OCaml Weekly News

Hello

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

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 ite= ms 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 ar= e 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!

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.

Warning silencing for [@@deriving ..] ge= nerated 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 wa= rnings when working with derivers that generate a set of values and modules= only to use a subset of those. Alternatively, the unused type warning sile= ncing was added to allow defining an alias type only to be consumed by a de= river, e.g.:

type error =3D [`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 approa= ch in those situations should be to fix the PPX derivers so that they are m= ore configurable and can be used without triggering such warnings.

We will start to move toward removing this feature, but since it is still u= seful 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 s= et 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 Warni= ng 34 (unused type). force can now be passed to the -unu= sed-code-warnings flag in order to disable warnings silencing, regar= dless 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 si= lencing, 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, withou= t 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 t= he impact it has. Did you have dead code lying around that slipped past und= etected? 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 th= e 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 defau= lt 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 spe= cial_function that allows passing a Longident.t directly rather that relying on p= arsing 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<= /code> flag so it is not required to also pass -check to enable location checks. It als= o 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 t= o @mbarbin, who has not only contributed a lot to the warning silencing fea= tures but has been extensively testing and providing very useful feedback o= n them. And of course, as usual, we'd like to thank the OCaml Software Foundation w= ho has been funding my work on Ppxlib and on this release, making all of th= is 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. Th= is release primary goal is to bring official support for OCaml 5.2 =F0=9F= =90=AB. Features Add custom [~ocamllsp/getDocumentation~](/ocaml-lsp-server/docs/ocamlls= p/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 th= at translated "C with Classes" (now known as C++) into C code. Similarly, <= code>MlFront-based tools can translate OCaml with packages into conv= entional OCaml. … At its most basic core, MlFront gives a well-defined, consiste= nt meaning to a module reference like AcmeWidgets_Std.Activities.Manu= facturing across the domains of:

OCaml source code.

findlib libraries.

opam packages.

MlFront is Apache 2.0 licensed and is meant to be used by buil= d systems (Dune, ocamlbuild, DkCoder) and package managers (opam). One of i= ts critical dependencies is codept.

You can read more about MlFront in the following posts (with m= ore coming):

https://diskuv.com/m= lfront/overview-1/

https://diskuv.com/m= lfront/overview-2/

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

OCaml.org Newsletter: July 2024

Archive: https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/ocaml-org-newsletter-july-2024/150= 87/1

Sabine Schmaltz announced

Welcome to the July 2024 edition of the OCaml.org newsletter! This update h= as been compiled by the OCaml.org maintainers. You can find previous updates on Disc= uss.

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 u= pdate on our progress towards that goal and an overview of the changes we a= re 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 participat= ion 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 p= rogress.

General Improvements: As usual, we also worked on general mainte= nance and improvements, so we're highlighting some of the work that happene= d below.

Community-Driven Development of OCaml.org

After reworking most of the OCaml.org website to be more useful, more usabl= e, 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 e= xtended by by the OCaml Platform and OCaml compiler contributors, as well a= s by the wider OCaml community.

You can reach out to the OCaml.org maintainers to discuss any bigg= er changes or additions you'd like to make. Contributions to improve existi= ng features and bug fixes are always welcome!

Open Issues for Contributors

You can find open issues for co= ntributors here!

Recipes for the OCaml Cookbook

The OCaml Cookbook is a place where OCaml developers share how to solve com= mon 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/co= okbook.

Here's how you can help:

Help review the open pull requests for cookbook reci= pes!

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 @danielcl= arke

(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

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

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 all= ows 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 @cui= htlauac

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.or= g#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 do= c 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

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 an= d onwards)

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 loo= k at the archive or the <= a href=3D"https://alan.petitepomme.net/cwn/cwn.rss">RSS feed of the archive= s.

If you also wish to receive it every week by mail, you may subscribe to the= caml-list.

Alan Schmitt

vds announced

Features

Fixes

jbeckford announced

OCaml Weekly News

Table of Contents

Ppxlib dev meetings

Continuing this thread, Patrick Ferris announced

Pragmatic Category Theory

Dmitrii Kovanikov announced

ppxlib.0.33.0

Nathan Rebours announced

Warning silencing for `[@@deriving ..]` ge= nerated code

Other features

Huge thanks to our external contributors

OCaml-LSP 1.19.0 for OCaml 5.2

MlFront - A packaging system for OCaml

OCaml.org Newsletter: July 2024

Sabine Schmaltz announced

Community-Driven Development of OCaml.org

Recipes for the OCaml Cookbook

Community & Marketing Pages Rework

General Improvements and Data Additions

Other OCaml News

From the ocaml.org blog

Old CWN

OCaml Weekly News

Table of Contents

Ppxlib dev meetings

Continuing this thread, Patrick Ferris announced

Pragmatic Category Theory

Dmitrii Kovanikov announced

ppxlib.0.33.0

Nathan Rebours announced

Warning silencing for [@@deriving ..] ge= nerated code

Other features

Huge thanks to our external contributors

OCaml-LSP 1.19.0 for OCaml 5.2

vds announced

Features

Fixes

MlFront - A packaging system for OCaml

jbeckford announced

OCaml.org Newsletter: July 2024

Sabine Schmaltz announced

Community-Driven Development of OCaml.org

Recipes for the OCaml Cookbook

Community & Marketing Pages Rework

General Improvements and Data Additions

Other OCaml News

From the ocaml.org blog

Old CWN

Warning silencing for `[@@deriving ..]` ge= nerated code