> In both SML and OCaml writing a function that's polymorphic over numeric types is a huge pain in the ass, so I'm not sure it's a good choice for numeric progr

> In both SML and OCaml writing a function that's polymorphic over numeric types is a huge pain in the ass, so I'm not sure it's a good choice for numeric programming. What? In numeric programming we usually want the opposite, to write a function for specific type, and to make it run fast. Also, in OCaml you can simply make your computation a parametric module of some algebraic structure, something like module type Ring = sig type t val zero : t val one : t val (+) : t -> t -> t ... end module Numeric_staff (N : Ring) = struct ... And have a completely static numeric computation without any dynamic dispatch. That's resembling C++'s templates. You also can use classes if you want dynamic dispatch let (+) x y = x#add y