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===================================
Nim Compiler User Guide
===================================
:Author: Andreas Rumpf
:Version: |nimversion|
.. contents::
"Look at you, hacker. A pathetic creature of meat and bone, panting and
sweating as you run through my corridors. How can you challenge a perfect,
immortal machine?"
Introduction
============
This document describes the usage of the *Nim compiler*
on the different supported platforms. It is not a definition of the Nim
programming language (therefore is the `manual <manual.html>`_).
Nim is free software; it is licensed under the
`MIT License <http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php>`_.
Compiler Usage
==============
Command line switches
---------------------
Basic command line switches are:
.. include:: basicopt.txt
Advanced command line switches are:
.. include:: advopt.txt
List of warnings
----------------
Each warning can be activated individually with ``--warning[NAME]:on|off`` or
in a ``push`` pragma.
========================== ============================================
Name Description
========================== ============================================
CannotOpenFile Some file not essential for the compiler's
working could not be opened.
OctalEscape The code contains an unsupported octal
sequence.
Deprecated The code uses a deprecated symbol.
ConfigDeprecated The project makes use of a deprecated config
file.
SmallLshouldNotBeUsed The letter 'l' should not be used as an
identifier.
AnalysisLoophole The thread analysis was incomplete due to
an indirect call.
DifferentHeaps The code mixes different local heaps in a
very dangerous way.
WriteToForeignHeap The code contains a threading error.
EachIdentIsTuple The code contains a confusing ``var``
declaration.
ShadowIdent A local variable shadows another local
variable of an outer scope.
User Some user defined warning.
========================== ============================================
Verbosity levels
----------------
===== ============================================
Level Description
===== ============================================
0 Minimal output level for the compiler.
1 Displays compilation of all the compiled files, including those imported
by other modules or through the `compile pragma<#compile-pragma>`_.
This is the default level.
2 Displays compilation statistics, enumerates the dynamic
libraries that will be loaded by the final binary and dumps to
standard output the result of applying `a filter to the source code
<filters.html>`_ if any filter was used during compilation.
3 In addition to the previous levels dumps a debug stack trace
for compiler developers.
===== ============================================
Compile time symbols
--------------------
Through the ``-d:x`` or ``--define:x`` switch you can define compile time
symbols for conditional compilation. The defined switches can be checked in
source code with the `when statement <manual.html#when-statement>`_ and
`defined proc <system.html#defined>`_. The typical use of this switch is to
enable builds in release mode (``-d:release``) where certain safety checks are
omitted for better performance. Another common use is the ``-d:ssl`` switch to
activate `SSL sockets <sockets.html>`_.
Configuration files
-------------------
**Note:** The *project file name* is the name of the ``.nim`` file that is
passed as a command line argument to the compiler.
The ``nim`` executable processes configuration files in the following
directories (in this order; later files overwrite previous settings):
1) ``$nim/config/nim.cfg``, ``/etc/nim.cfg`` (UNIX) or ``%NIMROD%/config/nim.cfg`` (Windows). This file can be skipped with the ``--skipCfg`` command line option.
2) ``/home/$user/.config/nim.cfg`` (UNIX) or ``%APPDATA%/nim.cfg`` (Windows). This file can be skipped with the ``--skipUserCfg`` command line option.
3) ``$parentDir/nim.cfg`` where ``$parentDir`` stands for any parent directory of the project file's path. These files can be skipped with the ``--skipParentCfg`` command line option.
4) ``$projectDir/nim.cfg`` where ``$projectDir`` stands for the project file's path. This file can be skipped with the ``--skipProjCfg`` command line option.
5) A project can also have a project specific configuration file named ``$project.nim.cfg`` that resides in the same directory as ``$project.nim``. This file can be skipped with the ``--skipProjCfg`` command line option.
Command line settings have priority over configuration file settings.
