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Archive-name: meta-lang-faq
Last-modified: Mar 20, 2003
COMP.LANG.ML Frequently Asked Questions and Answers
(compiled by Dave Berry, Greg Morrisett and Rowan Davies)
(maintained by Leaf Petersen)
Please send corrections, additions, or comments regarding this list to
[email protected].
Changes since last posting:
- Added question on OCaml/SML comparison (Andreas Rossberg)
- Updated ProofPower entry (Rob Arthan)
- Changed link for Elementary Standard ML (Greg Michaelson)
- Updated MLton entry (Stephen Weeks)
- Added entry on HaMLet (Andreas Rossberg)
- Updated basis entry (Andreas Rossberg)
- Added SML.Net (Andreas Rossberg)
Contents:
---------
1. What is ML?
2. Where is ML discussed?
a. Comp.Lang.ML
b. SML-LIST
c. CAML-LIST
3. What implementations of ML are available?
a. quick summary (by machine/OS)
b. Standard ML of New Jersey (SML/NJ)
c. sml2c
d. Caml Light
e. Objective Caml
f. Bigloo
g. Camlot
h. Moscow ML
i. ML Kit
j. Edinburgh
k. MicroML
l. Poly/ML
m. Poplog ML
n. MLWorks
o. MLJ
p. MLton
q. HaMLet
4. Unsupported SML/NJ Ports
a. OS/2
b. NEXTSTEP
c. SVR4
5. Where can I find documentation/information on ML?
a. The Definition
b. Textbooks
c. Information on the Internet
6. Where can I find ML library code?
a. The Standard ML ('97) Basis Library
b. The Edinburgh SML Library
c. The SML/NJ Library
d. SML_TK
e. Caml-light libraries
f. The Qwertz Toolbox (for AI)
7. Theorem Provers and ML
8. Miscellaneous Questions
a. How do I write the Y combinator in SML?
b. Where can I find an X-windows interface to SML?
c. How do I call a C function from SML/NJ?
d. Where can I find an emacs mode for SML?
e. What is the value restriction?
f. What is the difference between OCaml and Standard ML?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
0. Where can I find the latest copy of this FAQ?
This document can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from
ftp://pop.cs.cmu.edu/usr/rowan/sml-archive/faq.txt
or from rtfm.mit.edu. There is an HTTP version with active links at
http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/meta-lang-faq/faq.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. What is ML?
ML (which stands for Meta-Language) is a family of advanced programming
languages with [usually] functional control structures, strict semantics,
a strict polymorphic type system, and parametrized modules. It includes
Standard ML, Lazy ML, CAML, CAML Light, and various research languages.
Implementations are available on many platforms, including PCs, mainframes,
most models of workstation, multi-processors and supercomputers. ML has
many thousands of users, is taught at many universities (and is the first
programming language taught at some).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Where is ML discussed?
COMP.LANG.ML
------------
comp.lang.ml is a moderated usenet newsgroup. The topics for discussion
include but are not limited to:
* general ML enquiries or discussion
* general interpretation of the definition of Standard ML
* applications and use of ML
* announcements of general interest (e.g. compiler releases)
* discussion of semantics including sematics of extensions based on ML
* discussion about library structure and content
* tool development
* comparison/contrast with other languages
* implementation issues, techniques and algorithms including extensions
based on ML
Requests should be sent to:
[email protected]
Administrative mail should be sent to:
[email protected]
Messages sent to the newsgroup are archived at CMU. The archives can be
retrieved by anonymous ftp from internet sites. Messages are archived
on a year-to-year basis. Previous years' messages are compressed using
the Unix "compress" command. The current year's messages are not
compressed.
ftp pop.cs.cmu.edu
username: anonymous
password: <username>@<site>
binary
cd /usr/rowan/sml-archive
get sml-archive.<year>.Z
quit
zcat sml-archive.<year>.Z
(Pop's IP address is 128.2.205.205).
Individual messages can also be accessed in the directories
/usr/rowan/mh-sml-archive/<year>-sml.
SML-LIST
--------
The SML-LIST is a mailing list that exists for people who cannot
(or do not want to) read the Usenet COMP.LANG.ML newsgroup.
Messages are crossposted from COMP.LANG.ML to the SML-LIST and
vice-versa. You should ask to join the SML-LIST _only if_ you cannot
(or do not want to) read the Usenet COMP.LANG.ML newsgroup.
To send a message to the SML-LIST distribution, address it to:
[email protected]
(sites not connected to the Internet may need additional routing.)
Administrative mail such as requests to add or remove names from the
distribution list should be addressed to
[email protected]
CAML-LIST
---------
The Caml language, a dialect of ML, is discussed on the Caml mailing
list. To send mail to the Caml mailing list, address it to:
[email protected]
Administrative mail should be addressed to:
[email protected]
ALT.LANG.ML
-----------
No longer used.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. What implementations of ML are available and where can I find them?
Quick Summary:
System full SML? contact Platforms
------ --------- ------------ ------------------------------
SML/NJ yes [email protected]
SML'97 http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/what/smlnj
Alpha - OSF/1 3.2, DUX 4.0
Mips - Irix 4.0.x, 5.x, 6.x
x86 - Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD,
NetBSD, Windows95, WindowsNT
Sparc - SunOS, Solaris
RS/6000 - AIX
PowerPC - AIX
HPPA - HPUX 10
sml2c yes 32-bit Unix machines (C code)
http://www.funet.fi/pub/languages/ml/sml2c/
Caml Light coreish [email protected] Unix, Mac, PC 80386,
ftp ftp.inria.fr (bytecode)
Objective own [email protected] Unix and Windows NT/95
Caml modules ftp ftp.inria.fr (bytecode)
Alpha, Sparc, x86, Mips,
HPPA, Power (native code)
Bigloo coreish [email protected]. Unix (compiles caml-light
ftp ftp.inria.fr to native code)
Camlot coreish [email protected] Any 32-bit (compiles
ftp ftp.inria.fr caml-light to C)
Moscow ML yes [email protected]
SML'97 http://www.dina.kvl.dk/~sestoft/mosml.html
Intel- Windows,OS/2,Linux,FreeBSD
Alpha - DUX
Sparc - Solaris,SunOS
HP9000 - UX 9,UX 10
SGI MIPS - IRIX 5
Mac(68k and PPC)
- MacOS,MkLinux,
MacOS X
Kit yes ftp ftp.diku.dk (Requires another SML compiler
ftp ftp.dcs.ed.ac.uk to build binaries)
Edinburgh core ftp.dcs.ed.ac.uk 32-bit machines (bytecode)
ftp.informatik.uni-muenchen.de PC 80386SX+, Amiga
MicroML core [email protected] PC 8086+ (bytecode)
ftp ftp.cs.umu.se
Poly/ML SML 97 http://www.polyml.org Intel - Linux, Windows
Sparc - Solaris
Mac - MacOS X
PoplogML yes [email protected] Sparc/Solaris, Intel/Solaris,
Intel/Linux, PowerPC/AIX,
Alpha/DUX, Intel/Windows
MLWorks No longer available
MLJ core+ [email protected] Unix and Windows NT/95
SML'97 Alpha, Sparc, x86
http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/~mlj/ (Compiles to JVM)
MLton yes [email protected] x86 Linux, FreeBSD, Cygwin
SML'97 http://www.mlton.org
HaMLet yes http://www.ps.uni-sb.de/hamlet/ N/A
SML.NET yes http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/Research/TSG/SMLNET/
(Targets the Common Language Runtime)
Details:
Standard ML of New Jersey
------------------------
Standard ML of New Jersey (SML/NJ) was developed jointly at Bell
Laboratories, Princeton University, and recently Yale University. The
SML/NJ distribution includes CM (a separate compilation manager),
ML-Yacc, ML-Lex, ML-Burg, the SML/NJ Library, Concurrent ML, eXene
(a multithreaded X-windows toolkit), and the SML/NJ-C interface
library. The software is available with source code under a very
liberal license.
