From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Delivered-To: caml-list@yquem.inria.fr Received: from concorde.inria.fr (concorde.inria.fr [192.93.2.39]) by yquem.inria.fr (Postfix) with ESMTP id 32E0FBC48 for ; Tue, 8 Mar 2005 05:11:31 +0100 (CET) Received: from ptb-relay01.plus.net (ptb-relay01.plus.net [212.159.14.212]) by concorde.inria.fr (8.13.0/8.13.0) with ESMTP id j284BUdV007362 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NO) for ; Tue, 8 Mar 2005 05:11:31 +0100 Received: from [80.229.56.224] (helo=chetara) by ptb-relay01.plus.net with esmtp (Exim) id 1D8W4A-000And-Gw for caml-list@yquem.inria.fr; Tue, 08 Mar 2005 04:11:30 +0000 From: Jon Harrop Organization: Flying Frog Consultancy Ltd. To: caml-list@yquem.inria.fr Subject: Re: MinCaml English Documentation Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 04:12:33 +0000 User-Agent: KMail/1.7.1 References: <200503050832.42927.jon@jdh30.plus.com> <200503070020.53784.jon@jdh30.plus.com> <20050307.220107.85397271.eijiro_sumii@anet.ne.jp> In-Reply-To: <20050307.220107.85397271.eijiro_sumii@anet.ne.jp> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline Message-Id: <200503080412.33653.jon@jdh30.plus.com> X-Miltered: at concorde with ID 422D25F2.000 by Joe's j-chkmail (http://j-chkmail.ensmp.fr)! X-Spam: no; 0.00; eijiro:01 sumii:01 compiler:01 sourceforge:01 haskell:01 compiler:01 byte:01 garbage:01 byte-code:01 c--:01 bytecode:01 c--:01 ocaml:01 imho:01 ocaml's:01 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.2 (2004-11-16) on yquem.inria.fr X-Spam-Status: No, score=0.0 required=5.0 tests=none autolearn=disabled version=3.0.2 X-Spam-Level: On Tuesday 08 March 2005 03:01, Eijiro Sumii wrote: > I've uploaded a (rather quick) translation of my MinCaml compiler > tutorial: > > http://min-caml.sourceforge.net/index-e.html =46antastic, thank you! > From: "Jon Harrop" > I'm not sure if MinCaml by itself can make any money:-) but I've > always been wondering if it is possible to sell the "programming > language processing technology" (which is the killer application of > ML). I heard Galois Connection has been doing something like that by > using Haskell, focusing on security in particular. I think companies would be willing to spend a bit of money (~1000UKP) to bu= y a=20 working shell of a compiler so that they could develop it however they=20 wanted. If our company could afford a copy (and it was more complete) then = we=20 would use it to develop a custom language for graphics programming. An=20 interpreter might also be commercially viable. > Actually, I feel a little reluctant to use byte code in the back end, > because (for the original educational purpose) it hides some important > details - such as garbage collection! Yes, ideally you want an elegant demo GC. But isn't having a hidden GC=20 preferable to having no GC? Using an existing byte-code is probably also th= e=20 most preferable way to make your compiler cross-platform, short of writing= =20 multiple assembler back-ends. Another option is C-- or maybe Java bytecode.= =20 =46rom what I hear, C-- is stable enough now. You could always write a demo OCaml-compatible GC in OCaml for educational= =20 purposes. Then people could use whichever GC they wanted. > On the other hand, if=20 > supporting (not teaching) GC is important, I believe Boem's GC does a > good job even though it is conservative. IMHO, Boem's GC would put people off. As OCaml's GC is already available,=20 efficient and non-conservative, I'd go for that. =2D-=20 Dr Jon D Harrop, Flying Frog Consultancy Ltd. Objective CAML for Scientists http://www.ffconsultancy.com/products/ocaml_for_scientists