The 35/1.8 DX is a really remarkable lens. Its main faults are lackluster construction and somewhat nervous bokeh, but aside from that it's a tremendously sharp, light, and cheap walkaround prime. The lack of anything in this price range for Canon is a main reason why I recommend Nikon to beginners who would likely only use the kit and at most one other lens.
I was nervous about Nikon's lens lineup before I switched, as I knew so much more about Canon's lenses, but it turns out to be quite fantastic for my tastes. The new line of f/1.8 G primes - 28, 50, 85 - is very very good and very well-priced. Now there is even a 70-200/4 IS with a new "5-stop" IS system, so that fills one of the main holes in the lineup as compared to Canon.
Nikon lacks the truly range-topping, whimsically fast L primes that Canon boasts, but their lens lineup is quite robust for those of us not in the market to spend $1500-2000 per lens. Moreover, Nikon's new lenses have been launching with much more reasonable MSRPs than Canon's latest offerings.
Edit: I have tried the 35 DX on my D700 and it works rather well indoors! It does vignette a bit, but not a great deal more than most fast 35's on full frame as long as the focusing distance is close and the aperture is wide. Trying to focus at infinity and stopping down crops the image at the corners, so it's impractical to own as a full frame user.