Version 110 of SML/NJ (released in February 1998), is largely
compliant with the new SML '97 Definition, including the new Basis
library.
Version 110 runs on the following machine/os configurations:
Alpha OSF/1 3.2, Digital Unix 4.0
Mips Irix 4.0.x, Irix 5.x, Irix 6.x
x86 Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD, NetBSD, Windows95, WindowsNT
Sparc SunOS, Solaris
RS/6000 AIX (also PowerPC)
HPPA HPUX 10
For the time being, Macintosh users will have to stick with the
previous release, Version 0.93. New ports to MacOS and Rhapsody on
PowerPC are planned, and there may also be support for BeOS on PowerPC
and Intel.
The SML/NJ Version 110 software distribution is available at:
Bell Labs: ftp://ftp.research.bell-labs.com/dist/smlnj/release/110/
Stanford: ftp://rodin.stanford.edu/pub/smlnj/release/110/
DIKU: ftp://ftp.diku.dk/pub/smlnj/release/110/
Cambridge: ftp://ftp.cl.cam.ac.uk/MIRRORED/smlnj/release/110/
or through the SML/NJ web site at:
http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/what/smlnj
This web site also has extensive online documentation and links to
related sites.
Another important link is the documentation for the SML '97 Basis, which
can be found at:
http://SML.sourceforge.net/Basis/
SML2C
-----
sml2c is a Standard ML to C compiler. It is based on an old
version of SML/NJ from 1992 and shares its front-end and most of the
runtime system. sml2c is a batch compiler and compiles only module-level
declarations. It does not support SML/NJ style debugging and profiling.
sml2c is easily portable and has been ported to IBM RT,
Decstation 3100, Decstation 5000, Omron Luna 88k, sun-3, sun-4 and a
486-based machine (running Mach). The generated code is highly portable
and makes very few assumptions about the target machine or the C compilers
available on the target machine. The runtime system, which it shares with
the SML/NJ has several machine and operating system dependencies. sml2c
has eliminated some of these dependencies by using portable schemes for
garbage collection and for freezing and restarting programs.
sml2c is available by anonymous ftp from ftp.cs.cmu.edu
(128.2.206.173). Log in as anonymous, send username@node as password.
The distribution can be found in /afs/cs/project/mess/research/sml2c/ftp.
The local ftp software will allow you to change directory only
to /afs/cs/project/mess/research/sml2c/ftp. The README file in this
directory describes the files in the distribution.
The size of the uncompressed distribution is about 12 Meg.
CAML LIGHT
----------
Caml Light is a portable, bytecode interpreter for CAML, a dialect of ML.
Some features of Caml Light include separate compilation, streams and
stream parsers, ability to link to C code, and a fairly rich library.
The implementation has low memory requirements, compiles quickly and
generates compact executables.
The Caml Light system comprises a batch compiler, a toplevel-based
interactive compiler, tools for building libraries and toplevel
systems, a replay debugger, and a hypertext-based module browser.
Caml Light runs on most modern Unix machines, including Sun
Sparcstations (under SunOS 4.1 and Solaris 2), Decstations 3000
(Alpha) and 5000 (Mips), and PCs under Linux, but many more machines
have been reported to work. It is also available for the Macintosh (as
a "fat binary" that runs native on PowerMacs) and the PC under
MS Windows and MSDOS.
The current version is 0.73, released in January 1997. It is available by
anonymous ftp from:
host: ftp.inria.fr (192.93.2.54)
directory: lang/caml-light
Summary of the files:
README.cl More detailed summary
cl73unix.tar.gz Unix version (source code)
cl73macbin.sea.bin Binaries for the Macintosh version
cl73win.exe Binaries for MS Windows and MSDOS
cl73refman.* Reference manual, in various formats
cl73tutorial.* Tutorial, in various formats
cl73macdoc.sea.bin On-line documentation for the Macintosh version
cl73macsrc.sea.bin Source code for the Macintosh version
More information on Caml Light is available on the Web at:
http://pauillac.inria.fr/caml
The implementors can be contacted at [email protected]. General
questions and comments of interest to the Caml community should be
sent to [email protected], the Caml mailing list. (see question 2
above for details.)
OBJECTIVE CAML
--------------
Objective Caml (formerly known as Caml Special Light) is a complete
reimplementation of Caml Light that adds a complete class-based
object-oriented system and a powerful module system in the style of
Standard ML.
The object system is statically type-checked (no "message not
understood" run-time errors) and performs ML-style type reconstruction
(no type declarations for function parameters). This is arguably the
first publically available object-oriented language featuring ML-style
type reconstruction.
The module system is based on the notion of manifest types /
translucent sums; it supports Modula-style separate compilation, and
fully transparent higher-order functors.
