ML (programming language): Difference between revisions

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ML's strengths are mostly applied in language design and manipulation (compilers, analyzers, theorem provers), but it is a general-purpose language also used in [[bioinformatics]] and financial systems.

ML was developed by [[Robin Milner]] and others in the early 1970s at the [[University of Edinburgh]],<ref name="Gordon1996">{{cite web |last=Gordon |first=Michael J. C. |author-link=Michael J. C. Gordon |year=1996 |title=From LCF to HOL: a short history |url=http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mjcg/papers/HolHistory.html |access-date=2007-10-11}}</ref> and its syntax is inspired by [[ISWIM]]. Historically, ML was conceived to develop proof tactics in the [[Logic for Computable Functions|LCF theorem prover]] (whose language, ''pplambda'', a combination of the [[First-order logic|first-order predicate calculus]] and the simply- typed [[Polymorphism (computer science)|polymorphic]] [[lambda calculus]], had ML as its metalanguage).

Today there are several languages in the ML family; the three most prominent are [[Standard ML]] (SML), [[OCaml]] and [[F Sharp (programming language)|F#]]. Ideas from ML have influenced numerous other languages, like [[Haskell]], [[Cyclone (programming language)|Cyclone]], [[Nemerle]],<ref>{{Citation |title=Programming language for "special forces" of developers |publisher=Nemerle Project Team |publication-place=Russian Software Development Network |url=http://nemerle.org/About |access-date=January 24, 2021}}</ref> [[ATS (programming language)|ATS]], and [[Elm (programming language)|Elm]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Tate|first1=Bruce A.|last2=Daoud|first2=Fred|last3=Dees|first3=Ian|last4=Moffitt|first4=Jack|title=Seven More Languages in Seven Weeks|date=2014|publisher=The Pragmatic Programmers, LLC|isbn=978-1-941222-15-7|pages=97, 101|edition=Book version: P1.0-November 2014|chapter=3. Elm|quote=On page 101, Elm creator Evan Czaplicki says: 'I tend to say "Elm is an ML-family language" to get at the shared heritage of all these languages.' ["these languages" is referring to Haskell, OCaml, SML, and F#.]}}</ref>