Hello

Here is the latest Caml Weekly News, for the week of April 09 to 16, 2013.

1. Functional Programming at Jane Street
2. try...finally , threads, stack-tracebacks .... in ocaml
3. Build number and date in OCaml?
4. Microsoft-funded PhD opportunity (software/ system verification)
5. Merlin 1.0 released
6. modified error messages for ocamlc
7. OCaml 2013 - Call for presentations
8. Other Caml News

Archive: https://sympa.inria.fr/sympa/arc/caml-list/2013-04/msg00075.html

Jane Street is looking to hire functional programmers for our offices
in New York, London and Hong Kong.

Jane Street has the largest team of OCaml developers in any industrial
setting, and the world's largest OCaml codebase. We use OCaml for
running our entire business, working on everything from statistical
research to systems administration to automated trading systems. If
you're interested in using OCaml to solve real-world problems, there's
no better place.

Jane Street is an informal and intellecutal place --- you'll get to
work with an extremely talented group of developers and traders (a
pretty geeky group in its own right), pushing the bounds of functional
programming and learning about the business of trading.

We have a strong commitment to OCaml and to open-source software.
We've continue to develop and release our own open source software, as
well as support OCaml Labs and OCamlPro in building out the language
infrastructure.

Compensation is more than competitive, and no prior experience with
finance is required.

Here are some resources you can use to learn more about Jane Street
and what we do.

- A talk I gave at CMU about how and why we use OCaml
http://ocaml.janestreet.com/?q=node/61
- Our technical blog: http://ocaml.janestreet.com
- Our open-source site: http://janestreet.github.io

You can apply here:

http://janestreet.com/apply
      

Archive: https://sympa.inria.fr/sympa/arc/caml-list/2013-04/msg00089.html

> People have previously asked about try...finally support in Ocaml, and
> it's been observed (correctly) that you can write a little combinator
> to give you this support, e.g.
>
> let finally f arg finf =
> let rv = try Inl(f arg) with e ->
> Inr e
> in (try finf arg rv with e -> ());
> match rv with
> Inl v -> v
> | Inr e -> raise e
>
> The problem is, you discard stack-traceback when you rethrow the
> exception. One can program around this explicitly by capturing the
> backtrace string and appending it to the rethrown exception, but it's
> cumbersome and won't work for exceptions like Not_found that are
> already defined without a mutable string slot.
>
> It sure would be nice of ocaml had try...finally that preserved the
> traceback information properly .... though maybe it isn't possible.
> Certainly in the case where the finally block doesn't raise any
> exceptions itself (even those that are caught silently), it seems like
> it ought to be possible.

I recently published a blog post proposing a solution to the backtrace
problem of Ocaml. It includes a Camlp4 filter and a small Ocaml library
to handle exception backtraces. The performance drawback is negligible
when backtraces are not activated, and reasonable when they are.

You can read about it here :

http://gallium.inria.fr/blog/a-library-to-record-ocaml-backtraces/
      

Archive: https://sympa.inria.fr/sympa/arc/caml-list/2013-04/msg00073.html

I've been using OCaml for a couple of years, but without using any
advanced feature; so my question may be a little naive. Is there any
way to insert easily the current date and time of compiling, as well
as, e.g., an incremental build number in an OCaml program? So that it
is printed at runtime, e.g., in the program header.

I quite stupidly used the Unix.gettimeofday() function before
realizing that it is of course executed at runtime.

Of course, I could do it using an external script that would modify
the OCaml source code before compiling, but is there any native OCaml
feature for achieving this in a cleaner manner?
      

This kind of information is part of your build process and are not
directly accessible in OCaml. If you want to access it in your OCaml
program, you have to pass them from the build environment to the
program environment. As Jeremie Dimino said, the usual way is to
general a small OCaml file at build time and to link it to your
program.

