[joepie91_]

> I've learned more about cmake from mkDerivation that anywhere else.

This is something I find really fascinating about Nix (or more precisely nixpkgs) that gets overlooked a lot: it is essentially a giant database that documents how different build tools work, how different projects are built, and so on, in an exhaustive and consistent manner.

That can be an extremely valuable resource to have in your back pocket, even if you're not actually using Nix!

[anandsuresh]

Could not agree more. I've learned more about build systems and different compilers by reading through Nix code than any other endeavor in the past.