Unused "type" among arguments of a function?

Learning
1

Recently, I was surprised to realize that the following is accepted by OCaml :

─( 16:19:10 )─< command 0 >──────────────────────────────────────{ counter: 0 }─
utop # let example (type a) x="see?";;
val example : 'a -> string = <fun>
─( 16:19:11 )─< command 1 >──────────────────────────────────────{ counter: 0 }─
utop # example 5;;
- : string = "see?"
─( 16:19:35 )─< command 2 >──────────────────────────────────────{ counter: 0 }─
utop # example "6";;
- : string = "see?"

I expected the first command to be a syntax error, and thought the type keyword’s only use is to define new type. Seems that I was wrong … Where is this documented and explained in the manual ?

2

That’s a “locally abstract type”, documented here in the manual. (I agree that it’s not easy to look for when you don’t know how it’s called!)

3

Thanks for that kind remark which makes me feel a little less stupid …

1 Like