For instance, if you use 'make', you could have the following lines in
your Makefile:

VERSION=...
config.ml: Makefile
  echo "let version = \"$(VERSION)\"" > $@
  echo "let compilation_date = \"`date`\" >> $@
 
CMO_FILES = config.cmo ... (* other cmo files)

Of course, it is better to add the corresponding config.mli by hand:
config.mli:
val version: string
val date: string        
      

> VERSION=...
> config.ml: Makefile

NB - if you want the build stamp ever to be updated, it'll need to depend on
more than Makefile. You can either have it depend on all of your ML source
files or, if using GNU make, you could declare config.ml as .PHONY (which
means it will be rebuilt at every invocation of make).

<snip>

> CMO_FILES = config.cmo ... (* other cmo files *)

There's a further subtlety which can come into play if your build has more
than one output, which is to place config.cmo / config.cmx as an order-only
dependency. For example, suppose your build system has two programs whose
sources are Foo.ml and Bar.ml both of which depend on Common.ml. If you
structure your Makefile as:

Config.ml: Foo.ml Bar.ml Common.ml
...

foo.exe: Common.cmx Foo.cmx | Config.cmx
...

bar.exe: Common.cmx Bar.cmx | Config.cmx
...

then updates to Foo.ml will not cause bar.exe to be rebuilt. The advantage of
this approach is that the generating of the build stamp does not interfere
with make - i.e. you don't get any additional recompilations. Of course,
there are times where you do want all output programs to have the same build
stamp but most of the time (i.e. while developing!) you don't want a change
in one small part of the system to force recompilation/linking of the whole
system...        
      

As others suggested, you can tell your build system to generate an ad
hoc file containing the compile-time information. Another approach is
to use a preprocessor to inject such compile-time information into the
source code "on the fly" during its compilation. This can be done with
a dedicated Camlp4 syntax extension or a -ppx preprocessor (available
in trunk only, with syntactic extension points being designed in the
extension_points branch of the OCaml SVN).

As an illustration of the -ppx approach, I've created a tiny
preprocessor which uses the OCaml toplevel to evaluate expressions and
inserts the result as constants in the compiled code.

The source code for this -ppx preprocessor can be found here:

http://caml.inria.fr/cgi-bin/viewvc.cgi/ocaml/branches/extension_points/experimental/frisch/eval.ml?&view=markup

and here is an example of what you can write with it:

http://caml.inria.fr/cgi-bin/viewvc.cgi/ocaml/branches/extension_points/experimental/frisch/test_eval.ml?&view=markup

(To play with it, you need to checkout the extension_points branch and
after compiling it: cd experimental/frisch && make eval)
      

If you like ocambuild, an alternative is to add a small rule in your
ocamlbuild plugin. The ocamlbuild wiki gives an example of ocamlbuild
plugin that create a "version.ml" file in the _build directory at each
build. You can then link your code with this version.ml file.

http://brion.inria.fr/gallium/index.php/Automatic_Version_Generation
      

Archive: https://sympa.inria.fr/sympa/arc/caml-list/2013-04/msg00099.html

I would be very grateful if you could bring the following advert to
the attention of potential applicants. Also, if anyone if interested
in the project, please do get in touch!

Thanks

Tom

--

Microsoft Research PhD studentship: Future Filesystems
======================================================

Project: Future filesystems: mechanized specification, validation,
implementation and verification of filesystems

Supervisors: Tom Ridge (with Andrew Kennedy at Microsoft Research)

Application deadline: 2013-06-02 (June 2nd)

PhD expected start date: 2013-10-01

We seek strong candidates for a Microsoft PhD studentship on "verified
filesystems". The PhD scholarship is fully funded for three years. The
project will be supervised by Tom Ridge at the Department of Computer
Science, University of Leicester, in collaboration with Andrew Kennedy
at Microsoft Research Cambridge.

Project description
-------------------

Filesystems are extremely important. Users depend on filesystems to
store their files whenever they hit "save". Businesses rely on databases
to store their data safely, and these databases in turn rely on the
filesystem.

