Windows for Development

I am a Windows user and I am not alone. Over a third of developers use Windows as their platform according to the 2018 Stack Overflow Survey and almost half of respondents report having Windows as their operating system. Surprisingly, and yet not, as most tools and development environments heavily favor UNIX based systems yet most are using Windows. Sure, Windows users have plenty of tools at their disposal, including the Linux sub-system in Windows 10, virtual computing a la Oracle's VirtualBox, and of course the growing world of web-based IDE's.

In developing this blog and in learning the Python ecosystem, I have jumped through many hoops to get to the same finish line. From VNC'ing into a Raspberry Pi, to installing Ubuntu on an older laptop, to WSL on my current and less than one month old Dell XPS 15 with Windows 10 setup, to Mint on Virtualbox. Each track requiring a refresher on the peculiarities of each down to the simplest command of ls vs. dir. And, yes, I briefly considered a Mac and did the 'ol "Best laptop for software development" search. My old laptop was a Dell Inspiron N7010 with 4gb of RAM and a 17 inch HD display. This computer was (and still is!) a workhorse, although now it is sluggishly running Ubuntu. So brand loyalty had a lot to do with my purchase of the XPS 15 and the positive reviews didn't hurt.

It doesn't matter what computer or OS you choose. Going with Windows certainly has it's drawbacks, but there's always a silver lining. That lining will be your versatility in figuring out how to make it work on your machine and in whatever environment you decide. This means having to find, install, and troubleshoot more tools, and all the while building your skill set in problem solving.