From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: (from majordomo@localhost) by pauillac.inria.fr (8.7.6/8.7.3) id NAA24701; Tue, 20 Apr 2004 13:47:25 +0200 (MET DST) X-Authentication-Warning: pauillac.inria.fr: majordomo set sender to owner-caml-list@pauillac.inria.fr using -f Received: from nez-perce.inria.fr (nez-perce.inria.fr [192.93.2.78]) by pauillac.inria.fr (8.7.6/8.7.3) with ESMTP id NAA24391 for ; Tue, 20 Apr 2004 13:47:24 +0200 (MET DST) Received: from tank.mixmaster.it (host198-49.pool212171.interbusiness.it [212.171.49.198]) by nez-perce.inria.fr (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id i3KBmMjq028642 for ; Tue, 20 Apr 2004 13:48:29 +0200 Received: by tank.mixmaster.it (Postfix, from userid 1004) id 3BFA813B06; Tue, 20 Apr 2004 13:46:56 +0200 (CEST) From: George Orwell Comments: This message did not originate from the Sender address above. It was remailed automatically by anonymizing remailer software. Please report problems or inappropriate use to the remailer administrator at . To: caml-list@inria.fr Subject: [Caml-list] Re: How can I lend developers to the Caml team? Message-ID: <86d018e7a078826f250c5b9203187a86@mixmaster.it> Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2004 13:46:56 +0200 (CEST) X-Miltered: at nez-perce by Joe's j-chkmail ("http://j-chkmail.ensmp.fr")! X-Loop: caml-list@inria.fr X-Spam: no; 0.00; intricate:01 bike:99 bug:01 slows:01 python:01 python:01 stackless:01 theorist:01 prestige:99 mom:99 kernel:01 ocaml:01 ocaml:01 caml:01 surprising:01 Sender: owner-caml-list@pauillac.inria.fr Precedence: bulk > What if your job is as a motorbike courier? Easy. Let the guy with the car do those parts of your route which are accessible by car. You handle the intricate parts on your bike. Division of labor gets the job done faster. > More developers may slow > down development of the facilities WE want. No. There is plenty in the core that does not involve fancy-dancy theoretical work. With others working on the mundane parts, like bug fixes, Xavier will be able to focus on his expertise and research interests, which is probably what he wants anyway. What slows OCaml down is precisely that it is used as a research vehicle. Many languages like that exist. They often don't make it out of the lab. OCaml is in a kind of purgatory right now. > > > In fact it's very surprising that no third-party core > > > developers have joined to date, after all these years. > > > It's about time. Look at how many folks work on Python > > > core for example. > > Python core design is largely stable. When it came > to upgrading it to Stackless Python the process fell > through. They got generators and a GC instead. Maybe the Python core is stable because of the number of people working on it? Ditto the Linux kernel? My point was that Xavier should not fear he will lose control by bringing people in. As a top-notch theorist he can make better design decisions than Guido or Bjarne. He can decide what parts of the core others are competent to handle. He can task them as he sees fit. If they want to do something novel, he can screen it. Targetting OCaml to Giotto/Ptolemy is an example of the possibilities. That is a purely back-end change, not a language change, but it requires core privileges. > It's kind of nice to have lead developers who are both > top class theoreticians and expert technologists as well. > So in my opinion when Xavier says there are enough people > working on the Ocaml core, we should probably take that > at face value: we're all here because we *share* the > INRIA teams basic goals. I base my opinion not on Xavier's capabilities but on manpower. The best man on the planet has limited time and energy. Giving lower-tier core tasks to others enables us to get more out of Xavier, if you like. Hey look, I think OCaml deserves a lot more prestige and usage than it has. These are just my own honest opinions. I am not trying to put people down. It's my sincere belief that more developers would help. It might be worth adding that those close to a project are often the ones who most lack objectivity about it. There is a sense of "my baby" involved. Well, even Mom eventually sends baby off to school for others to help with the growth process. Thank you- Jim ------------------- To unsubscribe, mail caml-list-request@inria.fr Archives: http://caml.inria.fr Bug reports: http://caml.inria.fr/bin/caml-bugs FAQ: http://caml.inria.fr/FAQ/ Beginner's list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ocaml_beginners