|
| 1 | +--- |
| 2 | +author: hongbo |
| 3 | +date: "2020-09-23" |
| 4 | +previewImg: |
| 5 | +category: compiler |
| 6 | +title: What's new in ReScript 8.3 (Part 1) |
| 7 | +description: | |
| 8 | +--- |
| 9 | + |
| 10 | + |
| 11 | +# What's new in ReScript 8.3 (Part 1) |
| 12 | + |
| 13 | +ReScript was called BuckleScript, |
| 14 | +it's a soundly typed language with an optimizing compiler focused on JS platform. |
| 15 | +It's focused on type safety, performance and JS interop. |
| 16 | + |
| 17 | +[email protected] is available, people can try it via |
| 18 | + |
| 19 | +``` |
| 20 | + |
| 21 | +``` |
| 22 | + |
| 23 | +The changes are listed [here](https://github.com/rescript-lang/rescript-compiler/blob/master/Changes.md#83), this is a large release, and we will go through some highlighted changes. |
| 24 | + |
| 25 | + |
| 26 | + |
| 27 | +## Lightweight FFI attributes without `bs.` prefix |
| 28 | + |
| 29 | +In this release, we make it optional to have `bs.` prefix it or not, this will make the FFI less verbose, |
| 30 | + |
| 31 | +For example, the old externals for `readFileAsUtf8Sync` used to be written like this |
| 32 | + |
| 33 | + |
| 34 | +```ocaml |
| 35 | +external readFileAsUtf8Sync : string -> (_[@bs.as "utf8"]) -> string = "readFileSync" [@@bs.val] [@@bs.module "fs"] |
| 36 | +``` |
| 37 | + |
| 38 | +Could be simplified as |
| 39 | +```ocaml |
| 40 | +external readFileAsUtf8Sync : string -> (_[@as "utf8"]) -> string = "readFileSync" |
| 41 | +[@@val] [@@module "fs"] |
| 42 | +``` |
| 43 | + |
| 44 | +Note almost all previous attributes with `bs.xx` can be simplified as `xx`, except such two that |
| 45 | +we don't provide abbreviations: |
| 46 | + |
| 47 | +- `bs.send.pipe` : this attribute was deprecated in favor of `bs.send`, you can still use the long one for backward compatibility. |
| 48 | + |
| 49 | +- `bs.splice` : this attribute was deprecated in favor of `bs.variadic`, you can still use the existing one for |
| 50 | +backward compatibility. |
| 51 | + |
| 52 | + |
| 53 | +## default import in Es6 support |
| 54 | + |
| 55 | +If you use es6 module output, the default bindings will be compiled properly now: |
| 56 | + |
| 57 | +```ocaml |
| 58 | +external input : string -> string = "default" [@@module "hello"] |
| 59 | +
|
| 60 | +let a = input "hello" |
| 61 | +``` |
| 62 | + |
| 63 | +Will now be compiled properly under es6 format as below: |
| 64 | + |
| 65 | +```js |
| 66 | +import Hello from "hello"; |
| 67 | +var a = Hello("hello"); |
| 68 | +``` |
| 69 | + |
| 70 | + |
| 71 | +## Customized js file extension support |
| 72 | + |
| 73 | +Now user can pick up their js file extension support per module format: |
| 74 | + |
| 75 | +```json |
| 76 | + "package-specs": [{ |
| 77 | + "module": "es6", |
| 78 | + "suffix": ".mjs" |
| 79 | + },{ |
| 80 | + "module": "commonjs", |
| 81 | + "suffix": ".cjs" |
| 82 | + }], |
| 83 | + |
| 84 | +``` |
| 85 | + |
| 86 | +## More flexible filename support |
| 87 | + |
| 88 | +To have better integration with other [JS infrastructures](https://github.com/rescript-lang/rescript-compiler/issues/4624), for example, Next.js/React Native, we allow file names like `404.res`, `Button.Andriod.res` so that it can just be picked up by those tools |
| 89 | + |
| 90 | + |
| 91 | + |
| 92 | +## Better type based inference for pattern `let {a,b,c} = value` |
| 93 | + |
| 94 | +Previously for such piece of code: |
| 95 | + |
| 96 | +```ocaml |
| 97 | +module N = struct |
| 98 | + type t = { |
| 99 | + x : int |
| 100 | + } |
| 101 | +end |
| 102 | +
|
| 103 | +let f (u : N.t) = |
| 104 | + let {x } = u in x + 1 (* type error *) |
| 105 | +``` |
| 106 | + |
| 107 | +You will get a type error |
| 108 | + |
| 109 | +``` |
| 110 | +Error: Unbound record field x |
| 111 | +``` |
| 112 | + |
| 113 | +However, since the compiler already knows the type of `u`, it is capable of looking up label `x` properly, |
| 114 | +in this release, we make such style work out of the box without adding a module prefix like `let {N.x} = ..` |
| 115 | + |
| 116 | +## Build system enhancement |
| 117 | + |
| 118 | +A lot of work is put in improving the build system, we will expand on this topic in the next post! |
| 119 | + |
| 120 | +Happy Hacking! |
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