Python Is Eating the World

Re:Python Is Eating the World by momentoftop on Monday August 12, 2019 @06:45AM (#20674207)

No data as such. But here's the first example in the "batteries included" list library:

   let modify_opt a f l =
     let rec aux p = function
       | [] ->
         (match f None with
          | None   -> raise Exit
          | Some v -> rev ((a,v)::p))
       | (a',b)::t when a' = a ->
         (match f (Some b) with
          | None    -> rev_append p t
          | Some b' -> rev_append ((a,b')::p) t)
       | p'::t ->
         aux (p'::p) t
     in
     try aux [] l with Exit -> l

Here, the Exit exception is being raised as an optimisation: if no modification happens, then we return the original list, saving an unnecessary reverse. The try is the only place that the Exit exception is caught, so the jump location is static, much like a break.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Python Is Eating the World by 9q9 on Monday August 12, 2019 @07:32AM (#20674438)

Thanks.

That's, as you say, a statically scoped fast exit. One does not need the full power of exceptions for this (exceptions'd dynamic binding comes with a cost). If exceptions are widely used for this purpose, one might consider adding a nicely structured goto to the language. Something like linear delimited continuations?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Python Is Eating the World by momentoftop on Monday August 12, 2019 @08:42AM (#20674855)

Sorry, I misunderstood what you were after. Ocaml exceptions are used more generally, and often make use of 2.

For instance, the basic stream/iterator in Ocaml is Enum, which always uses an exception to signal when the stream has been exhausted, rather than providing a "has_next" predicate.

The catch site of this exception is dynamic.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Python Is Eating the World by 9q9 on Monday August 12, 2019 @08:53AM (#20674961)

That is interesting. Once could argue that since fast exceptions contain non-local jumps with a static target, it is enough to supply only the former, so as to simplify the language.

[ Parent | on HN ]