X-Git-Url: http://git.megacz.com/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=ghc%2FANNOUNCE;h=4df3c97596823322840ba5cb72c0c3afbb91abeb;hb=72c2f581702ca162f56012dd0c8cafcbac284b5c;hp=77b7c5c77608160c488156550222248b65b7294c;hpb=13c8aad6a15f903e652b325e5b71b217e4d50d5b;p=ghc-hetmet.git diff --git a/ghc/ANNOUNCE b/ghc/ANNOUNCE index 77b7c5c..4df3c97 100644 --- a/ghc/ANNOUNCE +++ b/ghc/ANNOUNCE @@ -1,107 +1,181 @@ - The Glasgow Haskell Compiler -- version 2.04 - ============================================== -We are pleased to announce a new release of the Glasgow Haskell -Compiler (GHC), version 2.04. Source distribution is freely available -via the World-Wide Web and anon. FTP; details below. + ============================================================ + The (Interactive) Glasgow Haskell Compiler -- version 5.02 + ============================================================ -Haskell is "the" standard lazy functional programming language; the -current language version is 1.4, agreed in April, 1997. Haskell -related information is available from the Haskell home page at: +We are pleased to announce a new major release of the Glasgow Haskell +Compiler (GHC), version 5.02. - http://haskell.org/ +This is the first version of GHC that has all of the following: + * An interactive read-eval-print loop, similar to Hugs. + You can load a mixture of compiled and interpreted modules; + in particular, you automatically use the precompiled libraries, + so your "interpreted" programs often run pretty fast. -+ What's new -============= + * Works solidly on Windows platforms. Installation is simple + (Installshield); you don't have to install anything else; + and GHC does not get confused if you also happen to + have (say) Cygwin installed. -Release 2.04 represent work done through May '97; highlights include: + * Implements the changes adopted for the (now almost finalised) + Revised Haskell 98 Language and Library Reports. - * Data constructors can now have polymophic fields, and ordinary - functions can have polymoprhic arguments. Details on + * The ability to emit "External Core", a documented typed + intermediate language, suitable for slurping up into other + tools. [Andrew Tolmach's work.] - http://www.cse.ogi.edu/~simonpj/quantification.html + * A particularly thorough pre-release test programme. + Some releases are more solid than others; this one is + at the solid end of the spectrum. We fondly hope. - Existential types coming, but not done yet. +So if you have been waiting to upgrade your GHC 4.08, this is +the moment. - * Pattern guards implemented, see - - http://www.cse.ogi.edu/~simonpj/guards.html - * Compiler can now compile itself (i.e., no real dependence on - the Haskell 1.2 compiler anymore (version 0.29)). +How to get it +~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +The easy way is to go to the WWW page, which should be self-explanatory: - * Faster compilation - Compilation speeds has improved since 2.02, although it still slower - than GHC-0.29, the Good Old Compiler. (the gap is narrowing, though!) - - * Code quality is better, the simplifier and inlining machinery has been - refurbished. Not sure how much better. + http://www.haskell.org/ghc/ - * powerpc-ibm-aix is now a supported GHC platform, due to the - Heroic Efforts of Andr\'e Santos . +We supply binary builds in the native package format for various +flavours of Linux and BSD, and in InstallShield form for Windows +folks. Binary builds for other platforms are available as a .tar.gz +which can be installed wherever you want. The source distribution is +also available from the same place. - * It has been tested against a large suite of (mostly) Haskell 1.2 - programs (the NoFib suite). Bunch of bugs related to new - Haskell 1.4 has been weeded out. +Once you have the distribution, please follow the pointers in the +README file to find all of the documentation about this release. - * A couple of Haskell 1.4 features are still incompletely supported, - notably polymorphic strictness annotations, and Unicode. -Please see the release notes for a complete discussion of What's New. +More details about what's new +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +5.02 incorporates many small refinements and bug fixes over the previous +stable release (5.00.2). There are no major language changes. -+ Mailing lists -================ + - Implements Haskell 98 (revised) -We run mailing lists for GHC users and bug reports; to subscribe, send -mail to majordomo@dcs.gla.ac.uk; the msg body should be: + - Ability to emit External Core. (But GhC can't read External Core + back in. Yet.) - subscribe glasgow-haskell- Your Name + - Much improved support for Windows platforms. Binary builds are + now entirely freestanding. There's no need to install Cygwin or + Mingwin to use it. It's a one-click-install-and-off-you-go story now. -Please send bug reports about GHC to glasgow-haskell-bugs@dcs.gla.ac.uk ; GHC -users hang out on glasgow-haskell-users@dcs.gla.ac.uk + - Several small changes to bring GHC into line with the newest Haskell 98 + report. + - GHCi (the interactive system) now works on Windows. -+ On-line GHC-related resources -================================ + - Partial FFI support in GHCi. At the moment, foreign import (both + static and dynamic) is supported on x86 and sparc platforms. -Relevant URLs on the World-Wide Web: + - A compacting garbage collector, to try and reduce space use. -GHC home page http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/fp/software/ghc/ -Haskell home page http://haskell.org/ -Glasgow FP group page http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/fp/ -comp.lang.functional FAQ http://www.cs.nott.ac.uk/Department/Staff/mpj/faq.html + - Ability to disconnect built-in numeric syntax from the supplied + Prelude. This allows you to define your own arithmetic packages, + which Haskell98 doesn't quite support. + - Experimental: partial support for hierarchical module names. -+ How to get it -================ + - Experimental: following heroic hacking by Ken Shan, 5.02 now + works on Alpha (Tru64 only). Many 64-bit bugs have been shaken + out. At the moment only the batch-mode compiler works -- no GHCi + or native code generator yet. -The easy way is to go to the WWW GHC distribution page, which should -be self-explanatory: +We've found and fixed more bugs than you could possibly imagine. A +big thank-you to all those who reported bugs in the 5.00.X series. We +claim to have fixed almost all reported bugs. In general we've spent +a large amount of effort trying to improve the stability of the +system relative to 5.00.X. (Famous last words ...) + +For full details see the release notes: + + http://www.haskell.org/ghc/docs/5.02/set/release-5-02.html + + +Background +~~~~~~~~~~ +Haskell is a standard lazy functional programming language; the +current language version is Haskell 98, agreed in December 1998. + +GHC is a state-of-the-art programming suite for Haskell. Included is +an optimising compiler generating good code for a variety of +platforms, together with an interactive system for convenient, quick +development. The distribution includes space and time profiling +facilities, a large collection of libraries, and support for various +language extensions, including concurrency, exceptions, and foreign +language interfaces (C, whatever). GHC is distributed under a +BSD-style open source license. + +A wide variety of Haskell related resources (tutorials, libraries, +specifications, documentation, compilers, interpreters, references, +contact information, links to research groups) are available from the +Haskell home page at + + http://www.haskell.org/ + +GHC's Web page lives at + + http://www.haskell.org/ghc/ + + +On-line GHC-related resources +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +Relevant URLs on the World-Wide Web: + +GHC home page http://www.haskell.org/ghc/ +Haskell home page http://www.haskell.org/ +comp.lang.functional FAQ http://www.cs.nott.ac.uk/~gmh/faq.html - ftp://ftp.dcs.gla.ac.uk/pub/haskell/glasgow/README.html -Once you have the distribution, please follow the pointers in the -README file to find all of the documentation about this release. NB: -preserve modification times when un-tarring the files (no `m' option -for tar, please)! +System requirements +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +To compile programs with GHC, you need a machine with 64+MB memory, GNU C +and perl. This release is known to work on the following platforms: -+ System requirements -====================== + * i386-unknown-{linux,freebsd,mingw32} + * sparc-sun-solaris2 -To compile up this source-only release, you need a machine with 16+MB -memory, GNU C (`gcc'), `perl' plus a version of GHC installed (either -version 0.29 or 2.02/2.03). We have seen GHC work on these platforms: +Ports to the following platforms should be relatively easy (for a +wunderhacker), but haven't been tested due to lack of time/hardware: - * alpha-dec-osf2 * hppa1.1-hp-hpux{9,10} - * sparc-sun-{sunos4,solaris2} + * i386-unknown-solaris2 + * alpha-dec-osf{2,3} * mips-sgi-irix{5,6} - * i386-unknown-{linux,solaris2,freebsd,cygwin32}. - * powerpc-ibm-aix + * {rs6000,powerpc}-ibm-aix + +The builder's guide included in distribution gives a complete +run-down of what ports work; an on-line version can be found at + + http://www.haskell.org/ghc/docs/5.02/building/building-guide.html + + + +Mailing lists +~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +We run mailing lists for GHC users and bug reports; to subscribe, use +the web interfaces at + + http://www.haskell.org/mailman/listinfo/glasgow-haskell-users + http://www.haskell.org/mailman/listinfo/glasgow-haskell-bugs + +There are several other haskell and ghc-related mailing lists on +www.haskell.org; for the full list, see + + http://www.haskell.org/mailman/listinfo/ + +Please report bugs using our SourceForge page at + + http://sourceforge.net/projects/ghc/ + +or send them to glasgow-haskell-bugs@haskell.org. -Similar platforms should work with minimal hacking effort. The installer's -guide included in distribution gives a complete run-down of what-ports-work. +GHC users hang out on glasgow-haskell-users@haskell.org. Bleeding +edge CVS users party on cvs-ghc@haskell.org.