Objective Caml comprises two compilers: a bytecode compiler in the
style of Caml Light (but up to twice as fast), and a high-performance
native code compiler for the following platforms:
Alpha processors: DecStation 3000 under OSF1 (a.k.a. Digital Unix)
Sparc processors: Sun Sparcstation under SunOS 4.1, Solaris 2, NetBSD
Intel 486 and Pentium processors: PCs under Linux, NextStep,
FreeBSD, Windows 95 and Windows NT
Mips processors: DecStation 3100 and 5000 under Ultrix 4
HP PA-RISC processors: HP 9000/700 under NextStep (no HPUX yet)
PowerPC processors: IBM RS6000 and PowerPC workstations under AIX 3.2
The native-code compiler delivers excellent performance (better than
Standard ML of New Jersey 1.08 on our tests), while retaining the
moderate memory requirements of the bytecode compiler.
The source distribution (for Unix machines only) is available by
anonymous FTP on ftp.inria.fr, directory lang/caml-light.
More information on Objective Caml is available on the World Wide
Web, at: http://pauillac.inria.fr/ocaml/
Bug reports and technical questions should be directed to
[email protected]. For general questions and comments, use the Caml
mailing list [email protected] (to subscribe:
[email protected]).
BIGLOO
------
Bigloo is an optimizing Scheme-to-C and Caml-to-C compiler that
produces native machine code from Caml sources. Compatibility with the
bytecoded implementation of Caml Light is almost perfect. Performance
of generated code is on a par with that of New Jersey ML. Bigloo is
also one of the most efficient Scheme compilers available.
Bigloo runs on the following Unix platforms: Decstations 3000 and
5000, Sparcstations, PCs under Linux, HP PA 730 and Sony News R3000.
Bigloo is being developed by Manuel Serrano ([email protected]).
Available from:
ftp://ftp.inria.fr/lang/caml-light/bcl*.tar.gz.
CAMLOT
-----
Camlot is the stand alone Caml Light to C compiler. It then uses a standard C
compiler to produce an executable machine code file. The compiler itself is
mostly written in Caml Light and the runtime system is written in standard C,
hence Camlot is easy to port to almost any 32-bit platform. The performance
of the resulting code is quite good, often ten times faster than the bytecode
original implementation of Caml Light.
The distribution has been tested on the following platforms:
Sun Sparcstation
DecStation 3100
HP 9000/710
i386/486 Linux
The distribution is avaiable at:
ftp://ftp.inria.fr/lang/caml-light/camlot0.64a.tar.gz
MOSCOW ML
---------
Moscow ML provides a light-weight implementation of full Standard ML,
including Modules and some extensions.
Moscow ML is based on the Caml Light bytecode system, which gives fast
compilation and modest storage consumption.
Moscow ML 2.00 properties:
* Supports the full SML'97, including Modules (structures, signatures,
and functors), thanks to Claudio Russo
* Also provides several extensions to the SML Modules language:
- higher-order functors: functors may be defined within structures
and functors
- first-class modules: structures and functors may be packed and
then handled as Core language values, which may then be unpacked
as structures or functors again
- recursive modules: signatures and structures may be recursively
defined
* Implements Standard ML, as revised 1997 (value polymorphism,
default overloading resolution, new types)
* Remains backwards compatible with previous releases of Moscow ML
* Implements most of the new Standard ML Basis Library, including
the most common input/output facilities in TextIO and BinIO
* Built-in help function
* Interactive top-level as well as separate (batch) compilation
* Can produce compact stand-alone executables
* Supports quotations and antiquotations, useful for metaprogramming
* Dynamic linking of external functions (Linux/x86 and Linux/Alpha,
Solaris, Digital Unix, HP-UX, MacOS, Win'95/98/NT/2000)
* Interface to Boutell's library for making PNG images (structure Gdimage)
* Interface to the PostgreSQL database server (structure Postgres)
* Interface to the MySQL database server (structure Mysql)
* Interface to POSIX 1003.2 regular expressions (structure Regex)
* Interface to sockets (structure Socket)
* Interface to GNU gdbm persistent hashtables (structures Gdbm, Polygdbm)
* Facilities for fast functional generation of HTML code (structure Msp)
* Facilities for using CGI (structure Mosmlcgi and Mosmlcookie)
* Registration of ML and C functions for callbacks (structure Callback)
SUPPORTED PLATFORMS
Intel x86-based PCs running Windows'95, '98, 'NT, and '2000, OS/2,
Linux or FreeBSD; DEC Alpha running Linux or Digital Unix; Sun Sparc
running Solaris or SunOS; HP9000 running HP/UX 9 or HP/UX 10; SGI MIPS
running IRIX 5; Macintosh (68k and PPC) running MacOS (thanks to Doug
Currie) or MkLinux, MacOS X.
AUTHORS
* Sergei Romanenko ([email protected]), Moscow, Russia
* Claudio V. Russo ([email protected]), Cambridge, UK
* Peter Sestoft ([email protected]), Copenhagen, Denmark
AVAILABILITY
* The Moscow ML homepage is
http://www.dina.kvl.dk/~sestoft/mosml.html
* Moscow ML library documentation
http://www.dina.kvl.dk/~sestoft/mosmllib/
* The Linux executables and documentation are in
ftp://ftp.dina.kvl.dk/pub/mosml/linux-mos20bin.tar.gz
* The Unix source files and documentation are in
ftp://ftp.dina.kvl.dk/pub/mosml/mos20src.tar.gz
* The MS Windows 95/98/NT executables and documentation are in
ftp://ftp.dina.kvl.dk/pub/mosml/win32-mos20bin.zip
* The MacOS (68k and PPC) executables and docs and source diffs are in
ftp://ftp.dina.kvl.dk/pub/mosml/MacMoscowML20installer.hqx
* The MS Windows 95/98/NT/2000 source files are in
ftp://ftp.dina.kvl.dk/pub/mosml/win32-mos20src.zip
Postscript and PDF versions of the documentation included with the
binaries can be found in ftp://ftp.dina.kvl.dk/pub/mosml/doc/
Peter Sestoft ([email protected]) 2000-08-03
The ML Kit
----------
Two versions of the ML Kit are available from DIKU:
(a) The ML Kit (Version 1, 1993)
(b) The ML Kit with Regions (1997)
Both are described in more detail at the DIKU ML Kit web site:
http://www.diku.dk/research-groups/topps/activities/mlkit.html
ML Kit Version 1
----------------
Version 1 of the ML Kit is a straight translation of the 1990
Definition of Standard ML into a collection of Standard ML modules.
For example, every inference rule in the Definition is translated into
a small piece of Standard ML code which implements it. The translation
has been done with as little originality as possible - even variable
conventions from the Definition are carried straight over to the Kit.
If you are primarily interested in executing Standard ML programs
efficiently, the ML Kit is not the system for you! (It uses a lot of
space and is very slow.) The Kit is intended as a tool box for those
people in the programming language community who may want a
self-contained parser or type checker for full Standard ML but do not
want to understand the clever bits of a high-performance compiler. We
have tried to write simple code and module interfaces; we have not
paid any attention to efficiency.
