Overview

This page contains a summary of all documentation that is available for users of ML/I. Other pages provide details of ML/I internals, papers, etc.

The most important document is of course the ML/I User's Manual. Despite its forbidding appearance, it is reasonably tutorial in nature, and it is possible to learn how to use ML/I just by reading this and little else. The User's Manual is machine and system independent, so in order to use ML/I on a particular system, one must also read the appropriate Appendix to the User's Manual. There is one Appendix for each different implementation.

The User's Manual is rigorous in its approach, and is the definitive reference when determining what ML/I will do in a given situation.

For an easy start, it may be better to read the Simple Introductory Guide before starting on the User's Manual. This provides a 'hands on' introduction to ML/I; the appropriate Appendix will also be useful, at least for finding out how to access and run ML/I on a particular system.

There is also a newer introductory document, An ML/I tutorial, which takes a different approach; this may be the easiest starting point for most new users. It also covers some basic concepts which are not always clearly explained elsewhere.

In summary, therefore, the beginner is recommended to read these documents in this order:

1. The ML/I tutorial
2. The simple introductory guide to ML/I
3. The ML/I User's Manual

Documents

Documentation format

Each document is available in Portable Document Format (PDF). This can be viewed on most systems using appropriate software such as Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is freely available from http://www.adobe.com. Clicking on the 'Get Adobe Reader' graphic at the end of this page will take you straight to the main Adobe Acrobat Reader page.

As an alternative, each document is also available in HTML, as a single file. This can of course be viewed with any browser, although the output is not as pleasing as the PDF version.

Document downloads

These are the currently available documents which are independent of any particular implementation:

These are the currently available appendices to the ML/I User's Manual; each is specific to a particular implementation. Naturally, some of these implementations no longer exist, but the appendices make interesting reading and may provide ideas for implementors: