Linux is an excellent choice for C programming. It has arguably the easiest setup and the best support for C programming out of the three operating systems covered in this book.

Using Linux also allows you to take the ethical high road and feel good about supporting free software.

One issue with describing the setup for Linux is that there are many Linux distributions with different software. In this appendix, we will provide the commands needed to set up on systems using the apt package manager, such as Debian Linux and Ubuntu Linux. If you are using a different Linux distribution, you will need to find the commands relevant to your system. Refer to your distribution's documentation for help.

Before diving right in, take a moment to make sure your package list is up to date. This is done with the following command:

sudo apt-get update