The documentation is around 100 pages long and is provided with the
Kit. It explains how to build, run, read and modify the Kit. It also
describes how typing of flexible records and overloading are handled
in the Kit.
The ML Kit is written by Nick Rothwell, David N. Turner, Mads Tofte
and Lars Birkedal at Edinburgh and Copenhagen Universities.
The ML Kit with Regions (aka Version 2)
---------------------------------------
Version 2 builds on Version 1, but is expanded into a real compiler.
Inefficient data structures and algorithms in the system have been
replaced by more efficient ones. The ML Kit with Regions is intended for
the development of stand-alone applications which must be reliable,
fast and space efficient.
The main feature of the ML Kit with Regions is that it uses a stack of
regions for memory management rather than traditional garbage
collection techniques; this has several important consequences:
Compile-Time Garbage Collection:
All memory allocation directives (both allocation and
de-allocation) are inferred by the compiler, which uses a number
of novel program analyses concerning lifetimes and storage
layout. There is no pointer-tracing garbage collection at
runtime;
Memory Safety:
Safety of de-allocation of memory is ensured by the compiler;
Static detection of space leaks;
Region Resetting:
It is possible to give explicit directives about resetting of
regions in cases where the static analyses are too conservative;
such directives are checked by the compiler;
Region Profiling:
The system includes a graphical region profiler, which helps
gain detailed control over memory use;
Soft Real-Time:
Programmers who are interested in real-time programming can
exploit the absence of garbage collection: there are no
interruptions of unbounded duration at runtime;
Interface to the C language:
ML Kit applications can call C functions using standard C calling
conventions; the region scheme can even take care of allocating
and de-allocating regions used by C functions thus invoked.
The overall goal with developing the ML Kit with Regions has been to
combine the advantages of a high-level, type-safe language (Standard
ML, 1997 Definition), with the advantages of low-level languages,
namely detailed control over space and time. Indeed, it turns out that
the regularity provided by the ML type system makes is possible to
infer much more useful information about ML programs than one can
reasonably hope for in languages with more liberal type
systems. Naturally, the hope is that this technology will promote the
use of Standard ML in situations where safety and detailed control of
machine resources are important, as indeed is often the case.
Since we are using Standard ML as our source language, one can use the
ML Kit in conjunction with other Standard ML systems; for example, one
can port programs that previously ran on a garbage collection based
Standard ML system to run on the Kit; or one may use the Kit simply to
gain insight into how a program intended for another system uses
memory; or one can develop Standard ML programs directly in the Kit.
We have tried all three with good results.
A comprehensive technical report "Programming with Regions in the ML Kit"
is available from the above web site.
The ML Kit with Regions was developed by Mads Tofte, Lars Birkedal,
Martin Elsman, Niels Hallenberg, Tommy H{\o}jfeld Olesen (all at DIKU) and
Peter Sestoft and Peter Berthelsen (both at KVL).
Edinburgh ML 4.0
----------------
Edinburgh ML 4.0 is an implementation of the core language (without
the module system). It uses a bytecode interpreter, which is written in C
and runs on any machine with 32 bit words, a continuous address space and
a correct C compiler. Ports to various 16 bit machines are underway. The
bytecode interpreter can be compiled with switches to avoid the buggy parts
of the C compilers that we've used it with (as far as I know none of them
worked correctly).
Edinburgh ML 4.0 is available from the LFCS. See the WWW link:
http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/lfcsinfo/index.html
A port to PCs with 386SX processors or better is available by FTP from
ftp.informatik.uni-muenchen.de, in the file
pub/comp/programming/languages/sml/ibmpc/edml3864.exe.
Contact Joern Erbguth ([email protected]) for more information.
Also, there are apparently 8086 and 80386-specific ports of Edinburgh
ML 3.5 in the same location. The 386 port is in the file
edml3863.exe.
There are other Edinburgh (PC-)ports of ML including an OS/2 2.x, an
OS/2 PM and a Dos version. A new version has just been made ready and
is available at forwiss.uni-passau.de (132.231.1.10) in
pub/ibmpc/os2/lang/sml/sml04.zip. It is about 360K long (short?).
All 3 programs have in common (all in one .zip):
- true 32 Bit applications
- easy to install, easy to use
- As far as I know they work stable
(except the DOS version working as a Windows window
[you can use it with Windows but it crashes on *exit*])
- they don't require expensive hardware
(and they don't need a co-processor)
To be more specific:
OS/2 PM OS/2 DOS
OS >= OS/2 2.0+ServPak >= OS/2 2.0 >= DOS 5.0
Edit PM, GUI, Standard command history
integrated editor
(cut&paste)
HW >= 386/33, 8MB >= 386/33 4MB >= 386sx, 2MB
lots of MB and fast
graphics ad. recommended
Help online online
(+ML ref. in german)
There's also an amiga port of Edinburgh ML available on all aminet ftp
sites (amiga users should know which these are) in dev/lang, called
"sml4.1.02.lha". The standard version needs a 68020 or better and an
FPU but there is a 68000-only version as well.
MicroML
-------
MicroML is an interpreter for core SML that runs on IBM PCs,
from the Department of Computing Science at the Umea University in
Sweden. It implements the core language except for records. A 80286
processor or better is recommended, but it runs even on a 8086.
MicroML is available by anonymous ftp from
ftp.cs.umu.se /pub/uml022.zoo. For more information contact Olof Johansson
([email protected]).
Poly/ML
-------
Poly/ML, probably the longest established implementation of Standard ML,
is now available at http://www.polyml.org .
Poly/ML was originally written in the mid-eighties at Cambridge
University. For several years it was marketed by Abstract Hardware
Limited who developed it further. Recently the rights were reacquired
by Cambridge University Technical Services who have agreed to make
Poly/ML freely available. Poly/ML now supports full SML 97 and the
Standard Basis Library, along with some non-standard extensions.
According to the web page, the compiler source is available, as well
as binary releases.
Poly/ML is currently available for Linux and Windows on Intel
platforms, Sparc/Solaris, and MacOS X. Measurements with several large
ML applications shows Poly/ML to be one of the fastest implementations
of Standard ML around.
Poplog ML
---------
Poplog is a portable system including incremental compilers for Pop-11,
Common Lisp, Prolog and Standard ML, along with a huge amount of system
documentation, teaching materials for AI/Cognitive Science, the
Sim_agent Toolkit, vision libraries, and other things.
