From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Delivered-To: caml-list@yquem.inria.fr Received: from nez-perce.inria.fr (nez-perce.inria.fr [192.93.2.78]) by yquem.inria.fr (Postfix) with ESMTP id DE2A5BB91 for ; Sun, 9 Jan 2005 18:16:20 +0100 (CET) Received: from pauillac.inria.fr (pauillac.inria.fr [128.93.11.35]) by nez-perce.inria.fr (8.13.0/8.13.0) with ESMTP id j09HGKBg027630 for ; Sun, 9 Jan 2005 18:16:20 +0100 Received: from nez-perce.inria.fr (nez-perce.inria.fr [192.93.2.78]) by pauillac.inria.fr (8.7.6/8.7.3) with ESMTP id SAA20690 for ; Sun, 9 Jan 2005 18:16:20 +0100 (MET) Received: from smtpauth08.mail.atl.earthlink.net (smtpauth08.mail.atl.earthlink.net [209.86.89.68]) by nez-perce.inria.fr (8.13.0/8.13.0) with ESMTP id j09HGJno027627 for ; Sun, 9 Jan 2005 18:16:19 +0100 Received: from [63.227.90.9] (helo=dylan) by smtpauth08.mail.atl.earthlink.net with asmtp (Exim 4.34) id 1Cngfq-0005rg-Fu for caml-list@inria.fr; Sun, 09 Jan 2005 12:16:18 -0500 Message-ID: <001901c4f66f$3370f4e0$0401000a@dylan> From: "David McClain" To: References: Subject: Re: [Caml-list] generic functions Date: Sun, 9 Jan 2005 10:17:42 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1478 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1478 X-ELNK-Trace: 7a0ab3eafc8cf994b22988ad1c62733440683398e744b8a4ccaa180682f244f9305adbb3637fe59c93caf27dac41a8fd350badd9bab72f9c350badd9bab72f9c X-Originating-IP: 63.227.90.9 X-Miltered: at nez-perce with ID 41E166E4.000 by Joe's j-chkmail (http://j-chkmail.ensmp.fr)! X-Miltered: at nez-perce with ID 41E166E3.000 by Joe's j-chkmail (http://j-chkmail.ensmp.fr)! X-Spam: no; 0.00; caml-list:01 overloading:01 overloading:01 ad-hoc:01 ocaml:01 exception:01 functions:01 functions:01 matlab:01 artificial:01 languages:03 strong:96 programming:03 mcclain:05 mcclain:05 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.0 (2004-09-13) on yquem.inria.fr X-Spam-Status: No, score=0.0 required=5.0 tests=none autolearn=disabled version=3.0.0 X-Spam-Level: > With the exception of certain artificial contests (Paul Graham) I've never > met a real world problem that needed overloading, or even benefitted > signifigantly from overloading that didn't benefit just as much or more > from one of the solutions above. I would mention ad-hoc, interactive, engineering computing, e.g., NML, Mathematica, MatLab, where generic functions and overloading are extremely useful. But none of these languages can produce safe code, and I would never recommend using any of them for production releases of software. OCaml = strong safety. NML and others = fast interactive exploratory programming, but not safe. David McClain Senior Corporate Scientist Avisere, Inc. +1.520.390.7738 (USA) david.mcclain@avisere.com