skaller wrote:
> I have a silly idea. Introduce a new construction:
> 
> let tailrec f .. 
> 
> This is the same as let rec except it checks every direct call to f
> is in tail position (and bombs out the compiler if not).


While I also want a similar construct or help, I believe your proposal 
is wrong. What would be needed is a tailrec operator keyword that makes 
the compiler check that a given call is in tail position. It is not a 
function which is tail recursive, it is a call which is.

In that way, the classical factorial does not have any tail call, so

   let rec fact n = if n <= 0 then 1 else n * tailrec fact (n - 1)
                                              ^^^^^^^

should give a warning, while the equivalent

   let fact n =
      let rec factloop n p =
         if n <= 0 then p
         else tailrec factloop (n - 1) (n * p)
      in factloop n 1


However, I have a more elegant "solution" (actually not a solution but a 
proposal) : that tools like ocaml -dtypes and the emacs mode (or the 
ocamlbrowser) flag (e.g. show in a different color) each tail-recursive 
call.

And yes, tail-recursion is syntactic, so all this could be a big camlp4 
stuff.

Regards.
-- 
Basile STARYNKEVITCH         http://starynkevitch.net/Basile/
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