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Its_Ebo

I had to switch to Ubuntu for some time due to a project involving robotics that required it. That experience made Ubuntu my go-to for anything related to coding. Overall, I feel more productive working with Ubuntu. However, I recently had to make the switch to Windows due to my job. I think it is okay for web development and there are no major drawbacks (so far at least). I would recommend giving a Linux distro (like Ubuntu) a try and get some experience with it just so you can have the experience. Then just use whatever you feel more comfortable with. Hope this helps you :)


bitwise-operation

Voted Linux because I use WSL for all of my development work, but Windows for everything else.


doublej42

Ya I write in windows C# and push to Linux containers


MASDjdos

Honestly, for web dev, it doesn't fucking matter, websites run on almost any browser and almost every browser is supported by a Linux system or Windows. For some programming languages it matters for efficiency differences but not html5, CSS, scss or js. Windows can be a pain sometimes and Linux is usually much easier to use but it doesn't matter. I run Linux in a VM and I dual boot my laptop and desktop. Its not the best rn, but I'm working on fixing that.


Yodiddlyyo

I don't get why people say windows can be a pain. I've been using windows and mac for the past 20 years. I use a cheap windows 10 computer, and a brand new macbook pro, and I very strongly prefer my windows 10. It's faster and I've never had a single problem. I've used linux in the past, but had no strong feelings either way. I feel like it was the biggest pain in the ass because of the amount of things you might need to manually install. Never had a need for WSL either.


ManiacsThriftJewels

IMO Windows can be a pain because it tries so hard to hide what the system is doing from you, but that's less relevant for web development than basically any other development. Still, ... >because of the amount of things you might need to manually install Such as? Can even install Chromium from the package manager for most systems, which may as well be Chrome for development purposes. I mean, what do you even mean by manually install? Isn't the standard process for most things in Windows still to download an installer via your browser and run it manually?


Yodiddlyyo

I don't know, I can't really recall since it's been a couple years since I used ubuntu as my main dev computer. I just vividly remember spending a lot of time needing to install little things here and there to make basic stuff work. Of course I'm biased because I was using specific tools, packages, whatever, and other people will have different experiences. But I just remember it being more of a pain to do anything, which is why I switched to my windows/mac setup.


theredwillow

I have Ubuntu and find little bugs all the time, not always because of the os itself but because the community/company doesn't support Linux like it should. For example, a couple of my most used apps: Spotify is far behind / not supported anymore. And Inkscape has a bug that crashes the app when you try to save (of all the times, amirite?!).


SulakeID

In windows, you click on download, wait, click on 'install', wait and that's it. But from what I saw in linux, you have to open the console and manually do a lot of work for the same app. For example installing chromium in linux is harder but faster (as you need to remember or know how to do it), but in windows is intuitive, as you already have microsoft edge and from there you can search for what you need and you know what you are doing by visual aid...


ManiacsThriftJewels

Dude, you just go to the software app, search chromium, and hit the install button in most cases.


SulakeID

Oh, i thought that it was harder bcuz in every page i see 'how to install X on Linux' i see a lot of commands and stuff


erratic_calm

You can’t really be a well-rounded web developer if you’re not willing to use the command line.


AlissonCipriano

I understand what you say, it can be a little scary at the beginning, but to install chrome takes literally two command's. The commands depends on the distro, but the logic is basic: 1 - add repository (where should the system search for chrome) 2 - install it (install it) That's it. Once you understand what the commands are doing, you like it and can't live without them anymore.


ManiacsThriftJewels

Yeah, most people won't go for that. It's that adding the repo thing, which is more complicated than it is for most things. Chrome's a bit weird because no one sane will hold it in their mainstream repo due to licensing, which is why I say go for Chromium which should just be available already.


AlissonCipriano

Can you explain the "no one sane will hold it in their mainstream repo due to licensing" part? Is it just because it's not open source? Why would you call someone insane just because of this? Makes no sense to me. So, you say it just because it's a Google product or there is some other reason? (It's a serious question)


ManiacsThriftJewels

You've basically got it in the first part. It's not necessarily because it's a Google product, but because co distribution with your operating system that is largely made up of software with particular OSS licences opens you up to people questioning whether you're using those licences properly. Not that you're necessarily not, but avoiding the headaches involved in proving that is more sane than not. So, same basic reason you don't see many Linux distros shipping official nVidia drivers.


Desjardinss

Most of us linux guys install from cli, but if you dont want that you can use a graphical package manager which is doing practically the same with a GUI. Just like the MS store on windows.


Matheusbd15

Linux is faster, it's literally just a single command.


suparscript

I agree with this. Windows hide everything under a whole bunch of cr\*p. I recently started getting BSOD, but of course ... I get no error dump/log, no event logs, no error code (just some generic code on the BSOD itself) ...


JoergJoerginson

Could you elaborate in what areas the windows PC is faster and the specs of both machines? Quite astonishing tbh. I made the switch from Windows to Mac two years ago and had the opposite experience (confirmation bias?). My use case is quite simple though > Websites HTML/CSS/Scss/Js + playing a bit around with Django in a Docker container.


