Plutus Core Team Update

High level summary

The Plutus team has published release 1.68.0.0, which includes the Plutus V4 ledger API types. Note that Plutus V4 remains under development, and these types may still change before Dijkstra.

Getting started with Plinth is now much easier: the new install script in plinth-template sets up a Plinth project with a single command, taking care of installing the required tooling. See the updated documentation for details.

Work on Plutus V4 language features continues. Casing on Data has been implemented: case on a Data.Constr value can now dispatch directly on the constructor tag, which, combined with the recently added dropList, yields a decent performance boost. We've also added the assetCount builtin (CIP-0168) along with its cost model, merged the cost model for multiIndexArray (CIP-0156), and continued formalizing builtins in the Agda metatheory.

We also continue to welcome feedback on CPS-0034 - Extending Plutus Core conformance testing.

Key Pull Requests Merged

• Add assetCount builtin (CIP-0168)
• Cost model for assetCount (CIP-0168)
• Cost model for multiIndexArray (CIP-0156)
• Plutus V4 and dijkstraPV
• Use a new POSIXTimeRange datatype for Plutus V4
• Compile Haskell unit to built-in unit
• PIR inliner: exclude type/kind nodes when calculating term size
• Add casing on builtins to the metatheory
• Formalize integer division and CIntegers in the metatheory
• Implement TRACE concretely in the metatheory
• More precise error location for out-of-bounds constr tag
• Add an easy-to-use Plinth install script (in plinth-template)

Pull Requests In Progress

• Add Data.Constr casing to Case
• Builtin Pattern Matching (CIP-0194)
• Cost model for policies (CIP-0168)
• Add keepPolicies and dropPolicies builtins (CIP-0168)
• Compile BuiltinData transparently in the plugin