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[Caml-list] Type constraint to explain that a polymorphic variants is included into another

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Sylvain Le Gall

unread,
Oct 8, 2010, 1:13:44 PM10/8/10
to caml...@inria.fr
Hello all,

I would like to build an interface for plugins that allow to extract at the
same time a very specific data for a plugin family and to extract
general help for plugins.

Here is an example:

(** All the plugins I want to manage *)
type plugin_kind = [`Build | `Install]

(** Generic plugin *)
type 'a plugin = 'a * string

(** Help data for all plugin *)
module MapPlugin =
Map.Make
(struct
type t = plugin_kind plugin
let compare = compare
end)

let all_help: string MapPlugin.t ref =
ref MapPlugin.empty

let help plg =
MapPlugin.find plg !all_help

(** Functor to build function related to one type of plugin *)
module type PLUGIN_FAMILY =
sig
type act
type kind
val kind_default: kind
end


module Make (F: PLUGIN_FAMILY) =
struct

module MapPluginSelf =
Map.Make
(struct
type t = F.kind plugin
let compare = compare
end)

let all_act: F.act MapPluginSelf.t ref =
ref MapPluginSelf.empty

let act (plg : F.kind plugin) =
MapPluginSelf.find plg !all_act

let create name help act =
let id =
F.kind_default, name
in
all_help := MapPlugin.add id help !all_help;
all_act := MapPlugin.add id act !all_act;
id
end

(** Functions for build plugins *)
module Build =
Make
(struct
type act = unit -> unit
type kind = [`Build]
let default = `Build
end)

(** Functions for install plugins *)
module Install =
Make
(struct
type act = string list -> unit
type kind = [`Install]
let default = `Install
end)

type package =
{
name: string;
plugin_build: [`Build] plugin;
plugin_install: [`Install] plugin;
}

let run pkg =
prerr_endline (help pkg.plugin_build);
prerr_endline (help pkg.plugin_install);
(Build.act pkg.plugin_build) ();
(Install.act pkg.plugin_install) ()


This code doesn't compile because I see no way to explain that F.kind is
included into plugin_kind.

Here is the precise error:
camlc -o test test.ml
File "test.ml", line 51, characters 32-34:
Error: This expression has type F.kind * 'a
but an expression was expected of type
MapPlugin.key = plugin_kind * string
Type F.kind is not compatible with type
plugin_kind = [ `Build | `Install ]
make: *** [all] Erreur 2

Does anyone know a good solution to this problem? Does anyone have a
better solution to this problem? (different design?)

Thank you for your answers,
Sylvain Le Gall

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Jake Donham

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Oct 8, 2010, 2:14:10 PM10/8/10
to Sylvain Le Gall, caml...@inria.fr
On Fri, Oct 8, 2010 at 10:13 AM, Sylvain Le Gall <syl...@le-gall.net> wrote:
> This code doesn't compile because I see no way to explain that F.kind is
> included into plugin_kind.

As you have written it, F.kind is of course completely abstract. I am
not sure where you need F.kind to be a strict subtype of plugin_kind,
but you could say type kind = plugin_kind (this seems a bit useless
however).

I don't think there is a way to use subtyping implicitly when applying
a functor, but you can always do it explicitly by interposing a module
of signature PLUGIN_FAMILY which embeds the specific kind in
plugin_kind and passes the other components through.

You could also have a general and a specific type in the plugin
signature, and use the general one for general operations (e.g. help)
but the specific one wherever that is needed. I am not sure I
understand what you're trying to achieve however.

Jake

Jacques Garrigue

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Oct 8, 2010, 4:09:34 PM10/8/10
to Sylvain Le Gall, caml...@inria.fr
On 2010/10/09, at 2:13, Sylvain Le Gall wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> I would like to build an interface for plugins that allow to extract at the
> same time a very specific data for a plugin family and to extract
> general help for plugins.
>
> Here is an example:

[...]

> This code doesn't compile because I see no way to explain that F.kind is
> included into plugin_kind.

I'm not sure of what you are trying to do, but private rows where introduced
with this goal in mind.

The idea is to change the abstract definition of kind in PLUGIN_FAMILY to

type kind = private [< plugin_kind]

meaning that kind can be instantiated to any subset of plugin_kind.
You can then use subtyping to convert from kind to plugin_kind.

Here is a typable version of your code.
Note that I had to do a few other changes to make the types match.

