From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: (from majordomo@localhost) by pauillac.inria.fr (8.7.6/8.7.3) id IAA20378; Sat, 2 Oct 2004 08:33:45 +0200 (MET DST) X-Authentication-Warning: pauillac.inria.fr: majordomo set sender to owner-caml-list@pauillac.inria.fr using -f Received: from nez-perce.inria.fr (nez-perce.inria.fr [192.93.2.78]) by pauillac.inria.fr (8.7.6/8.7.3) with ESMTP id IAA21291 for ; Sat, 2 Oct 2004 08:33:44 +0200 (MET DST) Received: from mproxy.gmail.com (rproxy.gmail.com [64.233.170.205]) by nez-perce.inria.fr (8.13.0/8.13.0) with ESMTP id i926Xi3E000704 for ; Sat, 2 Oct 2004 08:33:44 +0200 Received: by mproxy.gmail.com with SMTP id 79so3704928rnk for ; Fri, 01 Oct 2004 23:33:43 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.38.163.7 with SMTP id l7mr4298336rne; Fri, 01 Oct 2004 23:33:43 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.38.14.54 with HTTP; Fri, 1 Oct 2004 23:33:43 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: Date: Sat, 2 Oct 2004 02:33:43 -0400 From: John Prevost Reply-To: John Prevost To: Radu Grigore , caml-list Subject: Re: [Caml-list] really HO Functions In-Reply-To: <7f8e92aa04100122022209e767@mail.gmail.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit References: <1096490891.415b1f8b2ecbd@mouette.ens-lyon.fr> <7f8e92aa04100122022209e767@mail.gmail.com> X-Miltered: at nez-perce with ID 415E4BC8.000 by Joe's j-chkmail (http://j-chkmail.ensmp.fr)! X-Loop: caml-list@inria.fr X-Spam: no; 0.00; prevost:01 prevost:01 caml-list:01 2004:99 observations:01 unmanageable:01 hofs:01 beginners:01 higher-order:01 ocaml:01 0300,:02 wrote:03 oct:03 prototype:04 functions:05 Sender: owner-caml-list@pauillac.inria.fr Precedence: bulk On Sat, 2 Oct 2004 08:02:52 +0300, Radu Grigore wrote: > I am learning OCaml now. The last two-three days I've written a small > prototype; then I have reviewed it and one of the observations was > that it contains no second-order function. > > Possible reasons: > 1. higher order functions are hard (intellectually unmanageable) > 2. HOFs are not needed in practice above a certain order > 3. failure to recognize places where a HOF is needed (beyond the > standard examples in tutorial). > > Number 3 was what prompted me to ask the question: a few examples > always help. Unfortunately I didn't yet had time to read the cited > articles :(. I highly recommend keeping at it and joining the beginners list (if you haven't already). Making and using higher-order (as in 2nd or 3rd, at least) functions is one of those things that you start doing after you've been using a functional language for a while. It does dramatically simplify your life when you start doing it, but it's not immediately obvious how you'll use it. Really, this is why people should try to gain experience with a variety of languages: it greatly expands the variety of techniques that you think of when trying to solve a problem. The experience will impact how you program in every language, whether or not it has those tools. In any case, good luck! ------------------- To unsubscribe, mail caml-list-request@inria.fr Archives: http://caml.inria.fr Bug reports: http://caml.inria.fr/bin/caml-bugs FAQ: http://caml.inria.fr/FAQ/ Beginner's list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ocaml_beginners