[MLton] the next public release

[Matthew Fluet]

> > I've been thinking for a while that the User's Guide and/or the
> > website should have a "MLton Philosophy" section.  For example, I
> > don't see anywhere in the documentation a statement along the lines
> > of "(Strict) adherence to the Definition of Standard ML is a driving
> > principle in the development of MLton."
>
> I agree this should be stated, but I'm not sure it belongs in the User
> Guide.

Let me clarify a little more about what I felt a "MLton Philosophy" should
address, because my impression from Henry's and Stephen's responses is
that they have slightly different interpretations.

Essentially, I'd like to see something that addresses "what" MLton strives
to be.  The items that Henry added (coding style) address "how" MLton
implements "what" it strives to be -- so I don't think they have a place
in the "MLton Philosophy"; but I do think they belong in the mythical
hacker's guide (although there are notes to that effect in /doc/style-guide).

I had suggested the User's Guide, because I also hoped that in addressing
"what" MLton strives to be, it would be information for users in
anticipating future developments in MLton.  We informally hint at these
issues in the projects web-page and in the yearly surveys; one "missing"
project is implementing language extensions -- the question that
"Philosophy" would answer is whether or not this is a purposeful omission.

Anyways, the new front-end and MLBs seem to point towards making MLton
more palatable to the end-user.  The question I'm having is how for do we
intend to move/allow movement in that direction --- and we in the largest
sense of anyone who is willing to submit code.