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Nim is a programming language for an expert programmer. The ecosystem is very small and for everything a little bit more specialized you need to make a library

Nim is a programming language for an expert programmer. The ecosystem is very small and for everything a little bit more specialized you need to make a library yourself.

amai 1y ago
Nowadays you could let an AI vibe code all libraries you need.
raffraffraff 1y ago
This. I really wanted to like Nim. I tried to learn it, but having never been a programmer before (but years of Linux admin, puppet, terraform and scripting) I found it extremely tough, and a lot of documentation is out of date and the there aren't many good examples to follow. Switched to Go and have built lots and lots of stuff in go.
- ZoomZoomZoom 1y ago
  > a lot of documentation is out of date Please, file bugs or complain on the official matrix room. The community tries its best to keep up the official documentation in sync with the changes. https://matrix.to/#/#nim-lang:matrix.org https://matrix.to/#/#nim-lang:matrix.org
Imustaskforhelp 1y ago
Exactly, I had tried nim but I felt the same issue. I mean, personally I really like golang. Its actually gotten an ecosystem that functions while being able to cross compile and actually being easy enough to learn unlike rust. I also sometimes exclusively just use typescript/python just for their ecosystem as a junior programmer. For me ecosystem matters a lot and this was a reason why I wish that more languages can create more libraries which can work. Like the article pointed, nim is really solid language. But I'd like to see more libraries being made for it.
andsoitis 1y ago
When there's a vacuum like that, that is also an opportunity for folks to make a significant impact. Compare to other communities where you need to stand out from the noise.
- hk__2 1y ago
  This usually ends up in a situation where most of the significant libraries for the language are abandoned GitHub repos with 13 stars and no documentation ("You just have to read the code!!1!").
  - ivanjermakov 1y ago
    Abandoned (finished) with no docs (read/copy/hack the source). I'm surprised how devs are afraid to look behind the curtain of a library/os/compiler.
- scuff3d 1y ago
  Perfect examples of glass-half empty vs glass-half full kinds of people.
- lifthrasiir 1y ago
  That's plus for individuals but minus for languages. Personal anecdote: I was exactly there a decade ago when I was working on Chrono, now one of best-known date and time libraries in Rust. Since I was simply my own, my design was not as good as it could have been. Of course it is still much better to have a suboptimal Chrono, but I can't deny that it remains and probably will remain suboptimal due to my design a decade ago.
DarkNova6 1y ago
Sounds more like "Expert Hobbyist" than "Expert Programmer".
summarity 1y ago
Whenever I’m missing a library I’m usually just 5 mins away from successfully using a C library (or any library with a C API). In my years doing data analysis, signal processing, and just writing plain servers I’ve never once gotten stuck because of a missing library.

Nim is a programming language for an expert programmer. The ecosystem is very small and for everything a little bit more specialized you need to make a library yourself.

amai 1y ago

Nowadays you could let an AI vibe code all libraries you need.

raffraffraff 1y ago

This. I really wanted to like Nim. I tried to learn it, but having never been a programmer before (but years of Linux admin, puppet, terraform and scripting) I found it extremely tough, and a lot of documentation is out of date and the there aren't many good examples to follow. Switched to Go and have built lots and lots of stuff in go.

ZoomZoomZoom 1y ago
> a lot of documentation is out of date Please, file bugs or complain on the official matrix room. The community tries its best to keep up the official documentation in sync with the changes. https://matrix.to/#/#nim-lang:matrix.org https://matrix.to/#/#nim-lang:matrix.org

Imustaskforhelp 1y ago

Exactly, I had tried nim but I felt the same issue. I mean, personally I really like golang. Its actually gotten an ecosystem that functions while being able to cross compile and actually being easy enough to learn unlike rust. I also sometimes exclusively just use typescript/python just for their ecosystem as a junior programmer. For me ecosystem matters a lot and this was a reason why I wish that more languages can create more libraries which can work. Like the article pointed, nim is really solid language. But I'd like to see more libraries being made for it.

andsoitis 1y ago

When there's a vacuum like that, that is also an opportunity for folks to make a significant impact. Compare to other communities where you need to stand out from the noise.

hk__2 1y ago
This usually ends up in a situation where most of the significant libraries for the language are abandoned GitHub repos with 13 stars and no documentation ("You just have to read the code!!1!").
- ivanjermakov 1y ago
  Abandoned (finished) with no docs (read/copy/hack the source). I'm surprised how devs are afraid to look behind the curtain of a library/os/compiler.
scuff3d 1y ago
Perfect examples of glass-half empty vs glass-half full kinds of people.
lifthrasiir 1y ago
That's plus for individuals but minus for languages. Personal anecdote: I was exactly there a decade ago when I was working on Chrono, now one of best-known date and time libraries in Rust. Since I was simply my own, my design was not as good as it could have been. Of course it is still much better to have a suboptimal Chrono, but I can't deny that it remains and probably will remain suboptimal due to my design a decade ago.

DarkNova6 1y ago

Sounds more like "Expert Hobbyist" than "Expert Programmer".

summarity 1y ago

Whenever I’m missing a library I’m usually just 5 mins away from successfully using a C library (or any library with a C API). In my years doing data analysis, signal processing, and just writing plain servers I’ve never once gotten stuck because of a missing library.