This is just a mini library to have a taste of dependent types with GADTs in OCaml (and some experiments with effects in multicore OCaml)
Here are some examples
(* Natural numbers *)
type zero = Z
type 'a succ = S
(* A, so called, singleton type for natural numbers *)
type 'a nat =
| Zero : zero nat
| Succ : 'a nat -> 'a succ nat
(* Length indexed lists (aka Vectors!) OCaml also has a nice overloaded list syntax *)
type ('a, 'b) vec =
| [] : (zero, 'b) vec
| (::) : 'b * ('n, 'b) vec -> ('n succ, 'b) vec
let xs = [1;2;3;4;5] (* OCaml would infer => xs : (zero succ succ succ succ succ, int) vec *)
(* My favourite inductive family. Finite Sets 🤩*)
type 'a fin =
| FZ : 'a succ fin
| FS : 'a fin -> 'a succ fin
(* classic finite set functions *)
let rec fmax : type n. n nat -> n fin = fun n ->
match n with
| Zero -> failwith "impossible" (* Ocaml would need actual "pi" types to be able to verify this *)
| Succ Zero -> FZ
| Succ k -> FS (fmax k)
let rec fweak : type n. n fin -> n succ fin = function
| FZ -> FZ
| FS i -> FS (fweak i)
(* No need for optionals or exceptions. `n fin` means that a number must be in the range 1-n *)
let rec index : type n. (n, 'a) vec -> n fin -> 'a = fun v f -> match v, f with
| x :: xs, FZ -> x
| x :: xs, FS i -> index xs i
| _ -> . (* refutation case makes the OCaml type checker work a little harder to verify totality *)
(* Yes, the OCaml typechecker can see this is not possible (zero fin has no inhabitants),
so it gives you a way to say: "this is BS!"
aka "ex falso quodlibet" if you look from the Curry-Howard lens *)
let magic : zero fin -> 'a = function
| _ -> .
(*
No need for optionals!
Note that there's no need to handle the [] case and the OCaml compiler can see that
*)
let head = function x :: _ -> x
let tail = function _ :: xs -> xs
(* foldr on vectors *)
let rec foldr : type n. ('a -> 'b -> 'b) -> 'b -> (n, 'a) vec -> 'b = fun f init -> function
| [] -> init
| x :: xs -> f x (foldr f init xs)
(* Vectors are applicatives *)
(* this is the `pure` Applicative operation for vectors *)
let rec vec : type n. n nat -> 'a -> (n, 'a) vec = fun n thing -> match n with
| Zero -> []
| Succ prev -> thing :: vec prev thing
(* apply, and it's battleship operator.
Note how the compiler can verfy that the vectors are of equal length and there's no need to handle ugly cases if they weren't equal *)
let rec va_apply : type n. (n, ('a -> 'b)) vec -> (n, 'a) vec -> (n, 'b) vec = fun fs xs ->
match fs, xs with
| [], [] -> []
| f :: fs, x :: xs -> f x :: va_apply fs xs
let (<*>) = va_apply
(* all Applicatives are Functors *)
let fmap : type n. ('a -> 'b) -> (n, 'a) vec -> (n, 'b) vec = fun f xs ->
let len = length xs in
vec len f <*> xs
(* <*> is a like recursive operator on vectors, so a lot of other recursive functions can be defined in terms of it *)
let zip : type n. (n, 'a) vec -> (n, 'b) vec -> (n, 'a * 'b) vec = fun xs ys ->
let n = length xs in
vec n (fun a b -> a, b) <*> xs <*> ys
(* A fake "sigma" type *)
type 'a vec_exist = VecExist : ('n, 'a) vec -> 'a vec_exist
(* We don't have a type level "length" function to know the index of the vector before hand,
so exitential types are a pretty good alternative.
The only probelem is that we just can't unwrap it anywhere we like because...
Also, notice how OCaml can pattern match on `[]` as a list and also return it as a vector *)
let rec of_list : 'a list -> 'a vec_exist = function
| [] -> VecExist []
| x :: xs ->
let VecExist xs = of_list xs in (* you're entitled to a recursive call, never forget that *)
VecExist (x :: xs)
(* same idea *)
let rec filter : type n. ('a -> bool) -> (n, 'a) vec -> 'a vec_exist = fun f -> function
| [] -> VecExist []
| x :: xs ->
let VecExist xs = filter f xs in (* invoke the inductive hypothesis *)
if f x
then VecExist xs
else VecExist (x :: xs)
(* Order preserving embeddings also known as "thinnings" *)
(* My other favourite inductive family. Can you guess what it can be used for just from it's defination? *)
(* The inhabitants of this type actually form a pascal's triangle, which is pretty cool! *)
type ('m, 'n) opf =
| OpfZero : (zero, zero) opf
| OpfSame : ('m, 'n) opf -> ('m succ, 'n succ) opf
| OpfRight : ('m, 'n) opf -> ('m, 'n succ) opf
(* order preserving embeddings between finite sets *)
let rec opf : type m n. (m, n) opf -> m fin -> n fin = fun f i -> match f, i with
| OpfSame _, FZ -> FZ
| OpfSame prev, FS i -> FS (opf prev i)
| OpfRight _, FZ -> FZ
| OpfRight prev, i -> fweak (opf prev i)
(* | OpfZero, FZ -> FZ -- zero fin has no inhabitants *)
| _ -> .
