- : int option = Some 2
</pre>
- The parentheses is the magic for telling Ocaml that the
- function to be defined (in this case, the name of the function
- is `*`, pronounced "bind") is an infix operator, so we write
- `m * f` or `( * ) m f` instead of `* m f`.
+The parentheses is the magic for telling Ocaml that the
+function to be defined (in this case, the name of the function
+is `*`, pronounced "bind") is an infix operator, so we write
+`m * f` or `( * ) m f` instead of `* m f`.
* Associativity: bind obeys a kind of associativity, like this:
- (m * f) * g == m * (fun x -> f x * g)
+ `(m * f) * g == m * (fun x -> f x * g)`
- If you don't understand why the lambda form is necessary, you need
- to look again at the type of bind. This is important.
+ If you don't understand why the lambda form is necessary (the "fun
+ x" part), you need to look again at the type of bind.
For an illustration of associativity in the option monad: