Re: [Caml-list] About the O'Reilly book on the web

[Martin Jambon <martin1977@laposte.net>]

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On Wed, 29 Nov 2006, Philippe Wang wrote:

> Martin Jambon a écrit :
>
>> You should definitely have a look at micmatch. It's backslash free!
>> 
>> main page:  http://martin.jambon.free.fr/micmatch.html
>> tutorial:   http://martin.jambon.free.fr/micmatch-howto.html
>> reference:  http://martin.jambon.free.fr/micmatch-manual.html
>
> But isn't that making things "different again"?

You can't make things better without making them different. OCaml is about 
being better, and so is the syntax I chose for regexps. It is fully
compatible with the syntax used by ocamllex, and I must say ocamllex 
regexps are incredibly easy to learn and to use. I never had any problem 
with them. In comparison Str or PCRE regexps are truly horrible.

> I know so many people that do not want to use OCaml just because its syntax 
> is (very) "different"...

I don't think that those people would be more satisfied with another 
syntax anyway, because OCaml would still be different! It's just that 
average people are afraid of anything that is different from what they 
already know.

> (don't tell me about the alternative syntax, which is - to me - an 
> "horror"...)

OK. Here is what I propose to whoever thinks OCaml's syntax is not 
good: give me a *complete* description of the syntax that you want and 
I'll implement it.


Martin

--
Martin Jambon, PhD
http://martin.jambon.free.fr