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Real World OCaml

realworldocaml.org

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Re: Real World OCaml

#2

Post by brokenparser »

Debian describes OCaml as follows:

Objective Caml (OCaml) is an implementation of the ML language, based on the Caml Light dialect extended with a complete class-based object system and a powerful module system in the style of Standard ML.

OCaml comprises two compilers. One generates bytecode which is then interpreted by a C program. This compiler runs quickly, generates compact code with moderate memory requirements, and is portable to essentially any 32 or 64 bit Unix platform. Performance of generated programs is quite good for a bytecoded implementation: almost twice as fast as Caml Light 0.7. This compiler can be used either as a standalone, batch-oriented compiler that produces standalone programs, or as an interactive, toplevel-based system.

The other compiler generates high-performance native code for a number of processors. Compilation takes longer and generates bigger code, but the generated programs deliver excellent performance, while retaining the moderate memory requirements of the bytecode compiler. It is not available on all arches though.

Re: Real World OCaml

#4

Post by rwmj »

brokenparser wrote: post #2

Debian describes OCaml as follows: Objective Caml (OCaml) is an implementation of the ML language, based on the Caml Light dialect extended with a complete class-based object system and a powerful module system in the style of Standard ML. OCaml comprises two compilers. One generates bytecode which is then interpreted by a C program. This compiler runs quickly, generates compact code with moderate memory requirements…

It is not available on all arches though.

Although in practices the arches that lack a native OCaml compiler don't matter.

In RHEL we ship OCaml natively for everything except S/390 and AArch64. AArch64 will be important, but since hardware doesn't exist in a form you can buy for servers, we're happy to wait for upstream to implement this. We'll probably help them out with hardware too.

Edit: We maintain our own PPC64 backend.

Re: Real World OCaml

#7

Post by bsg75 »

Where is OCaml's place in the current world?

I find it interesting as it seems to generate little "buzz", but has two new books this year, and is a pre-cursor to another functional language that itself seems to be gaining traction, and is yet produced my Microsoft: F#

My observational / untested impression is OCaml seems to be more practical, and maybe a little easier to transition to for someone like me who uses mostly Python and Go, and a lot of bash/awk/sed/grep.

Re: Real World OCaml

#8

Post by luciafredo »

bsg75 wrote: post #7

Where is OCaml's place in the current world? I find it interesting as it seems to generate little "buzz", but has two new books this year, and is a pre-cursor to another functional language that itself seems to be gaining traction, and is yet produced my Microsoft: F# My observational / untested impression is OCaml seems to be more practical, and maybe a little easier to transition to for someone like me who uses mos…

Here's the other new book, which is for a different audience: (http://www.ocaml-book.com)

Re: Real World OCaml

#9

Post by edwintorok »

weavie wrote: post #3

This is a really good presentation on OCaml by one of the authors of this book. http://youtu.be/hKcOkWzj0_s

I find the recent ocaml meeting presentations quite useful and interesting too, in the sense that it presents what people are using OCaml for, and what tools people are working on: http://ocaml.org/meetings/ocaml/2013/program.html http://oud.ocaml.org/2012/

Re: Real World OCaml

#10

Post by bsg75 »

luciafredo wrote: post #8
bsg75 wrote: post #7

Where is OCaml's place in the current world? I find it interesting as it seems to generate little "buzz", but has two new books this year, and is a pre-cursor to another functional language that itself seems to be gaining traction, and is yet produced my Microsoft: F# My observational / untested impression is OCaml seems to be more practical, and maybe a little easier to transition to for someone like me who uses mos…

Here's the other new book, which is for a different audience: ( http://www.ocaml-book.com )

How do the audiences differ? Experience / newcomers vs experienced?

Edit: Deciding which to read first.

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