"Poplog" is a trade mark of the University of Sussex, where most
of Poplog was developed, starting with Pop-11 on a PDP11/40 computer
in the mid 70s, inspired by the Edinburgh AI language Pop2.
The full Poplog system (as of version 15.53) is available free of
charge, including source code.
For more information, see
ftp://ftp.cs.bham.ac.uk/pub/dist/poplog/poplog.info.html
For information about the free versions available, and various teaching
and research support libraries for AI see:
ftp://ftp.cs.bham.ac.uk/pub/dist/poplog/freepoplog.html
This includes versions of Poplog V15.53 for
Solaris+Sparc (works on Solaris 7 as well as earlier versions)
PC Linux (RedHat 5.x, and 6.0) with or without motif
There are slightly older versions for
PC+Solaris86
Dec Alpha + Digital unix
Reduced version (no graphics, nothing that depends on X)
PC+Windows95/98 (may work on NT also?)
Poplog comes with masses of online documentation: this can be browsed at
ftp://ftp.cs.bham.ac.uk/pub/dist/poplog/doc/
Pop-11 documentation can be found at
ftp://ftp.cs.bham.ac.uk/pub/dist/poplog/primer/START.html
or ftp://ftp.cs.bham.ac.uk/pub/dist/poplog/
A slightly zany tutorial file on story grammars can be read in
ftp://ftp.cs.bham.ac.uk/pub/dist/poplog/teach/storygrammar
COMP.LANG.POP
Comments and questions about Poplog and Pop-11 may be posted to the
comp.lang.pop newsgroup, which is linked to an email list.
See ftp://ftp.cs.bham.ac.uk/pub/dist/poplog/newsgroup.txt
(Please do NOT post general conference announcements, advertisements,
etc.)
Adrian John Howard ([email protected]) has a WWW page for Poplog:
http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/users/adrianh/poplog.html
Harlequin MLWorks
-----------------
Harlequin MLWorks is no longer available as a commercial product.
http://www.harlequin.com/products/mlworks_message.html
MLJ
---
MLj is a Standard ML compiler which produces Java bytecodes.
MLj 0.2 compiles the functor-free subset of the new SML'97 language plus
some new language extensions for straightforward interlanguage working
with Java. It produces compact standalone compiled code which can be
run on any computer with a Java Virtual Machine. This release includes a
number of improvements over the original release (0.1), including
significantly better compilation times, better code generation, more complete
Basis library support, better error messages and friendlier language
extensions for interlanguage working.
Although there are limitations (most importantly a lack of
general tail-call optimisation), MLj is quite usable for many
small-to-medium projects. It can be used to write portable ML
applications and applets which make use of Java's standard libraries
for graphics, database access, networking, etc. and which interwork
with third-party Java code.
Visit the new MLj website at http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/~mlj/ to find
out more about MLj, see some example ML applets and download the MLj
0.2 distribution.
The compiler is distributed as source+standalone binaries for Sparc/Solaris,
Intel/Linux and Intel/Windows, and in source-only form for compilation under
SML/NJ version 110. It is covered by the GNU Public License version 2.
MLj was written by Nick Benton, Andrew Kennedy and George Russell of
the Cambridge Research Group of Persimmon IT, Inc. Please note that
Persimmon IT will no longer distribute or support the compiler;
instead, Ian Stark and Tom Chothia of the University of Edinburgh
have kindly offered to host the new download site. The original authors
continue to develop the compiler and it is hoped that further releases will
take place in the future.
MLton
-----
MLton is a whole-program optimizing compiler for the Standard ML
programming language. MLton runs on X86 machines with Linux, FreeBSD,
or Cygwin/Windows. MLton has the following features.
+ Generates standalone executables with good runtime performance
+ SML 97 compliant, with a mostly complete basis library
+ Fast IntInf based on the GNU multiprecision library (gmp)
+ Fast C FFI
+ Profiling
+ Supports large amounts of memory and large arrays.
+ Libraries for continuations, interval timers, random numbers,
resource limits, resource usage, signal handlers, sockets, system
logging, threads, and heap save and restore
For more information, go to the MLton home page.
http://www.mlton.org/
Send comments, questions, and bug reports to [email protected].
HaMLet
------
HaMLet is a faithful implementation of the Standard ML programming
language (SML'97). It aims to be
* an accurate reference implementation of the language specification,
* a platform for experimentation with the language semantics or
extensions to it,
* a useful tool for educational purposes.
The implementation is intended to be as direct a translation of the
language formalisation found in the Definition of Standard ML as
possible, modulo bug fixes. It tries hard to get all details of the
Definition right. The HaMLet source code
* implements complete Standard ML,
* closely follows the structure of the Definition, with lots of cross
references,
* conforms to the latest version of the Standard ML Basis Library,
* is written entirely in Standard ML, with the ability to bootstrap,
* may readily be compiled with SML/NJ, Moscow ML, or MLton.
HaMLet can perform different phases of execution - like parsing,
elaboration (type checking), and evaluation - selectively. In
particular,
it is possible to execute programs in an untyped manner, thus exploring
the universe where even ML programs "can go wrong".
SML.NET
-------
SML.NET is a whole program compiler for full Standard ML that compiles
to the .NET Common Language Runtime. For more information, see
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/Research/TSG/SMLNET/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Unsupported SML/NJ Ports
This section describes various ports of SML/NJ (see section 3)
that are not directly supported by the NJ folks.
OS/2:
----
An old port of SML/NJ ver. 0.93 to OS/2 exists. The port is no longer
being maintained, but may be downloaded from:
ftp://ftp.dina.kvl.dk/pub/Staff/Peter.Bertelsen/smlnj/0.93-os2/
Another unmaintained and somewhat incomplete port of SML/NJ
ver. 108.10 to OS/2 may be downloaded from:
ftp://ftp.dina.kvl.dk/pub/Staff/Peter.Bertelsen/smlnj/108.10-os2/
NEXTSTEP:
---------
The CSDMteam at the University of Munich proudly presents the port of
Standard ML of NJ, version 0.93, to NEXTSTEP for Intel processors.
The modified source can be found at ftp.informatik.uni-muenchen.de:
/pub/comp/programming/languages/sml/NJ-0.93/93.src.nsfip.tar.Z (please look
at the installation instructions in the file README.NeXT.I386).
A precompiled binary of the interpreter (gzip'ed) is located at
ftp.informatik.uni-muenchen.de:/pub/comp/platforms/next/Developer/languages/ml
/sml.0.93.I.b.gz.