The default build of a project is a `debug build`:idx:. To compile a
`release build`:idx: define the ``release`` symbol::
nim c -d:release myproject.nim
Search path handling
--------------------
Nim has the concept of a global search path (PATH) that is queried to
determine where to find imported modules or include files. If multiple files are
found an ambiguity error is produced.
``nim dump`` shows the contents of the PATH.
However before the PATH is used the current directory is checked for the
file's existance. So if PATH contains ``$lib`` and ``$lib/bar`` and the
directory structure looks like this::
$lib/x.nim
$lib/bar/x.nim
foo/x.nim
foo/main.nim
other.nim
And ``main`` imports ``x``, ``foo/x`` is imported. If ``other`` imports ``x``
then both ``$lib/x.nim`` and ``$lib/bar/x.nim`` match and so the compiler
should reject it. Currently however this check is not implemented and instead
the first matching file is used.
Generated C code directory
--------------------------
The generated files that Nim produces all go into a subdirectory called
``nimcache`` in your project directory. This makes it easy to delete all
generated files. Files generated in this directory follow a naming logic which
you can read about in the `Nim Backend Integration document
<backends.html#nimcache-naming-logic>`_.
However, the generated C code is not platform independent. C code generated for
Linux does not compile on Windows, for instance. The comment on top of the
C file lists the OS, CPU and CC the file has been compiled for.
Compilation cache
=================
**Warning**: The compilation cache is still highly experimental!
The ``nimcache`` directory may also contain so called `rod`:idx:
or `symbol files`:idx:. These files are pre-compiled modules that are used by
the compiler to perform `incremental compilation`:idx:. This means that only
modules that have changed since the last compilation (or the modules depending
on them etc.) are re-compiled. However, per default no symbol files are
generated; use the ``--symbolFiles:on`` command line switch to activate them.
Unfortunately due to technical reasons the ``--symbolFiles:on`` needs
to *aggregate* some generated C code. This means that the resulting executable
might contain some cruft even when dead code elimination is turned on. So
the final release build should be done with ``--symbolFiles:off``.
Due to the aggregation of C code it is also recommended that each project
resides in its own directory so that the generated ``nimcache`` directory
is not shared between different projects.
Cross compilation
=================
To cross compile, use for example::
nim c --cpu:i386 --os:linux --compile_only --gen_script myproject.nim
Then move the C code and the compile script ``compile_myproject.sh`` to your
Linux i386 machine and run the script.
Another way is to make Nim invoke a cross compiler toolchain::
nim c --cpu:arm --os:linux myproject.nim
For cross compilation, the compiler invokes a C compiler named
like ``$cpu.$os.$cc`` (for example arm.linux.gcc) and the configuration
system is used to provide meaningful defaults. For example for ``ARM`` your
configuration file should contain something like::
arm.linux.gcc.path = "/usr/bin"
arm.linux.gcc.exe = "arm-linux-gcc"
arm.linux.gcc.linkerexe = "arm-linux-gcc"
DLL generation
==============
Nim supports the generation of DLLs. However, there must be only one
instance of the GC per process/address space. This instance is contained in
``nimrtl.dll``. This means that every generated Nim DLL depends
on ``nimrtl.dll``. To generate the "nimrtl.dll" file, use the command::
nim c -d:release lib/nimrtl.nim
To link against ``nimrtl.dll`` use the command::
nim c -d:useNimRtl myprog.nim
**Note**: Currently the creation of ``nimrtl.dll`` with thread support has
never been tested and is unlikely to work!
Additional compilation switches
===============================
The standard library supports a growing number of ``useX`` conditional defines
affecting how some features are implemented. This section tries to give a
complete list.
================== =========================================================
Define Effect
================== =========================================================
``release`` Turns off runtime checks and turns on the optimizer.
``useWinAnsi`` Modules like ``os`` and ``osproc`` use the Ansi versions
of the Windows API. The default build uses the Unicode
version.
``useFork`` Makes ``osproc`` use ``fork`` instead of ``posix_spawn``.
