3 Objective Caml is an implementation of the ML language, based on
4 the Caml Light dialect extended with a complete class-based object system
5 and a powerful module system in the style of Standard ML.
7 Objective Caml comprises two compilers. One generates bytecode
8 which is then interpreted by a C program. This compiler runs quickly,
9 generates compact code with moderate memory requirements, and is
10 portable to essentially any 32 or 64 bit Unix platform. Performance of
11 generated programs is quite good for a bytecoded implementation.
12 This compiler can be used either as a standalone, batch-oriented
13 compiler that produces standalone programs, or as an interactive,
14 toplevel-based system.
16 The other compiler generates high-performance native code for a number
17 of processors. Compilation takes longer and generates bigger code, but
18 the generated programs deliver excellent performance, while retaining
19 the moderate memory requirements of the bytecode compiler. The
20 native-code compiler currently runs on the following platforms:
22 Tier 1 (actively used and maintained by the core Caml team):
25 IA32 (Pentium) Linux, FreeBSD, MacOS X, MS Windows
28 Tier 2 (maintained when possible, with help from users):
30 Alpha Digital Unix/Compaq Tru64, Linux, all BSD
31 AMD64 FreeBSD, OpenBSD
32 HP PA-RISC HPUX 11, Linux
33 IA32 (Pentium) NetBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris 9
37 SPARC Solaris 9, Linux, NetBSD
40 Other operating systems for the processors above have not been tested,
41 but the compiler may work under other operating systems with little work.
43 Before the introduction of objects, Objective Caml was known as Caml
44 Special Light. Objective Caml is almost upwards compatible with Caml
45 Special Light, except for a few additional reserved keywords that have
46 forced some renaming of standard library functions.
50 Changes what's new with each release
51 INSTALL instructions for installation
52 LICENSE license and copyright notice
53 Makefile main Makefile
55 README.win32 infos on the MS Windows ports of O.Caml
56 asmcomp/ native-code compiler and linker
57 asmrun/ native-code runtime library
58 boot/ bootstrap compiler
59 bytecomp/ bytecode compiler and linker
60 byterun/ bytecode interpreter and runtime system
61 camlp4/ the Camlp4 preprocessor
62 config/ autoconfiguration stuff
63 debugger/ source-level replay debugger
64 driver/ driver code for the compilers
65 emacs/ Caml editing mode and debugger interface for GNU Emacs
67 maccaml/ the Macintosh GUI
68 ocamldoc/ documentation generator
69 otherlibs/ several external libraries
70 parsing/ syntax analysis
71 stdlib/ standard library
72 tools/ various utilities
73 toplevel/ interactive system
75 utils/ utility libraries
76 yacc/ parser generator
80 All files marked "Copyright INRIA" in this distribution are copyright
81 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006
82 Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique
83 (INRIA) and distributed under the conditions stated in file LICENSE.
87 See the file INSTALL for installation instructions on Unix, Linux and
88 MacOS X machines. For MS Windows, see README.win32.
92 The Objective Caml manual is distributed in HTML, PDF, Postscript,
93 DVI, and Emacs Info files. It is available on the World Wide Web, at
99 The complete Objective Caml distribution can be accessed at
101 http://caml.inria.fr/
103 KEEPING IN TOUCH WITH THE CAML COMMUNITY:
105 There exists a mailing list of users of the Caml implementations
106 developed at INRIA. The purpose of this list is to share
107 experience, exchange ideas (and even code), and report on applications
108 of the Caml language. Messages can be written in English or in
109 French. The list has about 750 subscribers.
111 Messages to the list should be sent to:
115 You can subscribe to this list via the Web interface at
117 http://yquem.inria.fr/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/caml-list
119 Archives of the list are available on the Web site http://caml.inria.fr/
121 The Usenet news groups comp.lang.ml and comp.lang.functional
122 also contains discussions about the ML family of programming languages,
125 BUG REPORTS AND USER FEEDBACK:
127 Please report bugs using the Web interface to the bug-tracking system
128 at http://caml.inria.fr/bin/caml-bugs
130 To be effective, bug reports should include a complete program
131 (preferably small) that exhibits the unexpected behavior, and the
132 configuration you are using (machine type, etc).
134 You can also contact the implementors directly at caml@inria.fr.