Rishav Jadon

Posted on Jan 29, 2021

Windows or Linux/Mac : which one is better for development?

#discuss #webdev

Which one is better in terms of workflow, developer experience, etc?

Top comments (21)

Andras Bacsai • Jan 29 '21

I'm a huge Linux fan/user for 10 years now. I used it everyday on all of my development machines.

I bought my first gaming pc at the beginning of this year, so I've installed Windows on it.

But I thought maybe I could use it for work as well, as it's an 'MHz Monster' - if you know what I mean :). And WOW. I was so surprised how well WSL2 integrated into the operating system. I do not even see that I'm on a Windows machine. I can install whatever I want on the Ubuntu running in WSL2. VSCode is also connecting to that WSL instance. Perfect.

I'm also running some of my development environment in docker, which is perfectly working.

I recommend testing it!

Rishav Jadon • Jan 30 '21

Wow that's cool to hear. I'm on windows and I've always wanted to explore linux

Syed Umair Ali • Jan 29 '21 • Edited

I prefer linux for Development.

Give WSL2 a chance also

Martin Jablečník • Jan 30 '21

I prefere Linux. You can customize it, choose from various environments, setup own shortcuts and have more workspaces which I am using a lot for better management of my work. Windows are too binding for me.

Samuel Abreu • Jan 30 '21

With a powerful enough machine, its irrelevant, with WSL2 and even using virtualization you can have everything from Windows on linux (and vice versa).

But on low end machine, definitely linux, less bloated and easier maintenance.

As i have to work on apple products im using mac @ work, except xcode all tools i use works well on linux.

Luis R. Anaya • Jan 29 '21

I have coded in Linux and Windows and my personal preference is Linux just because that's the platform that target platform work related tasks is Linux (I also coded in MVS/zOS but that's beyond the scope of this exercise). Both have each strengths and weaknesses, therefore better is a somewhat relative term. In my case, what drives my choice is the target platform.

Dorian C • Jan 29 '21

I've been using all three and it's quite similar. You may loose more time here and there on linux but overall it's the same. At this point, I think it's more about personal preference / workflow on your project (docker / VPN access only on windows / etc) and also your feeling regarding closed source system.

I'm mainly talking about web development of course.

Justin • Jan 29 '21

For Me Linux

Chad Adams • Jan 29 '21

Currently use Mac for work but I prefer Linux :)

DevLorenzo • Feb 22 '21

Hello! If you're interested you can find other people's opinion here: dev.to/devlorenzo/windows-or-mac-4f8k

Habdul Hazeez • Feb 3 '21

The one you can afford, and make the most of it.

Manav Misra • Feb 1 '21

Mac/Linux for all things JS related. Windows for '.net' and 'C#,' etc.

Rishav Jadon • Feb 1 '21

Why mac/linux for js? Can you specify?

Manav Misra • Feb 1 '21

Oh. Sure. It was just a quick 'on the way out.'
The main reason why is b/c Mac gives us much better experience with Terminal - iTerm2, brew package manager, etc.

Now, on the latest Windows, one can utilize the Linux subsystem, so that's not bad now - but then, you are not really using Windows then.

For most thing web dev, setting up npm and installing packages and such, my students have generally had less trouble/issues as opposed to using GitBash on Windows for this.

It's not a 'major' difference, but the terminal and package management is nice to have, which is a big part of full-stack JS. So...not JS per say - JS can be written in the browser console, technically.

Ok, so it's pretty much even, but if asking, then Mac/Linux terminal gives a more seamless web dev experience for some of the things I have mentioned here.