POLY(1)

💖 POLY(1) — the glow-up edition 💖

okay bestie, welcome to the polyc page from the General Commands Manual 🫶 this is a 1 (user commands) situation and it's literally about the Poly/ML compiler, so buckle up ✨

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🌸 NAME 🌸

polyc — compile and link a Standard ML program using Poly/ML 💅

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

polyc sourcefile

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so. polyc is a script, right? and what it does is compile a Standard ML program using the Poly/ML compiler, and then it makes an executable program out of it. iconic behavior, honestly. 👑

it's not a one-trick pony either — you can also use it to link object files that were created with the PolyML.export function together with the Poly/ML libraries, or to just produce an object file and dip. versatile queen 💅

when you're using it to compile a Standard ML program, it expects the main function to be called "main", like:

fun main() = print "Hello World\n";

yes, it literally needs that name. no cap.

and here's the vibe check on how it decides what you handed it: if the source file is a text file, it assumes it's ML source. if it's a binary file, it assumes it's an object file and it will get linked with the Poly/ML library. mystery solved, no notes. 🔍✨

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💅 OPTIONS 💅

• -c — compile but do not link. the object file gets written to a file whose name is based on the source file name, except any extension gets replaced with .o 📝
• -o output — write the executable file to "output". name it whatever you want, main character energy 🎀
• --help — write a list of the arguments and exit. the "just tell me what's going on" button, we love her 🙈

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🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

• http://www.polyml.org — the Poly/ML web site 🦋

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and that's the whole page bestie!! this one came from Poly/ML Version 5.9.2, dated 2025 — shoutout to the footer for keeping us grounded 🫶 stay slaying, compile responsibly, and remember: main or it didn't happen 💖✨🎀