I think a core std lib for 1.0 would solve the following problems: * It would contain less code, therefore less bugs * Nim language reference would be smaller and therefore compiler implementation easier * It would be easier to develop a test suite that signals the production-readiness of Nim * It would strengthen Nim's status as a systems programming language * There would be more time to develop new features instead of maintaining legacy code
Ways to install Nim have nothing to do with the std lib quality/size trade-off. The end user should only be offered the Nim standard distribution. Nim core should be interesting only for people writing alternative compilers or having a non-standard OS like FreeRTOS. "Full experience distros" should be unofficial and their maintenance out-of-scope for Nim core devs. Every layer should build upon the lower layer, therefore testing and maintenance should become easier, not harder. If you integrate networking stack etc. to the compiler and continuously bootstrap the compiler with stdlib novelties and vice versa, Nim would not be just a programming language, it would become a programming environment (more like .NET than C). Nothing wrong with that - I would use Nim anyway - but making an alternative implementation would then become very hard.
