux server or workstation Fleet is secure and up to date they offer a range of services like colel life patching or extended support for distributions that have gone end of life now this week they're partnering with admin magazine to give you the 2023 special edition of the magazine it's titled 10 terrific tools for the busy admin and it contains as the name implies a bunch of great utilities that will help you maintain your dot files and manage configuration changes shape your network traffic to share the bandwidth in the office scan your system to discover hidden processes that you might not be aware of using a Bastian server to communicate with remote host securely plus a Roundup of the best SSH frontend every tool is of course well explained to let you know what they can do and how to use them so if you want to up your admin game click the link in the description below and get your free issue of admin magazine so the first thing is programming language support and ease of installation Linux works with virtually every programming language whether you're working with PHP JavaScript C or C++ C Ruby python Java you can write and execute almost anything but that's not necessarily an advantage right like Windows and Mac OS can also do all of that where Linux has the edge is with their package managers Linux distributions have package managers built in and these give you access to anything you need to write in these languages you don't need to install a package manager yourself or hunt for installers to download and then for the extra libraries and modules you might need in your repos are all of the things you'll need for any of these languages you get other more specific package managers like pip X or node you get libraries you get development headers and you can install all of them in one fail swoop either graphically or with one single command line which makes it way faster to get started than on any other operating system and sure Mac OS has Homebrew and windows has winget but the first one you have to download and install yourself and winget is not as well stocked as virtually any dros repos and this ease of access and installation means that it's also easier to write documentation and guides to help other people collaborate on your project and setting up their development environment so they can get started as fast as possible you can just write the list of packages they'll need to install or you can give them the exact command line they'll need to run to install all of them at once especially the person you're on boarding is using the same drro as you on Windows or Mac OS you would have to give them links to Homebrew or installers and various modules that they need to add and then the command lines they might want to run to actually install the stuff and depending on the versions of Windows or Mac OS the instructions might even be different you could also just write a bash script so anyone who starts working on the project can just run that script and get set up automatically for example installing a specific specific IDE that your company might enforce setting up all the environment variables creating the databases automatically creating the testing environment starting a local server getting all the files from git populating a test environment with a set of fake data and this for any dro as you could add some conditions in the script to detect the dro and adapt the commands to it your coworker could just run one file and get the exact same development environment and save a lot of time in the process for configuring everything that they need and even better if you run something like NYX OS you could just share your config file with your coworker and they can reproduce your entire system with one file and one command it's just way more efficient than on any other OS for web development using Linux is also a no-brainer the vast majority of servers your website or web app will run on in production is using a Linux drro when you're coding your website using Linux the way you're setting up your environment the way you interact with your system they're all extremely similar to the OS the website or web app will actually run on the file system structure will be the same the libraries will generally be named the same and everything you've learned while developing the website the errors you've encountered they're all also helping you fix future problems when they occur in production and if your server runs the exact same drro as your development environment then it's even easier it's just good Common Sense your system that you're writing the code on runs the same operating system as the server your code will run on next thing is the command line utilities out of the box these are simply better on Linux than on Windows or even on Mac OS if you haven't installed something like Homebrew and all the tools that you might need to use these tools are here by default you don't need to install anything else or a new shell to run commands in the experience is excellent out of the box but if you want something more you can also install other shells like fish or zsh which offer more cool stuff like Auto suggestions or syntax highlighting in your terminal or a different admittedly easier Syntax for scripting in the case of fish and sure Powershell isn't terrible anymore and its syntax might admittedly be easier to learn than bash because it's like a little bit more natural to work with and if you deploy stuff to an Azure Cloud platform then Powershell has better tools to work with that but bash is still the de facto standard although Powershell is also available on Linux if you want that and Bash is available on Windows through WL but at that point you're actually using Linux to do the work not Windows Linux also has built-in support for SSH so nothing to install there to access your servers generally the Linux kernel and the g tools were created and are worked on by Developers for their own use they were thought right from the start to be good development and system management tools because the people who made them made them for themselves first not to try and sell a bunch of commercial products or subscriptions now this isn't necessarily an advantage specific to Linux over windows or Macos but it's still an important Point all the idees you might want are on Linux it Bears mentioning because that's not necessarily the case for other Industries if you rely on Photoshop AutoCAD Microsoft Office or other various industry standards you're probably used to Linux not having access to them only offering Alternatives that will not work for everyone for programming that's not the case you get access to all the big ones vs code Android Studio Eclipse intj Zen PHP storm all the text editors you might like the only big one missing might be X code