Having read many posts by blind programmers across different communities, including AppleVis, I would like to draw attention to something that many of you may already know, but that still seems to be underestimated.
1. Integrated Development Environments based on graphical user interfaces have become extremely complex. Even many sighted developers struggle with them, and some of the most experienced developers still prefer programming in an ANSI terminal environment.
2. Graphical user interface applications are often difficult or impossible to test thoroughly as a blind developer, which makes them a less attractive development target.
3. Terminal-based computing is purely symbolic and text-driven, with a predictable and linear screen layout. This makes it a natural fit for blind users—not only for programming, but also for everyday tasks such as email, communication, and system administration.
Linux is probably the strongest platform for this style of work. It can run on a Raspberry Pi (which I personally recommend), or be used on macOS or Windows via containers or hosted systems.
Terminal-based computing and programming certainly involve a learning curve, but many users find the effort worthwhile and empowering in the long run.
In this spirit, I have prepared a Braille-first, terminal-only Linux environment that may serve as a starting point. It is open source and free. Being based on Debian Linux, it allows users to easily install additional software for programming or other purposes as needed.
Project page:
https://github.com/stwelebny/beaver
Beaver is not an operating system itself, but can be installed after you already have setup Debian Linux.
Comments
A good resource
For anyone who is serious about learning, not just command line, but terminal interface and infrastructure, networking, etc., I'd like to point out that Cisco has a ton of free courses on a wide variety of these subjects and others. They are a great way to Top off your knowledge base, and get a little semblance of experience, as you prepare to go out into the really real world and hunt for a job where these skills are a necessity.
Update
Thank you for your feedback. I have implemented several enhancements to Beaver. It now includes Computer Braille help, as well as help topics for Linux, vi, and tmux.
In addition, I have set up a Debian repository with signed packages, so Beaver can now be installed and updated using the standard Debian apt package manager.
According to my tests, the best Braille experience by far is in the native Linux terminal on dedicated Linux hardware, such as a Raspberry Pi. While Debian is more convenient to set up in a full desktop version with GNOME, I recommend not using the GNOME terminal, but instead switching to a native virtual console.
In the native terminal, there is no voice reader enabled by default. I did experiment with adding speech output, but in practice I found the experience significantly better when using Braille-only with brltty, without a speech synthesizer.
Using Braille in the macOS terminal with VoiceOver, accessing Linux via SSH, was quite frustrating for me — although that may simply reflect my own lack of experience.
I am currently testing with a Freedom Scientific Focus Blue 40. Feedback from users of other Braille displays would be very welcome.
https://github.com/stwelebny/beaver