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by pzo 1052 days ago
for me (mobile developer) interop with python is not enough because of really poor python story on mobile devices (iOS / android) when using native modules. I think if Nim had a seamless interop with Rust or even Zig it could piggyback on those communities to get some libraries for free.
4 comments
ElegantBeef 1052 days ago
For Rust at least one can use https://github.com/arnetheduck/nbindgen
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snthpy 1052 days ago
That looks interesting. Unfortunately it looks like it hasn't been updated in a while? Is that because it's complete or a lack of interest?

For example, the approach mentioned at the bottom of the README of integrating via nlvm (https://github.com/arnetheduck/nlvm) sounded great but appears to be unpursued.

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pzo 1052 days ago
that looks interesting, thanks! Did you try it if it delivers on promises? There was not any new commit since 2020 so not sure if the project is stale by now.
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ElegantBeef 1052 days ago
I do not use Rust, so sadly I have not.
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cb321 1052 days ago
As a 2-step approach, you could also probably use https://github.com/mozilla/cbindgen and then Nim's native C FFI.
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Xeamek 1052 days ago
Dunno about rust, but since both Nim and Zig compile to C as interim, it should be fairly easy to get them working together, no?
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pzo 1052 days ago
Things might changed but last time I checked you could easily call C function but you had to kind of export each single C function, structs etc. You couldn't just import single header file and be ready to call any function in the library. There is some pending project [0] futhark but not sure how mature it is and that still only for C libraries (instead of C++ or Rust) but maybe easy adopt for Zig - would be great nonetheless.

[0] https://github.com/PMunch/futhark

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elcritch 1052 days ago
Most of those libraries are written in C++ or C, which Nim has excellent support for. I've used opencv c++ library with Nim. It's just that opencv is so massive it'd take a lot of work to wrap well, so I haven't yet. Some folks are working on a pure Nim pandas lib too.
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snthpy 1052 days ago
I found the following article about Nim and Rust interop:

https://dev.to/dumblepytech1/the-way-integrate-rust-into-nim...

Haven't read it yet but it looks promising.

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