> I've always wondered why SML, a language with a proper spec and multiple independent implementations and more coherent design, was overshadowed by OCaml. IMO

> I've always wondered why SML, a language with a proper spec and multiple independent implementations and more coherent design, was overshadowed by OCaml. IMO it's not much of a mystery. For ~15 years "object oriented" was the biggest buzz word in computer science and OCaml was object oriented, while SML was not. At least in the objects, inheritance, and polymorphic way people wanted.