[Teaching] Asking teachers: what support would you want to distribute OCaml to students ?

Yaron Minsky yminsky at janestreet.com
Tue Dec 2 13:32:06 GMT 2014


This seems like a great little howto.  Should we perhaps have a teaching
FAQ on ocaml.org and put bits of advice like this in there?

y
On Dec 1, 2014 9:48 PM, "Louis Gesbert" <louis.gesbert at ocamlpro.com> wrote:

>  On how to provide a set of libraries to install, the following is on its
> way to the FAQ:
>
>
>
> «
>
> ### Easily provide a set of packages for students to install
>
>
>
> The easiest way is to create a package with your prerequisites as
> `depends` and
>
> have them pin that. A quick way to host the file is to use a
>
> [Gist](https://gist.github.com). Create one with minimal contents and
> listing
>
> your packages as dependencies -- the file name **has** to be `opam`:
>
>
>
> ```
>
> opam-version: "1.2"
>
> name: "ocaml101"
>
> version: "0.1"
>
> maintainer: "Louis Gesbert <louis.gesbert at ocamlpro.com>"
>
> depends: [ "menhir" { = "20140422" }
>
> "merlin" { >= "2" }
>
> "ocp-indent"
>
> "ocp-index" ]
>
> ```
>
>
>
> Save that and get the `HTTPS clone URL`. All that is needed then is to run:
>
>
>
> ```shell
>
> $ opam pin add ocaml101 <HTTPS clone URL>
>
> ```
>
>
>
> Furthermore, `opam update` will then pick up any modification you made to
> the gist.
>
> »
>
>
>
> Cheers,
>
> Louis
>
>
>
>
>
> Le jeudi 27 novembre 2014, 18:23:40 Louis Gesbert a écrit :
>
> > Thanks for the feedback!
>
> >
>
> > > Things, I would love:
>
> > > - being able to give them a sort of meta-package requiring a set of
> libraries
>
> > It's possible to define one within a repository. Or, more directly, it
> should work to host an archive containing an `opam` file somewhere, and
> then have them run `opam pin URL`.
>
> > I'll check if that works and document it somewhere (OPAM FAQ?) if that
> turns out to be useful.
>
> >
>
> > > - perhaps some support to get access to the sources (perhaps it exists
> but I haven’t seen it), sometimes I push them into looking at the code of
> the libraries and they need to get it (or browse github). Why not also the
> doc?
>
> > OPAM 1.2 added the `opam source <package>` command. Damn useful :)
>
> >
>
> > Hope that helps!
>
> >
>
> >
>
> > _______________________________________________
>
> > Teaching mailing list
>
> > Teaching at lists.ocaml.org
>
> > http://lists.ocaml.org/listinfo/teaching
>
> >
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Teaching mailing list
> Teaching at lists.ocaml.org
> http://lists.ocaml.org/listinfo/teaching
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.ocaml.org/pipermail/teaching/attachments/20141202/0ddd37fc/attachment.html>


More information about the Teaching mailing list