1 The Glasgow Haskell Compiler
2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
4 We are happy to announce the first full release of the Glasgow Haskell
5 Compiler (GHC, version 0.10). It is freely available by FTP; details
8 To run this release, you need a Sun4, probably with 16+MB memory, and
9 GNU C (gcc), version 2.1 or greater, and "perl". If building from
10 source, you will need Chalmers HBC, version 0.998.x.
12 We hope you enjoy this system, and we look forward to hearing about
13 your successes with it! Please report bugs to
14 glasgow-haskell-bugs@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk and direct general queries to
15 glasgow-haskell-request@<same>.
18 (and his GRASPing colleagues)
20 Why a Haskell programmer might want to use GHC
21 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
22 * Almost all of Haskell is implemented. In particular, the full range
23 of data types is supported: arbitrary precision integers, rationals,
24 double-precision floats, and "real" arrays with O(1) access time.
25 (The release notes list all unimplemented language features.)
27 * An extensible I/O system is provided, based on a "monad" [1]. (The
28 standard Haskell I/O system is built on this foundation.)
30 * A number of significant language extensions are implemented:
31 - Fully fledged unboxed data types [2].
32 - Ability to write arbitrary in-line C-language code, using
33 the I/O monad to retain referential transparency.
34 - Incrementally-updatable arrays, also embedded in a monad.
35 - Mutable reference types.
37 * By default, the system uses a generational garbage collector which
38 lets you run programs whose live data is significantly larger than
39 the physical memory size before thrashing occurs. (Conventional
40 2-space GC starts thrashing when the live data gets to about half
41 the physical memory size.)
43 * A new profiling system is supplied, which enables you to find out which
44 bits of your program are eating both *time* and the *space* [3].
46 * Good error messages. Well, fairly good error messages. Line
47 numbers are pretty accurate, and during type checking you get
48 several (accurate) error reports rather than just one.
50 * Performance: programs compiled with GHC "usually" beat
51 Chalmers-HBC-compiled ones. If you find programs where HBC wins,
54 * We have a pretty good test suite, and this version passes
55 practically all of it. (Yes, it can compile itself, too.) We hope
56 you will find the system to be robust.
58 Why a functional-language implementor might want to use GHC
59 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
60 * We have tried very hard to write the compiler in a modular and
61 well-documented way, so that other researchers can modify and extend
62 it. One of our goals is specifically to provide a framework to
63 support others' work. Several people are already using it in this
66 * Highly configurable runtime system. Heavy use of C macros means
67 that you can modify much of the storage representation without
68 telling the compiler. For example, the system comes with 4
69 different garbage collectors! (all working)
71 * Internals: extensive use of the second-order lambda calculus as an
72 intermediate code; the Spineless Tagless G-machine as evaluation
75 * Various performance-measurement hooks.
79 * No interactive system. This is a batch compiler only. (Any
82 * Compiler is greedy on resources. Going via C doesn't help here.
84 * This system should run on any Unix box. We haven't had time to do
85 any non-Sun4 ports. Help or prodding welcome.
89 All these papers come with the distribution [in ghc/docs/papers].
91 [1] "Imperative functional programming", Peyton Jones & Wadler, POPL '93
93 [2] "Unboxed data types as first-class citizens", Peyton Jones &
96 [3] "Profiling lazy functional languages", Sansom & Peyton Jones,
99 [4] "Implementing lazy functional languages on stock hardware", Peyton
100 Jones, Journal of Functional Programming, Apr 1992
104 This release is available, in whole or in part, from the usual Haskell
105 anonymous FTP sites, in the directory pub/haskell/glasgow:
107 nebula.cs.yale.edu (128.36.13.1)
108 ftp.dcs.glasgow.ac.uk (130.209.240.50)
109 animal.cs.chalmers.se (129.16.225.66)
111 (Beleaguered NIFTP users within the UK can get the same files from
112 Glasgow by using a <FP>/haskell/glasgow prefix, instead of
113 pub/haskell/glasgow. Also, we are mirrored by src.doc.ic.ac.uk, in
114 languages/haskell/glasgow, and you can get files from there by every
115 means known to humanity.)
117 These are the available files:
119 ghc-0.10-src.tar.Z The basic source distribution; assumes you
120 will compile it with Chalmers HBC, version
121 0.998.n, on a Sun4, for which you have GNU C
122 (gcc) version 2.1 or greater. About 3MB.
124 ghc-0.10-bin-sun4.tar.Z A binary distribution -- avoid compiling
125 altogether! For SunOS 4.1.x; assumes you
126 have GNU C (gcc) version 2.x around...
128 ghc-0.10-patch-* Patches to the original distribution. There
129 are none to start with, of course, but there
130 might be by the time you grab the files.
131 Please check for them.
133 Once you have the distribution, please follow the pointers in the
134 ghc/README file to find all of the documentation in and about this