Comp.Lang.ML FAQ [Monthly Posting]
Archive-name: meta-lang-faq
Last-modified: 1997/04/04
COMP.LANG.ML Frequently Asked Questions and Answers
(compiled by Dave Berry and Greg Morrisett)
(maintained by Rowan Davies)
Please send corrections, additions, or comments regarding this list to
comp-lang-ml-request@cs.cmu.edu.
Changes since last month:
- Moved the SML Basis Library to the libraries section, added the
revised definition of SML, updated the MLWorks section and made
some minor corrections and updates. (Thanks to Dave Berry)
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
4. Unsupported SML/NJ Ports
a. Linux
b. OS/2
c. FreeBSD
d. NEXTSTEP
e. 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 ('96) 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. How do I fix the emacs mode to work with emacs 19?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
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:
comp-lang-ml@cs.cmu.edu
Administrative mail should be sent to:
comp-lang-ml-request@cs.cmu.edu
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:
sml-list@cs.cmu.edu
(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
sml-list-request@cs.cmu.edu
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:
caml-list@margaux.inria.fr
Administrative mail should be addressed to:
caml-list-request@margaux.inria.fr
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 sml-nj@research.bell-labs.com Unix/Sparc,Mips,Vax,680x0,
ftp.research.att.com I386/486/Pentium,HPPA,RS/6000,
MacOS/MacII
SML'96 ftp.cs.sunysb.edu Linux (including binaries)
ftp-os2.nmsu.edu OS/2 (including binaries)
ftp.informatik.uni-muenchen.de Nextstep
sml2c yes dtarditi@cs.cmu.edu 32-bit Unix machines (C code)
ftp.cs.cmu.edu
Caml Light coreish caml-light@margaux.inria.fr Unix, Mac, PC 80386,
ftp ftp.inria.fr (bytecode)
Objective own caml-light@pauillac.inria.fr Unix and Windows NT/95
Caml modules ftp ftp.inria.fr (bytecode)
Alpha, Sparc, x86, Mips,
HPPA, Power (native code)
Bigloo coreish Manuel.Serrano@inria.fr. Unix (compiles caml-light
ftp ftp.inria.fr to native code)
Camlot coreish Regis.Cridlig@ens.fr Any 32-bit (compiles
ftp ftp.inria.fr caml-light to C)
Moscow ML core+ sestoft@dina.kvl.dk PC 80386, Mac, Unix
SML'96 ftp ftp.dina.kvl.dk (bytecode)
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 Olof.Johansson@cs.umu.se PC 8086+ (bytecode)
ftp ftp.cs.umu.se
Poly/ML yes ahl@ahl.co.uk SPARC/SUNOS, SPARC/Solaris
RS6000/AIX
PoplogML yes isl@isl.co.uk Sun/Solaris, Sun/SunOS,
SG/IRIX, PC/Linux, HP/HP-UX,
Alpha/OSF, Alpha/VMS, VAX/VMS
MLWorks yes web@harlequin.com SunOS, Solaris, Irix,
SML'96 Windows NT/95.
http://www.harlequin.com/mlworks
Details:
Standard ML of New Jersey
------------------------
Standard ML of New Jersey was developed jointly at AT&T Bell
Laboratories and Princeton University. It is currently being worked
on by researchers at AT&T Labs Research, Lucent Bell Labs, Princeton
University, and Yale University. The SML/NJ distribution includes
CM (a separate compilation manager), ML-Yacc, ML-Lex, ML-Burg, the
SML/NJ Library, Concurrent ML, and eXene (a multithreaded X-windows
toolkit).
Version 93 of SML/NJ (released in February 1993) works on the Motorola
68k, SPARC, and MIPS (both big and little endian), I386/486/Pentium,
HPPA(HP9000/700), and RS/6000 architectures under various versions of
the Unix operating system (SunOS, Ultrix, Mach, Irix 4.0.x, Riscos, HPUX, AIX,
AUX, etc.), and on the Macintosh OS (Mac II, System 7.x, min 12MB ram or
any system of greater or equal power, which includes most Macs produced
after about 1987).
The SML/NJ team is currently working towards a release of version 110,
which will be fuly SML'96 compliant. The latest ``working'' version
can be found at:
ftp://ftp.research.bell-labs.com/dist/smlnj/working/
Most working versions are quite stable, but check the README file for
details. The working versions are currently supported on the following
hardware/system combinations:
Alpha OSF/1
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 9, HPUX 10
In addition, there are ports of the PowerPC version to MacOS and BeOS
in progress.
