type of high order functions

[Alexander Bernauer <bernauer@inf.ethz.ch>]

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Hi

if I specify the (I think) correct type for a high order function the
OCaml compiler (version 3.11.2) rejects the *second* usage of that function.

The code
---8<---
let foo ():string  =
	let f: ('a -> string) -> 'a -> string = fun g v -> g v
	in let h = string_of_int
	in let i = string_of_float
	in let x = f h 23
	in let y = f i 23.0
	in x ^ y
--->8---

leads to the following error message

---8<---
File "test.ml", line 6, characters 14-15:
Error: This expression has type float -> string
       but an expression was expected of type int -> string
--->8---

So the first usage of f seems to fix the type of its first parameter to
int -> string. I could understand that. But what I don't get is that
omitting the type restriction on f fixes the problem.

---8<---
let foo ():string =
	let f = fun g v -> g v
	in let h = string_of_int
	in let i = string_of_float
	in let x = f h 23
	in let y = f i 23.0
	in x ^ y
--->8---

And moving f to global scope fixes the problem, too:

---8<---
let f: ('a -> string) -> 'a -> string = fun g v -> g v

let foo ():string  =
	let h = string_of_int
	in let i = string_of_float
	in let x = f h 23
	in let y = f i 23.0
	in x ^ y
--->8---

Why is it that the first example does not compile while the later ones do?

regards

Alex

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