Which is the best development environment? Windows Vs Linux

[priyankeshu]

I just started learnign Rails and i think it's quite cool! I have just
done some basic stuff till now

i was talking to some professional guy who was working in ruby On
Rails for last 1 year and he said that it would be better if i switch
to linux...

My purpose of learning RoR is to create websites with Google maps
Mashups and social network sites..

i don't have a very extensive knowledge of programming...

right now i have aptana radrails installed ... i am happy with it ...

Should i stick with Windows ... or it would be better to switch to
Linux ?

 

[rustam mamat]

[Note: parts of this message were removed to make it a legal post.]

i have used ROR for one year , same with you i have used the apatana and
radrails . i am doing quite well since i have used to windows.if you only
want to use ROR i recomand windows at least you can save your time to get
used to Linux.
if you have to use linux i recomand Ubuntu by personly . it is easy to use

 

[James Britt]

i have used ROR for one year , same with you i have used the apatana and
radrails . i am doing quite well since i have used to windows.if you only
want to use ROR i recomand windows at least you can save your time to get
used to Linux.
if you have to use linux i recomand Ubuntu by personly . it is easy to use

See about getting the free VMware player or server and setting up an
Ubuntu VM image to try it out.

There are advantages to developing and testing in an environment similar
to the deployment platform (which is typically some Unix).

--
James Britt

www.happycamperstudios.com - Wicked Cool Coding
www.jamesbritt.com - Playing with Better Toys
www.ruby-doc.org - Ruby Help & Documentation
www.rubystuff.com - The Ruby Store for Ruby Stuff

 

[Krister Johnson]

[Note: parts of this message were removed to make it a legal post.]

I started the same as you, learning rails on windows, but eventually
switched to linux. I would recommend you stick with windows for now - its
not going to hinder your abilities as far as learning rails or being
productive in rails goes. When you have a good grasp of rails concepts, then
ponder making the switch.

I find that there is less hand-holding in linux in general, so one learns a
lot more but the learning curve is steeper. As far as development tools go,
Ive always preferred lighter editors to big IDE's, so I use Vim and an
excellent rails plugin that I'm sure can be found by googling, if you are
interested.

 

[Juan Zanos]

In any "vs" question you tend to get answers on both sides regardless =20=

of how crummy one side is in comparison. I think you should try =20
Linux and decide for yourself. Linux won't cost you a cent and you =20
can always switch back and forth. Just keep in mind that you won't =20
learn all Linux can do in a day. You'll need a bit of patience.

For two many reasons to list, I'd have to agree with the =20
"professional guy" and say that Linux is generally a far better tool =20
for making Internet applications.

 

[Tom Link]

See about getting the free VMware player or server and setting up an

Ubuntu VM image to try it out.

Sun's VirtualBox is another quite usable option. I think questions
like "should I switch to ..." are really a thing of the past since
those VMs allow you to use whatever OS[1] you want for whatever task
they are most appropriate. I also found linux to some extent easier to
set up in a VM. Performance penalty depends on your hardware though
(hardware virtualization, memory etc.).

[1] With the exception of Mac OSX which AFAIK you're not allowed to
run in a VM on non-Apple hardware. Definitely not cool.

 

[David Masover]

i don't have a very extensive knowledge of programming...

I'm going to guess you don't have a very extensive knowledge of system
administration, either. If that's true, here's a quick comparison:

Points in favor of Linux:
- Many Rubygems require C extensions. Unless they have Windows-specific
versions already, they're going to be painful to get working.
- You'll probably be deploying on a Unix-like system. It's nice to have
your development environment match.
- Also, Git is cool. But the Windows ports just aren't as good.

Points in favor of Windows:
- You don't know Linux. If something goes wrong with your system, it
could take much longer to debug it than it would with Windows, at least
until you know it better.
- Ruby is cross-platform, and so is Rails. It's very unlikely that your
program will behave differently on Windows than Linux, unless you do
something stupid.
- You probably don't know Git. Tortoise SVN will be easier to learn.

My recommendation would be, if you want to get something done RIGHT NOW,
just stick with Windows. For the long term, you'll really be better off
with Linux or OS X.

