Semantics

The semantics of the OCaml module system is sufficiently complex that it's better left to a course like CS 6110 or even 7110. Here we'll just sketch a couple of the relevant facts.

Dynamic semantics. To evaluate a structure struct D1; ...; Dn end where each of the Di is a definition, evaluate each definition in order.

Static semantics. If a module is given a module type, as in module M : T = struct ... end, then there are two checks the compiler must perform:

1. Signature matching: every name declared in T must be defined in M.

2. Encapsulation: any name defined in M that does not appear in T is not visible to code outside of M.