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=1.0 required=5.0 tests=AWL,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 45B41BC69 for ; Wed, 24 Oct 2007 15:18:35 +0200 (CEST) X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Filtered: true X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Result: AgAAACPjHkfAXQInh2dsb2JhbACOWQEBAQgKKQ X-IronPort-AV: E=Sophos;i="4.21,324,1188770400"; d="scan'208";a="18557121" Received: from concorde.inria.fr ([192.93.2.39]) by mail4-smtp-sop.national.inria.fr with ESMTP; 24 Oct 2007 15:18:34 +0200 Received: from mail2-relais-roc.national.inria.fr (mail2-relais-roc.national.inria.fr [192.134.164.83]) by concorde.inria.fr (8.13.6/8.13.6) with ESMTP id l9ODIJKa022208 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=RC4-SHA bits=128 verify=OK) for ; Wed, 24 Oct 2007 15:18:34 +0200 X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Filtered: true X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Result: AgAAAG7iHkfRVZK3kmdsb2JhbACOWQEBAQEHBAQTFg X-IronPort-AV: E=Sophos;i="4.21,324,1188770400"; d="scan'208";a="3554340" Received: from wa-out-1112.google.com ([209.85.146.183]) by mail2-smtp-roc.national.inria.fr with ESMTP; 24 Oct 2007 15:18:33 +0200 Received: by wa-out-1112.google.com with SMTP id m34so243051wag for ; Wed, 24 Oct 2007 06:18:31 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=beta; h=domainkey-signature:received:received:message-id:date:from:to:subject:cc:in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition:references; bh=iMOK2/oz3qeeND0UdvgQ3V7bJcYRfh4Jua9wx2mBBT4=; b=hm0P20DIzIsVA8Q+fONcu5IOHzxteu3q1gGrml+3gfoIpAlS3eOBD1bQEVkLHLqBuxpt/49NUYypVg8S+g7IbMlsja2zbDTZz5oU2LgiLO8MHmXE3pyjeQncRYMGBlAu+Kd/bYyjVeSA4yOkwOicAN83LeOsq/GM464IDZVP7qw= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=beta; h=received:message-id:date:from:to:subject:cc:in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition:references; b=hFZZlRa7+9tiAcUis3WMDBtMQiThGwyOLa+wb0KIFCFiVGwtxX0PS3zQBqO6t2SRKpjFPW5KlJDPQHT4G74JB+5rGK7cqLQB0Ijq7kRdTfbEjvNaxhBeIpNhVakDskqy5pxozUNk6nVm6eK9/s0T24Eh0r2sOTVodrpWMTXgFro= Received: by 10.114.175.16 with SMTP id x16mr714375wae.1193231911714; Wed, 24 Oct 2007 06:18:31 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.114.13.16 with HTTP; Wed, 24 Oct 2007 06:18:31 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: <6f9f8f4a0710240618r1f389049n47b303f98ebf620f@mail.gmail.com> Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2007 15:18:31 +0200 From: "Loup Vaillant" To: "David Teller" Subject: Re: [Caml-list] Which syntax to teach ? Cc: OCaml In-Reply-To: <1193225773.3612.27.camel@Blefuscu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline References: <1193225773.3612.27.camel@Blefuscu> X-Miltered: at concorde with ID 471F461B.000 by Joe's j-chkmail (http://j-chkmail . ensmp . fr)! X-Spam: no; 0.00; syntax:01 univ-orleans:01 command-line:01 ocamlc:01 toplevel:01 syntax:01 tuareg:01 emacs:01 colours:01 toplevel:01 compiler:01 semantics:01 lesson:98 syntactic:01 caml-list:01 2007/10/24, David Teller : > Hello list, > > [...] but requires additional command-line arguments to ocamlc Why not just set up an alias or a little script (and an appropriate custom toplevel)? That would ease the first lessons. For those who want to work at home, just tell them the magic formulae. Explanations can come later. > not sure I'll be able to find an editor that will display that syntax > nicely. The Tuareg mode in emacs colours the revised syntax well. I just don't know how to make the embedded toplevel work properly (a trailing ";;;" problem). Maybe someone knows how to tweak it? > Any suggestions or experiences ? A few. But beware: The following is a student's point of view. I don't know how to teach. I never did. I first learnt Caml light on its toplevel. While it is a huge helper for learning, I wasn't told about the compiler. Therefore, I thought the "Caml system" was closed, and useless as such. I took two beginner courses in Caml. The first emphasised syntax first, and the second emphasised semantics first (and actually used very few syntactic constructs). The latter was faster and more enjoying. Some students need a computer at the very first lesson (my brother is one of them). I hope you can afford it. The word "powerful" have a semantic load that scares students. Sentences like "It is easy to do plenty of stuff with little code" don't. My two cents. Loup Vaillant