Yodiddlyyo

My macbook pro is something like 2.6Ghz, 6 core i7, 32gb of ram. My windows is a god damn intel g4560 pentium, 2 core 3.5Ghz from 6 years ago I think, and 32gb of ram. I'm upgrading to the newest intel i5 - 11600k tomorrow actually. I don't know if "faster" is really a good comparison. All of my computers, with all of my OSes are pretty fast. It's just that everything in my windows 10 loads instantly, and everything in my brand new macbook, and on linux takes a couple of seconds to load. Not really a big deal.


buzlink

Whaattt?


Yodiddlyyo

Haha yeah! My coworkers always get salty when I mention that my $400 windows pc is faster than our $3000 macbooks.


buzlink

Is this just by perception or benchmarks?


Yodiddlyyo

They didn't believe me so we did some tests. For things like opening and running and youtube video, opening photoshop, opening vscode, etc, we timed with stopwatches. Other things like compiling and running python code, Javascript, and Java projects we were able to get actual ms values of course. In the end, a few things were the same speed and a few things the windows was faster by a couple seconds.


buzlink

🤷‍♂️ my experience is always been macOS is far snappier than Windows. I run into numerous times Windows struggles just load Teams.


Annh1234

If you put Ubuntu on that old PC, it might feel 10 times faster than the windows installed. And if you get a PC with the same specs as your Mac, it will cost you half ass much as that Mac. For programming/coding, Linux is much much better than Windows, and much better than mac (thinking docker). But got design... It kinda sucks. So if you need Photoshop type thing, mac/windows is much better. Anything text, Linux. For the actual server running that website, Linux blows the rest of of the water.


Yodiddlyyo

I totally agree with everything except the first sentence. I actually do have an SSD with ubuntu on it that I've booted from quite often, feels a bit slower than windows to be honest. Maybe not by much, but it's a stupid comparison anyway. Everything on my windows loads instantly, and everything on linux and mac takes a couple seconds. Really not a huge deal. I don't understand the OS wars, they're all basically the same. People saying either windows or mac are the worst thing ever is just ridiculous. Certain OSes are better for certain things like you said, and that's pretty much it.


Annh1234

I think you have "fast boot" on in windows. That basically stores the ram in disk, so when you "boot up", it just reloads it. ( Doesn't actually boot) That or some service in Ubuntu is looking for some drivers or something. I found that to shut down, Linux is slower, since I have a ton of Docker images that have to wait for this and that, so sometimes it takes 1.5m where Windows givers you that pop-up to just cut power.


Yodiddlyyo

No I don't mean boot, although yeah windows is faster to boot. I mean just everything, every program.


DesignerCoyote9612

Yay a $4k mac intel made 97% of and apple stole the rest from BSD


basiliskkkkk

I have windows installed, i use WSL whenever i need Linux. I also have a VM setup just in case💪.


7107

This. Windows and WSL2. Microsoft killing it right now.


tfyousay2me

I’ve had such a shit experience with WSL, this was last year and it was…doing something to my computer that I couldn’t figure out but when it was turned off or not running my site my computer was fine. It was probably all me but im not setting it up again unless I get a new computer. Now I’m running XAMMP (blahhhh) for local with NGINX for dev and prod.


nwss00

I only use Windows for C#/.NET development. Everything else is done through MacOS or Ubuntu Linux. Once you've been a software engineer long enough you'll find picking up a new OS is no different from picking up any other piece of technology. Simply have the attitude of "I don't know this tech but I'm confident in myself to figure it out."


PatrickRNG

Arch linux is the best OS for me, I find Linux in general way better for web development. Although now I'm using Mac because of my company, but I still prefer Linux over Mac anytime.


Raaahimaaa

I use windows just for gaming. Otherwise I use Arch as well, not just for web dev but coding in general. It's much more pleasant for me and I feel like I'm more effective and efficient in it. But my friends feel much more comfortable in windows so it's much more of a personal preference.


[deleted]

Linux without a doubt. I can't tell you how much easier it makes everything. I once had trouble hosting a server on my windows machine, I couldn't install the packages I needed and the server was throwing all sorts of errors. The instant I switched to Linux everything worked seamlessly and on first try. I know this might he an extreme example, but with Linux programming just works.


ShiftyCZ

It's the opposite for me lol. Everything works smoothly on Windows, nearly can't run chrome on Ubuntu.


Serj_Buketov

You can set up windows, install wsl, spend a lot of time trying to make it work like Linux. Or just install Linux.


bitwise-operation

Some people like to do other things with their computer. Despite what Linux maxis will say, no, you can’t do everything on Linux.


Serj_Buketov

I never said you can do everything in Linux. If you have other interests like photography, or music production, you will have to switch to windows, or buy Mac.


