Usually, I prefer manually installing the packages needed for getting started with a new language or technlogy.
I avoid using distro package managers since they tend to be a bit outdated in this regard, and specialised package managers like SDKMAN! seem overkill for one or more packages. Exceptions being languages with excellent tooling and version management like Rust or Ocaml.
I’ve been doing this for a while and was wondering what the general consensus is
I usually use a version manager to install those stuff so I can install multiple versions when I need it.
asdf
is my first choice because it support a lot of languages via its plugin system, and the list of plugins is huge.