ML

1. robotics Manipulator Language. IBM language for handling

robots.

2. Meta Language. R. Milner [email protected] et al,

1973. A strict higher-order functional language. It

was the first language to include polymorphic typing which

was statically-checked. It also had garbage collection and

a formal semantics.

It began as the metalanguage for the Edinburgh LCF proof

assistant. (LCF="Logic for Computable Functions") People soon

noticed that ML could be a useful general programming language

and stand-alone versions were implemented. Standard ML

(SML) is a descendant of these (and related languages such as

Hope). The "metalanguage" aspect has long since disappeared

from the language itself (although there are some systems that

still use it that way). The historical name is now so

inappropriate that asking what ML stands for is like asking

what C or Unix stands for. It doesn't stand for anything;

it just is.

LCF ML was implemented in Stanford LISP. Cardelli (1981)

implemented ML in Pascal using the Functional AbstractMachine (FAM). It has been significantly redesigned to

produce Standard ML and Lazy ML.

["A Metalanguage for Interactive Proof in LCF", M.J.C. Gordon

et al, 5th POPL, ACM 1978].