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