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[Caml-list] Generating C stubs
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Date: | 2002-05-18 (09:46) |
From: | Pierre Weis <pierre.weis@i...> |
Subject: | Re: [Caml-list] Camlp4/OCaml [was: Generating C stubs] |
> Although OCaml is probably my favourite language, I get to program in > Java a fair bit (and Scheme a little, but there the syntax is nice and > regular!). > > The only syntax error I commonly make in OCaml is that I usually > forget to put parens around the exception and its arguments to a raise > function. And the problem is exactly that... the raise FUNCTION. > try...with is syntactic, so why shouldn't raise be a statement instead > of a function? And it wouldn't break many programs (except for a few > unit tests written with FORT). > Then I'd never make any errors in OCaml. :-) > > (In truth, these errors are maybe 10-15% of the type errors I get from > OCaml compilations. And 90% of the `syntax' errors.) You are right. Raise was a keyword in Caml for 10 years, just for the syntactic reasons you mentioned. With Caml Light, simplicity was the rule (remember that we managed to run on a 640 ko PC!). So that raise was turn into a primitive function for sake of simplicity. Afterwards, Objective Caml inherits (:-) that property of raise. In 2002, it may be the time to turn raise into a keyword again to give our beginners and users a more confortable and natural system. > And if we were looking for things to include in the standard OCaml > distribution, I would nominate FORT. Unit testing is very important, > and perhaps we could create a culture that regularly shipped unit-test > with their code (as Java is making progress toward). > > ../Dave I also agree completely with you on the unvaluable importance of program testing (and also program proving, but this much more difficult). We plan to write a test generator for Caml programs. Maxence Guesdon who has industrial experience on testing volonteers on that project. Best regards, Pierre Weis INRIA, Projet Cristal, Pierre.Weis@inria.fr, http://pauillac.inria.fr/~weis/ ------------------- To unsubscribe, mail caml-list-request@inria.fr Archives: http://caml.inria.fr Bug reports: http://caml.inria.fr/bin/caml-bugs FAQ: http://caml.inria.fr/FAQ/ Beginner's list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ocaml_beginners