Ground Up

[Theodore Norvell]

> Different compilers are not 100% compatible each to other,
> and even different versions of the same compilers may be
> incompatible. You should be ready either to stick yourself
> and your co-wokers to a certain version of the compiler or
> to spend some significal time to keep you programs working
> with any compiler.

Sorry to disagree.  I ported an application that's about
6,000 lines of H'98 code from NHC to GHC.  This took less than
an hour.  (I think the only problem had to do with import
rules.) Both before and after it was compatible with HUGS.
After I got it past the GHC compiler without errors, there
were no subsequent problems with differing interpretations.
Earlier ports from Gofer to NHC1.3 and from NHC1.3 to NHC98
where also fairly painless (mostly syntax fiddling).  So I have
to agree with SPJ, Haskell '98 is consistantly supported by
multiple implementations.

If you stray outside of Haskell '98, it can be expected that
things will not be so smooth, since you will then be using features
that range from nonstandard to experimental.

-- 
Cheers,
Theodore Norvell

----------------------------
Dr. Theodore Norvell                                           theo@engr.mun.ca
Electrical and Computer Engineering                http://www.engr.mun.ca/~theo
Engineering and Applied Science
Memorial University of Newfoundland
St. John's, NF, Canada, A1B 3X5

Currently visiting the Department of Computer Science and ICICS at the
University of British Columbia. See my webpage for contact details.