package base

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Full standard library replacement for OCaml

Install

Dune Dependency

github.com Readme Changelog MIT License Edit opam file Versions (27)

Authors

  1. J
    Jane Street Group, LLC

Maintainers

  1. J
    Jane Street developers

Sources

v0.13.2.tar.gz
sha256=fc5d761a46ec328418c97779cba3ea7231d1632cefac651679cd4ede26f5cd5a
md5=f43ce18d98fd0879e77ff671e077e607

Description

Full standard library replacement for OCaml

Base is a complete and portable alternative to the OCaml standard library. It provides all standard functionalities one would expect from a language standard library. It uses consistent conventions across all of its module.

Base aims to be usable in any context. As a result system dependent features such as I/O are not offered by Base. They are instead provided by companion libraries such as stdio:

https://github.com/janestreet/stdio

Published: 11 May 2020

README

README.org

* Base

Base is a standard library for OCaml. It provides a standard set of
general purpose modules that are well-tested, performant, and
fully-portable across any environment that can run OCaml code. Unlike
other standard library projects, Base is meant to be used as a
wholesale replacement of the standard library distributed with the
OCaml compiler. In particular it makes different choices and doesn't
re-export features that are not fully portable such as I/O, which are
left to other libraries.

You also might want to browse the [[https://ocaml.janestreet.com/ocaml-core/latest/doc/base/index.html][API Documentation]].

** Installation

Install Base via [[https://opam.ocaml.org][OPAM]]:

#+begin_src
$ opam install base
#+end_src

Base has no runtime dependencies and is fast to build. Its sole build
dependencies are [[https://github.com/ocaml/dune][dune]], which itself requires nothing more than the
compiler, and [[https://github.com/janestreet/sexplib0][sexplib0]].

** Using the OCaml standard library with Base

Base is intended as a full stdlib replacement.  As a result, after an
=open Base=, all the modules, values, types, ... coming from the OCaml
standard library that one normally gets in the default environment are
deprecated.

In order to access these values, one must use the =Caml= library,
which re-exports them all through the toplevel name =Caml=:
=Caml.String=, =Caml.print_string=, ...

The recommended way to build code using Base is as follows:

#+begin_src ocaml
$ ocamlc -open Base
#+end_src

** Differences between Base and the OCaml standard library

Programmers who are used to the OCaml standard library should read
through this section to understand major differences between the two
libraries that one should be aware of when switching to Base.

*** Comparison operators

The comparison operators exposed by the OCaml standard library are
polymorphic:

#+begin_src ocaml
val compare : 'a -> 'a -> int
val ( <= ) : 'a -> 'a -> bool
...
#+end_src

What they implement is structural comparison of the runtime
representation of values. Since these are often error-prone,
i.e. they don't correspond to what the user expects, they are not
exposed directly by Base.

To use polymorphic comparison with Base, one should use the
=Polymorphic_compare= module. The default comparison operators exposed
by Base are the integer ones, just like the default arithmetic
operators are the integer ones.

The recommended way to compare arbitrary complex data structures is to
use the specific =compare= functions. For instance:

#+begin_src ocaml
List.compare String.compare x y
#+end_src

The [[https://github.com/janestreet/ppx_compare][ppx_compare]] rewriter
offers an alternative way to write this:

#+begin_src ocaml
[%compare: string list] x y
#+end_src

** Base and ppx code generators

Base uses a few ppx code generators to implement:

- reliable and customizable comparison of OCaml values
- reliable and customizable hash of OCaml values
- conversions between OCaml values and s-expression

However, it doesn't need these code generators to build. What it does
instead is use ppx as a code verification tool during development. It
works in a very similar fashion to
[[https://github.com/janestreet/ppx_expect][expectation tests]].

Whenever you see this in the code source:

#+begin_src ocaml
type t = ... [@@deriving_inline sexp_of]
let sexp_of_t = ...
[@@@end]
#+end_src

the code between the =[@@deriving_inline]= and the =[@@@end]= is
generated code. The generated code is currently quite big and hard to
read, however we are working on making it look like human-written
code.

You can put the following elisp code in your =~/.emacs= file to hide
these blocks:

#+begin_src scheme
(defun deriving-inline-forward-sexp (&optional arg)
  (search-forward-regexp "\\[@@@end\\]") nil nil arg)

(defun setup-hide-deriving-inline ()
  (inline)
  (hs-minor-mode t)
  (let ((hs-hide-comments-when-hiding-all nil))
    (hs-hide-all)))

(require 'hideshow)
(add-to-list 'hs-special-modes-alist
             '(tuareg-mode "\\[@@deriving_inline[^]]*\\]" "\\[@@@end\\]" nil
                           deriving-inline-forward-sexp nil))
(add-hook 'tuareg-mode-hook 'setup-hide-deriving-inline)
#+end_src

Things are not yet setup in the git repository to make it convenient
to change types and update the generated code, but they will be setup
soon.

