Re: [Caml-list] ocaml complexity

[Michael Hicks <mwh@dsl.cis.upenn.edu>]

> Perhaps the manual could be restructured to make this clear:
> 
>         PART I - Introduction to OCaml
> 
>                 The core language
>                 The module system
> 
>         PART II - Advanced Topics
> 
>                 Objects in Caml
>                 Advanced examples with classes and modules
>                 Labels and variants

I think this is an excellent idea.  At Penn, our research active
internetwork has two publicly available implementations: one in Java, and
the other in Ocaml.  Despite the fact that the Ocaml implementation is more
flexible, better documented, faster, and still maintained, most users go for
the clumsy, slow, poorly documented, unmaintained Java implementation (even
after trying the Ocaml one) because they balk at learning Ocaml.  Making the
language easier to learn (and your suggestion above seems like a good start)
would be a boon to the community I think.

Mike

-- 
Michael Hicks
Ph.D. Candidate, the University of Pennsylvania
http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~mwh            mailto://mwh@dsl.cis.upenn.edu
"In essential things, unity; in doubtful things, liberty; in all things,
 charity." --Pope John XXIII, Ad Petri Cathedram, and popularly 
 attributed to St. Augustine

-------------------
To unsubscribe, mail caml-list-request@inria.fr.  Archives: http://caml.inria.fr