xleroy@margaux.inria.fr (Xavier Leroy) (05/24/91)
The CAML Light system (version 0.3) is now available by anonymous FTP.
CAML Light is a small, portable implementation of the ML language. It runs
on most Unix machines; on Macintoshes under the Macintosh Programmer's
Workshop environment; and on all PCs (even those with only 640K and a
8088).
CAML Light implements a large subset of the CAML language, a functional
language from the ML family. CAML Light is quite close to Standard ML,
though not strictly conformant. There are some slight differences in
syntax and semantics, and major differences in the module system (these
changes were required to support separate compilation).
CAML Light is implemented as a bytecode compiler, and fully bootstrapped.
The runtime system and bytecode interpreter is written in standard C,
hence CAML Light is easy to port to almost any 32-bit platform. The whole
system is quite small: about 100K for the runtime system, and another 100K
of bytecode for the compiler. One megabyte of memory is enough to
recompile the whole system. This stands in sharp contrast with other
implementations of ML, such as SML-NJ, that requires five to ten times
more memory. Performance is quite good for a bytecoded implementation:
three to five times slower than SML-NJ.
CAML Light comes in two flavors: a classical, interactive, toplevel-based
system; and a standalone, batch-oriented compiler that produces standalone
programs, in the spirit of the Unix cc compiler. The former is good for
learning the language and testing programs. The latter integrates more
smoothly within the Unix programming environment: make, compilations under
Emacs, ... The generated programs are quite small, and they have access to
many Unix system calls. It is easy to write CAML Light programs that can
be used like any other Unix command.
CAML Light is available by anonymous FTP from nuri.inria.fr:
host: nuri.inria.fr (128.93.1.26)
directory: lang/caml-light
files:
cl-0.3-unix.tar.Z complete source code for Unix machines (in C
and in CAML Light), plus a bootstrap compiler
cl-0.3-msdos.zip binaries for the PC
cl-0.3-mac-mpw.hqx binaries for the Macintosh with MPW 3.1.
cl-doc.ps.Z compressed Postscript for
"Functional programming using CAML Light",
120+ pages.
The Unix version has been tested on: Sun 3/60, SunOS 3.5; Sun 4/65, SunOS
4.1; Sun 4/75, SunOS 4.1.1; DecStation 3100, Ultrix 2.1; DecStation
5000/200, Ultrix 4.1; Sony News 1510, NEWS-OS 3.3; Sony News 3410, NEWS-OS
4.0; Pyramid 9815, OSx 5.0; Encore Multimax, Encore Mach 1.0; Sequent
Balance, Dynix 3.0.4.
The MS-DOS version has been tested on: 386 PC, 640K, MS-DOS 3.3; 186
PC, 512K, MS-DOS 3.2.
The Macintosh version has been tested on: Mac II, system 6.0.4; Mac +,
6.0.7; Mac SE/30, 6.0.4; Mac SE, 6.0.4; Mac IIci, 6.0.5.
Your questions, comments, and bug reports are welcome. Send them to
"caml-light@margaux.inria.fr".
- Xavier Leroy
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% The CAML Light project "Low tar CAML taste" %
% caml-light@margaux.inria.fr %
% CAML Light, projet Formel, INRIA, B.P.105, 78153 Le Chesnay, France. %
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