In article <4664c435$0$8725$ed2619ec@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
Jon Harrop <jon@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> 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 im****tant. 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 Over the past four years, OCaml has completely superceded C++ for me.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
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