[Caml-list] Attn: Development Editor, Latest OCaml Weekly News

[Alan Schmitt <alan.schmitt@polytechnique.org>]

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Hello

Here is the latest OCaml Weekly News, for the week of July 05 to 12,
2022.

Table of Contents
─────────────────

Dune how to define custom build task
Timedesc 0.8.0 - modern date time handling
containers 3.9
OBazl 2.0.0-alpha-1 (Building OCaml SW with Bazel)
QCheck 0.19
Opam-cross-windows now supports OCaml 4.14.0!
Other OCaml News
Old CWN


Dune how to define custom build task
════════════════════════════════════

  Archive:
  <https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/dune-how-to-define-custom-build-task/10092/1>


cnmade explained
────────────────

  dune has very powerful extensions, but the documentation doesn't tell
  you directly. Today I'll share a specific example of how we can make
  dune do many things with a dune configuration.

  For example

  • Publish compiled documents to our documentation server
  • Sending email notifications to email groups
  • Sending SMS notifications to administrators
  • Build a document and open a browser to preview the document page

  Let's start with an example, we create a dune file in the root
  directory of our project, which you may not have originally, you have
  to create a new one, we enter the following

  ┌────
  │ ; now we tell you how to define a custom rule
  │ ; rule start with (rule )
  │ (rule
  │ ; (alias is point  the command name , so you can run this rule by call  dune build @docopen
  │  (alias docopen)
  │  ; following line is very important, it tell dune do not cache this build command, so it will running every call
  │ without any cache
  │  (deps (universe))
  │  ; action  (system  to told system run command by `sh` in your Linux/MacOS, windows user may running cmd.exe
  │  ; cd ../.. is change the base directory of the running command ,or the default directory will be _build/default
  │  (action (system "cd ../.. && pwd &&  dune build @doc && open _build/default/_doc/_html/index.html" ))
  │ )
  │ ; end of one piece of rule
  │ 
  │ ; and we define more and more rule as we want
  │ (rule
  │   (alias whoami)
  │   (deps (universe))
  │   (action (system "uname -a;whoami"))
  │ )
  └────

  In this example, we define two rules, the rules are the tasks that
  dune can recognize, in dune, it is called rules

  Because it is a custom build command, we use alias to take a unique
  and non-repeating alias.

  The first build command is to build the document and open the browser
  preview.

  Our alias is docopen

  Then deps we add universe to tell dune that you don't want to cache
  and give me a new build every time. If you don't add this line, dune
  will only give you one build, and then because of the cache, you won't
  be able to execute it later.

  action following by system here, action is the command to start,
  system means to use the system shell (windows is cmd, linux macos is
  sh) to give you the execution of the code you specify.

  You can see the first we are first change the directory to the project
  root directory [because the default directory is _build/default], and
  then we perform the build document generation, and then open open the
  generated html page.

  The first build command is this, if you want to perform the first
  build task, you can type

  `dune build @docopen'

  Then our second build command, relatively simple, with reference to
  the first, we can add a lot of build commands we want to add inside
  this dune configuration file.

  We just need to specify different alias aliases for them, no
  duplication.

  The official documentation also specifies some other available
  commands, I won't go into them one by one. Since I prefer to use shell
  scripts, I really only need the system to execute my shell scripts for
  me.


Timedesc 0.8.0 - modern date time handling
══════════════════════════════════════════

  Archive:
  <https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/ann-timedesc-0-8-0-modern-date-time-handling/10138/1>


Darren announced
────────────────

  I'm pleased to announce the release of Timedesc 0.8.0.

  Timedesc is a very comprehensive date time handling library with good
  support of time zone.

  [Homepage]


[Homepage] <https://github.com/daypack-dev/timere>

Features
╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌

  • Timestamp and date time handling with platform independent time zone
    support
    • Subset of the IANA time zone database is built into this library
  • Supports Gregorian calendar date, ISO week date, and ISO ordinal
    date
  • Supports nanosecond precision
  • ISO8601 parsing and RFC3339 printing


Main changes since 0.6.0
╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌

  • Significantly reduced size of time zone database by using a custom
    compression scheme
    • Many thanks to @glennsl for the proposed scheme at issue [#46]
    • This yields reduction of roughly 82% for same date period. The
      exact range of years included has been tuned slightly as well and
      I've lost track of the exact size after compilation.
  • Significantly reduced the number of dependencies, and moved JS, JSON
    code into separate packages
    • Removed dependencies: `fmt', `containers', `oseq'
      • Introduced `sexplib' dependency for sexp handling consequently
        as previously containers `CCSexp' was used
    • Moved JSON code into `timedesc-json' package along with Yojson
      dependency
    • Moved `tzlocal' and `tzdb' stuff into their own separate packages
      (`timedesc-tzlocal' and `timedesc-tzdb' respectively)
    • Moved JS tzlocal backend into `timedesc-tzlocal-js' (along with JS
      specific dependencies)


[#46] <https://github.com/daypack-dev/timere/issues/46>


Quality of life changes
╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌

  • Updated string conversion functions based on pretty printers which
    raise `Date_time_cannot_deduce_offset_from_utc' to raise the
    exception instead of returning `None'
    • This simplifies the handling as return type is now simply just
      `string'
    • And for serious stuff users are expected to use only unambiguous
      date times anyway, which would not trigger this exception
  • Added ISO8601 printing facilities to `Timestamp' module for
    consistency
    • They are just aliases to the RFC3339 printers


containers 3.9
══════════════

  Archive: <https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/ann-containers-3-9/10140/1>


Simon Cruanes announced
───────────────────────

  I'm happy to announce that containers 3.9 has just been
  released. Containers is a lightweight, modular extension of the stdlib
  that tries to remains compatible with it.

  Containers is starting to sprout some serialization primitives: it now
  has codecs for Bencode and CBOR. This release also contains a revamp
  of the testlib system (bye qtest) and the use of ocamlformat, for
  potential contributors who enjoy that. Containers should also be
  compatible with OCaml 5.0.


OBazl 2.0.0-alpha-1 (Building OCaml SW with Bazel)
══════════════════════════════════════════════════

  Archive:
  <https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/obazl-2-0-0-alpha-1-building-ocaml-sw-with-bazel/10142/1>


Gregg Reynolds announced
────────────────────────

  I've tagged alpha versions of OBazl [rules_ocaml] and [tools_opam].
  The best way to start exploring is via [demos_obazl], which contains
  over 100 mostly simple demo/test programs, many of which are
  commented.  Three simple commands get you configured and then `bazel
  test test' runs all the tests.

  Tested on MacOS 12.4 and Ubuntu 20.

  Documentation is still in progress but there is useful info at [The
  OBazl Book].

  Lot's of things to say about this version but I'll stick to one point
  of interest.  The four basic OCaml compilers are modeled by Bazel's
  platforms and toolchains mechanisms.  Two of the compilers are
  actually cross-compilers (e.g.  `ocamlc.opt' runs on the system arch
  but targets the OCaml vm), so to pick a compiler you tell OBazl which
  buildhost and targethost platforms you want.  I've predefined
  configurations in [.bazelrc]; for example:

  ┌────
  │ build:bcnc --host_platform=@opam//tc/host/build:bc
  │ build:bcnc --platforms=@opam//tc/host/target:nc
  └────
  which means to select the `ocamlopt.byte' (cross-)compiler, pass
  `--config=bcnc'.

  Kinda cool IMHO. Maybe overkill for the basic compilers, but the
  mechanism is essential to support remote builds, custom compiler
  implementations and genuine cross-compilers.

  Feedback welcome.


[rules_ocaml] <https://github.com/obazl/rules_ocaml>

[tools_opam] <https://github.com/obazl/tools_opam>

[demos_obazl]
<https://github.com/obazl/demos_obazl/blob/main/rules_ocaml/README.adoc>

[The OBazl Book] <https://obazl.github.io/docs_obazl/>

[.bazelrc]
<https://github.com/obazl/demos_obazl/blob/main/rules_ocaml/.bazelrc>


QCheck 0.19
═══════════

  Archive: <https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/ann-qcheck-0-19/10149/1>


Jan Midtgaard announced
───────────────────────

  I'm happy to share the release of QCheck 0.19 - a library for
  property-based testing in OCaml in the style of Haskell's QuickCheck.

  • GitHub repo: <https://github.com/c-cube/qcheck>
  • Documentation: <https://c-cube.github.io/qcheck/0.19/>

  The 0.19 release brings a range of new features and improvements
  detailed below and combines the effort of several individual
  contributors.

  It is now available on opam.

  Release notes:

  • new features and feature extensions
    • add optional `debug_shrink' parameters in alcotest interface and
      expose default `debug_shrinking_choices' in test runners
    • add missing `?handler' parameter to `Test.check_cell_exn'
    • add an option `retries' parameter to `Test.make' et al. for
      checking a property repeatedly while shrinking.  This can be
      useful when testing non-deterministic code.
    • add `tup2' to `tup9' for generators
    • add `Test.make_neg' for negative property-based tests, that are
      expected not to satisfy the tested property.
    • add environment variable `QCHECK_LONG_FACTOR' similar to
      `QCHECK_COUNT'
    • rename `Gen.opt' to `Gen.option' but keep the old binding for
      compatibility.
    • shrinker changes
      • recursive `list' shrinker with better complexity
      • `string' shrinker reuses improved `list' shrinker and adds
        `char' shrinking
      • function shrinker now shrinks default entry first and benefits
        from `list' shrinker improvements
      • replacing the linear-time `char' shrinker with a faster one
        reusing the bisecting `int' shrinker algorithm
      • add `Shrink.char_numeral' and `Shrink.char_printable'
      • add shrinking for `char arbitrary~s ~char', `printable_char',
        and `numeral_char'

  • bug fixes
    • fix function generation affecting reproducability
    • fix distribution of `QCheck2.printable' which would omit certain
      characters
    • use `Float.equal' for comparing `float~s in the ~Observable'
      module underlying function generators.

