nim-wiki/Tips-and-tricks.md

* Use "nim check myfile.nim" to check your program for errors, without code generation. This makes the process quicker.

## Using reserved words as identifiers

You can use the slanted quote string syntax (stropping) if you need to use a reserved word as an identifier: ``var `type`: int``

## Tricks with conditional compilation

```nimrod
when defined(useSomeFeature):
  const someSubFeature = true
  type ID_Type = int32
  var defaultUserName = "Frank"
else:
  type ID_Type = int16
  var defaultUserName = "Molly"

# `when` does not open a new scope, so `ID_Type` and `defaultUserName`
# are available here.

when isMainModule:
  #this code is ran only when this module is the main compilation module
  echo "This module was compiled on ", CompileDate, " at ", CompileTime
```

#### Defining `useSomeFeature`
* Do it when you compile: `$ nim c -d:useSomeFeature myApp`
* Put it in the local `nim.cfg` file `define:useSomeFeature`

## How do I echo in a ``{.noSideEffect.}`` proc?

You can use ``debugEcho`` for this.

## Language details

#### Shallow vs. DeepCopy

* https://forum.nim-lang.org/t/2665#16487