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authorDaniil Baturin <daniil@baturin.org>2014-09-10 21:33:41 +0700
committerDaniil Baturin <daniil@baturin.org>2014-09-10 21:33:41 +0700
commit9f3bff9ce85ea95073f8a90397195c841d9fce23 (patch)
tree17d4b789df9d03e9287425e295b2608907d09d0b
parent870289faa8083b496ad539d531529a64b66bf434 (diff)
Fix some typos/errors in the OCaml tutorial.
-rw-r--r--ocaml.html.markdown112
1 files changed, 56 insertions, 56 deletions
diff --git a/ocaml.html.markdown b/ocaml.html.markdown
index ae862f08..3c9593d4 100644
--- a/ocaml.html.markdown
+++ b/ocaml.html.markdown
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ the compiler is "ocamlc.opt". There is also a bytecode compiler, "ocamlc",
but there are few reasons to use it.
It is strongly and statically typed, but instead of using manually written
-type annotations it infers types of expressions using Hindley-Milner algorithm.
+type annotations, it infers types of expressions using Hindley-Milner algorithm.
It makes type annotations unnecessary in most cases, but can be a major
source of confusion for beginners.
@@ -46,24 +46,24 @@ Note that type signatures of functions of multiple arguments are
written in curried form.
```ocaml
+(*** Comments ***)
+
(* Comments are enclosed in (* and *). It's fine to nest comments. *)
-(* There are no single-line comments *)
+(* There are no single-line comments. *)
-(** Variables and functions *)
+(*** Variables and functions ***)
-(* Statements can be separated by double
- semicolon symbol, ";;".
+(* Expressions can be separated by a double semicolon symbol, ";;".
In many cases it's redundant, but in this tutorial we use it after
every expression for easy pasting into the interpreter shell. *)
(* Variable and function declarations use "let" keyword. *)
let x = 10 ;;
-(* Since OCaml uses type inference, you normally don't need to
- specify argument types explicitly. However, you can do it
- if you want or need to. *)
+(* Since OCaml compiler infers types automatically, you normally don't need to
+ specify argument types explicitly. However, you can do it if you want or need to. *)
let inc_int (x: int) = x + 1 ;;
(* You need to mark recursive function definitions as such with "rec" keyword. *)
@@ -72,22 +72,13 @@ let rec factorial n =
else factorial n * factorial (n-1)
;;
-(* Function application usually doesn't need parantheses around arguments *)
+(* Function application usually doesn't need parentheses around arguments *)
let fact_5 = factorial 5 ;;
-(* ...unless the argument is an expression *)
+(* ...unless the argument is an expression. *)
let fact_4 = factorial (5-1) ;;
let sqr2 = sqr (-2) ;;
-(* You can use multiple statements separated by semicolon in function body,
- but the last expression becomes its return value. This is useful when
- writing in imperative style. The simplest form of it is inserting a
- debug print. *)
-let print_and_return x =
- print_endline (string_of_int x);
- x
-;;
-
(* Every function must have at least one argument.
Since some funcions naturally don't take any arguments, there's
"unit" type for it that has the only one value written as "()" *)
@@ -102,6 +93,15 @@ let make_inc x y = x + y ;; (* make_inc is int -> int -> int *)
let inc_2 = make_inc 2 ;; (* inc_2 is int -> int *)
inc_2 3 ;; (* Evaluates to 5 *)
+(* You can use multiple expressions in function body.
+ The last expression becomes the return value. All other
+ expressions must be of the "unit" type.
+ This is useful when writing in imperative style, the simplest
+ form of it is inserting a debug print. *)
+let print_and_return x =
+ print_endline (string_of_int x);
+ x
+;;
(* Since OCaml is a functional language, it lacks "procedures".
Every function must return something. So functions that
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ let x = 10 in
let y = 20 in
x + y ;;
-(* Alternatively you can use "let ... in and ..." construct.
+(* Alternatively you can use "let ... and ... in" construct.
This is especially useful for mutually recursive functions,
with ordinary "let .. in" the compiler will complain about
unbound values.
@@ -127,28 +127,28 @@ x + y ;;
let a = 3 and b = 4 in a * b ;;
-(** Operators **)
+(*** Operators ***)
(* There is little distintion between operators and functions.
Every operator can be called as a function. *)
(+) 3 4 (* Same as 3 + 4 *)
-(* There's a number of built-in operators. One of unusual features is
+(* There's a number of built-in operators. One unusual feature is
that OCaml doesn't just refrain from any implicit conversions
between integers and floats, it also uses different operators
for floats. *)
-12 + 3 ;; (* Integer addition *)
-12.0 +. 3.0 ;; (* Floating point addition *)
+12 + 3 ;; (* Integer addition. *)
+12.0 +. 3.0 ;; (* Floating point addition. *)
-12 / 3 ;; (* Integer division *)
-12.0 /. 3.0 ;; (* Floating point division *)
-5 mod 2 ;; (* Remainder *)
+12 / 3 ;; (* Integer division. *)
+12.0 /. 3.0 ;; (* Floating point division. *)
+5 mod 2 ;; (* Remainder. *)
(* Unary minus is a notable exception, it's polymorphic.
However, it also has "pure" integer and float forms. *)
- 3 ;; (* Polymorphic, integer *)
-- 4.5 ;; (* Polymorphicm float *)
+- 4.5 ;; (* Polymorphic, float *)
~- 3 (* Integer only *)
~- 3.4 (* Type error *)
~-. 3.4 (* Float only *)
@@ -156,34 +156,34 @@ let a = 3 and b = 4 in a * b ;;
(* You can define your own operators or redefine existing ones.
