Hello
Here is the latest Caml Weekly News, for the week of February 03 to 10, 2009.
Archive: http://groups.google.com/group/fa.caml/browse_thread/thread/67ccbb6a26fb7480#
Gerd Stolpmann announced:After 4 years the next stable version of PXP is released. Please have a look at http://projects.camlcity.org/projects/pxp.html for download links and the new "PXP Reference" manual. This release focuses on documentation. The mentioned manual has been written from scratch, and PXP comes now with ocamldoc-generated HTML pages. There are also a few changes in the code (see the README). GODI packages have been updated. A lot of fun for the next 4 years, Gerd P.S. I've written a bit about this version in http://blog.camlcity.org/blog/pxp121.html
Melt is a set of libraries and tools which allows you to program LaTeX documents using OCaml. This combines the typesetting power of LaTeX with the programming power of OCaml. It can be combined with Mlpost to include figures. If you were at JFLA, it can be seen as my answer to the question "what about MlTeX" which was asked during the Mlpost presentation. Melt can be download on OCamlForge: https://forge.ocamlcore.org/projects/melt/ This is the first release of Melt. Thus, it might not be considered as truly stable. However, several documents, including articles and slides, have already been produced using Melt, so it is definitely usable. The documentation is included in the distribution (read the README). Some examples can be found in the "bench" directory (see doc.mlt). Have fun with Melt! :)
Archive: http://groups.google.com/group/fa.caml/browse_thread/thread/b652f24dc19f93e8#
Johannes Kanig announced:
We have just released version 0.6 of mlpost, an ocaml library to
produce nice looking postscript figures with tex-typeset elements.
You can get it at:
http://mlpost.lri.fr/
Here is the changelog:
o - changes in behaviour, new features
* - incompatible changes in the interface
* "open Mlpost" is not added to input files any more -
users have to add by themselves
* the type Command.figure becomes Command.t
o inclusion of external images (png, jpg etc)
o transformations on boxes
o Box.{grid,gridl,gridi}: new options hpadding, vpadding, stroke, pen
o additional options for many functions
o corrections of some small bugs in box calculations
o A function in the API to scan a TeX file for the prelude
Archive: http://groups.google.com/group/fa.caml/browse_thread/thread/88c953d4f82d6fcd#
Richard Jones announced:
The code is here:
http://www.annexia.org/tmp/ocaml-mingw-gtk
The README from the tarball is also attached below.
Rich.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
This tarball / directory contains an example of cross-compiling OCaml
LablGtk programs for Windows, which I originally demonstrated at the
OCaml Users Conference meeting Feb 2009.
You will need to start here:
http://www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/MinGW
It's a good idea to join the Fedora MinGW mailing list (mentioned on
the above page), and if you have any problems post them on the mailing
list.
- - -
You must install Fedora 10 which you will need to upgrade to Fedora
Rawhide (the development version):
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/Rawhide
If you don't have Fedora Rawhide already, try installing it in a
virtual machine.
OCaml cross-compilation is _not_ supported on RHEL, EPEL, CentOS,
Fedora <= 10, etc at this time, although we may add these
distributions in future.
The software required is partially in Rawhide and partially in a
separate repository. Create and edit a file /etc/yum.repos.d/mingw.repo
containing:
[mingw]
name=MinGW
baseurl=http://www.annexia.org/tmp/mingw/fedora-rawhide/x86_64
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0
Replace "x86_64" with "i386" if you have a 32 bit machine. We do not
compile the temporary repository for non-x86 architectures at this
time.
Now install the packages and their deps by typing this command (as
root):
yum install \
ocaml ocaml-x11 ocaml-findlib-devel \
mingw32-gcc \
mingw32-ocaml mingw32-ocaml-findlib mingw32-ocaml-lablgtk2 \
mingw32-nsis mingw32-nsiswrapper \
wine autoconf automake
You should now be able to compile the Windows demo by doing:
mingw32-configure
make
and then run/test it in Wine by doing:
wine gtk_test.exe
To compile the Windows installer you will first need to install the
program (this is an arcane requirement which will be fixed in future).
As root do:
make install
Then as a normal user do:
make installer.exe
Copy installer.exe to a Windows machine to try it.
- - -
Developers: The only files you need to copy in order to create an
autotools package are 'configure.ac' and 'Makefile.am'. After copying
these to a new directory, run:
autoreconf -i
(You may need to create empty files 'README', 'NEWS' etc. as
instructed).