Jacques

(** All the plugins I want to manage *)
type plugin_kind = [`Build | `Install]

(** Generic plugin *)
type 'a plugin = 'a * string

(** Help data for all plugin *)
module MapPlugin =
Map.Make
(struct
type t = plugin_kind plugin
let compare = compare
end)

let all_help: string MapPlugin.t ref =
ref MapPlugin.empty

let help plg =
MapPlugin.find plg !all_help

(** Functor to build function related to one type of plugin *)
module type PLUGIN_FAMILY =
sig
type act

type kind = private [< plugin_kind]
val kind_default: kind
end


module Make (F: PLUGIN_FAMILY) =
struct

module MapPluginSelf =
Map.Make
(struct
type t = F.kind plugin
let compare = compare
end)

let all_act: F.act MapPluginSelf.t ref =
ref MapPluginSelf.empty

let act (plg : F.kind plugin) =
MapPluginSelf.find plg !all_act

let create name help act =
let id =
F.kind_default, name
in

all_help := MapPlugin.add (id :> plugin_kind * _) help !all_help;
all_act := MapPluginSelf.add id act !all_act;
id
end

(** Functions for build plugins *)
module Build =
Make
(struct
type act = unit -> unit
type kind = [`Build]

let kind_default = `Build
end)

(** Functions for install plugins *)
module Install =
Make
(struct
type act = string list -> unit
type kind = [`Install]

let kind_default = `Install
end)

type package =
{
name: string;
plugin_build: [`Build] plugin;
plugin_install: [`Install] plugin;
}

let run pkg =
prerr_endline (help (pkg.plugin_build :> MapPlugin.key));
prerr_endline (help (pkg.plugin_install :> MapPlugin.key));
(Build.act pkg.plugin_build) ();
Install.act pkg.plugin_install []

Sylvain Le Gall

unread,
Oct 8, 2010, 6:10:33 PM10/8/10
to caml...@inria.fr
On 08-10-2010, Jake Donham <ja...@donham.org> wrote:
> On Fri, Oct 8, 2010 at 10:13 AM, Sylvain Le Gall <syl...@le-gall.net> wrote:
>> This code doesn't compile because I see no way to explain that F.kind is
>> included into plugin_kind.
>
> As you have written it, F.kind is of course completely abstract. I am
> not sure where you need F.kind to be a strict subtype of plugin_kind,
> but you could say type kind = plugin_kind (this seems a bit useless
> however).
>
> I don't think there is a way to use subtyping implicitly when applying
> a functor, but you can always do it explicitly by interposing a module
> of signature PLUGIN_FAMILY which embeds the specific kind in
> plugin_kind and passes the other components through.
>
> You could also have a general and a specific type in the plugin
> signature, and use the general one for general operations (e.g. help)
> but the specific one wherever that is needed. I am not sure I
> understand what you're trying to achieve however.
>

My goal is that the compiler prevents me to do
Build.act pkg.plugin_install
-> because plugin_install is of type [`Install] plugin and Build.act
needs [`Build] plugin

but allow me to do

help pkg.plugin_install
-> because help needs [`Build | `Install] plugin.

But maybe I am missing something here and try to overengineer something
simple.

Regards,
Sylvain Le Gall

Sylvain Le Gall

unread,
Oct 11, 2010, 4:50:13 AM10/11/10
to caml...@inria.fr
Hello,

On 08-10-2010, Jacques Garrigue <garr...@math.nagoya-u.ac.jp> wrote:
> On 2010/10/09, at 2:13, Sylvain Le Gall wrote:
>
>> Hello all,
>>
>> I would like to build an interface for plugins that allow to extract at the
>> same time a very specific data for a plugin family and to extract
>> general help for plugins.
>>
>> Here is an example:
>
> [...]
>
>> This code doesn't compile because I see no way to explain that F.kind is
>> included into plugin_kind.
>
> I'm not sure of what you are trying to do, but private rows where introduced
> with this goal in mind.
>
> The idea is to change the abstract definition of kind in PLUGIN_FAMILY to
>
> type kind = private [< plugin_kind]
>
> meaning that kind can be instantiated to any subset of plugin_kind.
> You can then use subtyping to convert from kind to plugin_kind.
>

Very nice OCaml extension. It indeed solves my problem. I was aware of private
type, but don't yet know how to use it.

> Here is a typable version of your code.
>

> let run pkg =
> prerr_endline (help (pkg.plugin_build :> MapPlugin.key));
> prerr_endline (help (pkg.plugin_install :> MapPlugin.key));
> (Build.act pkg.plugin_build) ();
> Install.act pkg.plugin_install []
>

That is perfect. If I add the following call, with your solution:

(Install.act pkg.plugin_build) []

I get this error:

ocamlc -o test test.ml
File "test.ml", line 84, characters 14-30:
Error: This expression has type [ `Build ] plugin = [ `Build ] * string


but an expression was expected of type

[ `Install ] plugin = [ `Install ] * string
These two variant types have no intersection


make: *** [all] Erreur 2

This is exactly what I want.

Thanks,
Sylvain Le Gall

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