9.12 Compilation units

## ﻿9.12 Compilation units

unit-interface | ::= | {specification[;;] }
unit-implementation | ::= | [module-items]

Compilation units bridge the module system and the separate compilation system. A compilation unit is composed of two parts: an interface and an implementation. The interface contains a sequence of specifications, just as the inside of a sig … end signature expression. The implementation contains a sequence of definitions and expressions, just as the inside of a struct … end module expression. A compilation unit also has a name unit-name, derived from the names of the files containing the interface and the implementation (see chapter ‍11 for more details). A compilation unit behaves roughly as the module definition

module unit-name : sig unit-interface end = struct unit-implementation end

A compilation unit can refer to other compilation units by their names, as if they were regular modules. For instance, if U is a compilation unit that defines a type t, other compilation units can refer to that type under the name U.t; they can also refer to U as a whole structure. Except for names of other compilation units, a unit interface or unit implementation must not have any other free variables. In other terms, the type-checking and compilation of an interface or implementation proceeds in the initial environment

name1 : sig specification1 end …namen : sig specificationn end

where name1 …namen are the names of the other compilation units available in the search path (see chapter ‍11 for more details) and specification1 …specificationn are their respective interfaces.