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To: Nicolas barnier <barnier@recherche.enac.fr>
Cc: ocaml <caml-list@inria.fr>
Subject: Re: Warning messages and lonely variables
References: <394786F8.503FF0C3@recherche.enac.fr>
Cc: proff@iq.org
From: Julian Assange <proff@iq.org>
Date: 16 Jun 2000 23:55:53 +1000
In-Reply-To: Nicolas barnier's message of "Wed, 14 Jun 2000 15:22:00 +0200"
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Nicolas barnier <barnier@recherche.enac.fr> writes:

> Wouldn't it be judicious to warn the user whenever a variable appears in
> the left hand-side of a (let/pattern-) binding and not used anymore in
> the following code, like they do in Prolog (e.g. within the Eclipse
> compiler) ? This is one of the source of many (of my) stupid bugs
> (especially when modifying pieces of code) and surely a desirable
> feature of a correct program. It seems also not
> so intricate to check (from my naive user standpoint at least).

Yes, this has bitten me off several times already.

Similarly, code computed as unreachable in graph/flow analysis should
generate a warning.

Cheers,
Julian.