[ocaml-platform] on the need and design of OCaml namespaces

[Yaron Minsky]

On Wed, Feb 27, 2013 at 3:49 AM, Daniel Bünzli
<daniel.buenzli at erratique.ch> wrote:
> Le mercredi, 27 février 2013 à 07:58, Gabriel Scherer a écrit :
>> I don't like your lazy initialization scheme because it changes the
>> observable semantics of the the OCaml language when modules have
>> global side-effects. Currently, the effects are evaluated in the
>> linking order of the modules, not the use order.
>
> You are right that it may not be sensible to change that now. On the
> other hand IIRC my delves into module research a few years ago, in
> fact the strict initialization semantics combined with the
> structural (vs nominal) aspect is the source of many headaches,
> notably the recursive module issue.
>
> While Leo convinced me that "solving pack" won't help us given the
> current runtime module semantics. I'm rather dubious about the
> namespace solution since for me (1) If we follow what Yaron wants
> (and that in someway I also do want) a namespace eventually looks
> diabolically like a module, at least when you open it (2) It doesn't
> seem to solve the problem for the small library I mentioned (can now
> be peek at here [1]) or at least it doesn't allow to me to write it
> the simple way I'd like to write it.
>
> At that point, I would personally, rather wait for the longer term
> solutions Didier mentions backed by solid type system research (if
> that actually solves these problems, I'm no longer up-to-date with
> these things, e g. Rossberg's 2013 paper) rather than integrate
> solutions that seem to be guided by ad-hoc considerations. But I
> guess that's not an option for the platform.

I think the Core.Std problem is urgent now.  Compilation times and
executables sizes are absolutely brutal.  I don't think it makes sense
to wait.

> Daniel
>
> [1] https://github.com/dbuenzli/gg
>
>
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