[cwn] Attn: Development Editor, Latest OCaml Weekly News

Tue Jan 22 00:47:05 PST 2019

Hello

Here is the latest OCaml Weekly News, for the week of January 15 to 22,
2019.

Table of Contents
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openai-gym-ocaml: reinforcement learning algorithms trainnig environment
Compiler software engineer at Habana
Contractor to work on F* and Project Everest
Google Summer of Code
Other OCaml News
Old CWN

openai-gym-ocaml: reinforcement learning algorithms trainnig environment
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  Archive:
  <https://sympa.inria.fr/sympa/arc/caml-list/2019-01/msg00032.html>

Louis Mandel announced
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  We are happy to announce the first release of openai-gym-ocaml
  (<https://github.com/IBM/openai-gym-ocaml>) an OCaml binding to the
  openai-gym toolkit for developing and comparing reinforcement learning
  algorithms (<https://gym.openai.com/>).

  The library can be installed using opam:

  opam install openai-gym

  It also requires a gym-http-api server
  (<https://github.com/openai/gym-http-api>) to communicate with Python.

Compiler software engineer at Habana
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  Archive:
  <https://sympa.inria.fr/sympa/arc/caml-list/2019-01/msg00041.html>

KAMMAR Ohad announced
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  An opportunity for a PLT-savvy compiler developer.  For an ad from
  Habana, see below. In short:

  Habana is a start-up based in Tel-Aviv, Israel, developing specialised
  hardware for deep-learning libraries/APIs/frameworks (TensorFlow,
  PyTorch, Cafe2, mxnet, ONNX). They're interested in someone with PL
  design and implementation know-how, who is also interested in
  relocating to Israel in the first instance.

  I can answer some basic questions about this position. I'm currently
  at POPL if that helps, or just drop me an email. For detailed answers,
  including details about the application process, please contact Tzachi
  Cohen <tcohen at habana.ai>.

  Please forward this message to anyone or any mailing list that you
  think might be relevant.

  Yours, Ohad.

  <https://habana.ai/>
  Position: Compiler software engineer
  Percentage: Full time

  Habana is a young and innovative startup company, located in Tel-Aviv
  Israel, that focuses on developing disruptive solutions that will
  shape the future of AI and Deep Learning computing. Led by top
  technologists and successful entrepreneurs, with the backing of
  premier venture capitalists, our vision is to take AI processing from
  its current limits to the peak of its potential. We see challenges as
  a tremendous opportunity, we are focused on execution and determined
  to make our vision come true.  We are looking for exceptionally smart
  people who believe that AI will change the world and would like to
  join our exciting journey!

  Habana is looking to hire a world class compiler engineer to work in a
  talented and motivated team of great engineers. You will be
  responsible for design and implementation of an advanced C/C++ based
  compiler environment for novel AI processor. You will get a chance to
  tackle several interesting and challenging problems working on
  compilers for cutting-edge technologies.

  What we need to see:
  • Strong background in compilers.
  • Strong C/C++ programming skills.

  • A strong understanding of:
    • Parallel programming models.
    • Programming language design.
    • Knowledge of ELF and linkers
    • Knowledge of Compiler front-end and back-end

  • Experience with variety of aspects of compiler including:
    • Clang and LLVM
    • Code optimizations
    • Data flow analysis
    • Code generation and building a good compiler framework.

  The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
  Scotland, with registration number SC005336.

Contractor to work on F* and Project Everest
════════════════════════════════════════════

  Archive:
  <https://sympa.inria.fr/sympa/arc/caml-list/2019-01/msg00042.html>

Nikhil Swamy announced
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  Microsoft Research is looking to hire a short-term contractor
  (part-time, for 3-6 months with some possibility for extension) to
  work on F* and Project Everest. See <https://fstar-lang.org> and
  <https://project-everest.github.io> for more information.

  An ideal candidate would have several of the following skills:

  • OCaml, including ocamlbuild
  • Makefiles and build systems
  • Emacs and elisp
  • Docker
  • Git
  • Willingness to work with bleeding edge research tools
  • Ability to work in geographically distributed environment (flexible
    with timezones, good at written communication, etc.)
  • Some understanding of, or at least curiosity to learn about, program
    verification

  The work would not necessarily lead to publishable research, but it
  would involve working in an engineering role on open-source software,
  in close collaboration (though remotely) with a large
  PL/Systems/Security research team.

  Please reply directly to me (nswamy at microsoft.com) if you are
  interested.

Google Summer of Code
═════════════════════

  Archive: <https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/google-summer-of-code/3196/1>

Yotam Barnoy said
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  I'd like to look into joining Google Summer of Code this summer.

  For those who don't know, GSoC is a summer internship sponsored by
  Google, where open source organizations get full-time students as
  interns (paid by Google) to help take care of tasks. It's a huge boon
  to many ecosystems, allowing potentially some impressive progress to
  take place, and therefore many organizations try to qualify.

  In order to apply, we'd need:

  • A list of good task suggestions for students. These tasks need to be
    things that can be realistically done by someone working full-time
    over a single summer. Students can suggest other tasks, but we need
    to provide some suggestions.
  • People volunteering to mentor a student. Mentoring requires
    continuous communication and contact with the student, as well as
    responding to requests and questions. I've mentored in the past, and
    it's a fun experience.

  In general, Google wants to know that its money isn't wasted, so we'd
  need to provide a schedule of desired deliverables where we check up
  on what the student has been doing. Occasional blogging by the student
  is also heavily encouraged, so as to show and advertise their work.

  Let's see if we can get a list of tasks for this summer. One nice
  thing about a task list is that even if we don't get in this summer,
  once we have the list, we can reuse it when applying next year. I've
  created a [page on ocamlverse] for the list. Feel free to add a task
  there or here in this discussion – any medium-sized task in the
  compiler or ecosystem should be good.

[page on ocamlverse] <https://ocamlverse.github.io/content/gsoc.html>

Anton Kochkov then said
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  From my experience as GSoC administrator, it is important also to
  write:

  • General introduction about the project and approximate roadmap
  • Application process, template, contacts of the administrators and
    mentors, conflict management
  • Guidelines for writing proposal, contributing and testing
    methodology
  • Evaluation criteria for all tasks (1st term, 2nd term and final
    term)
  • Benefits for students and project that solving particular task can
    give
  • Additional information about task - links to the github issues, code
    paths, papers and references

Anton Kochkov then added
────────────────────────

  Also seems based on this issue
  <https://github.com/OCamlverse/ocamlverse.github.io/issues/30>

Other OCaml News
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From the ocamlcore planet blog
──────────────────────────────

  Here are links from many OCaml blogs aggregated at [OCaml Planet].

  • [Deprecating file releases on the forge]
  • [Coq 8.9.0 is out]
  • [Improving Tezos Storage]

[OCaml Planet] <http://ocaml.org/community/planet/>

[Deprecating file releases on the forge]
<http://forge.ocamlcore.org/forum/forum.php?forum_id=966>

[Coq 8.9.0 is out] <https://coq.inria.fr/news/149.html>

[Improving Tezos Storage]
<http://www.ocamlpro.com/2019/01/15/improving-tezos-storage/>

Old CWN
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  [Alan Schmitt]

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[online] <http://lists.idyll.org/listinfo/caml-news-weekly/>

[Alan Schmitt] <http://alan.petitepomme.net/>

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