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

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

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 23865 bytes --]

Hello

Here is the latest OCaml Weekly News, for the week of July 30 to August
06, 2024.

Table of Contents
─────────────────

Ppxlib dev meetings
Pragmatic Category Theory
ppxlib.0.33.0
OCaml-LSP 1.19.0 for OCaml 5.2
MlFront - A packaging system for OCaml
OCaml.org Newsletter: July 2024
Other OCaml News
Old CWN


Ppxlib dev meetings
═══════════════════

  Archive: <https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/ppxlib-dev-meetings/12441/28>


Continuing this thread, Patrick Ferris announced
────────────────────────────────────────────────

  Meeting notes are available here:
  <https://github.com/ocaml-ppx/ppxlib/wiki/Dev-Meeting-2024-07-23>

  Thank you to all of the participants. If anyone is interested in
  adding items for the next meeting in August do ping me.

  Until then happy ppx-ing :))


Pragmatic Category Theory
═════════════════════════

  Archive:
  <https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/pragmatic-category-theory/15056/1>


Dmitrii Kovanikov announced
───────────────────────────

  I started writing a series on *Pragmatic Category Theory for
  Beginners* focusing on real-world use cases rather than theory. All
  code examples are in OCaml.

  The first part was just finished:
  • [Part 1: Semigroup Intro]

  It's just the beginning, and I have plans to describe more and provide
  more examples in future parts. I also plan to make a video version as
  well.

  I hope you'll enjoy it!


[Part 1: Semigroup Intro]
<https://dev.to/chshersh/pragmatic-category-theory-part-1-semigroup-intro-1ign>


ppxlib.0.33.0
═════════════

  Archive: <https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/ann-ppxlib-0-33-0/15061/1>


Nathan Rebours announced
────────────────────────

  The Ppxlib dev team is happy to announce the release of
  `ppxlib.0.33.0'.

  You can find the full changelog for this release [here].


[here] <https://github.com/ocaml-ppx/ppxlib/releases/tag/0.33.0>

Warning silencing for `[@@deriving ..]' generated code
╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌

  This release's main feature is a series of improvement to flags
  controlling unused value/module/type warnings silencing.

  The `ppxlib' driver generates warning silencing items to prevent
  `[@@deriving ...]'  generated code to trigger unused code
  warnings. Three warnings are disabled that way:
  • Warning 32: unused value
  • Warning 60: unused module
  • Warning 34: unused type

  The first two are disabled for values and modules generated by the
  deriver while the third is disabled for the types in the type
  declaration to which the `[@@deriving ...]' attribute is attached.

  This feature was added a long time ago to avoid manually disabling
  those warnings when working with derivers that generate a set of
  values and modules only to use a subset of those. Alternatively, the
  unused type warning silencing was added to allow defining an alias
  type only to be consumed by a deriver, e.g.:
  ┌────
  │ type error = [`Not_found | `Invalid_arg] [@@deriving to_string]
  └────

  We since then believe that we should not disable warnings lightly, as
  this behaviour makes it difficult to find and remove dead code. The
  right approach in those situations should be to fix the PPX derivers
  so that they are more configurable and can be used without triggering
  such warnings.

  We will start to move toward removing this feature, but since it is
  still useful in some places, we had to come up with a plan to allow
  transitioning out of it.

  In `ppxlib.0.31.0' we added the `-unused-code-warnings' driver flag
  and the `?unused_code_warnings''s `Deriving.V2.make' optional argument
  to control whether to silence Warnings 32 and 60. When both are set to
  `true', by the user and the deriver authors, the warnings are not
  silenced.

  As of `ppxlib.0.33.0', these also control the silencing of Warning 34
  (unused type). `force' can now be passed to the
  `-unused-code-warnings' flag in order to disable warnings silencing,
  regardless of the derivers opting in.

  This allows users to test whether their codebase and their set of
  derivers rely on warning silencing or not and to use those results to
  eliminate dead code and/or report issues upstream to the derivers they
  use.

  We also added a separate `-unused-type-warnings' flag that works
  similarly to `-unused-code-warnings' (i.e., depends on the value of
  the `?unused_code_warnings' argument), but it only controls Warning 34
  silencing, as it turns out it is less likely to cause unwanted
  warnings than with the other two. This will allow users to disable it
  more easily, without having to deal with Warnings 32 and 60 straight
  away.

