Add the activity report for 2024 Q1 and the roadmap for 2024 Q2.

Author: sjrd

projects.md

@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 ---
-redirect_to: /records/2024-Q1-roadmap.html
+redirect_to: /records/2024-Q2-roadmap.html
 ---

records.md

@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ Every quarter, the Scala Center publishes an activity report detailing the
 work that has been achieved. You can find the roadmap for the current quarter
 in the [Projects page]({% link projects.md %}).
 
+- [2024, Q1]({% link records/2024-Q1-activity-report.md %})
 - [2023, Q4]({% link records/2023-Q4-activity-report.md %})
 - [2023, Q3]({% link records/2023-Q3-activity-report.md %})
 - [2023, Q2]({% link records/2023-Q2-activity-report.md %})

records/2024-Q1-activity-report.md

@@ -0,0 +1,249 @@
+---
+layout: contact
+title: Scala Center Activity Report for 2024 Q1
+---
+
+Scala Center team:
+Darja Jovanovic, 100%;
+Anatolii Kmetiuk, 100% until March 15;
+Adrien Piquerez, 80%;
+Jamie Thompson, 100%;
+Sébastien Doeraene, 100%;
+Guillaume Martres, 20%;
+Valérie Meillaud: 30%.
+VirtusLab team: Jędrzej Rochala, 100%.
+
+## At a Glance
+{: .no_toc}
+
+* Table of Contents
+{:toc}
+
+
+## Language, Compiler, Standard Library
+
+### Maintainance of the Scala 3 Compiler
+
+For Scala 3.
+
+Every month, about 100 new issues are opened on [the Scala 3 repository](https://github.com/lampepfl/dotty/).
+The project welcomes any help it can get in triaging, bug-fixing, PR reviewing, etc.
+
+Our goal is to solve long-standing issues while keeping up with new ones.
+We also aim to get more people involved in working on the compiler to ensure the sustainability of the project.
+
+We contributed PRs for bug fixes in various areas.
+
+### Improving Performance of the Scala 3 compiler
+
+For Scala 3.
+
+#### Support for pipelined concurrent compilation
+
+We merged PRs [scala/scala3#18880] and [scala/scala3#20153], which from Scala 3.5.0 enable support for pipelined builds in sbt (pipelined Scala 2 builds are supported since 2020).
+Pipelining enables multi-project builds to increase throughput by compiling upstream sub-projects in parallel with a downstream sub-project.
+In the contributors forum, [early testers report](https://contributors.scala-lang.org/t/try-out-pipelined-builds-in-scala-3-5-nightly/6627) improvements from 10%-30% in build times.
+The maximum potential for improvements really depends on each individual build layout.
+
+The pipeline compilation mode will act as the basis for further compilation modes that can increase parallelism in builds, such as an initial outline typing mode, currently incubating in PR [scala/scala3#19589].
+
+We also improved the Java type checker in the compiler (PR [scala/scala3#19747]), which is necessary for pipeline builds which export Java definitions to TASTy format.
+
+#### Computing compilation metadata in parallel.
+
+Another way to potentially improve compilation times is move computation of various data formats used by Scala tooling to a separate thread.
+We are currently supervising a student project at EPFL to compute Zinc metadata using TASTy Query -- which can be offloaded to a separate thread after the pickler phase is completed.
+Typically, computation of Zinc metadata adds 10% time to the build of a single project.
+We hope to reduce that overhead.
+
+### Scala.js-specific Minifier
+
+For Scala 2 and 3.
+
+During this quarter, we implemented various optimizations reducing code size of Scala.js projects.
+The main ingredient was a global property renamer for the Scala.js linker, which we call the minifier.
+The minifier is enabled by default when the Google Closure Compiler cannot be used, which is notably the case when emitting ECMAScript modules.
+
+Other optimizations apply in all configurations, and include:
+
+* purity analysis of constructors in order to better elide unused fields and modules
+* dealiasing of `val`s in top-level objects when their right-hand-sides are constants, references to other objects, or references to fields of other objects
+* "inlining" of local `val`s that are used only once
+
+We shipped all of these as part of [Scala.js 1.16.0](https://www.scala-js.org/news/2024/03/19/announcing-scalajs-1.16.0/).
+Most feedback reports from users suggest converge on 35-40% code size reduction for real-world applications.
+
+### WebAssembly backend for Scala.js
+
+For Scala 2 and 3.
+
+In collaboration with VirtusLab, we have developed an initial version of a [WebAssembly backend for Scala.js](https://github.com/tanishiking/scala-wasm).
+The implementation already passes the full test suite of Scala.js, with the exception of `@JSExport`ed members in Scala classes.
+
+The code produced is not yet optimized.
+Code size is however comparable to the minified output for JavaScript.
+This suggests that after optimizations, we will reach significantly smaller bundles.
+We do not know yet what the performance profiles will look like.
+
+The next steps on this project are to merge the work into Scala.js core and ship it as part of the next release.