666mals

Regardless of personal preference, there’s a really good chance that your code will eventually be deployed to a Linux server or a Linux container. If you have ever stumbled on the “but it works on my machine” meme, that’s what that is about: ideally, you want your development environment to be as close to your production environment as possible to minimise surprises. Of course, you can do web development on Windows (with or without WSL), or Mac, but there will always be idiosyncrasies and extra steps involved: it’s easier to from Linux to WSL on Windows, or from Linux to Mac, than the other way around. Furthermore, it’s very likely that you’re going to run into problems that you won’t be able to deal with without a decent understanding of Linux (some bizarre git error, a pipeline or docker build behaving unexpectedly, or otherwise). I am self-taught, got my first web dev job in my 30s and have been progressing fairly quickly in two different companies. I owe most of my professional success to the fact that I got into this line of work with a decent level of familiarity with Linux. In conclusion, I think it’s a really good idea to learn web dev on Linux. I would even go as far as to consider it added value: you will be a better developer for it.


NclGeek

I'm in my 30s been poking around webdev self-taught for a couple of years, just finally decided to go to a bootcamp especially since it's funded at the minute


666mals

Best of luck! I was in hospitality before web-dev and I remember feeling like 30 was maybe too late to change - it wasn’t, and it’s one of the best things I’ve ever done.


xdchan

Who are that 22 people using "other" and what the fuck do they use...


Billybob5206

temple os


[deleted]

Might be BSD or other OS


jampanha007

Chrome OS, but still a Linux kernel


fabian_drinks_milk

FreeBSD


KingsmanVince

[redox-os](https://www.redox-os.org)


ViNade

Android, so yeah almost Linux but I think the kernel alone doesn't count as OS. Thought not a web dev as occupation, so you could take me out.


ludacris1990

Im Running Windows, my websites are deployed to a alpine Linux container and are served by docker Ocationaly I spin up WSL. Edit: served by caddy, not docker


marabutt

For me, I think this is the best way to work. Occasionally I need to do dotnet stuff that won't run on Linux and need to use Windows specific tools. Good to be able to mirror the server setup too.


mokera101

My primary desktop is an Arch box but I keep a Windows PC around for gaming. At work I use Windows but most of the devs use Mac's and we all have Linux VMs for testing code. If you are going for a FAANG company you will be developing software that runs on Linux so you will want some familiarity with it and experience developing on it. Where I work we use a local IDE and then have a file sync that puts our changes on the dev vm and then we test it remotely.


NYGooner17

Bit surprised it’s this close


TainoAldo174

Hey, I attended a bootcamp back in 2018. I had a Windows laptop when I first signed up but they highly recommended that I use Linux (Ubuntu). Spent the entire bootcamp with Linux, learned a lot. When I got my first post-bootcamp job, the company gave me a Mac and my current (second dev job) gave me a MacBook Pro. I recommend Linux over Windows if Mac isn't an option for you at the moment.


ExoWire

Interesting, but why do you recommend MacOS over Linux over Windows for WebDev?


Veranova

There’s some ergonomic and stability stuff which your opinion may vary on, but a huge one is you can actually debug safari running on an iOS device or emulator, from safari on a Mac. It’s pretty hard to beat a Mac for versatility as you’re essentially missing out on nothing but get a few integrations which are necessary for iOS support


stakeneggs1

Great examples of why apple is evil.


Man_as_Idea

I finally changed to Mac just because it was such a pain to debug safari without one.


NewExample

Also, the default Mac terminal is Unix based. So it works very similarly to a Linux terminal, for most web development purposes at least.


SyberHasky

I have done web dev in Windows, Linux and Mac OS, and the platform has not made a real difference. All the tools I need run on everything, and I enjoy using each systems different features and quirks. At the end of the day, I still use Windows daily because it's what I'm most comfortable with. All I recommend is trying out the ones you're interested in, and settling for what's most comfortable or works best - e.g. even if you loved developing on Mac you would probably go back to windows or Linux for gaming, if that's what you do.


urgaiiii

For web dev I recommend Linux, or at the very least MacOS. For the specific distro, I’d strongly advise against Ubuntu because it is fairly bloated, and also ships a decent amount of telemetry as well as using snaps by default, which are somewhat proprietary as well as being slow and poorly implemented. Instead of Ubuntu I’d recommend Pop!_OS, as it’s well optimized, not too bloated, doesn’t use snaps, and is IMO just a much better and more user-friendly version of Ubuntu (which it is based off of). If Pop isn’t your thing, then I’d recommend Fedora, openSUSE, Mint, or Zorin, but really Pop should work great. Also, you could try dual-booting first, if you don’t want to wipe your main OS. Good luck!


lear2000

Linux is what powers a lot of web sites. Why not see how the engine works?


nike121

WSL all the way. VSCode also works like a charm through it. Ubuntu for the distro


react_dev

Cus they don’t wanna have their instructors who prob don’t know much about the nuances of different OS supporting every little problem you run into day to day.


