miniblog.

← Back to all posts
Jun 29, 2018 at 20:14
I'm learning OCaml at the moment, and I was caught out by the syntax today. This code (pictured) gives a type error saying that Sad is not a boolean. https://gist.github.com/Wilfred/ce4b7177f404a482b8fccc0044d15e4c This is the classic 'dangling else' syntax problem, but with match statements rather than if statements.
Photo
ocaml syntax surprise / type error
ocaml syntax surprise / type error
ocaml syntax surprise / type error. GitHub Gist: instantly share code, notes, and snippets.
X / ?

Related Posts

Jul 3, 2026 at 09:10
Language design question: what type should `while True {}` have? Bottom: It doesn't contain any `break` statements. Unit: Treat loops with/without `break` consistently. I already have lints that warn on unreachable code after diverging loops, so the Unit case feels surprising.
Dec 18, 2023 at 04:55
After seeing yet another YAML dialect for controlling systems, I think we need a hierarchy of YAML dialect expressiveness. (1) Has its own variable binding system. (2) Supports if statements. (3) Supports loops. (4) Supports function definition. 2 seems to be the most common, but I've seen all of 1-3. Does level 4 exist in the wild yet?
Dec 18, 2023 at 04:54
After seeing yet another YAML dialect for controlling systems, I think we need a hierarchy of YAML dialect expressiveness. (1) Has its own variable binding system. (2) Supports if statements. (3) Supports loops. (4) Supports function definition.