Awesome Standard ML

Useful things for the Standard ML programming language.

Language definition

• SML Family website
• Definition of Standard ML (SML'90)
• Definition of Standard ML (SML'97)
• Full grammar of SML'97 syntax
• Defects in SML'97
• Mechanization of Standard ML
• Successor ML

Tutorials

• ML for the Working Programmer (2nd Edition, full text)
• Programming in Standard ML (Robert Harper) (and PDF version)
• Programming in Standard ML '97: An Online Tutorial (Stephen Gilmore)
• Tips for Computer Scientists on Standard ML (Revised) (Mads Tofte)
• A Gentle Introduction to ML (Andrew Cummings)
• Programming Languages course notes (Dan Grossman)
• Introduction to Standard ML (Atsushi Ohori)
• Standard ML Programming at Wikibooks
• Learn X in Y minutes Where X=Standard ML

Courses

• CMU CS 15-150: Functional Programming
• Cornell CS312: Data Structures and Functional Programming

Modules

• Modules Matter Most: presentation and rationale of the module system
• Essentials of Standard ML Modules (Mads Tofte)

References

• smlhelp
• Unix System Programming with SML
• SML at Rosetta Code

Data structures

• Purely Functional Data Structures

Implementations

• SML/NJ (Standard ML of New Jersey): the canonical SML compiler
• MLton: very advanced whole-program optimizing compiler
  • MaPLe: fork-join parallelism extension for MLton
• Poly/ML: good compiler with threads and concurrent GC
• CakeML: verified self-hosting subset of SML
• Alice ML: SML with extensions for concurrent, distributed, and constraint programming
• Moscow ML: lightweight compiler and interpreter
• HaMLet: self-hosting SML interpreter written entirely in SML
• MLKit: new compiler with versatile GC
• SML#: new compiler with practical language extensions
• MLWorks: old commercial compiler from Harlequin, open-sourced by Ravenbrook
• SML.NET: compiler targeting the .NET Common Language Runtime
• MLj: compiles a SML subset to JVM bytecode
• SMLtoJs: SML-to-JavaScript transpiler
• SOSML: Online Interpreter for Standard ML, written in TypeScript
• WebML: WebAssembly compiler and REPL that runs on browsers
• LunarML: transpile to Lua
• Morel: Standard ML interpreter, with relational extensions, implemented in Java
• Further implementation overview: provides additional information per implementation, such as FFI, availability of REPL.

Standard libraries

• Standard ML Basis Library
• Concurrent ML

Implementation libraries

• SML/NJ libraries also ships with MLton
• Poly/ML libraries
• Moscow ML libraries
• MLton structure
• MLton libraries

Third-party libraries

• cmlib basic library of algorithms and data structures
• sml-rmath library supporting seven SML implementations/dialects (for the Rmath library)
• sml-iconv library supporting MLton and Poly/ML, based on FFI, providing bindings for iconv

Build tools

• Smackage: package manager for many implementations
• SML/NJ Compilation Manager (CM); for SML/NJ, also partly supported by MLton; also see the Compiler Hacker's Guide to CM
• PreML: preprocessor for SML
• smlformat: auto-formatter for the Standard ML language (based on SML/NJ)
• smlpkg: A generic, implementation-agnostic package manager for Standard ML.
• Bazel SML Rules: Bazel build rules support for SML (via MLton).

Editing tools

• Emacs sml-mode: editing mode for SML code
• Emacs sml-basis: Basis Library documentation
• Millet SML language server: Inline errors, syntax helpers, and other entry-level langserver features

Applications

• FoxNet: TCP/IP stack in SML

Commentary

• Existential Type - a blog by Robert Harper
• Critique of Standard ML by Andrew Appel
• Reflections on Standard ML by David MacQueen

Community

• Freenode #sml IRC channel
• Standard ML Reddit
• Standard ML Reddit Wiki
• Standard ML implementers mailing list
• Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) School of Computer Science