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FYI for everyone: This is not about Machine Learning. It is about a programming language called Standard ML where ML stands for Meta Language[1]. [1] https://e

FYI for everyone: This is not about Machine Learning. It is about a programming language called Standard ML where ML stands for Meta Language[1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_ML https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_ML

tialaramex 2y ago
I was taught the Standard ML of New Jersey (which as a non-American I did not realise is a joke, it's referring to the company now known to you as Exxon, the Standard Oil of New Jersey) at university. I strongly believe that - although my home institution no longer teaches an ML as first language - this is the best way to teach CS to undergraduates. An ML has all the fundamental ideas you will need to also teach about this discipline, and (so long as you choose e.g. SML/NJ or similar, not Rust or something) it won't be a language the average teenager you recruited might already know, so the week 1 exercise showing they've understood what they're doing is actually work for all of your students, averting a scenario where some of them drift away only to realise at exam time that they haven't learned a thing.
- sshine 2y ago
  Thank you for sharing this American joke. Standard ML was my go-to language for many years. I always found SML/NJ complicated both to compile and use, compared to... ...well, pretty much every other compiler: Moscow ML, Poly/ML, MLton, MLKit.
  - jjice 2y ago
    Agreed - we wrote an ML style language in my uni compilers course and it was taught by the primary maintainer of MLTon (Dr Fluet is a great guy). Since it’s full program optimizing, the compilation took a while. He told us to give SML NJ a try for faster compilation but slower execution. It was a headache and only marginally faster compilation for our use case. That said, it’s the OG so I give it some slack. I did enjoy MLton though, but it’s easier to do when the instructor wrote it.
- smlismyhomeboy 2y ago
  Huh. As an American, I had just assumed it was because it was developed at Princeton.
  - JoelMcCracken 2y ago
    Ditto! I've never heard of "Standard Oil of New Jersey" myself.
- layer8 2y ago
  > Exxon, the Standard Oil of New Jersey It would have been fun if they had renamed to JSON instead of Exxon.
belter 2y ago
"Generational list of programming languages" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generational_list_of_programming_languages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generational_list_of_programmi...
pkal 2y ago
Not everyone; I'm the kind of person who wishes posts about machine learning would be prefixed with these kinds of clarifications ("watch out, this is not related to the programming language but a family of stochastic algorithms referred to as 'machine learning'"), because I consistently fall for it.

tialaramex 2y ago

I was taught the Standard ML of New Jersey (which as a non-American I did not realise is a joke, it's referring to the company now known to you as Exxon, the Standard Oil of New Jersey) at university. I strongly believe that - although my home institution no longer teaches an ML as first language - this is the best way to teach CS to undergraduates. An ML has all the fundamental ideas you will need to also teach about this discipline, and (so long as you choose e.g. SML/NJ or similar, not Rust or something) it won't be a language the average teenager you recruited might already know, so the week 1 exercise showing they've understood what they're doing is actually work for all of your students, averting a scenario where some of them drift away only to realise at exam time that they haven't learned a thing.

sshine 2y ago
Thank you for sharing this American joke. Standard ML was my go-to language for many years. I always found SML/NJ complicated both to compile and use, compared to... ...well, pretty much every other compiler: Moscow ML, Poly/ML, MLton, MLKit.
- jjice 2y ago
  Agreed - we wrote an ML style language in my uni compilers course and it was taught by the primary maintainer of MLTon (Dr Fluet is a great guy). Since it’s full program optimizing, the compilation took a while. He told us to give SML NJ a try for faster compilation but slower execution. It was a headache and only marginally faster compilation for our use case. That said, it’s the OG so I give it some slack. I did enjoy MLton though, but it’s easier to do when the instructor wrote it.
smlismyhomeboy 2y ago
Huh. As an American, I had just assumed it was because it was developed at Princeton.
- JoelMcCracken 2y ago
  Ditto! I've never heard of "Standard Oil of New Jersey" myself.
layer8 2y ago
> Exxon, the Standard Oil of New Jersey It would have been fun if they had renamed to JSON instead of Exxon.

belter 2y ago

"Generational list of programming languages" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generational_list_of_programming_languages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generational_list_of_programmi...

pkal 2y ago

Not everyone; I'm the kind of person who wishes posts about machine learning would be prefixed with these kinds of clarifications ("watch out, this is not related to the programming language but a family of stochastic algorithms referred to as 'machine learning'"), because I consistently fall for it.