There are a number of useful web links relating to SML/NJ. These can all
be reached from the SML/NJ home page, which is at:
http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/what/smlnj/index.html
Another important link is the documentation for the SML'96 basis, which
can be found at:
http://www.research.att.com/~jhr/sml/basis/index.html
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 0.71, released in February 1996. 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
cl71unix.tar.gz Unix version (source code)
cl7lin*.tar.gz Binaries for Linux (a.out)
cl71macbin.sea.hqx Binaries for the Macintosh version
cl71win*.zip Binaries for MS Windows and MSDOS
cl7refman.* Reference manual, in various formats
cl7tutorial.* Tutorial, in various formats
cl71macdoc.sea.hqx On-line documentation for the Macintosh version
cl71macsrc.sea.hqx Source code for the Macintosh version
Compared with 0.7, this release adds a MS Windows graphical user
interface for the toplevel.
More information on Caml Light is available on the Web at:
http://pauillac.inria.fr/caml
The implementors can be contacted at caml-light@pauillac.inria.fr.
General questions and comments of interest to the Caml community
should be sent to caml-list@pauillac.inria.fr, 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
caml-light@pauillac.inria.fr. For general questions and comments,
use the Caml mailing list caml-list@pauillac.inria.fr (to subscribe:
caml-list-request@pauillac.inria.fr).
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 (Manuel.Serrano@inria.fr).
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 is a Core Standard ML implementation, based on the Caml
Light system. It implements the Core language of Standard ML and
separate compilation via a limited version of the SML Modules
language, with signatures and non-nested structures but no functors.
Version 1.40 implements much of the new SML Basis Library, follows the
1996 revision of Standard ML (value polymorphism, default overloading
resolution, new base types), and can produce compact stand-alone
executables (a la Caml Light).
Under DOS, Moscow ML requires 2 MB of RAM or more, and DOS 3.3 or
later. Moscow ML works on many Unixes (Linux, DEC MIPS+Ultrix, DEC
Alpha+OSF/1, Sun4+SunOS, Sun+Solaris, SGI MIPS+IRIX, and
HP9000+HP/UX), and, thanks to Doug Currie, on MacOS (68k and PPC).
It was written by Sergei Romanenko (sergei-romanenko@refal.ac.msk.su)
at the Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics, Moscow, Russia, and
Peter Sestoft (sestoft@dina.kvl.dk) at the Royal Veterinary and
Agricultural University, Denmark.
* The Moscow ML homepage
http://www.dina.kvl.dk/~sestoft/mosml.html
* The DOS executables (and documentation) are in
ftp://ftp.dina.kvl.dk/pub/mosml/mos14bin.zip
* The Linux executables (and documentation) are in
ftp://ftp.dina.kvl.dk/pub/mosml/linux-mos14bin.tar.gz
* The Macintosh/MacOS (68k and PPC) executables are in
ftp://ftp.dina.kvl.dk/pub/mosml/mac-mos14bin.sea.hqx (soon)
* The DOS source files are in
ftp://ftp.dina.kvl.dk/pub/mosml/mos14src.zip
* The Unix source files are in
ftp://ftp.dina.kvl.dk/pub/mosml/mos14src.tar.gz
* The MacOS modified source files (relative to Unix) are in
ftp://ftp.dina.kvl.dk/pub/mosml/mac-mos14src.sea.hqx (soon)
The Internet number of ftp.dina.kvl.dk is 130.225.40.226.
These files will be mirrored at
ftp://ftp.dcs.ed.ac.uk/pub/ml/Moscow
ftp://ftp.csd.uu.se/pub/mirror/mosml
ML Kit
------
The ML Kit is a straight translation of the 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.
There is a WWW page for the ML Kit at:
http://www.diku.dk/research-groups/topps/activities/mlkit.html
The ML Kit is also available via anonymous ftp. Here is a sample
dialog:
ftp ftp.diku.dk ftp ftp.dcs.ed.ac.uk
Name: anonymous Name: anonymous
Password: <your loginname@host> Password: <your loginname@host>
ftp> binary ftp> binary
ftp> cd diku/users/birkedal ftp> cd export/ml/mlkit
ftp> get README ftp> get README
ftp> get COPYING ftp> get COPYING
ftp> get src.tar.Z ftp> get src.tar.Z
ftp> get doc.tar.Z ftp> get doc.tar.Z
ftp> get tools.tar.Z ftp> get tools.tar.Z
ftp> get examples.tar.Z ftp> get examples.tar.Z
ftp> bye ftp> bye
The file README contains installation instructions. Note that no
binaries are distributed and that you must build these using either
Standard ML of New Jersey, or Poly/ML.
