## Notes ##
+* If the instructions below seem overwhelming, note that it should be possible to do a lot of this course using only demonstration versions of these languages [[that run in your web browser|browser]].
+
* We were updating this page vigorously until about 2:30 pm on Saturday 31
January. Now it is relatively stable, but we'll tweak it as we learn more. We
encourage you to try to get the software set up sooner rather than later, and
keyboard arrows.
+<!-- More info on installing Ocaml and VMs at <http://ocaml.org/learn/teaching-ocaml.html#OCamlinstallation> -->
+
<a name=haskell></a>
## Getting Haskell ##
* **gcc** and **llvm/clang** and **Xcode** and **MinGW** are names for other compilers on various systems. Oftentimes these will be used during the installation process to get GHC up and running. Some of the strategies described below will help you install these if they're not already on your machine.
* **alex** and **happy** and **haddock** are names of various Haskell helper programs that GHC uses to get up and running.
* **cabal** is a "package manager" for Haskell. It allows you to install libraries or extensions that other people have built. (Usually those are published at the [Hackage](https://hackage.haskell.org) Package Database.) Some of these are experimental and may not always work; others are quite fundamental and are almost de facto parts of what people expect in a Haskell system.
-* **[Haskell Platform](https://www.haskell.org/platform/contents.html)** is a standard bundle that includes a specific version of GHC, plus specific versions of some of the most popular libraries or extensions. This is updated once or twice a year. The current version is 2014.2.0.0, from August 2014. It includes GHC version 7.8.3.
+* The **[Haskell Platform](https://www.haskell.org/platform/contents.html)** is a standard bundle that includes a specific version of GHC, plus specific versions of some of the most popular libraries or extensions. This is updated once or twice a year. The current version is 2014.2.0.0, from August 2014. It includes GHC version 7.8.3.
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**:
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.
+* 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 the 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:
* In a Terminal, type `sudo apt-get install haskell-platform`.
-It's useful to know about the [Haskell Wiki](https://wiki.haskell.org). 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: