Is OCaml the new "ultimate language"?

There are a lot of ultimate programming languages around:  C#, Java, C++, COBOL and Fortran. Every new programming language comes with its own strengths and flaws. The perfect programming language has not yet arrived.

However, OCaml brings a new approach to programming that fulfills today’s requirements:

• It is terse. 10 lines of code are worth 30 lines of Java/C#
• It runs fast. The native compilation matches performance of low-level C code and it uses a top of the line garbage collector
• It is designed for fast-prototyping. The release cycle is half the length of a similar project in Java
• It features extra tests at compile-time. It uses static typing, with no cost at runtime
• It can embed C code for the most demanding applications

Further information:

• INRIA website
• Cocan: a wiki about OCaml
• OCaml tutorial to get started with the language
• A forge for OCaml projects
• The hump: all projects/libraries using OCaml
• A book about OCaml

OCaml talk by Y. Minsky, from Jane Street Capital