From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: (from majordomo@localhost) by pauillac.inria.fr (8.7.6/8.7.3) id OAA12191; Thu, 25 Apr 2002 14:25:06 +0200 (MET DST) X-Authentication-Warning: pauillac.inria.fr: majordomo set sender to owner-caml-list@pauillac.inria.fr using -f Received: from concorde.inria.fr (concorde.inria.fr [192.93.2.39]) by pauillac.inria.fr (8.7.6/8.7.3) with ESMTP id OAA11980 for ; Thu, 25 Apr 2002 14:25:05 +0200 (MET DST) Received: from hirsch.in-berlin.de (hirsch.in-berlin.de [192.109.42.6]) by concorde.inria.fr (8.11.1/8.11.1) with ESMTP id g3PCP3T00788 for ; Thu, 25 Apr 2002 14:25:04 +0200 (MET DST) Received: from hirsch.in-berlin.de (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by hirsch.in-berlin.de (8.12.1/8.12.1/Debian -2) with ESMTP id g3PCP2wm022479 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=EDH-RSA-DES-CBC3-SHA bits=168 verify=NOT); Thu, 25 Apr 2002 14:25:02 +0200 Received: (from uucp@localhost) by hirsch.in-berlin.de (8.12.1/8.12.1/Debian -2) with UUCP id g3PCP29Y022457; Thu, 25 Apr 2002 14:25:02 +0200 X-Envelope-From: oliver@first.in-berlin.de X-Envelope-To: caml-list@inria.fr Received: from localhost (oliver@localhost) by first.in-berlin.de (8.7.6/8.7.3) with SMTP id OAA00569; Thu, 25 Apr 2002 14:13:08 +0200 Date: Thu, 25 Apr 2002 14:13:07 +0200 (MET DST) From: Oliver Bandel To: John Max Skaller cc: caml-list@inria.fr Subject: Re: [Caml-list] Some/None In-Reply-To: <3CC75FF5.5020605@ozemail.com.au> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8BIT Sender: owner-caml-list@pauillac.inria.fr Precedence: bulk Hello, On Thu, 25 Apr 2002, John Max Skaller wrote: > Oliver Bandel wrote: > > >>type file_data = > >> | Regular of int (* file size in megs *) > >> | Directory of int (* number of entries *) > >> | Special > >> .... > >> > > > >nice idea. :) > > > > Perhaps. I would say designing appropriate types > and functions for a system is hard, in any language. > > The difference with Ocaml is that representing > your designs is much easier than, say, C or C++. Yes. I see it. I have to explore the type-system of Ocaml and it's facilities more intensive. It's a wide field. But I can see, the advantages right now. But when you have written code in C and Perl formany years, it's really an unknown land... C and Perl don't give you results like "Some 8" or such. You only have a raw value in C (no matter if it is a int, char, a function pointer or a pointer to data of any type (where the types themselves are never types in theit own right. If using typedefs in C that is not comparable to the type-statement of Ocaml.... that's confusing in the first moment (even if the advantages will get clearer from time to time))). It could possible that maybe one day there will be a C-toplevel, giving back the type of a C-data (maybe gdb can be used for that). But that is nothing, what the language itself supports. So at first contact with Ocaml it seems strange for C-/Perl-programmers (even if it's possible to have a slight idea of what is possible with that typesystem). > The language is very expressive and yet compact, > and it is very rarely that I bother representing > a design on paper before coding .. the code is so > expressive of the design it usually isn't necessary .. It's nearly natural language you mean? ;-) [...] > Just my usual warning .. ocaml is a powerful drug .. > its additive .. I know. I reached the state, where I can acknowledge this. And I'm prising OCaml wherever I can, even if I only have a slight insight of it. Maybe, some weeks or months later I will not ACK that it's a drug - the typical reaction of a addict people: "No, I'm not an OCaml-addict. I can stop whith it, whenever I want to! Really! Believe me! But today I don't want to stop programming with it... but I could really, if I wanted to... no, I'Äm not addict..." ;-) > a one way street .. ask Markus Mottl .. He's really addict. So he would not say that it's a drug. ;-) > you just won't be able to go back to C/C++ afterwards .. > the withdrawal symptoms are quite deadly .. :-)) :) I know it. Even if I stumble in Ocaml right now (but can walk better than in my last Ocaml-phase, some months ago (I had paused learning/using it until the english translation of the O'Reilly book was published in the net...)) I see the many advantages of it, compared to C. Always when I look back to C-programming, I know, that programming paradise is not far away when looking forward to Ocaml. :) Ciao, Oliver P.S.: Why not doing some Ocaml-marketing and send a mail to Mr. Greeve from the Brave GNU World? Doesn't it make sense to make it more public...? Or is it better to wait until the OCaml-book will be available in the bookshops? ------------------- 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