]> On Fri, Jul 18, 2003 at 04:21:14PM -0500, Chris Clearwater wrote: > 3) Now that we have a easy cross-platform way to compile ocaml applications we > can just distibute our code with Makefiles that call ocamlmake! WRONG. > Makefiles suck. Now we standardize on the idea of an Ocaml "package". > [...] I have to disagree with you on this idea. I've been working recently on a project written in SML, and one of the things i miss most about O'Caml is its nice interaction with the standard tools (not to mention its separate compilation strategy! *sigh*). The one thing not standardized by the Standard ML definition is compilation strategy, and as a result, every SML implementation has its own idea of the "right" way to compile a project. One can write standards-conformant code and still have to write a bunch of specific build-scripts, each one in its own arcane language, and quite possibly each one adhering to a vastly different *philosophy* of compilation -- learning them all may well be a lifetime's work. In my humble opinion, this is a major fault of SML. As a concrete example, SML/NJ has a built-in "Compilation Manager" module, and to compile a project, you have start up a top-level and run the `CM.make' function. It was quite a shock to me not to be able to compile something from the command line, coming from the O'Caml world, where the compiler is mature, simple, and idiomatic (at least from a Unix user's perspective). For O'Caml to come up with its own incompatible compilation philosophy seems like a step backwards. We *already have* nice, simple ways of interacting with the standard tools (like `make', and `ld') -- throwing all that away smacks of "not-invented-here" syndrome. It may be tempting to climb up into our ivory tower and say, "We can do better than the status quo!", but i think that attitude is better reserved for improving and extending the language itself. If you want a better `make', then write a better `make' -- but keep it general purpose, and keep the O'Caml compiler's interface simple enough to interact with *either* `make'. cheers, William ------------------- 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