  • documentation updates:
    • clarify upper bound inclusion in `Gen.int_bound' and
      `Gen.int_range'
    • clarify `printable_char' and `Gen.printable' distributions
    • add missing `string_gen_of_size' and `small_printable_string'
      documentation
    • document `QCheck_alcotest.to_alcotest'
    • fix documented size distribution for `arbitrary' generators
      `string_gen', `string', `printable_string', `numeral_string',
      `list', and `array'
    • fix exception documentation for `check_result', `check_cell_exn',
      and `check_exn'
    • fix documentation for the distribution of `Gen.printable' and
      `printable_char'
    • fix documentation for the shrinking behaviour of
      `QCheck2.printable'

  • internal and test suite changes
    • add additional expect and unit tests and refactor expect test
      suite
    • add a shrinker performance benchmark
    • remove `--no-buffer' option on `dune runtest' to avoid garbling
      the test output
    • make test suite run on 32-bit architectures


Opam-cross-windows now supports OCaml 4.14.0!
═════════════════════════════════════════════

  Archive:
  <https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/opam-cross-windows-now-supports-ocaml-4-14-0/10159/1>


Romain Beauxis announced
────────────────────────

  Bit of a late announcement but the `opam-cross-windows' project now
  supports the OCaml compiler version `4.14.0':
  <https://github.com/ocaml-cross/opam-cross-windows>

  The `opam-cross-windows' project is part of an initiative started by
  @whitequark to provide cross-compilation support to existing `opam'
  packages. This allows users to compile binaries for windows but also
  android and ios on a linux or macos host.

  Support for packages is a on best-effort basis and is always looking
  for more contributors. Adding a package can be a little tricky at
  times but, if your package uses `dune', the cross-compilation support
  there is pretty wonderful and makes it pretty easy to add
  cross-compiled packages.


Other OCaml News
════════════════

>From the ocaml.org blog
───────────────────────

  Here are links from many OCaml blogs aggregated at [the ocaml.org
  blog].

  • [The Magic of Merlin]
  • [Thales Cyber@Station F Selection]
  • [Team Tarides Visits a 17th Century Chateau]
  • [Functional Conf 2022]
  • [OCaml 5 Alpha Release]
  • [Adding Merkle Proofs to Tezos]
  • [OCaml Matrix: A Virtual World]
  • [Tarides Sponsors 12th Annual Journées Franciliennes]
  • [OCaml.org Reboot: User-Centric Design & Content]
  • [Lightning Fast with Irmin: Tezos Storage is 6x faster with 1000 TPS
    surpassed]
  • [Tarides Partners with 50inTech!]
  • [What's New in MirageOS 4!]


[the ocaml.org blog] <https://ocaml.org/blog/>

[The Magic of Merlin]
<https://tarides.com/blog/2022-07-05-the-magic-of-merlin>

[Thales Cyber@Station F Selection]
<https://tarides.com/blog/2022-06-28-thales-cyber-station-f-selection>

[Team Tarides Visits a 17th Century Chateau]
<https://tarides.com/blog/2022-06-23-team-tarides-visits-a-17th-century-chateau>

[Functional Conf 2022]
<https://tarides.com/blog/2022-06-21-functional-conf-2022>

[OCaml 5 Alpha Release]
<https://tarides.com/blog/2022-06-15-ocaml-5-alpha-release>

[Adding Merkle Proofs to Tezos]
<https://tarides.com/blog/2022-06-13-adding-merkle-proofs-to-tezos>

[OCaml Matrix: A Virtual World]
<https://tarides.com/blog/2022-06-09-ocaml-matrix-a-virtual-world>

[Tarides Sponsors 12th Annual Journées Franciliennes]
<https://tarides.com/blog/2022-06-02-tarides-sponsors-12th-annual-journ-e-francilienne>

[OCaml.org Reboot: User-Centric Design & Content]
<https://tarides.com/blog/2022-05-02-ocaml-org-reboot-user-centric-design-content>

[Lightning Fast with Irmin: Tezos Storage is 6x faster with 1000 TPS
surpassed]
<https://tarides.com/blog/2022-04-26-lightning-fast-with-irmin-tezos-storage-is-6x-faster-with-1000-tps-surpassed>

[Tarides Partners with 50inTech!]
<https://tarides.com/blog/2022-04-19-tarides-partners-with-50intech>

[What's New in MirageOS 4!]
<https://tarides.com/blog/2022-04-14-what-s-new-in-mirageos-4>


Old CWN
═══════

  If you happen to miss a CWN, you can [send me a message] and I'll mail
  it to you, or go take a look at [the archive] or the [RSS feed of the
  archives].

  If you also wish to receive it every week by mail, you may subscribe
  [online].

  [Alan Schmitt]


[send me a message] <mailto:alan.schmitt@polytechnique.org>

[the archive] <https://alan.petitepomme.net/cwn/>

[RSS feed of the archives] <https://alan.petitepomme.net/cwn/cwn.rss>

[online] <http://lists.idyll.org/listinfo/caml-news-weekly/>

[Alan Schmitt] <https://alan.petitepomme.net/>


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