Hello
Here is the latest Caml Weekly News, for the week of February 26 to March 05, 2013.
Archive: https://sympa.inria.fr/sympa/arc/caml-list/2013-02/msg00199.html
Continuing an old thread, Anil Madhavapeddy announced:
Thanks to Cedric Cellier packaging it up and sending us a pull request [1],
you can try our MetaOCaml BER straight from OPAM via:
$ opam update
$ opam switch 4.00.1+BER
$ eval `opam config env`
$ ocaml...
-anil
[1] https://github.com/OCamlPro/opam-repository/pull/461
Archive: https://sympa.inria.fr/sympa/arc/caml-list/2013-02/msg00213.html
Jeremie Dimino announced:
I'm pleased to announce the 109.11.00 release of the Core suite. We
are now distributing the ocaml_plugin project, which aims at making
dynlink more easier. It offers a high-level API where the user can get
a first class module out of a few ml source files, the compilation
being handled automatically.
ocaml_plugin has been tested only on Linux, but we plan to make it usable
on other platforms as well.
Files and documentation are available on our website and all packages
are in opam:
https://ocaml.janestreet.com/ocaml-core/109.11.00/individual/
https://ocaml.janestreet.com/ocaml-core/109.11.00/doc/
Changelogs for versions 109.08.00 to 109.11.00:
# 109.08.00
## async_extra
- Added module `Async.Command`
This is `Core.Command` with additional async functions. In particular
it contains a function `async_basic` that is exactly the same as
`Core.Command.basic`, except that the function it wraps returns
`unit Deferred.t`, instead of `unit`. `async_basic` will also start the
async scheduler before the wrapped function is run, and will stop the
scheduler when the wrapped function returns.
## async_unix
- Added module `Async.Process`
This is a new module for creating and dealing with child processes.
- For `Writer.save`, replaced the `temp_prefix` argument with `temp_file`.
- Added `Ivar.invariant` function.
- Added value `Scheduler.fold_fields`
This lets one fold over the fields in the scheduler, eliminates an
annoying place in catalog browser that reached into the internals of
async to compute the sizes of the scheduler fields
## core
- Cleaned up and updated the `README`.
- Changed executables to enable backtraces if `OCAMLRUNPARAM` is not set.
- Changed `Command` so that executables show build info and version info
This happens when an executatble is called as:
foo.exe version
Before this change, rather than display build info, executables
would display the not-so-helpful:
(no option given - printing version)
- Added back `Float` rounding functions with a hardcoded direction.
- Exposed `with bin_io` and `with compare` for the =sexp_bool= type.
- Added value `Core.Never_returns.sexp_of_t`.
- Added values `Or_error.tag{,_arg}`
These are analogous to `Error` functions of the same name.
- Added functor `Sexpable.Of_sexpable`
This is for serializing values of one type as though it were some
other isomorphic type.
- Added module `Backtrace.Exn`
This exposes OCaml stdlib's `Printexc` functions for backtraces.
- Added module `Flags`
This implements Unix-style sets of flags that are represented as an
`int` with various bits set, one bit for each flag, e.g.,
`Linux_ext.Epoll.Flag`.
- Added module `Uuid`
This module implements universally unique identifiers based on version
3 of the UUID specification. It used to be in `Core_extended=`
- Added module `Type_equal`, which defines the "equality" GADT.
## type_conv
- Fixed type_conv to stop dropping parens in arguments such as:
type t = {
a : int with default(1), sexp_drop_if(fun x -> (x + 1) * 2 = 4)
} with sexp
# 109.09.00
## async
- Switched `Async.Std`'s toplevel bindings for `Deferred.Or_error`'s
`bind` and `map` to use
`Deferred.Result`.
This allows them to be used with any `'error` type, rather than just
`Error.t`.
## async_core
- Fixed bug in `Async.Throttle`, in which jobs weren't started in order.
## async_unix
- Added module `Thread_safe_pipe`, for streaming data outside async into async.
This a more efficient and feature-ful way to send a sequence of values
from outside async into async than `Thread_safe.pipe`, which has been
eliminated.
