This is version 0.18 of the Glasgow Haskell compiler.

0.18 is an "internal" release intended *ONLY* for those actually
hacking on the compiler source -- that is, those who *REALLY* know
what they are doing.  Anyone else is crazy to use it; anyone who uses
it without keeping a "real" GHC release (0.16 or 0.17) around is
obviously demented.

The chances of a "clean" build are near zero, no matter what Haskell
compiler you build with.  Be prepared to utter magic incantations.
(For example, `make reader/ReadPragmas.o
EXTRA_HC_OPTS="-fno-strictness -fno-specialise -fno-case-of-case"'.)

An incomplete "what's new" list:

* Unfoldings across module boundaries.  Still v limited.

* Specialisation of overloaded functions.  Instances -- not yet.

* Strictness analyser that handles "nested" strictness and does
  "absence analysis" as well.  Makes Prelude.hi fun to read.  Hints:
  _N_ = nothing, _A_ = arity, _U_ = update analysis info, _S_ =
  strictness (U = unpack, A = absent, L = lazy, S = strict, E = strict
  & enumeration type, P = primitive).

* Prelude info no longer horribly built into the compiler (as much).
  Manipulating the prelude is not nearly so delicate as it once was.

* Some names have changed: MkChar => C#, MkInt => I#, MkFloat => F#,
  MkDouble => D#, MkInteger => J#.  (They won't change again...)

* Includes Patrick Sansom's array-based substitution code (much faster
  typechecking).  (You probably won't see the speedup, though, because
  we've spent all the savings on fancier intermodule stuff.)

* We've added a Core "lint" pass, which can be used to check
  types/out-of-scope-errors/etc after every Core-to-Core pass.  It's
  great!  -dcore-lint.

* Initial "Native" class support; use "-syslib hbc".

* Lots of compiler code hacked on, for better or worse.

* Lots of gratuitous "trace" messages when running the compiler :-)

Documentation is unchanged since 0.1[67].  There is not one word about
any new features.

We *hope* for a new public release before Christmas (1993).

Will Partain
Keeper of the Bits, AQUA Project

Dated: 93/11/04

E-mail contacts:
    glasgow-haskell-bugs@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk	(bug reports)
    glasgow-haskell-request@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk   (general queries)

Anonymous FTP site: ftp.dcs.glasgow.ac.uk:pub/haskell/glasgow.  Mostly
mirrored by ftp.cs.chalmers.se and nebula.cs.yale.edu (same
directory).  Also: src.doc.ic.ac.uk, in
computing/programming/languages/haskell/glasgow/.