convincing management to switch to Ocaml

From: STARYNKEVITCH Basile (Basile.Starynkevitch@cea.fr)
Date: Wed Jul 28 1999 - 16:47:34 MET DST

From: STARYNKEVITCH Basile <Basile.Starynkevitch@cea.fr>
Date: Wed, 28 Jul 1999 16:47:34 +0200 (MET DST)
To: caml-list@inria.fr
Subject: convincing management to switch to Ocaml

Hello,

Does any one have clues or positive experience about convincing
management to switch to Ocaml?

 I'm working for an European Community ESPRIT project [TWO] for static
code analysis -with testing in mind- using abstract interpretation
techniques.

But I failed to convince my management to switch to a good language
such as Ocaml.

================

My manager's arguments are:

* There is an existing (important) code base (a static C code
analyser) coded in C and C++ and it is unreasonable to recode it.

* Ocaml is an academic langage

* Ocaml is a slow implentation

* Ocaml is hard to learn for people (fluent in C++) with less than a PhD
in computer science (unfortunately for me, I do hold a PhD in
Artif. Intel.)

* Ocaml might not last long (but ESPRIT projects don't last neither)

================

ESPRIT projects are supposed to be preindustrial and OCaml is only academic

Although I do know Ocaml and in a previous job I was (for 15 months)
an Ocaml evangelizer I failed to convince my boss (who is computer
educated, and knows much more about static code analysis or clever
compiler techniques than I do).

Any *quantitative* facts about Ocaml productivity boosts will be
appreciated; any history about switching to Ocaml for an
*existing* project with an existing code base (about 300kloc of C or
C++) would be great.

N.B. Any opinions expressed here are only mine, and not of my organization.
N.B. Les opinions exprimees ici me sont personnelles et n engagent pas le CEA.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Basile STARYNKEVITCH ---- Commissariat à l Energie Atomique
DTA/LETI/DEIN/SLA * CEA/Saclay b.528 (p111f) * 91191 GIF/YVETTE CEDEX * France
phone: 1,69.08.60.55; fax: 1.69.08.83.95 home: 1,46.65.45.53
email: Basile point Starynkevitch at cea point fr

This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Jan 02 2000 - 11:58:23 MET