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Languages & runtimes · #ocaml
Guide to choosing OCaml native code versus bytecode based on performance, size, portability, and debugging needs, with a build and validation example.
Ordinary OCaml variants force duplication or wrapper types when modules share overlapping sets of cases. Polymorphic variants solve this — here's a worked config-parser example, plus the exhaustiveness trade-off you need to manage.
OCaml's pattern matching catches missing cases at compile time, preventing runtime Match_failure exceptions. Use -warn-error +8 to elevate warnings to errors.
An uncaught Stack_overflow on large inputs means a recursive call is not in tail position. Diagnose it with bytecode builds, backtraces, and stack-limit tests, then fix it with accumulators, CPS, or explicit worklists.
Learn how the Flambda whole‑program optimizer can cut execution time of recursive and numeric OCaml code, what build‑time costs to expect, and how to enable it safely in a project.
ppx_deriving generates compare, show, and equality functions from one annotation, keeping them correct as types evolve — but generated code has real costs in error readability and build complexity worth understanding first.
Guidance on choosing polymorphic variants versus ADTs/GADTs for heterogeneous data in OCaml, with a JSON‑like example and verification steps.
Discover how OCaml signatures and functors enable clean, type‑safe plug‑in architectures. A step‑by‑step example shows swapping production and test services without touching the rest of the code.
A decision guide that outlines constraints, compares Lwt, Eio, and Domains/Domainslib, explains trade‑offs, and shows a minimal validation sketch for each approach using documented APIs.