Are modules inspired by OCaml?

[jgarte]

Hi,

Are Mint modules inspired by OCaml modules?

module MyModule = struct
  let increment x = x + 1
  type color = Red | Green | Blue
end

module MyModule {
  fun increment (x) {
    x + 1
  }
  type Color {
    red
    green
    blue
  }
}

[gdotdesign]

Hi 👋

Mint modules are inspired by Ruby modules, but they are just a collection of functions and constants.

The Mint code you posted is invalid, since modules cannot contain types.

[jgarte]

I updated the Mint code to fix it. Thanks for the reply.

[jgarte]

@gdotdesign Why can't modules contain types?

[gdotdesign]

The main reason is types are global across the program, so resolving them is straightforward, no need to check scoping rules, also this way there is no need to for import, public, etc... keywords in the language.

Not having types in modules didn't come up a lot yet (a handful of times, max), so I don't think it bothers many people.

This is the correct way to do the same thing as your OCaml example:

module MyModule {
  fun increment (x : Nubmer) {
    x + 1
  }
}

type MyModule.Color {
  Red
  Green
  Blue
}

[jgarte]

Thanks for the info and example. Much appreciated!