Linux bitches Options

[impala454]

Ok so I actually have reason to "refresh" my linux skills.

1. Which distros do people use now (mainly for software development)
2. What C++ compiler is the standard? (Chuck, feel free to mention those you work with, they will probably matter more to me)

[pebkac]

Ubuntu - probably the easiest to use. It also has the best package management system of any linux distro (but this is highly debatable). Use Debian if you want a less "user friendly" version.

Fedora - pretty easy to use, but you have to want to run bleeding edge (read: unstable) software.

CentOS - This is a pretty good distro for development. It's not a good choice if you want the latest and greatest software though. Most of the software is somewhat outdated though because Red Hat tends to be more conservative with their enterprise distributions. This can mean a more stable platform, but can also mean more security holes.

Gentoo/slackware - Never used them, but I hear they're great choices for masochists.

FreeBSD - This is probably a better choice for a server, but it is also pretty usable as a desktop OS. Setting up a graphical interface can be a total pain, but you also get some power. What I like best is that I think its package management beats out even Ubuntu/Debian's IMO. You've got the option of using pkg_add (which is kinda like Ubuntu/Debian's apt-get) or compiling ports (which is kinda like gentoo's portage system). The best of both worlds.

As for compilers, gcc is probably what you will want to go with, but I also want to throw one other option out there: LLVM. It basically takes your C++ code and compiles it into byte code and runs it in a virtual machine. This allows for some interesting possibilities like building a garbage collector into your code or mixing multiple languages.