Modern filesystems are designed to satisfy many complicated
requirements. As a result, implementations are beset with problems. The
implementation code is extremely complex, and almost inevitably contains
bugs. These bugs can and do lead to data corruption and loss.
Development time is very lengthy. Testing is also very lengthy and
costly, and does not guarantee to eliminate all bugs. It is often
unclear to application developers what guarantees a filesystem provides,
so that it becomes extremely difficult to write correct applications for
a given filesystem, let alone applications that are portable across
different filesystems.

In this project, we aim to tackle these problems by applying formal
methods techniques. We will specify the behaviour of existing
filesystems using higher-order logic (supported by the HOL4 theorem
prover). Further, we will implement a filesystem, and verify functional
correctness of the implementation with respect to the specification. We
are particularly interested in the behaviour of filesystems when the
host crashes. The project involves theoretical aspects (for example, we
are interested in understanding the dependencies that arise when
different filesystem operations execute; the project will also involve
extensive proofs, both informal and mechanized) but is focused on
applications of theory to real-world systems.

Background of applicant
-----------------------

Ideally the applicant should be a good programmer (with knowledge of one
of the main functional programming languages such as OCaml, Haskell, SML
etc), with background in semantics (particularly operational semantics),
theorem proving, and verification. The applicant must have a strong
interest in producing reliable systems.

Applicants should hold at least a good second-class honours degree or
equivalent in computer science (or a closely related discipline) and
have a good command of English. A masters degree may be an advantage,
but is not necessary.

Funding
-------

The Microsoft scholarship consists of an annual bursary for 3 years.
This studentship is fully funded (fees and stipend) for UK and EU
students. The stipend is up to 17,000 UK pounds. We welcome overseas
applicants, and would provide the equivalent of home/EU fees and
maintenance for a successful overseas candidate; the difference between
home/ EU fees and international fees (approx. 11,000 UK pounds per
annum) would need to be funded by the overseas applicant.

Environment
-----------

The Department of Computer Science offers a highly collegiate and
stimulating environment for research career development. The prospective
student will work within an ambitious research team that is
internationally recognised and will be expected to contribute to the
strong profile of the department through participation in the
development and publication of international-quality research results.

Application process
-------------------

We encourage potential applicants who wish to express their interest in
the project to email Tom Ridge `tr61 (at) le.ac.uk` well before the
deadline.

The application process is via the University of Leicester. For further
details on the application process, see
http://www2.le.ac.uk/study/research/funding/future-filesystems

Further questions
-----------------

Please contact Tom Ridge `tr61 (at) le.ac.uk` if you have any further
questions.
      

Archive: https://sympa.inria.fr/sympa/arc/caml-list/2013-04/msg00100.html

We are pleased to announce the first stable release of Merlin.

Merlin offers type analysis, scope-aware completion and interactive
reporting of type and syntax errors directly inside your editor. Modes
for Vim and Emacs are provided. Efforts have been made to ease the
integration of Merlin in existing projects: just specify source and
build directories, any ocamlfind dependencies and enjoy assistance
from your editor right now.

Install it directly from opam:
$ opam install merlin

See it at work:
https://github.com/def-lkb/merlin#screenshots

For other information, refers to the project page at
https://github.com/def-lkb/merlin .

Merlin is only compatible with Ocaml 4.00.1, though it may work with
newer versions. All features except Camlp4 extensions are supported;
specific support for Lwt and some type-conv syntax extensions is
provided.
      

Archive: https://sympa.inria.fr/sympa/arc/caml-list/2013-04/msg00132.html

I've made a change to my copy of ocamlc to modify error messages when
they cover multiple lines.

For example, for the following code, the modified error message
includes the line number and character offset of then end of the
message instead of just the length of the message.

Would there be any interest in me making the change everywhere and
submitting it as a patch? I see about a dozen places in the source of
the various tools where the change would be possible. One concern I
have is that it might break automated test scripts.

