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OCaml is an implementation of the ML language, based on the Caml Light dialect extended with a complete class-based object system and a powerful module system in the style of Standard ML.
OCaml comprises two compilers. One generates bytecode which is then interpreted by a C program. This compiler runs quickly, generates compact code with moderate memory requirements, and is portable to essentially any 32 or 64 bit Unix platform. Performance of generated programs is quite good for a bytecoded implementation. This compiler can be used either as a standalone, batch-oriented compiler that produces standalone programs, or as an interactive, toplevel-based system.
The other compiler generates high-performance native code for a number of processors. Compilation takes longer and generates bigger code, but the generated programs deliver excellent performance, while retaining the moderate memory requirements of the bytecode compiler. The native-code compiler currently runs on the following platforms:
Tier 1 (actively used and maintained by the core OCaml team):
- AMD64 (Opteron)
-
Linux, OS X, MS Windows
- IA32 (Pentium)
-
Linux, FreeBSD, OS X, MS Windows
- PowerPC
-
Linux, OS X
- ARM
-
Linux
Tier 2 (maintained when possible, with help from users):
- AMD64
-
FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD
- IA32 (Pentium)
-
NetBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris 9
- PowerPC
-
NetBSD
- ARM
-
NetBSD
Other operating systems for the processors above have not been tested, but the compiler may work under other operating systems with little work.
Before the introduction of objects, OCaml was known as Caml Special Light. OCaml is almost upwards compatible with Caml Special Light, except for a few additional reserved keywords that have forced some renaming of standard library functions.
All files marked "Copyright INRIA" in this distribution are copyright 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (INRIA) and distributed under the conditions stated in file LICENSE.
See the file INSTALL.adoc for installation instructions on machines running Unix, Linux, OS X and Cygwin. For native Microsoft Windows, see README.win32.adoc.
The OCaml manual is distributed in HTML, PDF, Postscript, DVI, and Emacs Info files. It is available at
The complete OCaml distribution can be accessed at
The OCaml mailing list is the longest-running forum for OCaml users. You can email it at
You can subscribe and access list archives via the Web interface at
You can also access a newer discussion forum at
There also exist other mailing lists, chat channels, and various other forums around the internet for getting in touch with the OCaml and ML family language community. These can be accessed at
In particular, the IRC channel #ocaml on Freenode has a
long history and welcomes questions.
Please report bugs using the Web interface to the bug-tracking system at http://caml.inria.fr/bin/caml-bugs
To be effective, bug reports should include a complete program (preferably small) that exhibits the unexpected behavior, and the configuration you are using (machine type, etc).
You can also contact the implementors directly at caml@inria.fr.
For information on contributing to OCaml, see HACKING.adoc and CONTRIBUTING.md.