Language features
The core language
[1] | Andrew K. Wright and Matthias Felleisen.
A Syntactic Approach to Type Soundness. In Information & Computation, 115(1):38−94, 1994. This paper describes the semantics and the type system of Core ML, and uses a simple
syntactic technique to prove that well-typed programs cannot go wrong.
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[2] | François Pottier and Didier Rémy.
The Essence of ML Type Inference. In Benjamin C. Pierce, editor, Advanced Topics in Types and Programming Languages,
MIT Press, 2005. This book chapter gives an in-depth description of the Core ML type system, with
an emphasis on type inference. The type inference algorithm is described as the
composition of a constraint generator, which produces a system of type equations,
and a constraint solver, which is presented as a set of rewrite rules.
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[3] | Jacques Garrigue.
Relaxing the value restriction. In International Symposium on Functional
and Logic Programming, 2004. [ PDF | Gzipped PostScript ] This paper explains why it is sound to generalize certain type variables
at a let binding, even when the expression that is being
let -bound is not a value. This relaxed version
of Wright's classic “value restriction” was introduced
in Objective Caml 3.07.
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Modules
[4] | Xavier Leroy.
Manifest types, modules, and separate compilation. In Principles of Programming Languages, 1994. This paper presents a variant of the Standard ML module system that
introduces a strict distinction between abstract and manifest types.
The latter are types whose definitions explicitly appear as part of a module
interface. This proposal is meant to retain most of the expressive power of
the Standard ML module system, while providing much better support for separate
compilation. This work sets the formal bases for OCaml's module system.
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[5] | Xavier Leroy.
Applicative functors and fully transparent higher-order
modules. In Principles of Programming Languages, 1995. This work extends the above paper by introducing so-called applicative functors,
that is, functors that produce compatible abstract types when applied to provably
equal arguments. Applicative functors are also a feature of OCaml.
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[6] | Xavier Leroy.
A Modular Module System. In Journal of Functional Programming, 10(3):269-303, 2000. This accessible paper describes a simplified implementation of the OCaml
module system, emphasizing the fact that the module system is largely independent
of the underlying core language. This is a good tutorial to learn both how
modules can be used and how they are typechecked.
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[7] | Xavier Leroy.
A proposal for recursive modules in Objective Caml. Unpublished. [ PDF | Gzipped PostScript ] This note describes the experimental recursive modules introduced
in Objective Caml 3.07.
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Objects
[8] | Didier Rémy and Jérôme Vouillon.
Objective ML: An effective object-oriented extension to ML. In Theory And Practice of Objects Systems, 4(1):27−50, 1998. This paper provides theoretical foundations for OCaml's object-oriented
layer, including dynamic and static semantics.
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[9] | Jacques Garrigue and Didier Rémy.
Extending ML with Semi-Explicit Higher-Order Polymorphism. In Information & Computation, 155(1/2):134−169, 1999. This paper proposes a device for re-introducing first-class polymorphic values
into ML while preserving its type inference mechanism. This technology underlies
OCaml's polymorphic methods.
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Polymorphic variants
[10] | Jacques Garrigue.
Programming with polymorphic variants. In ML Workshop, 1998. [ PDF | Gzipped PostScript ] This paper briefly explains what polymorphic variants are about and how
they are compiled.
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[11] | Jacques Garrigue.
Code reuse through polymorphic variants. In Workshop on Foundations of Software Engineering, 2000. This short paper explains how to design a modular, extensible interpreter
using polymorphic variants.
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[12] | Jacques Garrigue.
Simple Type Inference for Structural Polymorphism. In Workshop on Foundations of Object-Oriented Languages, 2002. [ PDF | Gzipped PostScript ] This paper explains most of the typechecking machinery behind polymorphic variants.
At its heart is an extension of Core ML's type discipline with so-called local
constraints.
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[13] | Jacques Garrigue.
Typing deep pattern-matching in presence of polymorphic variants. In JSSST Workshop on Programming and Programming Languages, 2004. [ PDF | Gzipped PostScript ] This paper provides more details about the technical machinery behind polymorphic variants,
focusing on the rules for typechecking deep pattern matching constructs.
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Labeled and optional parameters
[14] | Jacques Garrigue.
Labeled and optional arguments for Objective Caml. In JSSST Workshop on Programming and
Programming Languages, 2001. This paper offers a dynamic semantics, a static semantics, and a compilation scheme
for OCaml's labeled and optional function parameters.
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Compilers and runtime system
The bytecode compiler and bytecode interpreter
[15] | Xavier Leroy.
The ZINC experiment,
an economical implementation of the ML language. Technical report 117, INRIA, 1990. [ Gzipped PostScript | PDF ] This report contains a description of the ZINC compiler, which later evolved into
Caml Light, then into OCaml. Large parts of this report
are out of date, but it is still valuable as a description of the
abstract machine used in Caml Light and (with some further
simplifications and speed improvements) in OCaml.
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The native-code compiler
[16] | Xavier Leroy.
The effectiveness of type-based unboxing. In Workshop on Types in Compilation, 1997. [ Gzipped PostScript | PDF ] This paper surveys and compares several
data representation strategies, including the one used in the
OCaml native-code compiler.
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The garbage collector
[17] | Damien Doligez and Xavier Leroy.
A concurrent, generational garbage collector for a multithreaded
implementation of ML. In Principles of Programming Languages, 1993. [ Gzipped PostScript | PDF ] Superseded by the next paper. |
[18] | Damien Doligez and Georges Gonthier.
Portable, Unobtrusive Garbage Collection for Multiprocessor
Systems. In Principles of Programming Languages, 1994. [ Gzipped PostScript | PDF ] This paper describes a concurrent version of the garbage collector
found in Caml Light and OCaml's runtime system.
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[19] | Damien Doligez.
Conception, réalisation et certification d'un glaneur de cellules
concurrent. Ph.D. thesis, Université Paris 7, 1995. [ Gzipped PostScript | PDF ] All you ever wanted to know about the garbage collector
found in Caml Light and OCaml's runtime system.
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