On Friday 15 November 2002 12:15, A Joseph Koshy wrote:
> Perhaps a basic question about the O'Caml bytecode interpreter:
>
> Why do we need to check at runtime if a function is being
> partially applied?  Isn't this information available to the
> compiler?

No it is not:

implementation A.ml:
let f x y = x + y
let g x = if x = 1 then fun y -> y else fun y -> y - 1

interface A.mli:
val f : int -> int -> int
val g : int -> int -> int

usage (somewhere outside A):
let k = (A.f 1) (* this application is partial *)
let r = (A.g 1) (* this application is not partial *)

Compiler cannot distinguish between those two cases
(knowing only A interface).

BTW a GRAB/RESTART trick is very cool IMHO.
My students always "Wow!" at it. Any references as to
where it comes from (or was it a Xavier's own clever idea?)

Cheers,
Dmitry


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