I really dislike this whole style of article, ranking something which is entirely personal preference. There is no "best" distro, only what you like, especially if you do it like I do and throw everything in docker containers anyway.

If you are new to Linux, use Ubuntu; if you're not, I'm sure you're capable of using whatever distro fits your own personal criteria.

This article is not very usefull really, looks more like a click bate. "The best" distro for programmers? Very subjective.

If you come from a windows world, "the best" for you is probably Linux Mint. On the other hand, a mac user might enjoy Element OS better

Etc..