Re: convincing management to switch to Ocaml

From: John Skaller (skaller@maxtal.com.au)
Date: Fri Sep 03 1999 - 09:28:37 MET DST


Message-Id: <3.0.6.32.19990903172837.00970c60@mail.triode.net.au>
Date: Fri, 03 Sep 1999 17:28:37 +1000
To: "Stefan Monnier" <monnier+lists/caml/news/@tequila.cs.yale.edu>,
From: John Skaller <skaller@maxtal.com.au>
Subject: Re: convincing management to switch to Ocaml
In-Reply-To: <5lwvubixh8.fsf@tequila.cs.yale.edu>

At 15:03 31/08/99 -0400, Stefan Monnier wrote:
>Caml (like SML and Pascal and C and ...) has taken the point of view
>that begin/end entities should not be made mandatory if they are
>unambiguously unneeded. I can only agree with that point of view:
>why should I say
>
> if a then (1) else (2)
>
>?

        Why not:

        if a then q else 2 fi

>You could also try to rely on your programming environment to
>help you.

        I do. (But I'm using Vim :-)

>> (fun x -> print_endline ..)
>> is ugly compared to:
>> begin fun x -> print_endline .. end
>
>Aesthetics is in the eye of the beholder.

        This is very true, and a fundamental problem for publishing.
Intent is important too: what works fine on my screen is not quite
the same as what looks good on paper.

>> but the ideal would be
>> fun x is print_endline .. efun
>
>Plop! Yet another reserved keyword!

        .. which is not good, I agree.

>Syntax is one of those things that you just can't get right.

        There is some truth in that, however, many would
claim that, for example, the syntax of C++ or Perl,
compared with say Python, is indeed superior.

-------------------------------------------------------
John Skaller email: skaller@maxtal.com.au
                http://www.maxtal.com.au/~skaller
                phone: 61-2-96600850
                snail: 10/1 Toxteth Rd, Glebe NSW 2037, Australia



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