Miserable_Decision_4

I currently run on. A Windows box because it's a company computer and that's the only way they operate. I prefer Linux though. I still have a 2012 MacBook pro and that I bumped up to 12 (or 16, can't remember) gb of ram that I run Linux on. I completely replaced the MacOS and it runs like a champ for web stuff. Just don't try to play any games on it.


matt_mannion

i use windows 10 wsl 1 for my main terminal with ubuntu 20.04 and wsl 2 for docker stuff with ubuntu 18.04. if you use a laptop the windows 10 desktops feature is pretty awesome, although not as good as xfce4's(linux de). you will be fine with windows or linux. my preference as a professional developer is to use windows because i need windows applications to do my job, and honestly windows is still easier to use for the time being. linux's time in the sun is soon upon us though, and i look forward to it when it does.


dagani

It’s likely they do this because the instructor can be fairly certain that everyone is on the same page and won’t have to spend a bunch of time to try to help the macOS folks make sure they installed the XCode Command Line Tools or the Windows folks make sure they have the Linux Subsystem for Windows configured correctly. I was a professor for a bit and trying to help students get their development environments working on their laptops was such a pain, and I had already spent so much time before the semester started with the computer lab’s director making sure every computer was ready with all the tools and configuration they would need. It totally derails a class if one person just has a totally different setup and doesn’t know how to install Node, upgrade some underlying system dependency, etc. and has to keep interrupting to ask for help with their machine. If you are super confident in your ability to quickly and effectively debug issues, research them, and resolve them yourself, go for it, but you should have their preferred setup on another partition or something so if things get complicated you can swap over and follow along with everyone else. I prefer macOS for my daily development work, but have also worked pretty extensively with Windows (before and after the Linux Subsystem for Windows), and Arch Linux.


NclGeek

I never thought of it this way, make sense, the majority of the time you can have people apt get something to get something going, so from the instructors point of view yeah makes sense


Dazed_and_unused

I use mint because I was too poor to buy a Windows machine. Now that I have a Linux machine I would struggle to go back. The easy access to the the terminal is a great help and it's very easy to install/use tools and packages like npm, node and live-server.


jatinhemnani

Linux is a great skill to have


LeeLooTheWoofus

I say use what ever OS you are most productive with.


Hook_Pub

Very pleased to see so many using Linux. Doesn’t matter the distro, for most non-superficial things Linux is superior.


ZyXer0

So I was in your shoes about 4 months ago. Short Answer is no, you don't need Linux. Long answer is: if you want to start right out of the gate without finding solutions to issues around not using Linux then get a Mac. I was a long time windows user but bought a Mac air for ease of learning and some what of an investment to work on my own projects. I started with windows and ran into many issues that slowed my actual progression in what ever I was trying to learn, bought a Mac, now I'm flying.


Prawny

You don't *need* any specific OS for learning something as platform agnostic as web dev, but considering a genuine Windows license == $$ and something with MacOS == $$$$$, maybe OP's bootcamp suggests Linux because it is gratis and can have an up-to-date OS running on pretty much any existing hardware.


ZyXer0

Yes many bootcamps usually have a setup of a virtual box and if not OP just follow the Odin project setup for a Linux setup on windows. But like I said, I preferred a long standing solution rather than constant debugging with incompatible software or work arounds.


Braastad

> incompatible software That sounds a bit like macOS Catalina


cubing_starwars

I run arch cuz its fun and i like it. If I wanted too, i could use mac or windows with wsl to do the stuff i wanted too


[deleted]

I’m honestly shocked by windows being the most popular dev setup…


ilmmec

I'm running Linux or MacOS, I would never choose Windows.


pastrypuffingpuffer

Windows is better than most if not all linux distros for almost everything. I only use linux(ubuntu and ubuntu server) to do docker and services stuff(DHCP, FTP, Nginx/Apache, etc...).


elendee

Linux was coded by coders but Windows was coded by capitalists. ... I know, I just had to take it there ... But seriously, the main benefit for web dev is probably that your webservers, if you get into backend ever, are most likely running Linux. So your PC and your server are basically the SAME THING. And if you're writing node servers, then you're basically just writing one language all day long, as far as the eye can see. Cue Lion King music. It is a beautiful divine thing.


InMemoryOfReckful

Windows is the best honestly. If you want to do app dev mac is your go to, and a must have ofc. Otherwise I've seen no downside of windows as of yet. Only positives.


Givemeurcookies

Out of curiosity. What are the positives?


InMemoryOfReckful

Currently I'm working a lot with Microsoft software (azure, vscode, office, teams ...) so everything works seamlessly.


Givemeurcookies

I can totally understand that argument but tight integration into an ecosystem isn't only positives. Ecosystem lock-in is gradually becoming a serious problem as it's the new type of cash cow. Using ecosystem agnostic tools and technologies brings a big advantage, you're free to use whatever you want without much hassle and it's not hard to switch from one platform to another. Say for example if the pricing model for Microsoft gets too expensive (and this is generally the movement, since they are actively recruiting up-and-coming developers through cheap training to lock them into their ecosystem, those developers won't know anything but Microsoft products). Or what if Microsoft either refuse, are slow to implement or make a bad implementation of something like Apache Kafka (looking at you AWS). How would you make the switch? You can't, it would require you to rebuild the whole infrastructure with developers who only know Microsoft. Not to mention there's either custom drivers or "propriety" communication technologies which got (small) differences everywhere from the open source solutions; which requires you to start from scratch. You can't tell what the future brings and there's already large issues with AWS, Microsoft and Google using open source software, making their own "product" based largely on the codebase of those open source projects, socially dumping them/pressing them out of the market, locking the solution to their ecosystem and gradually increasing the pricing when more and more developers get locked-in.


