64-bit windows version?

[skaller]

On Wed, 2007-06-20 at 14:42 +0100, Simon Marlow wrote:

> "The binaries needed by programs built by these tools...", you're referring to 
> the C runtime DLLs?  Why does that matter?
> 
> Note I said "with no dependencies" above.  A Windows native port of GHC would 
> require you to go to MS and download the assembler and linker separately - we 
> couldn't automate that, there are click-through licenses and stuff.

So what? Felix requires:

(a) C/C++ compiler
(b) Python
(c) Ocaml

you have to download and install these tools on ANY platform,
including Ubuntu Linux. gcc isn't installed on a basic system.
True, with Debian, this can be automated, so you only have
to click on the main package.

I need THREE external tools. Is this a pain? YES!
[On Windows .. it's a breeze on Ubuntu .. :]

Is it too much effort to ask, for someone to use a major
advanced programming language like Haskell? 

Don't forget .. Mingw has to be installed too .. and in fact
that is much harder. I tried to install MSYS and gave up.

> MS pays for Ian Lynagh, who works full time on GHC as a contractor.  MS puts 
> roughly as much money into GHC as it does into F#, FWIW.

I'm happy to hear that!

Now let me turn the argument around. Mingw is a minor bit player.
The MS toolchain is the main toolchain to support. C++ can't
run on Mingw for example (MS and gcc C++ are incompatible).

GHC needs to target *professional windows programmers*.
They're going to have VS installed already. Haskell is far
too important a language (IMHO) not to have an entry in
the commercial programming arena.

Commercial programming is in a bad way! It NEEDS stuff like
Haskell available.

BTW: I don't really like Windows .. but I want to see Haskell
succeed. Trying to do Haskell on Windows without MSVC++ toolchain
is like trying to work on Linux without binutils... :)


-- 
John Skaller <skaller at users dot sf dot net>
Felix, successor to C++: http://felix.sf.net