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 (erbguth@juris-sb.de) 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
(olof@cs.umu.se).
Poly/ML
-------
Poly/ML is a commercial product from Abstract Hardware Ltd. (email to
ahl@ahl.co.uk, or browse http://www.ahl.co.uk). The Poly/ML system has
been used to implement a number of high-value tools including ICL's
ProofPower, ViewLogic's ViewSchedule and AHL's own LAMBDA toolset.
Poly/ML 3.0 (Motif Edition) runs on SPARC systems under either
SunOS (4.1) or Solaris (2.3 or later). It also runs on IBM RS/6000
systems under AIX. The Motif Edition of Poly/ML features native code
generation, a make system, an X11/Xlib interface, and a OSF/Motif interface.
Non-standard extensions include concurrent processes and an associated
message-passing scheme.
The price of the Motif edition of Poly/ML is 1500 pounds for an
academic site licence or 3500 pounds per machine for commercial users.
Multiple and site licences are available by negotiation.
AHL are currently developing a Windows Edition of Poly/ML. This will
run on standard PC hardware under the Windows 95. The release date and
pricing policy for this product have not yet been finalised.
Poplog ML
---------
Standard ML is one of four languages included with the Poplog system,
the others being Pop-11, Prolog and Common Lisp. It uses an
incremental, native-code compiler which implements the full language
described in the Definition; compilation is fast with low memory
usage. There is an integrated editor and an X interface; these are
both programmable only from Pop-11 but the shared compilation
environment makes it easy to link Pop-11 procedures into ML
programs. This provides a general route for calling out to external
libraries.
Poplog is available for various Unix systems -- Sun SPARC with Solaris
or SunOS, Silicon Graphics, DEC Alpha, HP RISC and Linux -- but also for
VMS, both on Alpha and VAX. It costs money, but there are substantial
discounts for academic users. Sales are handled by Integral Solutions
Ltd. and enquiries should be directed to them at isl@isl.co.uk.
You can get a free demonstration copy of Poplog for Linux/x86 from
ftp://ftp.cogs.susx.ac.uk/pub/poplog/poplog15.0
This is entirely compatible with the full-price version, but is
unsupported and has certain restrictions: in particular, it has a
limited heap size and cannot make saved images. But it is a working
system and may be of special interest to students who want SML on their
PCs at home.
Adrian John Howard (adrianh@cogs.susx.ac.uk) has a WWW page for Poplog:
http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/users/adrianh/poplog.html
Harlequin MLWorks
-----------------
Harlequin MLWorks is a commercial product and is a full implementation
of SML encapsulated inside a modern programming environment. MLWorks
supports both SML90 (TDoSML), and SML96 (revised definition).
In addition to Harlequin's compiler technology, MLWorks offers:
- Graphical browsing and inspection
- Source level debugging and tracing
- Graphical profiling (call count, time slice and heap) and profiling of
standalone applications without source modification
- Integration with source editors
- Generational garbage collection
- A sophisticated compilation manager
- A C Foreign Function Interface
Libraries are provided supporting graphics, threads and the Standard
ML Basis Library.
MLWorks is available on SunOS, Solaris, Irix, Windows NT and Windows
95. An evaluation version may be freely downloaded from Harlequin's
web site:
http://www.harlequin.com/mlworks
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
Linux:
------
(Thanks to Ralf Reetz, Peter Su, and Mark Leone)
This is a port of Standard ML of New Jersey (SML/NJ) to Linux. It is
based on the work of Mark Leone (mleone@cs.cmu.edu) who did the port
for i386/i486 machines. The current binary was compiled using Linux
0.99.7a. Shared lib 4.3.3.
This port was done by Sanford Barr (sbarr@cs.sunysb.edu) based on the
original port of 0.91 by Hermano Moura (moura@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk) and
Andre Santos (andre@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk).
