What is OCaml and why this language?
OCaml is a compiled language, very powerful (that is to say more than all the non-compiled languages like Ruby, Python, and even more than the elaborate VMs like Java or C #), and widely used for the manipulation of complex data: languages (linguistics), programs (compilers), formulas (algebra) …
It is a generalist language (you can do anything with it, except in a pinch the very low level (operating system kernel) for which it is not suitable). It is a fairly high level language, and quite portable, and the implementation is free.
It’s a functional language, so it implements concepts that are both powerful and different from what you know: it easily allows a fairly large abstraction, without imposing object-oriented programming (even if it is possible) for it , and is a programming language, in some ways, quite close to mathematics.
Like all languages derived from ML, has strong, static and inferred typing (no need to specify types by hand all the time).
The syntax is different from languages that use C syntax, but all languages that do not use C syntax are, so it’s not that surprising.
For the disadvantages:
- OCaml is not widely used (much less than popular languages like PHP, Ruby …) so we will find fewer blogs that promote it on every street corner. It feels a bit in terms of external library support (eg there is no Qt binding), but it’s still quite livable.
- As for the lessons / tutorials, there are quite a few, both in English (normal) and in French (which is rarer). In fact, Caml is a language originally developed in France, so we will find a lot of resources in French.
- Using Caml on windows is less enjoyable than on GNU / Linux, but we get by with it.
If you want to follow a distance training on Ocaml write to us on the following link: Ocaml distance training
