expand about environments

[lambda.git] / topics / week7_untyped_evaluator.mdwn

diff --git a/topics/week7_untyped_evaluator.mdwn b/topics/week7_untyped_evaluator.mdwn
index 760068b..d45b22f 100644 (file)
--- a/topics/week7_untyped_evaluator.mdwn
+++ b/topics/week7_untyped_evaluator.mdwn
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ However, when we move to the VB/environment-based interpreter, we will need to i
 
 We'll explain the `Symbol` and `Closure` variants on the `bare_result` datatype below.
 
 
 We'll explain the `Symbol` and `Closure` variants on the `bare_result` datatype below.
 

-Having these two parallel datatypes is rather annoying, and requires us to insert some translation functions `term_of_result` and `result_of_term` at a few places in the program. But the core, non-fancy parts of OCaml don't supply any more elegant way to specify that one datatype is a subtype of another, so this is simply what we'll need to do.
+Having these two parallel datatypes is rather annoying, and requires us to insert some translation functions `term_of_result` and `result_of_term` at a few places in the program. But the core, non-fancy parts of OCaml don't supply any more elegant way to specify that one datatype overlaps or is a subtype of another, so this is what works best.

 
 A **third complication** has to do with environments. On the one hand, we don't have any really compelling need for environments in the first phase of the exercise, when we're just making a substitute-and-repeat interpreter. They don't play any role in the fundamental task we're focusing on. But on the other hand, weaving environments into the system when we *will* need them, for the second phase of the exercise, is not simple and would require lots of code changes. So that is a reason to include them from the beginning, just off to the side not doing any important work until we want them.
 
 
 A **third complication** has to do with environments. On the one hand, we don't have any really compelling need for environments in the first phase of the exercise, when we're just making a substitute-and-repeat interpreter. They don't play any role in the fundamental task we're focusing on. But on the other hand, weaving environments into the system when we *will* need them, for the second phase of the exercise, is not simple and would require lots of code changes. So that is a reason to include them from the beginning, just off to the side not doing any important work until we want them.
 


@@ -346,11 +346,32 @@ The second file, `types.ml`, contains different implementations for the environm
 
 Each implementation of that interface is itself pretty simple, though the file `types.ml` does need to have some trickery in it to work around constraints imposed by OCaml. (The trickery is marked as such.)
 
 
 Each implementation of that interface is itself pretty simple, though the file `types.ml` does need to have some trickery in it to work around constraints imposed by OCaml. (The trickery is marked as such.)
 

-TODO
+OCaml's terminology for the _abstract interfaces_ is `module type S = sig ... end`, and its terminology for the _concrete implementations_ of these is `module M = struct ... end`. (By the way, the `*.mli` files get compiled into the former of these, and the `*.ml` files get compiled into the latter.) The implementations have to define (at least) all the types and values declared in the abstract interface. Notice that in the `ENV` interface, we just said `type env`. That means there _has to be_ some type `env`; but different implementations can define it differently. Also, when other parts of the code _use_ the interface, the details of how the `env` type is implemented won't be exposed to them. They have to interact with the `env`s via the declared `shift` and `lookup` functions, and the `empty` environment that every implementation is obliged to provide.

 
 

-The third file, `engine.ml`, is where the action is. Most of the homework assignment was just a simplified version of this file. At the bottom of the file are also instructions on how to shift the interpreter between using the VA or the VB functions.
+What the function `lookup` does is take an identifier like `"x"` and an existing `env`, and try to return the `result` that this `env` associates with that identifier, if any. Else it returns `None`. (There are some complications, in that we don't really return a `result option`, but rather a `binding option`, where the `binding` type is a small wrapper around a type `bound`, which is identified with the type `result`. The point of the `binding` wrapper is to help handle the toplevel declarations. But you can ignore that and just think of the `binding`s as `bound`/`result`s. The point of having the two identified types `bound` and `result` is to prepare for later developments. The `result` is what a term like `Var "x"` evaluates to (in a context where it's not free). The `bound` is what the environment binds the identifier `"x"` to. In our present system, these are of course the same. But later when we introduce mutable state into our system, they may come apart, depending on design choices we make.)

 
 

-You can try building it and running the interpreter like this. First, make sure you're in a Terminal and that you're working directory is the folder that the source code unpacked to. Then just type `make`. That should take care of everything. If you see errors that you don't think are your fault, let us know about them.
+What the function `shift` does is take an `env` and add a new binding for a given identifier. It returns an `env` with this new binding. The identifier may or may not have already had a binding in the original `env`; but in any case, the new `env` will only return the supplied new `binding` when you `lookup` the `ident`.
+
+As we've said, there are different ways to implement these environments. That's what's in the `types.ml` file. The `Env0` implementation provides the demanded interface, but doesn't do anything. It won't remember any new bindings. You can select this for the VA interpreter, if you like, to demonstrate that the `env`s are inessential to that interpretation strategy. (Though in that case the toplevel declarations won't be remembered.) `Env1` implements the environments as a list of pairs of identifiers and bindings. `Env2` implements the environments instead as functions from identifiers to `Some binding` or to `None`, if the identifier has no binding in that environment. At the end of the file `types.ml` is the line:
+
+    include Env1
+
+You can change that to whichever of these implementations you'd like to use.
+
+The third file, `engine.ml`, is where the action is. Most of the homework assignment was just a simplified version of this file. At the bottom of the file are also instructions on how to shift the interpreter between using the VA or the VB functions:
+
+    (* Put comment (* *)s around exactly one of the following two pairs of lines. *)
+
+    let version = "A (reduce by substituting; " ^ version ^ ")"
+    let interpret = VA.reduce
+
+    (*
+    let version = "B (use environment for local bindings; " ^ version ^ ")"
+    let interpret = VB.evaluate
+    *)
+
+
+You can try building and running the interpreter like this. First, make sure you're in a Terminal and that your working directory is the folder that the source code unpacked to. Then just type `make`. That should take care of everything. If you see errors that you don't think are your fault, let us know about them.

 
 Possibly some Windows computers that _do_ have OCaml on them might nonetheless fail to have the `make` program. (It isn't OCaml-specific, and will be found by default on Macs and many Linux systems.) In that case, you can try entering the following sequence of commands by hand:
 
 
 Possibly some Windows computers that _do_ have OCaml on them might nonetheless fail to have the `make` program. (It isn't OCaml-specific, and will be found by default on Macs and many Linux systems.) In that case, you can try entering the following sequence of commands by hand:
 


@@ -371,7 +392,8 @@ Possibly some Windows computers that _do_ have OCaml on them might nonetheless f
     ocamlc -c parser.ml
     ocamlc -c lexer.ml
     ocamlc -c main.ml
     ocamlc -c parser.ml
     ocamlc -c lexer.ml
     ocamlc -c main.ml

-    ocamlc -o interp.exe lolevel.cmo types.cmo hilevel.cmo primitives.cmo engine.cmo parser.cmo lexer.cmo main.cmo 
+    ocamlc -o interp.exe lolevel.cmo types.cmo hilevel.cmo primitives.cmo \
+      engine.cmo parser.cmo lexer.cmo main.cmo 

 
 If your computer doesn't ... TODO
 
 
 If your computer doesn't ... TODO