Unlike SML or Haskell, only selected symbols can be used
for operator names and first symbol defines associativity
- and precedence rules. *)
-let (+) a b = a - b ;; (* Surprise maintenance programmers *)
+ and precedence rules. *)
+let (+) a b = a - b ;; (* Surprise maintenance programmers. *)
(* More useful: a reciprocal operator for floats.
- Unary operators must start with "~" *)
+ Unary operators must start with "~". *)
let (~/) x = 1.0 /. x ;;
~/4.0 (* = 0.25 *)
-(** Built-in datastructures *)
+(*** Built-in datastructures ***)
(* Lists are enclosed in square brackets, items are separated by
semicolons. *)
let my_list = [1; 2; 3] ;;
-(* Tuples are (optionally) enclosed in parantheses, items are separated
- by commas *)
-let first_tuple = 3, 4 ;;
+(* Tuples are (optionally) enclosed in parentheses, items are separated
+ by commas. *)
+let first_tuple = 3, 4 ;; (* Has type "int * int". *)
let second_tuple = (4, 5) ;;
(* Corollary: if you try to separate list items by commas, you get a list
with a tuple inside, probably not what you want. *)
let bad_list = [1, 2] ;; (* Becomes [(1, 2)] *)
-(* You can access individual list items with List.nth function *)
+(* You can access individual list items with the List.nth function. *)
List.nth my_list 1 ;;
-(* You can add an item to the beginning of a list with "::" constructor
+(* You can add an item to the beginning of a list with the "::" constructor
often referred to as "cons". *)
1 :: [2; 3] ;; (* Gives [1; 2; 3] *)
@@ -195,20 +195,20 @@ my_array.(0) ;;
-(** Data types *)
+(*** User-defined data types ***)
-(* You can define types with "type some_type =" construct. Like in this
+(* You can define types with the "type some_type =" construct. Like in this
useless type alias: *)
type my_int = int ;;
(* More interesting types include so called type constructors.
Constructors must start with a capital letter. *)
type ml = OCaml | StandardML ;;
-let lang = OCaml ;; (* Has type "ml" *)
+let lang = OCaml ;; (* Has type "ml". *)
(* Type constructors don't need to be empty. *)
type my_number = PlusInfinity | MinusInfinity | Real of float ;;
-let r0 = Real -3.4 ;; (* Has type "my_number" *)
+let r0 = Real (-3.4) ;; (* Has type "my_number". *)
(* Can be used to implement polymorphic arithmetics. *)
type number = Int of int | Float of float ;;
@@ -222,13 +222,13 @@ let my_point = Point (2.0, 3.0) ;;
type 'a list_of_lists = 'a list list ;;
type int_list_list = int list_of_lists ;;
-(* Types also can be recursive. Like in this type analogous to
+(* Types can also be recursive. Like in this type analogous to
built-in list of integers. *)
type my_int_list = EmptyList | IntList of int * my_int_list ;;
let l = Cons (1, EmptyList) ;;
-(** Pattern matching *)
+(*** Pattern matching ***)
(* Pattern matching is somewhat similar to switch statement in imperative
languages, but offers a lot more expressive power.
@@ -237,20 +237,21 @@ let l = Cons (1, EmptyList) ;;
an argument against an exact value, a predicate, or a type constructor. The type system
is what makes it so powerful. *)
-(* Matching exact values. "_" means "anything" *)
+(** Matching exact values. **)
+
let is_zero x =
match x with
| 0 -> true
- | _ -> false
+ | _ -> false (* The "_" pattern means "anything else". *)
;;
-(* Alternatively, you can use "function" keyword *)
+(* Alternatively, you can use the "function" keyword. *)
let is_one x = function
| 1 -> true
| _ -> false
;;
-(* Matching predicates, aka "guarded pattern matching" *)
+(* Matching predicates, aka "guarded pattern matching". *)
let abs x =
match x with
| x when x < 0 -> -x
@@ -260,7 +261,7 @@ let abs x =
abs 5 ;; (* 5 *)
abs (-5) (* 5 again *)
-(* Matching type constructors *)
+(** Matching type constructors **)
type animal = Dog of string | Cat of string ;;
@@ -270,24 +271,23 @@ let say x =
| Cat x -> x ^ " says meow"
;;
-say (Cat "Fluffy") ;; (* "Fluffy says meow" *)
+say (Cat "Fluffy") ;; (* "Fluffy says meow". *)
-(* Traversing data structures *)
+(** Traversing datastructures with pattern matching **)
(* Recursive types can be traversed with pattern matching easily.
- The cons thing ("::") that is used with built-in lists is actually a
- type constructor, except it can be used in infix form, unlike
- user-defined constructors. So you can use it like this: *)
-
+ Let's see how we can traverse a datastructure of the built-in list type.
+ Even though the built-in cons ("::") looks like an infix operator, it's actually
+ a type constructor and can be matched like any other. *)
let rec sum_list l =
match l with
| [] -> 0
| head :: tail -> head + (sum_list tail)
;;
-sum_list [1; 2; 3] ;;
+sum_list [1; 2; 3] ;; (* Evaluates to 6 *)
-(* Built-int syntax for cons obscures the structure a bit, so we'll make
+(* Built-in syntax for cons obscures the structure a bit, so we'll make
our own list for demonstration. *)
type int_list = Nil | Cons of int * int_list ;;