I've used Yeti[1][2] to write an Android app for personal use (on Nook Touch) th...

networked · on Feb 3, 2016

Now this is interesting to me! I found Yeti last year when looking for a practical strict ML in which to write a small utility. It didn't fit my requirements at the time due to the JVM dependency but I made a note to try it later for some JVM task. I see that it has had a new release since, which makes me want to try it more still.

Could you share a little more feedback about what using the language was like? Did you like it overall? If you've used Standard ML or OCaml (OCaml-Java), how would you say it compares?

akavel · on Feb 4, 2016

As I wrote above: "It made the task much more fun for me and allowed me to finish after I got a serious case of "author's block" trying to code it in Java." In other words, I did like it! :)

I haven't used SML nor OCaml. [Though I seem to believe I prefer SML over OCaml in terms of visual appeal/readability, FWIW.] I wanted to code for Android, and OCaml-Java requires too new a JVM (from what I understand, Android is stuck with JVM 1.4 [or 1.5?]) IIUC. Before I found Yeti, I tried to use Kawa (a Scheme/LISP for JVM), but it worked too flakily for me, unfortunately. Then I found Yeti; I stumbled into one bug at some point, but the author quickly fixed it, and I didn't have any problems since then! And it's typed, so a plus vs. Scheme.

edit: you can view my code at: https://github.com/akavel/bookshelf/tree/main/src/com/akavel -- but please note I didn't care to make it pretty or documented!

edit 2: also, I liked Yeti's manual & documentation very much.

networked · on Feb 5, 2016

Thanks for the details and for the source code link!

Funny that you mention Kawa: I've been meaning to try it out along with Yeti. That you had problems with it does not sound very encouraging, but then, it has had a major version release since.

When it comes to ML, I prefer SML to OCaml. I think Yeti, Standard ML and Scheme appeal to the same "small core language" mentality. If you decide to give SML a go, I'd recommend SML/NJ for development and as your REPL — especially while you are getting used to the language since it has better error messages — and MLton for production binaries.