Orb does some pretty weird stuff...
Basically Orb is a collection of libraries, and then an ast mapper (ppx) that rewrites normal OCaml literals to use Orb's types. And then some more functions for fun...
So for example, this is a valid, complete, Orb program:
puts ^ 2 + 2 ;
puts ^ 2.3 + 5.6 ;
puts ^ "hi " + "you" ;
puts {var = 23}.var
Uhh...
Did you just change what integers and strings do? yep
Did you just change the ^ operator? you bet
Did you make everything an object? I did
I love OCaml: even the object system! Orb doesn't mess around with inheritance but takes full advantage of the row polymorphism presented by the object system and polymorphic variants in OCaml.
So at its best Orb is an attempt to make a usable alternative standard library. Is it usable now? No.
At its least, Orb showcases how useful Ppx is, and just how configurable OCaml is.
See example/example.ml for more weirdness!
Want a repl? Just make top