Bill Smith

let x = 1 in
(match x with
1 -> true
);;
--------
New:
File "multilineError.ml", line 2, character 0-line 4, character 1:
Warning 8: this pattern-matching is not exhaustive.
Here is an example of a value that is not matched:
0
--------
Old:
File "multilineError.ml", line 2, characters 0-28:
Warning 8: this pattern-matching is not exhaustive.
Here is an example of a value that is not matched:
0
      

I have a similar fork of the OCaml compiler with shorter/more
standard/easier to regexp/simpler to parse/*plan9's acme friendly*
(the last point was the most important for me):
https://github.com/raphael-proust/ocaml/commit/a5cb1414b590d3e0f49c2ee87bcb90459e34fcde

The way I distribute it (to myself, i.e. to my different machines) is via
opam:
https://github.com/raphael-proust/opam-repo


It's an easy way to make it available not only to oneself, but to
anyone (with an opam installation) interested. (Any acme users out
there?) And it doesn't need to be patched in the main repository.
      

Archive: https://sympa.inria.fr/sympa/arc/caml-list/2013-04/msg00152.html

Here is the call for presentations to OCaml 2013, the OCaml Users and
Developers Workshop, to be held in Boston, on September 24, 2013. The
submission site should open in a few days. News about the workshop will be
posted here as well as at http://ocaml.org/meetings/ocaml/2013/


==============================================================================

OCAML 2013
The OCaml Users and Developers Workshop
http://ocaml.org/meetings/ocaml/2013/
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
September 24, 2013

CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS

Co-located with ICFP 2013
Sponsored by SIGPLAN
Talk Proposal Submission Deadline: June 7, 2013

==============================================================================

The first occurrence of the OCaml Users and Developers Workshop was
colocated with ICFP 2012, in Copenhagen, following the OCaml Meetings
in Paris in 2010 and 2011. OCaml 2013 will be held on September 24,
2013, in Boston, colocated with ICFP 2013.

The OCaml Users and Developers Workshop brings together industrial
users of OCaml with academics and hackers who are working on extending
the language, type system and tools. Discussions will focus on the
practical aspects of OCaml programming and the nitty gritty of the
tool-chain and upcoming improvements and changes. Thus, we aim to
solicit talks on all aspects related to improving the use or
development of the language and of its programming environment,
including, for example:

- compiler developments, new backends, runtime and architectures

- practical type system improvements, such as (but not exhaustively)
GADTs, first-class modules, generic programming, or dependent types

- new library or application releases, and their design rationales

- tool enhancements by commercial consultants

- prominent industrial uses of OCaml, or deployments in unusual
situations.

It will be an informal meeting, with an online scribe report of the
meeting, but no formal proceedings. Slides of presentations will be
available online from the workshop homepage.

To submit a talk, please register a description of the talk (about 2
pages long) at http://ocaml.org/meetings/ocaml/2013/talks/ providing a
clear statement of what will be brought by the talk: the problems that
are addressed, the technical solutions or methods that are
proposed. If you wish to perform a demo or require any special setup,
we will do our best to accommodate you.

Schedule
========

Abstract Submission Deadline: Friday, June 7, 2013
Notification to Speakers: Friday, July 7, 2013
Workshop: Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Program Committee
=================

* Damien Doligez, INRIA Paris-Rocquencourt, France
* Jun Furuse, Standard Chartered Bank, Singapore
* Jacques Le Normand, Google, USA
* Michel Mauny, ENSTA-ParisTech, France (chair)
* Mark Shinwell, Jane Street Europe, UK
* David Walker, Princeton University, USA
* Jeremy Yallop, University of Cambridge, UK
* Sarah Zennou, EADS IW, France

If you have any questions, please e-mail:
Michel Mauny <michel.mauny AT ensta-paristech DOT fr>
      

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/>.

google-drive-ocamlfuse v0.3.2 released:
  https://forge.ocamlcore.org/forum/forum.php?forum_id=873

Opa 1.1.1 is coming in a few days:
  http://blog.opalang.org/2013/04/opa-111-is-coming-in-few-days.html
      

Old cwn

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Alan Schmitt