4 ms·

Why is OCaml a 'dead language'?

AstralStorm 8y ago
It didn't get intake needed to become popular plus it is not at cutting edge of research to qualify as a research language.
- smt88 8y ago
  I'm pretty sure Facebook uses it extensively to build their languages. That fact alone means it's not dead and its popularity isn't that important.
  - AstralStorm 8y ago
    It is not quite being advertised widely plus a language that is not used by more than one major company, especially externally, tends to go away. Albeit it is Google who start then leave to die more languages than I can count on the fingers of one hand. OCaml is very far from dead though.
    - wuschel 8y ago
      I saw these resources recently in the web - would anyone knowledgeable in the OCaml ecosystem care to comment on this? 1) https://ocaml.org/meetings/ocaml/2017/slides__2017__anil-madhavapeddy__the-state-of-the-ocaml-platform-september-2017.pdf https://ocaml.org/meetings/ocaml/2017/slides__2017__anil-mad... 2) https://www.infoq.com/presentations/ocaml-browser-iot/ https://www.infoq.com/presentations/ocaml-browser-iot/ It seems that there is constant work on the tooling part of the language, and that multicore would be (on the far) horizon.
      - 3rdAccount 8y ago
        Multicore has been around the corner for years if i recall correctly.
  - chucksmash 8y ago
    Also the original Rust compiler was written in OCaml and the language draws inspiration from the same. Also (perhaps this is encompassed by your statement already) there is ReasonML[0]. Switching over from the JS Quickstart to the OCaml Quickstart, one finds the very first line: > Since Reason is just another syntax for OCaml, [...] Side note: just finished a small project in ReasonML and it was a lovely experience. As someone who has been using Flow for gradually typed JS for a while now, I would totally recommend at least playing with it. [0]: https://reasonml.github.io/docs/en/convert-from-ocaml https://reasonml.github.io/docs/en/convert-from-ocaml
- fasquoika 8y ago
  > it is not at cutting edge of research to qualify as a research language. [citation needed]

It didn't get intake needed to become popular plus it is not at cutting edge of research to qualify as a research language.

smt88 8y ago
I'm pretty sure Facebook uses it extensively to build their languages. That fact alone means it's not dead and its popularity isn't that important.
- AstralStorm 8y ago
  It is not quite being advertised widely plus a language that is not used by more than one major company, especially externally, tends to go away. Albeit it is Google who start then leave to die more languages than I can count on the fingers of one hand. OCaml is very far from dead though.
  - wuschel 8y ago
    I saw these resources recently in the web - would anyone knowledgeable in the OCaml ecosystem care to comment on this? 1) https://ocaml.org/meetings/ocaml/2017/slides__2017__anil-madhavapeddy__the-state-of-the-ocaml-platform-september-2017.pdf https://ocaml.org/meetings/ocaml/2017/slides__2017__anil-mad... 2) https://www.infoq.com/presentations/ocaml-browser-iot/ https://www.infoq.com/presentations/ocaml-browser-iot/ It seems that there is constant work on the tooling part of the language, and that multicore would be (on the far) horizon.
    - 3rdAccount 8y ago
      Multicore has been around the corner for years if i recall correctly.
- chucksmash 8y ago
  Also the original Rust compiler was written in OCaml and the language draws inspiration from the same. Also (perhaps this is encompassed by your statement already) there is ReasonML[0]. Switching over from the JS Quickstart to the OCaml Quickstart, one finds the very first line: > Since Reason is just another syntax for OCaml, [...] Side note: just finished a small project in ReasonML and it was a lovely experience. As someone who has been using Flow for gradually typed JS for a while now, I would totally recommend at least playing with it. [0]: https://reasonml.github.io/docs/en/convert-from-ocaml https://reasonml.github.io/docs/en/convert-from-ocaml
fasquoika 8y ago
> it is not at cutting edge of research to qualify as a research language. [citation needed]