Width subtyping

[Dario Teixeira <darioteixeira@yahoo.com>]

Hi,

Though it is probably been-there-done-that material for the veterans in this list,
for the sake of the not-so-veterans I have to ask: how do you guys typically model
width subtyping in Ocaml?   Consider for example three record types that share some
of their fields:

type t1 = {a: int; b: int; c: int;        }
type t2 = {a: int; b: int; c: int; d: int;}
type t3 = {        b: int; c: int; d: int;}

In some circumstances, the object system can be put to good use for this kind of problem.
Not always though, so I'm curious about other approaches people use.  One approach
I've considered is to create a superset record where each field is an optional type,
and then creating constructors/getters for each valid subset.  Unfortunately this
solution feels a bit kludgy, even if it reduces code duplication.  For safety reasons
I'm therefore currently just declaring each record type independently (concerns about
duplication be damned).

In other words, polymorphic variants provide a very elegant solution for subtyping
with sum types.  Is there some brilliant idea that could do the same for product types?

Best regards,
Dario Teixeira