Evolving the OCaml Programming Language (2025) [pdf]

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kcsrk ◴[05 Sep 25 04:03 UTC] No.45134878[source]▶

I am the author of the talk here o/.

This talk is a _subjective_ take on how the OCaml programming language evolves, based on my observations over the last 10 years I've been involved with it. My aim/hope is to demystify the compiler development process and the tradeoffs involved and encourage more developers to take a shot at contributing to the OCaml compiler.

Happy to answer questions, but also, more importantly, hear your comments and criticisms around the compiler development process, ideas to make it more approachable, etc.

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1. rwmj ◴[05 Sep 25 05:53 UTC] No.45135373[source]▶

>>45134878 #

I'm at a conference at the moment so can't give a lengthy answer, but I'm the maintainer of virt-v2v, one large open source OCaml project (large if you include all the dependencies) which generates actual multi-millions in annual revenue, but is often overlooked in all this discussion of the OCaml ecosystem. Glad to talk by email some time.

[BTW we currently have open positions for two developers]

replies(2): >>45137532 #>>45145143 #

2. kcsrk ◴[05 Sep 25 11:58 UTC] No.45137532[source]▶

>>45135373 (TP) #

It was overlooked because I didn't know!

Great to hear about virt-v2v. I will reach out to you by email.

3. lambda_foo ◴[06 Sep 25 00:01 UTC] No.45145143[source]▶

>>45135373 (TP) #

Thanks for sharing, I had no idea about this project.

Could you share some more details about where this project is used? Links to those open positions for OCaml developers would be interesting too, not for myself :-)

replies(1): >>45147286 #

4. rwmj ◴[06 Sep 25 07:16 UTC] No.45147286[source]▶

>>45145143 #

For converting VMs that run on VMware to run on KVM. After Broadcom purchased VMware a couple of years ago & raised prices (in some cases up to 10x), lots and lots of businesses are desperate to leave VMware. The open positions can be found on the Red Hat website if you search roles for "virt-v2v".

replies(1): >>45151845 #

5. yawaramin ◴[06 Sep 25 18:46 UTC] No.45151845{3}[source]▶

>>45147286 #

Found this one: https://redhat.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/jobs/details/Prin...

No mention of OCaml though.

replies(1): >>45157904 #

6. rwmj ◴[07 Sep 25 13:14 UTC] No.45157904{4}[source]▶

>>45151845 #

Right, we don't mention it in the advert because doing so draws in a certain type of academic person that we don't want to hire. Also because the majority of the code is actually in other programming languages, and we can easily train up (eg.) an ace C coder in OCaml if we need to.

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