memo/doc/usage.mld

{0 Usage}

If you had a function [fibo] defined like this:

{[
let rec fibo x =
  if x < 0 then invalid_arg "fibo";
  if x < 2 then x
  else fibo (x - 1) + fibo (x - 2)
]}

There's many different ways to memoïze it.

{1:simple_memo Simple memoïzation}

The easiest one is to rewrite it like this:

{[
let fibo = Memo.memo (fun fibo x ->
  if x < 0 then invalid_arg "fibo";
  if x < 2 then x
  else fibo (x - 1) + fibo (x - 2))
]}

It'll use the {!module:Hashtbl} module from {!module:Stdlib} directly.

I'd like to thank {{:https://www.lri.fr/~conchon/}Sylvain Conchon} who taught me memoïzation and how to write this [memo] function when I was his student.

{1:custom_memo Using your own type, [equal] and [hash] functions}

We provide a {!module:Memo.Make} functor. It can be useful in case you don't want to use polymorphic equality or you are doing things like {{:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hash_consing}hash consing} and you know how to compare or hash your type more efficiently.

{[
let module Mem = Memo.Make(struct
  type t = int
  let equal = (=)
  let hash = Hashtbl.hash
end)

let fibo = Mem.memo (fun fibo x ->
  if x < 0 then invalid_arg "fibo";
  if x < 2 then x
  else fibo (x - 1) + fibo (x - 2))
]}

{1:forgetful_memo Forgetful memoïzation}

We provide a {!module:Memo.MakeWeak} functor. It works like the previous one, but the bindings in the memoïzation cache will be weak, allowing the garbage collector to remove them if they are not used somewhere else.

{[
let module Mem = Memo.MakeWeak(struct
  type t = int
  let equal = (=)
  let hash = Hashtbl.hash
end)

let fibo = Mem.memo (fun fibo x ->
  if x < 0 then invalid_arg "fibo";
  if x < 2 then x
  else fibo (x - 1) + fibo (x - 2))
]}

I'd like to thank {{:https://www.lri.fr/~filliatr/}Jean-Christophe Filliâtre} who taugh me forgetful memoïzation when I was doing research on {{:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_decision_diagram}binary decision diagram} under his direction while I was a first year master student.

{1:fake_memo Fake memoïzation}

We provide a {!module:Memo.Fake} functor. It is useful if you want to quickly test a function you memoïzed with our {!module:Memo.Make} or {!module:Memo.MakeWeak} functor, but without memoïzing it. It'll basically do nothing and should be equivalent to your initial non-memoïzed function.

{[
let module Mem = Memo.Fake(struct
  type t = int
  let equal = (=)
  let hash = Hashtbl.hash
end)

let fibo = Mem.memo (fun fibo x ->
  if x < 0 then invalid_arg "fibo";
  if x < 2 then x
  else fibo (x - 1) + fibo (x - 2))
]}

{1:custom_cache Using your own defined cache}

With the {!module:Memo.Mk} functor, you can also directly provide a [Cache] module, which should have the signature {!module-type:Hashtbl.S}. We will include your cache module and use it to define a [memo] function:

{[
let module Mem = Memo.Mk(
  Hashtbl.Make(struct
    type t = int
    let equal = (=)
    let hash = Hashtbl.hash
  end)
end)

let fibo = Mem.memo (fun fibo x ->
  if x < 0 then invalid_arg "fibo";
  if x < 2 then x
  else fibo (x - 1) + fibo (x - 2))
]}

This example is useless and equivalent to using the {!module:Memo.Make} functor directly.

If you find a real use case for this which doesn't need new dependencies, contact me and I'll be happy to add a new functor to the library.

It should be useful only if you want to use another {!module:Hashtbl} implementation or things like this.

{1:tuning Tuning}

There's a default value for the initial cache size. You can set it to the value of your choice, reset it to the default and get the current value like this:

{[
Memo.set_initial_cache_size 1024;
Memo.reset_initial_cache_size ();
let curr_size = Memo.get_initial_cache_size ()
]}

Note that with the current implementation of hash tables in OCaml, it's better if you choose a power of two. You may saw some code using a prime number, it's because some years ago it was the best thing to do as the hash tables implementation was different. {{:https://www.lri.fr/~filliatr/}Jean-Christophe Filliâtre} explained this to me, thanks again ! Also keep in mind that if you use your own defined cache thanks to the {!module:Memo.Mk} functor, it may not be the right thing to do.