 

[Richard Ive]

I'm going to guess you don't have a very extensive knowledge of system
administration, either. If that's true, here's a quick comparison:

Points in favor of Linux:
- Many Rubygems require C extensions. Unless they have
Windows-specific versions already, they're going to be painful to get
working.
- You'll probably be deploying on a Unix-like system. It's nice to
have your development environment match.
- Also, Git is cool. But the Windows ports just aren't as good.

Points in favor of Windows:
- You don't know Linux. If something goes wrong with your system, it
could take much longer to debug it than it would with Windows, at
least until you know it better.
- Ruby is cross-platform, and so is Rails. It's very unlikely that
your program will behave differently on Windows than Linux, unless you
do something stupid.
- You probably don't know Git. Tortoise SVN will be easier to learn.

My recommendation would be, if you want to get something done RIGHT
NOW, just stick with Windows. For the long term, you'll really be
better off with Linux or OS X.

Personally, having developed on OS X, Windows and Linux I would say
Windows is the better operating system to develop on. With the GUI rails
provides there is a lot more functionality readily available to you from
the desktop. As David said: There *should* be no difference to your code
running on any platform, however if you wanted to be 100% sure, I'd
check that out.

If you're new to programming, and have used Windows a lot longer than
Linux, I'd stick with Windows. You'll get a lot further with your
learning curve as you wont have to cover anything operating system related.

 

[James Britt]

- Also, Git is cool. But the Windows ports just aren't as good.

It seems perfectly fine. The release notes indicate some issues for
certain things, but I've not found any problems in day-to-day usage.

- You probably don't know Git. Tortoise SVN will be easier to learn.

If git is not preferred, mercurial would be a better choice. Might as
well get familiar with a DVCS.


--
James Britt

www.happycamperstudios.com - Wicked Cool Coding
www.jamesbritt.com - Playing with Better Toys
www.ruby-doc.org - Ruby Help & Documentation
www.rubystuff.com - The Ruby Store for Ruby Stuff

 

[Zayd Abdullah]

[Note: parts of this message were removed to make it a legal post.]

Yeah I'm a noob, and I tried using linux before and I spent a great deal of
time trying to figure other things out instaed of actually writing code.
Very frustrating, and discouraging especially if your a new to Ruby or any
language. Me personally I would stick to windows, then once you become
comfortable, go back to Linux .


Kindest Regards

 

[David Masover]

It seems perfectly fine. The release notes indicate some issues for
certain things, but I've not found any problems in day-to-day usage.

The big one was performance, unless this has been resolved. As Git was
really designed for Unix, for awhile, the Windows port was either Cygwin
or MinGW, and both came with performance hits.

If git is not preferred, mercurial would be a better choice. Might as
well get familiar with a DVCS.

Agreed, but Tortoise has a nice Windows GUI.

 

[David Masover]

Personally, having developed on OS X, Windows and Linux I would say
Windows is the better operating system to develop on. With the GUI
rails provides there is a lot more functionality readily available to
you from the desktop.

Now I'm confused. What GUI is provided for Rails on Windows, but not
other platforms?

The only one I can think of is Aptana, which exists for Linux, and maybe
the TextMate URLs, where TextMate only exists for OS X. Maybe I'm out of
touch?

 

[Trans]

I just started learnign Rails and i think it's quite cool! I have just
done some basic stuff till now

i was talking to some professional guy who was working in ruby On
Rails for last 1 year and he said that it would be better if i switch
to linux...

My purpose of learning RoR is to create websites with Google maps
Mashups and social network sites..

i don't have a very extensive knowledge of programming...

right now i have aptana radrails installed ... i am happy with it ...

Should i stick with Windows ... or it would be better to switch to
Linux ?

Switch to Linux (I recommend Ubuntu 32bit) -- and that's regardless of
Rails.

There is so much to gain by making the switch, it's not even fair to
Windows really.

The trick to making the switch though is forcing yourself to stick
with it for a month. At first it is very temping to switch back b/c
you are not sure how to do certain things.

T.