Re: [Caml-list] We need a rich standard library distributed with OCaml, really

[Martin Jambon <martin.jambon@ens-lyon.org>]

On 08/27/2015 03:35 AM, Romain Bardou wrote:
> I agree about smaller, independent packages. This is a very general API
> design principle: avoid coupling (the fact that using a module implies
> using another). This may be the main reason I avoid external libraries.
> For instance, Martin Jambon's Yojson depends on biniou, cppo and
> easy-format. I believe Martin is an awesome programmer but this
> particular point just baffles me as there is absolutely no need for
> *any* external dependency to solve such a simple problem (JSON parsing,
> pretty-printing and AST constructors).

Thanks for the praise!

The reason why there are several packages is that they offer different 
functionality. Not all of them are needed everywhere. Not all of them 
can be built on every platform.

> I understand that Martin wants to
> reuse its own code and be able to integrate Yojson easily with other
> libraries of his, and that is great. For him and users of his other
> libraries. Not for those who just want a JSON parser and have had to
> install all dependencies manually on Windows.

Yojson is just the runtime for atdgen, but some people find it useful to 
use it as is. I'm sure atdgen runs on Windows, but if it didn't and it 
came with all its dependencies and the dependencies weren't available 
anywhere else, you wouldn't have any Yojson at all.

I was under the impression that the opam package manager was available 
for Windows. It takes care of the dependencies for the user, as package 
managers do.

Martin