A Tale of Two Lambdas: A Haskeller's Journey into OCaml (Keynote)

Abstract

After spending a decade focusing mostly on Haskell, I have spent the last three years looking deeply at OCaml. This talk will capture some lessons learned about my work in the two languages and their communities -- how they are similar, how they differ, and how each might usefully grow to become more like the other. I will compare Haskell's purity against OCaml's support for mutation, type classes against modules as abstraction paradigms, laziness against strictness, along with some general thoughts about language philosophy. We'll also touch on the some of the challenges both languages face as open-source products, in need of both volunteers and funding. While some functional programming experience will definitely be helpful, I'll explain syntax as we go -- no Haskell or OCaml knowledge required, as I want this talk to be accessible equally to the two communities.