Best Linux distro for programmers

[Triple-X]

Hello to all,
I am a programmer and I currently use windows for programming. I am trying to switch to linux for my programming now. But the problem is that I am confused to, which linux distro to use for programming. I mean which is the best distro for linux from a programmers point of view. I tried googling it but still there is a confusion in my mind because I have not yet started to use any linux distro yet. so, can any one suggest which is a good linux distro for a programmer. Thanks in advance.

[jesse]

Hi
You have mentioned that you are a programmer, but you did not mention on which language you work. Never mind, if you are a PHP programmer then almost any linux distribution will work. But my recommendations are Arch,Ubuntu or Debian for the beginners who use linux. If you are a programmer in C or C++ my suggestion will be Gentoo (this is my favorite linux distribution). It is desigend in such a way that all most all the software's required for a programmers are install by default, you will never feel the need to use -devel for external packages because the header comes along whenever you install a package.

[Calvin K]

Hi
The above post is great and I think it will be useful to you. If you are a web programmer my suggestions are suing ubuntu, pclinux, debian or mepis. if you are a complete language programmer such as C, C++ or java I prefer you to use slackware or gentoo. You can also use debian because it's apt-get helps in keeping the system up to date. Course portage is really nice also. But I think for a programmer the operating system really never matters. Still, if you are a linux user and a programmer then you have an additional advantage. Any more help needed, do post back.

[Solomon]

Hi
Even I am programmer and I use debian operating system. From a programmers point of view I vote Debian or any debian based operating system ex ubuntu, good os, pyro etc. There are many operating systems that are debian based. You can select which ever you like the most. GNewSense is a great completely free as in speech distro endorsed by the fsf. Some months before I have heard that ubuntu 8.04 has some serious problems with the firefox. If you are a web developer firefox acts as a basic tool for you. If any more information is needed then feel free to ask it.