Re: [Caml-list] Why should I use .mli files?

[Romain Bardou <romain.bardou@inria.fr>]

Maybe you can just write "include module type of X" where X is the 
module which already has the .mli. Or you define the signature as a 
module type Sig in a separate file "x.ml" and write "include X.Sig".

Cheers,

-- 
Romain Bardou

Le 30/10/2012 16:52, Didier Cassirame a écrit :
>
> Thinking about it, there's at least one case where mli files are not so
> useful: When you have several modules which must all comply with a
> certain module type. In that case, all the mli files would be identical,
> and a modification of the module type would necessitate to change all
> the .mli.
> What would be the best way to handle that situation?
> I was thinking of making an inner module, coerce it to the desired type,
> and open it afterwards, but the resulting module would still have a ref
> to the inner module in its type.
>
> E.g.:
>
> in the file mymodule.ml <http://mymodule.ml>
>
> -----------------------8<-------------------
>
> module Inner = (
> struct
>
>    (* implementation *)
>
> end : Sig)
>
> open Inner
>
> -----------------------8<-------------------
>
> and the file sig.mli would be the required module type.
>
> didier
>
> 2012/10/30 Francois Berenger <berenger@riken.jp <mailto:berenger@riken.jp>>
>
>     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.
>
>     Thanks a lot,
>     Francois.
>
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