SVR4:
-----
An mplementation for SVR4.0.4 is available from Anthony Shipman
([email protected]) that fixes the problems with listDir and getWD
and includes a full malloc implementation for runtime/malloc.c.
Contact Anthony for more info.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Where can I find documentation on ML?
THE DEFINITION
--------------
Robin Milner, Mads Tofte, Robert Harper and Dave MacQueen
The Definition of Standard ML (Revised)
MIT Press, 1997, xiii + 114 pp.
ISBN 0-262-63181-4 (paper)
Robin Milner, Mads Tofte and Robert Harper
The Definition of Standard ML
MIT, 1990.
ISBN: 0-262-63132-6
Robin Milner and Mads Tofte
Commentary on Standard ML
MIT, 1991
ISBN: 0-262-63137-7
TEXTS (date order)
-----
Ake Wikstrom
Functional Programming Using Standard ML
Prentice Hall 1987
ISBN: 0-13-331661-0
Chris Reade
Elements of Functional Programming
Addison-Wesley 1989
ISBN: 0-201-12915-9
(see http://www.kingston.ac.uk/~bs_s075/EofFP.html for information and
updates)
Stefan Sokolowski
Applicative High Order Programming: The Standard ML perspective
Chapman & Hall 1991
ISBN: 0-412-39240-2 0-442-30838-8 (USA)
Ryan Stansifer
ML Primer
Prentice Hall, 1992
ISBN 0-13-561721-9
Colin Myers, Chris Clack, and Ellen Poon
Programming with Standard ML
Prentice Hall, 1993
ISBN 0-13-722075-8 (301pp)
Jeffrey D. Ullman
Elements of ML Programming
Prentice-Hall, 1993 (Oct. 15)
ISBN: 0-13-184854-2
(See Comp.Lang.ML archives, message from Ullman dated 22 Sep 1993 for
chapter headings.)
Rachel Harrison
Abstract Data Types in Standard ML
John Wiley & Sons, April 1993
ISBN: 0-471-938440
Richard Bosworth
A Practical Course in Functional Programming Using Standard ML,
McGraw-Hill 1995,
ISBN: 0-07-707625-7.
Elementary Standard ML
Greg Michaelson
UCL Press 1995
ISBN: 1-85728-398-8 PB
(available at <ftp://ftp.macs.hw.ac.uk/pub/funcprog/gjm.book95.ps.Z>)
Lawrence C Paulson
ML for the Working Programmer (2nd Edition, ML97)
Cambridge University Press 1996
ISBN: 0-521-56543-X (paperback), 0-521-57050-6 (hardback)
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/users/lcp/MLbook/
Jeffrey D. Ullman
Elements of ML Programming (2nd Edition, ML97)
MIT Press 1997
http://www-db.stanford.edu/~ullman/emlp.html
G.Cousineau & M.Mauny
The Functional Approach to Programming
Cambridge University Press, 1998
[Uses CAML]
M.Felleisen & D.P.Friedman
The Little MLer
MIT Press, 1998
Chris Okasaki
Purely Functional Data Structures
Cambridge University Press, 1998.
ISBN: 0-521-63124-6
Michael R. Hansen, Hans Rischel
Introduction to Programming using SML
Addison-Wesley, 1999
ISBN: 0-201-39820-6
http://www.it.dtu.dk/introSML
John Reppy
Concurrent Programming in ML
Cambridge University Press 1999
ISBN: 0-521-48089-2
INFORMATION AVAILABLE BY INTERNET
---------------------------------
The Fox project at CMU has a WWW page for information about Standard ML,
which also includes the first two reports below:
http://foxnet.cs.cmu.edu/sml.html
The following report covers all of Standard ML, and is available at:
ftp://ftp.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/project/fox/mosaic/intro-notes.ps
A revised, though still unstable web version of these notes is
available at:
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/People/rwh/introsml
Robert Harper
Introduction to Standard ML
LFCS Report Series ECS-LFCS-86-14
Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science
Department of Computer Science
University of Edinburgh
Nov. 1986 (revised Jan. 1989 by Nick Rothwell and Kevin Mitchell)
The following report includes an introduction to Standard ML and 3
lectures on the modules system. Available from:
http://foxnet.cs.cmu.edu/sml.html
Mads Tofte
Four Lectures on Standard ML
LFCS Report Series ECS-LFCS-89-73
Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science
Department of Computer Science
University of Edinburgh
March 1989
Extended ML (EML) is a framework for specification and formal
development of SML programs. EML specifications look just like SML
programs except that logical axioms are allowed in signatures and in
place of code in structures and functors. Some EML specifications are
executable, making EML a "wide-spectrum" language which can be used to
express every stage in the development of a SML program from the
initial high-level specification to the final program itself and
including intermediate stages in which specification and program are
intermingled. Formally developing a program in EML yields an
interconnected collection of generic SML modules, each with a complete
and accurate axiomatic specification of its interface with the rest of
the system. Information about EML is available from
http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/dts/eml/
Le projet Cristal at INRIA Rocquencourt has set up a WWW server for
information regarding its activities, especially the Caml and Caml
Light compilers. The server also offers on-line access to
documentation, publications and to a database of BibTex references in
CS. Welcome to:
http://pauillac.inria.fr/
Please report problems and suggestions to [email protected].
Richard Botting has taken Larry Paulson's SML Syntax and
translated it into a form that can be read by mosaic, netscape,
lynx and other WWW browsers. The URL is:
http://www.csci.csusb.edu/dick/samples/ml.syntax.html
Andrew Cumming has made availible "A Gentle Introduction to ML". It
is aimed at students who are reasonably computer literate but who are
new to functional programming. It consists largely of questions and
diversions broken up into roughly one-hour tutorials, most of the
questions have hints which the student can follow up if required. The
material is intended to be used alongside ML - sections of code may be
copied from the browser window into an ML session. The URL is
http://www.dcs.napier.ac.uk/course-notes/sml/manual.html
There are some WWW pages based on an info-tree at MIT with a variety
of useful information on ML. The URL is:
http://www.ai.mit.edu/!info/sml/!!first
There is an interesting collection of news articles at:
http://www.cs.jcu.edu.au/ftp/web/FP/ml.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. Where can I find library code?
a. The Standard ML ('97) Basis Library
In order to enhance the usefulness of SML as a general-purpose
programming language, a group of SML implementers, including
representatives of Harlequin's ML Works, Moscow ML and SML/NJ, have
put together a proposal for an SML Basis Library, containing a
collection of modules to serve as a basic toolkit for the SML
programmer. The current draft is available on the web at
http://SML.sourceforge.net/Basis/
b. The Edinburgh SML Library
The Edinburgh SML Library provides a consistent set of functions on the
built-in types of the language and on vectors and arrays, and a few extras.
