ReScript 8.4 - Hackdot

Re:ReScript 8.4 by n42 on Tuesday December 15, 2020 @12:32AM (#25427344)

I am very disappointed by this as well. I am worried ReScript may have killed the momentum ReasonML had been gaining.

This is how I understand this:

  1996 - OCaml is born.
  2016 - ReasonML, an alternative syntax that compiles to OCaml, is launched by Facebook.
  2016 - A couple of months later, BuckleScript, an OCaml -> JS compiler is launched.
  201X - Collaboration happens, BuckleScript couples tightly to ReasonML.
  2020 - BuckleScript forks the ReasonML syntax and rebrands the compiler and the new syntax together under ReScript.
  2020 - ReasonML still exists?

Ok, fine. What is not clear to me is how the Facebook team behind ReasonML fits into ReScript. Are they aligned on the direction to take this community? What is the future of ReasonML?

What was the goal? If it was to ease adoption by newcomers, as a newcomer, it has made this more difficult. As someone VERY EAGER to enter this family of languages today, I ended up giving up on all of that and decided to just learn OCaml.

Now I'm dealing with Dune, Esy, OPAM, two competing async libraries and a community that is split between Jane Street libraries and the others.. but I really, really like OCaml!

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Re:ReScript 8.4 by d3nj4l on Tuesday December 15, 2020 @12:57AM (#25427449)

> If it was to ease adoption by newcomers, as a newcomer, it has made this more difficult. As someone VERY EAGER to enter this family of languages today, I ended up giving up on all of that and decided to just learn OCaml.

This was my exact path. A friend and I wanted to make a small SaaS using Reason for the backend, because it smoothed out a bunch of what we considered were "rough edges" in OCaml. Then the ReScript split happened, and we realised that Reason was dead for all intents and purposes. It's hard to imagine the Reason team will continue updating Reason when they're focusing hard on ReScript instead.

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Re:ReScript 8.4 by n42 on Tuesday December 15, 2020 @01:05AM (#25427490)

here's the thing, _I don't think ReasonML is dead_! I've tried to dig for more clarity in the GitHub issue trackers and come up with mostly nothing. I am starting to get the feeling there is some kind of dispute or falling out between the maintainers of the two projects.

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Re:ReScript 8.4 by spyder81 on Tuesday December 15, 2020 @02:28AM (#25427895)

ReasonML isn't dead, but the way I heard the story it has always been a spare time project not a properly funded FB team. There was just enough spare time early on to get the community excited.

From the same source, I heard ReScript does have funding behind it.

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Re:ReScript 8.4 by emteycz on Tuesday December 15, 2020 @01:52AM (#25427722)

Maybe they simply disagreed about the syntax...

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Re:ReScript 8.4 by spyder81 on Tuesday December 15, 2020 @02:33AM (#25427916)

Quite the opposite, Reason v4 looks to be taking inspiration from the changes ReScript has made.

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Re:ReScript 8.4 by pjmlp on Tuesday December 15, 2020 @01:58AM (#25427758)

For me, being an old dog, it is quite clear. Yet another guest language that fades away.

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