``useNimRtl`` Compile and link against ``nimrtl.dll``.
``useMalloc`` Makes Nim use C's `malloc`:idx: instead of Nim's
own memory manager. This only works with ``gc:none``.
``useRealtimeGC`` Enables support of Nim's GC for *soft* realtime
systems. See the documentation of the `gc <gc.html>`_
for further information.
``nodejs`` The JS target is actually ``node.js``.
``ssl`` Enables OpenSSL support for the sockets module.
``memProfiler`` Enables memory profiling for the native GC.
================== =========================================================
Additional Features
===================
This section describes Nim's additional features that are not listed in the
Nim manual. Some of the features here only make sense for the C code
generator and are subject to change.
NoDecl pragma
-------------
The ``noDecl`` pragma can be applied to almost any symbol (variable, proc,
type, etc.) and is sometimes useful for interoperability with C:
It tells Nim that it should not generate a declaration for the symbol in
the C code. For example:
.. code-block:: Nim
var
EACCES {.importc, noDecl.}: cint # pretend EACCES was a variable, as
# Nim does not know its value
However, the ``header`` pragma is often the better alternative.
**Note**: This will not work for the LLVM backend.
Header pragma
-------------
The ``header`` pragma is very similar to the ``noDecl`` pragma: It can be
applied to almost any symbol and specifies that it should not be declared
and instead the generated code should contain an ``#include``:
.. code-block:: Nim
type
PFile {.importc: "FILE*", header: "<stdio.h>".} = distinct pointer
# import C's FILE* type; Nim will treat it as a new pointer type
The ``header`` pragma always expects a string constant. The string contant
contains the header file: As usual for C, a system header file is enclosed
in angle brackets: ``<>``. If no angle brackets are given, Nim
encloses the header file in ``""`` in the generated C code.
**Note**: This will not work for the LLVM backend.
IncompleteStruct pragma
-----------------------
The ``incompleteStruct`` pragma tells the compiler to not use the
underlying C ``struct`` in a ``sizeof`` expression:
.. code-block:: Nim
type
TDIR* {.importc: "DIR", header: "<dirent.h>",
final, pure, incompleteStruct.} = object
Compile pragma
--------------
The ``compile`` pragma can be used to compile and link a C/C++ source file
with the project:
.. code-block:: Nim
{.compile: "myfile.cpp".}
**Note**: Nim computes a CRC checksum and only recompiles the file if it
has changed. You can use the ``-f`` command line option to force recompilation
of the file.
Link pragma
-----------
The ``link`` pragma can be used to link an additional file with the project:
.. code-block:: Nim
{.link: "myfile.o".}
PassC pragma
------------
The ``passC`` pragma can be used to pass additional parameters to the C
compiler like you would using the commandline switch ``--passC``:
.. code-block:: Nim
{.passC: "-Wall -Werror".}
Note that you can use ``gorge`` from the `system module <system.html>`_ to
embed parameters from an external command at compile time:
.. code-block:: Nim
{.passC: gorge("pkg-config --cflags sdl").}
PassL pragma
------------
The ``passL`` pragma can be used to pass additional parameters to the linker
like you would using the commandline switch ``--passL``:
.. code-block:: Nim
{.passL: "-lSDLmain -lSDL".}
Note that you can use ``gorge`` from the `system module <system.html>`_ to
embed parameters from an external command at compile time:
.. code-block:: Nim
{.passL: gorge("pkg-config --libs sdl").}
Emit pragma
-----------
The ``emit`` pragma can be used to directly affect the output of the
compiler's code generator. So it makes your code unportable to other code
generators/backends. Its usage is highly discouraged! However, it can be
extremely useful for interfacing with `C++`:idx: or `Objective C`:idx: code.
