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Why do so many programming languages have their own package manager? (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 3 months ago by to c/programming@programming.dev
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cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/64685863

Lots of programming languages have their own package manager, separate from the distribution or OS package manager.

Going loosely from the TIOBE index:

  • Python has Pip
  • C# has NuGet
  • Javascript has npm for Node.js
  • Visual Basic also uses NuGet
  • R has a repository of packages that can be installed by running install.packages("something") in R
  • Rust has Cargo/Crates
  • Go has the go get command
  • Swift has its own package manager swift package
  • Ruby has RubyGems
  • Java has Maven and Gradle (not sure if they are full package managers, or build automation tools with dependency resolution)
  • PHP has Composer for managing libraries and dependencies
  • C and C++ are the only exceptions I can think of, off the top of my head; libraries are managed by, and coupled to, the operating system
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[–] 19 points 3 months ago

Do any serious portable project with C and you'll see why. You'll either need to vendor in all the code you want to link against, or you'll constantly have compilation issues when the OS provided library differs (or doesn't exist at all) from the one you have on your dev box.

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