Attn: Development Editor, Latest OCaml Weekly News

Hello

Here is the latest OCaml Weekly News, for the week of December 24 to 31,
2024.

Table of Contents
─────────────────

Using Property-Based Testing to Test OCaml 5
First release of elm_playground
First release of flatunionfind
Serving This Article from RAM with Dream for Fun and No Real Benefit
Other OCaml News
Old CWN


Using Property-Based Testing to Test OCaml 5
════════════════════════════════════════════

  Archive:
  <https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/blog-using-property-based-testing-to-test-ocaml-5/14550/2>


Jan Midtgaard announced
───────────────────────

  I've written up part 2 on our effort to utilize property-based testing
  to stress test the OCaml 5 run time system. Happy Christmas reading!
  🎄🎅 🎁 😄

  <https://tarides.com/blog/2024-12-23-multicore-property-based-tests-for-ocaml-5-challenges-and-lessons-learned/>


First release of elm_playground
═══════════════════════════════

  Archive:
  <https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/ann-first-release-of-elm-playground/15838/1>


Yoann Padioleau announced
─────────────────────────

  It is my pleasure to announce the first release of `elm_playground',
  an OCaml package that allows you to easily create /pictures/,
  /animations/, and even /video games/ in a portable way using an API
  that really simplifies how to view the computer and its devices (the
  screen, keyboard, and mouse). The library offers a native backend to
  run the games from a terminal and a web backend to run the games in
  your browser.

  This is a port of the excellent Elm playground package
  <https://github.com/evancz/elm-playground> to OCaml.

  You can install it via OPAM via `opam install elm_playground'.

  Here are a few examples of code using the library.

  First a "picture" app:

  ┌────
  │ (* from https://elm-lang.org/examples/picture *)
  │ open Playground
  │ 
  │ let app =
  │   picture [
  │     rectangle brown 40. 200.
  │       |> move_down 80.;
  │     circle green 100.
  │       |> move_up 100.;
  │   ]
  │ 
  │ let main = Playground_platform.run_app app
  └────

  <https://global.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/ocaml/optimized/2X/7/76fc1990fe116911097764df986f64fed41c28a4_2_470x500.png>

  Then an "animation" app:
  ┌────
  │ (* from https://elm-lang.org/examples/animation *)
  │ open Playground
  │ 
  │ let view time = [
  │     octagon darkGray 36.
  │       |> move_left 100.
  │       |> rotate (spin 3. time);
  │     octagon darkGray 36.
  │       |> move_right 100.
  │       |> rotate (spin 3. time);
  │     rectangle red 300. 80.
  │       |> move_up (wave 50. 54. 2. time)
  │       |> rotate (zigzag (-. 2.) 2. 8. time);
  │   ]
  │ 
  │ let app =
  │   animation view
  │ 
  │ let main = Playground_platform.run_app app
  └────

  <https://global.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/ocaml/optimized/2X/e/e91563cbb6a0863570bbb19b057f5e8dae7164bf_2_470x500.png>

  And finally a "game" app:
  ┌────
  │ (* from https://elm-lang.org/examples/mouse *)
  │ open Playground
  │ 
  │ let view _computer (x, y) = [ 
  │   square blue 40.
  │    |> move x y
  │  ]
  │ 
  │ let update computer (x, y) =
  │   (x +. to_x computer.keyboard, y +. to_y computer.keyboard)
  │ 
  │ let app = 
  │   game view update (0., 0.)
  │ 
  │ let main = Playground_platform.run_app app
  └────

  <https://global.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/ocaml/optimized/2X/2/24e8ffe672cda66c6a49e02013347cda0640f771_2_470x500.png>

  Note that you can write more complex games. For example here is a
  screenshot of a toy tetris app:

  <https://global.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/ocaml/original/2X/4/4ded1d55c9994935c5ec3786ae549ba3a71b8eb6.png>

  For more information, follow the README at
  <https://github.com/aryx/ocaml-elm-playground>

  And merry christmas!


First release of flatunionfind
══════════════════════════════

  Archive:
  <https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/ann-first-release-of-flatunionfind/15847/1>


François Pottier announced
──────────────────────────

  I am pleased to announce the first release of `flatunionfind', a small
  library that offers a union-find data structure, stored inside a
  vector.

  This library is an alternative to my existing library `unionFind', and
  could be faster or slower, depending on your use case.

  ┌────
  │ opam update
  │ opam install flatunionfind
  └────

  For more information, see the [documentation].

  Happy unions and finds, FP.


[documentation]
<https://cambium.inria.fr/~fpottier/flatunionfind/doc/flatunionfind/>


Serving This Article from RAM with Dream for Fun and No Real Benefit
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

  Archive:
  <https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/serving-this-article-from-ram-with-dream-for-fun-and-no-real-benefit/15856/1>


Thomas Letan announced
──────────────────────

  I’ve been playing with my website lately, more precisely on how the
  contents is delivered to the readers. Before, it was merely a boring,
  static website delivered by Nginx; now it’s a Dream-powered HTTP
  server with all the pages in-memory.

  [I’ve written about this fun, little project], and you may find the
  article interesting. It covers several topis: fun experiments with the
  Dream library, HTTP arcane one cannot ignore if they want to implement
  a browser-friendly server, and even some Docker because why not!

  Happy holidays everyone!


[I’ve written about this fun, little project]
<https://soap.coffee/~lthms/posts/DreamWebsite.html>


Other OCaml News
════════════════

From the ocaml.org blog
───────────────────────

  Here are links from many OCaml blogs aggregated at [the ocaml.org
  blog].

  • [Serving This Article from RAM with Dream for Fun and No Real
    Benefit]
  • [Multicore Property-Based Tests for OCaml 5: Challenges and Lessons
    Learned]


[the ocaml.org blog] <https://ocaml.org/blog/>

[Serving This Article from RAM with Dream for Fun and No Real Benefit]
<https://soap.coffee/~lthms/posts/DreamWebsite.html>

[Multicore Property-Based Tests for OCaml 5: Challenges and Lessons
Learned]
<https://tarides.com/blog/2024-12-23-multicore-property-based-tests-for-ocaml-5-challenges-and-lessons-learned>


Old CWN
═══════

  If you happen to miss a CWN, you can [send me a message] and I'll mail
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  [Alan Schmitt]


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