- Changed functions in `Thread_safe` to always wake up the scheduler.
Changed `Thread_safe.run_in_async{,_exn}` to not run a cycle, and
instead rely on the scheduler to run the cycle.
## core
- In `Core.Std`, exposed `Or_error.ok_exn` and `Or_error.error`
- Removed some values exported by `Core.Std`.
Removed some values from `Core.Std` that weren't widely used, or we
didn't think should be exposed, including `ascending`, `descending`,
and `equal`, which use polymorphic comparison, and we want to
discourage.
Here's a guide to some of what was removed, and what one should now
use instead.
| removed | replace with |
|-----------------------------------+---------------------------------------|
| `Int_replace_polymorphic_compare` | `Int.Replace_polymorphic_compare` |
| `ascending` | `Polymorphic_compare.ascending` |
| `descending` | `Polymorphic_compare.descending` |
| `equal` | `Polymorphic_compare.equal` |
| `ifprintf` | `Printf.ifprintf` |
| `sscanf` | `Scanf.sscanf` |
| `Scan_failure` | `Scanf.Scan_failure` |
| `string_of__of__sexp_of` | `Sexplib.Conv.string_of__of__sexp_of` |
| `of_string__of__of_sexp` | `Sexplib.Conv.of_string__of__of_sexp` |
| `type vec` | `type float64_vec` |
- Disallowed `<:sexp_of<` with two underscores; using a single
underscore instead.
- Added `Command.Spec.Arg_type.of_alist_exn` as an alternative for `of_map`.
This captures the common pattern to create the map from an alist.
- Improved the performance of `Hashtbl`.
Constrained hashtbl size to a power of two and used a bitmask rather
than mod operation for finding hash buckets.
- Improved the performance of `Univ`, using the `Type_equal` GADT.
The new implementation improves the run-time and space usage over
the old one. In the old implementation, a `Univ.t` was represented
as record with three fields: an exception, a string, and a closure.
Creating a univ required allocating three heap blocks, the exception
(3 words), the closure (3 words), and the three-field record (4
words). In the new implementation, a `Univ.t` is represented as a
2-field heap block containing the `Constr.t` and the value.
Creating a univ allocates that single 3-word block, improving on the
10 words needed previously.
Matching on univs is also faster. In the old implementation,
matching on a univ required making a function call, testing
exception equality, and allocating a `Some` block. Now, it does
just the test and allocation. Furthermore, it is possible to use
`does_match` and `match_exn` to avoid the allocation.
- Added `Version_util.build_info_as_sexp`.
- Added `_squelch_unused_module_warning_` to
`Comparable.S.Replace_polymorphic_compare`.
## sexplib
- Fixed an `unused rec` warning in the code generated by `pa_sexp` in
rare cases.
# 109.10.00
## async_extra
- Fixed a race condition in `Pipe_rpc` and `State_rpc`. This race
could cause an exception to be raised on connection closing.
## async_unix
- Added `Shutdown.do_not_finish_shutdown_before`. This allows one to
add `unit Deferred.t`'s that will delay the `shutdown` from
finishing. The implementation is more efficient than using
`at_shutdown`.
## bin_prot
- Improved error messages in presence of GADTs.
## comparelib
- Improved error messages in presence of GADTs.
## core
- Added `|>`, which means the same as `|!`, but is likely to replace
it someday. This is mostly because `|>` is an accepted notation
elsewhere, particularly in F#. In the future, we will consider
eliminating `|!` in favor of `|>`, so as to avoid the duplication.
- Made `module Lazy` into a monad.
- Renamed
`List.stable_dedup_involving_an_application_of_the_set_functor` as
`List.stable_dedup_staged`. Made it use `Staged.t` to make explicit
the expectation of partial application.
- Added pretty printers for the toplevel to `Error` and `Info`.
## fieldslib
- Changed `with fields` on `private` types to not expose mutators or
creators.
