FOOD FIGHT!


I have a number of reasons why I would recommend FreeBSD, some of which are personally biased but most of which are pertinent.
  1. All the others you mentioned are a blur of syntaxes and file locations. Both Linux and Solaris are mixtures of SYSV and BSD lineages, and Linux sometimes changes things "just because". Windows is an abortion, though AS does make it somewhat usable and cygwin more so.
  2. FreeBSD development is more stable. Fewer kernel/libc version collisions occur.
  3. So is the system itself. Though some would consider the lack of kernel threading to be a deficiency of BSD, it is safer.
  4. The Ports tree is the best source-code compilation system out there, Gentoo included.
  5. You can buy your books from the dollar table and expect them to be pertinent.
  6. FreeBSD in linux emulation mode (better for Mozilla & plugins) is reputed to be faster than Linux native distros.
That said, Linux afficiandos will have their own take, and certainly desktops in Linux are easier to get right. However, you mentioned server applications, and there FreeBSD rocks.

I disagree heartily with the poster who said that one should ignore the OS. I think that understanding your OS and how it is built, functions, and supports you is *essential* to being a great programmer. Besides, all that source code is a treasure not to be taken lightly!

In reply to Re: Effect of OS Platform choice for learning and doing Perl well by samizdat
in thread Effect of OS Platform choice for learning and doing Perl well by Anonymous Monk

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