Re: [Caml-list] packing Ocaml standard library into Std "namespace"

[Dmitry Bely <dbely@mail.ru>]

Maxence Guesdon <maxence.guesdon@inria.fr> writes:

>> Ocaml 3.05 and above introduces new packing facility (ocamlc "-pack"
>> option). What do you think of using it to pack all Ocaml standard modules
>> into one big Std module so that the user code could use them as
>> Std.List.something, Std.Array.something etc. (having an analog of C++
>> std:: namespace)?
>
> Hum, Using Std.List.iter instead of just List.iter would be a pain
> for me since I never 'open' standard modules. I could still open Std
> at the beginning of each module but the best would then for the Std
> module to be open by default (like Pervasives is).

Well, altough I think Std should not be open by default (to not pollute
user namespace), I realise that a lot of existing code will have to be
modified then. Some time ago C++ community survived a similar change,
 but ... maybe to control this via a compiler option, say "-nostd" (like
"-nopervasives")?

> But there may be a problem (correct me if i'm wrong): 
> if I don't use, say Arg, in my program, the Arg module doesn't appear
> in the executable. But if it is packed in std.cmo then Std.Arg will
> be in my executable (as part of Std), as all the other standard
> modules I don't use. Is that true ?

Hmm, I did not tested that, but does not "ocamlc -pack -a" create the
necessary library, where all submodules are independent? At least
ocamlc/ocamlopt accepts such set of options :-)

>> I think this will help us reduce the name clash dramatically. E.g. I have
>> just discovered that I cannot modify ocamlild compiler to use Array.of_list
>> somethere inside, because it already contains array.ml source file, that
>> overlaps standard Array module. Having Std module, I just would write
>> Std.Array.of_string there.
> And can't you pack the new array module in another one, hiding the new
> Array and letting the standard one visible ?

No, because other ocamlild modules use that array.ml. So I have to modify
many files to get access to the standard Array module...

- Dmitry Bely


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