The Glasgow Haskell Compiler -- version 0.23
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A new public release of the Glasgow Haskell Compiler is now available
(GHC, version 0.23). Binaries and sources are freely available by
anonymous FTP; details below.
Haskell is "the" standard lazy functional programming language [see
SIGPLAN Notices, May 1992]. The current language version is 1.2.
GHC is a state-of-the-art batch compiler. For some idea of how it
compares against the competition, see Pieter Hartel's recent revision
of his FPCA '93 paper. Reference attached. Summary: we win!
Highlights of what's new in GHC 0.23 since 0.22 (July 1994):
* Faster compilation times (less than 10% slower than HBC if not
using -O [on a Sun4]).
* Produces 10-15% smaller executables. The main compiler binary is
1MB smaller than in 0.22.
* >>> USER-VISIBLE changes <<< to "monadic I/O", because we are
switching to the Haskell 1.3 *draft* I/O proposal. Please see the
relevant bit of the User's Guide before doing monadic I/O things
with 0.23.
* Native-code generator for DEC Alphas.
* A _selective_ lambda lifter.
* The yacc-based parser is now called directly from Haskell.
* Configuration changed enough that "the same old thing" *won't* work.
Configuring binary distributions should be trivial now.
* Quite a few bugs fixed; the usual big wad of code added.
Please see the release notes for a complete discussion of What's New.
Should you upgrade to 0.23? If you are a contented 0.22 user,
probably not. Otherwise, probably yes.
To run this release, you need a machine with 16+MB memory, GNU C
(`gcc'), and `perl'. We have seen GHC work in *some* form or fashion
on: Sun4s, DEC Alphas, Sun3s, NeXTs, DECstations, HP-PA and SGI boxes.
Sun4s and Alphas, our development platforms, are fully supported; we
distribute binaries for them. The release notes give a full
what-ports-work report.
Once you have the distribution, please follow the pointers in
ghc/README to find all of the documentation in and about this release.
NB: preserve modification times when un-tarring (no `m' option for
tar, please)!
We run mailing lists for GHC users and bug reports; to subscribe, send
mail to glasgow-haskell-{users,bugs}[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Please send bug reports to glasgow-haskell-bugs.
Simon Peyton Jones
Dated: 94/12/21
======================================================================
Hartel reference:
@techreport{Har94g,
author = {P. H. Hartel},
title = {Benchmarking implementations of lazy functional
languages {II} -- Two years later},
institution = {Dept. of Comp. Sys, Univ. of Amsterdam},
type = {Technical report},
number = {Cs-94-21},
month = {Dec},
year = {1994}}
The paper is available from ftp.fwi.uva.nl,
file: pub/functional/reports/benchmarkII.ps.Z
The programs are in file: pub/functional/packages/benchmark.tar.Z
======================================================================
How to get GHC:
This release is available, in whole or in part, from the usual Haskell
anonymous FTP sites, in the directory pub/haskell/glasgow:
ftp.dcs.glasgow.ac.uk (130.209.240.50)
ftp.cs.chalmers.se (129.16.227.140)
nebula.cs.yale.edu (128.36.0.12)
The Glasgow site is mirrored by src.doc.ic.ac.uk (155.198.191.4), 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:
ghc-0.23-bin-sun4.tar.gz A binary distribution -- unpack & run!
For SunOS 4.1.x; assumes you have GNU C (gcc)
ghc-0.23-bin-alpha.tar.gz A binary distribution -- unpack & run!
Built on OSF1 V2.0; assumes you have GNU C (gcc).
ghc-0.23-bin-<other>.tar.gz Other binary distributions -- we will
make them available as we go along; they
will be announced on the Haskell mailing list
(not elsewhere).
ghc-0.23-src.tar.gz The basic source distribution; about 3MB.
ghc-0.23-hc-files.tar.gz The intermediate C (.hc) files for the
compiler proper, the prelude, and `Hello,
world'. About 4MB.
ghc-0.23.ANNOUNCE This file
ghc-0.23.{README,RELEASE-NOTES} From the distribution; for those who
want to peek before FTPing...
ghc-0.23-ps-docs.tar.gz Main GHC documents in PostScript format; in
case your TeX setup doesn't agree with our
DVI files...
There are no diffs from version 0.22, as they would be monstrous.
