From:	 David Mentre <David.Mentre@inria.fr>
To:	 lwn@lwn.net
Subject: Attn: Development Editor, Latest Caml Weekly News
Date:	 30 Oct 2001 16:42:49 +0100

Hello,

Here is the latest Caml Weekly News, weeks 17 to 30 October, 2001.

Summary:
1) Ocaml 3.03 alpha MinGW port
2) O'Reilly Ocaml Book Translators, Proofreaders Needed
3) More information on the Caml Consortium
4) Hot to release O'Caml projects
5) New release of otags (2.0)
6) Looking for a new Editor for CWN


1) Ocaml 3.03 alpha MinGW port
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Dmitry Bely announced:

OK, seems that I've almost completed the native Win32 MinGW port that uses
the same ./configure script and Unix Makefiles (of course updated to
support mingw32 target), so keepeng it in sync should not became the
nigntmare as with MSVC/Mac/... non-unix systems. If it works, maybe to add
it to the stock distribution after some testing? :-)

A special care was taken to not break any existing configuration (no
Gnu make conditional operators etc.), so after applying the patch OCaml
*should* configure and compile on all hosts that were supported before (if
I ocasionally did not break something).

The port supports the same set of libraries as the MSVC one. Both bytecode
and native modes seem to work properly.

Full announce at: http://caml.inria.fr/archives/200110/msg00196.html


2) O'Reilly Ocaml Book Translators, Proofreaders Needed
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Ruchira Datta asked:

Are you an Objective Caml aficionado?  Would you like to help bring
this language to a wider audience?

O'Reilly has published a book about Ocaml in French, _Développement
d'applications avec Objective Caml_; see
http://www.oreilly.fr/catalogue/ocaml.html
The book is also available on the web at
http://www.pps.jussieu.fr/Livres/ora/DA-OCAML/index.html
In the summer of 2000, a group of volunteers began translating this
book into English.  Substantial progress has been made: more than 70%
of this 700-page book has been translated.

However, we need more volunteers to help complete the project.  So why
don't you:

-- help translate?  Please don't feel intimidated if you don't have an
   advanced degree in French literature.  This is not like translating
   the poetry of Baudelaire.  The subject matter is Objective Caml,
   which you know already, and there are no subtle literary nuances
   you have to worry about capturing.  I speak from experience:
   translating is fun and addictive.  It's instant gratification:
   every word you type is a translation accomplished!

-- help proofread?  All that is required is that you be a native
   speaker of American English, with an eye for typos and an ear for
   proper grammar and diction.  (You will have to be on the lookout
   for gallicisms: awkward constructions resulting from too literal
   translation.)  Indulge your desire to improve others!

If interested, please contact the translators' mailing list at
translators@pauillac.inria.fr
to lend a hand and demonstrate the power of cooperative effort.


3) More information on the Caml Consortium
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Michel Mauny answered:

Well, it is not that the Consortium is willing to keep its plans
secret, but more that it is starting slowly. We have 3 members so far,
and we'd like to have a few more before the end of this year.

Anyway, the Consortium activities will start at the beginning of 2002,
and we should have our first formal meeting around December
2001/January 2002.

The Consortium Web pages

    http://caml.inria.fr/consortium/

have a new look (to be improved, of course, but better that before),
and all information will be available from there (members, actions,
and so on). Unless members disagree with me, the Consortium's
activities shall be public.


4) Hot to release O'Caml projects
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Maxence Guesdon answered a question about the release of O'Caml
projects. The full answer is at:

 http://caml.inria.fr/archives/200110/msg00259.html


5) New release of otags (2.0)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Jean-Francois Monin announced:


We are pleased to announce a new release for otags.

http://www.multimania.com/moninjf/Ocaml/otags-2.0.tar.gz

New features :
  - installation procedure made simpler (you don't need
    to install splay trees)
  - .mli also taken into account (and other suffixes)
  - tags for a directory can be computed without write access;
  - an option for vi tags (experimental)
  - option -pa for parsers, should work e.g. with revised syntax,
    olabl, lisp-like ocaml, etc.

See HISTORY, README and -help for details.

---- from README ---------

otags is used to build TAGS tables for emacs, like etags does, but for
Ocaml code source files. It is based on camlp4 parsers of caml, which
makes it more accurate than versions based on regexps : otags finds
references to constructors of sum types, fields of records, etc.


6) Looking for a new Editor for CWN
----------------------------------------------------------------------

I (David Mentré) will change my job at the end of November. I'm not sure
I will be able to continue CWN starting from December. So I'm looking
for a new editor for this newsletter, otherwise it might die.

If you are interested, please contact me at: David.Mentre@inria.fr



d.
--
 David.Mentre@inria.fr
 Opinions expressed here are only mine.