This is the first public release of the Caml Special Light system.

OVERVIEW:

Caml Special Light is an implementation of the ML language, based on
the Caml Light dialect extended with a powerful module system in the
style of Standard ML.

Though close to Caml Light in many ways, Caml Special Light is not the
latest release of Caml Light: the language implemented has changed in
significant ways, source-level compatibility is not ensured, and the
implementation has been almost completely rewritten from scratch.

Caml Special Light comprises two compilers. One generates bytecode
which is then interpreted by a C program. This compiler runs quickly,
generates compact code with moderate memory requirements, and is
portable to essentially any 32 or 64 bit Unix platform. Performance of
generated programs is quite good for a bytecoded implementation:
almost twice as fast as Caml Light 0.7. This compiler can be used
either as a standalone, batch-oriented compiler that produces
standalone programs, or as an interactive, toplevel-based system.

The other compiler generates high-performance native code for a number
of processors. Compilation takes longer and generates bigger code, but
the generated programs deliver excellent performance (our tests show
that this compiler consistently outperforms Standard ML of New Jersey
1.08), while retaining the moderate memory requirements of the
bytecode compiler. The native-code compiler currently runs on the
following platforms:

        Alpha processors: DecStation 3000 under OSF1
        Sparc processors: Sun Sparcstation under SunOS 4.1 or Solaris 2
        Intel 386 / 486 / Pentium processors: PCs under Linux
        Mips processors: DecStation 3100 and 5000 under Ultrix 4

Other operating systems for the processors above have not been tested,
but the compiler may work under other operating systems with no or
little work.

This distribution has been tested on the following platforms:

        DecStation 3000/300, OSF/1 2.0, cc and gcc 2.5.8
        SparcStation 10, SunOS 4.1.3, gcc 2.5.8
        PC 486 DX2/66, Linux 1.2.13, gcc 2.5.8
        DecStation 5000/200, Ultrix 4.1, cc and gcc 2.4.5

CONTENTS:

  INSTALL               instructions for installation
  LICENSE               license and copyright notice
  Makefile              main Makefile
  Makefile.config       configuration information
  README                this file
  asmcomp/              native-code compiler and linker
  asmrun/               native-code runtime library
  boot/                 bootstrap compiler
  bytecomp/             bytecode compiler and linker
  byterun/              bytecode interpreter and runtime system
  config/               autoconfiguration stuff
  driver/               driver code for the compilers
  lex/                  lexer generator
  parsing/              syntax analysis
  stdlib/               standard library
  tools/                various utilities
  toplevel/             interactive system
  typing/               typechecking
  utils/                utility libraries
  yacc/                 parser generator

COPYRIGHT:

All files in this distribution are copyright 1995 Institut National de
Recherche en Informatique et Automatique (INRIA) and distributed under
the conditions stated in file LICENSE.
They can be freely redistributed for non-commercial purposes, provided
the copyright notice remains attached.

INSTALLATION:

See the file INSTALL for installation instructions on Unix machines. 

DOCUMENTATION:

The Caml Special Light manual is distributed in Postscript, DVI, and
plain text. It can be obtained by anonymous FTP from ftp.inria.fr as
described below. It is also available on the World Wide Web, at

        http://pauillac.inria.fr/caml/

AVAILABILITY:

The complete Caml Special Light distribution resides on ftp.inria.fr,
and can be accessed by anonymous FTP:

        host:       ftp.inria.fr (192.93.2.54)
        directory:  lang/caml-special-light

or through a Web browser at ftp://ftp.inria.fr/lang/caml-special-light/.

KEEPING IN TOUCH WITH THE CAML COMMUNITY:

There exists a mailing list of users of the Caml implementations
developed at INRIA. The purpose of this list is to share
experience, exchange ideas (and even code), and report on applications
of the Caml language. This list is moderated; messages can be
written in English or in French. The list has about 200 subscribers.

Messages to the list should be sent to:

              caml-list@pauillac.inria.fr

If you wish to subscribe to this list, please send a message
(including your email address) to:

              caml-list-request@pauillac.inria.fr

Archives of the list are available on the World Wide Web at URL
http://pauillac.inria.fr/caml/.

The Usenet news group comp.lang.ml also contains discussions about
the ML family of programming languages, including Caml. The newsgroup
is moderated.

BUG REPORTS AND USER FEEDBACK:

Send your bug reports by E-mail to:

          caml-light@pauillac.inria.fr

To be effective, bug reports should include a complete program
(preferably small) that exhibits the unexpected behavior, and the
configuration you are using (machine type, etc).

The mailing list caml-light@pauillac.inria.fr is forwarded to
a small group of implementors at INRIA. For general questions and
discussions, caml-list@pauillac.inria.fr is better; for bug reports
and very specific technical questions, caml-light@pauillac.inria.fr
is preferred. We often cross-post from one list to the other, anyway.