caml-light was a marvellous language to teach computer science (I have learned it in 1992). It was interpreted bytecode. Later "Caml Special Light" has improved

caml-light was a marvellous language to teach computer science (I have learned it in 1992). It was interpreted bytecode. Later "Caml Special Light" has improved its speed. More later OCaml has added objects. There is a good history at http://caml.inria.fr/about/history.en.html#idp1416640 http://caml.inria.fr/about/history.en.html#idp1416640 . The purpose of the language was research and teaching. I think it was never intended to be "battery included". The fact that so many people use it for real work and that so many libraries have been developed has a simple explanation: the difficulty to find a good language to have the job done. OCaml is a very good language. I think it is easier to learn OCaml than haskell. Scala is more recent than OCaml and is more "battery included". I think that Scala will progressively replace OCaml and it a better fit for professional work.