Abstract
Standard ML [MILN85] is an interactive, statically-typed programming language that provides support for higher-order functions, user-defined abstract types, and type-safe exceptions. The ML modules facility [MACQ85] provides the means for organizing ML programs into units, called structures.. Each structure has a well-defined interface, called its signature, that plays a role similar to that of types in the core language. Viewed statically, a program is a hierarchical arrangement of interdependent structures. Support for the dynamics of program construction is provided primarily by functors, functions from structures to structures, that provide the means of glueing structures together to form coherent units. By “coherent” we mean that the individual structures comprising the program are combined so as to share information in the intended way.
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© 1988 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Harper, R. (1988). Modules and Persistence in Standard ML. In: Atkinson, M.P., Buneman, P., Morrison, R. (eds) Data Types and Persistence. Topics in Information Systems. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-61556-6_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-61556-6_2
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
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