On my previous post, I can recall someone saying something like "Linux is better for programming." But I also heard from a friend that Visual Studio is the best for programming. I'm really confused here. What are GCC and Visual Studio good and mainly used for? Are there big differences between the too?

I have the capability to be able to use BOTH of those because my brother has his own Linux computer (which I never touched) and I have my Windows.

VS .NET is the ****. The debugger on that thing is all kinds of awesome. As far as Windows v. Linux programming. Well, coding in straight Win32 API is a pain in the ***. MFC provides a bit more order to chaos. However, C# makes Windows coding a helluva lot easier.

I've not tried any Linux APIs, like QT, GTK, etc.

I don't know that much about it, but programming in Linux feels more fun because a lot of it is designed for hackers.

For small stuff I ssh into my friend's box because I don't want to deal with the hassle of a full sized IDE.

Well, programming in windows requires talent plus enough money to buy visual studio. Programming in linux only requires talent since deverlopmenty tools are free.

Bzzt. Visual Studio Express editions are free and just as powerful as the professional editions. The only major limiting factor that I know of is that you can't mix languages in one solution file.

The only free IDE that can compete with Visual Studio is Eclipse, and that's only really useful for Java. Not to mention that Microsoft's C/C++ compiler is way better than GCC.

Using text editors like vi or emacs to do your programming and compiling in make will probably grow your e-penis. But Visual Studio will help you get things done on time.

If you're just trying to learn, use Windows. It's much easier and more productive.