+We will then look into enabling the Scala.js optimizer in the WebAssembly backend.
+
+### TASTy Reader for Scala 2
+
+For Scala 2.
+
+We added support in Scala 2.13.13 (PR [scala/scala#10670][scala/scala#10670]) for TASTy produced by Scala 3.4.
+This update integrates support for two major changes:
+
+* the ability to read from classpath entries that only contain TASTy files, such as when using pipeline compilation.
+* the ability to read Java definitions from TASTy.
+
+### Scala Improvement Process
+
+For Scala 3.
+
+The [Scala Improvement Process](https://docs.scala-lang.org/sips/) coordinates the evolution of the language.
+It ensures that the decisions are made by taking into account the needs of all the stakeholders of the language.
+
+Several SIPs were approved for Implementation in the past quarter.
+The binary literals SIP made it all the way to final approval, and will ship in Scala 3.5.0.
+
+## Developer Experience
+
+### Debugger in Metals
+
+For Scala 2 and 3.
+
+We released the [4.x major version](https://github.com/scalacenter/scala-debug-adapter/releases/tag/v4.0.0) of the Scala Debug Adapter, which features pretty stack traces, run-time evaluation and hot-code replace:
+
+* In the pretty stack traces (scala 3 only) we print the fully typed Scala signatures instead of the erased Java ones.
+* The run-time evaluator (Scala 2 and 3) is able to evaluate Java-like expressions using run-time information of the program. It speeds up the watches and the debug console, and allows to access members without casting. The compiler-based evaluation is still used as a fall-back to evaluate Scala expressions: overload resolution, pattern matching, lambdas, implicit resolution, macro expansion, etc.
+* The hot-code replace feature (Scala 2 and 3) allows to re-compile code during the debug session and to load it. It changes the implementation of methods that are already loaded by the debugged JVM.
+
+This new version of the Scala Debug Adapter is available in Metals since version 1.3.0.
+
+### Presentation Compiler
+
+For Scala 3.
+
+We are always working on improving the IDE experience.
+During this quarter, we fixed a number of issues in the presentation compiler, which powers autocompletion, signature hints, etc.
+
+We also invested some time into a significant refactoring in the autocompletion implementation.
+That refactoring helped us bring two improvements:
+
+* introducing fuzzy search for completions, making them more resilient to user input, and
+* improving the heuristic for completions of constructors and `apply` methods to classes and values.
+
+They will be shipped in Scala 3.3.4 in the LTS line, and 3.5.0 in the Next line.
+
+### sbt 2
+
+For Scala 2 and Scala 3.
+
+We pursued the migration of sbt to Scala 3:
+
+* We cleaned up parts of the sbt codebase: [reducing abstraction in Execute](https://github.com/sbt/sbt/pull/7444), [using Tuple.Map instead of AList](https://github.com/sbt/sbt/pull/7456), [removing usage of Manifest](https://github.com/sbt/sbt/pull/7490).
+* We fixed many of the pending tests: mostly in [#7522](https://github.com/sbt/sbt/pull/7522), but also in [#7492](https://github.com/sbt/sbt/pull/7492), [#7494](https://github.com/sbt/sbt/pull/7494), [#7517](https://github.com/sbt/sbt/pull/7517), [#7519](https://github.com/sbt/sbt/pull/7519), [#7521](https://github.com/sbt/sbt/pull/7521), and [#7538](https://github.com/sbt/sbt/pull/7538).
+
+We use the [#7462 meta issue](https://github.com/sbt/sbt/issues/7462) to track the progress of porting sbt to Scala 3.
+
+Additionally, we are supporting the development of remote caching in sbt 2 by reviewing pull requests ([#7464](https://github.com/sbt/sbt/pull/7464), [#7525](https://github.com/sbt/sbt/pull/7525)) and contributing ([#7539](https://github.com/sbt/sbt/pull/7539)).
+
+### Zed Editor Support for Scala
+
+For Scala 2 and 3.
+
+The Zed text editor become open source in early 2024, and gathered a lot of attention across the industry.
+We investigated adding support for Scala with Metals as an LSP extension.
+In the process, we identified and reported a bug in Zed's LSP client implementation (see issue [zed-industries/zed#7091][zed-industries/zed#7091]).
+We also coordinated with other community members.
+A Scala plugin has now been accepted to the Zed extension store.
+
+### Metals maintenance
+
+For Scala 2 and 3.
+
+We are generally working on improving the stability of Metals.
+One major difficulty is that effectively reporting issues is difficult for users, notably in the presence of crashes.
+
+To get better insight into everyday issues, we are implementing a telemetry system inside Metals.
+It will allow users to opt in to automatically sending reports in the event of crashes.
+We expect that these additional data will help us make Metals more robust in the future.
+
+## Community and Contributor Experience
+
+For Scala 2 and Scala 3 throughout.
+
+### Ambassador Program
+
+We incubated the [Scala Ambassador program](https://github.com/scalacenter/ambassadors).
+This is a program to foster a new generation of Scala community leaders, able to competently answer community questions.
