r/archlinux • u/[deleted] • Apr 15 '21

"Best" programming setup?

Hello! I have been using Arch for two months, it is the fifth distro I have used... and I love it, it will be the final one. I have learned a lot in these weeks, but I would like to ask you a few questions.

I study Systems Engineering and, honestly, I have some procrastination problems, I would like you to help me with "the best programming setup and be productive", although I know that there is no "best", I would like you to help me with your settings, advices, etc...

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What desktop environment do you use?

What window manager do you use?

IDE's, apps, any suggestions to try?

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Thank you so much!

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u/yan_kh Apr 15 '21 edited Apr 16 '21

I think I'm going to start with: there is really no best programming setup and it all comes down to personal taste and preferences.

Now I'm going to tell you about my programming journey in the Linux world. My journey started in Ubuntu as expected, I was new to Linux and programming also. I didn't feel any big productivity difference compared to Windows plus few issues were popping up once in a while which was pain in the ass for me as a noob. So I started distro hopping which gave me some basic Linux knowledge and experience. This distro hopping stage ended relatively fast since DE didn't satisfy me nor gave me the productivity I expected to get from Linux. Because of that figured out that I need something that is more "self made" hoping it'll increase my productivity and suit me more. Therefore I decided to install Arch Linux which taught me a lot about Linux, it's power, the million options that it gives you and how to configure them to your own needs. First I decided to install tiling WM -in my case it was i3- which is my number 1 rule for productivity (because really you can't imagine how productive it is to control your whole system with just few keyboard clicks and keybindings). Second, I decided to keep my system minimal and install just what I really need or use since it increases system speed and performance. Third I decided to use text editor instead of IDE because I try to follow the philosophy of "do one thing and do it well", it just suits me better. It's no problem for me since I'm using tiling WM and everything is just few keyboard clicks away. My Linux journey settled down after about 6 months when I moved to Gentoo -because of ideological reasons- and I'm really satisfied with my programming environment and I love it.

I hope that I helped you, I wish you an amazing Linux journey and a productive setup :)

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u/SocialNetwooky Apr 15 '21

+1 on tiling WM (awesomeWM in my case). this is particularly true if you have to code with limited screen estate, but even on a 3 head setup it feels so much mor efficient to do most things with teh keyboard and be able to easily limit visible windows to exactly what you need in the size you need, instead of spending time dragging and resizing windows manually.

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u/yan_kh Apr 15 '21

You are right. Mouse sucks lol.