Example:
.. code-block:: Nim
{.emit: """
static int cvariable = 420;
""".}
{.push stackTrace:off.}
proc embedsC() =
var nimVar = 89
# use backticks to access Nim symbols within an emit section:
{.emit: """fprintf(stdout, "%d\n", cvariable + (int)`nimVar`);""".}
{.pop.}
embedsC()
ImportCpp pragma
----------------
Similar to the `importc pragma for C <manual.html#importc-pragma>`_, the
``importcpp`` pragma can be used to import `C++`:idx: methods. The generated
code then uses the C++ method calling syntax: ``obj->method(arg)``. In
addition with the ``header`` and ``emit`` pragmas this allows *sloppy*
interfacing with libraries written in C++:
.. code-block:: Nim
# Horrible example of how to interface with a C++ engine ... ;-)
{.link: "/usr/lib/libIrrlicht.so".}
{.emit: """
using namespace irr;
using namespace core;
using namespace scene;
using namespace video;
using namespace io;
using namespace gui;
""".}
const
irr = "<irrlicht/irrlicht.h>"
type
TIrrlichtDevice {.final, header: irr, importc: "IrrlichtDevice".} = object
PIrrlichtDevice = ptr TIrrlichtDevice
proc createDevice(): PIrrlichtDevice {.
header: irr, importc: "createDevice".}
proc run(device: PIrrlichtDevice): bool {.
header: irr, importcpp: "run".}
The compiler needs to be told to generate C++ (command ``cpp``) for
this to work. The conditional symbol ``cpp`` is defined when the compiler
emits C++ code.
ImportObjC pragma
-----------------
Similar to the `importc pragma for C <manual.html#importc-pragma>`_, the
``importobjc`` pragma can be used to import `Objective C`:idx: methods. The
generated code then uses the Objective C method calling syntax: ``[obj method
param1: arg]``. In addition with the ``header`` and ``emit`` pragmas this
allows *sloppy* interfacing with libraries written in Objective C:
.. code-block:: Nim
# horrible example of how to interface with GNUStep ...
{.passL: "-lobjc".}
{.emit: """
#include <objc/Object.h>
@interface Greeter:Object
{
}
- (void)greet:(long)x y:(long)dummy;
@end
#include <stdio.h>
@implementation Greeter
- (void)greet:(long)x y:(long)dummy
{
printf("Hello, World!\n");
}
@end
#include <stdlib.h>
""".}
type
TId {.importc: "id", header: "<objc/Object.h>", final.} = distinct int
proc newGreeter: TId {.importobjc: "Greeter new", nodecl.}
proc greet(self: TId, x, y: int) {.importobjc: "greet", nodecl.}
proc free(self: TId) {.importobjc: "free", nodecl.}
var g = newGreeter()
g.greet(12, 34)
g.free()
The compiler needs to be told to generate Objective C (command ``objc``) for
this to work. The conditional symbol ``objc`` is defined when the compiler
emits Objective C code.
CodegenDecl pragma
------------------
The ``codegenDecl`` pragma can be used to directly influence Nim's code
generator. It receives a format string that determines how the variable or
proc is declared in the generated code:
.. code-block:: nim
var
a {.codegenDecl: "$# progmem $#".}: int
proc myinterrupt() {.codegenDecl: "__interrupt $# $#$#".} =
echo "realistic interrupt handler"
InjectStmt pragma
-----------------
The ``injectStmt`` pragma can be used to inject a statement before every
other statement in the current module. It is only supposed to be used for
debugging:
.. code-block:: nim
{.injectStmt: gcInvariants().}
# ... complex code here that produces crashes ...
LineDir option
--------------
The ``lineDir`` option can be turned on or off. If turned on the
generated C code contains ``#line`` directives. This may be helpful for
debugging with GDB.
StackTrace option
-----------------
If the ``stackTrace`` option is turned on, the generated C contains code to
ensure that proper stack traces are given if the program crashes or an
uncaught exception is raised.
LineTrace option
----------------
The ``lineTrace`` option implies the ``stackTrace`` option. If turned on,
the generated C contains code to ensure that proper stack traces with line
number information are given if the program crashes or an uncaught exception
is raised.
