From 13c8aad6a15f903e652b325e5b71b217e4d50d5b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: sof Date: Thu, 5 Jun 1997 23:36:10 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] [project @ 1997-06-05 23:36:10 by sof] 2.04 announce --- ghc/ANNOUNCE | 226 +++++++++++++++++++--------------------------------------- 1 file changed, 75 insertions(+), 151 deletions(-) diff --git a/ghc/ANNOUNCE b/ghc/ANNOUNCE index 011c1c9..77b7c5c 100644 --- a/ghc/ANNOUNCE +++ b/ghc/ANNOUNCE @@ -1,183 +1,107 @@ - The Glasgow Haskell Compiler -- version 2.02 - ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + The Glasgow Haskell Compiler -- version 2.04 + ============================================== -We are pleased to announce the first release of the Glasgow Haskell -Compiler (GHC, version 2.02) for *Haskell 1.4*. Sources and binaries -are freely available by anonymous FTP and on the World-Wide Web; -details below. +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. Haskell is "the" standard lazy functional programming language; the -current language version is 1.3, agreed in May, 1996. The Haskell -Report is online at - - http://haskell.cs.yale.edu/1.4/haskell-report.html - -GHC 2.02 is a beta-quality release - some highlights: - - * It is reliable. - It has been extensively tested against a large suite of Haskell 1.2 - programs, but not so extensively tested against Haskell 1.4 programs - because we don't have a comprehensive set (Donations of Haskell 1.4 - programs to our test suite are most welcome). - - * It should generate good code. - All the optimisations that GHC 0.29 used to do are back in, with - the exception of specialisation. It ought to be the case that - GHC 2.02 outperforms GHC 0.29, because it has a much better - handle on cross-module inlining, but there's a good chance that - there are performance "holes" lurking. We have yet to make - a systematic comparison. (Please send us programs where 2.02 - does noticeably worse than 0.29.) - - * It is more expensive than it should be. - GHC 2.02 has received even less attention to its own performance. - At present it eats more space and time than GHC 0.29, especially - for very small programs. We're working on this. - - * A couple of Haskell 1.4 features are incompletely supported, - notably polymorphic strictness annotations, and Unicode. - -If you want to use Haskell 1.4, this is a good moment to switch. If -you don't need the Haskell 1.4 extensions, then stay with GHC 0.29. -If you want to hack on GHC itself, then 2.02 is definitely for you. -The release notes comment further on this point. - -GHC 2.02 is substantially changed from 2.01. Changes worth noting -include: - - * The whole front end, which deals with the module system, has - been rewritten. The interface file format has changed. - - * GHC 2.02 comes complete with Green Card, a C foreign language - interface for GHC. Green card is a pre-processor that - scans Haskell source files for Green Card directives, which - it expands into tons of "ccall" boilerplate that marshalls - your arguments to and from C. - - * GHC 2.02 is available for Win32 platforms. From now on, Win32 - (Windows NT and Windows 95) will be a fully supported platform - for GHC. - - * GHC 2.02 supports full cross module inlining. Unlike 0.29 and - its predecessors, inlining can happen even if the inlined body - mentions a function or type that is not itself exported. This is - one place Haskell 1.4's new module system really pays off. - - * Like 2.01, GHC 2.02 aborts a compilation if it decides that - nothing that the module imports *and acually uses* has changed. - This decision is now taken by the compiler itself, rather than - by a Perl script (as in 2.01) which sometimes got it wrong. - - * The ghc/lib libraries are much more systematically organised. - - * There's a completely new "make" system. This will mainly affect people - who want the source distribution, who will hopefully find it much, much, - easier than grappling with the old Jmakefiles. Even for binary - installation, the procedure is a little simpler, though. +current language version is 1.4, agreed in April, 1997. Haskell +related information is available from the Haskell home page at: -Please see the release notes for a complete discussion of What's New. + http://haskell.org/ -To run this release, you need a machine with 16+MB memory (more if -building from sources), GNU C (`gcc'), and `perl'. We have seen GHC -2.01 work on these platforms: alpha-dec-osf2, hppa1.1-hp-hpux9, -sparc-sun-{sunos4,solaris2}, mips-sgi-irix5, and -i386-unknown-{linux,solaris2,freebsd,cygwin32}. Similar platforms -should work with minimal hacking effort. The installer's guide give a -complete run-down of what-ports-work. -Binaries are distributed in `bundles', e.g. a "profiling bundle" or a -"concurrency bundle" for your platform. Just grab the ones you need. ++ What's new +============= -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)! +Release 2.04 represent work done through May '97; highlights include: -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: + * Data constructors can now have polymophic fields, and ordinary + functions can have polymoprhic arguments. Details on - subscribe glasgow-haskell- Your Name + http://www.cse.ogi.edu/~simonpj/quantification.html -Please send bug reports about GHC to glasgow-haskell-bugs@dcs.gla.ac.uk. + Existential types coming, but not done yet. -Simon Peyton Jones + * Pattern guards implemented, see + + http://www.cse.ogi.edu/~simonpj/guards.html -Dated: March 1997 + * Compiler can now compile itself (i.e., no real dependence on + the Haskell 1.2 compiler anymore (version 0.29)). -Relevant URLs on the World-Wide Web: + * 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. -GHC home page http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/fp/software/ghc/ -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 + * powerpc-ibm-aix is now a supported GHC platform, due to the + Heroic Efforts of Andr\'e Santos . -====================================================================== -How to get GHC 2.02: + * 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. -This release is available by anonymous FTP from the main Haskell -archive sites, in the directory pub/haskell/glasgow: + * A couple of Haskell 1.4 features are still incompletely supported, + notably polymorphic strictness annotations, and Unicode. - ftp.dcs.gla.ac.uk (130.209.240.50) - ftp.cs.chalmers.se (129.16.227.140) - haskell.cs.yale.edu (128.36.11.43) +Please see the release notes for a complete discussion of What's New. -The Glasgow site is mirrored by src.doc.ic.ac.uk (146.169.43.1), in -computing/programming/languages/haskell/glasgow. -These are the available files (.gz files are gzipped) -- some are `on -demand', ask if you don't see them: ++ Mailing lists +================ -README.html A WWW `front-end' to the contents of the glasgow - directory. +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: -ghc-2.02-src.tar.gz The source distribution; about 3MB. + subscribe glasgow-haskell- Your Name + +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 + + ++ On-line GHC-related resources +================================ + +Relevant URLs on the World-Wide Web: + +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 -ghc-2.02.ANNOUNCE This file. -ghc-2.02.{README,RELEASE-NOTES} From the distribution; for those who - want to peek before FTPing... ++ How to get it +================ -ghc-2.02-ps-docs.tar.gz Main GHC documents in PostScript format; in - case your TeX setup doesn't agree with our - DVI files... +The easy way is to go to the WWW GHC distribution page, which should +be self-explanatory: -ghc-2.02-.tar.gz Basic binary distribution for a particular - . Unpack and go: you can compile - and run Haskell programs with nothing but one - of these files. NB: does *not* include - profiling (see below). + ftp://ftp.dcs.gla.ac.uk/pub/haskell/glasgow/README.html - ==> alpha-dec-osf2 - hppa1.1-hp-hpux9 - i386-unknown-freebsd - i386-unknown-linux - i386-unknown-solaris2 - i386-unknown-cygwin32 - m68k-sun-sunos4 - mips-sgi-irix5 - sparc-sun-sunos4 - sparc-sun-solaris2 +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)! -ghc-2.02--.tar.gz - ==> as above - ==> prof (profiling) - conc (concurrent Haskell) - par (parallel) - gran (GranSim parallel simulator) - ticky (`ticky-ticky' counts -- for implementors) - prof-conc (profiling for "conc[urrent]") - prof-ticky (ticky for "conc[urrent]") ++ System requirements +====================== -ghc-2.02-hc-files.tar.gz Basic set of intermediate C (.hc) files for the - compiler proper, the prelude, and `Hello, - world'. Used for bootstrapping the system. - About 4MB. +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: -ghc-2.02--hc-files.tar.gz Further sets of .hc files, for - building other "bundles", e.g., profiling. + * alpha-dec-osf2 + * hppa1.1-hp-hpux{9,10} + * sparc-sun-{sunos4,solaris2} + * mips-sgi-irix{5,6} + * i386-unknown-{linux,solaris2,freebsd,cygwin32}. + * powerpc-ibm-aix -ghc-2.02-hi-files-.tar.gz Sometimes it's more convenient to - use a different set of interface files than - the ones in *-src.tar.gz. (The installation - guide will advise you of this.) +Similar platforms should work with minimal hacking effort. The installer's +guide included in distribution gives a complete run-down of what-ports-work. -- 1.7.10.4