
OCaml 4.04.0 released - mseri
https://sympa.inria.fr/sympa/arc/caml-list/2016-11/msg00010.html
======
murbard2
I apologize for the plug, but I invite folks who like OCaml to check-out
Tezos, a project for a self-amending blockchain in OCaml.
[http://github.com/tezos](http://github.com/tezos)

I think it's a really neat piece of engineering that demonstrates the strength
of the language. We have some really nice uses of the GADT and we try and
squeeze as much guarantees as we can out of the type system. The modules give
us a natural way to follow the principle of least authority by restricting the
visible surface of each implementation layer as much as possible.

Some of the core Tezos developers are also behind the recent mooc and work on
the OCaml compiler.

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jnbiche
Damn, still no modular implicits. And no multicore yet, either. Seems like
they keep getting pushed back.

At least BuckleScript is progressing quickly.

~~~
throwaway7645
My first reaction was to check for multi-core. I've been hearing its around
the corner for years.

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desireco42
Just finishing OCaml course at Paris Diderot

www.fun-mooc.fr/login?next=/courses/parisdiderot/56002S02

Really cool language and opened my eyes on how some constructs are being used.

Multicore is definitely must for functional languages.(sorry random thought)

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jallmann
> Multicore is definitely must for functional languages.(sorry random thought)

...why?

~~~
i_s
May be worth exploring this from the other side too. Why do you think it is ok
for a programming language to lock people into to using just 1 core per
process?

~~~
thinkpad20
I think most would agree that multicore capability is desirable, but it's
clearly not a "must" as ocaml has been without it all of this time and many
have used it to good effect regardless (of course it might be a must to
certain people who need it for their use case). Also, the same restriction
that prevents multicore in ocaml (the GIL) also affects other languages which
are obviously useful, such as Python. So to answer your question it's clearly
"ok" since it doesn't prevent people from productively writing effective and
useful software in it, although it is of course a restriction which many would
like to see go away.

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nv-vn
Glad the release cycle is speeding up, but kinda underwhelmed by the lack of
changes which have been floating around in "for the next release" limbo here
for a while (multicore, modular implicits, etc.). Either way, lots of great
work went into this and I'm happy to see the state of OCaml continuing to
evolve for the better. Thanks for all the hard work!

~~~
cm3
I feel your pain, but the features will land when deemed stable. Without more
frequent releases, those features would get into a release even later, so more
frequent releases are a win either way.

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mseri
The changes are explained with some examples here [0]. Flambda is finally on,
but comes with a regression :( [1].

[0]: [https://github.com/gasche/ocaml-releases-change-
explanation/...](https://github.com/gasche/ocaml-releases-change-
explanation/wiki/4.04.0-changes-explanation) [1]:
[https://sympa.inria.fr/sympa/arc/caml-
list/2016-11/msg00000....](https://sympa.inria.fr/sympa/arc/caml-
list/2016-11/msg00000.html)

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skiplist1
I would like to see a language like haskell with no delayed or lazy evaluation
so that one can better predict performance. Haskell has a great community and
a charm that I would like for Ocaml. Don't know if Jane Street is still
advocating their Ocaml core or kernel. F#, ml, haskell and OCaml, and a strong
language for parallelism whose name I don't remember are hints that we need a
better language. Haskell is not prepared for real world :), and OCaml is a
turtle moving target.

~~~
sigrlami9
Haskell has strict extension that removes all delayed/lazy computation from
your code. Why do you think it's not ready for real world? It's used by
numerous companies around the World for different kinds of software
development, starting from formal verification and ending with web sites. Same
for OCaml, both languages are very powerful.

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raphinou
I really like ocaml, but it could do with better community management I think.
Eg it's been more than one week that the links of the news section on the
homepage result in a white page. This might deter newcomers to even try it.

~~~
amirmc
The community efforts are largely volunteer-driven by many people who also
have day jobs (including me). Indeed, things could be better but given how
much does get done, I'm willing to cut them some slack.

