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 AAA03006; Thu, 13 Mar 2003 00:36:49 +0100 (MET) X-Authentication-Warning: pauillac.inria.fr: majordomo set sender to owner-caml-list@pauillac.inria.fr using -f Received: from nez-perce.inria.fr (nez-perce.inria.fr [192.93.2.78]) by pauillac.inria.fr (8.7.6/8.7.3) with ESMTP id AAA03114 for ; Thu, 13 Mar 2003 00:36:48 +0100 (MET) Received: from epexch01.qlogic.org ([63.170.40.3]) by nez-perce.inria.fr (8.11.1/8.11.1) with ESMTP id h2CNalX11081 for ; Thu, 13 Mar 2003 00:36:47 +0100 (MET) Received: from epmailtmp.qlogic.org ([10.20.33.254]) by epexch01.qlogic.org with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.0.2195.5329); Wed, 12 Mar 2003 17:38:16 -0600 Received: from [10.20.33.146] ([10.20.33.146]) by epmailtmp.qlogic.org with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.0.2195.4905); Wed, 12 Mar 2003 17:38:16 -0600 Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2003 17:47:16 -0600 (CST) From: Brian Hurt X-X-Sender: Reply-To: Brian Hurt To: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Daniel_B=FCnzli?= cc: "Richard W.M. Jones" , Subject: Re: [Caml-list] OCaml popularity In-Reply-To: Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8BIT X-OriginalArrivalTime: 12 Mar 2003 23:38:16.0259 (UTC) FILETIME=[74686930:01C2E8F0] X-Spam: no; 0.00; qlogic:01 caml-list:01 pointers:01 infer:01 introductory:99 discourages:01 ocaml:01 fewer:02 wrote:03 bunch:03 purchasing:95 intuitive:04 bookstore:95 graph:05 feet:93 Sender: owner-caml-list@pauillac.inria.fr Precedence: bulk On Thu, 13 Mar 2003, Daniel Bünzli wrote: > Very often what is needed is a way to figure out how you can do this or > that in the language along with relevant pointers in the documentation > graph. This is why I think that a bunch of well edited online tutorials > would do a better job; assuming that the reader has a minimal knowledge > of the language, something like the first two chapter of the ocaml > reference manual with a little more details. I have a theory (backed up with a fair bit of circumstancial evidence) that a large number of purchasing decisions are influenced by the number of running feet of books in the local bookstore are dedicated to the topic. The theory is (as I infer it) 'if I have a problem, I'll simply buy a book to tell me how to solve it. After all, look at all of these books! Surely one of them will be what I need!' Having *the* perfect introductory book is actually a detriment, as it discourages other books from entering the field, thus reducing your runnning foot total. Likewise, being intuitive or easy to understand is also a detriment, as this makes both for fewer books and for slimmer books. Much better to have multi-thousand page tomes (tombs?). And naturally, you can't measure running feet of web pages :-). Brian ------------------- 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