Re: [Caml-list] Function forward declaration?

[brogoff@speakeasy.net]

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On Tue, 6 Apr 2004, [iso-8859-1] Correnson Loïc wrote:
> b) You can also define *real* forward function by using references (already
> suggested)
>     However, you may loose polymorphism, if any, due to (_a ->_b) ref types.

You may sidestep this issue by rolling your own refs using the explicit
polymorphism on record fields, sketched below:

type fwd_ref = { mutable f : 'a 'b . 'a -> 'b }

module Module1 = struct
  let forward_g = { f = (fun x -> failwith "forward_g") }

  let f = forward_g.f
end

module Module2 = struct
  let g = Module1.f

  let _ = Module1.forward_g.f <- g
end

and of course you can make it as pretty (yeah, I know, dressing up a pig)
as refs if you wish.

There was a discussion of this a looooong time ago, in the context of supporting
polymorphic recursion in the language, and I believe it was mentioned that some
experimental Caml compiler had a forward declaration capability. It seems like a
good idea, and I wonder why it hasn't made it into the language, as this is a
FAQ and a language blemish.

-- Brian

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