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Numba VS Nim (programming language)

Compare Numba VS Nim (programming language) and see what are their differences

Numba logo Numba

Numba gives you the power to speed up your applications with high performance functions written...

Nim (programming language) logo Nim (programming language)

The Nim programming language is a concise, fast programming language that compiles to C, C++ and JavaScript.
  • Numba Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-09-05
  • Nim (programming language) Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-07-31

Numba features and specs

  • Performance
    Numba can significantly increase the speed of execution for numerically intensive Python code by compiling Python functions to optimized machine code using LLVM.
  • Ease of Use
    Numba is user-friendly and requires minimal code changes. Often, just applying a decorator to functions is enough to gain performance benefits.
  • Integration with NumPy
    Numba works well with NumPy, allowing users to compile functions that utilize NumPy arrays efficiently.
  • JIT Compilation
    It supports Just-In-Time (JIT) compilation, enabling functions to be compiled at runtime, which allows for optimizations based on actual usage.
  • GPGPU Acceleration
    Numba offers support for GPU acceleration, which can further enhance performance by offloading tasks to NVIDIA GPUs using CUDA.

Possible disadvantages of Numba

  • Limited Python Feature Support
    Numba does not support all Python features and standard library modules, which can limit its applicability for certain functions or applications.
  • Compilation Overhead
    The initial compilation of functions can add overhead, which might negate performance gains for small or simple tasks.
  • Debugging Difficulty
    Debugging Numba-compiled code can be challenging due to the compiled nature of the code, which may obscure typical Python error messages.
  • Complex Code Compatibility
    More complex Python constructs, such as classes and closures, are not fully supported, requiring workarounds or alternative solutions.
  • Dependency on LLVM
    Numba heavily relies on the LLVM library for compilation, which can complicate installation and increase dependency size.

Nim (programming language) features and specs

  • Performance
    Nim compiles to C, C++, or JavaScript, which can offer performance close to languages like C and C++. This makes it suitable for high-performance applications.
  • Expressive Syntax
    Nim offers a clean and expressive syntax that is inspired by Python, making it relatively easy to write and read code, which can speed up development.
  • Metaprogramming
    Nim supports powerful metaprogramming features such as macros and templates, which allow for more flexible and reusable code.
  • Memory Management
    Nim gives developers control over memory management while also providing an efficient garbage collector, effectively balancing manual and automatic memory management.
  • Cross-Platform Compatibility
    Nim can compile code for various platforms, including Windows, macOS, and Linux, as well as the web through JavaScript.
  • Interoperability
    Nim has excellent interoperability with C and C++ code, making it easier to incorporate existing libraries and gain performance benefits.

Possible disadvantages of Nim (programming language)

  • Smaller Community
    Compared to more established languages like Python or JavaScript, Nim has a smaller community, which can lead to fewer resources, libraries, and third-party support.
  • Ecosystem Maturity
    While Nim is growing, its ecosystem is not as mature as some other languages. This can mean fewer libraries, tools, and frameworks for various tasks.
  • Learning Curve
    Despite its expressive syntax, Nim has unique features and paradigms that can present a learning curve for new developers, especially those coming from more mainstream languages.
  • Less Corporate Backing
    Nim does not have as much corporate support or adoption compared to other languages like Go or Rust, which could influence its long-term viability and industry adoption.
  • Compiler Bugs
    As a relatively young language, Nim's compiler may still have some bugs or less polished features compared to more established languages.

Numba videos

The Criminal History of RondoNumbaNine

More videos:

  • Review - lucky numba review
  • Review - RondoNumbaNine - Free RondoNumbaNine "Clint Massey” (Official Interview - WSHH Exclusive)

Nim (programming language) videos

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Numba and Nim (programming language))
Website Builder
83 83%
17% 17
Programming Language
12 12%
88% 88
Website Design
100 100%
0% 0
Generic Programming Language

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Nim (programming language) should be more popular than Numba. It has been mentiond 149 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Numba mentions (93)

  • I Use Nim Instead of Python for Data Processing
    >Not type safe That's the point. Look up what duck typing means in Python. Your program is meant to throw exceptions if you pass in data that doesn't look and act how it needs to. This means that in Python you don't need to do defensive programming. It's not like in C where you spend many hundreds of lines safe-guarding buffer lengths, memory allocation, return codes, static type sizes, and so on. That means that... - Source: Hacker News / 8 months ago
  • Gravitational Collapse of Spongebob
    I believe it is using Numba which converts to machine code. https://numba.pydata.org/. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Mojo🔥: Head -to-Head with Python and Numba
    Around the same time, I discovered Numba and was fascinated by how easily it could bring huge performance improvements to Python code. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Mojo: The usability of Python with the performance of C
    Or you use numba [1]. Then you can use a subset of plain Python. [1] https://numba.pydata.org/. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Is anyone using PyPy for real work?
    Simulations are, at least in my experience, numba’s [0] wheelhouse. [0]: https://numba.pydata.org/. - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago
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Nim (programming language) mentions (149)

  • I built a hardware processor that runs Python
    > I'm interested to see whether the final feature set will be larger than what you'd get by creating a type-safe language with a pythonic syntax and compiling that to native, rather than building custom hardware. It almost sounds like you're asking for Nim ( https://nim-lang.org/ ); and there are some projects using it for microcontroller programming, since it compiles down to C (for ESP32, last I saw). - Source: Hacker News / 12 days ago
  • Is Rust a good fit for business apps?
    I think Nim might be a good candidate. https://nim-lang.org. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 months ago
  • A 10x Faster TypeScript
    It’s not popular compared to Go/Rust, but many find Nim scratches that itch: https://nim-lang.org/. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 months ago
  • Transfinite Nim
    FWIW, Nim (the programming language) is certainly interesting and possibly underrated. https://nim-lang.org/. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • State of Python 3.13 Performance: Free-Threading
    If not, Nim is probably the closest most 'Python-like' language that is almost as fast as C. https://nim-lang.org/. - Source: Hacker News / 6 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Numba and Nim (programming language), you can also consider the following products

Cython - Cython is a language that makes writing C extensions for the Python language as easy as Python...

Crystal (programming language) - Programming language with Ruby-like syntax that compiles to efficient native code.

cx_Freeze - cx_Freeze is a set of scripts and modules for freezing Python scripts into executables in much the...

Go Programming Language - Go, also called golang, is a programming language initially developed at Google in 2007 by Robert...

PyInstaller - PyInstaller is a program that freezes (packages) Python programs into stand-alone executables...

V (programming language) - Simple, fast, safe, compiled language for developing maintainable software.