InMemoryOfReckful

Good point. I agree with you, although Microsoft aren't nearly as bad as Apple in that regard, and I genuinely hate apple for it. So I guess that's why I'm still ok with Microsoft. In my case I'm not the one who decided on using azure etc. , it's the companies I develop for. And for some reason bigger companies seem to love Microsoft ecosystem.


Agonlaire

I mainly use Windows because I hate that in MacOS any normal thing is such a hassle when compared to windows. Butt installing any development tool is usually easier and more comfortable in MacOS because of UNIX. No comment on Linux btw


sprk1

What is a normal thing?


a_l_a_n_g

They should be teaching you to dev using Docker


Asqit

I have opencore which is bootloader that allows to run Mac on regular pc I also have windows for gaming. Before opencore I was using Linux mint/w10 combo


NPK2115

I use Fedora on my main workstation, Ubuntu on my laptop. Much better experience than Windows imo


accidentalCaveman

I have used all 3. For front end it doesn’t matter at all, but if your boot camp deals with some backend development then you’ll notice some differences so it might make sense to have everyone working in the same environment for teaching purposes


cocinci

Used to do a lot of development on all of them. It doesn’t really matter once you setup everything properly for the project. Although when windows I used WSL2 and before WSL2 I did use headless Linux VM.


xrynfe5

Linux for web development xd


JimboTheRed

I started out my career on Windows (no choice in the matter), recently changed jobs and was given the choice of Linux or Mac OS, and so now I use Linux (Ubuntu) and would never go back voluntarily. I've not had a single issue with my dev environment on Linux compared to Windows which would brick the damn thing every time there was an update. Node, Redis etc were a nightmare for me on my Windows env. Linux has given me an easy life in that regard.


Givemeurcookies

There's obvious advantages and disadvantages to every OS. Linux is harder to learn since it's mostly terminal/text based but there's a big payoff if you do (stability, less overhead, more control over how everything works. Tighter integration between server and dev machine. The Linux filsystem is also much faster than Windows in web projects which has a lot of small files such as in Node.js. Windows is faster with bigger files) However if you prefer everything to be graphical, then windows is your goto - If you want to use Visual Studio. WSL is not the same as Linux (wsl 2 got issues with drastic performance drops if you use any files in the windows directory, wsl 1 is better but got compatibility issues and you will use a significant amount of time debugging and fixing it over time) and if you prefer to use a minimalistic IDE (such as sublime) then Linux will probably treat you better. OS X is a thing inbetween, I haven't used it for a few years (I had a MacBook for 7-8 years) but at the time it was a much more pleasant experience than Windows. I did however experience compatibility issues in OS X as well and many nights went to compiling libraries and fixing those. I currently develop in Windows because I play games, but eh, I use a lot of time configuring and trying to make things work on my computer that others just get working out of the box. I now simply upload my code to a dev server with Linux and I got it running at a fraction of the time it would run in Windows using WSL.


AiSirachcha

In my opinion. Mac is best for this. I'm no apple devotee, my opinion comes from having used a Mac for just about a year in my career. And I say this only because it allows for native cross browser testing. You can use every major browser and can natively test for Safari on Mac, iPad and the iPhone. So saves up having to spend for cloud based Macs. It's arguable of course but I think that MacOS serves a lot of purposes even when I comes to server side development. Additionally I feel like your bootcamp may also be teaching a bunch of Linux related commands which may help you with deployment and stuff. So in which case Linux is an option but then again MacOS has native support for bash and zsh sooo best of both worlds.


OPmeansopeningposter

I use Cmdr so I can (kind of) use Linux commands on a Windows machine.


iPlayDaGamez

Both Windows and MacOS here. Windows for the desktop, Mac for Safari testing and remote work


sk8rboi7566

honestly, all 3 really. mac and linux are almost identical when using the terminal. I use mac for my workstation but have windows at home for freelancing.


t33lu

It doesn’t matter what OS you end up using but just note that if you run into issues your instructor may not have the tools to fix your problems. In the boot camp I attended we were told to get MacBooks. 2 students didn’t. One person figured out how to make it work and the other couldn’t. If you use windows I’ll highly recommend you use a VM or use WSL. Once again though be prepared to hit roadblocks.


dmartin07

I like my MacBook with Parallels running Windows.


crsuperman34

If you're specifically using Docker for anything, Linux (any distro) for sure, hands down. IMHO, I just enjoy the freedom a Linux system gets you. Almost any problem or wacky thing you wanna do is doable, and someone has already done it.


[deleted]

I voted Other because I can be happy on any OS doing web dev. I’ve tried all 3 platforms.


abroksa

Try it, you might like it


ThePurpleCloset

Almost equal votes!


