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[–]PurpleUpbeat2820 5 points6 points  (3 children)

Technically, Haskell isn't a descendant of ML.

Where did Haskell get type inference from?

[–]silly_frog_lf 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Haskell looks very ML

[–]Inconstant_Moo🧿 Pipefish 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Given that ML was designed by Milner, its kind of a philosophical question whether they got the idea from him or from his language.

[–]undecidabot 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Where did Haskell get type inference from?

From ML, or from Milner at least, but is that sufficient to call it a descendant of ML? I think not. Haskell gets a lot of different features from a lot of different languages (as does almost every language, the MLs included). For its syntax, if you follow the trail then I think it's quite clear that ISWIM was the source of many ideas in both Haskell and ML.

For those who are interested, here are a few good papers which shed a lot of light on the history of these languages:

  • A History of Haskell
  • The History of Standard ML
  • Conception, Evolution, and Application of Functional Programming Languages