khaledh

axiom

Nim2022–2024

khaledh / axiom

axiom

A 64-bit kernel implemented in Nim

Systems & Infrastructure

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2Distinct people

10Mentions

0Explicit recommenders

43GitHub stars

REPOSITORY AT A GLANCE

What to know before exploring

What it is

A 64-bit kernel implemented in Nim

GitHub

Where it is used

No documented product use has been verified yet.

What people are saying

No recommendation phrase was found in the indexed comments.

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Also in these discussions

dom96/nimkernel · linked in 2 of the same discussions

Mentioned in the same Hacker News threads. That is not proof they are substitutes.

This week on Hacker News

Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 5:04:57 PM UTC.

No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.

Mentions over time

HN mentions by month10 dated mentions

Observed mentions: 2022-01-02 15:44:38 UTC to 2024-05-02 15:44:06 UTC.

Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.

View mention counts and date ranges

UTC ranges include their start and exclude their end. Select a period to filter the source evidence.
Period	Start (UTC)	End (exclusive, UTC)	Mentions	Comments
Jan 2022	2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	2022-02-01 00:00:00 UTC	2	2
Feb 2022	2022-02-01 00:00:00 UTC	2022-03-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Mar 2022	2022-03-01 00:00:00 UTC	2022-04-01 00:00:00 UTC	1	1
Apr 2022	2022-04-01 00:00:00 UTC	2022-05-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
May 2022	2022-05-01 00:00:00 UTC	2022-06-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Jun 2022	2022-06-01 00:00:00 UTC	2022-07-01 00:00:00 UTC	1	1
Jul 2022	2022-07-01 00:00:00 UTC	2022-08-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Aug 2022	2022-08-01 00:00:00 UTC	2022-09-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Sep 2022	2022-09-01 00:00:00 UTC	2022-10-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Oct 2022	2022-10-01 00:00:00 UTC	2022-11-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Nov 2022	2022-11-01 00:00:00 UTC	2022-12-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Dec 2022	2022-12-01 00:00:00 UTC	2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Jan 2023	2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	2023-02-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Feb 2023	2023-02-01 00:00:00 UTC	2023-03-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Mar 2023	2023-03-01 00:00:00 UTC	2023-04-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Apr 2023	2023-04-01 00:00:00 UTC	2023-05-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
May 2023	2023-05-01 00:00:00 UTC	2023-06-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Jun 2023	2023-06-01 00:00:00 UTC	2023-07-01 00:00:00 UTC	1	1
Jul 2023	2023-07-01 00:00:00 UTC	2023-08-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Aug 2023	2023-08-01 00:00:00 UTC	2023-09-01 00:00:00 UTC	1	1
Sep 2023	2023-09-01 00:00:00 UTC	2023-10-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Oct 2023	2023-10-01 00:00:00 UTC	2023-11-01 00:00:00 UTC	1	1
Nov 2023	2023-11-01 00:00:00 UTC	2023-12-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Dec 2023	2023-12-01 00:00:00 UTC	2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	1	1
Jan 2024	2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	2024-02-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Feb 2024	2024-02-01 00:00:00 UTC	2024-03-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Mar 2024	2024-03-01 00:00:00 UTC	2024-04-01 00:00:00 UTC	1	1
Apr 2024	2024-04-01 00:00:00 UTC	2024-05-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
May 2024	2024-05-01 00:00:00 UTC	2024-06-01 00:00:00 UTC	1	1

What Hacker News says

10 sources

khaledh·May 2, 2024

I'm creating a hobby operating system in Nim (early stages). After an initial attempt[0] I decided to start over[1] and document my journey in building it[2]. The focus for me is on learning low-level systems programming and enjoying the journey, rather than building something production ready. [0] https://github.com/khaledh/axiom [1] https://github.com/khaledh/fusion [2] https://0xc0ffee.netlify.app/osdev/01-intro.html

