As a long-time Python programmer, I was drawn to trying the language partly because of the syntax, …

From https://nim-lang.org/faq.html : Why is it named proc? Procedure used to be the common term as opposed to a function which is a mathematical entity that has no side effects. And indeed in Nim func is syntactic sugar for proc {.noSideEffect.}. Naming it def would not make sense because Nim also provides an iterator and a method keyword, whereas def stands for define.

I have been meaning to explore Nim for a while because it feels like "golang, but python syntax and dev experience." I vibe coded a simple tool, tt, that allows me to track time to a central log from all my devices. Realllly simple: $ tt stats Time Tracking Stats Total entries: 39 First entry: Oct 21, 2025 23:04 Last entry: Oct 30, 2025 18:29 Tracking since: 228h 34m Days tracked: 5 $ tt "working on xyz today" Logged at 11:38:44 $ tt today Today (1 entries) 11:38:44 working on xyz today The code is pretty damn ugly though, I feel like I am working with perl: proc groupIntoThreads(entries: seq[Entry], threshold: Duration): seq[seq[Entry]] = if entries.len == 0: return @[] var sorted = entries sorted.sort(proc (a, b: Entry): int = if a.timestamp < b.timestamp: -1 elif a.timestamp > b.timestamp: 1 else: 0 ) result = @[] var currentThread = @[sorted[0]] for i in 1..<sorted.len: let gap = s…

Actually echo is not a statement - Nim's syntax is just much more flexible than Python so what looks like a statement in Python is actually just a UFCS/Command-Line "call" (of macro/template/generic/procedure aka "routine"). It is super easy to roll your own print function [1] and there is no penalty for doing so except that the std lib does not provide a "common parlance". So, that wheel might get reinvented a lot. A lot of things like this in cligen because it is a leaf dependency (the literally 1..3 identifier CLI "api") and so many "drive by" PLang tester-outers might want to roll a little CLI around some procs their working on. Also, beyond the echo x,y is same as echo(x,y) or x.echo(y) or x.echo y, the amount of syntax flexibility is dramatically more than Python. You can have user-defined operators like `>>>` or `!!!` or `.*`. There are also some experimental and probably buggy co…

If your really want to use the keyword def instead of proc: you can do that with sed. In all serious-ness, don't do that. I've used Python a lot, but Nim is a different language. Writing the proc keyword helps condition your brain to realize you are writing Nim, not Python.