Glasgow Haskell 0.19 released

The Glasgow Haskell Compiler -- version 0.19
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"What a great system!"


The third public release of the Glasgow Haskell Compiler is now available
(GHC, version 0.19). Binaries and sources are freely available by FTP;
details below.


Highlights of what's new in 0.19 since 0.16 (July 1993):
    * Somewhat faster compilation times.
    * Still better error messages.
    * Better Haskell 1.2 compliance, including more derived instances,
        `default' declarations, renaming, etc.
    * Native-code generator for SPARC.
    * Unfoldings across module boundaries.
    * Automatic specialisation of overloaded functions.
    * Better strictness analysis, including "looking inside tuples" and
        "absence analysis" (arguments that aren't used).
    * New "simplifier" (program-transformation engine).


Please see the release notes for a more complete list (including Backward
Incompatibilities to watch out for).


To run this release, you need a machine with 16+MB memory, GNU C (`gcc')
[version 2.1 or greater], and `perl'. We have seen GHC work in *some*
form or fashion on: Sun4s, Sun3s, DECstations, DEC Alphas, HP-PA boxes.
Sun4s, our development platform, are by far the best supported. We will
distribute binaries as we build them.


Once you have the distribution, please follow the pointers in ghc/README
to find all of the documentation in and about this release.


Please report bugs to glasgow-haskell-bugs@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk and direct
general queries to glasgow-haskell-request@<same>.


We are very grateful to everyone who has sent a bug report, sent a "look
at this weird result" report, lent us a machine on which to try a port, or
(best of all) contributed code. Keep up the good work.


Simon Peyton Jones


Dated: 93/12/16
....................................................................


"Should I start using GHC 0.19?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


* If you're using a previous release of GHC: YES. (Recompile everything.)


* If you want to hack on a Haskell compiler: YES.


* If you're new to Haskell: Try Gofer (an interpreter for a
    Haskell-like language) first; then come back and say YES.


* If you want time profiling as well as space profiling: YES.


* If you need the Glasgow Haskell extensions, i.e., calling C, unboxed
    datatypes, monadic I/O etc.: YES. (ghc/README says a little more
    about these features.)


* If you're using HBC at the moment: not a clear YES or NO. *We*
    really like having both compilers to play against each other. For
    example, HBC has better compilation times, but you'll like GHC's
    error messages. And you can try them both before submitting a bug
    report for either one.


* If you want simulated parallel execution on a uniprocessor: NO.
    (Use the "hbcpp" variant of HBC from York.)


....................................................................


How to make sure every release of GHC will run your program (well)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


*Please* send us a copy! Part of our work is to collect and study large
and *realistic* Haskell programs. Only you can provide them. They need
not be final, polished versions -- they just have to run.


Among other things, we run every release against our entire collection, so
if your program's in there...


....................................................................


How to get it
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 (129.16.225.66)
nebula.cs.yale.edu (128.36.13.1)


We are mirrored by src.doc.ic.ac.uk, in
computing/programming/languages/haskell/glasgow, and you can get files
from there by every means known to humanity.


These are the available files (.Z for compressed, .gz for gzipped) -- some
are `on demand', ask if you don't see them:


ghc-0.19-bin-sun4.tar.{Z,gz} A binary distribution -- unpack & run!
For SunOS 4.1.x; assumes you have GNU C (gcc)
version 2.x around...


ghc-0.19-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-0.19-src.tar.gz The basic source distribution; about 3MB.


ghc-0.19-hc-files.tar.gz The intermediate C (.hc) files for the
compiler proper, the prelude, and `Hello,
world'.


ghc-0.19.ANNOUNCE This file


ghc-0.19.{README,RELEASE-NOTES} From the distribution; for those who
want to peek before FTPing...


ghc-0.19-ps-docs.tar.gz Main GHC documents in PostScript format; in
case your TeX setup doesn't agree with our
DVI files...


ghc-0.19-hi-files-hbc.tar.gz
Interface files for the compiler proper
(ghc/compiler/*/*.hi), to be used if booting
with either HBC. (The distributed .hi files
assume GHC version 0.19.)


There are no diffs from version 0.16, as they would be laughably huge.
--

Return to the comp.compilers page.
Search the comp.compilers archives again.