From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.1.3 (2006-06-01) on yquem.inria.fr X-Spam-Level: * X-Spam-Status: No, score=1.4 required=5.0 tests=SPF_NEUTRAL autolearn=disabled version=3.1.3 X-Original-To: caml-list@yquem.inria.fr Delivered-To: caml-list@yquem.inria.fr Received: from mail4-relais-sop.national.inria.fr (mail4-relais-sop.national.inria.fr [192.134.164.105]) by yquem.inria.fr (Postfix) with ESMTP id 39F45BC6B for ; Wed, 24 Oct 2007 15:24:49 +0200 (CEST) X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Filtered: true X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Result: AgAAABPkHkfRVYT0kmdsb2JhbACOWQEBAQEHBAQTFg X-IronPort-AV: E=Sophos;i="4.21,324,1188770400"; d="scan'208";a="18557547" Received: from an-out-0708.google.com ([209.85.132.244]) by mail4-smtp-sop.national.inria.fr with ESMTP; 24 Oct 2007 15:24:48 +0200 Received: by an-out-0708.google.com with SMTP id c24so37908ana for ; Wed, 24 Oct 2007 06:24:47 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=beta; h=domainkey-signature:received:received:from:reply-to:to:subject:date:user-agent:references:in-reply-to:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition:message-id; bh=46lcP4DTIw0/e/0y6c/PSZtB1pEaKr2aYBdU2+yIxaI=; b=jXvV3LM7fGdhYJwYg2gxYkOeGCkTdw7REJH1LOWsG1NyzTc0mevh+YfjURVgdysTma7/sPOq17xS9PLgcJXp2cvvK75QdCjIZ2i+E7VSzngaG5rU4BZzzaRGCUbdBrDLGQ6gmNlBUaw8OQe6gmenSypfpPqilhQYO3E21Kn3/5Q= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=beta; h=received:from:reply-to:to:subject:date:user-agent:references:in-reply-to:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition:message-id; b=HoUV8Pu4Lt8ADJtwsv+SsMqxhDXhObp0QTkRU2w//+I42FpQK38tsnOTnnzgCj+XAn75pd1G/XGMQKI68ij7GdRoUfduUsUessvbak9TSW/PDjBj3iZo/LBbTeaiXoopSciyWrq0lXYyxe4zmExtml/SBoPgmNSefLXVtrYGM/Y= Received: by 10.142.141.5 with SMTP id o5mr80058wfd.1193232285139; Wed, 24 Oct 2007 06:24:45 -0700 (PDT) Received: from tama-chan ( [24.98.134.200]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id 24sm1180991wrl.2007.10.24.06.24.44 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=OTHER); Wed, 24 Oct 2007 06:24:44 -0700 (PDT) From: Peng Zang Reply-To: peng.zang@gmail.com To: caml-list@yquem.inria.fr Subject: Re: [Caml-list] Which syntax to teach ? Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2007 09:24:39 -0400 User-Agent: KMail/1.9.5 References: <1193225773.3612.27.camel@Blefuscu> In-Reply-To: <1193225773.3612.27.camel@Blefuscu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Message-Id: <200710240924.43140.peng.zang@gmail.com> X-Spam: no; 0.00; syntax:01 hash:01 ocaml:01 syntax:01 verbose:01 ocaml:01 psuedocode:01 command-line:01 ocamlc:01 peng:98 peng:98 shorthand:98 wrote:01 partial:01 clearer:01 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 I took this class: http://www.cs.uiuc.edu/class/fa05/cs421/current/ at UIUC and it is what got me into OCaml. Perhaps the material on the website will be of use to you. It was taught with original syntax so I'm obviously going to be partial towards that. But I actually took a look at Revised syntax and thought it was more verbose and slightly confusing at times. Part of what made OCaml attractive for me was its compactness. Take "[x::[y::[z::t]]]" for example, it's quite nasty compared to just "x::y::z::t". Now when teaching you'll probably want to explain how a list is nested Cons cells, and you might even show the former as psuedocode to help clarify the point, but then show that the latter is the (shorthand) syntax in OCaml and just use that. Peng On Wednesday 24 October 2007 07:36, David Teller wrote: > Hello list, > > In a few months, I'll start teaching OCaml for the second consecutive > year. I'll solve a number of my problems by installing Linux on the > workstations, although I'm pretty sure that will cause no end of > complaints from the students when they need to continue their work at > home. > > Right now, however, that's not the issue. I'm just wondering if I > should prepare my lectures and exercises using the Original syntax or > the Revised syntax. The latest looks clearer and possibly easier to > teach but requires additional command-line arguments to ocamlc and I'm > not sure I'll be able to find an editor that will display that syntax > nicely. > > Any suggestions or experiences ? > > Thanks, > David -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.2 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFHH0ebfIRcEFL/JewRApcoAKCy6gnOYBEz2SXbYdJnrPt3K8eAzACfX3cO 5VCTSYYA73pj5kwkgPezUvQ= =opU4 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----