Re: [Caml-list] recursive modules redux, & interface files

[John Max Skaller <skaller@ozemail.com.au>]

Brian Rogoff wrote:

> I agree with this general principle, and to be honest, I haven't found in
> my own programming a compelling case where module spanning mutually
> recursive function definitions were an issue. Is it possible to produce a
> reasonably sized example, Hendrik (or Chris)? 

	I have such an example. In the Vyper interpreter, there is a
very large module which handles execution of ASTs, which contains
almost all the interpretive code. It was not possible to break this
module into further pieces because of the mutual recursion.
[I actually _did_ do this, then undid it, because of the excessive
number of extra arguments that had to be passed to make it work]

	Vyper is an extension of Python, which does things like:

	1. The expression x + y is addition of numbers if x and y are
	  numbers, otherwise, if x or y are objects of class type,
	  method calls.

	2. The expression eval(string) evaluates string in the current context

which require mutual recursion across widely separates levels of 
otherwise fairly logical layers. I used indirection for most of these
recursions (via a class object), but the lower level core execution
was best handled by putting all the routines in one module.

-- 
John (Max) Skaller, mailto:skaller@maxtal.com.au
10/1 Toxteth Rd Glebe NSW 2037 Australia voice: 61-2-9660-0850
checkout Vyper http://Vyper.sourceforge.net
download Interscript http://Interscript.sourceforge.net
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