1 Guile NEWS --- history of user-visible changes. -*- text -*-
2 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3 See the end for copying conditions.
5 Please send Guile bug reports to bug-guile@gnu.org.
7 Changes since Guile 1.3.2:
9 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
11 ** Readline support has changed again.
13 The old (readline-activator) module is gone. Use (ice-9 readline)
14 instead, which now contains all readline functionality. So the code
15 to activate readline is now
17 (use-modules (ice-9 readline))
20 This should work at any time, including from the guile prompt.
22 ** regexp-substitute/global has changed slightly, but incompatibly.
24 If you include a function in the item list, the string of the match
25 object it receives is the same string passed to
26 regexp-substitute/global, not some suffix of that string.
27 Correspondingly, the match's positions are relative to the entire
28 string, not the suffix.
30 If the regexp can match the empty string, the way matches are chosen
31 from the string has changed. regexp-substitute/global recognizes the
32 same set of matches that list-matches does; see below.
34 ** New function: list-matches REGEXP STRING [FLAGS]
36 Return a list of match objects, one for every non-overlapping, maximal
37 match of REGEXP in STRING. The matches appear in left-to-right order.
38 list-matches only reports matches of the empty string if there are no
39 other matches which begin on, end at, or include the empty match's
42 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
44 ** New function: fold-matches REGEXP STRING INIT PROC [FLAGS]
46 For each match of REGEXP in STRING, apply PROC to the match object,
47 and the last value PROC returned, or INIT for the first call. Return
48 the last value returned by PROC. We apply PROC to the matches as they
49 appear from left to right.
51 This function recognizes matches according to the same criteria as
54 Thus, you could define list-matches like this:
56 (define (list-matches regexp string . flags)
57 (reverse! (apply fold-matches regexp string '() cons flags)))
59 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
63 *** New function: hook? OBJ
65 Return #t if OBJ is a hook, otherwise #f.
67 *** New function: hook-empty? HOOK
69 Return #t if HOOK doesn't contain any procedures, otherwise #f.
71 *** New function: hook->list HOOK
73 Return a list of the procedures that are called when run-hook is
76 ** `map' signals an error if its argument lists are not all the same length.
78 This is the behavior required by R5RS, so this change is really a bug
79 fix. But it seems to affect a lot of people's code, so we're
80 mentioning it here anyway.
82 ** Print-state handling has been made more transparent
84 Under certain circumstances, ports are represented as a port with an
85 associated print state. Earlier, this pair was represented as a pair
86 (see "Some magic has been added to the printer" below). It is now
87 indistinguishable (almost; see `get-print-state') from a port on the
90 *** New function: port-with-print-state OUTPUT-PORT PRINT-STATE
92 Return a new port with the associated print state PRINT-STATE.
94 *** New function: get-print-state OUTPUT-PORT
96 Return the print state associated with this port if it exists,
99 *** New function: directory? OBJECT
101 Returns a boolean indicating whether OBJECT is a directory port as
102 returned by `opendir'.
104 * Changes to the scm_ interface
106 ** The internal representation of subr's has changed
108 Instead of giving a hint to the subr name, the CAR field of the subr
109 now contains an index to a subr entry in scm_subr_table.
111 *** New variable: scm_subr_table
113 An array of subr entries. A subr entry contains the name, properties
114 and documentation associated with the subr. The properties and
115 documentation slots are not yet used.
117 ** A new scheme for "forwarding" calls to a builtin to a generic function
119 It is now possible to extend the functionality of some Guile
120 primitives by letting them defer a call to a GOOPS generic function on
121 argument mismatch. This functionality is enabled with the GOOPS
124 enable-primitive-generic! PRIMITIVE ...
126 It is then possible to extend the primitive(s) by defining methods for
127 them without loss of efficiency in normal evaluation.
131 (use-modules (oop goops))
132 (enable-primitive-generic! +)
133 (define-method + ((x <string>) (y <string>))
136 + will still be as efficient as usual in numerical calculations, but
137 can also be used for concatenating strings.
139 Who will be the first one to extend Guile's numerical tower to
142 *** New snarf macros for defining primitives: SCM_GPROC, SCM_GPROC1
144 New macro: SCM_GPROC (CNAME, SNAME, REQ, OPT, VAR, CFUNC, GENERIC)
146 New macro: SCM_GPROC1 (CNAME, SNAME, TYPE, CFUNC, GENERIC)
148 These do the same job as SCM_PROC and SCM_PROC1, but they also define
149 a variable GENERIC which can be used by the dispatch macros below.
151 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
153 *** New macros for forwarding control to a generic on arg type error
155 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1 (GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
157 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
159 These correspond to the scm_wta function call, and have the same
160 behaviour until the user has called the GOOPS primitive
161 `enable-primitive-generic!'. After that, these macros will apply the
162 generic function GENERIC to the argument(s) instead of calling
165 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
167 *** New macros for argument testing with generic dispatch
169 New macro: SCM_GASSERT1 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
171 New macro: SCM_GASSERT2 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
173 These correspond to the SCM_ASSERT macro, but will defer control to
174 GENERIC on error after `enable-primitive-generic!' has been called.
176 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
178 ** New function: SCM scm_eval_body (SCM body, SCM env)
180 Evaluates the body of a special form.
182 ** The internal representation of struct's has changed
184 Previously, four slots were allocated for the procedure(s) of entities
185 and operators. The motivation for this representation had to do with
186 the structure of the evaluator, the wish to support tail-recursive
187 generic functions, and efficiency. Since the generic function
188 dispatch mechanism has changed, there is no longer a need for such an
189 expensive representation, and the representation has been simplified.
191 This should not make any difference for most users.
193 ** GOOPS support has been cleaned up.
195 Some code has been moved from eval.c to objects.c and code in both of
196 these compilation units has been cleaned up and better structured.
198 *** New functions for applying generic functions
200 New function: SCM scm_apply_generic (GENERIC, ARGS)
201 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_0 (GENERIC)
202 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_1 (GENERIC, ARG1)
203 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2)
204 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_3 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, ARG3)
207 Changes since Guile 1.3:
209 * Changes to mailing lists
211 ** Some of the Guile mailing lists have moved to sourceware.cygnus.com.
213 See the README file to find current addresses for all the Guile
216 * Changes to the distribution
218 ** Readline support is no longer included with Guile by default.
220 Based on the different license terms of Guile and Readline, we
221 concluded that Guile should not *by default* cause the linking of
222 Readline into an application program. Readline support is now offered
223 as a separate module, which is linked into an application only when
224 you explicitly specify it.
226 Although Guile is GNU software, its distribution terms add a special
227 exception to the usual GNU General Public License (GPL). Guile's
228 license includes a clause that allows you to link Guile with non-free
229 programs. We add this exception so as not to put Guile at a
230 disadvantage vis-a-vis other extensibility packages that support other
233 In contrast, the GNU Readline library is distributed under the GNU
234 General Public License pure and simple. This means that you may not
235 link Readline, even dynamically, into an application unless it is
236 distributed under a free software license that is compatible the GPL.
