Experiences with learning OCaml?

[whenning@ucsd.edu]

Hi,

I'm an undergraduate student studying computer science. My course
assignments generally use C, C++, or Java, and I find myself pining for
something more elegant. That is, I'd like to teach myself a functional
programming language of some kind. I don't think I like all the
parentheses in Lisp. But I was very impressed by a Haskell implementation
of the usual quicksort algorithm which was very concise -- only 5 lines or
so. However OCaml seems to have a larger community and has a reputation
for fast executation times, so that seems like a better fit.

The academic term at my university is ending soon and I'll have a few
weeks of free time on my hands -- I was thinking of checking out a
suitable text on some functional programming language from the library and
working through some of it.

Would doing this be difficult if one were sufficiently motivated? I sort
of did something similar with C++ a while ago with some amount of success.

Although I've of course Googled around for potential books to select, are
there any ones particularly suited for someone in my position?

Finally, although OCaml looks interesting, would some other functional
language be better for someone new to functional programming? If so,
which? I ask because I don't know anyone who uses functional languages or
even knows how to use one.

Thanks.

-Warren