The Standard ML programming language is important as a robust, high-level, general-purpose language whose design is based on firm and clear theoretical foundations, expressed in a concise, rigorous and complete formal definition. It has become a paradigmatic language for the programming language research community over the last twenty years. Standard ML of New Jersey is the most widely used and best supported implementation of Standard ML, and it has seen wide use in the programming language and formal methods research communities (among others) since the late 1980s. It is available as a free, open source software system with a liberal BSD-style license. To remain viable and competitive, a programming system needs to be continually maintained and improved, and the resources provided under this award will help to do this. In order to maintain and increase the value of SML/NJ to its user community, this proposal will address the following needs: (1) to keep SML/NJ in step with advancing technologies (e.g. support for 64-bit architectures, Unicode character and string types, improved interoperability with other languages, support for new operating system releases and new platforms), (2) to improve the system's performance, reliability, capabilities, and usability, both as a programming tool and as a research and education platform, and (3) to manage the open source development process (e.g. managing bug reports and fixes, integrating contributed code, testing, building releases, writing and revising documentation, etc.). In addition, the proposed equipment infrastructure, consisting of instances of supported architectures and operating systems, will help maintain the valuable diversity of platforms that SML/NJ is known for. This is awarded as a community resource. Broader impacts of this award include its wide use in research and education in the field of programming languages, and use in development of major systems.