238 Because of this difference in distribution terms, an application that
239 can use Guile may not be able to use Readline. Now users will be
240 explicitly offered two independent decisions about the use of these
243 You can activate the readline support by issuing
245 (use-modules (readline-activator))
248 from your ".guile" file, for example.
250 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
252 ** All builtins now print as primitives.
253 Previously builtin procedures not belonging to the fundamental subr
254 types printed as #<compiled closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>.
255 Now, they print as #<primitive-procedure NAME>.
257 ** Backtraces slightly more intelligible.
258 gsubr-apply and macro transformer application frames no longer appear
261 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
263 ** Guile now correctly handles internal defines by rewriting them into
264 their equivalent letrec. Previously, internal defines would
265 incrementally add to the innermost environment, without checking
266 whether the restrictions specified in RnRS were met. This lead to the
267 correct behaviour when these restriction actually were met, but didn't
268 catch all illegal uses. Such an illegal use could lead to crashes of
269 the Guile interpreter or or other unwanted results. An example of
270 incorrect internal defines that made Guile behave erratically:
282 The problem with this example is that the definition of `c' uses the
283 value of `b' directly. This confuses the meoization machine of Guile
284 so that the second call of `b' (this time in a larger environment that
285 also contains bindings for `c' and `d') refers to the binding of `c'
286 instead of `a'. You could also make Guile crash with a variation on
291 (define (b flag) (if flag a 1))
292 (define c (1+ (b flag)))
300 From now on, Guile will issue an `Unbound variable: b' error message
305 A hook contains a list of functions which should be called on
306 particular occasions in an existing program. Hooks are used for
309 A window manager might have a hook before-window-map-hook. The window
310 manager uses the function run-hooks to call all functions stored in
311 before-window-map-hook each time a window is mapped. The user can
312 store functions in the hook using add-hook!.
314 In Guile, hooks are first class objects.
316 *** New function: make-hook [N_ARGS]
318 Return a hook for hook functions which can take N_ARGS arguments.
319 The default value for N_ARGS is 0.
321 (See also scm_make_named_hook below.)
323 *** New function: add-hook! HOOK PROC [APPEND_P]
325 Put PROC at the beginning of the list of functions stored in HOOK.
326 If APPEND_P is supplied, and non-false, put PROC at the end instead.
328 PROC must be able to take the number of arguments specified when the
331 If PROC already exists in HOOK, then remove it first.
333 *** New function: remove-hook! HOOK PROC
335 Remove PROC from the list of functions in HOOK.
337 *** New function: reset-hook! HOOK
339 Clear the list of hook functions stored in HOOK.
341 *** New function: run-hook HOOK ARG1 ...
343 Run all hook functions stored in HOOK with arguments ARG1 ... .
344 The number of arguments supplied must correspond to the number given
345 when the hook was created.
347 ** The function `dynamic-link' now takes optional keyword arguments.
348 The only keyword argument that is currently defined is `:global
349 BOOL'. With it, you can control whether the shared library will be
350 linked in global mode or not. In global mode, the symbols from the
351 linked library can be used to resolve references from other
352 dynamically linked libraries. In non-global mode, the linked
353 library is essentially invisible and can only be accessed via
354 `dynamic-func', etc. The default is now to link in global mode.
355 Previously, the default has been non-global mode.
357 The `#:global' keyword is only effective on platforms that support
358 the dlopen family of functions.
360 ** New function `provided?'
362 - Function: provided? FEATURE
363 Return true iff FEATURE is supported by this installation of
364 Guile. FEATURE must be a symbol naming a feature; the global
365 variable `*features*' is a list of available features.
367 ** Changes to the module (ice-9 expect):
369 *** The expect-strings macro now matches `$' in a regular expression
370 only at a line-break or end-of-file by default. Previously it would
371 match the end of the string accumulated so far. The old behaviour
372 can be obtained by setting the variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
375 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
376 for the regexp-exec flags. If `regexp/noteol' is included, then `$'
377 in a regular expression will still match before a line-break or
378 end-of-file. The default is `regexp/noteol'.
380 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable
381 `expect-strings-compile-flags' for the flags to be supplied to
382 `make-regexp'. The default is `regexp/newline', which was previously
385 *** The expect macro now supplies two arguments to a match procedure:
386 the current accumulated string and a flag to indicate whether
387 end-of-file has been reached. Previously only the string was supplied.
388 If end-of-file is reached, the match procedure will be called an
389 additional time with the same accumulated string as the previous call
390 but with the flag set.
392 ** New module (ice-9 format), implementing the Common Lisp `format' function.
394 This code, and the documentation for it that appears here, was
395 borrowed from SLIB, with minor adaptations for Guile.
397 - Function: format DESTINATION FORMAT-STRING . ARGUMENTS
398 An almost complete implementation of Common LISP format description
399 according to the CL reference book `Common LISP' from Guy L.
400 Steele, Digital Press. Backward compatible to most of the
401 available Scheme format implementations.
403 Returns `#t', `#f' or a string; has side effect of printing
404 according to FORMAT-STRING. If DESTINATION is `#t', the output is
405 to the current output port and `#t' is returned. If DESTINATION
406 is `#f', a formatted string is returned as the result of the call.
407 NEW: If DESTINATION is a string, DESTINATION is regarded as the
408 format string; FORMAT-STRING is then the first argument and the
409 output is returned as a string. If DESTINATION is a number, the
410 output is to the current error port if available by the
411 implementation. Otherwise DESTINATION must be an output port and
414 FORMAT-STRING must be a string. In case of a formatting error
415 format returns `#f' and prints a message on the current output or
416 error port. Characters are output as if the string were output by
417 the `display' function with the exception of those prefixed by a
418 tilde (~). For a detailed description of the FORMAT-STRING syntax
419 please consult a Common LISP format reference manual. For a test
420 suite to verify this format implementation load `formatst.scm'.
421 Please send bug reports to `lutzeb@cs.tu-berlin.de'.
423 Note: `format' is not reentrant, i.e. only one `format'-call may
424 be executed at a time.
427 *** Format Specification (Format version 3.0)
429 Please consult a Common LISP format reference manual for a detailed
430 description of the format string syntax. For a demonstration of the
431 implemented directives see `formatst.scm'.
433 This implementation supports directive parameters and modifiers (`:'
434 and `@' characters). Multiple parameters must be separated by a comma
435 (`,'). Parameters can be numerical parameters (positive or negative),
436 character parameters (prefixed by a quote character (`''), variable
437 parameters (`v'), number of rest arguments parameter (`#'), empty and
438 default parameters. Directive characters are case independent. The
439 general form of a directive is:
441 DIRECTIVE ::= ~{DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER,}[:][@]DIRECTIVE-CHARACTER
443 DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER ::= [ [-|+]{0-9}+ | 'CHARACTER | v | # ]
445 *** Implemented CL Format Control Directives
447 Documentation syntax: Uppercase characters represent the
448 corresponding control directive characters. Lowercase characters
449 represent control directive parameter descriptions.
452 Any (print as `display' does).
456 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARA'
460 S-expression (print as `write' does).
464 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARS'
470 print number sign always.
