What's the programming language Linux Mint has been coded in?

[linuxnewbie98]

Is it actually possible to access and see the source code of Linux Mint?

[smurphos]

https://github.com/linuxmint

Python, JavaScript and C mainly

[linuxnewbie98]

Thanks so much!

[shawnhcorey]

https://github.com/linuxmint

Python, JavaScript and C mainly

With some bash and Perl thrown in on the side.

[xenopeek]

The above link was only for the software developed by Linux Mint. GitHub recognizes the use of Bash, C, C++, CSS, JavaScript, Perl, Python and Vala as programming languages for Linux Mint's developed software.

But Linux Mint is built on top of Ubuntu and Debian. With well over a thousand additional pieces of software installed from Ubuntu or Debian repositories on your system. While a lot of those will also use have been written use the above programming languages, there are even more programming languages used for all the available pieces of software from those repositories.

[Hoser Rob]

The above link was only for the software developed by Linux Mint. GitHub recognizes the use of Bash, C, C++, CSS, JavaScript, Perl, Python and Vala as programming languages for Linux Mint's developed software.

But Linux Mint is built on top of Ubuntu and Debian. With well over a thousand additional pieces of software installed from Ubuntu or Debian repositories on your system. While a lot of those will also use have been written use the above programming languages, there are even more programming languages used for all the available pieces of software from those repositories.

What he said. ALso, if you really want to understand Linux you'll need to understand the kernel. Technically Linux is really just the kernel. Mint/ubuntu et al are GNU/Linux.

[mediclaser]

https://github.com/linuxmint

Python, JavaScript and C mainly

I would not think Python nor JavaScript as these two languages are not compiled.

[xenopeek]

What does compiled vs interpreted have to do with whether Linux Mint (parts) are written in it? All Cinnamon applets are written in JavaScript for example (the menu, the window list, and so on) and Software Manager, Update Manager, Software Sources and many more programs are all written in Python.

[mediclaser]

What does compiled vs interpreted have to do with whether Linux Mint (parts) are written in it? All Cinnamon applets are written in JavaScript for example (the menu, the window list, and so on) and Software Manager, Update Manager, Software Sources and many more programs are all written in Python.

I just thought an OS should run in machine code for speed. There will always be speed compromise using interpreted code.

But apparently, I'm wrong in the case of Linux Mint, as you have revealed now.

[jimallyn]

I just thought an OS should run in machine code for speed. There will always be speed compromise using interpreted code.

The OS is running in machine code. The OS itself, and many of the applications, are written in C and/or C++, and compiled to machine code. But interpreted languages are fine for many applications that aren't time critical. I wouldn't write interrupt handlers in Python or JavaScript, but for the Update Manager and that sort of thing they are fine.

When I had a Commodore VIC-20 (years ago), I wrote a routine in BASIC to toggle a pin on the printer port: set pin high, set pin low, repeat. As I recall, the output frequency was about 1 kHz, which is not bad at all for interpreted code running on an 8 bit microprocessor running at 1 MHz.

[shawnhcorey]

Scripting languages (Bash, Python, Perl) are often used to adapt the distro to the hardware, to set their configuration files. As such, they are only run when hardware is added or removed. This, of course, is not time critical.

[lmuserx4849]

What does compiled vs interpreted have to do with whether Linux Mint (parts) are written in it? All Cinnamon applets are written in JavaScript for example (the menu, the window list, and so on) and Software Manager, Update Manager, Software Sources and many more programs are all written in Python.

I just thought an OS should run in machine code for speed. There will always be speed compromise using interpreted code.

But apparently, I'm wrong in the case of Linux Mint, as you have revealed now.

The OS is Linux (kernel.org). The distribution is Linux Mint.
Additional Info: viewtopic.php?f=213&t=267520#p1459228

There is a project called Linux From Scratch, which shows how to build a basic "linux system". You can read it online or download. The next project is Beyond Linux From Scratch, which then describes how to install user applications. This is everything that makes up a distribution.

Linux Mint has a Development Center.
Most man pages will show the software's home page and the home page will have links to the source.
Or select version at https://packages.ubuntu.com/ and select a package. There will be a link to home page, thus the source. Some times you can guess the language based on the dependencies. If you run dpkg-query -W -f='${binary:Package} ${Homepage}\n' 'package_pattern', it'll list the application's home page, thus a link to the source. The main repositories these days are either at gnu.org, github, gitlab or sourceforge.

[rado84]

https://github.com/linuxmint

Python, JavaScript and C mainly

Knowing how slow some python software is, I'm actually surprised how fast Mint works.

[xenopeek]

Blame the programmer, not the programming language. With Python, as with other programming languages like C/C++, the programmer is responsible for optimizing their code for its intended purpose (balancing performance, memory footprint, complexity and technical debt). Programs aren't "slow" because they are written in Python.

See discussion on the related topic about Scripted vs compiled programming languages.

As shared there, Python is used everywhere from YouTube's website, to animation and special effects on the Star Wars and Avenger movies, to Mars rover 2020's search for biosignatures, to handling millions of Euro's worth in trades on the stock market each day, to all kinds of industrial and aerospace use, to managing petabytes of information at the Large Hadron Collider and many more. They aren't using Python there because it is "slow".