Constructor/reference bug?

[John Skaller <skaller@maxtal.com.au>]

I have some code like:

let g x = 
let lineno = ref (1,"") in
let rec f x' = match x' with
| NEWLINE p :: t -> lineno := p; f t
| COLON :: t     -> CTRL !lineno :: f t
| h :: t -> h :: f t
| [] -> []
in f x;;

The code doesn't work as I expected: every
CTRL value refers to the same lineno, the last one.
If I change the COLON line to read:

| COLON :: t -> let x = !lineno in CTRL x :: f t

the code works as expected -- the CTRL refers to the
value of lineno at the time the last NEWLINE was processed.

What's happening? Are coproduct constructors lazy?

[I tested some simpler samples by hand and my tests
worked as expected, so I'm confused]


-------------------------------------------------------
John Skaller    email: skaller@maxtal.com.au
		http://www.maxtal.com.au/~skaller
		phone: 61-2-96600850
		snail: 10/1 Toxteth Rd, Glebe NSW 2037, Australia