473 print comma separated.
475 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARD'
481 print number sign always.
484 print comma separated.
486 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARX'
492 print number sign always.
495 print comma separated.
497 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARO'
503 print number sign always.
506 print comma separated.
508 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARB'
513 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARR'
517 print a number as a Roman numeral.
520 print a number as an "old fashioned" Roman numeral.
523 print a number as an ordinal English number.
526 print a number as a cardinal English number.
531 prints `y' and `ies'.
534 as `~P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
537 as `~@P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
542 prints a character as the reader can understand it (i.e. `#\'
546 prints a character as emacs does (eg. `^C' for ASCII 03).
549 Fixed-format floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN).
550 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHARF'
552 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
555 Exponential floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN`E'EE).
556 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARE'
558 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
561 General floating-point (prints a flonum either fixed or
563 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARG'
565 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
568 Dollars floating-point (prints a flonum in fixed with signs
570 `~DIGITS,SCALE,WIDTH,PADCHAR$'
572 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
575 A sign is always printed and appears before the padding.
578 The sign appears before the padding.
586 print newline if not at the beginning of the output line.
588 prints `~&' and then N-1 newlines.
593 print N page separators.
603 newline is ignored, white space left.
606 newline is left, white space ignored.
617 Indirection (expects indirect arguments as a list).
619 extracts indirect arguments from format arguments.
622 Case conversion (converts by `string-downcase').
624 converts by `string-capitalize'.
627 converts by `string-capitalize-first'.
630 converts by `string-upcase'.
633 Argument Jumping (jumps 1 argument forward).
635 jumps N arguments forward.
638 jumps 1 argument backward.
641 jumps N arguments backward.
644 jumps to the 0th argument.
647 jumps to the Nth argument (beginning from 0)
649 `~[STR0~;STR1~;...~;STRN~]'
650 Conditional Expression (numerical clause conditional).
652 take argument from N.
655 true test conditional.
658 if-else-then conditional.
664 default clause follows.
667 Iteration (args come from the next argument (a list)).
669 at most N iterations.
672 args from next arg (a list of lists).
675 args from the rest of arguments.
678 args from the rest args (lists).
689 aborts if N <= M <= K
691 *** Not Implemented CL Format Control Directives
694 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
697 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
703 (sorry I don't understand its semantics completely)
705 *** Extended, Replaced and Additional Control Directives
707 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHD'
708 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHX'
709 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHO'
710 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHB'
711 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHR'
712 COMMAWIDTH is the number of characters between two comma
716 print a R4RS complex number as `~F~@Fi' with passed parameters for
720 Pretty print formatting of an argument for scheme code lists.
726 Flushes the output if format DESTINATION is a port.
729 Print a `#\space' character
731 print N `#\space' characters.
734 Print a `#\tab' character
736 print N `#\tab' characters.
739 Takes N as an integer representation for a character. No arguments
740 are consumed. N is converted to a character by `integer->char'. N
741 must be a positive decimal number.
744 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
745 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
746 be processed by `read'.
749 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
750 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
751 be processed by `read'.
754 Prints information and a copyright notice on the format
757 prints format version.
760 may also print number strings, i.e. passing a number as a string
761 and format it accordingly.
763 *** Configuration Variables
765 The format module exports some configuration variables to suit the
766 systems and users needs. There should be no modification necessary for
767 the configuration that comes with Guile. Format detects automatically
768 if the running scheme system implements floating point numbers and
771 format:symbol-case-conv
772 Symbols are converted by `symbol->string' so the case type of the
773 printed symbols is implementation dependent.
774 `format:symbol-case-conv' is a one arg closure which is either
775 `#f' (no conversion), `string-upcase', `string-downcase' or
776 `string-capitalize'. (default `#f')
778 format:iobj-case-conv
779 As FORMAT:SYMBOL-CASE-CONV but applies for the representation of
780 implementation internal objects. (default `#f')
783 The character prefixing the exponent value in `~E' printing.
786 *** Compatibility With Other Format Implementations
792 Downward compatible except for padding support and `~A', `~S',
793 `~P', `~X' uppercase printing. SLIB format 1.4 uses C-style
794 `printf' padding support which is completely replaced by the CL
795 `format' padding style.
798 Downward compatible except for `~', which is not documented
799 (ignores all characters inside the format string up to a newline
800 character). (7.1 implements `~a', `~s', ~NEWLINE, `~~', `~%',
801 numerical and variable parameters and `:/@' modifiers in the CL
805 Downward compatible except for `~A' and `~S' which print in
806 uppercase. (Elk implements `~a', `~s', `~~', and `~%' (no
807 directive parameters or modifiers)).
810 Downward compatible except for an optional destination parameter:
811 S2C accepts a format call without a destination which returns a
812 formatted string. This is equivalent to a #f destination in S2C.
813 (S2C implements `~a', `~s', `~c', `~%', and `~~' (no directive
814 parameters or modifiers)).
817 ** Changes to string-handling functions.
819 These functions were added to support the (ice-9 format) module, above.
821 *** New function: string-upcase STRING
822 *** New function: string-downcase STRING
824 These are non-destructive versions of the existing string-upcase! and
825 string-downcase! functions.
827 *** New function: string-capitalize! STRING
828 *** New function: string-capitalize STRING
830 These functions convert the first letter of each word in the string to
833 (string-capitalize "howdy there")
836 As with the other functions, string-capitalize! modifies the string in
837 place, while string-capitalize returns a modified copy of its argument.
839 *** New function: string-ci->symbol STRING
841 Return a symbol whose name is STRING, but having the same case as if
842 the symbol had be read by `read'.
844 Guile can be configured to be sensitive or insensitive to case
845 differences in Scheme identifiers. If Guile is case-insensitive, all
846 symbols are converted to lower case on input. The `string-ci->symbol'
847 function returns a symbol whose name in STRING, transformed as Guile
848 would if STRING were input.
850 *** New function: substring-move! STRING1 START END STRING2 START
852 Copy the substring of STRING1 from START (inclusive) to END
853 (exclusive) to STRING2 at START. STRING1 and STRING2 may be the same
854 string, and the source and destination areas may overlap; in all
855 cases, the function behaves as if all the characters were copied
858 *** Extended functions: substring-move-left! substring-move-right!
860 These functions now correctly copy arbitrarily overlapping substrings;
861 they are both synonyms for substring-move!.
864 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-long), with the function `getopt-long'.
866 getopt-long is a function for parsing command-line arguments in a
867 manner consistent with other GNU programs.
869 (getopt-long ARGS GRAMMAR)
870 Parse the arguments ARGS according to the argument list grammar GRAMMAR.
872 ARGS should be a list of strings. Its first element should be the
873 name of the program; subsequent elements should be the arguments
874 that were passed to the program on the command line. The
875 `program-arguments' procedure returns a list of this form.
877 GRAMMAR is a list of the form:
878 ((OPTION (PROPERTY VALUE) ...) ...)
880 Each OPTION should be a symbol. `getopt-long' will accept a
881 command-line option named `--OPTION'.
