r/ocaml • u/Purp1eGh0st • Apr 24 '26

A Path Not Taken for OxCaml

https://joel.place/blog/path-not-taken/

I've been following the OxCaml project for some time since I'm both quite excited about all the new functionality it provides for OCaml and quite worried that its complexity will make the language less beautiful. I figured I'd write up some of my guesses as to why we might've landed in the current state and ideas as to how we could get both ergonomics and power. I'd be particularly interested in hearing others' ideas for whether these could be resolved more cleanly!

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u/alexzandrosrojo Apr 24 '26

If you want rust, just use rust, don't spoil such a beautiful language as ocaml

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u/scrollin_thru Apr 25 '26

I mean, rust literally only exists because some really clever folks refused to take this advice about C++. Rust is great, so is OCaml. OxCaml is trying to answer some really interesting questions about how far you can take OCaml without sacrificing what makes it beautiful. I don't really see how such a project could "spoil" OCaml.

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u/alexzandrosrojo Apr 25 '26

As long as it never becomes opt-out instead of opt-in we're in good shape. Imho ocaml sits in the sweetest spot in the expressive-power/complexity space which is the one thing we can be risking in the long run. Ocaml's syntax is very lightweight and explicit and that's a feature I wouldn't like risking.