Syntax Discussions and Caml Philosophy

Syntax Discussions and Caml Philosophy

[David McClain]

I have been reading the past messages about label syntax with some degree of
interest... I am not expert enough in their use to make any comments
regarding them. But I will echo the experience of a heavy user of Caml in
saying that I have been quite pleased with the "orthogonality" of syntactic
components.

 I find that Caml is first among languages (and beyond Lisp) that permit
drastic and radical changes to underlying modules of very large programs
without introducing unwanted side effect propagation. This amazing property
has enabled a tenfold increase in my own productivity. Whatever the outcome
of these discussions, I do hope that these orthogonality goals, and the
other simple "properties" of the language can be maintained. This compiler
is too elegant and useful to destroy with the introduction of intrusive
features...

David McClain, Sr. Scientist
Raytheon Systems Co.
Tucson, AZ