How do I install a working version of Standard ML on Mac?

Question

I'm using Mac OSX 10.7.5 and I can't seem to get download a working Standard ML compiler with a REPL available. Is this supposed to be so difficult? Is there a best ML that I should be downloading. I've tried SML/NJ and MLton to no avail.

Answer 1

I did the following:

--download appropriate(for your operating system) .dmg file from http://www.smlnj.org/dist/working/110.75/

--in your ~/.bash_profile: export PATH="$PATH:/usr/local/smlnj-110.75/bin"

--run your bash_profile by doing source .bash_profile

--go to terminal and type sml.

I personally use sml mode for emacs. Add the following to your .emacs file and make sure that sml mode is installed in your emacs from M-list-packages.

(setenv "PATH" (concat "/usr/local/smlnj-110.75/bin:" (getenv "PATH")))

(setq exec-path (cons "/usr/local/smlnj-110.75/bin" exec-path))

You can start sml REPL in emacs by doing C-c C-s.

Answer 2

I downloaded SML/NJ 110.76 for Mac OS X package from http://www.smlnj.org/dist/working/110.76/index.html

and then installed it, and access it at /usr/local/smlnj/bin/sml

Answer 3

A Mac user can also use

$ brew install smlnj

Add path similar to /usr/local/Cellar/smlnj/110.82/libexec/bin to your .bash_profile.

$ source ~/.bash_profile

See this article for more information.

Answer 4

You can try Moscow ML from http://mosml.org/ - there is also a mosml-2.10.1.pkg available for OS X. Moscow ML is generally less popular than SML/NJ but has a very fine REPL with comprehensible error messages. It is an excellent learning environment.

Answer 5

If you don't mind a somewhat big download using approx. 600 MB disk space, you can try Isabelle/ML. Isabelle is mainly a theorem proving environment, but it is based on Poly/ML including a reasonably IDE: Isabelle/jEdit.

To write SML in Isabelle/ML, it needs to be incorporated into theory sources like this:

theory Scratch
imports Main
begin

ML {* fun f 0 = 1 | f n = n * f (n - 1) *}

ML {* f 42 *}

end