A recursive definition of a type

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OCaml programs

A recursive definition of a type

In Objective Caml, recursive definitions can be given not only to functions but also to types. For instance evaluating this code type int_bin_tree = Empty (* basis *) | Plant of int * int_bin_tree * int_bin_tree (* induction *) defines a type whose values can be used to represent binary trees of integers.

So, there exist recursive definitions of types and of functions as well. Clearly, a type is a sets of values. Moreover a function can be considered as a set, too, that is, as the set of pairs (x,y) where y is the image of x under the function. Thus the notion of a recursive definition, usually called an inductive definition, of a set is basic.

A recursive definition of a type

Documentation and user's manual

Table of contents

OCaml programs