882 Each option can have the following (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs:
884 (single-char CHAR) --- Accept `-CHAR' as a single-character
885 equivalent to `--OPTION'. This is how to specify traditional
887 (required? BOOL) --- If BOOL is true, the option is required.
888 getopt-long will raise an error if it is not found in ARGS.
889 (value BOOL) --- If BOOL is #t, the option accepts a value; if
890 it is #f, it does not; and if it is the symbol
891 `optional', the option may appear in ARGS with or
893 (predicate FUNC) --- If the option accepts a value (i.e. you
894 specified `(value #t)' for this option), then getopt
895 will apply FUNC to the value, and throw an exception
896 if it returns #f. FUNC should be a procedure which
897 accepts a string and returns a boolean value; you may
898 need to use quasiquotes to get it into GRAMMAR.
900 The (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs may occur in any order, but each
901 property may occur only once. By default, options do not have
902 single-character equivalents, are not required, and do not take
905 In ARGS, single-character options may be combined, in the usual
906 Unix fashion: ("-x" "-y") is equivalent to ("-xy"). If an option
907 accepts values, then it must be the last option in the
908 combination; the value is the next argument. So, for example, using
909 the following grammar:
910 ((apples (single-char #\a))
911 (blimps (single-char #\b) (value #t))
912 (catalexis (single-char #\c) (value #t)))
913 the following argument lists would be acceptable:
914 ("-a" "-b" "bang" "-c" "couth") ("bang" and "couth" are the values
915 for "blimps" and "catalexis")
916 ("-ab" "bang" "-c" "couth") (same)
917 ("-ac" "couth" "-b" "bang") (same)
918 ("-abc" "couth" "bang") (an error, since `-b' is not the
919 last option in its combination)
921 If an option's value is optional, then `getopt-long' decides
922 whether it has a value by looking at what follows it in ARGS. If
923 the next element is a string, and it does not appear to be an
924 option itself, then that string is the option's value.
926 The value of a long option can appear as the next element in ARGS,
927 or it can follow the option name, separated by an `=' character.
928 Thus, using the same grammar as above, the following argument lists
930 ("--apples" "Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
931 ("--apples=Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
932 ("--blimps" "Goodyear" "--apples=Braeburn")
934 If the option "--" appears in ARGS, argument parsing stops there;
935 subsequent arguments are returned as ordinary arguments, even if
936 they resemble options. So, in the argument list:
937 ("--apples" "Granny Smith" "--" "--blimp" "Goodyear")
938 `getopt-long' will recognize the `apples' option as having the
939 value "Granny Smith", but it will not recognize the `blimp'
940 option; it will return the strings "--blimp" and "Goodyear" as
941 ordinary argument strings.
943 The `getopt-long' function returns the parsed argument list as an
944 assocation list, mapping option names --- the symbols from GRAMMAR
945 --- onto their values, or #t if the option does not accept a value.
946 Unused options do not appear in the alist.
948 All arguments that are not the value of any option are returned
949 as a list, associated with the empty list.
951 `getopt-long' throws an exception if:
952 - it finds an unrecognized option in ARGS
953 - a required option is omitted
954 - an option that requires an argument doesn't get one
955 - an option that doesn't accept an argument does get one (this can
956 only happen using the long option `--opt=value' syntax)
957 - an option predicate fails
962 `((lockfile-dir (required? #t)
965 (predicate ,file-is-directory?))
966 (verbose (required? #f)
969 (x-includes (single-char #\x))
970 (rnet-server (single-char #\y)
971 (predicate ,string?))))
973 (getopt-long '("my-prog" "-vk" "/tmp" "foo1" "--x-includes=/usr/include"
974 "--rnet-server=lamprod" "--" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
976 => ((() "foo1" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
977 (rnet-server . "lamprod")
978 (x-includes . "/usr/include")
979 (lockfile-dir . "/tmp")
982 ** The (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) module is obsolete; use (ice-9 getopt-long).
984 It will be removed in a few releases.
986 ** New syntax: lambda*
987 ** New syntax: define*
988 ** New syntax: define*-public
989 ** New syntax: defmacro*
990 ** New syntax: defmacro*-public
991 Guile now supports optional arguments.
993 `lambda*', `define*', `define*-public', `defmacro*' and
994 `defmacro*-public' are identical to the non-* versions except that
995 they use an extended type of parameter list that has the following BNF
996 syntax (parentheses are literal, square brackets indicate grouping,
997 and `*', `+' and `?' have the usual meaning):
999 ext-param-list ::= ( [identifier]* [#&optional [ext-var-decl]+]?
1000 [#&key [ext-var-decl]+ [#&allow-other-keys]?]?
1001 [[#&rest identifier]|[. identifier]]? ) | [identifier]
1003 ext-var-decl ::= identifier | ( identifier expression )
1005 The semantics are best illustrated with the following documentation
1006 and examples for `lambda*':
1009 lambda extended for optional and keyword arguments
1011 lambda* creates a procedure that takes optional arguments. These
1012 are specified by putting them inside brackets at the end of the
1013 paramater list, but before any dotted rest argument. For example,
1014 (lambda* (a b #&optional c d . e) '())
1015 creates a procedure with fixed arguments a and b, optional arguments c
1016 and d, and rest argument e. If the optional arguments are omitted
1017 in a call, the variables for them are unbound in the procedure. This
1018 can be checked with the bound? macro.
1020 lambda* can also take keyword arguments. For example, a procedure
1022 (lambda* (#&key xyzzy larch) '())
1023 can be called with any of the argument lists (#:xyzzy 11)
1024 (#:larch 13) (#:larch 42 #:xyzzy 19) (). Whichever arguments
1025 are given as keywords are bound to values.
1027 Optional and keyword arguments can also be given default values
1028 which they take on when they are not present in a call, by giving a
1029 two-item list in place of an optional argument, for example in:
1030 (lambda* (foo #&optional (bar 42) #&key (baz 73)) (list foo bar baz))
1031 foo is a fixed argument, bar is an optional argument with default
1032 value 42, and baz is a keyword argument with default value 73.
1033 Default value expressions are not evaluated unless they are needed
1034 and until the procedure is called.
1036 lambda* now supports two more special parameter list keywords.
1038 lambda*-defined procedures now throw an error by default if a
1039 keyword other than one of those specified is found in the actual
1040 passed arguments. However, specifying #&allow-other-keys
1041 immediately after the kyword argument declarations restores the
1042 previous behavior of ignoring unknown keywords. lambda* also now
1043 guarantees that if the same keyword is passed more than once, the
1044 last one passed is the one that takes effect. For example,
1045 ((lambda* (#&key (heads 0) (tails 0)) (display (list heads tails)))
1046 #:heads 37 #:tails 42 #:heads 99)
1047 would result in (99 47) being displayed.
1049 #&rest is also now provided as a synonym for the dotted syntax rest
1050 argument. The argument lists (a . b) and (a #&rest b) are equivalent in
1051 all respects to lambda*. This is provided for more similarity to DSSSL,
1052 MIT-Scheme and Kawa among others, as well as for refugees from other
1055 Further documentation may be found in the optargs.scm file itself.
1057 The optional argument module also exports the macros `let-optional',
1058 `let-optional*', `let-keywords', `let-keywords*' and `bound?'. These
1059 are not documented here because they may be removed in the future, but
1060 full documentation is still available in optargs.scm.
