Re: [Caml-list] Question about polymorphic variants

[Jacques Garrigue <garrigue@math.nagoya-u.ac.jp>]

From: Xavier Clerc <xcforum@free.fr>
> Then, I use this function in the following expression :
> 
> List.map f
> 
> which is in turn inferred as: _[< `Off | `On ] list -> int list
> 
> My question is about the meaning of the leading underscore in the  
> inferred type (given that I understand the meaning of the underscore  
> in an expression such as "Stack.create ()" that is inferred as: '_a  
> Stack.t).

This is exactly the same meaning: [< `Off | `On] has some form of
flexibility left, which you might see as a type variable, and as such
it obeys the same rules as type variables.

An example close to the above one would be:

# List.map (fun (x,y) -> x+1);;
- : (int * '_a) list -> int list = <fun>

Now you might wonder why '_a cannot be polymorphic in the above
example. That is, could there really be a definition of List.map such
that the polymorphic type would be dangerous (causing a segmentation
fault for instance.) The answer is yes, with a counter-example using
the difference in representation between normal arrays and float
arrays.
Actually, since this counter-example wouldn't apply to the above case
of polymorphic variants, this would probably be safe to leave the
polymorphic variant type as polymorphic...

Jacques Garrigue