It includes a "make" system and a consistent set of parsing and unparsing
functions. The library consists of a set of signatures with sample portable
implementations, full documentation, and implementations for Poly/ML,
Poplog ML and SML/NJ that use some of the non-standard primitives
available in those systems. It is distributed with Poly/ML, Poplog ML and
Standard ML of New Jersey. It is also available from the LFCS.
The library documentation is available as a technical report from the LFCS
([email protected]) and costs 5 pounds or 10 US dollars. The
LaTeX source of the report is included with the library.
Dave Berry
The Edinburgh SML Library
LFCS Report Series ECS-LFCS-91-148
Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science
Department of Computer Science
University of Edinburgh
April 1991
c. The SML/NJ Library
The SML/NJ Library is distributed with the SML of New Jersey compiler.
It provides a variety of utilities such as 2-dimensional arrays, sorting,
sets, dictionaries, hash tables, formatted output, Unix path name
manipulation, etc. The library compiles under SML/NJ but should
be mostly portable to other implementations.
d. SML_TK
sml_tk is a Standard ML package providing a portable, typed and
abstract interface to the user interface description and command
language Tcl/Tk. It combines the advantages of the Tk toolkit with
the advantages of Standard ML (bypassing the shortcomings of Tcl),
allowing the implementation of graphical user interfaces in a
structured and reusable way, supported by the powerful module system
of Standard ML.
For more information, and to obtain sml_tk, please point your web
browser to the sml_tk homepage at
http://www.informatik.uni-bremen.de/~cxl/sml_tk
or contact us at [email protected].
e. Caml-light libraries
(Included in the Caml Light distribution unless otherwise noted)
(Most of these libraries are also available for Objective Caml)
CAML-TK
TK is a GUI library for the TCL language. Normally, TK is controlled
from TCL. The Caml-TK interface provides a Caml Light library to control TK
from Caml Light programs. Thus, TK can be used to program graphical
user-interfaces in Caml Light without knowledge of the TCL language.
LIBGRAPH
The "libgraph" library implements basic graphics primitives (line
and text drawing, bitmaps, basic event processing) for the Caml Light system.
It is portable across all platforms that run Caml Light: X-Windows,
Macintosh, MSDOS.
CAMLWIN
Camlwin is a GUI library for Caml Light that provide all the classical
graphic objects: buttons, string and text editors, list... and a high
level object like windowed file selector. It is based on an extension
of the "libgraph" library and therefore highly portable. Its main
interest is its ability to compile the same code under many systems.
At present time, it works under DOS, Windows, and X11 with unix.
Camlwin is distributed at:
ftp.inria.fr:lang/caml-light/Usercontribs/camlwin
The reference manual is also available on the WWW at:
http://liasc.enst-bretagne.fr/~saunier
LIBNUM
The "libnum" library implements exact-precision rational arithmetic
for Caml Light. It is built upon a state-of-the-art
arbitrary-precision integer arithmetic package, and therefore
achieves very good performance (it's much faster than Maple, for
instance).
LIBUNIX
The "libunix" library makes many Unix system calls and system-related
library functions available to Caml Light programs. It provides Caml
programs with full access to Unix capabilities, especially network
sockets.
LIBSTR
The "libstr" library for Caml Light provides high-level string
processing functions, including regular expression matching and
substitution. It is intended to support the kind of text processing
that is usually performed with "sed" or "perl".
f. The Qwertz Toolbox
The qwertz toolbox, a library of Standard ML modules with an emphasis
on symbolic Artificial Intelligence programming, may now be obtained
by anonymous ftp at:
ftp.gmd.de:gmd/ai-research/Software/qwertz.tar.gz
The qwertz.tar.gz file is a tar archive compressed using the the GNU
gzip program. Use the gunzip program to decompress it. The
README file explains how the install the library.
The toolbox includes: symbols and symbolic expressions, tables
including association lists, sets, queues and priority queues,
streams, heuristic search including A* and iterative deepening,
and an ATMS reason maintenance system.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. Theorem Provers and ML
(Collected by Paul Black, [email protected]. Thanks Paul!)
- LCF (Edinburgh LCF and Cambridge LCF)
* originally written in the Edinburgh dialect of ML from which SML
developed.
"Logic and Computation: Interactive Proof with Cambridge LCF"
also by Lawrence C. Paulson. (Describes a Standard ML [core language
only] version of LCF.) The port was done by M. Hedlund, then at
Rutherford Appleton Labs, UK. It is available by anon. ftp from
ftp://ftp.cl.cam.ac.uk/ml/lcf.tar.gz.
- Lego (LFCS, Edinburgh Univ., SML)
* originally developed in CAML
* latest version (5) now runs under SML/NJ
* only higher-order resolution
* available via anon. ftp from ftp.dcs.ed.ac.uk:/pub/lego
- HOL90
Authors = Konrad Slind, Elsa Gunter
[email protected], [email protected]
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/Research/HVG/HOL/
hol90 is a free implementation in SML/NJ of Mike Gordon's HOL logic (a
polymorphic version of Church's Simple Type Theory). The system provides
a lot of automated support including:
- a powerful rewriting package;
- pre-installed theories for booleans, products, sums, natural
numbers, lists, and trees;
- definition facilities for recursive types and recursive functions
over those types (mutual recursion is also handled);
- extensive libraries for strings, sets, group theory, integers, the
real numbers, wellordered sets, automatic solution of goals
involving linear arithmetic, tautology checking, inductively
defined predicates, Hoare logic, Chandy and Misra's UNITY theory,
infinite state automata, and many others.
The HOL community has a lively mailing list accessible at
[email protected] and a yearly user's meeting that
alternates between Europe and North America. hol90 is available by
anonymous ftp from
machine = ftp.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/local/lehrstuhl/nipkow/slind/hol90/
or
machine = ftp.research.att.com/dist/ml/hol90/
Tim Leonard mentions that a description of the variant of ML used in
HOL88 is online at the following url:
http://lal.cs.byu.edu/lal/holdoc/Description/ML/ML.html
- NuPrl (from Bob Constable`s group at Cornell)
- Isabelle (Lawrence C. Paulson, Cambridge and Tobias Nipkow, Munich)
* has integrated rewriting and classical reasoning
* a generic proof tool supporting the following formalisms among others:
i) FOL - first order logic
ii) HOL - higher order logic
iii) LCF - Logic of computable functions
vi) ZF - Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory
* There's a WWW page:
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/Research/HVG/Isabelle/
* There's also a mailing list: [email protected]
- MERILL (Brian Matthews, U. of Glasgow & Rutherford Appleton Laboratory)
* written in standard ML
* a general purpose order-sorted equational reasoning system
* Allows the user to declare their own object language, allows
AC-rewriting and AC-unification of terms and equations, has
several completion algorithms, is built on a hierarchy of
types known as Order-Sorting, and allows the user to try
different termination methods.
