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diff --git a/ghc/docs/release_notes/0-19-notes.lit b/ghc/docs/release_notes/0-19-notes.lit deleted file mode 100644 index 66c102453c..0000000000 --- a/ghc/docs/release_notes/0-19-notes.lit +++ /dev/null @@ -1,187 +0,0 @@ -Release~0.19 was the third public release of this compilation system. -It incorporates our new work for the last half of 1993. - -The announcement for this release is distributed as \tr{ANNOUNCE-0.19} -in the top-level directory. - -%************************************************************************ -%* * -\subsection[0-19-user-visible]{User-visible changes in 0.19, including incompatibilities} -%* * -%************************************************************************ - -You'll need to recompile everything if you're switching from a -previous version of GHC. (If you don't, you'll get ``consistency -errors''.) - -Default declarations: in. - -Derived instances of \tr{Ix} and \tr{readsPrec} (\tr{Text} class): in. -(Random Prelude instances of weird things: in.) You can avoid the -\tr{readsPrec} methods by using the \tr{-fomit-derived-read} option. - -Should be {\em faster}, for two reasons: (1)~A native-code generator -for the SPARC architecture (avoids C compilation time); (2)~an -array-based [vs naive list-based...] substitution mechanism in the -typechecker. Using \tr{-O2} or \tr{-fvia-C} avoids the native-code -generator. - -(Shouldn't be too much faster, because we spent a lot of the winnings -:-() - -\tr{MkInt} and friends {\em renamed}: \tr{MkInt}, \tr{MkChar}, -\tr{MkFloat}, \tr{MkDouble}, and \tr{MkInteger} are now \tr{I#}, -\tr{C#}, \tr{F#}, \tr{D#}, and \tr{J#}, respectively. -We won't change them again, we promise. - -\tr{-i}/\tr{-I} flags changed: You used to specify directories to -search for interface files with \tr{-I <dir>}; now you do it with -\tr{-i<dir>} [{\em no space after the \tr{-i}}] (same as HBC). -\tr{-I} is reserved for when doing \tr{-cpp} and for the C compiler, -when it is run. - -Renaming, feature horribilis that it is, is more-or-less fully -implemented. The User's Guide lists one or two exceptions. - -Specialised versions of overloaded functions: these are created -automagically with \tr{-O}, and also when you ask for them with -\tr{SPECIALIZE} pragmas. See the User's Guide for how to do this -(same as HBC). (We don't have specialised instance declarations yet.) - -GHC tries hard to do inlining (or ``unfolding'') across module -boundaries; just look at \tr{-O}-produced interface files. You can -enliven this process with \tr{INLINE} pragmas. - -The \tr{__GLASGOW_HASKELL__} CPP directive is only set when -pre-processing Haskell source (and not when pre-processing generated -C). - -Revised scheme for using system-provided libraries (e.g., the HBC -library). Just use a \tr{-syslib <name>} option when compiling and -linking. See the User's Guide for details. - -%************************************************************************ -%* * -\subsection[0-19-new-docs]{New documentation} -%* * -%************************************************************************ - -See \tr{ghc/docs/README} for a full list of documentation. - -The updated User's Guide has new sections including: (a)~advice for -creating smaller and faster programs more quickly, and (b)~about the -HBC library [stolen documentation]. - -We've dropped papers from the distribution (they're big, and you can -get them easily anyway); instead, we provide abstracts of all -documents about all relevant work at Glasgow; see -\tr{ghc/docs/abstracts}. - -New: ``A Simple Country Boy's Guide to Monadic-Style Programming'' (Will -Partain). In \tr{ghc/docs/simple-monad.lhs}. - -%************************************************************************ -%* * -\subsection[0-19-new-in-compiler]{New in the compiler proper} -%* * -%************************************************************************ - -Strictness analyser: produces/handles ``nested'' strictness -- e.g., -\tr{U(SLL)} means ``this single-constructor argument is strict, and it -is also strict in its first component.'' There's also ``absence -analysis'' in there: \tr{U(ASA)} means ``strict in the second -component, and the first/third are not used at all.'' - -New simplifier: the program-transformation engine in the middle of the -compiler. The ``old simplifier,'' primarily the work of Andr\'e -Santos, has retired to an Old Simplifier's Home on the coast of -Brazil, where it is collecting a well-deserved monadic pension. - -%************************************************************************ -%* * -\subsection[0-19-new-in-libraries]{In the prelude and runtime support} -%* * -%************************************************************************ - -A couple of new functions in the @PackedString@ module that comes with -the system. Mentioned in the User's Guide. - -The HBC library has been upgraded to match the latest HBC release -(0.999.5). We now support the \tr{Native} and \tr{NameSupply} -modules, which we didn't before. - -Alastair Reid's implementation of ``stable pointers,'' which he uses -to do callbacks with the X Window System (yow!), is in. I (WDP) don't -know about documentation.... send mail if you need to know. - -%************************************************************************ -%* * -\subsection[0-19-new-ports]{In the porting department} -%* * -%************************************************************************ - -We use Sun4s running SunOS~4.1.3, so those are the best-supported -machines. For these, we have a native-code generator (the best); next -best is a ``registerised'' port; the bare minimum is an -``unregisterised'' port. - -The 0.19 infrastructure for ``stealing'' registers for a registerised port -(using a GCC extension) is much more robust---take note, brave porters. - -Here's everying that's known about the porting world: -\begin{description} -%------------------------------------------------------------------- -\item[Sun3 running SunOS~4.1.3:] -A registerised port is done; could be made available. - -%------------------------------------------------------------------- -\item[GRIP multiprocessor:] -68020-based multiprocessor for running parallel Haskell programs. -A registerised port is done; too bad we have the only machine! -If you have something parallel you {\em really} wanted to run on it, -please get in touch with us. - -%------------------------------------------------------------------- -\item[HP-PA box running HP/UX:] -An unregisterised port of 0.17 (0.16+portability fixes) seems to -work, except that floating-point is definitely busted. 0.19~should be -no worse. - -%------------------------------------------------------------------- -\item[DECstation (MIPS-based):] -An unregisterised port of 0.17 works; 0.19~should be the same. - -%------------------------------------------------------------------- -\item[DEC Alpha running OSF/1:] -We've done an unregisterised port (unreleased), and a registerised -port is not far off. - -%------------------------------------------------------------------- -\item[Sun running Solaris 2.x:] -We've started on this ourselves and foresee no obstacle to a -``registerised'' port. Not sure about native-code... - -%------------------------------------------------------------------- -\item[x86 PCs running Linux:] -This really needs a native-code generator to be viable. We hope the -elves will give us one for Christmas! - -%------------------------------------------------------------------- -\item[Macintosh, using MPW:] -As mind-blowing at it may seem, David Wright in Tasmania has actually -gotten GHC to run on a Macintosh. I believe it's still in the ``you -can do it, but you don't want to'' stage. -\end{description} - -%************************************************************************ -%* * -\subsection[0-19-new-elsewhere]{New elsewhere} -%* * -%************************************************************************ - -In the ``literate programming'' stuff that happens to come with GHC: a -few bug fixes, plus a significant contribution from Chris Toshok -(\tr{toshok@cs.uidaho.edu}) of ``lit2html'' stuff; i.e., to convert -your literate programs into HTML, the Hypertext Markup Language used -on the World-Wide Web. I (WDP) am not sure it's completely finished, -or exactly what you invoke to do what, but it seems Way Cool. |