** Base coding rules

There are a few coding rules across the code base that are enforced by
lint tools.

These rules are:

- Opening the =Caml= module is not allowed. Inside Base, the OCaml
  stdlib is shadowed and accessible through the =Caml= module. We
  forbid opening =Caml= so that we know exactly where things come
  from.
- =Caml.Foo= modules cannot be aliased, one must use =Caml.Foo=
  explicitly. This is to avoid having to remember a list of aliases
  at the beginning of each file.
- For some modules that are both in the OCaml stdlib and Base, such as
  =String=, we define a module =String0= for common functions that
  cannot be defined directly in =Base.String= to avoid creating a
  circular dependency.  Except for =String= itself, other modules
  are not allowed to use =Caml.String= and must use either =String= or
  =String0= instead.
- Indentation is exactly the one of =ocp-indent=.
- A few other coding style rules enforced by
  [[https://github.com/janestreet/ppx_js_style][ppx_js_style]].

The Base specific coding rules are checked by =ppx_base_lint=, in the
=lint= subfolder. The indentation rules are checked by a wrapper around
=ocp-indent= and the coding style rules are checked by =ppx_js_style=.

These checks are currently not run by =dune=, but it will soon get a
=-dev= flag to run them automatically.

** Roadmap

Following is the current plan for a stable version 1 of Base.

*** Add more integer types

Add support for ={,u}int{8,16,32,64}=. These are always useful when
implementing binary protocols.

Initially they should be implemented with C stubs and eventually we
should propose their inclusion in the compiler.

*** 80 columns limit

Currently lines in Base are limited to a maximum width of 90
characters. To make things more standard, we should use an 80 columns
limit.  The only thing needed for this is to extend the style checker
to enforce a maximum line width.

*** Improve the generated code

Improve our code generators to produce code that looks more like
hand-written code.

Dependencies (4)

  1. dune-configurator
  2. dune >= "1.5.1"
  3. sexplib0 >= "v0.13" & < "v0.14"
  4. ocaml >= "4.04.2" & < "4.12"