Various ftp sites seem to carry SML/NJ version 0.93 for Linux:
tsx-11.mit.edu:/pub/linux/sources/usr.bin/
njsml.93.src.tar.z
njsml.93.linux.README
njsml.93.linux.README.NEW
njsml.93.linux.diffs.z
ftp.cs.sunysb.edu:/pub/linux/
njsml.93.bin.z
njsml.93.mo.i386.z
njsml.93.linux.README
njsml.93.linux.diffs.z
njsml.93.src.tar.z
ftp.dcs.glasgow.ac.uk:/pub/linux/
njsml.93.linux.diffs.z
njsml.93.src.tar.z
smlnj-0.93-linux.README
16M of ram is suggested if you wish to do anything serious with
the system. Also, a 386-40 or better would be helpful.
KNOWN BUGS AND DEFICIENCIES:
1 Some minimal precision problems exist when a 387 emulator is
used.
2 ML functions System.Directory.listDir and System.Directory.getWD not
working at the moment.
3 There have been reported problems with the Div exceptions
(real & int). The problems have been corrected. See:
ftp.id.dth.dk (Internet 130.225.76.51)
file pub/sestoft/sml93-linux99pl12/sml.gz
That version also allows profiling; see the README file.
OS/2:
-----
Standard ML of New Jersey (version 0.93) for OS/2 has been implemented using
Mark Leone's i386 code generator and the Unix emulator EMX (copyright of
Eberhard Mattes). It is an (almost) complete implementation of SML/NJ 0.93.
Only a few System.* functions have been left unimplemented.
Features of this 2nd release for OS/2:
* Signal handling
* Interval timers (real-time, supports CML 0.9.8)
* 'Garbage flushing', yields better performance on low-memory machines
* Reduced executable size (well, now it equals the other ports ;-)
* Exporting supported (also in the binary-only package)
* Improved MakeML & BindCore utilities
* Generally more robust
* Using EMX version 0.8h (the latest release at this moment)
Available from ftp.research.att.com (in /dist/ml/) and, in Europe, from
ftp.id.dth.dk (in /pub/bertelsen/) as:
93.os2b.exe.zip Binary-only, SML/NJ interactive compiler (executable)
93.os2b.src.zip Sources & documentation
93.os2b.txt Introduction
See 93.os2b.txt for system requirements and details on .zip files.
Peter Bertelsen (c917023@id.dth.dk)
Department of Computer Science, Technical University of Denmark
FreeBSD:
--------
A patch for the standard distribution is available at:
ftp://pop.cs.cmu.edu/usr/rowan/sml-archive/freebsd/
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
(als@tusc.com.au) 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 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
Robin Milner, Mads Tofte, Robert Harper and Dave MacQueen
The Definition of Standard ML (Revised 1996)
MIT, 1997.
To appear.
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
Lawrence C Paulson
ML for the Working Programmer (2nd Edition)
Cambridge University Press 1996
ISBN: 0-521-56543-X (paperback), 0-521-57050-6 (hardback)
(Covers SML'96. see: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/users/lcp/MLbook/)
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
(see ftp://ftp.cee.hw.ac.uk/pub/funcprog/gjm.book95.ps.Z for contents
and prologue).
INFORMATION AVAILABLE BY INTERNET
---------------------------------
The Fox project at CMU has a WWW page for information about Standard ML:
http://foxnet.cs.cmu.edu/sml.html
The following report is available from the LFCS (Mairi McLennan,
mlm@dcs.ed.ac.uk) and costs 5 pounds or 10 US dollars. It covers all of
Standard ML. The report is also available via the World Wide Web off of
http://foxnet.cs.cmu.edu/sml.html
Alternatively, the report can be ftp'd from
ftp://ftp.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/project/fox/mosaic/intro-notes.ps.
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 is available from the LFCS (Mairi McLennan,
mlm@dcs.ed.ac.uk) and costs 2.50 pounds or 5 US dollars for single
copies and 1.50 pounds or 3 dollars when bought in bulk. It includes
an introduction to Standard ML and 3 lectures on the modules system.
The report is also available via the World Wide Web off of
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
The following report is available from the LFCS (Mairi McLennan,
mlm@dcs.ed.ac.uk) and is free. It introduces Extended ML, a language
for writing (non-executable) specifications of Standard ML programs and
for formally developing Standard ML programs from such specifications.
The report is also available at:
http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/%7Edts/eml/bcs.ps
Don Sannella
Formal program development in Extended ML for the working programmer.
LFCS Report Series ECS-LFCS-89-102
Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science
Department of Computer Science
University of Edinburgh
December 1989
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 Xavier.Leroy@inria.fr.
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 ('96) 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://www.research.att.com/~jhr/sml/basis/index.html
or
http://www.dina.kvl.dk/~sestoft/sml/sml-std-basis.html
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
(Mairi McLennan, mlm@dcs.ed.ac.uk) 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 smltk@informatik.uni-bremen.de.
