Message-Id: <9607230915.AA35149@idse.heidelbg.ibm.com>
To: fva@ing.uc3m.es
Subject: Re: Some questions about the module system...
In-Reply-To: (Your message of Mon, 22 Jul 96 17:19:49 EST.)
<9607221531.AA06681@elrond.uc3m.es>
Date: Tue, 23 Jul 96 11:15:38 +0100
From: Wolfgang Lux <lux@heidelbg.ibm.com>
Hello
[This is the correct version of the mail I posted 5 minutes ago. It
just had hit the send key to early on that post :-)]
>
> Hello mailing list,
>
> here are some questions I would like to pose the system implementors
> concerning the module system in O'Caml. The mail is quite lengthy, and I
> apologise in case somebody else has asked the same... (I have been unable t=
> o
> look up the question in the mailing archives).
>
> 1) is there any reason (unclear semantics, scope-holing, etc.) why the O'Ca=
> ml
> module system won't allow an "include <signature>" feature? I keep bumping
> into it when I try to write module hyerarchies (or adapt ML code from texts=
> ;) ).
> [Sample deleted]
Interesting question. In Caml Special Light 1.15 this feature was
working. So why isn't it included in O'Caml?
>
> b) My second question concerns module coercion by means of module signature=
> s.
> Sharing constraints between module types is really necessary for code
> abstraction, but I found "value aliasing" really useful as well (I don't
> know the exact term for the feature so I will describe it).
>
> Suppose you have this priority queue functor requesting an ORDER on values =
> of
> the type shown above:
>
> module MakePQueue =3D (struct ... end: (O: ORDER) -> PQUEUE);;
>
> and a module implementing NODEs in a graph with data about the distance fro=
> m
> the node to a "root" and an accumulated value describing another distance
> measure:
>
> module NODE =3D
> sig
> type node =3D{ depth: int; dist: int; ...}
> ..
> end;;
>
> Now, I would like to implement 2 different searching strategies namely
> DepthFirst and heuristic search ( "A" strategy someone would say), for
> which I need to consider two different orders (take my word for it):
>
> value less_depth: node -> node -> bool=09(* depthFirst order *)
> value less_dist: node -> node -> bool=09(* A* search order *)
>
> How could I view NODE as these two different orders so that MakePQueue does=
> n't
> complain? Answer: *alias* any of the orders to the order defined in ORDER:
>
> (* this won't work in O'Caml 1.01 *)
> module DepthFirstPQueue =3D
> MakePQueue (Node: NODE with t =3D node (* and val leq =3D less_depth *));=
> ;
>
> module BestFirstPQueue =3D
> MakePQueue (Node: NODE with t =3D node (* and val leq =3D less_dist *));;
>
> Unless I got it wrong all you can do for now is write TWO module signatures=
> , say
> NODE1 and NODE2, in which you define the required order with the adequate n=
> ame,
> that is to say "leq". *You* have to keep consistency between the rest of th=
> e primitives
> on your own, and this is really... burdensome!
>
You don't need to write any new signature for this case, but you
simply can use a functor for achieving this name aliasing by rewriting
your code as follows:
module MakePQueue(O: ORDER)(Leq: sig val leq : O.t -> O.t -> bool end): PQUEUE ->
struct
...
end
and then you can apply this functor as follows:
module DepthFirstPQueue =
MakePQueue(Node : NODE with t = node)(struct let leq = Node.less_depth end)
module BestFirstPQueue =
MakePQueue(Node : NODE with t = node)(struct let leq = Node.less_dist end)
You might even write down a functor to convert your NODE module
together with its ordering function into an ORDER module:
module OrderOfNode(Node : NODE)(Leq : sig value leq : O.t -> O.t -> bool end) : ORDER =
struct
type t = Node.node
let format = Node.format
let leq = Leq.leq
end
and then use your original definition of MakePQueue as follows:
module DepthFirstPQueue =
MakePQueue(OrderOfNode(Node)(struct let leq = Node.less_depth end))
module BestFirstPQueue =
MakePQueue(OrderOfNode(Node)(struct let leq = Node.less_dist end))
Regards
Wolfgang
----
Wolfgang Lux
WZH Heidelberg, IBM Germany Internet: lux@heidelbg.ibm.com
+49-6221-59-4546 VNET: LUX at HEIDELBG
+49-6221-59-3500 (fax) EARN: LUX at DHDIBMIP