Why is Ocaml better than Java (WAS: [Caml-list] ocaml complexity)

["Mattias Waldau" <mattias.waldau@abc.se>]

> 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

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