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Documentation for Poly/ML
Release Notes for Version 5.3 and earlier releases.
Version
5 Release Notes.
Includes information on how to build stand-alone applications
and the command line arguments for the Poly/ML compiler and run-time system.
Using Poly/ML
This describes how to run Poly/ML and also a number of the extensions
to Poly/ML such as the "make" system and the Process structure.
It was written for version 3 of Poly/ML so some sections of it have been
superseded by the Standard Basis Library. Other parts refer to features,
such as the persistent store, that have been removed or significantly
changed in version 5.
Poly/ML Interface to the C
Programming Language
Poly/ML includes a CInterface structure which allows dynamic linking to libraries written
in languages such as C or Fortran. This document describes the interface.
Poly/ML for Motif
Quick Reference Manual
An introduction to the Motif interface for Poly/ML together with a simple
example program.
Poly/ML for X Reference
Manual (PDF)
A reference manual for Xlib in Poly/ML.
Windows Programming
in Poly/ML
A short tutorial on programming Windows in Poly/ML.
Windows Interface
Reference
The reference for the Windows interface.
Short Documents.
The Standard Basis
A short overview of the Standard Basis with specific reference to the implementation in
Poly/ML .
The Thread Structure
A description of the Thread structure that enables programs to create
multiple threads, synchronise and communicate between them.
The SaveState
Structure
The PolyML.SaveState structure contains functions to save the current
state and reload it another session.
The Signal structure
Although the Posix structure in the Standard Basis Library provides functions
which send signals to a process there is no standard method of handling signals. The
Signal structure has been added to Poly/ML to allow signals to be blocked or
handled.
Source Level Debugging
in Poly/ML
A source level debugger was added in version 4.1. This document
explains how to use it to debug an ML program.
Pretty Printing
The pretty printing mechanism changed in version 5.3. This document describes
the new PolyML.addPrettyPrinter function and associated datatypes.
Overview of
the Poly/ML Source Code
An introduction to the various files that make up the Poly/ML source code.
The source code itself is fairly well commented but this provides an overview
of wher each file fits into the overall structure.
Other documentation.
Porting Poly/ML
How to port Poly/ML to another operating system and/or machine architecture.
This is currently being written.
IDE Communications
Protocol
Details of the communications protocol used to communicate between ML
and an IDE. This is work-in-progress for version 5.3.
The Poly Language.
Poly/ML gets its name because the original implementation was written in a language called Poly. This was developed by David Matthews at Cambridge University as part of a PhD project. Most of the papers to do with Poly are now out of print so for those interested in Poly three papers are now available.
The earliest document is the Introduction to Poly written in 1982. This describes how to write simple programs in Poly.
The Overview of the Poly Programming Language was presented at the First Workshop on Persistent Objects, Appin, Scotland in August 1985.
The Poly Manual is probably the most complete and up to date description of the language. This has gone through a number of versions and was published in an early version in SIGPLAN Notices in September 1985.