Debugger option
---------------
The ``debugger`` option enables or disables the *Embedded Nim Debugger*.
See the documentation of endb_ for further information.
Breakpoint pragma
-----------------
The *breakpoint* pragma was specially added for the sake of debugging with
ENDB. See the documentation of `endb <endb.html>`_ for further information.
Volatile pragma
---------------
The ``volatile`` pragma is for variables only. It declares the variable as
``volatile``, whatever that means in C/C++ (its semantics are not well defined
in C/C++).
**Note**: This pragma will not exist for the LLVM backend.
Source code style
=================
Nim allows you to `mix freely case and underscores as identifier separators
<manual.html#identifiers-keywords>`_, so variables named ``MyPrecioussInt`` and
``my_preciouss_int`` are equivalent:
.. code-block:: Nim
var MyPrecioussInt = 3
# Following line compiles fine!
echo my_preciouss_int
Since this can lead to many variants of the same source code (you can use
`nimgrep <nimgrep.html>`_ instead of your typical ``grep`` to ignore style
problems) the compiler provides the command ``pretty`` to help unifying the
style of source code. Running ``nim pretty ugly_test.nim`` with this
example will generate a secondary file named ``ugly_test.pretty.nim`` with the
following content:
.. code-block:: Nim
var MyPrecioussInt = 3
# Following line compiles fine!
echo MyPrecioussInt
During execution the ``pretty`` command will also run on Nim's standard
library, since it doesn't differentiate the standard library as something
special, and hence will warn of many *errors* which are out of your hand to
fix, creating respective ``.pretty.nim`` files all the way. You can ignore
these errors if they don't belong to your source and simply compare your
original version to the new pretty one. In fact, running ``pretty`` on our test
file will show the following::
Hint: ugly_test [Processing]
ugly_test.nim(1, 4) Error: name should be: myPrecioussInt
ugly_test.nim(1, 4) Error: name should be: myPrecioussInt
At the moment ``pretty`` will homogenize the style of symbols but will leave
important changes for you to review. In this case the command is warning that a
variable name should not start with a capital letter, which is usually reserved
to `object types <tut2.html#objects>`_. To learn about the accepted `camel case
style <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camelcase>`_ read `Coding Guidelines in
the Internals of Nim Compiler <intern.html#coding-guidelines>`_ or `Coding
Guidelines <https://github.com/Araq/Nim/wiki/Coding-Guidelines>`_ and `NEP 1
: Style Guide for Nim Code
<https://github.com/Araq/Nim/wiki/NEP-1-:-Style-Guide-for-Nim-Code>`_
from the Nim `GitHub wiki<https://github.com/Araq/Nim/wiki>`_.
This command is safe to run because it will never attempt to overwrite your
existing sources, but the respective ``.pretty.nim`` files **will** be
overwritten without notice.
DynlibOverride
==============
By default Nim's ``dynlib`` pragma causes the compiler to generate
``GetProcAddress`` (or their Unix counterparts)
calls to bind to a DLL. With the ``dynlibOverride`` command line switch this
can be prevented and then via ``--passL`` the static library can be linked
against. For instance, to link statically against Lua this command might work
on Linux::
nim c --dynlibOverride:lua --passL:liblua.lib program.nim
Backend language options
========================
The typical compiler usage involves using the ``compile`` or ``c`` command to
transform a ``.nim`` file into one or more ``.c`` files which are then
compiled with the platform's C compiler into a static binary. However there
are other commands to compile to C++, Objective-C or Javascript. More details
can be read in the `Nim Backend Integration document <backends.html>`_.
Nim documentation tools
=======================
Nim provides the `doc`:idx: and `doc2`:idx: commands to generate HTML
documentation from ``.nim`` source files. Only exported symbols will appear in
the output. For more details `see the docgen documentation <docgen.html>`_.
Nim idetools integration
========================
Nim provides language integration with external IDEs through the
idetools command. See the documentation of `idetools <idetools.html>`_
for further information.
