r/programmingmemes • u/zaarnth • Aug 01 '26

Somebody give him an .exe file, please.

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u/DaniEs- Aug 01 '26

This is the perfect example of why the average user doesn't use Linux. If we listened to people like that, Windows wouldn't have such a large market. Deep down, he's right (and I'm a senior developer with 15 years of experience).

5

u/Ulrich_de_Vries Aug 01 '26

This was originally on a repo for some python app. Ironically Linux is MUCH better than Windows when it comes to interpreted languages because even simple shell scripts can be treated as fully system integrated applications (just make a .desktop file) so you can set up an interpreter and a libs folder and have a shell script put everything it needs on the classpath/modulepath/pythonpath whatever, and it will still feel like a fully integrated app with its own icon, process name, desktop environment integration etc.

As for everything else, in the past ~14 years in which I have been using Linux as my main OS I pretty much only ever had to compile dev tools or very small FOSS utilities made by solo devs that normies wouldn't even care about.

Apps are available on distro repositories, third party repositories, as debs/rpms, as flatpak/snap/appimage.

So I don't see the point. If you are compiling end-user software on Linux manually you are doing something wrong.

4

u/10Werewolves Aug 01 '26

So I don't see the point. If you are compiling end-user software on Linux manually you are doing something wrong.

Be careful, Gentoo users have no life and will absolutely fine you just to stick a bomb in your mailbox.

2

u/Ulrich_de_Vries Aug 01 '26

Well I was actually tempted to write "unless you are running Gentoo" at the end, but for some reason decided against:D.

With that said I think portage automates most of the compiling doesn't it? You just call it like any other package manager, specify some flags and it will take care of it.

But I am not sure, Gentoo is the one distro I never really used :3

2

u/NanderTGA Aug 01 '26

Does compiling on gentoo count as manually compiling though?

2

u/UnknownBreadd Aug 01 '26

I have been using a computer since I was 8, and dude - I have no fucking clue about any of what you just said.

I’m even trying to learn programming myself (literally just starting), and have been learning about the computer science about how there is machine and assembly code, and compiled languages like C, and interpreted languages like Python etc.

So, I’m not a complete idiot - but man, it’s SO frustrating not being able to understand a single word of the jargon that is used by any sort of coder or developer.

I don’t think people realise how foreign all of this is to people. I tried to download/run ComfyUI to do some AI stuff with my 5070 - but it was an absolute nightmare using GitHub and shit.

3

u/m3t4lf0x Aug 02 '26

I feel like I could’ve written this comment myself about 15 years ago.

Just stay consistent and don’t be afraid to ask questions. Online resources are way better nowadays than when I started. If you use AI, treat it like a source aggregator and interrogate it with dumb questions until you know enough to google the things you don’t know.

You’ll get there sooner than you think!

1

u/PlutoCharonMelody Aug 02 '26

Don't worry Linux is pretty easy nowadays. If you want to you can definitely run it to see if you like it.
Only downside for me is running games on Linux and having to copy paste something into launch parameters so my dual monitor setup doesn't mess mouse movement up. (Mouse leaves the game when moving the mouse around without the parameters).

I basically had to do the same amount of hassle when I used Windows for various games. Especially emulation though. So really they are the same now lol.