Nim 2.2.6

#1

Post by xz18r » Fri, Oct 31, 2025, 2:15 PM UTC

Nim 2.2.6
nim-lang.org

Re: Nim 2.2.6

#2

Post by synergy20 » Fri, Oct 31, 2025, 2:45 PM UTC

nim is memory safe, python syntax, emits c/c++/js. It really deserves more love and publicity.

more mature than zig, much easier than rust.

Re: Nim 2.2.6

#3

Post by alberth » Fri, Oct 31, 2025, 2:47 PM UTC

Since Nim GC approach seems to be a common topic of discussion, providing link below on more details:

https://nim-lang.org/docs/mm.html

Re: Nim 2.2.6

#4

Post by netbioserror » Fri, Oct 31, 2025, 2:49 PM UTC

alberth wrote: post #3

Since Nim GC approach seems to be a common topic of discussion, providing link below on more details: https://nim-lang.org/docs/mm.html

It's also not a huge issue in most cases because the default is stack-managed pointers passed around by value. So effectively automatic invisible unique pointers. You can construct whole programs without ever touching the `ref` keyword. I've done this in a live commercial deployment.

Re: Nim 2.2.6

#5

Post by netbioserror » Fri, Oct 31, 2025, 2:56 PM UTC

synergy20 wrote: post #2

nim is memory safe, python syntax, emits c/c++/js. It really deserves more love and publicity. more mature than zig, much easier than rust.

It doesn't seem as exciting as those because it doesn't have a whiz-bang-pow killer feature (other than very robust metaprogramming), but it's very mature, and breezy to write high-performance software.

Re: Nim 2.2.6

#6

Post by sld » Fri, Oct 31, 2025, 3:05 PM UTC

Also of interest, but not yet finished is Nimony (Nim 3.0):

https://nim-lang.org/araq/nimony.html https://github.com/nim-lang/nimony

Re: Nim 2.2.6

#7

Post by metaltyphoon » Fri, Oct 31, 2025, 3:18 PM UTC

synergy20 wrote: post #2

nim is memory safe, python syntax, emits c/c++/js. It really deserves more love and publicity. more mature than zig, much easier than rust.

> python syntax

I don't mind but many do so I don't see this as a plus.

Re: Nim 2.2.6

#8

Post by tinfoilhatter » Fri, Oct 31, 2025, 3:24 PM UTC

synergy20 wrote: post #2

nim is memory safe, python syntax, emits c/c++/js. It really deserves more love and publicity. more mature than zig, much easier than rust.

It's too bad that the BDFL of Nim (Araq / Andreas) treats the language like his personal compiler development playground. This has led to a hard fork of the compiler, many experienced and frustrated developers leaving the community and language behind, and an extremely fragmented ecosystem.

He is also very difficult to work with and isn't very welcoming to newcomers. The community "leaders" / moderation team is also full of abrasive individuals with fragile egos.

Re: Nim 2.2.6

#9

Post by postepowanieadm » Fri, Oct 31, 2025, 3:27 PM UTC

synergy20 wrote: post #2

nim is memory safe, python syntax, emits c/c++/js. It really deserves more love and publicity. more mature than zig, much easier than rust.

How does it compare with Crystal?

Re: Nim 2.2.6

#10

Post by jp57 » Fri, Oct 31, 2025, 3:29 PM UTC

Nim has a python-like syntax, but I wish they'd gone farther, using `def` instead of `proc` and a `print` function instead of the `echo` statement. Though even if they did those things, I'm not sure it would really feel like programming Python.

As a long-time Python programmer, I was drawn to trying the language partly because of the syntax, but as soon as I tried to write something substantial, Nim's heritage in languages like Pascal, Modula, and Ada starts to show. Syntax notwithstanding, programming in it really felt more like programming in Pascal/Modula.

I in fact did not know anything about Nim's history or design choices when I started using it, but I'm old enough to have written a fair amount of Pascal, and I was not long into using Nim when I started thinking, "this feels weirdly familiar." `type` and `var` blocks, ordinal types, array indexing with enums, etc.