BountySource Update: The Road to v1.0
=====================================

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  Cross posted by Dominik Picheta on 06/08/2016 from
  `Update #4 on BountySource <https://salt.bountysource.com/teams/nim/updates/4-the-road-to-v1-0>`_

We are now in the fourth month of the
`Nim BountySource fundraiser <https://salt.bountysource.com/teams/nim>`_ and
here is
this month's update[1]. Once again this month, we have beat our previous
donation record of $1280 having raised over $1600 over the course of July!
That's now 4 months in a row that your monthly donations have been increasing.
As always we are absolutely blown away by your contributions,
`myself <https://github.com/dom96>`_ and the
rest of the Nim team are extremely thankful for them. It's not only helping us
pay for the necessary expenses (like for example the server that
http://nim-lang.org runs on) but it also inspires us to keep going and to make
Nim the best programming language that it can be.

As mentioned in
`last month's update <https://salt.bountysource.com/teams/nim/updates/3-engaging-with-our-community>`_, we have begun the process of engaging with
the Nim community through a survey. This survey has now been open for more than
a month and will be closing very soon (in about 2 days), so if you haven't
answered it yet, now would be a perfect time to do so. You can find the survey
here: http://nim-lang.org/survey.

The survey itself has been designed for three types of people: Nim users,
ex-Nim users and people who have never used Nim before. This means that you
have no excuse not to answer it[2]. There are almost 700 submissions and after
the survey is finalised, a blog post will be written with a thorough analysis.

It is my hope that the survey analysis will give the Nim team a good idea of
what needs to be implemented before version 1.0 can be released. Personally, I
hope to make a thorough review of the standard library to ensure that it is
ready for the "1.0 backwards compatibility lock"[3]. Although I myself have
been very busy lately[4], `Araq <http://github.com/Araq>`_ has been working very hard to fix
`High Priority <https://github.com/nim-lang/Nim/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+label%3A%22High+Priority%22>`_
issues, ahead of the 1.0 release. And as always, there has also been a
`lot of pull requests <https://github.com/nim-lang/Nim/pulse>`_
from a wide range of Nim users.

Lastly, I would like to mention
`Nim in Action <https://manning.com/books/nim-in-action?a_aid=niminaction&a_bid=78a27e81>`_ once again. I have recently
finished the final chapter. All that remains now are corrections (based mainly
on your feedback, huge thanks to everyone for reading!) and a final review.
The book will then be put into production[5] with an estimated print date of
around the 20th of January (as usual delays are very much possible). If you
have not yet picked up the book, now would be a perfect time to do so. There
is still time for you to give feedback about the book, and for me to improve it
based on your remarks. It is not often that you can influence a book in this
way, and it is my hope that you will help me make this book one of the best
resources for learning Nim!

As always, many thanks for reading and if you have any questions or feedback
feel free to get in touch via email at contact@nim-lang.org or via
`Twitter <https://twitter.com/nim_lang>`_.

1 - These updates have so far been fairly regular and it is my hope to write
at least one a month. Yep, I am patting myself on the back :)

2 - I joke of course, don't worry about if you don't have the time :)

3 - After version 1.0, it is typical for a piece of software (especially
a programming language) to ensure that backwards compatibility is not broken
between further minor versions until a new major version such as 2.0 is released.

4 - Writing a book, moving to Switzerland to start a new job, and playing
`Pokemon Go <https://pokemongostatus.org/>`_ has certainly kept me busy.

5 - Basically the brilliant guys at `Manning <https://manning.com>`_ will
process the book so that it looks good in a printed format.
