Re: [Caml-list] Saying hi and the most basic question

[Dustin Sallings <dustin@spy.net>]

On Dec 12, 2003, at 9:36, Joaquin Bernal wrote:

> Hi all. I've just subscribed to the list (most redundant sentence
> ever) so I'm dropping the first question. Are there any tutorials or
> books available for download (english or spanish) besides Michael
> Mauny's "Functional Programing using Caml Light" and the OCaml 3.07
> Reference Manual itself?

	Besides the ora reference, I've found this book to be pretty good:

http://www.cs.caltech.edu/courses/cs134/cs134b/book.pdf

> Besides that, what was your first project using Caml? I'd like to
> start mine, so maybe you can give advice about the kind of project
> most suitable for learning.

	I had a few data processing utilities I rewrote.  The original 
versions were written in python and just weren't fast enough for the 
amount of data I was getting daily (well, they were, but it took a 
couple of hours to process everything).  I started looking for other 
languages that would provide better performance.  In my early tests, 
bigloo scheme and ocaml processed one of my data sets in approximately 
the same amount of time.  I went with bigloo for a while because I was 
familiar with scheme and very uncomfortable in ocaml.

	After a while, and with added complexity, I started having both 
performance and stability problems with the bigloo version of my 
processor pilot.  I had some trouble growing the thing as well.

	I decided to give ocaml another go and found that it was insanely 
fast, and completely solid.  Since then, I've been trying to figure out 
what apps I can rewrite.  When I can't rewrite an app, I build 
libraries I figure I'll need later (file processing stuff, auto-filling 
lru cache, cdb, base64, etc...).  It's a lot more fun than my day job.  
:)  (of course, I use ocaml in my day job as well)

--
SPY                      My girlfriend asked me which one I like better.
pub  1024/3CAE01D5 1994/11/03 Dustin Sallings <dustin@spy.net>
|    Key fingerprint =  87 02 57 08 02 D0 DA D6  C8 0F 3E 65 51 98 D8 BE
L_______________________ I hope the answer won't upset her. ____________

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