Yes. I think it's a good way to get started with Nix. e.g. with nix installed, you'll be able to use the nix-shell to get the development dependencies without

Yes. I think it's a good way to get started with Nix. e.g. with nix installed, you'll be able to use the nix-shell to get the development dependencies without having to install system wide, if a shell.nix or flake.nix has been written for it. (e.g. for repos like https://github.com/helix-editor/helix https://github.com/helix-editor/helix). You'll be able to use the `nix shell` command to try out a program without needing it installed system wide. Or you can figure out how to write your own nix-shells etc. I think Home Manager is worth trying only once you're otherwise familiar with Nix (or if you find a good config to copy-paste from, though), since Nix's error messages and debugging still aren't great.