(* id operation for opf *)
let rec i_opf : type n. n nat -> (n, n) opf = function
| Zero -> OpfZero
| Succ k -> OpfSame (i_opf k)
(* composition, so maybe this opf thingy forms a Category? *)
let rec c_opf : type m n l. (l, m) opf -> (m, n) opf -> (l, n) opf = fun f g -> match f, g with
| OpfZero, OpfZero -> OpfZero
| OpfSame f, OpfSame g -> OpfSame (c_opf f g)
| f, OpfRight j -> OpfRight (c_opf f j)
| OpfRight f, OpfSame g -> OpfRight (c_opf f g)
(* this functions describe EXACTLY how to pick n things from m things (not just only the first n), which is similar to `take` *)
let rec hand_pick : type m n. (m, n) opf -> m nat -> (n, 'a) vec -> (m, 'a) vec = fun f n xs ->
match f, n, xs with
| OpfZero, Zero, [] -> []
| OpfSame f, Succ k, x :: xs -> x :: hand_pick f k xs
| OpfRight f, k, _ :: xs -> hand_pick f k xs
(* This inductive family gives a proof that n < m at the type level *)
type ('n, 'm) lte =
| LteZero : (zero, 'm) lte
| LteSucc : ('n, 'm) lte -> ('n succ, 'm succ) lte
(* With that in mind, we can define a `take` function which never fails *)
let rec vtake : type n m. (n, m) lte -> n nat -> (m, 'a) vec -> (n, 'a) vec = fun proof n xs ->
match proof, n, xs with
| LteZero, Zero, _ -> []
| LteSucc proof, Succ k, x :: xs -> x :: vtake proof k xs
(* Describes EXACTLY how to split a number into 2 parts *)
type ('m, 'k, 'n) split =
| SplitZero : (zero, zero, zero) split
| SplitLeft : ('m, 'k, 'n) split -> ('m succ, 'k succ, 'n) split
| SplitRight : ('m, 'k, 'n) split -> ('m, 'k succ, 'n succ) split
(* with that we can split a vector into 2 parts ... *)
(* notice how the literal meaning, type and defination of split and join "say" the same thing *)
let rec split : type n k m. (n, k, m) split -> (k, 'a) vec -> (n, 'a) vec * (m, 'a) vec = fun proof xs ->
match proof, xs with
| SplitZero, [] -> [], []
| SplitLeft proof, n :: xs ->
let ns, ms = split proof xs in
n :: ns, ms
| SplitRight proof, m ::xs ->
let ns, ms = split proof xs in
ns, m :: ms
(* ... and join them back together, maintaining the order of the original vector*)
let rec join : type n k m. (n, k, m) split -> (n, 'a) vec -> (m, 'a) vec -> (k, 'a) vec = fun proof ns ms ->
match proof, ns, ms with
| SplitZero, [], [] -> []
| SplitLeft proof, n :: ns, ms -> n :: join proof ns ms
| SplitRight proof, ns, m :: ms -> m :: join proof ns ms
(* The classic hetoregenous list *)
type nil = N
type ('a, 'xs) cons = C
type 'a list =
| [] : nil list
| (::) : 'x * 'xs list -> ('x, 'xs) cons list
let l =
[ 1; 4; []; "something"; Some 22, None ]
let b = [1;1;3; Some ""]
(* heterogenous trees *)
type empty = E
type ('left, 'item, 'right) branch = B
type 'a t =
| Empty : empty t
| Branch : 'left t * 'item * 'right t -> ('left, 'item, 'right) branch t
(* type aligned list *)
(* just a pipe of functions left to right *)
type ('a, 'b) ta_list =
| TalStart : ('a -> 'b) -> ('a , 'b) ta_list
| TalCons : ('a, 'b) ta_list * ('b -> 'c) -> ('a, 'c) ta_list
(* compose 2 list of functions *)
let rec compose : type a b c. (a, b) ta_list -> (b, c) ta_list -> (a, c) ta_list = fun f -> function
| TalStart k -> TalCons (f, k)
| TalCons (k, j) ->
let r = compose f k in
TalCons (r, j)
let start f = TalStart f
let (<$>) fs f = TalCons (fs, f)
(* e.g *)
let pipes f =
start f <$> (fun n -> Some n) <$> (function None -> 0 | Some x -> compare x "")
(* After contruction, just convert to an OCaml function you can play with *)
let rec un_wrap : type a b. (a, b) ta_list -> (a -> b) = function
| TalStart f -> f
| TalCons (fs, f) ->
let g = un_wrap fs in
fun x -> f (g x)Please send in PRs and hack on it!