Software

OCaml 5

This course requires OCaml 5.4 or later for native support of parallelism (domains) and concurrency (effect handlers).

Installation

Follow the official OCaml installation guide. We recommend using opam, the OCaml package manager.

Quick Start (Linux/macOS/WSL):

bash -c "sh <(curl -fsSL https://opam.ocaml.org/install.sh)"
opam init
opam switch create 5.4.0
opam install ocaml-lsp-server.1.24.0 ocamlformat.0.28.1 utop.2.16.0 qcheck-lin.0.10 qcheck-stm.0.10

Windows Users: Use WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) for best compatibility.

Development Environment

We recommend Visual Studio Code with the OCaml Platform extension for:

• Syntax highlighting and formatting
• Type information on hover
• Jump to definition
• Error checking
• Auto-completion

Other editors with good OCaml support: Emacs (with Tuareg/Merlin), Vim (with Merlin/coc.nvim).

Build Tools

• Dune: OCaml build system (installed via opam above)
• Make: Some examples use Makefiles for convenience

Benchmarking Tools

• Hyperfine: Command-line benchmarking tool - Installation

Learning Resources

Concurrent Programming

Primary Textbooks

• The Art of Multiprocessor Programming (2nd Edition) by Maurice Herlihy, Nir Shavit, Victor Luchangco, and Michael Spear. Publisher Link

  Comprehensive coverage of concurrent algorithms, memory models, and synchronization primitives.

• Control structures in programming languages: from goto to algebraic effects by Xavier Leroy. Free Online

  Essential reading on control structures, continuations, and effect handlers - foundational concepts for understanding concurrency and algebraic effects in OCaml 5.

OCaml Resources

Getting Started with OCaml

• CS3100: Paradigms of Programming (Monsoon 2020) by KC Sivaramakrishnan. GitHub Repository

  Introduction to functional programming with OCaml, including lecture notes, code examples, and YouTube video lectures. Good foundation for students new to OCaml.

• OCaml Programming: Correct + Efficient + Beautiful by Michael Clarkson et al. cs3110.github.io/textbook

  Comprehensive textbook on functional programming and OCaml fundamentals.

• Real World OCaml (2nd Edition) by Yaron Minsky, Anil Madhavapeddy and Jason Hickey. dev.realworldocaml.org

  Practical OCaml programming with real-world examples.

OCaml 5 Multicore Features

• OCaml 5.4 Manual: Domains and Effect Handlers

• Parallel Programming in Multicore OCaml: ocaml.org/manual/5.4/parallelism.html

• Introduction to Effect Handlers: OCaml.org Tutorial

• OCaml Multicore Wiki: github.com/ocaml-multicore/ocaml-multicore/wiki

Reference & Practice

• OCaml Manual: ocaml.org/manual

• OCaml API Documentation: ocaml.org/api

• 99 OCaml Problems: ocaml.org/problems

• Exercism OCaml Track: exercism.org/tracks/ocaml

Community

• OCaml Discuss: discuss.ocaml.org

• OCaml Discord: discord.gg/cCYQbqN

Background Reading

Computer Architecture & Systems

• Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach by Hennessy and Patterson

  Essential for understanding memory hierarchies, cache coherence, and multiprocessor systems.

• Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces by Remzi and Andrea Arpaci-Dusseau. Free online

  Excellent coverage of concurrency, synchronization, and operating system concepts.

Memory Models & Consistency

• C/C++ Memory Model: cppreference.com/w/cpp/atomic/memory_order

  Understanding memory ordering and atomics in C/C++.

• Linux Kernel Memory Barriers: kernel.org documentation

  Low-level details of memory barriers in system programming.

Advanced Topics

• Preshing on Programming: preshing.com

  Excellent blog with articles on concurrency, lock-free programming, and memory models.

• r/ocaml: reddit.com/r/ocaml