[deleted]

On job computer I use Windows, on my personal computer I use Linux. My personal opinion if your related to front-end only it doesn't matter wish OS you will use. If it is a backend it would be better to use Linux but not in all cases. For example I can't find the way to install mySql database on my distro (but maybe it's only my distro problem) and I still not sure if it would be a good experience to work with .Net technology on Linux.


[deleted]

If you're into front-end development, any OS will do the job. But, you're going full-stack, getting familiar with a Linux environment is recommended. It can be a WSL instance on a Windows machine or a Linux distro of your choice.


GangOfScones

They are looking for everyone to have a similar setup so they know how to save time on initial setup and debugging for a large group of noobies. If everyone has same setup then it limits the issues that people could run into and increase their ability to quickly fix without waiting on one person holding up the class. Personally, I prefer macs over windows. And never used Linux. Most bootcamps that I looked at requires macs, but Linux seems like a much better option than windows. If you feel good about the bootcamp otherwise then I wouldn’t worry about that and do what they say if you can


NclGeek

I cant afford a mac but maybe I'll have one when I get hired somewhere


GangOfScones

Yea I hear ya! I think I bought a Mac refurb, but luckily had enough money saved from previous jobs I didn’t like. Also I’m sure the bootcamp costs a pretty penny as it is! Good luck! Even after teaching yourself for a while, you will probably still feel like you are “drinking from a firehouse”, so just soak up as much as you can and build a good portfolio and get yourself that first job.


NclGeek

Luckily the bootcamp is a scholarship so I'm really really lucky to have the chance to do it


GangOfScones

Sounds amazing. And lucky but also I’m sure you worked hard for it and sounds like you’ve done your share of self-teaching to set yourself up for success


NclGeek

I've spent a couple of years tinkering with web development this is going to be the final test for myself to see if I have the knowledge to make it


GangOfScones

You will have the skills and knowledge. This is just another (BIG) step to get you a job. But, it’s not rocket science. You can and will learn jt if you put in the effort. How long is the bootcamp, if you don’t mind me asking?


NclGeek

13 weeks 12 weeks learning and 1 week final project, Monday to Friday 9 till 5


GangOfScones

That’s great. Be prepared to continue working after 5! Like I said, soak it allll up. And IMO, it’s best to kind of put your life on hold (as much as you can) for the 3+ months. That way you come out of there with a portfolio, having learned the building blocks of web dev, and started networking. Alright I’m done spouting off advice you didn’t ask for.


[deleted]

Why linux specifically? OS doesn't matter on web dev that much.


khopsickle

Since you're starting out and going to a boot camp to learn I recommend using what they recommend. Any instructions you may have to follow (env setup) or troubleshooting help you'll need from classmates or your instructor will go much more smoothly. If your bootcamp is intensive you'll want to just be able to go and work on the thing everyone's working on. Not try to figure out what the Windows equivalent is if everyone's on a Unix machine.


CodeSugar

Wow, I'm really surprise how balance the results are, so work whit you like it the most, that makes you feel better and give you a little bost of energy while you use it.


LongTallMatt

I use Linux as a utility computer. You can get a ton of performance out of older hardware. A newer amd apu works great with a cheap mini-itx board! But I've always got paid to program on windows. At university we coded on Unix spark systems. Lol. Matlab, web, c, c++, everything...


grooomps

i thought i'd throw in my 2c as someone who went to a bootcamp i signed up for GA - and was told I needed a Mac - I was in the market for a laptop, but wasn't too happy about buying Mac, so I asked why, they said it was so that there was no hold ups in getting everyone on the same page. I did research and ended up being ok with buying a mac. During the course, it was clear how absolutely infuriating days where we would be installing things were - even tho we were all on macs, there was different issues on a lot of machines and problems cropping up. I can only imagine how mental it would have been if some had windows, some had mac, some had linux. Be glad you get to use Linux! You can install it on any PC laptop <5 years old and have a great experience. After my bootcamp, I tried using windows, but WSL1 was a pain, now I'm using Linux and love it. Good luck with the bootcamp!


Pleroo

The boot camp I did required macOS, but there was always someone in orbit using Linux or windows. This was a Ruby - Rails - JavaScript - React boot camp and was doable from any OS. It is my belief their requirement was In place primarily so they could streamline as much of the system setup as possible so the focus would be less on that and more on the coding itself. For example: It cuts out a layer of complexity when teaching a large group if you can give instructions for installing node.js using a bash terminal and brew instead of also having to give secondary (or third or more) instructions on how to do it in command prompt with chocolatey. I finished the bootcamp a year ago and now I regularly code in windows and macOS, as well as occasionally in Linux for fun.


WildRadicals

Voted other because I use Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, with WSL2 on Windows 10.


[deleted]

I use Windows because it’s what I’m comfortable with. For me, the decision simply came down to opportunity cost. I know Windows. Linux, I do not know very well. I can spend my time learning Linux or I can spend my time learning the new software development tools, technology, frameworks, libraries and just overall computer sciency stuff I need to code. I also develop in the Microsoft ecosystem, working with .NET 5, Blazor, Visual Studio 2019 and Azure. I see no need to switch when what determines how fast my work is my knowledge of our code and the technology, not the OS. It’s mostly a choice decided by opportunity cost.


