Create a command-line tool which downloads a README template for your coding projects Why Nim? Nim is a statically typed systems programming language. Nim generates small, native dependency-free executables. The language combines a Python-like syntax with powerful features like meta-programming. Nim supports macOS, Linux, BSD, and Windows. The language is open-source and has no corporate affiliation. Nim compiles to multiple backends, for example, C, C++, or JavaScript. The ecosystem and community are small, but the language has reached its first stable release.

Today I improved my Nim web application by running the docker container as non=root-user: ## base imageFROMnimlang/nim:1.0.4-regular## install dependenciesRUN apt-get update && \ apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends libpq-dev netcat-openbsd## set working directoryWORKDIR/usr/src/app## add userRUN addgroup --system nim && adduser --system --group nimRUN chown -R nim:nim /usr/src/app && chmod -R 755 /usr/src/app## Nim environmentENV NIM_ENV=production ENV NIMBLE_DIR=/home/nim/.nimbleENV PATH=$PATH:/home/nim/.nimble/bin## copy entrypoint, make executableCOPY ./entrypoint.sh .RUN chmod +x entrypoint.sh## install dependencies, bundle assets, compileRUN nimble refresh && nimble install nimassets jesterCOPY .

The Problem Let’s say that you create a simple web application with the Nim Heroku Buildpack. Project structure: ├── nim_heroku.nimble ├── Procfile ├── src │ ├── nim_heroku │ ├── nim_heroku.nim │ └── views │ └── general.nim ├── static_dir │ ├── favicon.ico │ └── style.css └── tags 3 directories, 8 files Bin file (src/nim_heroku.nim): import jester, asyncdispatch, os, strutils import views/general var settings = newSettings() if existsEnv("PORT"): settings.port = Port(parseInt(getEnv("PORT"))) settings.staticDir = ".

I’ve created a database table for my PostgreSQL database with Nim: import db_postgres, os ## some code proc setup*(database: Database) = database.db.exec(sql""" CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS Url( shortcode SERIAL PRIMARY KEY, orig_url VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL ); """) ## more code My primary key is shortcode as a SERIAL data type. That means the shortcode column automatically increments. I want to insert data into the database and return the generated ID for the row.

Today I’ve spent all my coding time on re-factoring my sqlite3 database to postgres. Nim and Jester (a web framework) ship with inbuilt sqlite3 features. I couldn’t get them working within Docker. I know how to use Docker and Postgres. Plus, the wrapper library for Nim around SQL databases offers a consistent API. My re-factoring only needed minimal changes. The project is still in flux. And I have some annoying errors with Nim and SQL queries.

I’ve started dabbling in Nim some days ago. My experience level: I’m a self-taught hobby developer. No professional experience, but a lot of enthusiasm. I’ve created some toy applications, but nothing production-grade. I’m most familiar with JavaScript and React.js, but also know a bit of Clojure, Elixir, Python, and Reason. What is Nim? From the Nim website: Efficient, expressive, elegant Nim is a statically typed compiled systems programming language. It combines successful concepts from mature languages like Python, Ada and Modula.

I’ve finished chapter 3 of Nim in Action. I completed the terminal-based chat application. Learning Nim is fun, but there are still many concepts I’m unsure about. For example, I don’t know how the memory model works. I started chapter 6 of the book, and I don’t understand how to parse a file. Chapter 6 introduces parallelism, and I’m confused about locks. Still, I like that the book uses practical examples to teach concepts.

Objects in Nim use the type constructor: ## Type Definition type MusicTrack = object index: int title: string ## (Mutable) Value var summer = MusicTrack(index: 1, title: "Summer in the City") That reminds me of Records in Reason: /* Type definition */ type musicTrack = {index: int, title: string} /* Value */ let summerInTheCity = {index: 1, title: "Summer in the City"} In Nim, “An object is a value type, which means that when an object is assigned to a new variable all its components are copied as well.

I’m currently working through the excellent book Nim in Action by Dominik Picheta. Nim looks like a promising and fresh language: Nim is a statically typed compiled systems programming language. It combines successful concepts from mature languages like Python, Ada and Modula. What I like about Nim is that it looks like Python, but it compiles to a dependency-free executable (C, C++, or JavaScript). The language is fairly small, but it allows for writing macros (meta-programming) like a Lisp.

Use Neovim as your Nim IDE Why Nim? Nim is a statically typed compiled systems programming language. It combines successful concepts from mature languages like Python, Ada and Modula. 1 Nim resembles Python, but the language is significantly faster and statically compiled. Nim comes with meta-programming abilities (like a LISP). You can compile a Nim program into a stand-alone C binary that runs on every system.