MLton is a whole-program

optimizing compiler An optimizing compiler is a compiler designed to generate code that is optimized in aspects such as minimizing program execution time, memory usage, storage size, and power consumption. Optimization is generally implemented as a sequence of op ...

for the

programming language A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Programming languages are described in terms of their Syntax (programming languages), syntax (form) and semantics (computer science), semantics (meaning), usually def ...

Standard ML Standard ML (SML) is a General-purpose programming language, general-purpose, High-level programming language, high-level, Modular programming, modular, Functional programming, functional programming language with compile-time type checking and t ...

. MLton development began in 1997, and continues with a worldwide community of developers and users, who have helped to

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...

MLton to several

computing platform A computing platform, digital platform, or software platform is the infrastructure on which software is executed. While the individual components of a computing platform may be obfuscated under layers of abstraction, the ''summation of the requi ...

s. It is

free and open-source software Free and open-source software (FOSS) is software available under a license that grants users the right to use, modify, and distribute the software modified or not to everyone free of charge. FOSS is an inclusive umbrella term encompassing free ...

released under a

Historical Permission Notice and Disclaimer The Historical Permission Notice and Disclaimer (HPND) is an open source license, approved by the Open Source Initiative (OSI) and verified as GPL-compatible by the Free Software Foundation. Characteristics It is unique among the OSI's licenses ...

. MLton was a participating organization in the 2013

Google Summer of Code The Google Summer of Code, often abbreviated to GSoC, is an international annual program in which Google awards stipends to contributors who successfully complete a free and open-source software coding project during the summer. , the program is ...

. MLton aims to produce fast executables, and to encourage

rapid prototyping Rapid prototyping is a group of techniques used to quickly fabricate a scale model of a physical part or assembly using three-dimensional computer aided design ( CAD) data. Construction of the part or assembly is usually done using 3D printing ...

and

modular programming Modular programming is a software design technique that emphasizes separating the functionality of a program into independent, interchangeable modules, such that each contains everything necessary to execute only one aspect or "concern" of the d ...

by eliminating inefficiencies often associated with high-level features. It also aims to facilitate large-scale programming through the MLBasis system, simplifying modularity and management of namespaces. As a whole-program compiler, it is notable for lacking an

read–eval–print loop A read–eval–print loop (REPL), also termed an interactive toplevel or language shell, is a simple interactive computer programming environment that takes single user inputs, executes them, and returns the result to the user; a program written ...

interactive top-level, common among Standard ML environments. MLton includes several libraries in addition to the Basis

standard library In computer programming, a standard library is the library (computing), library made available across Programming language implementation, implementations of a programming language. Often, a standard library is specified by its associated program ...

including ML Language Processing Tools with an implementation of

ANTLR In computer-based language recognition, ANTLR (pronounced ''antler''), or ANother Tool for Language Recognition, is a parser generator that uses a LL(*) algorithm for parsing. ANTLR is the successor to the Purdue Compiler Construction Tool Set ...

, and MLRISC with code generators for

reduced instruction set computer In electronics and computer science, a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) is a computer architecture designed to simplify the individual instructions given to the computer to accomplish tasks. Compared to the instructions given to a com ...

s. It also implements features that aid in porting code from SML/NJ, one of the more popular SML implementations, including support for SML/NJ's compiling manager.

References

External links

* * * ML programming language family Programming languages created in 1997 {{Prog-lang-stub

See also

References

External links