Yes! Professor Fluet was probably the most passionate professor I had. The man has three kids, a full time job as a professor at the university, and still works on MLton, it's incredible.
During our code gen lectures, he had told us that MLtons original (not sure if it's still the default) backend generated C and shipped it over to a C compiler to do the dirty work. I know they have an official x86 backend now too though.
I wish I had resource recommendations for what you're looking for (because it is a super interesting topic), but hopefully MLton can serve as a great resource . PolyML may also be a good resource - not sure though.
During our code gen lectures, he had told us that MLtons original (not sure if it's still the default) backend generated C and shipped it over to a C compiler to do the dirty work. I know they have an official x86 backend now too though.
I wish I had resource recommendations for what you're looking for (because it is a super interesting topic), but hopefully MLton can serve as a great resource . PolyML may also be a good resource - not sure though.