1062 ** New syntax: and-let*
1063 Guile now supports the `and-let*' form, described in the draft SRFI-2.
1065 Syntax: (land* (<clause> ...) <body> ...)
1066 Each <clause> should have one of the following forms:
1067 (<variable> <expression>)
1070 Each <variable> or <bound-variable> should be an identifier. Each
1071 <expression> should be a valid expression. The <body> should be a
1072 possibly empty sequence of expressions, like the <body> of a
1075 Semantics: A LAND* expression is evaluated by evaluating the
1076 <expression> or <bound-variable> of each of the <clause>s from
1077 left to right. The value of the first <expression> or
1078 <bound-variable> that evaluates to a false value is returned; the
1079 remaining <expression>s and <bound-variable>s are not evaluated.
1080 The <body> forms are evaluated iff all the <expression>s and
1081 <bound-variable>s evaluate to true values.
1083 The <expression>s and the <body> are evaluated in an environment
1084 binding each <variable> of the preceding (<variable> <expression>)
1085 clauses to the value of the <expression>. Later bindings
1086 shadow earlier bindings.
1088 Guile's and-let* macro was contributed by Michael Livshin.
1090 ** New sorting functions
1092 *** New function: sorted? SEQUENCE LESS?
1093 Returns `#t' when the sequence argument is in non-decreasing order
1094 according to LESS? (that is, there is no adjacent pair `... x y
1095 ...' for which `(less? y x)').
1097 Returns `#f' when the sequence contains at least one out-of-order
1098 pair. It is an error if the sequence is neither a list nor a
1101 *** New function: merge LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
1102 LIST1 and LIST2 are sorted lists.
1103 Returns the sorted list of all elements in LIST1 and LIST2.
1105 Assume that the elements a and b1 in LIST1 and b2 in LIST2 are "equal"
1106 in the sense that (LESS? x y) --> #f for x, y in {a, b1, b2},
1107 and that a < b1 in LIST1. Then a < b1 < b2 in the result.
1108 (Here "<" should read "comes before".)
1110 *** New procedure: merge! LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
1111 Merges two lists, re-using the pairs of LIST1 and LIST2 to build
1112 the result. If the code is compiled, and LESS? constructs no new
1113 pairs, no pairs at all will be allocated. The first pair of the
1114 result will be either the first pair of LIST1 or the first pair of
1117 *** New function: sort SEQUENCE LESS?
1118 Accepts either a list or a vector, and returns a new sequence
1119 which is sorted. The new sequence is the same type as the input.
1120 Always `(sorted? (sort sequence less?) less?)'. The original
1121 sequence is not altered in any way. The new sequence shares its
1122 elements with the old one; no elements are copied.
1124 *** New procedure: sort! SEQUENCE LESS
1125 Returns its sorted result in the original boxes. No new storage is
1126 allocated at all. Proper usage: (set! slist (sort! slist <))
1128 *** New function: stable-sort SEQUENCE LESS?
1129 Similar to `sort' but stable. That is, if "equal" elements are
1130 ordered a < b in the original sequence, they will have the same order
1133 *** New function: stable-sort! SEQUENCE LESS?
1134 Similar to `sort!' but stable.
1135 Uses temporary storage when sorting vectors.
1137 *** New functions: sort-list, sort-list!
1138 Added for compatibility with scsh.
1140 ** New built-in random number support
1142 *** New function: random N [STATE]
1143 Accepts a positive integer or real N and returns a number of the
1144 same type between zero (inclusive) and N (exclusive). The values
1145 returned have a uniform distribution.
1147 The optional argument STATE must be of the type produced by
1148 `copy-random-state' or `seed->random-state'. It defaults to the value
1149 of the variable `*random-state*'. This object is used to maintain the
1150 state of the pseudo-random-number generator and is altered as a side
1151 effect of the `random' operation.
1153 *** New variable: *random-state*
1154 Holds a data structure that encodes the internal state of the
1155 random-number generator that `random' uses by default. The nature
1156 of this data structure is implementation-dependent. It may be
1157 printed out and successfully read back in, but may or may not
1158 function correctly as a random-number state object in another
1161 *** New function: copy-random-state [STATE]
1162 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
1163 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
1164 If argument STATE is given, a copy of it is returned. Otherwise a
1165 copy of `*random-state*' is returned.
1167 *** New function: seed->random-state SEED
1168 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
1169 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
1170 SEED is a string or a number. A new state is generated and
1171 initialized using SEED.
1173 *** New function: random:uniform [STATE]
1174 Returns an uniformly distributed inexact real random number in the
1175 range between 0 and 1.
1177 *** New procedure: random:solid-sphere! VECT [STATE]
1178 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose
1179 squares is less than 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in
1180 space of dimension N = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are
1181 uniformly distributed within the unit N-shere. The sum of the
1182 squares of the numbers is returned. VECT can be either a vector
1183 or a uniform vector of doubles.
1185 *** New procedure: random:hollow-sphere! VECT [STATE]
1186 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose squares
1187 is equal to 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in space of
1188 dimension n = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are uniformly
1189 distributed over the surface of the unit n-shere. VECT can be either
1190 a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
1192 *** New function: random:normal [STATE]
1193 Returns an inexact real in a normal distribution with mean 0 and
1194 standard deviation 1. For a normal distribution with mean M and
1195 standard deviation D use `(+ M (* D (random:normal)))'.
1197 *** New procedure: random:normal-vector! VECT [STATE]
1198 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers which are independent and
1199 standard normally distributed (i.e., with mean 0 and variance 1).
1200 VECT can be either a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
1202 *** New function: random:exp STATE
1203 Returns an inexact real in an exponential distribution with mean 1.
1204 For an exponential distribution with mean U use (* U (random:exp)).
1206 ** The range of logand, logior, logxor, logtest, and logbit? have changed.
1208 These functions now operate on numbers in the range of a C unsigned
1211 These functions used to operate on numbers in the range of a C signed
1212 long; however, this seems inappropriate, because Guile integers don't
1215 ** New function: make-guardian
1216 This is an implementation of guardians as described in
1217 R. Kent Dybvig, Carl Bruggeman, and David Eby (1993) "Guardians in a
1218 Generation-Based Garbage Collector" ACM SIGPLAN Conference on
1219 Programming Language Design and Implementation, June 1993
1220 ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/scheme-repository/doc/pubs/guardians.ps.gz
1222 ** New functions: delq1!, delv1!, delete1!
1223 These procedures behave similar to delq! and friends but delete only
1224 one object if at all.
1226 ** New function: unread-string STRING PORT
1227 Unread STRING to PORT, that is, push it back onto the port so that
1228 next read operation will work on the pushed back characters.
1230 ** unread-char can now be called multiple times
1231 If unread-char is called multiple times, the unread characters will be
1232 read again in last-in first-out order.
