Nim vs Rust | Popularity, Salary, Performance, Features, and Applications
Nim and Rust are both modern, compiled system programming languages that are easier to work with than C or C++.
If you are interested in embedded, hard-realtime systems, web development, game development, developing Graphical User Interfaces, you should learn Nim over Rust.
Nim is a statically typed compiled, high-level systems programming language. It combines successful concepts from mature languages like Python, Ada, and Modula.
On the other hand, Rust is a general-purpose, multi-paradigm programming language that emphasizes performance, type safety, and concurrency.
If you are interested in building command line tools, network services, embedded systems, webAssembly, or systems programming, you should learn Rust over Nim
Comparing programming languages and choosing which one to learn or use for your next project can be tricky.
There are many factors to consider in order to choose the right programming language for the job you want to do.
Popularity, opportunities, type of projects, salaries, resources, learning curve, etc. are some of the factors that many people consider when comparing programming languages and choosing which one to learn or use.
Here are some of the comparisons and considerations you should make:
NIM VS RUST POPULARITY
Comparing the popularity of programming languages is not an easy task because each programming language is different.
Although the usage of many programming languages may intersect, different fields and projects may require the use of different programming languages.
Plus, other programming languages have been around for a longer time than others, giving them more time to be tried and tested, so, bear that in mind.
If you want to learn a programming language solely for its popularity among developers, you should learn Rust over Nim.
Generally, Rust is more popular than Nim. As of August 2023, the TIOBE INDEX ranks Rust as the 19th most popular programming language while Nim does not appear in the top 50 popular programming languages.
According to a Stack Overflow survey of 2023, Rust is the 14th most commonly used programming language, it is used by 13.05% of developers.
On the other hand, Nim is the 48th most commonly used programming language, it is used by 0.38% of developers according to the same survey.
Further, Rust has been the most loved programming language for seven years straight. As of 2022, Rust was loved by 86.73% of developers versus 13.27% of developers who dreaded it.
In 2023, Rust is the most admired programming language. It is admired by 84.66% of developers. On the other hand, Nim is admired by 53.78% of developers.
Ultimately, if your choice of which programming language to learn depends on popularity, you should learn Rust over Nim.
NIM VS RUST SALARY
Another popular criterion that many people use to compare programming languages and as an incentive to learn a new programming language is salary.
Salaries for developers differ from one company to the other and from one country to the other.
Experience is another factor that comes into play as far as salaries are concerned.
The more experience you have with a certain technology or programming language, the more likely you are of getting a higher salary.
Generally, Rust developers get higher salaries than Nim developers.
The 2023 Stack Overflow survey of top-paying programming languages revealed that Rust developers get a median salary of $87,012 per year.
On the other hand, Nim developers get a median salary of $80,000 per year, about $7,000 less than Rust developers.
Here are 10 Programming Languages that Pay more than $90,000
So, if the salary is your major incentive for learning a programming language, you should learn Rust over Nim, because you are more likely to get a higher salary as a Rust developer than as a Nim developer.
Can Rust be used for Game Development? Find out
IS NIM EASIER THAN RUST?
Yes, Nim is generally easier to learn than Rust. Nim has an English-like syntax that is similar to Python.
The Nim syntax is easily understood and results in code that can be modified very effectively. This makes it very easy to pick up Nim even for complete beginners.
On the other hand, Rust has a steeper learning curve compared to Nim. Rust can be quite challenging, especially for complete beginners.
Some Rust concepts like ownership and borrowing add a little bit of complexity to the language.
The good news is that there are a lot of helpful resources for both Rust and Nim to help you learn the languages.
The Rust and Nim communities are very active and helpful, in case you get stuck with something.
NIM VS RUST PERFORMANCE
Rust and Nim are both modern, compiled, systems languages that are designed for performance. Generally, Rust is more performant than Nim.
Rust is known for its emphasis on performance and control over system resources.
It provides fine-grained control over memory management, and its ownership system enforces strict rules that prevent common bugs like null pointer dereferences and data races.
Rust’s zero-cost abstractions allow you to write high-level code without sacrificing performance. It also provides advanced features for concurrent programming.
As a result, Rust is often chosen for systems programming, networking, embedded systems, and other performance-critical applications.
Rust is known for its focus on memory safety without sacrificing performance.
It achieves this through its ownership, borrowing, and lifetime system, which prevents common memory-related bugs like null pointer dereferences and buffer overflows.
Nim is also a high-performance language, it has modern concepts like zero-overhead iterators and compile-time evaluation of user-defined functions which lead to extremely performant code.
Nim also offers multiple garbage collection strategies, including manual memory management, reference counting, and more advanced garbage collection techniques.
This flexibility allows you to choose the most suitable approach for your performance needs.
Nim provides a high level of control over memory management and allows you to work at a low level when needed.
This can be useful for tasks that require fine-tuning memory usage and performance, such as systems programming or building high-performance libraries.
IS NIM BETTER THAN RUST
Nim is better than Rust when it comes to expressiveness, readability, ease of learning, and Prototyping. Its readability can lead to faster development and easier maintenance
Nim focuses on providing expressive and concise syntax, making it possible to write clean and concise code without sacrificing performance.
Rust is better than Nim for Memory Safety and Concurrency. Rust’s ownership, borrowing, and lifetime system provides strong memory safety guarantees.
This makes it much harder to introduce memory-related bugs like null pointer dereferences and data races. This is a critical advantage for systems programming and other safety-critical applications.
Rust is also better than Nim when it comes to the Ecosystem and Community.
Rust has a rapidly growing and enthusiastic community, as well as a well-established ecosystem of libraries and tools. This can contribute to easier integration and development.
NIM VS RUST FEATURES AND APPLICATIONS
NIM
Nim was designed to be efficient, expressive, and elegant. It supports foreign function interface with languages like C, C++, Objective-C, and JavaScript.
It also supports compiling to those same languages as intermediate representations.
Nim generates native dependency-free executables, not dependent on a virtual machine, which are small and can be easily redistribution.
The Nim compiler and the generated executables support all major platforms like Windows, Linux, BSD, and macOS.
RUST
Rust has great unique features that make it suitable for building command line tools, network services, embedded systems, and more. One of the best features of Rust is how it handles memory.
Rust can power performance-critical services, run on embedded devices, and easily integrate with other languages.
Rust can interface with other programming languages such as C and C++, it has a foreign function interface that can be used to call code written in C from Rust and to call Rust code from C.
Rust also has a library called CXX that can be used to call C++ code from Rust and to call Rust Code from C++.
There are many companies using Rust, some of the popular ones include Dropbox, Firefox, Cloudflare, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Facebook, Discord, Mozilla, NPM, etc.
SHOULD I LEARN RUST OR NIM
Once you have compared the languages and evaluated all the factors, you can choose which programming language to learn or use depending on the factors that are on your side and what you want to build.
If you want an easy-to-use language for embedded, hard-realtime systems, web development, game development, developing Graphical User Interfaces, you should learn Nim over Rust.
If you are interested in a popular, high-paying language that can help you to work on systems, command line tools, network services, embedded systems, and webAssembly, you should learn Rust over Nim.
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