Re: [Caml-list] productivity improvement

[Diego Olivier Fernandez Pons <Diego-Olivier.FERNANDEZ-PONS@cicrp.jussieu.fr>]

    Bonjour,

I do not understand very well why are you arguing, or is there anyone
in this list who is not convinced that Caml (and functional languages)
are more suited for any complex work than C/C++ (and other imperative
languages) ?

> Sorry, but I can't afford my code to look anywhere similar to STL.
> Using the standard lib for those data structures and algorithms may
> be okay, but writing something like STL itself is a big NO-NO.

When I wrote Baire, I read a lot of data structures and algorithms
code in other languages (C, C++, Java, SML, Haskell, Lisp, Scheme).

Compared with all those libraries, Baire is :
- much more complex (more algorithms and data structures)
- cleaner
- smaller
- easier to maintain and debug

It is faster than Java, SML, Haskell, Lisp and Scheme librairies
(since Caml is faster than all these languages and Baire uses same or
better algorithms), and we have good reasons to believe that it is at
least as fast as C++ code when you choose a data structure more suited
to the data you are manipulating (which Baire offers but STL/LEDA does
not)

Moreover, I wrote it in a few month and did it alone

Finally, Baire has not yet said its last word since it is only a
pre-release

Does anyone need more evidence ?

> Here is one for you: write a general purpose parallel array library with
> syntax similar to that of blitz, should implement efficient parallel
> algorithms for a large class of topologies. That was the project which led me
> to conclude that C++ was *not* fitting for generic programming....

C++ in not fitting for any kind of programming and there is no need of
such a specific application to demostrate it.


        Diego Olivier

-------------------
To unsubscribe, mail caml-list-request@inria.fr Archives: http://caml.inria.fr
Bug reports: http://caml.inria.fr/bin/caml-bugs FAQ: http://caml.inria.fr/FAQ/
Beginner's list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ocaml_beginners