1234 ** the procedures uniform-array-read! and uniform-array-write! now
1235 work on any kind of port, not just ports which are open on a file.
1237 ** Now 'l' in a port mode requests line buffering.
1239 ** The procedure truncate-file now works on string ports as well
1240 as file ports. If the size argument is omitted, the current
1241 file position is used.
1243 ** new procedure: seek PORT/FDES OFFSET WHENCE
1244 The arguments are the same as for the old fseek procedure, but it
1245 works on string ports as well as random-access file ports.
1247 ** the fseek procedure now works on string ports, since it has been
1248 redefined using seek.
1250 ** the setvbuf procedure now uses a default size if mode is _IOFBF and
1251 size is not supplied.
1253 ** the newline procedure no longer flushes the port if it's not
1254 line-buffered: previously it did if it was the current output port.
1256 ** open-pipe and close-pipe are no longer primitive procedures, but
1257 an emulation can be obtained using `(use-modules (ice-9 popen))'.
1259 ** the freopen procedure has been removed.
1261 ** new procedure: drain-input PORT
1262 Drains PORT's read buffers (including any pushed-back characters)
1263 and returns the contents as a single string.
1265 ** New function: map-in-order PROC LIST1 LIST2 ...
1266 Version of `map' which guarantees that the procedure is applied to the
1267 lists in serial order.
1269 ** Renamed `serial-array-copy!' and `serial-array-map!' to
1270 `array-copy-in-order!' and `array-map-in-order!'. The old names are
1271 now obsolete and will go away in release 1.5.
1273 ** New syntax: collect BODY1 ...
1274 Version of `begin' which returns a list of the results of the body
1275 forms instead of the result of the last body form. In contrast to
1276 `begin', `collect' allows an empty body.
1278 ** New functions: read-history FILENAME, write-history FILENAME
1279 Read/write command line history from/to file. Returns #t on success
1280 and #f if an error occured.
1282 ** `ls' and `lls' in module (ice-9 ls) now handle no arguments.
1284 These procedures return a list of definitions available in the specified
1285 argument, a relative module reference. In the case of no argument,
1286 `(current-module)' is now consulted for definitions to return, instead
1287 of simply returning #f, the former behavior.
1289 ** The #/ syntax for lists is no longer supported.
1291 Earlier versions of Scheme accepted this syntax, but printed a
1294 ** Guile no longer consults the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable.
1296 Instead, you should set GUILE_LOAD_PATH to tell Guile where to find
1299 * Changes to the gh_ interface
1303 Now takes a second argument which is the result array. If this
1304 pointer is NULL, a new array is malloced (the old behaviour).
1306 ** gh_chars2byvect, gh_shorts2svect, gh_floats2fvect, gh_scm2chars,
1307 gh_scm2shorts, gh_scm2longs, gh_scm2floats
1311 * Changes to the scm_ interface
1313 ** Function: scm_make_named_hook (char* name, int n_args)
1315 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
1316 binds a variable named NAME to it.
1318 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
1320 Currently, the variable is created in the root module. This will
1321 change when we get the new module system.
1323 ** The smob interface
1325 The interface for creating smobs has changed. For documentation, see
1326 data-rep.info (made from guile-core/doc/data-rep.texi).
1328 *** Deprecated function: SCM scm_newsmob (scm_smobfuns *)
1330 >>> This function will be removed in 1.3.4. <<<
1334 *** Function: SCM scm_make_smob_type (const char *name, scm_sizet size)
1335 This function adds a new smob type, named NAME, with instance size
1336 SIZE to the system. The return value is a tag that is used in
1337 creating instances of the type. If SIZE is 0, then no memory will
1338 be allocated when instances of the smob are created, and nothing
1339 will be freed by the default free function.
1341 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_mark (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
1342 This function sets the smob marking procedure for the smob type
1343 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
1344 `scm_make_smob_type'.
1346 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_free (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
1347 This function sets the smob freeing procedure for the smob type
1348 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
1349 `scm_make_smob_type'.
1351 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_print (tc, print)
1353 - Function: void scm_set_smob_print (long tc,
1354 scm_sizet (*print) (SCM,
1358 This function sets the smob printing procedure for the smob type
1359 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
1360 `scm_make_smob_type'.
1362 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_equalp (long tc, SCM (*equalp) (SCM, SCM))
1363 This function sets the smob equality-testing predicate for the
1364 smob type specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
1365 `scm_make_smob_type'.
1367 *** Macro: void SCM_NEWSMOB (SCM var, long tc, void *data)
1368 Make VALUE contain a smob instance of the type with type code TC and
1369 smob data DATA. VALUE must be previously declared as C type `SCM'.
1371 *** Macro: fn_returns SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB (long tc, void *data)
1372 This macro expands to a block of code that creates a smob instance
1373 of the type with type code TC and smob data DATA, and returns that
1374 `SCM' value. It should be the last piece of code in a block.
1376 ** The interfaces for using I/O ports and implementing port types
1377 (ptobs) have changed significantly. The new interface is based on
1378 shared access to buffers and a new set of ptob procedures.
1380 *** scm_newptob has been removed
1384 *** Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (type_name, fill_buffer, write_flush)
1386 - Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (char *type_name,
1387 int (*fill_buffer) (SCM port),
1388 void (*write_flush) (SCM port));
1390 Similarly to the new smob interface, there is a set of function
1391 setters by which the user can customize the behaviour of his port
1392 type. See ports.h (scm_set_port_XXX).
1394 ** scm_strport_to_string: New function: creates a new string from
1395 a string port's buffer.
1397 ** Plug in interface for random number generators
1398 The variable `scm_the_rng' in random.c contains a value and three
1399 function pointers which together define the current random number
1400 generator being used by the Scheme level interface and the random
1401 number library functions.
1403 The user is free to replace the default generator with the generator
1406 *** Variable: size_t scm_the_rng.rstate_size
1407 The size of the random state type used by the current RNG
1410 *** Function: unsigned long scm_the_rng.random_bits (scm_rstate *STATE)
1411 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
1413 *** Function: void scm_the_rng.init_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE, chars *S, int N)
1414 Seed random state STATE using string S of length N.
1416 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_the_rng.copy_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE)
1417 Given random state STATE, return a malloced copy.
1420 The default RNG is the MWC (Multiply With Carry) random number
1421 generator described by George Marsaglia at the Department of
1422 Statistics and Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, The
1423 Florida State University (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo).
1425 It uses 64 bits, has a period of 4578426017172946943 (4.6e18), and
1426 passes all tests in the DIEHARD test suite
1427 (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo/diehard.html). The generation of 32 bits
1428 costs one multiply and one add on platforms which either supports long
1429 longs (gcc does this on most systems) or have 64 bit longs. The cost
1430 is four multiply on other systems but this can be optimized by writing
1431 scm_i_uniform32 in assembler.
1433 These functions are provided through the scm_the_rng interface for use
1434 by libguile and the application.
1436 *** Function: unsigned long scm_i_uniform32 (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
1437 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
1438 Don't use this function directly. Instead go through the plugin
1439 interface (see "Plug in interface" above).
