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Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2008 23:37:21 +0100
From: "Paolo Donadeo" <p.donadeo@gmail.com>
To: "OCaml mailing list" <caml-list@yquem.inria.fr>
Subject: A function returning itself
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X-Spam: no; 0.00; ocamlc:01 -rectypes:01 ocamlc:01 -rectypes:01 val:01 rec:01 compile:01 computation:01 computation:01 int:01 int:01 expression:02 inferred:02 archives:02 seems:03 

Hi everybody, I need your help again.

In a particular application I need (or at least I think so...) to
create a function that, besides it's own computation, returns itself.
Something like:

$ cat test.ml
let rec f a b =
  let computation = a + b in
    (computation, f)
;;

This file doesn't compile; the error is:

$ ocamlc -c test.ml
File "test.ml", line 3, characters 4-20:
This expression has type int * (int -> int -> int * 'a)
but is here used with type int * 'a

If I use the -rectypes option, it seems to work, even though the
inferred type is quite cryptic (to me):

$ ocamlc -c -rectypes -i test.ml
val f : int -> int -> int * 'a as 'a

Since I don't completely understand the inner implications of
-rectypes and a quick check in the mailing list archives revealed that
"rectypes is evil", the question I pose is whether is it possible to
avoid the -rectypes option in this particular case, possibly with the
definition of an auxiliary type.

My idea is that the function makes a computation and then decides if
the next computation of the same type will be carried out by "f"
itself, or by another function with identical signature.


-- 
Paolo
~
~
:wq