If you have some time, please give that intro page a read. Hopefully that intro page explains what we're achieving. If you'd like more nuanced opinions, we're always in Discord (discord.gg/reasonml).
Hope to see you around =)
Does the lack of tail recursion optimisation in browsers not present an issue? Seems it's not well supported yet: https://kangax.github.io/compat-table/es6/
Also, why did you decide on OCaml and not say Haskell?
I'm not likely to migrate existing projects soon but I'll certainly give BuckleScript or Reason a try for something self contained in the near future.
2. Also, speaking of native compilation: we're not reference counting but _some_ predictability when working with UI code is needed. The GC has to be fast and collect things within 16ms (and now, 8ms since iPad Pro is often 120fps). The ocaml gc achieves that.
Those aren't my findings: those are the findings of the creator of React, who also created Reason.
3. Finally, and to corroborate with what we wrote on that page: if you go ask your "normal JS colleagues", you'll realize most folks don't _actually_ know the semantics of JS. They like JS because it _looks_ familiar. Is TypeScript "just JavaScript"? Does it matter if JS folks can pick it up and be equally productive quickly? OCaml/BS semantics map over to JS well enough that we can just change the syntax into something familiar, and you'd likey end up writing the code you'd usually write in JS, albeit backed by a type system that needs to make no excuse in terms of quality.
Hope that helps? Tell me if that makes sense.
(Tail recursion has been a problem for a single person so far afaik; you do have imperative loops)
Similar feelings...OCaml has mutability built in but you don't need it often. You can isolate its use to small areas of your code to keep it under control. If you went the Haskell route getting JS developers to adopt would be even harder.
> Also, speaking of native compilation: we're not reference counting but _some_ predictability when working with UI code is needed.
So the GC is well behaved with Reason scripts? I'm curious if you could use it for games.
Thanks for the insights. I haven't heard of Reason much to be honest which is a shame. I used OCaml as my main language for several years and going back to Java, Python and JavaScript was pretty painful!
We're just a syntax for OCaml; we don't change how it runs. Same GC. Reason's mMuch less sophisticated than you think, but also much fewer unknowns. https://reasonml.github.io/try/
The goal of Reason (and of BuckleScript) is so that people can convince their coworkers that OCaml isn't an esoteric unmaintainable language. BuckleScript is JavaScript: The Good Parts: The Good Parts.