1441 *** Function: void scm_i_init_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE, char *SEED, int N)
1442 Initialize STATE using SEED of length N.
1444 *** Function: scm_i_rstate *scm_i_copy_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
1445 Return a malloc:ed copy of STATE. This function can easily be re-used
1446 in the interfaces to other RNGs.
1448 ** Random number library functions
1449 These functions use the current RNG through the scm_the_rng interface.
1450 It might be a good idea to use these functions from your C code so
1451 that only one random generator is used by all code in your program.
1453 The default random state is stored in:
1455 *** Variable: SCM scm_var_random_state
1456 Contains the vcell of the Scheme variable "*random-state*" which is
1457 used as default state by all random number functions in the Scheme
1462 double x = scm_c_uniform01 (SCM_RSTATE (SCM_CDR (scm_var_random_state)));
1464 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_default_rstate (void)
1465 This is a convenience function which returns the value of
1466 scm_var_random_state. An error message is generated if this value
1467 isn't a random state.
1469 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_make_rstate (char *SEED, int LENGTH)
1470 Make a new random state from the string SEED of length LENGTH.
1472 It is generally not a good idea to use multiple random states in a
1473 program. While subsequent random numbers generated from one random
1474 state are guaranteed to be reasonably independent, there is no such
1475 guarantee for numbers generated from different random states.
1477 *** Macro: unsigned long scm_c_uniform32 (scm_rstate *STATE)
1478 Return 32 random bits.
1480 *** Function: double scm_c_uniform01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
1481 Return a sample from the uniform(0,1) distribution.
1483 *** Function: double scm_c_normal01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
1484 Return a sample from the normal(0,1) distribution.
1486 *** Function: double scm_c_exp1 (scm_rstate *STATE)
1487 Return a sample from the exp(1) distribution.
1489 *** Function: unsigned long scm_c_random (scm_rstate *STATE, unsigned long M)
1490 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
1492 *** Function: SCM scm_c_random_bignum (scm_rstate *STATE, SCM M)
1493 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
1494 M must be a bignum object. The returned value may be an INUM.
1498 Changes in Guile 1.3 (released Monday, October 19, 1998):
1500 * Changes to the distribution
1502 ** We renamed the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable to GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
1503 To avoid conflicts, programs should name environment variables after
1504 themselves, except when there's a common practice establishing some
1507 For now, Guile supports both GUILE_LOAD_PATH and SCHEME_LOAD_PATH,
1508 giving the former precedence, and printing a warning message if the
1509 latter is set. Guile 1.4 will not recognize SCHEME_LOAD_PATH at all.
1511 ** The header files related to multi-byte characters have been removed.
1512 They were: libguile/extchrs.h and libguile/mbstrings.h. Any C code
1513 which referred to these explicitly will probably need to be rewritten,
1514 since the support for the variant string types has been removed; see
1517 ** The header files append.h and sequences.h have been removed. These
1518 files implemented non-R4RS operations which would encourage
1519 non-portable programming style and less easy-to-read code.
1521 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
1523 ** New procedures have been added to implement a "batch mode":
1525 *** Function: batch-mode?
1527 Returns a boolean indicating whether the interpreter is in batch
1530 *** Function: set-batch-mode?! ARG
1532 If ARG is true, switches the interpreter to batch mode. The `#f'
1533 case has not been implemented.
1535 ** Guile now provides full command-line editing, when run interactively.
1536 To use this feature, you must have the readline library installed.
1537 The Guile build process will notice it, and automatically include
1540 The readline library is available via anonymous FTP from any GNU
1541 mirror site; the canonical location is "ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu".
1543 ** the-last-stack is now a fluid.
1545 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
1547 ** You can now use the `guile-config' utility to build programs that use Guile.
1549 Guile now includes a command-line utility called `guile-config', which
1550 can provide information about how to compile and link programs that
1553 *** `guile-config compile' prints any C compiler flags needed to use Guile.
1554 You should include this command's output on the command line you use
1555 to compile C or C++ code that #includes the Guile header files. It's
1556 usually just a `-I' flag to help the compiler find the Guile headers.
1559 *** `guile-config link' prints any linker flags necessary to link with Guile.
1561 This command writes to its standard output a list of flags which you
1562 must pass to the linker to link your code against the Guile library.
1563 The flags include '-lguile' itself, any other libraries the Guile
1564 library depends upon, and any `-L' flags needed to help the linker
1565 find those libraries.
1567 For example, here is a Makefile rule that builds a program named 'foo'
1568 from the object files ${FOO_OBJECTS}, and links them against Guile:
1571 ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${FOO_OBJECTS} `guile-config link` -o foo
1573 Previous Guile releases recommended that you use autoconf to detect
1574 which of a predefined set of libraries were present on your system.
1575 It is more robust to use `guile-config', since it records exactly which
1576 libraries the installed Guile library requires.
1578 This was originally called `build-guile', but was renamed to
1579 `guile-config' before Guile 1.3 was released, to be consistent with
1580 the analogous script for the GTK+ GUI toolkit, which is called
1584 ** Use the GUILE_FLAGS macro in your configure.in file to find Guile.
1586 If you are using the GNU autoconf package to configure your program,
1587 you can use the GUILE_FLAGS autoconf macro to call `guile-config'
1588 (described above) and gather the necessary values for use in your
1591 The GUILE_FLAGS macro expands to configure script code which runs the
1592 `guile-config' script, to find out where Guile's header files and
1593 libraries are installed. It sets two variables, marked for
1594 substitution, as by AC_SUBST.
1596 GUILE_CFLAGS --- flags to pass to a C or C++ compiler to build
1597 code that uses Guile header files. This is almost always just a
1600 GUILE_LDFLAGS --- flags to pass to the linker to link a
1601 program against Guile. This includes `-lguile' for the Guile
1602 library itself, any libraries that Guile itself requires (like
1603 -lqthreads), and so on. It may also include a -L flag to tell the
1604 compiler where to find the libraries.
1606 GUILE_FLAGS is defined in the file guile.m4, in the top-level
1607 directory of the Guile distribution. You can copy it into your
1608 package's aclocal.m4 file, and then use it in your configure.in file.
1610 If you are using the `aclocal' program, distributed with GNU automake,
1611 to maintain your aclocal.m4 file, the Guile installation process
1612 installs guile.m4 where aclocal will find it. All you need to do is
1613 use GUILE_FLAGS in your configure.in file, and then run `aclocal';
1614 this will copy the definition of GUILE_FLAGS into your aclocal.m4
1618 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
1620 ** Multi-byte strings have been removed, as have multi-byte and wide
1621 ports. We felt that these were the wrong approach to
1622 internationalization support.
1624 ** New function: readline [PROMPT]
1625 Read a line from the terminal, and allow the user to edit it,
1626 prompting with PROMPT. READLINE provides a large set of Emacs-like
1627 editing commands, lets the user recall previously typed lines, and
1628 works on almost every kind of terminal, including dumb terminals.
