Nim!

So, stumbling around discussions related to the topic in my last post, I discovered a new language that I find pretty neat!

Nim (formerly “Nimrod”) is a statically typed imperative programming language that spits out C and Javascript (though the Javascript is still experimental). What struck me is how close the “read” of the language is to Python – by which I mean, when I look at a Nim program, it reads very much like Python.

BUT it is most certainly not Python!

Here’s some stuff about Nim, if you’re curious:

• Nim’s Homepage
• A Dr. Dobb’s article (2014)
• InfoQ presentation from the original Author of the language
• Learn X In Y Minutes: Where X is Nim

Here’s a very simple sample program – a guess-the-random-number game:

discard """
This program is about playing a very simple game: guess a randomly generated number!
"""

from math import random, randomize
from strutils import parseInt

# make sure that the seed is randomized
randomize()

# keep playing the game until the user wants to quit
var rand_val: int
var raw_user_val: string
var user_val: int
while true:
    # pick the number
    rand_val = random(10) + 1 # +1 because it's 0 to max-1

    # ask the user for the number
    echo("Please guess a number between 1 and 10 [q to quit]")
    raw_user_val = readLine(stdin)

    # check to see if the user would like to quit
    if raw_user_val == "q":
        break;

    # make sure the number is an integer
    try:
        user_val = parseInt(raw_user_val)
    except EInvalidValue:
        continue

    # make sure the value is between 1 and 10, inclusive
    if user_val < 1 or user_val > 10:
        continue;

    # check to see if it is the same
    if user_val == rand_val:
        echo("Yay! You Guessed It!")
    else:
        echo("You FAIL!")

The very first line in this example shows off something I find very interesting. discard is required so that the compiler ignores things like unused return values. BUT it can also be used like a multi-line comment by simply discarding an unassigned multi-line string value.

Why is this the way multi-line comments are done? Well, because even regular single-line comments in Nim are part of the syntax tree, and aren’t just discarded during parsing!

Progressing through this (very simplistic and not representative) program, you’d almost think you were looking at Python, with a few weird function calls and some type annotations on variables. This makes it very easy for me to start reading and understanding… not to mention guess at some of the syntax structure I don’t already know.