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 MAA15423; Fri, 8 Jun 2001 12:17:41 +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 MAA15273 for ; Fri, 8 Jun 2001 12:17:40 +0200 (MET DST) Received: from mrwall.kal.com (mrwall.kal.com [194.193.14.236]) by nez-perce.inria.fr (8.11.1/8.10.0) with SMTP id f58AHdL15301 for ; Fri, 8 Jun 2001 12:17:39 +0200 (MET DST) Received: from mrwall.kal.com [194.193.14.236] (HELO localhost) by mrwall.kal.com (AltaVista Mail V2.0J/2.0J BL25J listener) id 0000_0045_3b20_a6d8_3587; Fri, 08 Jun 2001 11:20:08 +0100 Subject: RE: Why is Ocaml better than Java (WAS: [Caml-list] ocaml complexity) Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2001 11:15:54 +0100 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Message-ID: <8E31D6933A2FE64F8AE3CC1381EEDCE704C3D0@NT.kal.com> content-class: urn:content-classes:message X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft Exchange V6.0.4417.0 Thread-Topic: Why is Ocaml better than Java (WAS: [Caml-list] ocaml complexity) Thread-Index: AcDwApISDSjuV9K1SauWwah4JPazwgAAPaHQ From: "Dave Berry" To: "Mattias Waldau" , Cc: , "Jonathan Coupe" Sender: owner-caml-list@pauillac.inria.fr Precedence: bulk I've spent the last six months actively recruiting C++ programmers. There are many C++ programmers out there, and they are very much in demand. The notion that "nobody writes applications using C/C++" is simply wrong. Also, the "open source" community can't be so easily dismissed, as OCaml is more likely to make headway with these users than commercial users (at present). That said, there are other major languages used for writing applications, such as VB, Delphi and Java. Comparisons between these and OCaml would be a good idea. =20 Dave. -----Original Message----- From: Mattias Waldau [mailto:mattias.waldau@abc.se] Sent: 08 June 2001 11:06 To: caml-list@inria.fr Cc: leary@nwlink.com; Jonathan Coupe Subject: Why is Ocaml better than Java (WAS: [Caml-list] ocaml complexity) > How much time and money do development teams spend creating and tracking > down memory management errors in C and C++ starting on day one? At least > some of the benefits are immediate and ongoing. Why this obsession comparing Ocaml with C/C++? C/C++ isn't used out there except for Linux-development, low-level programming and embedded development. No one writes applications using C/C++, they use Java, Visual Basic. Some open source developers use Python, PHP and similar. Some use Fortran and Delphi. Talking about memory management with a programmer using anything else than C/C++ is a waste of time. The real questions is how to convince a Java-programmer to start using Ocaml. The arguments I can list is: - speed - polymorphism, no casting needed (will be solved in next generation of Java, so this argument will disappear) - closures (however can always be programmed using local class with ()-method) - better typechecking makes higher order functions simple to use (however, I think that a local class in Java will be as good) - compact programs (Java programs are very long) - easy integration with C (easy in VB, I haven't tried it in Java) Plz help me with more arguments /mattias ------------------- Bug reports: http://caml.inria.fr/bin/caml-bugs FAQ: http://caml.inria.fr/FAQ/ 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/ To unsubscribe, mail caml-list-request@inria.fr Archives: http://caml.inria.fr