From: Francois Berenger <berenger@riken.jp>
To: malc <av1474@comtv.ru>
Cc: caml-list <caml-list@inria.fr>
Subject: Re: [Caml-list] Why should I use .mli files?
Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2012 11:24:52 +0900 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <508F3A74.4040106@riken.jp> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <alpine.LNX.2.00.1210300509040.14078@linmac>
On 10/30/2012 10:15 AM, malc wrote:
> On Tue, 30 Oct 2012, Francois Berenger wrote:
>
>> Hello,
>>
>> Here is my stupid question of the day:
>> what's the use of those .mli files?
>>
>> Is it just to separate interface from implementation
>> so that the implementation of a module can be changed
>> without clients of its interface to have to bother?
>>
>> Does it make compilation of large software faster
>> by allowing for more parallelization and maybe later on avoiding to recompile
>> some parts?
>>
>> Usually I program in a pure functional style, so my modules
>> don't carry an internal state.
>> I feel like "if someone want to re-use a function, so be it".
>> If I really want to hide a function that I am afraid people
>> may call in an incorrect manner, I declare it internally
>> to some public function and use it correctly.
>>
>> Also, maybe I only work on toy-size OCaml projects. So, I never bothrered to
>> create any .mli file.
>> I would like to know if I should bother about them.
>>
> Say you have a 1MLOC .ml(a) that uses something from 100LOC one(b), if you
> do not use .mli then every time (b) is touched not only (a) but also (b)
> must be recompiled, in .mli case however (a) will be rebuilt only when
> the public interface changes. So .mli is a good way to keep separate
> compilation useful. However this (in general) only applies to the bytecode
> compiler (ocamlopt uses .cmx files for inlining,
What about the .cmi files?
> making it necessary
> to play build system games if one cares more about compile rather than
> run time).
I care about both compilation time and run-time, as I am an impatient
and demanding user.
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2012-10-30 2:24 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 61+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2012-10-30 0:43 Francois Berenger
2012-10-30 1:04 ` Peter Groves
2012-10-30 2:21 ` Francois Berenger
2012-10-30 1:15 ` malc
2012-10-30 2:24 ` Francois Berenger [this message]
2012-10-30 10:23 ` malc
2012-10-30 1:19 ` Daniel Bünzli
2012-10-30 2:36 ` Francois Berenger
2012-10-30 3:26 ` Anthony Tavener
2012-10-30 12:28 ` Daniel Bünzli
2012-10-31 0:53 ` Francois Berenger
2012-10-30 2:21 ` gallais @ ensl.org
2012-10-30 6:12 ` Anton Lavrik
2012-10-30 9:18 ` Francois Berenger
2012-10-30 10:01 ` Malcolm Matalka
2012-10-30 11:03 ` Richard W.M. Jones
2012-10-30 11:41 ` [Caml-list] " Hongbo Zhang
2012-10-30 13:31 ` Romain Bardou
2012-10-31 1:03 ` Francois Berenger
2012-10-31 1:44 ` Daniel Bünzli
2012-10-31 9:51 ` Oliver Bandel
2012-10-30 14:32 ` [Caml-list] " Oliver Bandel
2012-10-30 14:45 ` Anton Lavrik
2012-10-30 14:49 ` Oliver Bandel
2012-10-30 14:51 ` Didier Cassirame
2012-10-30 14:47 ` Romain Bardou
2012-10-30 16:06 ` Edgar Friendly
2012-10-30 16:21 ` Romain Bardou
2012-10-30 16:46 ` Edgar Friendly
2012-10-30 21:25 ` Gabriel Scherer
2012-10-30 22:18 ` Oliver Bandel
2012-10-31 9:25 ` Gabriel Scherer
2012-10-31 9:59 ` Daniel Bünzli
2012-10-31 13:22 ` Edgar Friendly
2012-10-31 13:38 ` Daniel Bünzli
2012-10-31 13:55 ` Edgar Friendly
2012-10-31 13:43 ` Gabriel Scherer
2012-11-01 0:38 ` Francois Berenger
2012-11-01 0:42 ` Edgar Friendly
2012-11-01 0:52 ` Francois Berenger
2012-11-01 2:06 ` Edgar Friendly
2012-11-01 2:37 ` Francois Berenger
2012-11-01 2:44 ` Jacques Garrigue
2012-11-01 7:45 ` Andreas Rossberg
2012-10-31 10:20 ` Alain Frisch
2012-10-31 13:50 ` Edgar Friendly
2012-10-31 15:12 ` Gabriel Scherer
2012-10-31 16:48 ` Edgar Friendly
2012-10-31 17:15 ` Gabriel Scherer
2012-10-31 19:05 ` Tiphaine Turpin
2012-10-30 7:43 ` Mike Lin
2012-10-30 15:52 ` Didier Cassirame
2012-10-30 15:56 ` Romain Bardou
2012-10-30 16:14 ` Didier Cassirame
2012-10-31 21:30 ` Oliver Bandel
2012-11-01 15:26 ` Didier Cassirame
2012-10-31 15:32 ` Alain Frisch
2012-10-31 17:32 ` Tiphaine Turpin
2012-10-31 21:40 ` Oliver Bandel
[not found] <fa.4zzWyGZIo+GsGOz7cSC34yWTunY@ifi.uio.no>
2012-10-31 14:32 ` Radu Grigore
[not found] ` <fa.pEEaqh4bLDLiRdYkCRHvi9787TQ@ifi.uio.no>
[not found] ` <fa.JtZOlOTbNCp6rOoRnHhKEARwLDQ@ifi.uio.no>
[not found] ` <fa.s4gDOdOTZVbthjceZ5OEMxHiH90@ifi.uio.no>
[not found] ` <fa.rfsHI3X48Zri1S2pu1SEFowmDZg@ifi.uio.no>
[not found] ` <fa.KulHINoVpgjN1uI63QvwcxoNuiY@ifi.uio.no>
2012-11-01 11:38 ` Radu Grigore
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