I just read this great (short and sweet) paper by Yaron Minsky and Stephen Weeks on Ocaml, which describes their view on why Ocaml gives Jane Street a significant advantage over competitors.

However, the authors point out some key weaknesses of Ocaml: for example, it lacks a concurrent GC, its optimiser isn’t very good, etc.

This paper, though, was written in 2008. I wanted to ask Ocaml engineers here on HN for a 2024 update on the state of Ocaml. Do these negative aspects of the language still exist? And if so, how do you get around them?

I’ve noticed a lot of HFT funds, market makers, etc. all migrating to Rust.. which obviously doesn’t have the above issues (who needs a concurrent GC when you don’t even have a GC).. but Jane is sticking with Ocaml afaik. I wanted to learn more about that decision.

Thanks!