which is just on Mac OS so yeah not an advantage specific to Linux but still an important Point everything you know or might want to use is on Linux Linux also has very high availability most distributions are completely free of charge which means anyone can download them and install them without bothering with a license or owning a specific device to run the OS all the tools they need anyone can get Linux whatever their financial situation and and on top of that if Linux doesn't really work for you as your main OS you cannot install it on your main device but you still want to have access to its benefits it's really easy to run it on any other OS Linux Works beautifully in Virtual machines something that can't be said of Windows 11 which might require a trip to the registry to bypass the TPM checks and locks Microsoft put in place or of Mac OS which doesn't just install in a VM like that and also it would be illegal to do so as you are not legally allowed to run Mac OS on any non-apple device so virtual machines are not authorized Linux is also available through W USL so you can still use bash and a lot of Linux programs and tools including graphical ones on an OS you might be more familiar with or you might be stuck with namely Windows Linux dis Ros will also run on virtually anything chances are your current device can run Linux perfectly probably with better performance than the OS it came with if all you have is a very affordable low powerered Mini PC or a single board computer like a Raspberry Pi Linux is also your best option especially since Linux comes in many shapes and sizes which brings us to our next Point flexibility Linux offers Choice whatever language you want to write your code in on whatever device there's a Dr optimized for that some offer very easily integrated containers some are designed to use the least amount of system resources possible some will offer older but very stable libraries and packages to develop something Rock Solid other dros will give you the very latest versions of everything you might want to use in your app so you have access to the latest features and methods there is a Linux drro for every purpose and this makes Linux a better choice than any other OS because one size fits all never works for everyone it's better to have your OS being tailor made to the use case you want it for and Linux is the only OS that lets you do that with your desktop experience as well chances are if you're a developer you might also be a power user that's not a universal rule but from personal experience developers tend to like setting up their desktop exactly as they like Linux lets you do that no other system does at least not to the same extent from the choice of desktop environment to the customization available with themes extensions widgets docks panels tiling Window Man managers and more you will have the exact working environment you prefer or you will build one that suits you now this also creates the unfortunate risk of spending all your time finding the perfect environment instead of actually coding Linux also won't force you to update in the middle of your work and it won't nag you with ads in its menu or default apps something that can't be said of other operating systems it also won't make your Hardware obsolete by denying it access to the latest OS upgrade Linux gives you complete control which is what developers generally need now of course the title of the video says that Linux is better for most developers because yeah it's not perfect nothing truly is if you're working on an app for Mac OS or iOS Linux might not be the best choice xcode is not available on Linux you could always write the code on a Linux system and Pull It build it on an Apple device and run it there but not everyone needs or can afford such a setup other platform specific languages like net will also be easier to work with on the OS they were originally designed for for example Windows you do have net core on Linux and some idees let you work fine with it like Ryder but net is a Microsoft product first and windows might give the best experience here and of course some people just can't use Linux if your company provided you with a specific device chances are you're stuck on Windows or on Mac OS you cannot install Linux on your machine or maybe they use software that isn't available on Linux for other things but for people who can install Linux It generally has a lot of advantages for development now that doesn't mean that Linux is perfect for everyone but is still a better choice for most developers just like our sponsor is a better choice for most Linux users if you're looking for a new device to run Linux on for code or anything else click the link in the description below and check out tuxedo computers they're based in Germany but they ship to most countries in the world and what they ship is laptops and desktops that run Linux out of the box the hardware is picked specifically because it runs well under Linux and if it didn't they generally submitted patches Upstream to fix the various issues they have a big range of devices that will cover every use case and every price point whether you're looking for a laptop a desktop a nug something affordable something powerful they got it all their devices are very customizable in terms of logo in terms of keyboard layout you can change the Super Key you can customize the components inside and all their laptops are openable repairable and upgradeable so if you need a new computer and you plan to run Linux on it click the link in the description below and check out tuxedo computers they're really really good okay so thanks everyone for watching the video I hope you enjoyed it if you did don't hesitate to like to subscribe to turn on notifications to write a comment and if you didn't you can always click that thumbs down button and tell me why in the comments as well and if you really enjoy the channel then you can also support it there are plenty of links in the description below as well for PayPal patreon YouTube memberships Libra pay whatever you know how this works so thank you all for watching and I guess you'll see me in the next one [Music] bye [Music]

Channel: The Linux Experiment

Views: 443,627

Keywords: linux, distribution, linux distro, linux help, linux tutorial, linux 2023, linux for beginners 2023, linux vs windows, linux for devops, linux for programmers, linux for ethical hackers, linux for developers, linux for programming, linux for hacking, linux vs windows for programming, linux vs windows 10, linux vs windows 11, linux vs windows 2023, best distro for developers, best distro for developers 2023, best distro for devops, best linux distro for web dev

Id: E_C3pgc1Iho

Length: 14min 58sec (898 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 30 2023