In What Are You Building? Share Your Projects

khaledh·Mar 16, 2024

Nim is also a strong player as a systems programming language. In terms of memory management, it's configurable, and by default you get ARC (no GC). I've written a hobby kernel (if you can call it that) in Nim[1] as well as Zig[2], and I found Nim to be much more ergonomic and approachable. The fact that Zig requires weaving an allocator through most calls that may allocate gets in the way of what I'm trying to do. I'd rather focus on core logic and have ref counting take care of dropping memory when appropriate. One thing I wish Nim had though is true sum types with payloads. I think there's an RFC for that, but it's a shame it's not in the language yet. [1] https://github.com/khaledh/axiom [2] https://github.com/khaledh/axiom-zig

In Zig, Rust, and Other Languages

cb321·Dec 4, 2023

> kernel developers do not allow third party runtimes in the kernel. Even meager Rust's "panic" runtime is a contentious Much in Linux is contentious :-) which is why the module system is nice. A kernel module for C code requires no permission from Linux-core unless you need it distributed with the kernel (which, yes, might be required for "credibility" - but critically also might not). It may require many decls to access various kernel APIs, but those can be (semi-)automated or just done as-needed. So, Linux kernel policy is not so relevant (at best) which is what I meant by "no special support" (admittedly brief). Kernel coding is always a bit trickier, and you may need to build up some support code to make integration nice, though as well as decl generators (though none of that need be distributed "with Linux"). > Can one disable r

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untime in Nim completely -- no GC, no exceptions? To answer your question, and as discussed elsewhere in this subthread, Nim has many options for memory management.. only stdlib seq/string really needs automatic methods. One can disable the runtime completely via os:standalone and statically check that no exceptions are raised with Nim's effect system (and there are also both setjmp & goto based exception impls which may/may not be workable in Linux/BSD kernel module settings). As "proof more by example", a few people have written OS kernels in Nim recently[1,2] and there was another toy kernel long ago[3]. People have also written OS kernels in Go which "has a GC and runtime".[4] So, I acknowledge it's not quite the same example, but I also see no fundamental blockers for kernel modules. [1] https://github.com/khaledh/axiom [2] https://prosepoetrycode.potterpcs.net/2023/01/a-barebones-ke... [3] https://github.com/dom96/nimkernel [4] https://github.com/mit-pdos/biscuit/

In D Programming Language

khaledh·Oct 26, 2023

I gave Rust a few chances, and always came out hating its complexity. I needed a systems programming language to develop a hobby OS[1], and Nim hit the sweet spot of being very ergonomic, optional GC, and great interop with C. I can drop down to assembly any time I want, or write a piece of C code to do something exotic, but the rest of the system is pure Nim. It's also quite fast. [1] https://github.com/khaledh/axiom

In Was Rust Worth It?

khaledh·Aug 1, 2023

I've used both to work on a hobby OS project (Nim[1], Zig[2]). I very much prefer Nim. Code is succinct, elegant, and lets you focus on your core logic rather than fighting the language. Zig is nice and I like its optionals support and error handling approach. But I was put off by its noisy syntax, e.g. !?[]u8 to represent an error union of an optional pointer to a many-pointer of uint8. Also having to prepare and weave allocators throughout most of the code that needs to dynamically allocate (which is most of the code) gets in the way of the main logic. Even little things like string concatenation or formatting becomes a chore. Zig also doesn't have dynamic dispatch, which makes polymorphic code hard to write; you have to work around it through some form of duck typing. In the end I realized that Zig is not for me. [1] https://github.com

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/khaledh/axiom [2] https://github.com/khaledh/axiom-zig

