OCaml
Jon Harrop
Many scientists are using the OCaml programming language for their work
under Linux. I am not familiar with OSX but I would like to know if many
people are using OCaml from OSX and what functional programming languages
they do use?
Also, is there anything resembling the CLR for OSX?
--
Dr Jon D Harrop, Flying Frog Consultancy
OCaml for Scientists
http://www.ffconsultancy.com/products/ocaml_for_scientists/?usenet
Jeffrey J Weimer
Jon Harrop <j...@ffconsultancy.com> wrote:
> Many scientists are using the OCaml programming language for their work
> under Linux. I am not familiar with OSX but I would like to know if many
> people are using OCaml from OSX and what functional programming languages
> they do use?
Since you asked ...
I've never heard of OCaml until now. My brief overview tells me, I won't
realize any benefit from using it versus what I have now.
I use Maple for symbolic math (our university has a site license). When
I eventually can get an Intel Mac, I'll also use MatLab (our department
has a license).
I use Igor Pro and its coding language for data analysis/graphing (worth
every penny of the cost)
I use LaTeX for typesetting (free)
I play around with JavaScript in HTML using TextWrangler (free)
I use some basic AppleScript for scripting (free)
I plan eventually to learn C/C++ coding with XCode (free)
> Also, is there anything resembling the CLR for OSX?
Don't know. What the heck is "the CLR"?
--
JJW
David Stone
Jeffrey J Weimer <jjwe...@hiwaay.not.net> wrote:
> In article <4662f59e$0$8738$ed26...@ptn-nntp-reader02.plus.net>,
> Jon Harrop <j...@ffconsultancy.com> wrote:
>
> > Many scientists are using the OCaml programming language for their work
> > under Linux. I am not familiar with OSX but I would like to know if many
> > people are using OCaml from OSX and what functional programming languages
> > they do use?
>
> Since you asked ...
>
> I've never heard of OCaml until now. My brief overview tells me, I won't
> realize any benefit from using it versus what I have now.
>
> I use Maple for symbolic math (our university has a site license). When
> I eventually can get an Intel Mac, I'll also use MatLab (our department
> has a license).
Jeffrey J Weimer
David Stone <no.e...@domain.invalid> wrote:
>...
>
> Or Octave?
> http://www.gnu.org/software/octave/octave.html
Thanks for the reference. It looks interesting.
--
JJW
Jon Harrop
> I've never heard of OCaml until now. My brief overview tells me, I won't
> realize any benefit from using it versus what I have now.
>
> I use Maple for symbolic math (our university has a site license). When
> I eventually can get an Intel Mac, I'll also use MatLab (our department
> has a license).
> I plan eventually to learn C/C++ coding with XCode (free)
OCaml really sits between Maple and C++, being almost as high-level and
expressive as Maple/Matlab whilst simultaneously being almost as fast as
C++. OCaml also has the advantage of being free.
Over the past four years, OCaml has completely superceded C++ for me.
>> Also, is there anything resembling the CLR for OSX?
>
> Don't know. What the heck is "the CLR"?
The Common Language Runtime that underpins .NET. It provides a single
intermediate representation for a variety of front-end languages, so C# and
Visual BASIC can share the same native-code compiler, garbage collector and
libraries.
I started using Windows recently and .NET is the future under Windows. I
believe Cocoa is the equivalent of Windows Forms. As I understand it, using
Cocoa from other languages is much harder.
So, what languages and tools would you use to write a GUI application for
Jeffrey J Weimer
Jon Harrop <j...@ffconsultancy.com> wrote:
> Jeffrey J Weimer wrote:
> > I've never heard of OCaml until now. My brief overview tells me, I won't
> > realize any benefit from using it versus what I have now.
> >
> > I use Maple for symbolic math (our university has a site license). When
> > I eventually can get an Intel Mac, I'll also use MatLab (our department
> > has a license).
> > ...
> > I plan eventually to learn C/C++ coding with XCode (free)
>
> OCaml really sits between Maple and C++, being almost as high-level and
> expressive as Maple/Matlab whilst simultaneously being almost as fast as
> C++. OCaml also has the advantage of being free.
This is certainly an advantage for someone who has to decide between
free (OCaml) or pay (Maple) to work with symbolic mathematics.
I should point out, as I write solution keys to homework and exam
assignments using a symbolic math interface, being diligent to the call
that whatever coding I write does not hide the methodology needed to
solve the problem is important. Given that some of my students always
complain that Maple is an "esoteric computer language", I would be hard
pressed to move to OCaml as a substitute, as it is a step toward a lower
level.
That said, I can see that OCaml is well suited to projects where
learning the language goes hand-in-hand with the requirement to complete
the programming task effectively.
> Over the past four years, OCaml has completely superceded C++ for me.
My eventual interest in C/C++ is to compose external routines to Igor
Pro. Unfortunately, OCaml provides no benefit to this.
> >> Also, is there anything resembling the CLR for OSX?
> >
> > Don't know. What the heck is "the CLR"?
>
> The Common Language Runtime that underpins .NET. It provides a single
> intermediate representation for a variety of front-end languages, so C# and
> Visual BASIC can share the same native-code compiler, garbage collector and
> libraries.
>
> I started using Windows recently and .NET is the future under Windows. I
> believe Cocoa is the equivalent of Windows Forms. As I understand it, using
> Cocoa from other languages is much harder.
>
> So, what languages and tools would you use to write a GUI application for
> OSX?
Hmmm. Don't know, as I do not intend ever to go this direction. If I did
though, I think a search for "GUI coding applications MacOS X" and
equivalents might be a start.
--
JJW
Joe Strout
Jon Harrop <j...@ffconsultancy.com> wrote:
> So, what languages and tools would you use to write a GUI application for
> OSX?
REALbasic, hands down. (It's also the language/tool I would use to
write a GUI application under Windows or Linux.) It's powerful, modern,
and easy to use. http://www.realsoftware.com/
Best,
- Joe
Jon Harrop
> Many scientists are using the OCaml programming language for their work
> under Linux. I am not familiar with OSX but I would like to know if many
> people are using OCaml from OSX and what functional programming languages
> they do use?
>
> Also, is there anything resembling the CLR for OSX?
Just a followup on this: turns out Apple are major backers of the Low-Level
Virtual Machine (LLVM):
This project looks really exciting: it is basically a kitchen sink library
for compiler writers that allows you to plug and play different kinds of
compiler and run-time (in particular garbage collectors). There is even a
working Scheme compiler in only 1,000 lines of code!
Someone is already working on OCaml bindings to LLVM and, once that is
complete, I'll certainly have a go at writing compilers using this
technology.
As an aside, we recently invested in our first Mac and I'm very impressed
with the functionality offered by Fink: it allowed me to port our demos to
Mac OS X very easily and we can use all of the same tools and libraries
that we're already using under Linux to provide software to Mac users.
--
Dr Jon D Harrop, Flying Frog Consultancy Ltd.
http://www.ffconsultancy.com/products/?u