This is great! I never played with it myself, but now that I'm looking at it, I really like it. I've been looking for a place to direct someone who wants to learn, and this looks like the one! :) On Tue, May 28, 2013 at 7:51 PM, Francois Berenger wrote: > On 05/29/2013 11:39 AM, Jeff Meister wrote: > >> I hesitate to recommend Part I of the OCaml Manual as an introduction >> for new users because it is so terse and dense. It describes the core >> language on a single HTML page. Powerful features of great consequence >> are covered rapidly. For example, variant types are relegated to a >> single section with only three example types. >> >> I do not mean to complain about the OCaml Manual; its succinctness is a >> virtue. It assumes I am competent and does not waste my time. Nearly >> every sentence in Part I conveys vital information and should be read >> carefully. But people are not used to engaging with tutorials in this >> manner. They expect motivation (explanation of the reasoning behind >> various features) and hand-holding, which they can skip over or consult >> depending on their level of understanding. Ideally, they want to see an >> example that does something similar to whatever they're currently >> working on. >> >> Most people actively involved in the OCaml community right now have >> either read the language reference (i.e., Part II) or are capable of >> doing so if they wanted to. Many of them have substantial background in >> programming language theory. But the majority of programmers cannot >> learn the language in this way. I think appealing to them requires a >> more didactic method. >> > > Maybe this one then: > > http://try.ocamlpro.com/ > > ;) > > On Mon, May 27, 2013 at 8:40 PM, Francois Berenger > > wrote: >> >> On 05/28/2013 11:44 AM, oliver wrote: >> >> On Tue, May 28, 2013 at 10:17:04AM +0900, Francois Berenger wrote: >> >> On 05/27/2013 09:38 PM, Mr. Herr wrote: >> >> >> Am 27.05.2013 10 :53, schrieb Erik >> >> de Castro Lopo: >> >> Mr. Herr wrote: >> >> I think the biggest problem is you generally can >> only learn FP and/or Ocaml at >> university, because: >> >> The FP terminology is at first (and a long time >> after starting learning it), without >> a teacher, not understandable. >> >> Sorry, that's simply not true. >> >> I studied my last univeristy course in 1992. I >> picked up Ocaml in 2004 >> and Haskell in 2008. Before Ocaml, the only >> functional language I had >> used was scheme in the late 1980s. >> >> >> Scheme is terribly functional, so to say, and is >> absolutely immerged in the Lispy slang. >> All your knowlegde in C, Java, PHP, Assembler, Tcl/Tk, >> Pascal ... will not help you >> there. >> >> I started as an IBM /370 Systems Admin in the late >> nineties, and it took me months of >> reading in 2012 >> to get some understanding about what the heck the scheme >> people are talking about. >> >> Scheme is even a better example for the problems non >> university learners encounter, >> than Ocaml, IMO. >> >> >> A very good book on scheme (which is also quite a deep >> introduction >> to computer science if you read the whole thing in fact): >> >> "structure and interpretation of computer programs" >> >> http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/_**_full-text/book/book.html >> >> >> > >> >> [...] >> >> As language introduction it is too much text. >> It is meant as introduction to computer science. >> >> >> But what an introduction. ;) >> >> >> AFAIK scheme was developed for this task. >> >> The scheme standard is not so hard to read, and it has only 50 >> pages. >> Thats IMHO better if someone looks for a introduction to the >> language >> only. >> >> For comparison: OCaml ref-man: 554 pages and IMHO not a good >> starting >> point. IMHO better are some of the introductional books out there, >> e.g. OCaml-Ora-book and jason Hickeys book. >> After that then the Refman. >> >> >> Honestly, I think "Part I An introduction to OCaml" >> from "The OCaml system release 4.00 >> Documentation and user’s manual" >> at >> http://caml.inria.fr/pub/docs/**__manual-ocaml/ >> >> >> > >> is enough for a start. >> >> I think you can even skip the Objects chapter in there. >> And that's only pages 9 to 33 in the PDF version of the document. >> >> Regards, >> F. >> >> >> -- >> Caml-list mailing list. Subscription management and archives: >> https://sympa.inria.fr/sympa/_**_arc/caml-list >> >> > >> Beginner's list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/**__ocaml_beginners >> >> > >> Bug reports: http://caml.inria.fr/bin/caml-**__bugs >> >> > >> >> >> >