- - -
For questions/problems please join the Fedora MinGW mailing list.
- Richard Jones, Feb 2009
Archive: http://groups.google.com/group/fa.caml/browse_thread/thread/733c0846d6d2ead5#
David Teller-Rajchenbach announced, spawning a huge thread on documentation:We're happy to inform you that OCaml Batteries Included alpha 3 is now available for download [1] and/or GODI installation. You may find the new documentation on-line [2], as well as release notes [3], extended release notes [4] and the slides for the OCaml Meeting talk [5]. The list of changes is a tad too long to present here, but the important part is that we're progressing towards maturity. Enjoy! The OCaml Batteries Included team [1] http://forge.ocamlcore.org/frs/?group_id=17&release_id=73 [2] http://forge.ocamlcore.org/docman/index.php?group_id=17&selected_doc_group_id=59&language_id=1 [3] https://forge.ocamlcore.org/frs/shownotes.php?release_id=73 [4] http://dutherenverseauborddelatable.wordpress.com/2009/02/06/ocaml-batteries-included-alpha-3/ [5] http://forge.ocamlcore.org/docman/index.php?group_id=77&selected_doc_group_id=84&language_id=1
Archive: http://groups.google.com/group/fa.caml/browse_thread/thread/44b8bde841818c4a#
Richard Jones said:Some people at the users meeting were asking me about the new OCaml book, so here are the details: http://www.amazon.com/Objective-Caml-Programming-Language/dp/0981599206 I have *not* read the book, but I'm hoping that the publisher is going to send me a review copy shortly, and once I've had a look through it I will be able to say more about whether it's any good (hopefully!) Conversely if you have read the book, please let us know if you liked it.
Archive: http://groups.google.com/group/fa.caml/browse_thread/thread/853b801abeffcf72#
Jean-Marie Jacquet announced:PROFESSOR POSITION IN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS FACULTY OF COMPUTER SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF NAMUR FUNCTIONS Focussing both teaching and research on the design of information and communication systems, from requirement engineering to implementation, the Faculty of Computer Science of the University of Namur (FUNDP) announces a full-time professor position with emphasis on one of the following fields: Data Management and Engineering, Web Semantics, Information Intelligence, Decision Support Systems. The potential of candidates taking precedence over their current specialisation, candidates with other but related backgrounds are also invited to apply. Candidates are expected to contribute to undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate teaching, and to Lifelong Learning. They will develop competitive research programs. Usual service activities are also part of the duty. In accordance with the Belgian regulation, positions will first be given for a probationary period of two years, before confirming the successful candidate in his (her) appointment. The candidates are expected to start on September 1st, 2008. QUALIFICATIONS The candidates will hold a PhD, preferably in computer science. The tenure is open to seasoned candidates with a strong scientific and teaching background as well as to young candidates showing high scientific and pedagogical potential. Teaching will mainly be delivered in French. Foreign candidates will be able to teach in French after one year. A preference will be given to candidates with a high integration potential and with an expertise completing that of the current academic staff. APPLICATIONS Applications should be sent to the Rector of the University of Namur (FUNDP), rue de Bruxelles 61, B-5000 Namur, Belgium. Application forms are available from the Human Resource Department, rue de Bruxelles 61, B-5000 Namur (T l. : +32 (0)81-72 40 42). Electronic versions can also be obtained from the web site of the University (www.fundp.ac.be/universite/jobs). To this form, candidates will add a complete curriculum vitae as well as a research proposal for the next three years. The application deadline is April 10th 2009. If needed, interviews may be organized during the second half of April or at the beginning of May. The candidates will be invited to deliver a lecture in their domain of expertise as well as to present their research proposal. ENVIRONMENT The Faculty of Computer Science is one of the oldest European faculties in Information System. It has about 400 students, 80 staff members, out of whom 16 are full-time professors and 50 are researchers. Established in 1969, the Faculty of Computer Science has graduated more than 1.600 students, all of them with highly appreciated qualifications at the international level. The FUNDP is a midsize university of about 5,000 students, and is a member of the Acad mie Universitaire Louvain comprising about 30,000 students. It has developed intensive collaboration with many national and international universities and research centres. Capital of Wallonia, Namur is a charming city of 100,000 inhabitants located 50 km south of Brussels and 2h30 from Paris and London. INFORMATION More information can be asked to the Dean of the Faculty, Professor Jean-Marie Jacquet (jmj@info.fundp.ac.be).
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