From: malc <av1474@comtv.ru>
To: Francois Berenger <berenger@riken.jp>
Cc: caml-list <caml-list@inria.fr>
Subject: Re: [Caml-list] Why should I use .mli files?
Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2012 05:15:04 +0400 (MSK) [thread overview]
Message-ID: <alpine.LNX.2.00.1210300509040.14078@linmac> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <508F22BD.7010103@riken.jp>
On Tue, 30 Oct 2012, Francois Berenger wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Here is my stupid question of the day:
> what's the use of those .mli files?
>
> Is it just to separate interface from implementation
> so that the implementation of a module can be changed
> without clients of its interface to have to bother?
>
> Does it make compilation of large software faster
> by allowing for more parallelization and maybe later on avoiding to recompile
> some parts?
>
> Usually I program in a pure functional style, so my modules
> don't carry an internal state.
> I feel like "if someone want to re-use a function, so be it".
> If I really want to hide a function that I am afraid people
> may call in an incorrect manner, I declare it internally
> to some public function and use it correctly.
>
> Also, maybe I only work on toy-size OCaml projects. So, I never bothrered to
> create any .mli file.
> I would like to know if I should bother about them.
>
Say you have a 1MLOC .ml(a) that uses something from 100LOC one(b), if you
do not use .mli then every time (b) is touched not only (a) but also (b)
must be recompiled, in .mli case however (a) will be rebuilt only when
the public interface changes. So .mli is a good way to keep separate
compilation useful. However this (in general) only applies to the bytecode
compiler (ocamlopt uses .cmx files for inlining, making it necessary
to play build system games if one cares more about compile rather than
run time).
--
mailto:av1474@comtv.ru
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2012-10-30 1:15 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 61+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2012-10-30 0:43 Francois Berenger
2012-10-30 1:04 ` Peter Groves
2012-10-30 2:21 ` Francois Berenger
2012-10-30 1:15 ` malc [this message]
2012-10-30 2:24 ` Francois Berenger
2012-10-30 10:23 ` malc
2012-10-30 1:19 ` Daniel Bünzli
2012-10-30 2:36 ` Francois Berenger
2012-10-30 3:26 ` Anthony Tavener
2012-10-30 12:28 ` Daniel Bünzli
2012-10-31 0:53 ` Francois Berenger
2012-10-30 2:21 ` gallais @ ensl.org
2012-10-30 6:12 ` Anton Lavrik
2012-10-30 9:18 ` Francois Berenger
2012-10-30 10:01 ` Malcolm Matalka
2012-10-30 11:03 ` Richard W.M. Jones
2012-10-30 11:41 ` [Caml-list] " Hongbo Zhang
2012-10-30 13:31 ` Romain Bardou
2012-10-31 1:03 ` Francois Berenger
2012-10-31 1:44 ` Daniel Bünzli
2012-10-31 9:51 ` Oliver Bandel
2012-10-30 14:32 ` [Caml-list] " Oliver Bandel
2012-10-30 14:45 ` Anton Lavrik
2012-10-30 14:49 ` Oliver Bandel
2012-10-30 14:51 ` Didier Cassirame
2012-10-30 14:47 ` Romain Bardou
2012-10-30 16:06 ` Edgar Friendly
2012-10-30 16:21 ` Romain Bardou
2012-10-30 16:46 ` Edgar Friendly
2012-10-30 21:25 ` Gabriel Scherer
2012-10-30 22:18 ` Oliver Bandel
2012-10-31 9:25 ` Gabriel Scherer
2012-10-31 9:59 ` Daniel Bünzli
2012-10-31 13:22 ` Edgar Friendly
2012-10-31 13:38 ` Daniel Bünzli
2012-10-31 13:55 ` Edgar Friendly
2012-10-31 13:43 ` Gabriel Scherer
2012-11-01 0:38 ` Francois Berenger
2012-11-01 0:42 ` Edgar Friendly
2012-11-01 0:52 ` Francois Berenger
2012-11-01 2:06 ` Edgar Friendly
2012-11-01 2:37 ` Francois Berenger
2012-11-01 2:44 ` Jacques Garrigue
2012-11-01 7:45 ` Andreas Rossberg
2012-10-31 10:20 ` Alain Frisch
2012-10-31 13:50 ` Edgar Friendly
2012-10-31 15:12 ` Gabriel Scherer
2012-10-31 16:48 ` Edgar Friendly
2012-10-31 17:15 ` Gabriel Scherer
2012-10-31 19:05 ` Tiphaine Turpin
2012-10-30 7:43 ` Mike Lin
2012-10-30 15:52 ` Didier Cassirame
2012-10-30 15:56 ` Romain Bardou
2012-10-30 16:14 ` Didier Cassirame
2012-10-31 21:30 ` Oliver Bandel
2012-11-01 15:26 ` Didier Cassirame
2012-10-31 15:32 ` Alain Frisch
2012-10-31 17:32 ` Tiphaine Turpin
2012-10-31 21:40 ` Oliver Bandel
[not found] <fa.4zzWyGZIo+GsGOz7cSC34yWTunY@ifi.uio.no>
2012-10-31 14:32 ` Radu Grigore
[not found] ` <fa.pEEaqh4bLDLiRdYkCRHvi9787TQ@ifi.uio.no>
[not found] ` <fa.JtZOlOTbNCp6rOoRnHhKEARwLDQ@ifi.uio.no>
[not found] ` <fa.s4gDOdOTZVbthjceZ5OEMxHiH90@ifi.uio.no>
[not found] ` <fa.rfsHI3X48Zri1S2pu1SEFowmDZg@ifi.uio.no>
[not found] ` <fa.KulHINoVpgjN1uI63QvwcxoNuiY@ifi.uio.no>
2012-11-01 11:38 ` Radu Grigore
Reply instructions:
You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:
* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
and reply-to-all from there: mbox
Avoid top-posting and favor interleaved quoting:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style
* Reply using the --to, --cc, and --in-reply-to
switches of git-send-email(1):
git send-email \
--in-reply-to=alpine.LNX.2.00.1210300509040.14078@linmac \
--to=av1474@comtv.ru \
--cc=berenger@riken.jp \
--cc=caml-list@inria.fr \
/path/to/YOUR_REPLY
https://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-send-email.html
* If your mail client supports setting the In-Reply-To header
via mailto: links, try the mailto: link
Be sure your reply has a Subject: header at the top and a blank line
before the message body.
This is a public inbox, see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox;
as well as URLs for NNTP newsgroup(s).