Re: [Caml-list] Type Safety comes to the iPad

[Jonathan Kimmitt <jonathan@kimmitt.co.uk>]

Hi,
  Perhaps a further explanation is necessary. What I have done is ported the interpreter ocamlrun
to the iPad and added a gui based on Graphics.cma and bound ancillary libraries such as Num.cma
into the executable. The ocaml interpreter itself is written in ocaml and is identical to the workstation
version of the same release. This means you can drop a compiled library into iTunes and then load
it immediately in iPad (provided it does not use shared objects which are not bound into the signed app.

So you could say the app is written in ocaml. I have called it 'OcamlExample' with the intention that
users will substitute their own code making use of #use or #load statements

The alternative option to use ocaml's own native code generator seems to me a bit pointless because
the app is then hard-wired to a given function. But if anyone wants to write a type-safe game or something,
this would be an interesting. You could use the standalone codesign function of xcode perhaps
 
The other thing you will have gathered is it allows creative activity on the iPad, without becoming a developer.

With this version you cannot compile to a file on the iPad, but you can #use source files which then get
compiled into memory in a sense. But the ability to exchange compiled bytecode with the host running iTunes
means this is not too much of a limitation in my view.

Regards,

Jonathan

On 9 Nov 2010, at 10:01, Vincent Aravantinos wrote:

> Something I don't understand: is the app itself written in ocaml?
> 
> Le 9 nov. 10 à 10:39, Vincent Aravantinos a écrit :
> 
>> Wow! This seems hugely interesting to me.
>> Actually I've been wondering a while to know if I would buy an ipad, and my conclusion was "only if I can do Ocaml on it".
>> Can you report a bit more on your experience ?
>> Which tools did you use? How convenient it is? What drawback did you encounter?
>> 
>> Cheers,
>> Vincent
>> 
>> Le 9 nov. 10 à 10:31, Jonathan Kimmitt a écrit :
>> 
>>> I thought you might be interested to know that my new OCAML App for the iPad was published
>>> on the iTunes Store yesterday. I believe this is a significant achievement given the notorious
>>> reluctance of Apple to embrace languages other than C/obj-C/C++ and I would hope it would
>>> promote wider dissemination of type safety.
>>> 
>>> The real win would be if the new paradigm was accepted for teaching the new generation of
>>> students etc, which would require greater acceptance by potential employers which is a bit
>>> of a chicken/egg scenario.
>>> 
>>> Anyway I am inordinately proud of my new publication and if you know anybody who has an iPad,
>>> please let them know about it.
>>> 
>>> http://itunes.apple.com/app/ocamlexample/id396515573?mt=8#
>>> 
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>