Result is often used to handle error messages.
'a is a function's expected return type, and 'b is often an error message string.
let ric_of_ticker = function
| "IBM" -> Ok "IBM.N"
| "MSFT" -> Ok "MSFT.OQ"
| "AA" -> Ok "AA.N"
| "CSCO" -> Ok "CSCO.OQ"
| _ as ticker -> Error (sprintf "can't find ric of %s" ticker)
The return type of ric_of_ticker could be string option, but (string, string)
Result.t gives more control over the error message.
e.g. failf "Couldn't find bloogle %s" (Bloogle.to_string b)
ok_fst is useful with List.partition_map. Continuing the above example:
let rics, errors = List.partition_map ~f:Result.ok_fst
(List.map ~f:ric_of_ticker ["AA"; "F"; "CSCO"; "AAPL"])
ok_if_true returns Ok () if bool is true, and Error error if it is false
ok_exn t returns x if t = Ok x, and raises exn if t = Error exn
raises Failure in the Error case
ok_unit = Ok (), used to avoid allocation as a performance hack