]> >No contradiction at all: ?xy: is a label, not a variable name. Well, except for in this case, of course, when it is a variable name: # let f ?xy () = xy;; val f : ?xy:'a -> unit -> 'a option = <fun> >If you care about length, you can still write: > let f ?(xy=(0,0)) () = xy No, because I need to break out the parts of the tuple and name the whole tuple, which was the point of the thread, so the only way to do that I can see is this beautiful expression: # let f ?xy:((x,y) as xy = 0,0) () = xy,x,y;; val f : ?xy:int * int -> unit -> (int * int) * int * int = <fun> All I'm saying is that having the first example above work leads one to believe the xy is usable inside the function body in general. On the whole, the syntax for defining default parameters is nonintuitive and inconsistent, because you need the parenthesis sometimes, you need the "as xy" sometimes, you need the ?label: sometimes, etc. Chris ------------------- To unsubscribe, mail caml-list-request@inria.fr Archives: http://caml.inria.fr Bug reports: http://caml.inria.fr/bin/caml-bugs FAQ: http://caml.inria.fr/FAQ/ Beginner's list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ocaml_beginners