  We want to encourage users to try those on their codebase in order to
  see the impact it has. Did you have dead code lying around that
  slipped past undetected? Does this trigger unwanted warnings because
  of deriver's generated code?

  The plan is to give the ecosystem some time to try those features and
  adapt by fixing individual derivers and flipping
  `?unused_code_warnings' to true as they do. After a while, we will
  swap the default value of the driver flag to `true' so that only
  derivers that haven't opted in will enable warning silencing. Then as
  time goes we will swap the default of the `Deriving.make' argument so
  that derivers will instead have to explicitly opt out to get the
  warning silencing. Finally, once we are confident the ecosystem is in
  a good enough state, we will remove this feature altogether.


Other features
╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌

  `ppxlib.0.33.0' also comes with a couple of new features for PPX
  authors:
  • A couple new `Ast_builder' functions: `elist_tail' and `plist_tail'
    that can be used to build list expressions and patterns with a
    custom tail: `elist_tail [expr1; expr2] tail_expr' returns the
    expression for `expr1::expr2::tail_expr'.
  • `Context_free.special_function'', a new version of
    `special_function' that allows passing a `Longident.t' directly
    rather that relying on parsing the string argument to a
    `Longident.t'.

  Finally, the release includes a few bug fixes to `Longident.parse' and
  `Code_path.main_module_name' and fixes the `location-check' flag so it
  is not required to also pass `-check' to enable location checks. It
  also fixes the 5.2 migrations locations, as we used to build nodes
  with inconsistent locations when migrating `Pexp_function' nodes.


Huge thanks to our external contributors
╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌

  We would like to thank our external contributors who have been a huge
  part of this release: @octachron, @vg-b, and @jchavarri, and a special
  mention to @mbarbin, who has not only contributed a lot to the warning
  silencing features but has been extensively testing and providing very
  useful feedback on them.

  And of course, as usual, we'd like to thank the OCaml Software
  Foundation who has been funding my work on Ppxlib and on this release,
  making all of this possible!


OCaml-LSP 1.19.0 for OCaml 5.2
══════════════════════════════

  Archive:
  <https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/ann-ocaml-lsp-1-19-0-for-ocaml-5-2/15071/1>


vds announced
─────────────

  I am happy to announce, on behalf of the ocaml-lsp team, the release
  of `ocaml-lsp-server' `1.19.0' and associated libraries. This release
  primary goal is to bring official support for OCaml 5.2 🐫.


Features
╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌

  • Add custom
    [~ocamllsp/getDocumentation~](/ocaml-lsp-server/docs/ocamllsp/getDocumentation-spec.md)
    request (ocaml/ocaml-lsp#1336)
  • Add support for OCaml 5.2 (ocaml/ocaml-lsp#1233)


Fixes
╌╌╌╌╌

  • Kill unnecessary ocamlformat processes with sigterm rather than
    sigint or sigkill (ocaml/ocaml-lsp#1343)


MlFront - A packaging system for OCaml
══════════════════════════════════════

  Archive:
  <https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/ann-mlfront-a-packaging-system-for-ocaml/15072/1>


jbeckford announced
───────────────────

  Here are the introductory paragraphs from its overview:

        `MlFront' adds a Java-like packaging system to OCaml. The
        `MlFront' name is a homage to `cfront' which was tooling
        that translated "C with Classes" (now known as C++) into C
        code. Similarly, `MlFront'-based tools can translate OCaml
        with packages into conventional OCaml.  …  At its most
        basic core, `MlFront' gives a well-defined, consistent
        meaning to a module reference like
        `AcmeWidgets_Std.Activities.Manufacturing' across the
        domains of:

        1. OCaml source code.
        2. findlib libraries.
        3. opam packages.

  `MlFront' is Apache 2.0 licensed and is meant to be used by build
  systems (Dune, ocamlbuild, DkCoder) and package managers (opam). One
  of its critical dependencies is [codept].

  You can read more about `MlFront' in the following posts (with more
  coming):

  • [https://diskuv.com/mlfront/overview-1/]
  • [https://diskuv.com/mlfront/overview-2/]

  /Cross-post notice: The first article was posted at
  [https://lobste.rs/s/7ghslo/overview_ocamlfront]; no comments
  (:(). But I still like to get first-hand feedback on what works well
  in other languages, so please chime in even if you don't feel that
  OCaml is your strong suit./


[codept] <https://github.com/Octachron/codept>

[https://diskuv.com/mlfront/overview-1/]
<https://diskuv.com/mlfront/overview-1/>

[https://diskuv.com/mlfront/overview-2/]
<https://diskuv.com/mlfront/overview-2/>

[https://lobste.rs/s/7ghslo/overview_ocamlfront]
<https://lobste.rs/s/7ghslo/overview_ocamlfront>


OCaml.org Newsletter: July 2024
═══════════════════════════════

  Archive:
  <https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/ocaml-org-newsletter-july-2024/15087/1>


Sabine Schmaltz announced
─────────────────────────

  Welcome to the July 2024 edition of the OCaml.org newsletter! This
  update has been compiled by the OCaml.org maintainers. You can find
  [previous updates] on Discuss.

