1. robotics Manipulator Language. IBM language for handling
robots.
was the first language to include
polymorphic typing which
assistant. (LCF="Logic for Computable Functions") People soon
noticed that ML could be a useful general programming language
(SML) is a descendant of these (and related languages such as
Hope). The "metalanguage" aspect has long since disappeared
from the language itself (although there are some systems that
still use it that way). The historical name is now so
inappropriate that asking what ML stands for is like asking
what
C or
Unix stands for. It doesn't stand for anything;
it just is.
["A Metalanguage for Interactive Proof in LCF", M.J.C. Gordon
et al, 5th POPL, ACM 1978].