Js.Null.to_opt removed without prior warning in 2.2.0

[glennsl]

• The previous release was 2.1.0 on Nov 22
• Js.Null.to_opt was deprecated on Dec 14 in favor of Js.Null.toOption (2768ac4#diff-c2f399ae02369d3ffa86dc84d9c57011)
• It was then removed on Jan 7 (9c49bf7#diff-c2f399ae02369d3ffa86dc84d9c57011)
• 2.2.0 was released on Feb 12. There's been no releases in between.

This is a breaking change in a release that according to semantic versioning should be backwards-compatible, without any prior deprecation, and without even a note in the change log. Meanwhile, Elm's publishing tool enforces semantic versioning for even the most trivial third-party package. This does not compare favorably.

In the short term I suggest adding Js.Null.to_opt back as deprecated, noting it in the change log and making a patch release. In the long term I suggest we create a tool that compares the API against the previous release to ensure it doesn't break semantic versioning again.

[OvermindDL1]

Uh, why is it 'fromOption' instead, camelcase is not very ocaml'y... o.O

[glennsl]

BuckleScript targets the npm ecosystem, focuses on generating highly readable and interoperable JavaScript code, and is for those reasons (and perhaps some other Reasons) to a large degree used by, and trying to attract, people more familiar with (and likely with a preference for) JavaScript and camelCase than OCaml and snake_case.

I think snake_case is more readable too, but this is really not a difficult decision to make. And I think you'll have to make a stronger argument than "Uh" and "o.O" if you want to convince anyone otherwise.

[OvermindDL1]

I think snake_case is more readable too, but this is really not a difficult decision to make. And I think you'll have to make a stronger argument than "Uh" and "o.O" if you want to convince anyone otherwise.

I find a coherent ecosystem's casing the most compelling argument, and OCaml is snake_case. ^.^

[glennsl]

I agree completely. But BuckleScript is primarily targeting the npm/js ecosystem, which uses camelCase, not the OCaml ecosystem. That is perhaps the most distinguishing feature of BuckleScript compared to js_of_ocaml.

[OvermindDL1]

Heh, my main reason for choosing bucklescript is more readable and smaller output than js_of_ocaml, not javascript horrors. ;-)

[glennsl]

Yeah, I think that's the other major distinguishing feature. There wil also likely be better interop with the OCaml ecosystem in the future, but npm/js will most likely still be the main target since it's native to the target platform and so much more lively.

[bobzhang]

fixed and made a minor release, thanks for reporting