Let's consider how to interpet our new syntactic forms `newref`, `deref`, and `setref`:
-1. \[[newref starting_val]] should allocate a new reference cell in the store and insert `starting_val` into that cell. It should return some "key" or "index" or "pointer" to the newly created reference cell, so that we can do things like:
+1. When `expr` evaluates to `starting_val`, **newref expr** should allocate a new reference cell in the store and insert `starting_val` into that cell. It should return some "key" or "index" or "pointer" to the newly created reference cell, so that we can do things like:
let ycell = newref 1
in ...
in (Index new_index, s'')
...
-2. When `expr` evaluates to a `store_index`, then `deref expr` should evaluate to whatever value is at that index in the current store. (If `expr` evaluates to a value of another type, `deref expr` is undefined.) In this operation, we don't change the store at all; we're just reading from it. So we'll return the same store back unchanged (assuming it wasn't changed during the evaluation of `expr`).
+2. When `expr` evaluates to a `store_index`, then **deref expr** should evaluate to whatever value is at that index in the current store. (If `expr` evaluates to a value of another type, `deref expr` is undefined.) In this operation, we don't change the store at all; we're just reading from it. So we'll return the same store back unchanged (assuming it wasn't changed during the evaluation of `expr`).
let rec eval expression g s =
match expression with
in (List.nth s' n, s')
...
-3. When `expr1` evaluates to a `store_index` and `expr2` evaluates to an `int`, then `setref expr1 expr2` should have the effect of changing the store so that the reference cell at that index now contains that `int`. We have to make a decision about what value the `setref ...` call should itself evaluate to; OCaml makes this `()` but other choices are also possible. Here I'll just suppose we've got some appropriate value in the variable `dummy`.
+3. When `expr1` evaluates to a `store_index` and `expr2` evaluates to an `int`, then **setref expr1 expr2** should have the effect of changing the store so that the reference cell at that index now contains that `int`. We have to make a decision about what value the `setref ...` call should itself evaluate to; OCaml makes this `()` but other choices are also possible. Here I'll just suppose we've got some appropriate value in the variable `dummy`.
let rec eval expression g s =
match expression with
(* evaluate expr2 using original assignment function and new store *)
in eval expr2 g s''
+Note: Chris uses this kind of machinery on the third page of the Nov 22 handout. Except he doesn't implement `Change`, and he adds an implementation of `Alias` (see below). Some minor differences: on his handout (and following Groenendijk, Stockhof and Veltman), he uses `r` and `g` where we use `g` and `s` respectively. Also, he implements his `r` with a function from `char` to `int`, instead of a `(char * int) list`, as we do here. It should be obvious how to translate between these. Finally, and this is somewhat more substantial: he implements `Let(c, expr1, expr2)` not by allocating a new peg for `c` as we do above, but rather by changing the value stored at the peg that his `r` already associates with `c`. Without aliases, it doesn't matter which way you go. With aliases, his method is the way to go, because then all other variables aliased to the same peg will automatically inherit the new value. However, his solution requires that variables always already have an associated peg. So that when we call `Let(c, expr1, expr2)` for the first time with `c`, there's a peg whose value is to be updated. That's easier to ensure when you implement the assignment as a function than as a `(char * int) list`.
+
##How to implement mutation with a State monad##
We use the `None`/`Some factorial` option type here just as a way to ensure that the contents of `fact_cell` are of the same type both at the start and the end of the block.
+* Now would be a good time to go back and review some material from [[week1]], and seeing how much we've learned. There's discussion back then of declarative or functional languages versus languages using imperatival features, like mutation. Mutation is distinguished from shadowing. There's discussion of sequencing, and of what we mean by saying "order matters."
+
+In point 7 of the Rosetta Stone discussion, the contrast between call-by-name and call-by-value evaluation order appears (though we don't yet call it that). We'll be discussing that more in coming weeks. In the [[damn]] example, continuations and other kinds of side-effects (namely, printing) make an appearance. These too will be center-stage in coming weeks.
+
+
##Offsite Reading##