## pa_ounit
- Rewrote `pa_ounit` to simplify execution order and work better with
functors. Rewrote `pa_ounit` to solve its shortcomings with
functors, namely that functors need to be applied with `TEST_MODULE`
for their tests to be registered. The order of execution is also
much simpler: tests are executed inline, at the toplevel (or functor
application time). There is still a limitation: when a library
doesn't have any occurrence of `TEST`, `TEST_UNIT`, or `TEST_MODULE`
inside of it, the test runners are not set up, so tests inside of
functors (from other libraries) will not be executed. Running
`inline_test_runner.exe` is not going to run tests anymore; people
should run the `inline_test_runner` script instead. Backtraces are
now properly shown when exceptions are thrown.
## sexplib
- Improved error messages in presence of GADTs.
- Made `with sexp` work with types containing `as` in signatures.
## variantslib
- Improved error messages in presence of GADTs.
# 109.11.00
## async_core
- Extended `Deferred.Or_error` to parallel almost all of the
`Core.Or_error` interface.
- Improved the performance of `Clock.at`, and added a more efficient
version, `Clock.run_at`.
Reworked the async heap of clock alarms to use async jobs as alarms.
Reworked `Clock.at` to use this and to not use abortable events,
which is a performance improvement.
Added a more efficient version of `Clock.at`, for the common
situation when one doesn't need a deferred.
```ocaml
(*** [run_at time ~f] is a more efficient version of [at time >>> f]. *)
val run_at : Time.t -> f:(unit -> unit) -> unit
```
## async_extra
- Exposed a `version` function in `Pipe_rpc` and `State_rpc`.
## async_unix
- Added a check to fail if `Scheduler.go` is called more than once.
## core
- Added module `Interned_string` This has a functor for creating
modules of interned strings. It uses the very simple mechanism of
mapping distinct strings to consecutive ints.
- Added value `Hashtbl.find_and_remove`.
## fieldslib
- `with fields`, for a type `u` that isn't named `t`, creates module
`Fields_of_u` rather than module `Fields`. This allows one to us
`with fields` on several types in the same structure.
Alain Frisch asked and Yaron Minsky replied:
> ocaml_plugin seems quite interesting! Can you give some information about
> possible applications you have in mind? Did you consider turning the
> compiler into a library (maybe with some hooks to reroute lookups for .cmi
> files on the file system into preloaded data), instead of embedding a .tgz
> of the toolchain in the executable?
We use it internally a lot for configuration of running programs.
Basically, every time we are tempted to invent a configuration DSL, we
use OCaml-Plugin instead to allow us to make our specification
language be OCaml.
One example of this that prodded us to do this release is Jenga, a new
build system, an early version of which we're about to release. (Yes,
we're miserable that we find ourselves writing our own build system.
No, none of the existing ones are quite suitable to are needs. Yes, I
know how ridiculous that all sounds.)
As for your concrete suggestion as to how to structure it as a
library, Jeremie Dimino told me just yesterday that he and Mathieu
Barbin are considering precisely this change, to make it more
portable. We didn't need to think about this internally, but now that
we release it, it seems the right thing to do.
> Another question. Some parts of Core clearly depend on a Unix environment
> and there is little hope of making it run flawlessly under Windows without
> some serious porting effort. If the ambition is to push Core has a
> recommended alternative to the stdlib, I'd suggest to cleanly separate those
> OS-related parts to the more portable ones (maybe as two libraries). It
> would be cool that once OPAM works under Windows, Windows users can easily
> benefit from the portable parts of Core.
This is an excellent point, and one that Anil has also mentioned to us
is a concern for him and for Citrix. And it's not just a Windows
issue: he also wants to be able to compile Core to Javascript!
We've agreed in principle to reorganize Core by breaking off some of
the libraries to a sub-group called Ucore (short for micro-core).
Ucore will avoid:
- C bindings (so, no UNIX module, no Bigstrings)
- Objects (According to Anil the Oo module is quite big, and is
painful to use in Javascript
- Threads
Now, I don't think this quite finishes the story, because to make
Windows (and Javascript) a happy place for Core, someone should really
re-implement most of our Unix library on Windows, somehow, even if
most calls are stubbed out. And we should also implement the missing
pieces of Async.
We'll probably need help for much of the work of actually building
compatible alternatives on Windows. But the breaking-out of the
core-of-core is a clear win.
(As a side-note, this is another case of wanting to control
namespaces. In some programs, you'll want to use the Ucore namespace,
in some the full Core.Std namespace, and in some cases the Core.Stable
namespace.)
Anil Madhavapeddy then added:
> - Objects (According to Anil the Oo module is quite big, and is
> painful to use in Javascript
This was actually referring to the desire to eliminate objects for
extremely restricted environments such as the 8-bit microcontrollers
described in:
http://www.algo-prog.info/ocaml_for_pic/web/index.php?id=ocapic
Objects aren't a problem in js_of_ocaml, but the general principle
of staying away from them in a core library seems to what everyone
wants anyway.
Daniel Bünzli then said:
I agree but there's one exception, the thread-safe generation of
program uid. I used this more than once to implement the keys of
heterogenous dictionaries (à la http://mlton.org/PropertyList). And
it's also used in cmdliner here [1].
I would really like to have that in Sys to avoid linking against Oo.
There's a way to do it yourself but it does rely on implementation
details of the runtime system, see discussion here [2]. As such for
now I prefered to use the Oo.id trick.
Best,
Daniel
[1] https://github.com/dbuenzli/cmdliner/blob/master/src/cmdliner.ml#L156
[2] http://caml.inria.fr/mantis/view.php?id=5436#c6549
Archive: https://sympa.inria.fr/sympa/arc/caml-list/2013-03/msg00012.html
Jeremy Gibbons announced:
Postdoctoral Research Assistant
"A THEORY OF LEAST-CHANGE FOR BIDIRECTIONAL TRANSFORMATIONS"
Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford
Applications are invited for a Research Fellowship on an EPSRC-funded project
"A Theory of Least-Change for Bidirectional Transformations". The project is
a collaboration between Professor Jeremy Gibbons in the Department of
Computer Science, University of Oxford, and Dr Perdita Stevens and Dr James
Cheney in the School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh.
The project concerns bidirectional transformations, which are a means of
maintaining consistency between multiple information sources: when one source
is edited, the others may need updating to restore consistency. There are
applications in model-driven engineering, database design, and program
development, among others. A bidirectional transformation can be implemented
in terms of several unidirectional restoring functions, one per source; but
this duplicates information, wasting effort and risking inconsistencies.
Bidirectional transformation languages allow one to describe the consistency
relationship and the restoring functions with a single declarative
specification.
Our aim in this project is to study the principle of least change: that a
bidirectional transformation should not make unnecessary or unnecessarily
large changes when it re-establishes consistency. The primary focus of the
Oxford contribution is the development of a theory of alignment for
bidirectional transformations on structured data, especially in the case of
non-free datatypes such as associative lists and graphs. We conjecture that
the mathematics of container datatypes and combinatorial species will be
particularly relevant.
The Fellowship will be under the supervision of Professor Jeremy Gibbons at
Oxford, and is available for three years from 31st August 2013 (or any time
before that). The salary is on a standard scale, from £29,541 to £36,298
per annum. For further details, including a job description and information
on how to apply, please see the webpage
(http://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/news/619-full.html). If you have any questions,
please write to me
(jeremy.gibbons AT cs.ox.ac.uk).
Please pass this advert on to anyone you think may be interested.
Thanks to Alp Mestan, we now include in the Caml Weekly News the links to the
recent posts from the ocamlcore planet blog at http://planet.ocaml.org/.
Generators, iterators, control and continuations:
http://gallium.inria.fr/blog/generators-iterators-control-and-continuations
Release of OCaml-bitcoin 1.1:
https://forge.ocamlcore.org/forum/forum.php?forum_id=870
Try Besport! The new Ocsigen based social network about sport:
http://ocsigen.org/
Mysterious NoReverseMatch Error:
http://y-node.com/blog/2008/oct/30/noreversematch
Computer Vision: the evolution of one object detection approach:
http://y-node.com/blog/2008/oct/23/objectdetection
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