nhc13 release history

Additions: Binary library functions endBin, skipBits, clearBits, copyBytes, etc. + documentation updates.
Bugfix: fixed (>) and (>=) for multiple precision integers

Addition: a library for binary arrays, BinArray, has been revised and added to the distribution.
Addition: the efficient bulk-transfer operation copyBin has now been added to the Binary library.
Bugfix: GreenCard now treats functions of type ()->IO a correctly.
Bugfix: there are some additional options to the config script.

Mainly bugfixes in the new configuration/installation script, particularly installation of nhc13make, and better handling of re-compilation in the presence of errors.
Some minor library bugfixes: Array is now an instance of Functor (i.e. you can use map on an array rather than the old amap); in GreenCard, the null string is now converted to an empty string; the limit on ForeignObj's is now extended to 1024.

A complete overhaul of the installation scripts, particularly for the C source distribution: there is now much greater automation of configuration, build and installation.
The treatment of big- vs. little-endian architectures is now fully automatic.

The binary libraries have been completely re-implemented (again). The new version unifies memory compression and binary I/O into a single `Binary' class. The old interfaces are still available, but there are many benefits to the new design.
Bugfixes in the nhc13 version of the greencard tool: it now understands `%const' directives; and user DISs with multiple parameters (e.g. `<fr/to> a b c') are now handled correctly.
Bugfixes in the installation scripts for the C source distribution (which is now beta quality): the makefile now correctly builds the runtime and prelude before the compiler which must be linked with them; and the freshly-built compiler now uses the ANSI-C backend by default.
A couple of other minor compiler bugfixes have been incorporated.

I have just added an (alpha-quality) distribution package which requires only an ANSI-C compiler (for instance, gcc) to build nhc13. This should make nhc13 an extremely portable Haskell compiler. It was made possible by a new compiler back-end (beta-quality) which generates ANSI-C. The intention is to allow easy cross-compilation (e.g. for embedded systems). We will be testing the cross-compiler in early 1998.

When you use the nhc13 or nhc13make commands, GreenCard will be called automatically if the file you are compiling has the extension .gc.
The Compress and BinIO libraries have been completely re-implemented using GreenCard. As well as being faster all round, it is now possible to interleave random-access reading and writing on the same file.

The latest updates to these pages are available on the WWW from http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/fp/nhc13/

1998.05.27
York Functional Programming Group
Malcolm.Wallace@cs.york.ac.uk