SML# Project

A Brief History of SML#

The origin of the SML# can be traced back to the proposal of Machiavelli published in ACM SIGMOND 1989. This paper showed that ML with record polymorphism can be extended with SQL and reported a implementation of a prototype interpreter.

In 1993, Atsushi Ohori extended the Standard ML of New Jersey compiler at Kansai Laboratory of Oki Electric, and named the experimental prototype “SML# of Kansai”. The Internet still remembers the posting of SML# of Kansai to the types mailing list.

The name ‘‘SML# of Kansai’’ symbolized the field selector #label, which was given a polymorphic type for the first time by this compiler. This prototype implementation of th compiler was reported in the ACM TOPLAS article on record polymorphism as SML#.

To support not only record polymorphism but also inseparability and other practically important features, we decided to develop a new SML-style language from scratch, and in 2003, we started the SML# compiler project at Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology as a part of the e-Society project funded by the Japan ministry of science, education and technologies

In 2006, the project moved to Tohoku University.