  Our goal is to make OCaml.org the best resource for anyone who wants
  to get started and be productive in OCaml. The OCaml.org newsletter
  provides an update on our progress towards that goal and an overview
  of the changes we are working on.

  We couldn't do it without all the amazing people who help us review,
  revise, and create better OCaml documentation and work on issues. Your
  participation enables us to so much more than we could just by
  ourselves. Thank you!

  This newsletter covers:
  • *Community-Driven Development of OCaml.org*
  • *Recipes for the OCaml Cookbook:* Help us make the OCaml Cookbook
     really useful by contributing and reviewing recipes for common
     tasks!
  • *Community & Marketing Pages Rework:* Implementation work in
     progress.
  • *General Improvements:* As usual, we also worked on general
     maintenance and improvements, so we're highlighting some of the
     work that happened below.


[previous updates] <https://discuss.ocaml.org/tag/ocamlorg-newsletter>

Community-Driven Development of OCaml.org
╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌

  After reworking most of the OCaml.org website to be more useful, more
  usable, and nicer to look at, the team at Tarides that has been
  working on OCaml.org is disbanding. However, OCaml.org will continue
  to be maintained and extended by by the OCaml Platform and OCaml
  compiler contributors, as well as by the wider OCaml community.

  You can reach out to [the OCaml.org maintainers] to discuss any bigger
  changes or additions you'd like to make. Contributions to improve
  existing features and bug fixes are always welcome!


[the OCaml.org maintainers]
<https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml.org?tab=readme-ov-file#maintainers>

◊ Open Issues for Contributors

  You can find [open issues for contributors here]!


  [open issues for contributors here]
  <https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml.org/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+label%3A%22help+wanted%22+no%3Aassignee>


Recipes for the OCaml Cookbook
╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌

  The OCaml Cookbook is a place where OCaml developers share how to
  solve common tasks using packages from the ecosystem.

  A recipe is a code sample and explanations on how to perform a task
  using a combination of open-source libraries.

  The Cookbook is live at [ocaml.org/cookbook].

  Here's how you can help:

  1. Help review the [open pull requests for cookbook recipes]!
  2. Contribute new recipes and tasks for the cookbook!

  Thank you all for the many contributions! One area where we could use
  help is in reviewing and improving the suggested recipes and tasks.

  *Relevant PRs and Activities:*
  • (open) PR: cookbook recipes for parse-command-line-arguments
    [ocaml/ocaml.org#2573] by [@richardhuxton]
  • (open) PR: Cookbook Check a Webpage for Broken Links
    [ocaml/ocaml.org#2581] by [@ggsmith842]
  • (open) PR: cookbook: "create and await promises": Lwt, Async
    [ocaml/ocaml.org#2584] by [@richardhuxton]
  • (open) PR: CookBook: read-csv - basic example of reading records
    from a CSV string [ocaml/ocaml.org#2589] by [@danielclarke]
  • (open) PR: Cookbook: Email regex patch [ocaml/ocaml.org#2591] by
    [@F-Loyer]
  • Fixes and Improvements to existing recipes:
    • PR: Update 00-uri.ml: missing arg [ocaml/ocaml.org#2618] by
      [@ttamttam]


[ocaml.org/cookbook] <https://ocaml.org/cookbook>

[open pull requests for cookbook recipes]
<https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml.org/pulls?q=is%3Apr+is%3Aopen+label%3ACookbook>

[ocaml/ocaml.org#2573] <https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml.org/pull/2573>

[@richardhuxton] <https://github.com/richardhuxton>

[ocaml/ocaml.org#2581] <https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml.org/pull/2581>

[@ggsmith842] <https://github.com/ggsmith842>

[ocaml/ocaml.org#2584] <https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml.org/pull/2584>

[ocaml/ocaml.org#2589] <https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml.org/pull/2589>

[@danielclarke] <https://github.com/danielclarke>

[ocaml/ocaml.org#2591] <https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml.org/pull/2591>

[@F-Loyer] <https://github.com/F-Loyer>

[ocaml/ocaml.org#2618] <https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml.org/pull/2618>

[@ttamttam] <https://github.com/ttamttam>


Community & Marketing Pages Rework
╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌

  We have [UI designs for the reworked and new pages of the community
  section], and implementation is being worked on by [@oyenuga17], our
  former Outreachy intern!

