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Is my impression correct that the general interest in OCaml has waned & its development has somewhat stalled? I played with OCaml when it was at version 3. I re

Is my impression correct that the general interest in OCaml has waned & its development has somewhat stalled? I played with OCaml when it was at version 3. I remember the mailing list to be rather vibrant. Now there seem to be fewer posts. I think this is a pity because I really would like to see OCaml to take off. Projects like ocamljava and js_of_ocaml also sound quite promising.

jon_smark 12y ago
That impression is incorrect. I don't think the core devs and the overall community have ever been as vibrant as they are now. Take for instance compiler development: half a decade ago, updates were rare and marginal. Nowadays you can expect a new compiler version every single year with lots of exciting features.
amirmc 12y ago
I don't think you've looked very closely (if at all?). There is tons of stuff happening in the OCaml ecosystem. Compiler improvements, large scale projects, more industrial uses and also new books. Try looking at http://OCaml.org http://OCaml.org for some links (and the planet newsfeed), as well as the websites of OCaml Labs (see the article) or OCamlPro.
- raphinou 12y ago
  He s right for the mailing list though. I regret there is not more discussion happening there
  - amirmc 12y ago
    Why? Frankly, I'm glad that there is more stuff happening out on the net at large rather than trapped on one list. I consider it a sign of success (there are probably many more users out there than who are on the mailing list anyway). I've used Python, Ruby, etc but I haven't ever joined their main lists and I don't feel I'm missing out (anything important will spread in other ways).
    - raphinou 12y ago
      As a beginner, it is interesting to read more advanced questions and their answers. I learned a lot of ruby that way at the time, and i miss it for 0caml now.
      - amirmc 12y ago
        This does still happen (e.g [1]), though I've no idea if the frequency of such posts has changed. If no-one asks questions, then there's nothing to answer (so please do ask!). On the other hand, I've noticed that more people have started to ask/answer questions on StackOverflow [2] so perhaps this just represents the general shift that other langs have already been through. [1] https://sympa.inria.fr/sympa/arc/caml-list/2014-05/msg00146.html https://sympa.inria.fr/sympa/arc/caml-list/2014-05/msg00146.... [2] http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/ocaml http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/ocaml

jon_smark 12y ago

That impression is incorrect. I don't think the core devs and the overall community have ever been as vibrant as they are now. Take for instance compiler development: half a decade ago, updates were rare and marginal. Nowadays you can expect a new compiler version every single year with lots of exciting features.

amirmc 12y ago

I don't think you've looked very closely (if at all?). There is tons of stuff happening in the OCaml ecosystem. Compiler improvements, large scale projects, more industrial uses and also new books. Try looking at http://OCaml.org http://OCaml.org for some links (and the planet newsfeed), as well as the websites of OCaml Labs (see the article) or OCamlPro.

raphinou 12y ago
He s right for the mailing list though. I regret there is not more discussion happening there
- amirmc 12y ago
  Why? Frankly, I'm glad that there is more stuff happening out on the net at large rather than trapped on one list. I consider it a sign of success (there are probably many more users out there than who are on the mailing list anyway). I've used Python, Ruby, etc but I haven't ever joined their main lists and I don't feel I'm missing out (anything important will spread in other ways).
  - raphinou 12y ago
    As a beginner, it is interesting to read more advanced questions and their answers. I learned a lot of ruby that way at the time, and i miss it for 0caml now.
    - amirmc 12y ago
      This does still happen (e.g [1]), though I've no idea if the frequency of such posts has changed. If no-one asks questions, then there's nothing to answer (so please do ask!). On the other hand, I've noticed that more people have started to ask/answer questions on StackOverflow [2] so perhaps this just represents the general shift that other langs have already been through. [1] https://sympa.inria.fr/sympa/arc/caml-list/2014-05/msg00146.html https://sympa.inria.fr/sympa/arc/caml-list/2014-05/msg00146.... [2] http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/ocaml http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/ocaml