Mac version of OCAML?

Mac version of OCAML?

[David McClain]

Hi,

I am about to embark on benchmarking of ultra-fast embedded C flight-code
that must run on a bank of Power/PC's mixed with a bank of TigerSHARC's.
Hence the target platform for my tests will be a Macintosh/604.

Since this is a benchmark, there will be a lot of scaffolding and
administrative code surrounding the C code that needs to be measured, i.e.,
generating test datasets, tracking the performance of the core code, etc.
This will undoubtedly be easier in a HOL like OCaml.

Before I get too far along I want to ask any who might know, whether or not
the Mac version of OCaml can interface to foreign C code produced by the
Metrowerks C compiler. When I last used the Mac version (c.a., 2.02) it was
still interpreted instead of compiled, and I don't recall whether it could
be interfaced to foreign code.

Thanks for your help!

- David McClain

Re: Mac version of OCAML?

[Damien Doligez]

>From: "David McClain" <dmcclain@azstarnet.com>

>I am about to embark on benchmarking of ultra-fast embedded C flight-code
>that must run on a bank of Power/PC's mixed with a bank of TigerSHARC's.
>Hence the target platform for my tests will be a Macintosh/604.

Too bad it cannot be a G3 or a G4; you'd be able to use the Unix
version of O'Caml under MacOS X.


>Before I get too far along I want to ask any who might know, whether or not
>the Mac version of OCaml can interface to foreign C code produced by the
>Metrowerks C compiler.

O'Caml on MacOS works under MPW Shell in much the same way as it works
under Unix, but it is restricted to byte-code.  It can interface to C
code without problems, but I've given up on the Metrowerks C compiler
for various reasons.  One of these reasons was a bug in the compiler
when calling a function with floating-point arguments with Apple's
calling conventions, hence I couldn't use Apple's libraries with the
Metrowerks compiler.  And Metrowerks' libraries had bugs that
prevented O'Caml from working.  I'm not sure I have the latest version
of Codewarrior, so I don't know if these problems still exist.


> When I last used the Mac version (c.a., 2.02) it was
>still interpreted instead of compiled, and I don't recall whether it could
>be interfaced to foreign code.

There is no interpreter for O'Caml.  There is native-code compilation
and byte-code compilation.  Byte-code can be interfaced with foreign
code without problem.

Depending on your constraints, you might be able to use LinuxPPC on
your Mac.  Then you'll have the full-fledged Unix version of O'Caml.

-- Damien