. Maybe I'm just spoilt by other language distributions, but I think I am representative of the "OCaml-curious" programmer, and that's not what "batteries included" implies to us. I don't mean to single Batteries out here, it's definitely a step in the right direction, and kudos to those that have put in the effort. It's a general problem in the OCaml world. Compare Python's actively developed cx_Oracle to OCaml's abandoned Oracaml. Or Python's excellent Matplotlib to OCaml's frankly crude Plplot, I tried to draw a graph with a legend today, very simple you might think, wait, Plplot doesn't even do that! It would be a very hard sell to my colleagues right now, regardless of the brilliance of type inference, pattern matching, etc... Cheers, G --Apple-Mail-145-1051798337 Content-Type: text/html; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

On 4 Sep 2009, at = 15:38, Hezekiah M. Carty wrote:

If = you provide the live CD as both a physical CD and a = downloadable
ISO, they can = even run it virtualized so they don't need to = reboot.

This may be a nice longer-term goal for = Batteries and/or Community
OCaml. Providing a livecd or perhaps = a ready-to-go virtual machine
image would make it much simpler for = folks with problems (4) and (6)
to try out both OCaml and Batteries = in a known-functional = environment.

I don't = think this is a realistic use case. I am interested in using OCaml for = real work; the way I "try" any language (or tool, or library, etc) is to = install it on my work machine and use it to tackle a small but real = problem. If I like what I see I take it further, then eventually I will = want to deploy it. A sandbox is nothing more than a toy for freshmen = (and freshmen who need spoonfeeding, at = that).

I am after a = language that has the rapid-development of Python or Tcl but with type = safety; OCaml is right now the best bet, but it is *very* rough around = the edges. The way you install ActivePython is you download it and run = the installer and a few minutes later you're ready to go with everything = you need. I'm just reading the release notes for Batteries now and it = starts, you will need <a big long list of things>. Maybe I'm just = spoilt by other language distributions, but I think I am representative = of the "OCaml-curious" programmer, and that's not what "batteries = included" implies to us.

I = don't mean to single Batteries out here, it's definitely a step in the = right direction, and kudos to those that have put in the effort. It's a = general problem in the OCaml world. Compare Python's actively developed = cx_Oracle to OCaml's abandoned Oracaml. Or Python's excellent Matplotlib = to OCaml's frankly crude Plplot, I tried to draw a graph with a = legend today, very simple you might think, wait, Plplot doesn't even do = that! It would be a very hard sell to my colleagues right now, = regardless of the brilliance of type inference, pattern matching, = etc...

Cheers,

<= div>

= --Apple-Mail-145-1051798337--