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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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[–] 7 points 3 months ago

In the case of Rust, it makes sense both as a UX win and a way to abstract certain requirements of the build system. Languages don't agree on how to do things like linking packages into a binary or versioning packages. If Rust left all of that unspecified, we'd probably have multiple competing package managers and ecosystems.

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