How to Learn Nix
The Nix hype machine comes up on HN every few weeks.<p>As someone who tried Nix-- never understood what the big selling point is-- what can Nix do my existing tools can&#x27;t? (without me spending 6 months)<p>Nix can create isolated environments, but as far as I see, you can only install the tools Nix repo supports. And the official examples only give toy examples --here&#x27;s a simple python script you can run with Nix-- but I can just run this simple script in a virtual env, or docker if I have 2-3 different scripts.<p>What problem is Nix solving? What pain does it fix that is so important it would justify me spending 6 months on it?<p>And then there is NixOS, which again, I have no idea-- I can create my own Linux distribution that is what, reproducible? Again, is this a real problem anyone faces (and that isnt fixed by docker or  ansible or any of the other hundreds of tools)?<p>My point is: Why is Nix getting so much hype when I dont see them solving any real problems? Sure, they promise a lot, but I have yet to see any real solutions.<p>Hence the Nix Hype Machine