We have Ubuntu, Edubuntu, the education version of ubuntu, and now Ubuntu Studio, the multi-media flavour of Ubuntu. All of these seem to cater to specialized audiences, namely the desktop users, teachers & students and multimedia content developers, respectively.
Unfortunately, there is not a single Ubuntu distribution that is geared towards the software developers. Installing Ubuntu provides you with the basic GCC package but without the libraries that are commonly used to compile complex applications. Heck, the kernel source and headers are not part of the installation – and worse, it requires that you connect to the internet to download and install of these from the repository. It is understandable considering that not all users need these tools but honestly, I think Ubuntu should release a distribution flavour solely for developers. What do you think?
Try DevUbuntu: http://www.giovelug.org/articles.php?lng=en&pg=106