The one thing I like about Linux is versatility. Granted, it's a limited versatility, but for the technically inclined, it can handle most everything you want in a "productive" computer. At home I have a server and development box both running Linux. I've never felt comfortable developing in the Windows9X/NT paradigm, simply because I've never done it professionally.

To make sense of that statement, consider the projects in a CS cirriculum. When you sit down in front of Visual Studio, the IDE does half of the work for you. Now I'm a big proponent of simplified work, but when I was learning the intricate details of developing in a language, this was a barrier to me. In The Pragmatic Programmer, the authors stress that IDEs that do wizard code are only useful if you keep the wizard code away from your code. I think that the fact that "if you want wizard code in Unix, you have to create your own code generator" is a good thing when you are first being introduced to a platform of development. Less experienced programmers will have a tendency to take wizard code and make it theirs.

In the end, it's all about personal preference, but I've known a lot of people that are more comfortable developing in Unix than they are in Windows. (Perhaps the history of the two systems provides explanation to this?)

ALL HAIL BRAK!!!

In reply to Re: Linux vs. Windows for Learning Perl by PsychoSpunk
in thread Linux vs. Windows for Learning Perl by OzzyOsbourne

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