Blog Post: Announcing Dotty 0.6.0 and 0.7.0-RC1

Author: allanrenucci

docs/blog/_posts/2018-03-05-seventh-dotty-milestone-release.md

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+---
+layout: blog-page
+title: Announcing Dotty 0.6.0 and 0.7.0-RC1
+author: Allan Renucci
+authorImg: /images/allan.jpg
+date: 2018-03-05
+---
+
+Today, we are excited to release Dotty versions 0.6.0 and 0.7.0-RC1. These releases
+serve as a technology preview that demonstrates new language features and the compiler supporting them.
+
+If you’re not familiar with Dotty, it's a platform to try out new language concepts and compiler
+technologies for Scala. The focus is mainly on simplification. We remove extraneous syntax
+(e.g. no XML literals), and try to boil down Scala’s types into a smaller set of more fundamental
+constructs. The theory behind these constructs is researched in
+[DOT](https://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/215280), a calculus for dependent object types.
+You can learn more about Dotty on our [website](http://dotty.epfl.ch).
+
+<!--more-->
+
+This is our seventh scheduled release according to our [6-week release schedule](/docs/usage/version-numbers.html).
+The [previous technology preview](https://github.com/lampepfl/dotty/releases/tag/0.6.0-RC1) focussed
+on bug fixes and stability work.
+
+## What’s new in the 0.7.0-RC1 technology preview?
+
+### Enums Simplicification [#4003](https://github.com/lampepfl/dotty/pull/4003)
+The previously introduced syntax and rules for enum were arguably too complex. We can considerably
+simplify them by taking away one capability: that cases can have bodies which can define members.
+Arguably, if we choose an ADT decomposition of a problem, it's good style to write all methods using
+pattern matching instead of overriding individual cases. So this removes an unnecessary choice.
+We now treat enums unequivocally as classes. They can have methods and other statements just like
+other classes can. Cases in enums are seen as a form of constructors. We do not need a
+distinction between enum class and enum object anymore. Enums can have companion objects just like
+normal classes can, of course.
+
+Let's consider how `Option` can be represented as an enum. Previously using an enum class:
+```scala
+enum class Option[+T] {
+   def isDefined: Boolean
+}
+object Option {
+  case Some[+T](x: T) {
+     def isDefined = true
+  }
+  case None {
+     def isDefined = false
+  }
+
+  def apply[T(x: T): Option[T] = if (x == null) None else Some(x)
+}
+```
+
+And now:
+```scala
+enum Option[+T] {
+  case Some(x: T)
+  case None
+
+  def isDefined: Boolean = this match {
+    case None => false
+    case some => true
+  }
+}
+
+object Option {
+  def apply[T(x: T): Option[T] = if (x == null) None else Some(x)
+}
+```
+
+You can visit our website for more information about [enumerations](/docs/reference/enums/enums.html)
+and how we can use them to model [Algebraic Data Types](/docs/reference/enums/adts.html).
+
+## Trying out Dotty
+### Scastie
+[Scastie], the online Scala playground, supports Dotty.
+This is an easy way to try Dotty without installing anything.
+
+### sbt
+Using sbt 0.13.13 or newer, do:
+
+```shell
+sbt new lampepfl/dotty.g8
+```
+
+This will setup a new sbt project with Dotty as compiler. For more details on
+using Dotty with sbt, see the
+[example project](https://github.com/lampepfl/dotty-example-project).
+
+### IDE support
+It is very easy to start using the Dotty IDE in any Dotty project by following
+the [IDE guide](http://dotty.epfl.ch/docs/usage/ide-support.html).
+
+
+### Standalone installation
+Releases are available for download on the _Releases_
+section of the Dotty repository:
+[https://github.com/lampepfl/dotty/releases](https://github.com/lampepfl/dotty/releases)
+
+We also provide a [homebrew](https://brew.sh/) package that can be installed by running:
+
+```shell
+brew install lampepfl/brew/dotty
+```
+
+In case you have already installed Dotty via brew, you should instead update it:
+
+```shell
+brew upgrade dotty
+```
+
+## Let us know what you think!
+If you have questions or any sort of feedback, feel free to send us a message on our
+[Gitter channel](https://gitter.im/lampepfl/dotty). If you encounter a bug, please
+[open an issue on GitHub](https://github.com/lampepfl/dotty/issues/new).
+
+## Contributing
+Thank you to all the contributors who made this release possible!
+
+According to `git shortlog -sn --no-merges 0.6.0-RC1..0.7.0-RC1` these are:
+
+```
+TODO
+```
+
+If you want to get your hands dirty and contribute to Dotty, now is a good time to get involved!
+Head to our [Getting Started page for new contributors](http://dotty.epfl.ch/docs/contributing/getting-started.html),
+and have a look at some of the [good first issues](https://github.com/lampepfl/dotty/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+label%3Aexp%3Anovice).
+They make perfect entry-points into hacking on the compiler.
+
+We are looking forward to having you join the team of contributors.
+
+## Library authors: Join our community build
+Dotty now has a set of widely-used community libraries that are built against every nightly Dotty
+snapshot. Currently this includes ScalaPB, algebra, scalatest, scopt and squants.
+Join our [community build](https://github.com/lampepfl/dotty-community-build)
+to make sure that our regression suite includes your library.
+
+
+[Scastie]: https://scastie.scala-lang.org/?target=dotty
+
+[@odersky]: https://github.com/odersky
+[@DarkDimius]: https://github.com/DarkDimius
+[@smarter]: https://github.com/smarter
+[@felixmulder]: https://github.com/felixmulder
+[@nicolasstucki]: https://github.com/nicolasstucki
+[@liufengyun]: https://github.com/liufengyun
+[@OlivierBlanvillain]: https://github.com/OlivierBlanvillain
+[@biboudis]: https://github.com/biboudis
+[@allanrenucci]: https://github.com/allanrenucci
+[@Blaisorblade]: https://github.com/Blaisorblade
+[@Blaisorblade]: https://github.com/Blaisorblade
+[@Duhemm]: https://github.com/duhemm
+