New OCaml books?

Learning
,
21

Well it is a great book that provides a thorough exploration of the Rust programming language, skillfully avoiding the use of overly complex technical terms that are all too common in the industry. Imo it serves as an excellent starting point for beginners, offering a user-friendly approach that is equally valuable for more advanced users seeking a comprehensive understanding of Rust’s main features.

Having myself dedicated already some time to learn Rust and OCaml through various resources (books and hands-on projects), I have found this book to be a standout. The book not only aids beginners in grasping the fundamentals but also serves as a handy reference for more experienced programmers looking to deepen their knowledge of Rust’s key concepts. Coming from a background in Java, I appreciate the gentle introduction to concepts that may be unfamiliar, even for seasoned developers. But this is just my subjective opinion I guess.

Manning has a series of these “Learn X in a Month of Lunches” books and they are really good. I am sure Manning would be interested in a “Learn OCaml in a Month of Lunches” edition if someone would seriously consider it and get in touch with them.

2 Likes
22

The Real World OCaml covers OCaml features from the beggining (1+2, 1.0+.2.0…) to quite advanced features.

Is this book learning curve too steep?

23

I am reading through the lecture notes of the Advanced Functional Programming course at the University of Cambridge. I think OCaml is missing a book at the advanced level and these notes, if published as a book, could fill that niche. Unfortunately, the course materials only include select chapters. Does anyone know if all chapters are available as a book and where to find it?

4 Likes
24

I don’t know if we need a book, but we need really good and thorough advanced docs on more advanced topics.

1 Like
25

Real World Ocaml does address advanced topics: GADTs, Functors, First class modules, runtime system (memory representation and more).

Then about the Core Ocaml 4.x, and more (JSON, menhir…) we can be happy.

However, if one want to make a Web application for example, there is a niche which should be filled and there are multiple options (Apache module which doesn’t seem to be straightforward, Dream, Ocsigen to name a few). For a Web application, database handling must be addressed.