Gabriel,


> I feel I am missing some background. What is this "coreML"


Typed lambda calculus with typical sugar
http://caml.inria.fr/pub/docs/u3-ocaml/ocaml-ml.html and common basis
(intersection) of all ML languages (SML, OCaml, F#, Haskell)


> and what is the point of making subtle syntactic changes to it?
>

I agree with Don Syme that the syntax of MLs could be simplified to make
them easier for the masses but I don't like the indentation for block
delimitation rule (Landin's off-side rule) he uses in F# to remove the
"begin / end" and the "let ... in" constructions. Not saying it is ever
going to happen but it is worth thinking about it and maybe giving a try on
my side.

The underlying question is "how to make ML mainstream" which is what the
(broad) ML community has been trying to do for decades with limited
success. Among other things we have tried
- standards (SML, Haskell 98) with multiple implementations
- optimizing compilers (OCaml, MLTon)
- education (first language, data structures, books)
- (killer) applications
- popular virtual machines (Java, CLR) to reuse their code base
- web (Caml as browser extension language in MMM, Caml to JavaScript
compilation)
and many more

Agreed that many of these were successful research projects, not
specifically meant to take over the world (of programming languages).

The result is two folds
- a technical success : check the code written by the INRIA teams, almost
everyone uses Caml but those with very specific needs (Java rewriting
systems, Prolog, high performance Grobner basis, etc).
- a mainstream failure : limited industrial usage besides a couple of
companies

        Diego Olivier