Dev Dependencies

None

  1. ahrocksdb < "0.2.1"
  2. alcotest-async >= "1.3.0"
  3. arrayjit < "0.4.1"
  4. async_ssl = "v0.13.0"
  5. azblob
  6. bap-main
  7. bap-recipe
  8. bap-recipe-command
  9. bap-relation
  10. base_bigstring = "v0.13.0"
  11. base_quickcheck = "v0.13.0"
  12. bin_prot = "v0.13.0"
  13. bio_io >= "0.2.1" & < "0.5.1"
  14. bitvec-order
  15. camelsnakekebab
  16. camlimages >= "5.0.3"
  17. capnp >= "3.3.0"
  18. catt
  19. cohttp-async >= "2.5.0" & != "5.3.0" & < "6.0.0~alpha2"
  20. combinat < "3.0"
  21. configurator >= "v0.11.0"
  22. cookie >= "0.1.8"
  23. core_kernel >= "v0.13.0" & < "v0.14.0"
  24. crlibm < "0.3"
  25. dataframe
  26. dotenv
  27. expect_test_helpers_kernel >= "v0.13.0"
  28. FPauth
  29. FPauth-core
  30. FPauth-responses
  31. FPauth-strategies
  32. farith
  33. feather_async < "0.2.0"
  34. fftw3 >= "0.8" & < "0.8.2"
  35. fieldslib = "v0.13.0"
  36. fontforge-of-ocaml
  37. freetds = "0.6"
  38. GT >= "0.4.0" & < "0.5.2"
  39. gammu >= "0.9.4"
  40. genspio >= "0.0.3"
  41. gobject-introspection
  42. gsl >= "1.22.0" & < "1.24.3"
  43. h1_parser
  44. hacl
  45. hardcaml = "v0.13.0"
  46. hardcaml_waveterm = "v0.13.0"
  47. idd
  48. idds
  49. influxdb
  50. influxdb-async
  51. influxdb-lwt
  52. inquire < "0.2.0"
  53. json-derivers
  54. jst-config = "v0.13.0"
  55. lacaml >= "10.0.1" & < "11.0.7"
  56. lbfgs = "0.9"
  57. learn-ocaml >= "0.12"
  58. learn-ocaml-client
  59. libsvm >= "0.9.4"
  60. lilac
  61. liquid_interpreter >= "0.1.2"
  62. liquid_ml >= "0.1.2"
  63. liquid_parser >= "0.1.2"
  64. liquid_std >= "0.1.2"
  65. liquid_syntax >= "0.1.2"
  66. logical
  67. matplotlib
  68. merge-fmt
  69. mesh-triangle >= "0.9.3" & < "0.9.5"
  70. mmdb
  71. monorobot
  72. netkat
  73. neural_nets_lib < "0.4.1"
  74. notty_async < "v0.12.0"
  75. nsq >= "0.2.5"
  76. nuscr
  77. OCanren-ppx >= "0.3.0~alpha1"
  78. obeam >= "0.1.0"
  79. ocaml-logicalform
  80. ocaml-lsp-server = "1.18.0"
  81. ocaml-protoc-plugin < "1.0.0"
  82. ocaml-r >= "0.1.0" & < "0.3.1"
  83. ocamlformat >= "0.9" & < "0.25.1"
  84. ocamlformat-lib
  85. ocamlformat-rpc < "0.21.0"
  86. opine
  87. owl >= "0.3.7"
  88. pa_ppx = "0.03"
  89. parsexp = "v0.13.0"
  90. parsexp_io = "v0.13.0"
  91. patience_diff = "v0.13.0"
  92. pcre >= "7.3.0" & < "7.4.6"
  93. posixat = "v0.13.0"
  94. postgresql >= "4.1.0" & < "4.6.2"
  95. ppx-owl-opt
  96. ppx_assert = "v0.13.0"
  97. ppx_bin_prot = "v0.13.0"
  98. ppx_cold < "v0.14.0"
  99. ppx_compare = "v0.13.0"
  100. ppx_conv_func = "v0.13.0"
  101. ppx_csv_conv = "v0.13.0"
  102. ppx_custom_printf = "v0.13.0"
  103. ppx_deriving_hardcaml = "v0.13.0"
  104. ppx_deriving_protocol < "0.8.1"
  105. ppx_deriving_rpc = "7.2.0"
  106. ppx_enumerate = "v0.13.0"
  107. ppx_expect >= "v0.13.0" & < "v0.14.0"
  108. ppx_fail = "v0.13.0"
  109. ppx_fields_conv = "v0.13.0"
  110. ppx_hash = "v0.13.0"
  111. ppx_here = "v0.13.0"
  112. ppx_inline_test >= "v0.13.0" & < "v0.14.0"
  113. ppx_js_style = "v0.13.0"
  114. ppx_let = "v0.13.0"
  115. ppx_module_timer = "v0.13.0"
  116. ppx_optcomp = "v0.13.0"
  117. ppx_optional = "v0.13.0"
  118. ppx_partial
  119. ppx_pattern_bind = "v0.13.1"
  120. ppx_protocol_conv >= "2.0.0" & != "4.0.0" & < "5.1.2"
  121. ppx_protocol_conv_json < "3.1.0"
  122. ppx_protocol_conv_msgpack < "3.1.0"
  123. ppx_protocol_conv_xml_light < "3.1.0"
  124. ppx_protocol_conv_yaml < "3.1.0"
  125. ppx_python = "v0.13.0"
  126. ppx_rapper >= "1.0.1"
  127. ppx_sexp_conv = "v0.13.0"
  128. ppx_sexp_message = "v0.13.0"
  129. ppx_sexp_value = "v0.13.0"
  130. ppx_stable = "v0.13.0"
  131. ppx_typerep_conv = "v0.13.0"
  132. ppx_variants_conv = "v0.13.0"
  133. ppx_xml_conv = "v0.13.0"
  134. ppx_yojson_conv = "v0.13.0"
  135. ppxlib < "0.30.0"
  136. protocell
  137. psyche
  138. pyml_bindgen
  139. pythonlib = "v0.13.0"
  140. qinap
  141. range >= "0.6"
  142. reason-standard
  143. record_builder = "v0.13.0"
  144. reparse = "2.1.0"
  145. routes >= "2.0.0"
  146. safemoney >= "0.2.0"
  147. sanddb
  148. secp256k1 >= "0.2.5"
  149. session-cookie
  150. session-cookie-lwt
  151. sexp_pretty = "v0.13.0"
  152. sexp_select < "v0.14.0"
  153. shexp = "v0.13.0"
  154. sihl < "0.1.5"
  155. socialpeek
  156. speed
  157. spin < "0.8.0"
  158. splittable_random = "v0.13.0"
  159. sqlite3 >= "4.2.0" & < "5.0.1"
  160. stdio = "v0.13.0"
  161. string_dict = "v0.13.0"
  162. tablecloth-base < "0.0.10"
  163. tablecloth-native < "transition"
  164. tensorboard
  165. tensorflow >= "0.0.11"
  166. time_now = "v0.13.0"
  167. timmy
  168. timmy-unix >= "1.1.5"
  169. topological_sort = "v0.13.0"
  170. torch < "v0.16.0"
  171. tqdm
  172. travesty >= "0.6.0" & < "0.7.2"
  173. twostep
  174. typerep = "v0.13.0"
  175. user-agent-parser
  176. variantslib = "v0.13.0"
  177. vcaml < "v0.14.0"
  178. virtual_dom = "v0.13.0"
  179. wasmtime
  180. wseg
  181. zanuda
  182. zmq-async
  183. zmq-eio
  184. zmq-lwt < "5.1.0"

Conflicts

None

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