I install mate and lightdm on an arch install on my raspberry pi3. When I try to enable lightdm.service I get the output: Failed to enable unit: Unit file /usr/lib/systemd/system/lightdm.service is masked. When I unmask it I do not get any feedback. And then another go at enabling gives: Failed to e...

Some mirrors have stretch already.

It isn't as stable as Debian Stretch though. Raspbian has more bugs to work out.

Cover your bases on programming and sample some of what each language has to offer. Only you can decide what you do on your pi. Perl, Java, and shell scripting would be handy for linux programming other than Python. Don't worry about memorizing everything about the languages. Just remember what each...

I've found all of the posts on connecting to a pi from a pc, but how
easy is it to connect to a pc from a pi?

Rasp Pi 3 running Raspbian Jessie Pixel