Emulate Linux on Windows to develop Linux apps, with Cygwin
If you need to run Linux program on a Windows machine, Cygwin can help, it includes several libraries and other tools in order to setup a Linux environment, an emulation you can take advantage of to test Linux apps.
Cygwin runs inetd, syslogd, crond, etc., as Windows services, so that Linux can be simulated on Windows.
Upon installation you are asked what components you may need, in order to avoid excessive complexity.
Options you can avoid or select include grep, Apache, OpenSSH, dash, PostgreSQL, and much more. A nice choice would be to start from the default configuration, and as your project evolves add more components.