GHC

Glasgow Haskell Compiler, abbreviated as GHC, is the primary open-source compiler for the Haskell programming language. It is maintained by a collaborative community led by the Glasgow Haskell Compiler team, with contributions from researchers and developers around the world. GHC compiles Haskell source code into native machine code and also provides GHCi, an interactive environment for loading modules and evaluating expressions.

GHC supports a broad range of language extensions that enable advanced type-system features, such as Generalized Algebraic Data Types, Type Families, Rank-N types, Multi-parameter type classes, Deriving strategies, Template Haskell, and Overloaded strings. The compiler employs several optimization passes and uses an intermediate representation called Core to simplify and optimize code. Code can be generated for multiple backends, including a native code generator and an LLVM-based backend, allowing targeting of various platforms and architectures.

The runtime system (RTS) included with GHC manages memory, garbage collection, and concurrency, enabling both lightweight threading and parallelism. GHC is designed to work with a robust ecosystem of development tools and libraries, including Cabal for packaging and building, and Hackage as a central repository of reusable libraries. GHCi provides an interactive workflow, while documentation is commonly produced with Haddock.

GHC is widely regarded as the de facto standard Haskell compiler and plays a central role in the language’s ecosystem. Its ongoing development influences language features and tooling, contributing to the portability of Haskell across operating systems such as Linux, macOS, and Windows, and to the interoperability of Haskell with other languages and systems.