How do I avoid installing same programming languages both in WSL and Windows10?
I am thinking about using WSL as a dev workspace. However, I realized I will need to install Node.js, Python, create-react-app, and so on in WSL even though my windows 10 already have them installed.
It would be helpful if you could spare me some advice.
Thanks.
To some degree, it depends on what type of development you are doing. Given your example languages/tools, I'm going to assume that most of your development is platform agnostic, web-development, etc.
My recommendation is to go all-in on WSL and install the Linux versions of the tools you use (with some notable exceptions covered below).
Uninstalling the Windows versions is recommended, but not strictly necessary. I recommend uninstalling because I continue to see a number of questions across the Stack sites where it becomes apparent that the Windows version of Node or Python is getting called from inside WSL. It's likely that some tool, such as nvm or equivalent, attempted to prepend the Windows Node or Python location to the Linux path.
This causes problems, as the Windows versions Node and Python understand Windows paths and processes. When you call them from the Linux shell in WSL, the shell/OS uses, of course, the Linux versions. And Windows Python just won't understand something like /mnt/c/Projects. It needs C:\Projects. You can work around this with utilities such as wslpath (automatically installed in some WSL distributions, installable in all others), or you could just manually adjust the path. But ... why go through the hassle if you don't need to.
Just use the Linux versions, with the corresponding Linux paths and instructions. Most development tools, tutorials, instructions, etc. are going to "default" to the Linux doc. It will typically be more complete, more up-to-date, etc.
And, of course, the Linux command-line experience is (subjectively, sure) far-and-above better than PowerShell. Don't get me wrong, I like PowerShell, but I like PowerShell even better when I call it through WSL (powershell.exe or pwsh.exe), since I can take advantage of Linux niceties like less (or bat), jq, and many others.
Not to say there aren't WSL caveats that you have to get used to. Be prepared to run into a few snags here and there (lack of Systemd support, permissions, filesystems, inotify), but most everything has a workaround that you'll typically find here on Stack (Stack Overflow, Ask Ubuntu, Unix & Linux, and/or Super User) if you search.
And for those "notable exceptions" I mentioned, I recommend installing:
Windows Terminal (available in the Microsoft Store), which will provide an upgraded terminal experience for WSL.
The Windows version of Visual Studio Code -- I've seen a question from someone here who tried to install the Linux version. It's just not necessary. Microsoft has done a great job of integrating the Windows version of VSCode with WSL. Just install the "Remote Development" extension pack, which includes the "Remote - WSL" extension.
