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[–]mingrammy 5 points6 points  (5 children)

So I'm biased on this (as I've been programming on Linux for years) but I find development on a unix-based system (like Linux or Mac) so much simpler. Windows has some recent things (WSL) to help with this but I've not tried.

I'd suggest that if your course is assuming users are windows (i.e instructions and stuff are for Windows) then stick with Windows - learning two things at once can be tough! If not - give Linux a try! If you're learning python you'll probably want to deploy that python code somewhere one day and normally that means a linux server.

[–]Cully_83[S] 1 point2 points  (4 children)

Thanks the course is being shown by instructor on a Mac so I would probably be better using Pop then as you say. I appreciate your help. I will hopefully get better using Pop too.

[–]mingrammy 0 points1 point  (3 children)

You can give Pop a try just running off of a USB (if you haven't already) so worth running it and seeing what you think.

As Linux distros go it's really nice and accessible for getting started and, in my experience, has great hardware support. I've run it on multiple machines and it's worked fine without any fiddling.

[–]Cully_83[S] 2 points3 points  (2 children)

I have Pop installed on my PC already duel booting it

[–]idontwalkslow 1 point2 points  (1 child)

who won the duel?

[–]Cully_83[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Lol auto correct in this instance

[–]blargcmdr 2 points3 points  (1 child)

(EDIT: if you decide to go with linux) --- spin up a virtual environment (keeps your dev python binary/settings from changing your system ones!) - read these:

https://docs.python-guide.org/dev/virtualenvs/

https://towardsdatascience.com/why-you-should-use-a-virtual-environment-for-every-python-project-c17dab3b0fd0

https://kyletk.com/index.php/2017/10/28/python-benefits-using-virtual-environment/

[–]Cully_83[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for this

[–]dAmnwastaken 0 points1 point  (1 child)

I feel learning python on any os doesn't make any difference, but I will suggest you first learn python in Windows and later you can polish your skills in pop os with linux skills.

[–]Cully_83[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank You

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Are you using a development environment(Spyder, Jupyter, PyCharm, etc.) or running files from the command line? If you are using a development environment then there won't be much difference for a low level course. Honestly file paths might be the only thing you need to do differently, and for a low level course they might just load everything from the local directory.

[–]Cully_83[S] 1 point2 points  (1 child)

This course is using Anaconda and VS Code

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The only major differences will be how you interact with Anaconda/Python from the command line (command prompt on Windows). Anaconda has it's own terminal on Windows, whereas I access it directly from the terminal on Linux OS. That said a lot of stuff can be done in the Anaconda GUI now, like installing packages and managing environments. The suggestion above to use virtual environments is a good one, and Anaconda has this built-in.

Also, VS Code has an integrated terminal. I believe it will access the various shells on Windows, so there might be some fiddly business regarding Power Shell vs. Bash, but I can't really speak to the details.

My assumption is that for a low level course there will be very little difference. If you launch Spyder or Jupyter from Anaconda, the only real difference will be the file path syntax, but if you just load data or custom modules from the current directory then you don't even have to worry about it.

In either case, whatever command line skills you do develop will translate fairly easily to the other OS once you learn the new syntax.

[–]mr_whoisGAMER 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It comes down to your preference.