Implement an inventory facility

Implement an inventory facility

Implement the following module:

module Inventory :
  sig
    type 'a inventory = ('a * int) list
    val valid : 'a inventory -> bool
    val sort : 'a inventory -> 'a inventory
    val union : 'a inventory -> 'a inventory -> 'a inventory
    val difference : 'a inventory -> 'a inventory -> 'a inventory * 'a inventory
    val intersects : 'a inventory -> 'a inventory -> bool
    val length : 'a inventory -> int
    val distance : 'a inventory -> 'a inventory -> int * int
    val discriminate : 'a inventory -> 'a inventory -> 'a inventory -> int
    type ('a, 'b) catalog = ('a * 'b inventory) list
    val place_order : ('a, 'b) catalog -> 'b inventory -> 'a inventory * 'b inventory
  end

An inventory is an association list of item/counts.

a) sort just sorts an inventory according to its items.

b) valid checks that an inventory:
1. is strictly sorted according to its items
2. has only stricly positive item counts

By "strictly" sorted we mean that each item must be strictly greater than its predecessor which verifies item unicity in linear time.

In the following module functions, assert must be systematically used to ensure argument(s) validity where needed.

c) union sums two inventories into an augmented inventory.

d) difference subtracts one inventory to another inventory. There are two results: a-b and b-a, respectively the items of the first minus the items of the second, and the items of the second minus the items of the first.

e) intersects checks if two inventories intersect.

f) length returns the sum of item counts.

g) distance returns two integers:
1. how many items of the first inventory are in the second inventory
2. how many items of the second inventory are not in the first inventory

h) discriminate uses distance to determine whether its second or its third argument is closer to its first argument and returns -1,0,1 accordingly.

i) The last function place_order is the big one that justifies all the previous utilities.

A new type catalog is defined that is an association list made available to you, the client, by your supplier. Each key in this list has an associated inventory. The first argument of place_order is the available catalog. The second argument is the exact inventory wanted by the client. The challenge is to compute:
1. the cheapest order, that is the order inventory that includes the wanted inventory with as few extras as possible
2. the extra inventory that will be received and stocked while waiting an usage

The problem ressembles the "Backpack problem", here you can find hints for solving it: A solution to the Backpack Problem.

Otherwise here is the code:

type ('a, 'b) catalog = ('a * 'b inventory) list;;
let place_order cat wanted =
  let rec helper (cat: ('a,'b) catalog) (wanted: 'b inventory) keys extras =
    if wanted=[] then keys,extras else
    let passed = List.find_all (fun (_,inv) -> intersects wanted inv) cat
    in match passed with
       | [] -> raise Not_found
       | (k,inv)::l ->
         let k_max = ref k and inv_max = ref inv 
         in begin
           List.iter
             (fun (k,inv) -> if discriminate wanted inv !inv_max > 0 then
              begin k_max := k; inv_max := inv end) l;
           let rest,more = difference wanted !inv_max
           in helper passed rest (union keys [!k_max,1]) (union more extras)
         end
  in helper cat wanted [] [];;