Structures

Modules in OCaml are implemented by module definitions that have the following syntax:

module ModuleName = struct 
  (* definitions *)
end

Here, for example, is a module for stacks implemented as lists:

module ListStack = struct
  let empty = []
  let is_empty s = (s = [])

  let push x s = x :: s

  let peek = function
    | [] -> failwith "Empty"
    | x::_ -> x

  let pop = function
    | [] -> failwith "Empty"
    | _::xs -> xs
end

Module names must begin with an uppercase letter. The part of the module definition that is written

struct (* definitions *) end

is called a structure. A structure is simply a sequence of definitions. The structure itself is anonymous—it has no name—until it is bound to a name by a module definition.

Modules partition the namespace, so that any symbol x that is bound in the implementation of a module named Module must be referenced by the qualifed name Module.x outside the implementation of the module (unless the namespace has been exposed using open).

The implementation of a module can contain type definitions, exception definitions, let definitions, open statements, as well as some other things we haven't seen so far. All the definitions inside a module are permitted to end with double semicolon ;; for compatibility with the toplevel, but 3110 considers it unidiomatic to do so.

Modules are not as first-class in OCaml as functions. There are some language extensions that make it possible to bundle up modules as values, but we won't be looking at them. If you're curious you can have a look at the manual.