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1 year agoMy elementary school had a “computer class” which taught typing the first year and then threw you into a room to play games for the next two years.
I got tired of it eventually and started learning how to program and build websites during my second year. Started doing breadboards and Raspberry PI stuff next year when they got a bit more funding. Knew I wanted to do programming ever since. Built web applications during high school and now I’m pursuing a worthless Comp Sci degree and loving every minute of it.
Chances are you’ll have to switch to whatever your job has eventually so just pick what you like. I really like VsCode personally because you can read the documentation of methods without leaving your program. The best system and tools is whatever gets you to start learning though.
Python is great and easy to learn but I think it leads to misunderstandings about how programming languages work if that’s your only experience. If you can get a Programming Fund 1 class in C or C++, you can transfer over those skills to Python in a week. If you start with Python, then you’ll be mostly starting from scratch if you need to learn other languages. But it’s entirely your choice.
My university had Windows for the public computers but as long as you turned in your code it didn’t matter where it was written. I know lots of people who used a Linux VM that they carried on a USB stick. They completed their assignments just fine.