From: Alan Schmitt <alan.schmitt@inria.fr> To: lwn@lwn.net Subject: Attn: Development Editor, Latest Caml Weekly News Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2001 22:38:17 +0100 Hello, Here is the latest Caml Weekly News, week 12 to 18 december, 2001. Summary: 1) Pairs vs. Records 2) Third shared patch 3) Outil 4) Objective Caml 3.04 released 5) SCaml 6) OCamldoc 3.04 (pre-release 3) 7) LablGTK-1.2.3 and lablGL-0.97 8) Packages for O'Caml 3.04 at ocaml-programming.de 9) Zoggy 0.9 10) Report 0.2 11) OCamlCVS 1.0 ====================================================================== 1) Pairs vs. Records ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Willem Duminy asked: Hi guys, I had a program that used pairs int*int as the basis of the primary data structure. After changing it to use records {row:int;col:int} the program runs slower. I am wondering whether this performance was lost because of changing from pairs to records, or whether it some other reason. So my question is simply: is there a difference in the performance of pairs and records when I use ocamlopt to compile an ocaml program in Linux. (follow the thread here: http://caml.inria.fr/archives/200112/msg00065.html) ====================================================================== 2) Third shared patch ---------------------------------------------------------------------- malc announced: Highlights: * Module unloading (Natdynlin.unload) * Workaround for "mangled" function names * Uninliner for .cmx Download at http://algol.prosalg.no/~malc/scaml Changelog http://algol.prosalg.no/~malc/scaml/ChangeLog3 ====================================================================== 3) Outil ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Warp announced: Bonjour, je viens de finir un outil qui permet d'interfacer OCaml avec Microsoft VisualC++. Cet outil est GPL et donc le code source complet est disponible. Je pense qu'il permettra l'accés à OCaml à des personnes pas forcément familiarisées avec l'environnement "ligne de commande" à la Unix. Merci de me linker, et éventuellement de tester mon logiciel si cela vous interesse. Bravo encore pour votre travail, j'ai déja commencé à utiliser OCaml et je compte participer activement à l'évolution de ce langage. Le soft est dispo sur mon site : http://www.warplayer.fr.st (quick and dirty translation: the link takes you to a tool that let you interface OCaml with Microsoft Visual C++. The tool is licensed under the GPL.) ====================================================================== 4) Objective Caml 3.04 released ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Xavier Leroy announced: End-of-year clearance! Version 3.04 of the Objective Caml system is now available from the usual places: http://caml.inria.fr/ocaml/distrib.html ftp://ftp.inria.fr/lang/caml-light/ This release is essentially a stabilization of the 3.03 Alpha release of october 2001. To avoid potential confusion with 3.03 Alpha, we just skipped over the 3.03 release number. A detailed list of changes is appended below. The main changes w.r.t. the previous final release (3.02) are: 1- Labels on function arguments are now strict (non-optional) by default, and the standard library modules are now not labeled, instead labeled versions of some of these modules are provided. The previous treatment of labels (optional by default, and generously sprinkled throughout the standard library) was unsatisfactory (insufficient static checking). This change breaks compatibility with versions 3.00--3.02: some programs that used labels in "classic" mode (optional, non-commuting labels) need to be cleaned up. The distribution provides tools and detailed hints to help doing this. 2- As an alternative to building "custom bytecode executables" (containing C code statically linked), the bytecode interpreter now supports dynamic loading of the C part of mixed Caml/C libraries. This change does not break any existing program or libraries, yet makes it much easier to use mixed Caml/C libraries in a toplevel or dynamic loading context, and to preserve machine-independence of bytecode executables. 3- The CamlP4 pre-processor-pretty-printer is now integrated in the distribution. Again, this should only make life easier for users, although we took advantage of CamlP4's better implementation of streams and stream parsers to remove them from the core OCaml language. 4- The Windows native port has received some attention, and now sports a new GUI for the toplevel, a new installer, and an implementation of the Graphics library usable from stand-alone executables. 