+Those people will also be empowered to organize local community events and otherwise help their local communities thrive.
+
+Currently, the program is in its early stages, as we welcome our first Ambassadors on an invitation basis.
+The program is meant to recognize and support the independent work of active community leaders.
+We publicly announced it at Scalar 2024 and [on our website](https://www.scala-lang.org/blog/2024/03/28/ambassadors-initiative.html).
+
+The ambassador program will strengthen the community, amplify the official story around Scala and increase activity in the local Scala communities.
+
+### Google Summer of Code
+
+Google Summer of Code has been a long-standing vehicle for the Scala Center to attract newcomers to the Scala OSS world.
+
+This year, the Scala Center was accepted again as an organization.
+We received 15 good proposals from students, supported by 11 mentors from across the Scala community.
+We are in the process of submitting the proposals to Google for ranking.
+After we find out how many projects Google will accept for the implementation stage, we will mentor students and support other mentors throughout the program.
+
+### Scala.IO
+
+We organized a Scala Spree co-located with the Scala.IO conference.
+We also gave a talk there about the Scala 3 Compiler Academy, which covers how to bootstrap and develop similar projects.
+
+### Scalar Conference
+
+At Scalar, Warsaw, we presented a talk about how to use type class derivation "Mirrors for operations, not data".
+The talk raises awareness about the new type-class derivation feature of Scala 3.
+It proposes new directions to take it in, such as synthesizing web services from descriptions.
+
+Our team also held a booth at Scalar.
+At the booth, we answered questions from the community, collected feedback and worked to establish new corporate partnerships.
+
+### Scala Website Scams
+
+In February and March 2024, the Scala community was the target of an elaborate scam scheme.
+We took immediate action to warn the community, shut down domain names used by the scammers, and support victims--to the extend possible.
+
+Among the most effective measures we took, we added warning banners to the official Scala websites.
+Since the fraudulent sites copied major sections of our websites, many links take potential victims to the real site, where they see our warning.
+We have had reports that this actually helped to prevent more people become victims to this scam.
+
+We extensively communicated about the scams and our response.
+You can find more details in [an initial warning blog post](https://www.scala-lang.org/blog/2024/03/01/fake-scala-courses.html) and [an update on our response](https://www.scala-lang.org/blog/2024/03/18/scam-response.html).
+
+We have not received further complaints in April, which we hope means the end of this particular attack.
+
+### Scala in Embedded Systems programming
+
+We have been consulting with the Embedded Systems Laboratory at EPFL on a project to create a framework for developing FPGA accelerators in Scala, based upon the Chisel DSL.
+We aim to promote Scala's abstraction capabilities to make it easier for hardware engineers to do their work.
+
+### Compiler Sprees
+
+We maintained our involvement in the [Scala 3 Compiler Academy Issue Spree](https://www.scala-lang.org/blog/2022/11/02/compiler-academy.html).
+We collaborated with both new and experienced contributors on issues such as [dotty#19464](https://github.com/lampepfl/dotty/pull/19464) and [dotty#19463](https://github.com/lampepfl/dotty/pull/19463).
+
+Since its inception, the compiler spree has helped close [more then a hundred issues](https://github.com/lampepfl/dotty/issues?q=is%3Aissue+sort%3Aupdated-desc+label%3ASpree+is%3Aclosed) with the help of over 80 contributors.
+
+[scala/improvement-proposals#67]: https://github.com/scala/improvement-proposals/pull/67
+[scala/scala3#18880]: https://github.com/scala/scala3/pull/18880
+[scala/scala-lang#1604]: https://github.com/scala/scala-lang/pull/1604
+[scala/docs.scala-lang#2993]: https://github.com/scala/docs.scala-lang/pull/2993
+[zed-industries/zed#7091]: https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/issues/7091
+[scala/scala#10670]: https://github.com/scala/scala/pull/10670
+[pipeline-thread]: https://contributors.scala-lang.org/t/try-out-pipelined-builds-in-scala-3-5-nightly/6627
+[scala/scala3#19747]: https://github.com/scala/scala3/pull/19747
+[scala/scala3#19589]: https://github.com/scala/scala3/pull/19589
+[scala/scala3#20153]: https://github.com/scala/scala3/pull/20153
+[scala/scala3#19838]: https://github.com/scala/scala3/pull/19838

records/2024-Q1-roadmap.md

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ We also post regular updates about our projects on the [Scala Contributors forum
 
 To have more information about our _completed_ projects, please see the [quarterly activity reports]({% link records.md %}).
 
-## Roadmap for 2023 Q4
+## Roadmap for 2024 Q1
 {: .no_toc}
 
 The following sections present our plan for the current quarter.