[MLton] mlton talk

[Stephen Weeks]

> On Dec. 8, I'm giving an informal talk on MLton to the Harvard PL
> discussion group (which includes the C-- guys).  The tentative title
> (chosen by Norman) is: "Secrets of the MLton Optimization Masters".

I'd summarize the reason why MLton does well as: 

	whole-program optimization on a simply-typed, first-order,
	intermediate language

You can trace the implications of this apprach down any number of
paths to show how it lets us do things better.  You can also use this
to show where MLton is different from other compilers.

> I'm also planning on using it as a forcing function for working on
> the wiki.  My goal is to deliver the entire talk from the wiki and
> view-cvs.

Neat idea.

> To that end, I'm planning on getting more than enough information up on
> the wiki, so that the discussion can go where it takes us.  I envision
> getting all the information from doc/hacker-guide, particularly the
> Compiler Overview section (brought up to date, obviously).  I'd also like
> to get descriptions of all the ILs, passes between ILs, and optimizations,
> along with links to the appropriate cvs files.

FYI, I made a pass through an older hacker guide (not even in the CVS)
and made some pages:

	Defunctorization
	IntermediateLanguage
	MatchCompilation
	Monomorphisation
	ScopeInference
	Sxml
	TypeChecking
	Xml

It would be nice to include those in your organizing.