Nim - This repository contains the Nim compiler, Nim's stdlib, tools, and documentation. (mirror)

	Commit message (Expand)	Author	Age	Files	Lines
*	unify tuple expressions (#13793)	Arne Döring	2021-03-30	1	-4/+41
*	nnkArglist => nnkArgList + special case stylecheck:error (#17529)	Timothee Cour	2021-03-27	1	-1/+1
*	fix docs typo (#16637)	flywind	2021-01-12	1	-1/+1
*	fix syntax in macros documentation (#16604)	n5m	2021-01-06	1	-1/+1
*	Add docs for nnkHiddenStdConv (#16408)	treeform	2020-12-27	1	-0/+11
*	Fix proc generic params ident defs, missing empty (#15412)	hlaaftana	2020-09-27	1	-1/+3
*	Fix(astspec.txt): type of repeated word (#14612)	ynfle	2020-06-08	1	-1/+1
*	Prefer relative links for Nim documentation	Jjp137	2019-10-22	1	-3/+3
*	Fix many broken links	Jjp137	2019-10-22	1	-1/+1
*	Fixed a wrong AST example (#8269)	Quelklef	2018-07-11	1	-4/+4
*	Get symbol kind (#7491)	Arne Döring	2018-04-11	1	-91/+87
*	Ast and concrete syntax different.	Strømberg	2018-01-08	1	-1/+1
*	Creating and setting comment nodes in macros (#5850)	Fredrik Høisæther Rasch	2017-05-31	1	-2/+2
*	Fix a table in macros documentation	Dmitry Polienko	2016-10-19	1	-0/+1
*	NimSymbol has been renamed to NimSym	def	2016-06-06	1	-1/+1
*	doc fix	Yuriy Glukhov	2015-11-23	1	-3/+5
*	Merge pull request #3000 from apense/patch-6	Andreas Rumpf	2015-06-26	1	-2/+3
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\| *	Clarified nnkFloat64Lit	apense	2015-06-26	1	-2/+3
* \|	Updated nnkRange docs	apense	2015-06-26	1	-1/+29
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*	rename writeln to writeLine in doc	patrick dw	2015-06-19	1	-2/+2
*	Minor fixes to astspec	apense	2015-06-18	1	-37/+38
*	Merge pull request #2954 from avsej/fix-rest-syntax-in-astspec	Andreas Rumpf	2015-06-18	1	-59/+59
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\| *	Fix reST syntax in doc/astspec.txt	Sergey Avseyev	2015-06-18	1	-3/+3
\| *	Remove trailing spaces in doc/astspec.txt	Sergey Avseyev	2015-06-18	1	-57/+57
* \|	More documentation of AST	apense	2015-06-17	1	-1/+95
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*	Added uints to Leaf nodes	apense	2015-06-16	1	-0/+4
*	Fleshed out type section	apense	2015-06-15	1	-2/+103
*	Added import-type statements	apense	2015-06-15	1	-0/+96
*	Minor updates; addition of `var` return in procs	apense	2015-06-15	1	-0/+48
*	Added static types	apense	2015-06-15	1	-0/+20
*	Added raw string literal function calls docs	apense	2015-06-15	1	-0/+19
*	Corrected capitalization	apense	2015-06-15	1	-1/+1
*	Updated type section a little	apense	2015-06-15	1	-0/+44
*	Clarified AST	apense	2015-06-15	1	-4/+4
*	Added some documentation	apense	2015-06-15	1	-16/+391
*	Update ast spec about uint literals	def	2015-05-18	1	-1/+1
*	macros.PNimrodNode is now NimNode	Araq	2015-02-24	1	-18/+14
*	Nimrod renamed to Nim	Araq	2014-08-28	1	-56/+56
*	Removes executable bit for text files.	Grzegorz Adam Hankiewicz	2013-03-16	1	-0/+0
*	non-nil AST; continue after errors for IDE support	Araq	2011-02-12	1	-5/+3
*	fixed pango/pangoutils new wrappers	Andreas Rumpf	2010-02-26	1	-0/+0
*	continued work on html/xmlparser	rumpf_a@web.de	2010-02-14	1	-0/+0
*	bind table	Andreas Rumpf	2009-11-12	1	-3/+9
*	added tools and web dirs	Andreas Rumpf	2009-09-15	1	-0/+0
*	version0.7.10	Andreas Rumpf	2009-06-08	1	-0/+572

=========================================== Questions and Answers =========================================== General FAQ =========== .. container:: standout What is Nim? ------------ Nim (formerly known as "Nimrod") is a statically typed, imperative programming language that tries to give the programmer ultimate power without compromises on runtime efficiency. This means it focuses on compile-time mechanisms in all their various forms. Beneath a nice infix/indentation based syntax with a powerful (AST based, hygienic) macro system lies a semantic model that supports a soft realtime GC on thread local heaps. Asynchronous message passing is used between threads, so no "stop the world" mechanism is necessary. An unsafe shared memory heap is also provided for the increased efficiency that results from that model. .. .. container:: standout Why should I use Nim? --------------------- It's a conservative language in a sense that we stick to features that have proven themselves for larger scale programming. But it's revolutionary by the features which have been laid on top. One of Nim's goals is to increase developer productivity without sacrificing the produced software's stability. The way that this is done is by providing Depending on your use case. Nim is one of the few programming languages in the world which allows you to The language inventor describes it as the ultimate programming language with features which make it perfect for just about any problem. .. container:: standout Why yet another programming language? ------------------------------------- Nim is one of the very few *programmable* statically typed languages, and one of the even fewer that produces native binaries that require no runtime or interpreter. .. container:: standout What have been the major influences in the language's design? ------------------------------------------------------------- The language borrows heavily from (in order of impact): Modula 3, Delphi, Ada, C++, Python, Lisp, Oberon. .. container:: standout What is Nim's take on concurrency? ---------------------------------- Nim primarily focusses on thread local (and garbage collected) heaps and message passing between threads. Each thread has its own GC, so no "stop the world" mechanism is necessary. An unsafe shared memory heap is also provided. Future versions will additionally include a GC "per thread group" and Nim's type system will be enhanced to accurately model this shared memory heap. .. container:: standout How is Nim licensed? -------------------- The Nim compiler and the library are MIT licensed. This means that you can use any license for your own programs developed with Nim. .. container:: standout How stable is Nim? ------------------ The compiler is in development and some important features are still missing. However, the compiler is quite stable already: It is able to compile itself and a substantial body of other code. Until version 1.0.0 is released, minor incompatibilities with older versions of the compiler will be introduced. .. container:: standout How fast is Nim? ---------------- Benchmarks show it to be comparable to C. Some language features (methods, closures, message passing) are not yet as optimized as they could and will be. The only overhead Nim has over C is the GC which has been tuned for years but still needs some work. .. container:: standout What about JVM/CLR backends? ---------------------------- JVM/CLR support is not in the nearest plans. However, since these VMs support FFI to C it should be possible to create native Nim bridges, that transparenlty generate all the glue code thanks to powerful metaprogramming capabilities of Nim. .. container:: standout What about editor support? -------------------------- - Nim IDE: https://github.com/nim-lang/Aporia - Emacs: https://github.com/reactormonk/nim-mode - Vim: https://github.com/zah/nimrod.vim/ - Scite: Included - Gedit: The `Aporia .lang file <https://github.com/nim-lang/Aporia/blob/master/share/gtksourceview-2.0/language-specs/nim.lang>`_ - jEdit: https://github.com/exhu/nimrod-misc/tree/master/jedit - TextMate: Available in bundle installer (`Repository <https://github.com/textmate/nim.tmbundle>`_) - Sublime Text: Available via Package Control (`Repository <https://github.com/Varriount/NimLime>`_) - LiClipse: http://www.liclipse.com/ (Eclipse based plugin) - Howl: Included .. container:: standout Why is it named ``proc``? ------------------------- *Procedure* used to be the common term as opposed to a *function* which is a mathematical entity that has no side effects. It is planned to have ``func`` as syntactic sugar for ``proc {.noSideEffect.}`` and ``func`` is already a keyword. Naming it ``def`` would not make sense because Nim also provides a ``iterator`` and ``method`` keywords, whereas ``def`` stands for ``define``. Compilation FAQ =============== .. container:: standout Which option to use for the fastest executable? ----------------------------------------------- For the standard configuration file, ``-d:release`` does the trick. .. container:: standout Which option to use for the smallest executable? ------------------------------------------------ For the standard configuration file, ``-d:quick --opt:size`` does the trick. .. container:: standout How do I use a different C compiler than the default one? --------------------------------------------------------- Edit the ``config/nim.cfg`` file. Change the value of the ``cc`` variable to one of the following: ================ ============================================ **Abbreviation** **C/C++ Compiler** ================ ============================================ ``vcc`` Microsoft's Visual C++ ``gcc`` Gnu C ``llvm_gcc`` LLVM-GCC compiler ``icc`` Intel C++ compiler ``clang`` Clang compiler ``ucc`` Generic UNIX C compiler ================ ============================================ Other C compilers are not officially supported, but might work too. If your C compiler is not in the above list, try using the *generic UNIX C compiler* (``ucc``). If the C compiler needs different command line arguments try the ``--passc`` and ``--passl`` switches.