Re: [Caml-list] Why should I use .mli files?

["Daniel Bünzli" <daniel.buenzli@erratique.ch>]

Gabriel Scherer a écrit :

> Allowing signatures items in structures and .ml files alone does not
> increase the expressivity of the language.

I'm against this idea. This means that you have to skim trough the whole 
ml file to actually understand what the module signature is. This is 
very inconvenient.

I think it's again the symptom of focusing on program writing whereas 
the focus should be on reading programs. The latter actually happens 
more than the former. I look forward to the day language designers will 
focus on readability rather than brevity (look ! my ununderstandable two 
liner solve this very complex problem by having all this implicit stuff 
going on).

Now at a certain point I was also annoyed by the problem you mention but 
I think it can be solved by something like typerex or an interactive 
mode to the compiler that would allow you to reconcile a signature with 
its implementation when there is a module signature mismatch (asking 
questions like keep the mli type one or the ml type and updating the 
files accordingly).

Best,

Daniel