5- The libraries and run-time system are now distributed under a special exception to the LGPL, allowing unrestricted static linking. For general info on Objective Caml, see http://caml.inria.fr. Bug reports go to caml-bugs@inria.fr, messages for the implementors to caml@inria.fr, and general discussions to the mailing-list caml-list@inria.fr, or the comp.lang.ml or comp.lang.functional newsgroups. (the rest of the message with the full changelog is here: http://caml.inria.fr/archives/200112/msg00082.html) ====================================================================== 5) SCaml ---------------------------------------------------------------------- malc announced: Doh! OCaml 3.04 is released(congratulations to OCaml team), and so is 3a_shared.patch. I now consider it feature complete(for what it more or less is: proof of concept). Grab it from: http://algol.prosalg.no/~malc/scaml Features(ia32/ELF only): * Ability to create DLL's with native code compiler * Ability to link against those DLL's (with CVS binutils) * Ability to dynamically load/unload them via Natdynlink library (CVS binutils not needed) * Immunity to http://algol.prosalg.no/~malc/scaml/caveat/tac.tar.gz * Bugs i dont know anything about ====================================================================== 6) OCamldoc 3.04 (pre-release 3) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Maxence Guesdon announced: Hi, A new pre-release of ocamldoc is available zt http://pauillac.inria.fr/~guesdon/Tools/ocamldoc/ocamldoc.html If needs OCaml 3.04. Chenges include bug fixes, better LaTeX generation, more options, ... Enjoy ! ====================================================================== 7) LablGTK-1.2.3 and lablGL-0.97 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacques Garrigue announced: As expected, here are the new release of LablGTK and lablGL for Objective Caml 3.04. LablGTK 1.2.3: * supports Objective Caml 3.04 DLLs on Unix platforms * added a GToolbox utility module (contributed by Maxence Guesdon) * some bug fixes LablGL 0.97: * supports Objective Caml 3.04 DLLs on Unix platforms You can find them at http://wwwfun.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/soft/olabl/lablgtk.html http://wwwfun.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/soft/olabl/lablgl.html and ftp://ftp.inria.fr/lang/caml-light/bazar-ocaml/lablgtk-1.2.3.tar.gz ftp://ftp.inria.fr/lang/caml-light/bazar-ocaml/lablgl-0.97.tar.gz Note that if you had installed Objective Caml 3.03 alpha, or old libraries on Objective Caml 3.04, it is a good idea to delete them before installing. ====================================================================== 8) Packages for O'Caml 3.04 at ocaml-programming.de ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Gerd Stolpmann announced: Hi list, there are now updated packages for O'Caml 3.04 at www.ocaml-programming.de. Please look at http://www.ocaml-programming.de/packages and http://www.ocaml-programming.de/packages/compatibility.html The new packages are: equeue-1.2.3 rpc-0.3.1 pxp-1.1.2 findlib-0.6.2 shell-0.2.1 netclient-0.3-OCaml3.04 ====================================================================== 9) Zoggy 0.9 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Maxence Guesdon announced: Hello everybody, I'm pleased to announce the release 0.9 of Zoggy, interface builder for OCaml/LablGtk. Changes include : - better interface - support for almost all widgets of lablgtk - support for most of their properties - use of camlp4 to generate code - use of camlp4 to compile zoggy files to .cmo and .cmi, and report locations of errors in the zoggy files. - bootstrap The camlp4 part was developed by Daniel de Rauglaudre. You can find Zoggy at : http://www.maxence-g.net/Tools/zoggy/zoggy.html Enjoy ! ====================================================================== 10) Report 0.2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Maxence Guesdon also announced: Report 0.2 is available. This tools can be used to describe XML documents and the way to fill them with data at runtime. Only minor changes (use of lablgtk 1.2.3 and ocaml 3.04). http://www.maxence-g.net/Tools/report/report.html Enjoy ! ====================================================================== 11) OCamlCVS 1.0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Maxence Guesdon kept on announcing: OCamlCVS 1.0, a front-end to common CVS commands, is available. Changes : * use of LablGtk 1.2.3 and OCaml 3.04, * sort files by clicking on column headers. http://www.maxence-g.net/Tools/ocamlcvs/ocamlcvs.html Enjoy ! ====================================================================== Alan Schmitt -- The hacker: someone who figured things out and made something cool happen.