Book excerpt: Objective Caml (OCaml) is an open source programming language that utilizes both functional and object oriented programming. Practical OCaml teaches Objective Caml in a straightforward manner, teaching all the features of this functional programming language by example. You will learn how to utilize OCaml to create a simple database, do reporting, and create a spam filter. You will also learn how to do complex log file scanning, create your own network servers by creating a ShoutCast server, and create a web crawler. By the book's conclusion, you will be well on your way to creating your own applications with OCaml.