In Nim 2.0

cb321·Jun 29, 2023

Niceness is subjective, but Nim is just as valid an addition to that group. Nim compiles to C and has had an --os=standalone mode for like 10 years from its git history, and as mentioned else-thread (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36506087) can be used for Linux kernel modules. Multiple people have written "stub OSes" in it (https://github.com/dom96/nimkernel & further along https://github.com/khaledh/axiom). While it can use clang as a backend, Nim does not rely upon LLVM support like Zig or Rust (pre-gcc-rust working). Use on embedded devices is fairly popular: https://forum.nim-lang.org/search?q=embedded (or web search). Latency-wise, for a time, video game programming was a perceived "adoption niche" or maybe "hook" for Nim and games often have stringent frame rendering deadlines. If you are interested in video games, you mi

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ght appreciate https://github.com/shish/rosettaboy which covers all but Ada in your list with Nim being fastest (on one CPU/version/compiler/etc). Note, however, that cross-PL comparisons are often done by those with much "porting energy" but limited familiarity with any but a few of the PLs. A better way to view it is that "Nim responds well to optimization effort" (like C/Ada/C++/Rust/Zig).

In Ask HN: Why did Nim not catch on like Rust did?

khaledh·Jun 17, 2022

I'm using Nim to build an experimental kernel, so lots of low-level systems programming [0]. Right now it can boot under UEFI, switch to graphics mode, query some hardware information, create and schedule kernel threads, and a very simple shell (no userspace yet). In this regard I'd compare it to Zig (which I also tried for kernel programming) and Rust (which I find too complex). The thing that stood out for me about Nim is its elegance. I know it's subjective, but I like how the code "looks and feels." [0] https://github.com/khaledh/axiom

In This Month with Nim: April and May 2022

khaledh·Mar 25, 2022

If anyone is interested, I have a couple of implementations of booting under UEFI and getting a bunch of info about the system (don't expect a functioning system, they just boot and dump some info): Nim: https://github.com/khaledh/axiom Zig: https://github.com/khaledh/axiom-zig (this one goes into depth in disassembling ACPI DSDT bytecode)

In Writing a simple operating system from scratch (2010) [pdf]

khaledh·Jan 2, 2022

I wasn't ready to share it yet, but here it goes[1]. It's at a very early stage, but should give you an idea of how to get things up and running under Nim. I didn't avoid malloc. I provided a simple bump pointer based heap to get things going. Later I'll have to separate things into a UEFI bootloader and a proper kernel image, each with its own allocator (the bootloader will use UEFI memory allocation services, and the kernel will have its own heap). [1] https://github.com/khaledh/axiom

In Assembly Nights

khaledh·Jan 2, 2022

I've also recently discovered the joy of system level programming. I've gone through a few iterations of writing a (incomplete) kernel from scratch using different languages. I started with a 32-bit kernel in C and got as far as preemptive multitasking. Then I decided to try Nim, I found it very ergonomic and lets you write compact code that expresses the main logic without too much syntax noise. But I got blocked by some issues making it work for a UEFI target. Then I tried Zig and got as far as parsing ACPI tables and writing an AML bytecode parser. Zig is nice and I like its optionals support and error handling approach. But I was put off by its noisy syntax (e.g. !?*[*]u8 to represent an error union of an optional pointer to a many-pointer of uint8). Also having to prepare and weave allocoators throughout most of the code that needs t

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o dynamically allocate (which is most of the code) gets in the way of the main logic. Even little things like string concatenation or formatting becomes a chore. In the end I realized that Zig is not for me. So I got back to Nim and resolved the issues that were blocking me. I'm now on my journey to write a complete kernel in Nim (so far I have access to UEFI services and ACPI table parsing and on my way to get interrups working). The code is pleasant to write and read. Also the language and the stdlib documentation is great (Zig's stdlib documentation is almost non-existent.) Overall, I found that systems programming is very satisfying, and you can depend on specs that rarely change (some are over 20 and 30 years old and still work the same way today) and is quite a welcome change from web dev where it depends on tech de jour. Edit: Here are the github repo links: - C kernel: https://github.com/khaledh/bitflow - Zig "kernel": https://github.com/khaledh/axiom-zig - Nim "kernel": https://github.com/khaledh/axiom

In Assembly Nights