Re: Icon

[Michael Vanier <address@hidden>]

> Date: Mon, 24 Dec 2001 22:44:01 -0500 (EST)
> From: Shriram Krishnamurthi <sk@cs.brown.edu>
> 
> Vanier asks about type annotation in addition to type inference.
> 
> 1. MrSpidey (soon to be replaced by MrFlow) lets you write explicit
>    type-like annotations.  No big deal.
> 
> 2. Andrew Wright once built an s-expression front-end for ML -- ScML,
>    pronounced "scum ML" --, but it's over a decade old, and has
>    probably rotted away.
> 
> If you can support type *inference*, supporting type *annotation*
> (plus checking) is really not a big effort.  Just study the type
> inference algorithm a bit.  Of course, sometimes you may write down
> types that are more restricted than they need to be, whereas an
> inference algorithm may discover more general (principal) types.  Etc, 
> etc, etc.  All the usual caveats apply.
> 
> Shriram
> 

And in fact, supposedly there is an s-expression parser for ocaml as well
(coming from the other side of the static typing divide).  I'm not sure how
pleasant it is to use, though.

Mike