Running python on a Windows machine vs Linux

Question

I am interested in learning python but my Linux skills suck. I would like to develop a medium to large scale web application using python and django but afraid the software may not work well on a windows box. Is there a performance difference in running python on Linux vs Windows? Is there anything that I should watch out for when developing the application. Also, I am aware that it is very easy integrating C++ libraries with python. Is this statement still true is the code is on a windows box?

Answer 1

Don't tell anybody this, but I've run python/django on windows. It works all right and the performance hit isn't any worse than you would expect from windows. I used MySQL and it installed without a problem. I had to grope around to find out how to manage it (no good ol' sudo /etc/init.d/mysql restart but i eventually found a graphical interface to do what I needed.

Answer 2

but afraid the software may not work well on a windows box.

Your software will work. The Windows OS may not work as you hope. But that's Windows, not Python.

We develop 100% on Windows. We completely test: Unit test, integration test and user acceptance test on Windows. 100%.

We deploy for production 0% on Windows, 100% on Linux.

We have a few (less than 6) differences in the unit tests that are Windows-specific.

The application has no changes. It works with Apache or not. It works with SQLite or MySQL.

Answer 3

I've been working Py on both Windows and Linux. I favor Linux because of several things:

1. virtualenvs - once you start working with virtualenvs, there is no turning back.
2. SHELL - CMD is very frustrating when executing python/management commands in django. Also, you should add python.exe every time :).
3. ipython works better on Linux.
4. GeoDjango doesn't work on Vista/7 last time i checked. I spent 3 days trying to set it up. Just for comparison, i set GeoDjango-able development environment in 20 minutes in Linux.
5. Linux is free :)
6. Although there is no visible performance impact or incompatibility when working python cross-platform, the benefits of Linux for python development outweigh Windows by a lot. It's a lot more comfortable and definitely will boost your productivity.
7. ...

IMHO Linux is the smart choice for Python development.