  *Relevant PRs and Activities:*
  • PR: Implement new community overview page [ocaml/ocaml.org#2605] by
    [@oyenuga17]
  • PR: Fix typo and case inconsistencies on community page
    [ocaml/ocaml.org#2616] by [@pjlast]
  • PR: Redesign OCaml Planet Page [ocaml/ocaml.org#2617] by
    [@oyenuga17]


[UI designs for the reworked and new pages of the community section]
<https://www.figma.com/file/7hmoWkQP9PgLTfZCqiZMWa/OCaml-Community-Pages?type=design&node-id=637%3A4539&mode=design&t=RpQlGvOpeg1a93AZ-1>

[@oyenuga17] <https://github.com/oyenuga17>

[ocaml/ocaml.org#2605] <https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml.org/pull/2605>

[ocaml/ocaml.org#2616] <https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml.org/pull/2616>

[@pjlast] <https://github.com/pjlast>

[ocaml/ocaml.org#2617] <https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml.org/pull/2617>


General Improvements and Data Additions
╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌

  *Summary:*
  • The selected OS is now part of the anchor tag of the URL on the
    <https://ocaml.org/install> page. This allows people to link to
    quick install instructions for a specific OS.
  • We appreciate the contributions to the OCaml documentation!
  • We're checking for backlinks to OCaml.org again with Ahrefs.

  *Relevant PRs and Activities:*
  • (open) PR: Build on OCaml 5 (ocamlnet -safe-string workaround)
    [ocaml/ocaml.org#2609] by [@aantron]
  • PR: Ahref tag [ocaml/ocaml.org#2571] by [@cuihtlauac]
  • PR: Issue #2583: Added OS Anchor Tags to ocaml.org/install
    [ocaml/ocaml.org#2600] by [@SisyphianLiger]
  • PR: Performance: cache search index digest until ocaml-docs-ci
    computes it [ocaml/ocaml.org#2620] by [@sabine]
  • Documentation
    • PR: Unwrapped libraries [ocaml/ocaml.org#2562] by [@cuihtlauac]
    • PR: Explain folders bin, lib and _build [ocaml/ocaml.org#2568] by
      [@cuihtlauac]
    • PR: Use `layout opam' in `.envrc' in opam path doc
      [ocaml/ocaml.org#2597] by [@smorimoto]
    • PR: Use sudo in install tutorial [ocaml/ocaml.org#2558] by
      [@cuihtlauac]
    • PR: Add documentation about comments to Tour of Ocaml
      [ocaml/ocaml.org#2613] by [@NoahTheDuke]
    • PR: Fix Example referencing Type not yet Defined
      [ocaml/ocaml.org#2606] by [@avlec]
  • Refactor + Code health:
    • PR: Open Data_intf in data.mli [ocaml/ocaml.org#2563] by
      [@cuihtlauac]
    • PR: Make data error file path copy-paste ready
      [ocaml/ocaml.org#2567] by [@cuihtlauac]
    • PR: Test ocaml/setup-ocaml v3 [ocaml/ocaml.org#2570] by
      [@cuihtlauac]
    • PR: Update ocaml/setup-ocaml to v3 [ocaml/ocaml.org#2565] by
      [@smorimoto]
    • PR: Refactoring parts from PR #2443 [ocaml/ocaml.org#2576] by
      [@cuihtlauac]
    • PR: Bump peter-evans/create-pull-request from 5 to 6
      [ocaml/ocaml.org#2588] by [@dependabot]
    • PR: Set OCaml to 4.14.2 [ocaml/ocaml.org#2587] by [@cuihtlauac]
    • PR: fix: write directory instead of folder [ocaml/ocaml.org#2572]
      by [@ashish0kumar]
    • PR: sync debug-ci and ci [ocaml/ocaml.org#2582] by [@cuihtlauac]
  • Data
    • PR: changelog: dune 3.16.0 [ocaml/ocaml.org#2566] by [@emillon]
    • PR: (data) add OCaml.org newsletter June 2024
      [ocaml/ocaml.org#2575] by [@sabine]
    • PR: Add changelog for the latest merlin releases
      [ocaml/ocaml.org#2580] by [@voodoos]
    • PR: Add changelog for the latest ocaml-lsp release
      [ocaml/ocaml.org#2593] by [@PizieDust]
    • PR: Add missing changelog for opam 2.2.0 [ocaml/ocaml.org#2598] by
      [@kit-ty-kate]
    • PR: Add changelog entry for ppxlib.0.33.0 release
      [ocaml/ocaml.org#2615] by [@NathanReb]