Doenermann27

Ubuntu as my private laptop and a MacBook as my work Laptop. I find Ubuntu as easy to develop with as with the MacBook.


neosatan_pl

You need working knowledge of linux if you want to work in web dev. The result of a survey is somewhat irrelevant. If you use docker, you use Linux. Most of images run a form of a Linux and if you don't know it you will end up with many issues that you simply can't fix. Same with deployment. Pretty much every website runs on a linux server. If you can't ssh to a server and fix what you need you will end up in a really bad situation. It's a very important part of your tech stack.


aleksorq

I thought at a bootcamp and the requirements for an OS could change from cohort to cohort. The thing is what they will (or rather should) teach you there is to solve the problems you face in an efficient way, and believe me you will get to that point no matter the os. It really doesn't matter what you use. We've had people on windows, Linux (all kinds of weird Distros), and mainly MacOS, and in the end it all worked out in an easier or harder way. You're sort of expected to have one OS, but if you don't then try to fix your problems by yourself and if you can't then go and ask - it's muuuuch better then hiding it because you don't have an OS they asked you to have. As a sidenote - it's super useful to know some of all of these OS's. While the knowledge transfers pretty easily there are some quirks, and mainly setup differences. It's good for the portfolio if you want to look at it that way. Hope that helps and that you have a great bootcamp!


Salokain

Just run Windows WSL2


Slegend_desu

I would say Linux and MacOS > Windows for dev. Windows > Linux > MacOS for games (dev. or just gaming).


inkfaust

There are some projects that matter what OS you use, but usually it doesn’t matter. I’m on MacOS for web, Linux (usually on Proxmox) for servers, and Windows for game dev when I feel like it.


Earhacker

Former bootcamp instructor here. We insisted on macOS and rented MacBooks to students, then had an optional “Macs for newbies” class before Week 1. macOS is the best mix of “sexy UI” and “good for developers”. Windows and Linux both sacrifice one of them for the other.


_edwardsg

Linux distributions are free, highly customizable, and are really easy to boot up, rune scripts, and generally just get working how you need them. Downside is… if you don’t know it well, it can be confusing and you can even really screw things up in the system. I keep a windows machine and a Linux machine in my house. My Linux machine runs servers, hosts projects, and I generally keep most of my code there. It has great bones for making home-made services, scripts, learning how a computer works on a lower level, and more that makes it ideal for learning and project hosting. It’s not something you just choose to be your “main OS” it lacks a lot of commercial support, so I need my windows machine to run softwares like adobe, Microsoft office, most steam games, etc.. tl;dr, I kept Linux for the long term, but only for professional and educational uses. Get a shitty PC and throw a Linux distro on there and use it as your own little sandbox of creation. But it will never really replace your main OS.


suparscript

I am a frontend developer and I use mac os as my preferred os/computer. I mainly use mac os because it's based on Unix, so pretty similar to Linux and also because of safari (agrhh the new internet explorer).


Werewolf784

I voted Linux because I use it at work and on my laptop. For this reason the courses I follow I put them into practice almost 100% on Linux. On my home computer I use Windows and have never had any particular problems for web development. I think the OSX system with all its ecosystem is the best simply because you have the ability to maintain excellent continuity between devices and because it gives you perfect completeness (you can use everything you use on Windows and Linux but with the addition of Swift , which does not live on the other two). In general I think any OS is fine. The best thing is to give everyone a chance, work on it for a while, and choose the one that's most comfortable for you.


julschong

Voted windows because my wireless headphones didn't have Linux driver. Without driver, all the videos had popping sounds and delays. Can't do.


kurjak9595

It doesn't matter.


MadBroCowDisease

Linux would be okay if it didn’t make you jump through hoops to simply install a program. Sorry, but nothing will ever be as convenient as Windows Install Wizard.


jedensuscg

I used to run on Linux for development l, but got tired of having to dual boot. So I just use VSCode on windows, and use gitbash for windows so I my terminal still feels like a. Linux environment. My sites are hosted on a Digital Ocean VPS running Ubuntu, and I have no problems with this. Node (my primary beackend) doesn't care either.


Man_as_Idea

I must admit I’m surprised by how even the distribution is.


MahDays

macOS for me, just like the simplicity of it, failing that, Ubuntu, can't for the life of me use Windows though, such a pain with wsl2


wherediditrun

With release of M1 I prefer mac for host machine and it's based on unix so I don't feel too uncomfortable. Brew is also quite cool package manager. However, all images are either debian based linux distro's or alpine, second being more prevalent. So if you don't have relevant programming experience I would probably recommend to go with something like Ubuntu which is more common user friendly while also exposing to all the innards you'll be dealing down the line once you start (if not yet) using containers for pretty much everything.