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, pblack@cs.berekeley.edu. 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
kxs@cl.cam.ac.uk, elsa@research.att.com
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
info-hol-request@leopard.cs.byu.edu 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 Univ. )
* has rewriting, but not many decision procedures. It does have
things like model elimination-based decision procedures.
* a generic automatic theorem prover i.e. you can program it to
the logic system/proof system you want. Already has the
following subsystems already implemented:
i) FOL - first order logic
ii) HOL - higher order logic
iii) LCF - Logic of computable functions
iv) LK - Gentzen system LK
v) Modal - Modal logic systems T, S4, S43
vi) ZF - Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory
* ftp from ftp://ftp.cl.cam.ac.uk/ml/Isabelle94.tar.gz
* There's a WWW page:
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/Research/HVG/isabelle.html
* There's also a mailing list: isabelle-users@cl.cam.ac.uk
- 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, brian@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk or bmm@inf.rl.ac.uk
- 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: coq@pauillac.inria.fr
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 (ICL Secure Systems)
* a commercial system using a reimplementation of HOL in SML
* contact ProofPower-server@win.icl.co.uk
- Lamdba/DIALOG (Abstract Hardware Ltd)
* a commercial tool written in Poly/ML
* contact ahl@ahl.co.uk
- Elf (Frank Pfenning, Carnegie Mellon Univ.)
* Elf is a higher-order logic programming language based on the LF
Logical Framework.
* Elf is not a theorem prover per-se, but is useful for specifying
and proving properties of programming languages, logics, and their
implementations. A number of examples are provided with the
distribution.
* The Elf implementation is written in SML/NJ and should be easily
portable to other SML implementations.
* Elf can be ftp'd from ftp.cs.cmu.edu (128.2.206.173)
in the directory user/fp/
* A home page for Elf can be found at http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~fp/elf.html
* There is an Elf mailing list. Contact elf-request@cs.cmu.edu to join.
* For further information, contact Frank Pfenning (fp@cs.cmu.edu).
- 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 piggy@acm.org 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 SML96?
Look at:
http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/what/smlnj/sml96.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?
See the file runtime/cfuns.c for example C functions that are in
the runtime and callable from ML. You have to enter the function
into a table at the end of the file along with a string. You use
the function System.Unsafe.CInterface to look up the function, using
the string as the key. Note that you'll need to convert ML values
to C representations and back. You'll have to rebuild the compiler
using makeml.
How do I get the emacs mode to work with Emacs version 19?
Add these three lines at the top of your `sml-init.el' file:
- ----- BEGIN addition
; emacs 19 doesn't have `make-shell', which sml-shell needs, so get it
; when necessary. 12 Oct 1993 M-J. Dominus (mjd@saul.cis.upenn.edu)
(autoload 'make-shell "make-shell" "Make and initialize shell buffer for SML." nil)
- ----- END addition
They tell emacs to load the file `make-shell.el' when it needs to use
the `make-shell' function.
Then install this file as `make-shell.el' somewhere on your load path,
probably in your emacs `site-lisp' directory:
(defun make-shell (name program &optional startfile &rest switches)
(let ((buffer (get-buffer-create (concat "*" name "*")))
proc status size)
(setq proc (get-buffer-process buffer))
(if proc (setq status (process-status proc)))
(save-excursion
(set-buffer buffer)
;; (setq size (buffer-size))
(if (memq status '(run stop))
nil
(if proc (delete-process proc))
(setq proc (apply 'start-process name buffer
(concat exec-directory "env")
(format "TERMCAP=emacs:co#%d:tc=unknown:"
(screen-width))
"TERM=emacs"
"EMACS=t"
"-"
(or program explicit-shell-file-name
(getenv "ESHELL")
(getenv "SHELL")
"/bin/sh")
switches))
(cond (startfile
;;This is guaranteed to wait long enough
;;but has bad results if the shell does not prompt at all
;; (while (= size (buffer-size))
;; (sleep-for 1))
;;I hope 1 second is enough!
(sleep-for 1)
(goto-char (point-max))
(insert-file-contents startfile)
(setq startfile (buffer-substring (point) (point-max)))
(delete-region (point) (point-max))
(process-send-string proc startfile)))
(setq name (process-name proc)))
(goto-char (point-max))
(set-marker (process-mark proc) (point))
(shell-mode))
buffer))