+The easiest way to get up and running with Haskell/GHC is to install the Haskell Platform. Here's how to do that **on Windows**:
+
+* Go to <https://www.haskell.org/platform/windows.html> and follow the instructions. It looks like this process will automatically install the MinGW compiler needed to get this build of Haskell running on Windows.
+
+On **Mac without MacPorts**:
+
+* Go to <https://www.haskell.org/platform/mac.html> and follow the instructions. This requires Mac OS X 10.6 / Snow Leopard or later; but there is a link to an earlier version of Haskell Platform, that's built for Mac OS X 10.5 / Leopard. During the installation, you may be prompted to install "the command line developer tools"; this is a portion of what Apple bundles together with Xcode (mentioned above on this page). The installer will take care of getting these for you if you give it permission.
+
+<!--
+The Installer places everything in your system directories. If you'd like it instead in your user directory (easier to clean up later), you can do this after running the Installer:
+
+ mkdir ~/Library/Frameworks
+ cp -a /Library/Frameworks/GHC.framework ~/Library/Frameworks/
+ [ -d ~/Library/Haskell ] && mv ~/Library/Haskell ~/Library/Haskell.orig
+ sudo mv /Library/Haskell ~/Library/
+ sudo chown -Rh $USER:staff ~/Library/Haskell
+ mkdir -p ~/share/doc ~/share/man/man1
+ ln -s ~/Library/Frameworks/GHC.framework/Versions/Current/usr/share/doc/ghc ~/share/doc/
+ ln -s ~/Library/Frameworks/GHC.framework/Versions/Current/usr/share/man/man1/ghc.1 ~/share/man/man1/
+ sudo rm -r /usr/share/doc/ghc /usr/share/man/man1/ghc.1 /Library/Frameworks/GHC.framework
+ for f in ghc ghc-7.8.3 ghc-pkg ghc-pkg-7.8.3 ghci ghci-7.8.3 haddock haddock-ghc-7.8.3 hp2ps hpc hsc2hs runghc runghc-7.8.3 runhaskell; do
+ ln -s ~/Library/Frameworks/GHC.framework/Versions/7.8.3-*/usr/bin/$f ~/bin/
+ sudo rm /usr/bin/$f
+ done
+ for f in activate-hs alex cabal cabal.real cabal.wrap ghc-clang-wrapper happy HsColour uninstall-hs; do
+ ln -s /Library/Haskell/ghc-7.8.3-*/bin/$f ~/bin/
+ sudo rm /usr/bin/$f
+ done
+ sed -i "" "s=/Library=$HOME/Library=g" $(fgrep -RIl /Library ~/Library/Haskell ~/Library/Frameworks/GHC.framework | fgrep -v .html)
+
+# Ehh. Doesn't work...
+-->
+
+On **Mac with MacPorts**:
+
+* In a Terminal, type `sudo port install haskell-platform`.
+
+On **Ubuntu or Debian Linux**:
+
+* In a Terminal, type `sudo apt-get install haskell-platform`.
+
+
+It's useful to know about the general [Haskell wiki](https://wiki.haskell.org) (not restricted to just GHC). They have a [Getting Started](https://wiki.haskell.org/Haskell_in_5_steps) page, which also recommends that you install the Haskell Platform.
+
+If any of the instructions above don't work, then you can try alternative instructions for [Mac](http://new-www.haskell.org/downloads/osx) or [Windows](http://new-www.haskell.org/downloads/windows) or [Ubuntu](http://new-www.haskell.org/downloads/linux). Note that this method doesn't install all the extensions that are part of the Haskell Platform, but only the core pieces of GHC. You can use Cabal to download and manage any extra extensions you turn out to need, down the road.
+
+**After installing Haskell**, open a Terminal and type:
+
+ cabal update
+
+It may give you a message about updating your `PATH` variable. On my Mac, I was prompted to do this: