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I think Jane Street is using OCaml I’m not sure why did they decided to go with functional programming even though most popular firms are still using C/C++ Do y

I think Jane Street is using OCaml I’m not sure why did they decided to go with functional programming even though most popular firms are still using C/C++ Do you think using functional programming might have advantage over these programming languages Just curious to find out

emidln 6y ago
Jane Street has some blog posts talking about why they chose OCaml. I'm very torn on this. I've used Rust to quickly prototype things that I think could be used I prod. It's fine. In some places it is better than what we had for C++, in most places it is very similar for experienced devs. I don't think Rust let me complete my code any quicker than if I had done it with standard C++ tooling. The main issue I see with something other than C++ is compiler maintenance. gcc and clang generate very good code. There exists a good body of well optimized C++ for various use cases (various kinds of latency and throughput). It takes a lot of commitment to maintain and extend a compiler to keep it on par with gcc/clang and also still maintain a good stdlib for trading. I think a huge benefit of owning your compiler in a functional language would be easier/better codegen, particularly the ability to sidestep some of the shittier hardware languages with a better DSL (since you already have some compiler and tooling expertise in-house). This matters at lot for HFT since at the most critical places, you want to use FPGAs or better.
- tluyben2 6y ago
  > you want to use FPGAs or better. What are those used for? I only did slower signal trading bots and this sounds interesting as I make hardware as well.
mapal 6y ago
Jane street isn't in the HFT business, it's more like day trading.
- mraza007 6y ago
  I see. They are the only firm is pushing so hard on the use of functional programming. Everytime you do a google search related to FP you'll see them on the top

emidln 6y ago

Jane Street has some blog posts talking about why they chose OCaml. I'm very torn on this. I've used Rust to quickly prototype things that I think could be used I prod. It's fine. In some places it is better than what we had for C++, in most places it is very similar for experienced devs. I don't think Rust let me complete my code any quicker than if I had done it with standard C++ tooling. The main issue I see with something other than C++ is compiler maintenance. gcc and clang generate very good code. There exists a good body of well optimized C++ for various use cases (various kinds of latency and throughput). It takes a lot of commitment to maintain and extend a compiler to keep it on par with gcc/clang and also still maintain a good stdlib for trading. I think a huge benefit of owning your compiler in a functional language would be easier/better codegen, particularly the ability to sidestep some of the shittier hardware languages with a better DSL (since you already have some compiler and tooling expertise in-house). This matters at lot for HFT since at the most critical places, you want to use FPGAs or better.

tluyben2 6y ago
> you want to use FPGAs or better. What are those used for? I only did slower signal trading bots and this sounds interesting as I make hardware as well.

mapal 6y ago

Jane street isn't in the HFT business, it's more like day trading.

mraza007 6y ago
I see. They are the only firm is pushing so hard on the use of functional programming. Everytime you do a google search related to FP you'll see them on the top