Linux Programming Security

Best Linux distro for programming and developers.

Best Linux Distro For Programming
Best Linux Distro For Programming

The embroidered flexibility of Linux makes it an ideal platform for coding and software development. But you have so many choices between Linux distribution that it can be hard picking up the right distro that suits your programming needs. We picked out the Best Linux distros for programmers and developers who wants to dig beneath the surface and make things happen. Here are the list of best Linux distro for programming.

5 Best Linux distro for programming and developers.

One of the reason behind Linux’s greatness is its flexibility. For example, it can run on anything such as servers, old laptops, raspberry-pi etc. It’s also a fantastic platform for Developer and programmers. Weather you are a seasoned developer or just using Linux to learn to program, you still have to choose a distribution.

Also check our list of Best Linux Books for becoming Linux Pro.

Fedora

Fedora Linux for programming
Fedora Linux for programmers

Though he hops from one distribution to another, Linux creator Linus Torvalds favors simplicity of setup. For a long time, he mentioned fedora one of his preferred Linux distribution which speaks to that ease of use. We could recommend fedora based on the kind words from famously blunt Torvalds alone but that’s just to start. Fedora may be easy to install but it’s not dumbed-down. Many new technology make their way to fedora before they end up in any other distributions.

If you are looking to stay caught up with what’s happening in the world of Linux then this is a great distribution. Fedora’s updates eventually make their way into Red Hat Enterprise Linux as Red Hat is a sponsor of the project. You’ll find three core varieties of the distribution; Fedora workstation, Fedora server and Fedora atomic. Fedora is handy for developers as you get it to run on your laptop, server and to power your cloud services.

CentOS

CENT OS for programming
CENT OS for programmers

Like Fedora CentOS is closly tied with Red hat. In this case, instead of looking into future CentOS is the community developed and based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux. This means you won’t find the newest packages included in the distribution but those that are there are well tested. This is great if you are looking for rock solid system. Stability is always great but CentOS is especially useful if you’re developing an enterprise software. Software that meant to be run on Red Hat Enterprise Linux will usually run on CentOS. Even if you have never tried Red Hat based distro, learning the yum package management system can prove useful to your career.

Arch

Arch Linux for programming
Arch Linux for programmers

Arch Linux is popular among many users because of its rolling release schedule. This means instead of waiting for big releases for major updates, Arch packages are updated much more frequently. If you like to live on bleeding edge as many hobbyist programmers Arch is a great option. When you install Arch Linux you’re essentially building your system one piece at a time. After the initial installation you won’t have a whole lot installed so everything installed is there because you wanted it there. This extends to development tools too so you’ll be able to build the perfect development environment for you. You can also try Antergos or Manjaro if you find Arch’s installation to be overly complicated.

Debian

Debian for programmers

If you’ve tried a handful of Linux distributions, chances are at least one of them was based on debian. Ubuntu for example is built on top of Debian. If all these different distributions are built on Debian it has to be doing something right. Debian also powers a lot of servers on the internet. Because of this and sheer amount of derivative distros many Linux tutorails focuses on Debian based system. This is great if you’re trying to get a piece of software to build but keep running into mysterious errors. Another reason Debain is useful for developers is the amount of software in its repositories. If you want to spend less time building a software instead of getting someone else’s code to compile, Debian is a great choice.

Kali Linux

Kali Linux for programming
Kali Linux for programmers

One of the many distributions based on Debian, Kali distinguishes itself with its focus on security. specifically focuses on penetration testing and breaking security. If you are working on a web app and you want to make sure it can stand up to different types of attacks. Kali will be an excellent tool to have in your inventory. Kali also runs well on devices like the raspberry Pi. If you are looking to use another distro as your main computing platform having Kali as a battery-powered backup can be very very handy.

Conclusion

Any Linux distribution can be a Best Linux distro for programming however distribution in above mentioned list are more polished and can give you a head start when setting up your programming environment.

About the author

Ajay Verma

A Computer Science Graduate, who works extensively on open source projects. His Areas Of interest are: Network Security, Linux Administration, FOSS, Python, and C programming.

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