This is about programming in the large with SML. First a summary of what's seems to be available for that purpose, then a tiny summary, then finally, the simple question.
The use pseudo‑clause
Top-level type, exception, and value identifiers (standardml.org)
Note that the use function is special. Although not defined precisely, its intended purpose is to take the pathname of a file and treat the contents of the file as SML source code typed in by the user. It can be used as a simple build mechanism, especially for interactive sessions. Most implementations will provide a more sophisticated build mechanism for larger collections of source files. Implementations are not required to supply a use function.
Then later
val use : string -> unit (* implementation dependent *)
Its drawbacks are: not supported by MLton at least, and while not standardized, seems to have the same behaviour with all major SML systems, which is to reload a unit as many times as a use is encountered for it, which is not OK due to the generative semantic of SML (defining a structure multiple times, will result into as much different definitions, which is especially wrong with types definitions).
ML Basis Files
There exist so called “ML Basis Files”: MLBasis (mlton.org) and ML‑Kit ML Basis Files (sourceforge.net).
The load pseudo‑clause
MoscowML has load which acts like use which uses only once, i.e. does not reload a unit if it's already loaded, which is what's expected to compose a system.
Summary
loadis nice, but only recognized by MoscowML- MLBasis Files may be nice, but it's not recognized by neither Poly/ML nor Moscow ML
- MLton does not recognize
use
Putting everything in a single big bundle file, is the only one interoperable thing working with all compilers and interpreters; that works, but that quickly become a burden.
The question
Is there a known interoperable way to compose a system made of multiple SML source files?
