Also, what is its FFI story? How easy it is to interop with C++ and JavaScript?
Ask HN: Why did Nim not catch on like Rust did?
1–10 of 139 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why did Nim not catch on like Rust did?
#2Probably also Rust having a novel memory management model and being backed by a large organisation (Mozilla) had a lot to do with its early success.
Re: Ask HN: Why did Nim not catch on like Rust did?
#3Corporate support is absolutely essential for a new language to be taken seriously in the industry. If Go weren't associated with Google, people would have laughed that language out of the room long ago. Likewise, it's difficult to imagine TypeScript ever catching on if it didn't have Microsoft's might behind it (even though TypeScript is actually an excellent language).
Without the power of money, you are nothing.
Re: Ask HN: Why did Nim not catch on like Rust did?
#4Rust also stroke a programmers thirst for learning new concepts (or ego).
It’s basically good vs interesting.
Re: Ask HN: Why did Nim not catch on like Rust did?
#5Re: Ask HN: Why did Nim not catch on like Rust did?
#6Re: Ask HN: Why did Nim not catch on like Rust did?
#7Re: Ask HN: Why did Nim not catch on like Rust did?
#8"very exciting features such as macro support, pythonic syntax, transpiles to C/C++/JavaScript, no VM, systems programming language, suitable for hard real-time systems etc" is not a good elevator pitch. Its a little bit of everything with no clear focus point.
So I'd say rust had better marketing.
Re: Ask HN: Why did Nim not catch on like Rust did?
#9Rust had Mozilla's backing, and later other behemoths like Amazon and Microsoft jumped onto the bandwagon. Corporate support is absolutely essential for a new language to be taken seriously in the industry. If Go weren't associated with Google, people would have laughed that language out of the room long ago. Likewise, it's difficult to imagine TypeScript ever catching on if it didn't have Microsoft's might behind it…
Re: Ask HN: Why did Nim not catch on like Rust did?
#10Nim has excellent C++ FFI. It's not perfect, but capable of wrapping C++ templates, calling constructors, and virtual methods. Though it can be a pain dealing with inner template types and consts. Here's a larger example of C++ interfacing with Unreal Engine: https://github.com/jmgomez/NimForUE