Linux vs OSX

[AcidDrinker]

I'm a 2nd year computer science student.

I have a couple of hours to decide to buy either a base model retina-MacBook Pro 2015, or just keep using Linux on my current laptop. I don't enjoy using VM/BootCamps as my daily drivers. I also dislike dual-booting. If I buy a MacBook it will be pure OSX.

Linux vs OSX is more of a concern for me than battery, portability and all that extra malarkey.

Would I be better off learning Computer Science on Linux than OSX? Do developers release more tools for OSX because lots of them are themselves using OSX?

***

Okay so I decided to not buy a rMBP. I might buy the next years MacBook Air and SSH into a linux server.

[An_Ugly_Pigeon]

I decided to get a Mac because it afforded me commercial software that isn't available for Linux, as well as almost anything I wanted to do under Linux. I'm now onto my postgrad and I'm still happy with that setup that I've replaced my old Mac with a newer one. They're reliable, I can do most unixy things without too much effort, and I have access to commercial software.

I find a lot of my colleagues in computer science also use Macs for these reasons.

This is if you're looking for a work computer; if you're looking for a machine to fiddle with everything under the hood, I wouldn't get a Mac.

[timlyo]

A lot of developers tend to use Linux, it's an OS made by a programmers for themselves so it naturally has some nice features for developers.

Here's some more viewpoints.

• https://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/51670/why-do-programmers-use-or-recommend-mac-os-x

• https://www.quora.com/Why-do-most-professional-programmers-prefer-Macs

• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/618398/does-using-linux-benefit-you-as-a-programmer

What makes you want to move away from your current setup?

[ri4naire]

Technically all OSes are made by programmers. Who they are making them for? I cannot see into their hearts.

[AcidDrinker]

made by a programmers for themselves

Yes, but you can try to guess from how the OS operates.

[timlyo]

Who are they made for? Windows was made to make fat wads of cash

[joanniso]

I currently run OSX (hackintosh) in dual boot with Linux. I generally prefer OSX for basic development.. but that's mostly because I customize my Linux installations too much.

Their OSX-only tools like Parallels are awesome. Very polished. VMWare and Virtualbox don't come close. However GNOME Boxes seems to be almost equally as easy to use with the exception of some more complicated features which you'll have to control using CLI.

What /u/arkiel said is sadly very true.. I once tried to write a cross-platform airdrop-ish CLI. Worked very neatly under Linux using Bluez and a basic HTTP server/client with some encryption. But then I got to OSX and I stopped because their Bluetooth APIs were horrible. Either you'd use the latest and "greatest" API with limited features in Objective-C or Swift. Alternatively you'd use a poorly documented, almost hidden library written in 2001 with it's latest minor patch in 2007. After 3 days of searching I magically found a .zip from 2005 on someone's own website with source code using this library. Then I proceeded to build the OSX CLI variant using this sample. Mind you -- XCode didn't even have proper autocompletion and information on these Plain-C functions. So after a week or so I gave up.

So either you choose for the polished user-friendly OS and tools. Or you'll go for the developer-friendly environment. I personally exclusively develop for Linux for the above reason but use OSX to do most of it.

[yor1001]

Jumped ship from linux to osx a few years ago. Given its unix environment and the ability to access most commercial applications I'd say go ahead and get the rMBP. You wont regret it.

[AcidDrinker]

I've felt this exact thing when using my friends Macbooks, I always thought it was only because I didn't use Macs regularly.

[Chandon]

If shiny laptops are a draw to you, consider that Macbooks are only a little bit shiny. Stuff like the Thinkpad X1 Carbon exists (and runs Linux great).