From: "Harrison, John R" <johnh@ichips.intel.com>
To: "caml-list" <caml-list@inria.fr>
Subject: Pattern matching but no construction?
Date: Thu, 28 Oct 2004 14:34:49 -0700 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <012676D607FCF54E986746512C22CE7D01FF2E0B@orsmsx407> (raw)
Is there a way to use the OCaml module system to declare an
abstract type with an implementation as a recursive type in
such a way that:
* You can use the constructors to pattern-match against
* You cannot use the constructors to construct values
For example, suppose I do the following:
module type Wibble =
sig type thing = Integer of int | Boolean of bool
val mk_thing : int -> thing
val dest_thing: thing -> int
end;;
module Thing : Wibble = struct
type thing = Integer of int | Boolean of bool
let mk_thing i = Integer i
let dest_thing t = match t with
Integer i -> i
| Boolean b -> if b then 1 else 0
end;;
include Thing;;
I can now define functions by pattern-matching, which I want:
fun (Boolean b) -> b;;
but I can also use the constructors to construct, which I don't:
Integer(3);;
On the other hand, if I change the signature to just
module type Wibble =
sig type thing
val mk_thing : int -> thing
val dest_thing: thing -> int
end;;
then I can do neither. Is there any way to get one and not the
other?
John.
next reply other threads:[~2004-10-28 21:34 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 4+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2004-10-28 21:34 Harrison, John R [this message]
2004-10-28 22:30 ` [Caml-list] " Jon Harrop
2004-10-28 22:33 ` William Lovas
2004-10-28 22:36 ` brogoff
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