From: Chad Perrin <perrin@...>
Date: 2006-08-03T19:22:19+09:00
Subject: Re: For performance, write it in OCaml

On Thu, Aug 03, 2006 at 01:30:04PM +0900, Jon Harrop wrote:
> 
> 4. Whether Ruby is fast enough or not, you should be programming in OCaml
> and not in Ruby or C. ;-)

Actually, OCaml is one of the languages in which I've been meaning to
get competent at some point in the hopefully-near future (for some
definition of "near").  I find that I pick up a language faster if
there's a good community for it whose means of communication suits the
way I think, though.  What sort of online OCaml community resources are
available?  Perl's biggest strength, in terms of interactive community,
seems (for my tastes) to be the PerlMonks site, and this list fills the
same need for Ruby.  What comparable community interaction mechanism
could I use for OCaml?

I'm often disappointed by the options for a given language.  For
instance, I recently (earlier this year) added another language to my
list of loves: the UCBLogo implementation of the Logo language (more a
"Lisp without parentheses" than any other Logo of which I'm aware, as it
provides macro support).  It has no online community at all, except for
a bunch of half-baked educators who want to use Turtle Graphics to teach
elementary and middle school kids that computers aren't scary, which is
definitely not the community I want for my own purposes.  My issue with
the Python community is far less drastic -- it actually has one of the
better programming language online communities, all things considered,
of course -- but the fact that the cultural rigidity of the Python
community seems so pervasive drives me away (as does that
fork-in-the-eye sensation I get when reading Python source).  Et cetera.
Both Ruby and Perl are stand-out examples of excellence for online
communities, and while I don't need the perfection of either
necessarily, I hope OCaml provides something close.

So.  Does it?

Wow, that was a lot of rambling for that question.  Just to keep it
on-topic:

  Thanks for being a good community, guys.

-- 
CCD CopyWrite Chad Perrin [ http://ccd.apotheon.org ]
"A script is what you give the actors.  A program
is what you give the audience." - Larry Wall