Nim interactive mode
====================
The Nim compiler supports an interactive mode. This is also known as
a `REPL`:idx: (*read eval print loop*). If Nim has been built with the
``-d:useGnuReadline`` switch, it uses the GNU readline library for terminal
input management. To start Nim in interactive mode use the command
``nim i``. To quit use the ``quit()`` command. To determine whether an input
line is an incomplete statement to be continued these rules are used:
1. The line ends with ``[-+*/\\<>!\?\|%&$@~,;:=#^]\s*$`` (operator symbol followed by optional whitespace).
2. The line starts with a space (indentation).
3. The line is within a triple quoted string literal. However, the detection
does not work if the line contains more than one ``"""``.
Nim for embedded systems
========================
The standard library can be avoided to a point where C code generation
for 16bit micro controllers is feasible. Use the `standalone`:idx: target
(``--os:standalone``) for a bare bones standard library that lacks any
OS features.
To make the compiler output code for a 16bit target use the ``--cpu:avr``
target.
For example, to generate code for an `AVR`:idx: processor use this command::
nim c --cpu:avr --os:standalone --deadCodeElim:on --genScript x.nim
For the ``standalone`` target you need to provide
a file ``panicoverride.nim``.
See ``tests/manyloc/standalone/panicoverride.nim`` for an example
implementation.
Nim for realtime systems
========================
See the documentation of Nim's soft realtime `GC <gc.html>`_ for further
information.
Debugging with Nim
==================
Nim comes with its own *Embedded Nim Debugger*. See
the documentation of endb_ for further information.
Optimizing for Nim
==================
Nim has no separate optimizer, but the C code that is produced is very
efficient. Most C compilers have excellent optimizers, so usually it is
not needed to optimize one's code. Nim has been designed to encourage
efficient code: The most readable code in Nim is often the most efficient
too.
However, sometimes one has to optimize. Do it in the following order:
1. switch off the embedded debugger (it is **slow**!)
2. turn on the optimizer and turn off runtime checks
3. profile your code to find where the bottlenecks are
4. try to find a better algorithm
5. do low-level optimizations
This section can only help you with the last item.
Optimizing string handling
--------------------------
String assignments are sometimes expensive in Nim: They are required to
copy the whole string. However, the compiler is often smart enough to not copy
strings. Due to the argument passing semantics, strings are never copied when
passed to subroutines. The compiler does not copy strings that are a result from
a procedure call, because the callee returns a new string anyway.
Thus it is efficient to do:
.. code-block:: Nim
var s = procA() # assignment will not copy the string; procA allocates a new
# string already
However it is not efficient to do:
.. code-block:: Nim
var s = varA # assignment has to copy the whole string into a new buffer!
For ``let`` symbols a copy is not always necessary:
.. code-block:: Nim
let s = varA # may only copy a pointer if it safe to do so
If you know what you're doing, you can also mark single string (or sequence)
objects as `shallow`:idx:\:
.. code-block:: Nim
var s = "abc"
shallow(s) # mark 's' as shallow string
var x = s # now might not copy the string!
Usage of ``shallow`` is always safe once you know the string won't be modified
anymore, similar to Ruby's `freeze`:idx:.
The compiler optimizes string case statements: A hashing scheme is used for them
if several different string constants are used. So code like this is reasonably
efficient:
.. code-block:: Nim
case normalize(k.key)
of "name": c.name = v
of "displayname": c.displayName = v
of "version": c.version = v
of "os": c.oses = split(v, {';'})
of "cpu": c.cpus = split(v, {';'})
of "authors": c.authors = split(v, {';'})
of "description": c.description = v
of "app":
case normalize(v)
of "console": c.app = appConsole
of "gui": c.app = appGUI
else: quit(errorStr(p, "expected: console or gui"))
of "license": c.license = UnixToNativePath(k.value)
else: quit(errorStr(p, "unknown variable: " & k.key))