Re: Re: [Caml-list] questions

[xahlee@gmail.com]

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Hi Xavier Leroy,

On Mar 31, 2009 9:31am, Xavier Leroy <Xavier.Leroy@inria.fr> wrote:
> One last word to you, that Xah Lee troll, and anyone else on this
> list: if you're not happy with the existing material, write something
> better. Everyone will thank you and you'll get to better appreciate
> the difficulty of the task.

although there are several good tutorials, but i think it is important that  
the bundled official tutorial should be one that is good. By “good” here, i  
mean, it gives a simple overview of the syntax, and a simple overview, such  
as how to do arithmetic, basic types, if then else, true false issues, a  
couple example of most used data types such as list and n-tuple and  
records, how to define a function, how to call a library.

Jon's, and Scott's tutorial are both in this format and i think is very  
suitable:

• Ocaml for Scientists, by Jon Harrop, chapter 1 free:
http://www.ffconsultancy.com/products/ocaml_for_scientists/chapter1.html

• “Introduction to Caml” by Scott Smith of Johns Hopkins U. A lecture note.
http://www.cs.jhu.edu/~scott/pl/lectures/caml-intro.html

I only started learning OCaml, but my current notes at:
http://xahlee.org/ocaml/ocaml_basics.html

is also in this format. I don't know if Jon'd be willing to lend his  
chapter 1 to be the official bundled tutorial. (would you Jon?) My guess is  
that Scott would easily offer his too. (No implication that anyone should  
offer this, of course.)

If any official ocaml people wishes, feel free to start with mine as the  
bundled tutorial. I'm sure with minor editing by you experts, it would be  
very suitable.

I'm often wrong. (^_^); But i think a simple, example based, very brief,  
tutorial, using concrete code examples, such as the above ones, with a  
slight emphasize on syntax (so first timers gets a sense of what exactly to  
type), would be a great first introduction. It'd helpful to imperative  
programers as well as functional programers experienced with other  
functional langs. If this is bundled and sanctioned with the official  
manual, it'd open up ocaml to many people who otherwise may not have had  
time to search for the right tutorial. (i hope)

Xah
∑ http://xahlee.org/

☄

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