* available via anonymous ftp from the University of Glasgow,
ftp address: ftp.dcs.glasgow.ac.uk (130.209.240.50)
* Brian Matthews, [email protected] or [email protected]
- FAUST (Karlsruhe)
* a HOL add-on written in ML.
* ftp from goethe.ira.uka.de (129.13.18.22)
- Alf
* written in SML
* An implementation of Martin-Lofs type theory with dependent types
* Proof editor
* available by anonymous ftp from cs.chalmers.se
* only higher-order resolution
- Coq
* written in Objective CAML
(previous versions were written in CAML and Caml-Light)
* implements the Calculus of Inductive Constructions
a logical framework suitable for abstract mathematical formalisation
and functional program manipulation.
* available via anon. ftp from ftp.ens-lyon.fr:/pub/LIP/COQ/V6.1
ftp.inria.fr:INRIA/Projects/coq/coq/V6.1
* possible contact: [email protected]
more information : http://pauillac.inria.fr/coq/systeme_coq-eng.html
* Coq has an interface based on Centaur developed by the CROAP project
at INRIA Sophia-Antipolis :
http://www.inria.fr/croap/ctcoq/ctcoq-eng.html
- ICLHOL/ProofPower (Lemma 1)
* a commercial system using a reimplementation of HOL in SML
* http://www.lemma-one.com/ProofPower/index/index.html
- Lamdba/DIALOG (Abstract Hardware Ltd)
* a commercial tool written in Poly/ML
* contact [email protected]
- Twelf (Frank Pfenning & Carsten Schuermann, Carnegie Mellon Univ)
* Twelf is a meta-logical framework for deductive systems.
* Twelf includes an implementation of LF, including type
reconstruction, the Elf constraint logic programming language,
and a preliminary inductive meta-theorem prover for LF.
* The implementation is written in SML'97 and has been tested
under SML/NJ and MLWorks on Unix and Windows platforms.
It also includes a complete user's manual, tutorial,
example suites, and an Emacs mode.
* Further information, including download instructions, information
on the mailing list, publications, etc. can be found at
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~twelf
- Definitional Reasoning (Univerity of Tasmania)
* developed with SML/NJ
* a study of Boolean Affine Combinations (a highly formal case construct)
* includes a rich set of term rewriting combinators
* ftp://hilbert.maths.utas.edu.au/pub/DR.tar.gz
* mail to [email protected] for more information.
References
"ML for the Working Programmer" by Lawrence C. Paulson contains a
small first-order theorem prover.
Paulson also has a good chapter on writing theorem provers in ML in
"Handbook of logic in computer science",
Edited by: S. Abramsky, Dov M. Gabbay, and T.S.E. Maibaum.
Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1992-.
CALL#: QA76 .H2785 1992
Others
Edinburgh's Concurrency Workbench and Sussex's Process Algebra
Mauipulator are also ML systems of note, though neither are
interactive theorem provers.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. Miscellaneous
Where can I find out about SML'97?
Look at:
http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/what/smlnj/sml97.html
How do I write the Y combinator in SML without using a recursive
definition (i.e. "fun" or "let rec")?
datatype 'a t = T of 'a t -> 'a
val y = fn f => (fn (T x) => (f (fn a => x (T x) a)))
(T (fn (T x) => (f (fn a => x (T x) a))))
Where can I find an X-Windows interface to SML?
Poly/ML, Poplog/ML, MLWorks and SML/NJ all come with X-Windows
interfaces. See the appropriate entries under section 3. In
addition, Poly/ML interfaces to the industry standard OSF/Motif
toolkit.
How do I call a C function from SML/NJ?
The new versions of SML/NJ provide much better support for calling
out to C than version 93 did. There is a discussion of how to use
the C function interface off of the SML/NJ web page at
http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/what/smlnj/doc/SMLNJ-C/index.html
Where can I find an emacs mode for SML?
Look in the "Contributed Software" section of the SML/NJ distribution
page at http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/what/smlnj/software.html
Nowadays sml-mode works well with Emacs 19 and XEmacs 19, as well as
a number of different SML compilers.
Stefan Monnier has released a new version (3.9.3) with a number of
changes, including improvements to the indentation algorithm. The
new version is available at
ftp://rum.cs.yale.edu/pub/monnier/sml-mode
What is the value restriction?
The value restriction is a feature of SML '97 which was introduced to
address some issues with polymorphism in the presence of effects.
The basic idea is that when a variable is bound to a polymorphic
expression, it must be the case that the expression is tantamount to
a value: that is, that it is guaranteed not to raise an exception or
allocate memory. For the purposes of typechecking, the class of
values is conservatively approximated by the syntactic notion of
"non-expansiveness".
Values (non-expansive expressions) are:
- functions
- constants
- variables
- records of values
- constructors applied to values
So for example, while in the following code f has type 'a -> 'b -> 'b,
g cannot be given the type 'b -> 'b because of the value restriction.
fun f x y = y
val g = f 3
The expression (f 3) is polymorphic (at type 'b -> 'b) but is not a
value, and so the value restriction forbids g from being bound
polymorphically. Either the code will be rejected, or g will be
given a useless "dummy" type.
In practice, this is usually easy to get around by eta-expanding:
fun f x y = y
val g = fn x => f 3 x
More information on the value restriction is available from a number
of sources, in particular:
- Section 4.7 of "The Definition of Standard ML". (see above)
- Pages 321-326 of Paulson's "ML for the working programmer". (see
above)
- http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/what/smlnj/doc/Conversion/types.html#Value
This includes discussion of the particulars of SML/NJ's treatment
of the value restriction.
- Extensive discussion in the comp.lang.ml archives.
What is the difference between OCaml and Standard ML?
Jen Olsson has created a small chart comparing the OCaml and
Standard ML syntax: see
http://www.csd.uu.se/~jenso/programming/sml_vs_ml.txt .
An extended version written by Andreas Rossberg can be found at
http://www.ps.uni-sb.de/~rossberg/SMLvsOcaml.html
In addition to the original page it covers modules, records, and
some more stuff.
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