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OCaml is a very powerful language. I'm still discovering new features/patterns everyday. But coming from a background with C/Javascript, the syntax is definitel

OCaml is a very powerful language. I'm still discovering new features/patterns everyday. But coming from a background with C/Javascript, the syntax is definitely hard to understand. For this particular problem, I think ReasonML has done a very good job of introducing OCaml platform to a wider audience. Shamelessly plug: I'm working sketch.sh [1] as a learning project for ReasonML. It's a interactive playground (like IPython/Jupyter) for OCaml and ReasonML. It's provide inline types and evaluated values. Give it a try if you're learning OCaml/ReasonML. [1]: https://sketch.sh https://sketch.sh

DonaldPShimoda 8y ago
> But coming from a background with C/Javascript, the syntax is definitely hard to understand. I work with Haskell fairly regularly, and have experience with a few other languages (Python, Racket, C/C++, Java, etc.), but I definitely agree with this sentiment. I am not a fan of OCaml's syntax at all. I haven't had a chance to check out Reason yet though, so maybe I'll spend some time playing with that soon!
- fhood 8y ago
  I don't think its syntax is that bad. A bit daunting at first, but it isn't like you need to learn a ton to understand it, so once you have the basics it is pretty readable.
erokar 8y ago
I don't get it. I work day to day with Algol-syntax languages like JavaScript and Java, but have dabbled in ML languages like Elm and Haskell. One of the things I really like about those languages is the syntax -- succinct and clear. What takes time and is hard for me is grasping the semantics and patterns.
- acjohnson55 8y ago
  I find it pretty clear in simple cases but ambiguities and associativity rules can make interpreting some code a real pain.
- masklinn 8y ago
  OCaml's syntax is way more verbose and noisy than Haskell's or Elm's. It tends to have longer keywords, more sigils, … and some of the defaults are inconvenient (non-recursive lets) https://wiki.haskell.org/OCaml https://wiki.haskell.org/OCaml has some trivial examples
diaz 8y ago
As a contrasting opinion I started reading the Ocaml book about something real world and I felt the syntax finally something fresh, beatiful and clean. But I also suffer from having to use scala everyday at work.
- ufo 8y ago
  As a big Ocaml fan, the syntax is one of my least favourite aspects of the language. Two things that I find particularly annoying are constructors (which don't have the same syntax as funciton calls) and the multitude of shift-reduce ambiguities that don't do the thing that you want. For example, in the following code the W gets parsed as part of the inner match: match foo with | X -> match bar with | Y -> 1 | Z -> 2 | W -> 3 A lot of this could be remedied by having more expression terminators. ReasonML uses C-like curly braces but even a simple "end" token to close the match expressoin (similar to what Lua does) would already be enough.
  - anuragsoni 8y ago
    This tripped me up when I was first exploring OCaml. FWIW i've taken to wrapping the nested matches with parenthesis or a begin/end match foo with | X -> (match bar with | Y -> 1 | Z -> 2) | W -> 3 match foo with | X -> begin match bar with | Y -> 1 | Z -> 2 end | W -> 3
  - nestorD 8y ago
    The indentation sensitive syntax of F# was the solution to me, I would love to see it being integrated into OCaml.
  - diaz 8y ago
    Ohh interesting. Didn't get that far yet. But good to know. Is there somekind of place listing these gotchas with the syntax? Seems something good to be aware.
    - scns 8y ago

DonaldPShimoda 8y ago

> But coming from a background with C/Javascript, the syntax is definitely hard to understand. I work with Haskell fairly regularly, and have experience with a few other languages (Python, Racket, C/C++, Java, etc.), but I definitely agree with this sentiment. I am not a fan of OCaml's syntax at all. I haven't had a chance to check out Reason yet though, so maybe I'll spend some time playing with that soon!

fhood 8y ago
I don't think its syntax is that bad. A bit daunting at first, but it isn't like you need to learn a ton to understand it, so once you have the basics it is pretty readable.

erokar 8y ago

I don't get it. I work day to day with Algol-syntax languages like JavaScript and Java, but have dabbled in ML languages like Elm and Haskell. One of the things I really like about those languages is the syntax -- succinct and clear. What takes time and is hard for me is grasping the semantics and patterns.

acjohnson55 8y ago
I find it pretty clear in simple cases but ambiguities and associativity rules can make interpreting some code a real pain.
masklinn 8y ago
OCaml's syntax is way more verbose and noisy than Haskell's or Elm's. It tends to have longer keywords, more sigils, … and some of the defaults are inconvenient (non-recursive lets) https://wiki.haskell.org/OCaml https://wiki.haskell.org/OCaml has some trivial examples

diaz 8y ago

As a contrasting opinion I started reading the Ocaml book about something real world and I felt the syntax finally something fresh, beatiful and clean. But I also suffer from having to use scala everyday at work.

ufo 8y ago
As a big Ocaml fan, the syntax is one of my least favourite aspects of the language. Two things that I find particularly annoying are constructors (which don't have the same syntax as funciton calls) and the multitude of shift-reduce ambiguities that don't do the thing that you want. For example, in the following code the W gets parsed as part of the inner match: match foo with | X -> match bar with | Y -> 1 | Z -> 2 | W -> 3 A lot of this could be remedied by having more expression terminators. ReasonML uses C-like curly braces but even a simple "end" token to close the match expressoin (similar to what Lua does) would already be enough.
- anuragsoni 8y ago
  This tripped me up when I was first exploring OCaml. FWIW i've taken to wrapping the nested matches with parenthesis or a begin/end match foo with | X -> (match bar with | Y -> 1 | Z -> 2) | W -> 3 match foo with | X -> begin match bar with | Y -> 1 | Z -> 2 end | W -> 3
- nestorD 8y ago
  The indentation sensitive syntax of F# was the solution to me, I would love to see it being integrated into OCaml.
- diaz 8y ago
  Ohh interesting. Didn't get that far yet. But good to know. Is there somekind of place listing these gotchas with the syntax? Seems something good to be aware.
  - scns 8y ago