From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Original-To: caml-list@sympa.inria.fr Delivered-To: caml-list@sympa.inria.fr Received: from mail2-relais-roc.national.inria.fr (mail2-relais-roc.national.inria.fr [192.134.164.83]) by sympa.inria.fr (Postfix) with ESMTPS id E19797EE51 for ; Tue, 28 May 2013 06:08:28 +0200 (CEST) Received-SPF: None (mail2-smtp-roc.national.inria.fr: no sender authenticity information available from domain of norm@cap-lore.com) identity=pra; client-ip=66.201.51.50; receiver=mail2-smtp-roc.national.inria.fr; envelope-from="norm@cap-lore.com"; x-sender="norm@cap-lore.com"; x-conformance=sidf_compatible Received-SPF: None (mail2-smtp-roc.national.inria.fr: no sender authenticity information available from domain of norm@cap-lore.com) identity=mailfrom; client-ip=66.201.51.50; receiver=mail2-smtp-roc.national.inria.fr; envelope-from="norm@cap-lore.com"; x-sender="norm@cap-lore.com"; x-conformance=sidf_compatible Received-SPF: Pass (mail2-smtp-roc.national.inria.fr: domain of postmaster@s2.ootbcomp.com designates 66.201.51.50 as permitted sender) identity=helo; client-ip=66.201.51.50; receiver=mail2-smtp-roc.national.inria.fr; envelope-from="norm@cap-lore.com"; x-sender="postmaster@s2.ootbcomp.com"; x-conformance=sidf_compatible; x-record-type="v=spf1" X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Filtered: true X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Result: AmoFAGMspFFCyTMy/2dsb2JhbABagwgwwgyBCRZ0giMBAQQBfgsLRlcGE4gHBgy8Do5qOoJzYQOJH49FhHWLIoMv X-IPAS-Result: AmoFAGMspFFCyTMy/2dsb2JhbABagwgwwgyBCRZ0giMBAQQBfgsLRlcGE4gHBgy8Do5qOoJzYQOJH49FhHWLIoMv X-IronPort-AV: E=Sophos;i="4.87,755,1363129200"; d="scan'208";a="19217710" Received: from s2.ootbcomp.com ([66.201.51.50]) by mail2-smtp-roc.national.inria.fr with ESMTP/TLS/ADH-CAMELLIA256-SHA; 28 May 2013 06:08:27 +0200 Received: from localhost (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1]) by s2.ootbcomp.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5E2C1104D97 for ; Mon, 27 May 2013 21:08:24 -0700 (PDT) X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at ootbcomp.com Received: from s2.ootbcomp.com ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (s2.ootbcomp.com [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id qwm5+eyY879S for ; Mon, 27 May 2013 21:08:18 -0700 (PDT) Received: from [192.168.1.108] (99-4-121-168.lightspeed.sntcca.sbcglobal.net [99.4.121.168]) (using TLSv1 with cipher AES128-SHA (128/128 bits)) (No client certificate requested) (Authenticated sender: norm) by s2.ootbcomp.com (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 7AE37104D93 for ; Mon, 27 May 2013 21:08:18 -0700 (PDT) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252 Mime-Version: 1.0 (Mac OS X Mail 6.3 \(1503\)) From: Norman Hardy In-Reply-To: <51A4272F.8050803@riken.jp> Date: Mon, 27 May 2013 21:08:16 -0700 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Message-Id: <10A82F22-0CCE-4A68-8C72-5E8F34930CE6@cap-lore.com> References: <20130523235355.GI6510@siouxsie> <20130526150008.GA2014@siouxsie> <20130526234911.41866xca7wgoirfb@webmail.in-berlin.de> <51A30E01.5070300@freenet.de> <20130527185345.e01a7733ac652f89f4e400f7@mega-nerd.com> <51A353BE.5030009@freenet.de> <51A40590.4090501@riken.jp> <20130528024413.GA4602@siouxsie> <51A4272F.8050803@riken.jp> To: "caml-list@inria.fr List" X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.1503) Subject: Re: Problems to get larger user base ... (Re: [Caml-list] OCaml's variables) I sent this to the OCaml list. I expect to stir up some mud. They may throw me off the list as the list is hyper polite. We shall see. On 2013 May 27, at 20:40 , Francois Berenger wrote: > Honestly, I think "Part I An introduction to OCaml" > from "The OCaml system release 4.00 > Documentation and user=92s manual" > at > http://caml.inria.fr/pub/docs/manual-ocaml/ > is enough for a start. Very good indeed; it sufficed for me to write several useful programs > I think you can even skip the Objects chapter in there. > And that's only pages 9 to 33 in the PDF version of the document. Agreed again; I am not sure of fundamental advantages of objects that you c= an't get from GADTs. But that brings me to the following text in ( http://caml.inria.fr/pub/docs= /manual-ocaml/language.html ): =85 the typing rules have been left out, by lack of the mathematical framew= ork required to express them, while they are definitely part of a full form= al definition of the language ... Someone contemplating investing the attention of a programming team will wo= nder where the rest of the manual is. A pointer would suffice; if there is nothing on the web to point to we may = have part of an answer to the question about the larger user base. Such a team needs at least one "language lawyer" I have found. Must the typing rules be expressed formally? Even a specification of a powerful subset of OCaml would be possible even i= f it did not encompass every possible correct program. A step up would specify the meaning of every program that the compiler acce= pted.