1 The Glasgow Haskell Compiler -- version 0.23
2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
4 A new public release of the Glasgow Haskell Compiler is now available
5 (GHC, version 0.23). Binaries and sources are freely available by
6 anonymous FTP; details below.
8 Haskell is "the" standard lazy functional programming language [see
9 SIGPLAN Notices, May 1992]. The current language version is 1.2.
11 GHC is a state-of-the-art batch compiler. For some idea of how it
12 compares against the competition, see Pieter Hartel's recent revision
13 of his FPCA '93 paper. Reference attached. Summary: we win!
15 Highlights of what's new in GHC 0.23 since 0.22 (July 1994):
17 * Faster compilation times (less than 10% slower than HBC if not
18 using -O [on a Sun4]).
20 * Produces 10-15% smaller executables. The main compiler binary is
21 1MB smaller than in 0.22.
23 * >>> USER-VISIBLE changes <<< to "monadic I/O", because we are
24 switching to the Haskell 1.3 *draft* I/O proposal. Please see the
25 relevant bit of the User's Guide before doing monadic I/O things
28 * Native-code generator for DEC Alphas.
30 * A _selective_ lambda lifter.
32 * The yacc-based parser is now called directly from Haskell.
34 * Configuration changed enough that "the same old thing" *won't* work.
35 Configuring binary distributions should be trivial now.
37 * Quite a few bugs fixed; the usual big wad of code added.
39 Please see the release notes for a complete discussion of What's New.
41 Should you upgrade to 0.23? If you are a contented 0.22 user,
42 probably not. Otherwise, probably yes.
44 To run this release, you need a machine with 16+MB memory, GNU C
45 (`gcc'), and `perl'. We have seen GHC work in *some* form or fashion
46 on: Sun4s, DEC Alphas, Sun3s, NeXTs, DECstations, HP-PA and SGI boxes.
47 Sun4s and Alphas, our development platforms, are fully supported; we
48 distribute binaries for them. The release notes give a full
49 what-ports-work report.
51 Once you have the distribution, please follow the pointers in
52 ghc/README to find all of the documentation in and about this release.
53 NB: preserve modification times when un-tarring (no `m' option for
56 We run mailing lists for GHC users and bug reports; to subscribe, send
57 mail to glasgow-haskell-{users,bugs}-request@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk.
58 Please send bug reports to glasgow-haskell-bugs.
64 ======================================================================
68 author = {P. H. Hartel},
69 title = {Benchmarking implementations of lazy functional
70 languages {II} -- Two years later},
71 institution = {Dept. of Comp. Sys, Univ. of Amsterdam},
72 type = {Technical report},
77 The paper is available from ftp.fwi.uva.nl,
78 file: pub/computer-systems/functional/reports/benchmarkII.ps.Z
80 The programs are in file: pub/computer-systems/functional/packages/benchmark.tar.Z
82 ======================================================================
85 This release is available, in whole or in part, from the usual Haskell
86 anonymous FTP sites, in the directory pub/haskell/glasgow:
88 ftp.dcs.glasgow.ac.uk (130.209.240.50)
89 ftp.cs.chalmers.se (129.16.227.140)
90 haskell.cs.yale.edu (128.36.11.43)
92 The Glasgow site is mirrored by src.doc.ic.ac.uk (155.198.191.4), in
93 computing/programming/languages/haskell/glasgow.
95 These are the available files (.gz files are gzipped) -- some are `on
96 demand', ask if you don't see them:
98 ghc-0.23-bin-sun4.tar.gz A binary distribution -- unpack & run!
99 For SunOS 4.1.x; assumes you have GNU C (gcc)
101 ghc-0.23-bin-alpha.tar.gz A binary distribution -- unpack & run!
102 Built on OSF1 V2.0; assumes you have GNU C (gcc).
104 ghc-0.23-bin-<other>.tar.gz Other binary distributions -- we will
105 make them available as we go along; they
106 will be announced on the Haskell mailing list
109 ghc-0.23-src.tar.gz The basic source distribution; about 3MB.
111 ghc-0.23-hc-files.tar.gz The intermediate C (.hc) files for the
112 compiler proper, the prelude, and `Hello,
115 ghc-0.23.ANNOUNCE This file
117 ghc-0.23.{README,RELEASE-NOTES} From the distribution; for those who
118 want to peek before FTPing...
120 ghc-0.23-ps-docs.tar.gz Main GHC documents in PostScript format; in
121 case your TeX setup doesn't agree with our
124 There are no diffs from version 0.22, as they would be monstrous.