I guess which Linux distro would be most preferable for advanced users such as developers or geeks?

Any linux system is best for developers.
Can you be a bit more specific?

it is like buying a car. which ever they like the most they will stand by it no matter what. that is what geeks do, stand by their PCs and smoke crack then geek out . . NOT really. I take that back about crack.

Slackware likely comes with more development tools out of the box, but they can be installed later in other distros. If you are using Red Hat or a derivative, look for a "group install" so you don't have to install each tool independently; if Debian or a derivative, look for a "meta" package.

The one firm bit of advice I'd offer is to stick to a major mainstream distro, such as Slackware, Debian, a *buntu LTS, OpenSUSE, CentOS, Fedora (if you don't mind the short release cycle) and the like.

Full disclosure: I am not a developer, I just read a lot.

1 members found this post helpful.

I second what frankbell said:-

Slackware is good and an exceptionally good teacher as well.

You could also try Parrot Linux, Kali, Gentoo or CentOS. I think Black Arch has way more tools than Parrot and Kali:- <pretty sure>
The beauty of it all is you can try them all in a VM and decide for your self.

You could also give Debian Testing or Sid a spin too.

Is this distrubution that your going to be running mainly for programming or something else?

Welcome to LinuxQuestions

Linux can be configured in many different ways. Experienced Linux users choose a distribution which has a default configuration as close as possible to the configuration they want to build and then do the work necessary to change the configuration to suit themselves. There is no distribution which is all things to all people by default so what distribution an experienced Linux user might choose varies with each user's needs.

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Steve Stites

all well and good. The flip side to meta packages, if you do not want one or two of whatever is included in that meta package, you cannot excluded it. It is a package deal. remove one they all go bye bye. install them separately then you have more control over what is and what is not installed.

That is just how "META PACKAGES" roll.

Any.
"advanced users such as developers".... current skills should be portable.
since Devs are essentially users.

What skills/activities are you referring to?
Describe the tools, not the tool-belt please.

Debian is renowned for having the most available packages of any Linux distro.

Each distro has its adherents, because it suits the way they work, or they stayed with the first one they got used to.

A Linux distro is just a configured amalgam of the Linux kernel & GNU/FOSS software.

It really depends upon the tools you prefer, the targets you develop for, and what you value in a system.
We do not know nearly enough about what you do or want to give properly targeted advice.
Bottom line, it is all Linux. Nearly any general purpose desktop or server distribution that uses a fairly current kernel version and library set can be adapted to act as an adequate base for nearly any kind of development.

You need to feed us more data to lubricate the advice machine here.

As they all say, any one will do. Linus Torvalds always says he goes for the easiest to use: he wants to spend time on using it, not on setting it up or configuring it. One with several GUIs may be a good idea for program development, so that you see that your software works well in various environments. If I were a programmer, I'd use Ubuntu Gnome and install KDE as well — or Kubuntu and install Gnome, of course.

Quite true and well explained; there was a recent LQ thread in which this bit, "remove one they all go bye bye," would seem to be quite relevant.

I suspect, though, that a "meta package" or "group install" of "developer tools" (or some such wording) probably wouldn't bring in too much dross.

Given the size of today's hard drives, I stopped worrying about having a few extra packages lying around a long time ago, but that's just me.

I just ran into that META Package issue outside of the development tools, where I was running Debian then. I do not remember exactly what it was. Only that I did not want some stuff as I was using something different that replaced whatever the similar was. So I removed it and not looking to see the everything it was removing because I didn't even hear of META Packages before that.

therefore, I did not pay any attention to what was being removed.

only that when I went to use something else it was no longer there and I did not know why. So a lot of useless investigation and whatnot had to be done.

I found out the hard way about META Packages. so I just thought it best to toss that information out there.

There is no such thing as too little knowledge.

Agreed-