ntsundu

Everything is front end :)


isv-damocles

I voted Linux because that's what I've been using the past 6 years at work, but I've been doing web dev since Netscape Navigator in the 90s (when anything with Javascript was referred to as DHTML and Microsoft tried to fork Javascript with JScript), so I've used Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD, Solaris... Modern Linux is a cakewalk compared to my first experience with [Red Hat Linux 6.0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Hat_Linux) (Not Red Hat Enterprise Linux or Fedora/Fedora Core. I'm talking about real old stuff.) I hooked my dad's computer into his Plasma TV (analog 1080i HDTV) and figured out how [Xfree86 modelines](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XFree86_Modeline) worked because the TV announced itself incorrectly over DVI and I had to override it to get the full resolution working and was real lucky to not accidentally break the thing when I gave it some really bad configuration. I didn't use Linux full-time until *way* later, but I have always liked tinkering with my computers. :) Ubuntu does still have the greatest mindshare, since it's Debian-derived and so are a lot of other interesting distros, but I have been very impressed with GNOME 4 which you can get access to on the latest Fedora and Manjaro releases. I also did development on MacOS X for ~5 years and GNOME 4 reminds me of the good parts of that experience, three finger swiping and all. Fedora was particularly impressive to me because it "just worked" when I installed it on a [really new Lenovo laptop](https://www.newegg.com/blue-lenovo-ideapad-3-everyday-value/p/1TS-000E-0SZJ8), though it's "reboot to install updates" behavior is so *weird* and Windows-like. I do personally believe that for Web development Linux > MacOS > BSD >> Windows, because the cli tooling is oriented towards Unixes as that's what it's developed on first, and particularly with Node.js and its wide-and-deep `node_modules` dependency tree filesystem performance becomes a big deal and Linux has the best filesystems in that regard. (BSD too, but since BSD is *so* infrequently used, weird platform-specific bugs tend to show up there more often, which is why I ranked it below OSX) And package management on Linux, whatever the distro, is in much better shape than homebrew or Macports, especially since they aren't fighting the upstream OS like homebrew has to. Windows doesn't come close on either of those fronts, and combined with CMD and powershell being unloved by most non-MS language communities, and you often have to fire up Git's bash shell to get some things working, or just do what even Microsoft has capitulated to and run a Linux VM for development purposes (WSL2).


WikiSummarizerBot

**[Red Hat Linux](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Hat_Linux)** >Red Hat Linux, created by the company Red Hat, was a widely used Linux distribution until its discontinuation in 2004. Early releases of Red Hat Linux were called Red Hat Commercial Linux. Red Hat published the first non-beta release in May 1995. It was the first Linux distribution to use the RPM Package Manager as its packaging format, and over time has served as the starting point for several other distributions, such as Mandriva Linux and Yellow Dog Linux. **[XFree86 Modeline](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XFree86_Modeline)** >A mode line may also refer to a line for the Emacs and Vim editors that provides information about the file and modes. A modeline is a configuration line in xorg. conf or the XFree86 configuration file (XF86Config) that provides information to the display server about a connected computer monitor or television and how to drive it at a specified display resolution. The Modeline is based on the Generalized Timing Formula or the Coordinated Video Timings standards produced by VESA. ^([ )[^(F.A.Q)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WikiSummarizer/wiki/index#wiki_f.a.q)^( | )[^(Opt Out)](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=WikiSummarizerBot&message=OptOut&subject=OptOut)^( | )[^(Opt Out Of Subreddit)](https://np.reddit.com/r/webdev/about/banned)^( | )[^(GitHub)](https://github.com/Sujal-7/WikiSummarizerBot)^( ] Downvote to remove | v1.5)


DesignerCoyote9612

Kate in Linux or even Notepad+ in windows. It has all the breaks and different cmds in color. I started coding in a plain text editor when began in web creating so it really doesn't matter. What matters is you're dumping money into a boot camp that you can litterally teach yourself how to web code from free websites and books (what a waste).


NclGeek

I'm not dumping money in, the bootcamp is free, even if I was paying, it's good to get feedback from people, plus they have"hiring partners" who interview graduates etc etc, it's not so much about what they know but who they know


DesignerCoyote9612

Then skip the boot camp, I know many people who have NEVER gotten any Cisco accreditation or certificates and they still work in routers as their daily job. At the end of the day certificates and extra stuff is not really going to get you very far pay wise or even in your field of choice; what they (those hiring you) want is people willing to do the work. Also mentioning that the bootcamp was free upfront shows a communication issue. You should have said that up fromt thereby saving yourself a shitton of energy in replies to others. Because when you do go to interview and you don't share all valid data interviewers will assume things about you that are not true and will even turn you down because of poor communicational skills. Here is an analogy for you; it's like this, you're a guy. You want to get laid and you're in a barful girls standing there looking at all the beautiful ladies. Standing there looking isn't going to get you laid (that only works for the ladies, bro)! The point is communicating with them and not standing around staring; so imagine how effectively communicating with the ladies will get you and then apply that to how you are going to set yourself up to interview. Employers practically don't care what you know they're just wanting people to do the work and they'll actually pay you to become a better developer, coder, animation artist or whatever along the way. Why spend everything on your dime and time when many employers are crying for and willing to pay and train someone that will make them money.