[ocaml/ocaml.org#2609] <https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml.org/pull/2609>

[@aantron] <https://github.com/aantron>

[ocaml/ocaml.org#2571] <https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml.org/pull/2571>

[@cuihtlauac] <https://github.com/cuihtlauac>

[ocaml/ocaml.org#2600] <https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml.org/pull/2600>

[@SisyphianLiger] <https://github.com/SisyphianLiger>

[ocaml/ocaml.org#2620] <https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml.org/pull/2620>

[@sabine] <https://github.com/sabine>

[ocaml/ocaml.org#2562] <https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml.org/pull/2562>

[ocaml/ocaml.org#2568] <https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml.org/pull/2568>

[ocaml/ocaml.org#2597] <https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml.org/pull/2597>

[@smorimoto] <https://github.com/smorimoto>

[ocaml/ocaml.org#2558] <https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml.org/pull/2558>

[ocaml/ocaml.org#2613] <https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml.org/pull/2613>

[@NoahTheDuke] <https://github.com/NoahTheDuke>

[ocaml/ocaml.org#2606] <https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml.org/pull/2606>

[@avlec] <https://github.com/avlec>

[ocaml/ocaml.org#2563] <https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml.org/pull/2563>

[ocaml/ocaml.org#2567] <https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml.org/pull/2567>

[ocaml/ocaml.org#2570] <https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml.org/pull/2570>

[ocaml/ocaml.org#2565] <https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml.org/pull/2565>

[ocaml/ocaml.org#2576] <https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml.org/pull/2576>

[ocaml/ocaml.org#2588] <https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml.org/pull/2588>

[@dependabot] <https://github.com/dependabot>

[ocaml/ocaml.org#2587] <https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml.org/pull/2587>

[ocaml/ocaml.org#2572] <https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml.org/pull/2572>

[@ashish0kumar] <https://github.com/ashish0kumar>

[ocaml/ocaml.org#2582] <https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml.org/pull/2582>

[ocaml/ocaml.org#2566] <https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml.org/pull/2566>

[@emillon] <https://github.com/emillon>

[ocaml/ocaml.org#2575] <https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml.org/pull/2575>

[ocaml/ocaml.org#2580] <https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml.org/pull/2580>

[@voodoos] <https://github.com/voodoos>

[ocaml/ocaml.org#2593] <https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml.org/pull/2593>

[@PizieDust] <https://github.com/PizieDust>

[ocaml/ocaml.org#2598] <https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml.org/pull/2598>

[@kit-ty-kate] <https://github.com/kit-ty-kate>

[ocaml/ocaml.org#2615] <https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml.org/pull/2615>

[@NathanReb] <https://github.com/NathanReb>


Other OCaml News
════════════════

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

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

  • [The slides presented at Frama-C Days 2024 are available]
  • [Monoculture of Insecurity: How CrowdStrike's Outage Exposes the
    Risks of Unchecked Complexity in Cybersecurity]
  • [Upcoming OCaml Events (Aug 2024 and onwards)]


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

[The slides presented at Frama-C Days 2024 are available]
<https://frama-c.com/html/publications/frama-c-days-2024/index.html>

[Monoculture of Insecurity: How CrowdStrike's Outage Exposes the Risks
of Unchecked Complexity in Cybersecurity]
<https://tarides.com/blog/2024-08-01-monoculture-of-insecurity-how-crowdstrike-s-outage-exposes-the-risks-of-unchecked-complexity-in-cybersecurity>

[Upcoming OCaml Events (Aug 2024 and onwards)]
<https://ocaml.org/events>


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
  to the [caml-list].

  [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>

[caml-list] <https://sympa.inria.fr/sympa/info/caml-list>

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


[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 35591 bytes --]