Redefining types in Julia: invalid redefinition of constant

Question

Lets say I assign a type Person in Julia:

type Person
    name::String
    male::Bool
    age::Float64
    children::Int
end

function describe(p::Person)
    println("Name: ", p.name, " Male: ", p.male)
    println("Age: ", p.age, " Children: ", p.children)
end


ted = Person("Ted",1,55,0)

describe(ted)

Which will output with the function:

Name: Ted Male: true
Age: 55.0 Children: 0

Then I modify the features for type Person where I added a new category to the type eyes

type Person
    name::String
    male::Bool
    age::Float64
    children::Int
    eyes::String
end


ted = Person("Ted",1,55,0,brown)

If I run the function now I get an error

Error evaluating REPL:
invalid redefinition of constant Person
 in include_string at loading.jl:97

What is the best way to work around this when developing new code? other than making a module as suggested in the julia FAQ

Answer 1

You can use the workspace() function to clear the Main module if you don't want to put the code in its own module.