Changes to the Mercury language:
* Support for constrained polymorphic modes.
* Addition of state variable syntax.
* Improved support for higher-order functions.
* Predicate and function equivalence type and mode declarations.
* Support for defining predicates or functions
using different clauses for different modes.
* Support for Haskell-like "@" expressions.
* Generalized foreign language interface.
Changes to the Mercury compiler:
* A new `--make' option, for simpler building of programs.
* A new `--smart-recompilation' option, for fine-grained dependency tracking.
* A new optional warning: `--warn-non-tail-recursion'.
* A new optimization: `--constraint-propagation'.
* A new optimization: `--loop-invariants'.
* Support for arbitrary mappings from module name to source file name.
Portability improvements:
* Mac OS X is now supported "out-of-the-box".
* On Windows we now support generating non-Cygwin executables.
* Better conformance to ANSI/ISO C.
Changes to the compiler back-ends:
* The native code Linux/x86 back-end is now "release quality".
* The .NET CLR back-end is much improved.
Major improvements to the Mercury debugger, including:
* Support for source-linked debugging using vim (rather than emacs).
* Command-line completion.
* Ability to display values of higher-order terms.
* Declarative debugging.
* Support for transparent retries across I/O.
A new profiler, which we call the Mercury deep profiler or mdprof:
* Supports both time and memory profiling.
* Gathers information about individual call sites as well as procedures.
* Eliminates the assumption that all calls to a procedure have equal cost.
* Allows users to explore the gathered data interactively with a web browser.
Numerous minor improvements to the Mercury standard library.
A new testing tool in the extras distribution.
Mercury is a modern logic/functional programming language, which
combines the clarity and expressiveness of declarative programming
with advanced static analysis and error detection features. Its
highly optimized execution algorithm delivers efficiency far in excess
of existing logic programming systems, and close to conventional
programming systems. Mercury addresses the problems of large-scale
program development, allowing modularity, separate compilation, and
numerous optimization/time trade-offs.
This package includes the compiler, profiler, debugger, documentation,
etc. It does NOT include the "extras" distribution; that is available
from <http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/mercury/download/release.html>.
