js_of_ocaml

pleasantly surprised knowing that js of ocaml (that Bonsai used) is still active https://github.com/ocsigen/js_of_ocaml

Another idea, wasm_of_ocaml [1] compiles effects using either a CPS transform or the JS Promise integration proposal for Wasm [2]. [1]: https://github.com/ocsigen/js_of_ocaml/blob/1b1fcf7b06c12324... [2]: https://github.com/WebAssembly/js-promise-integration/blob/7...

This feels a lot like what happened to Hack, which at first was compatible with PHP and could be compiled to it, but later became its own language to better fit FB's needs, and it seems like they're giving OCaml the same treatment here with ReScript. There was actually some effort being made to keep OCaml tooling compatible with ReasonML (which is supported by dune[0] with no additional configuration) and BuckleScript integration with dune, which was being worked on before this rebrand, so it's kind of sad to see FB going off on their own with ReScript because they don't wanna do the work to upstream the changes they need. By the way, regular OCaml also has its own JS backend[1] which is of course completely incompatible with BuckleScript. 0: https://dune.build/ 1: https://github.com/ocsigen/js_of_ocaml

People have different priorities. Some people really enjoy adopting niche languages, and that outweighs the drawbacks of something that isn't 100% mature. If you really like PureScript as a language, why not just use a mature language like Haskell[1] or OCaml[2][3] and compile to JS? 1. https://github.com/ghcjs/ghcjs 2. https://github.com/ocsigen/js_of_ocaml 3. https://reasonml.github.io/docs/en/what-and-why

Js_of_ocaml [1] is a good alternative to BuckleScript for standard OCaml (non-Reason). For example, it works well with Core_kernel [2] and Async_kernel [3] to provide high-level functionality that is cross compatible between Unix applications and browser applications. [1] https://github.com/ocsigen/js_of_ocaml [2] https://github.com/janestreet/core_kernel [3] https://github.com/janestreet/async_kernel

Thanks for sharing this! Have you ever considered js_of_ocaml (https://github.com/ocsigen/js_of_ocaml)? What were your reasons for choosing ReasonML?

js_of_ocaml[1] is an ocaml to JavaScript compiler that can actually handle the entire ocaml language (because it compiles ocaml bytecode to JavaScript). Sounds like it’s more what you’re looking for than Bucklescript (the ocaml to JavaScript compiler Reason uses by default.) Since Reason is just an alternate syntax for ocaml, you can use it with js_of_ocaml as well. [1]: https://github.com/ocsigen/js_of_ocaml

If you aren't tied to .NET, you could always use OCaml and js_of_ocaml, a compiler that targets javascript. Plus, you get a lot of functionality from the library too https://github.com/ocsigen/js_of_ocaml The documentation is a bit confusing, but it has tons of features.

Though the current release is more than a year old, the development branch is active: https://github.com/ocsigen/js_of_ocaml

I've seen a ton of great improvements in tooling/ecosystem. - OPAM was already mentioned. - The OCaml to JS compiler has matured and gained a lot of use. Interestingly, I suspect that it can also be used to achieve different types of parallelism than the types that the stock OCaml compilers provide. https://github.com/ocsigen/js_of_ocaml - Merlin is also a fantastic autocompletion plugin for Vim/Emacs. https://github.com/the-lambda-church/merlin VimBox (shameless plug) uses Merlin and is configured to provide "intellisense" style completion (as you type) like Visual Studio. https://github.com/jordwalke/VimBox - utop is perhaps the best top level REPL that I've ever seen. https://github.com/diml/utop (edit: Regarding utop: Normally I dread using a REPL for a statically typed language, but utop actually makes the top level fun and interacti