1630 READLINE assumes that the cursor is at the beginning of the line when
1631 it is invoked. Thus, you can't print a prompt yourself, and then call
1632 READLINE; you need to package up your prompt as a string, pass it to
1633 the function, and let READLINE print the prompt itself. This is
1634 because READLINE needs to know the prompt's screen width.
1636 For Guile to provide this function, you must have the readline
1637 library, version 2.1 or later, installed on your system. Readline is
1638 available via anonymous FTP from prep.ai.mit.edu in pub/gnu, or from
1639 any GNU mirror site.
1641 See also ADD-HISTORY function.
1643 ** New function: add-history STRING
1644 Add STRING as the most recent line in the history used by the READLINE
1645 command. READLINE does not add lines to the history itself; you must
1646 call ADD-HISTORY to make previous input available to the user.
1648 ** The behavior of the read-line function has changed.
1650 This function now uses standard C library functions to read the line,
1651 for speed. This means that it doesn not respect the value of
1652 scm-line-incrementors; it assumes that lines are delimited with
1655 (Note that this is read-line, the function that reads a line of text
1656 from a port, not readline, the function that reads a line from a
1657 terminal, providing full editing capabilities.)
1659 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style): Parse command-line arguments.
1661 This module provides some simple argument parsing. It exports one
1664 Function: getopt-gnu-style ARG-LS
1665 Parse a list of program arguments into an alist of option
1668 Each item in the list of program arguments is examined to see if
1669 it meets the syntax of a GNU long-named option. An argument like
1670 `--MUMBLE' produces an element of the form (MUMBLE . #t) in the
1671 returned alist, where MUMBLE is a keyword object with the same
1672 name as the argument. An argument like `--MUMBLE=FROB' produces
1673 an element of the form (MUMBLE . FROB), where FROB is a string.
1675 As a special case, the returned alist also contains a pair whose
1676 car is the symbol `rest'. The cdr of this pair is a list
1677 containing all the items in the argument list that are not options
1678 of the form mentioned above.
1680 The argument `--' is treated specially: all items in the argument
1681 list appearing after such an argument are not examined, and are
1682 returned in the special `rest' list.
1684 This function does not parse normal single-character switches.
1685 You will need to parse them out of the `rest' list yourself.
1687 ** The read syntax for byte vectors and short vectors has changed.
1689 Instead of #bytes(...), write #y(...).
1691 Instead of #short(...), write #h(...).
1693 This may seem nutty, but, like the other uniform vectors, byte vectors
1694 and short vectors want to have the same print and read syntax (and,
1695 more basic, want to have read syntax!). Changing the read syntax to
1696 use multiple characters after the hash sign breaks with the
1697 conventions used in R5RS and the conventions used for the other
1698 uniform vectors. It also introduces complexity in the current reader,
1699 both on the C and Scheme levels. (The Right solution is probably to
1700 change the syntax and prototypes for uniform vectors entirely.)
1703 ** The new module (ice-9 session) provides useful interactive functions.
1705 *** New procedure: (apropos REGEXP OPTION ...)
1707 Display a list of top-level variables whose names match REGEXP, and
1708 the modules they are imported from. Each OPTION should be one of the
1711 value --- Show the value of each matching variable.
1712 shadow --- Show bindings shadowed by subsequently imported modules.
1713 full --- Same as both `shadow' and `value'.
1717 guile> (apropos "trace" 'full)
1718 debug: trace #<procedure trace args>
1719 debug: untrace #<procedure untrace args>
1720 the-scm-module: display-backtrace #<compiled-closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>
1721 the-scm-module: before-backtrace-hook ()
1722 the-scm-module: backtrace #<primitive-procedure backtrace>
1723 the-scm-module: after-backtrace-hook ()
1724 the-scm-module: has-shown-backtrace-hint? #f
1727 ** There are new functions and syntax for working with macros.
1729 Guile implements macros as a special object type. Any variable whose
1730 top-level binding is a macro object acts as a macro. The macro object
1731 specifies how the expression should be transformed before evaluation.
1733 *** Macro objects now print in a reasonable way, resembling procedures.
1735 *** New function: (macro? OBJ)
1736 True iff OBJ is a macro object.
1738 *** New function: (primitive-macro? OBJ)
1739 Like (macro? OBJ), but true only if OBJ is one of the Guile primitive
1740 macro transformers, implemented in eval.c rather than Scheme code.
1742 Why do we have this function?
1743 - For symmetry with procedure? and primitive-procedure?,
1744 - to allow custom print procedures to tell whether a macro is
1745 primitive, and display it differently, and
1746 - to allow compilers and user-written evaluators to distinguish
1747 builtin special forms from user-defined ones, which could be
1750 *** New function: (macro-type OBJ)
1751 Return a value indicating what kind of macro OBJ is. Possible return
1754 The symbol `syntax' --- a macro created by procedure->syntax.
1755 The symbol `macro' --- a macro created by procedure->macro.
1756 The symbol `macro!' --- a macro created by procedure->memoizing-macro.
1757 The boolean #f --- if OBJ is not a macro object.
1759 *** New function: (macro-name MACRO)
1760 Return the name of the macro object MACRO's procedure, as returned by
1763 *** New function: (macro-transformer MACRO)
1764 Return the transformer procedure for MACRO.
1766 *** New syntax: (use-syntax MODULE ... TRANSFORMER)
1768 Specify a new macro expander to use in the current module. Each
1769 MODULE is a module name, with the same meaning as in the `use-modules'
1770 form; each named module's exported bindings are added to the current
1771 top-level environment. TRANSFORMER is an expression evaluated in the
1772 resulting environment which must yield a procedure to use as the
1773 module's eval transformer: every expression evaluated in this module
1774 is passed to this function, and the result passed to the Guile
1777 *** macro-eval! is removed. Use local-eval instead.
1779 ** Some magic has been added to the printer to better handle user
1780 written printing routines (like record printers, closure printers).
1782 The problem is that these user written routines must have access to
1783 the current `print-state' to be able to handle fancy things like
1784 detection of circular references. These print-states have to be
1785 passed to the builtin printing routines (display, write, etc) to
1786 properly continue the print chain.
1788 We didn't want to change all existing print code so that it
1789 explicitly passes thru a print state in addition to a port. Instead,
1790 we extented the possible values that the builtin printing routines
1791 accept as a `port'. In addition to a normal port, they now also take
1792 a pair of a normal port and a print-state. Printing will go to the
1793 port and the print-state will be used to control the detection of
1794 circular references, etc. If the builtin function does not care for a
1795 print-state, it is simply ignored.
1797 User written callbacks are now called with such a pair as their
1798 `port', but because every function now accepts this pair as a PORT
1799 argument, you don't have to worry about that. In fact, it is probably
1800 safest to not check for these pairs.
1802 However, it is sometimes necessary to continue a print chain on a
1803 different port, for example to get a intermediate string
1804 representation of the printed value, mangle that string somehow, and
1805 then to finally print the mangled string. Use the new function
1807 inherit-print-state OLD-PORT NEW-PORT
1809 for this. It constructs a new `port' that prints to NEW-PORT but
1810 inherits the print-state of OLD-PORT.
1812 ** struct-vtable-offset renamed to vtable-offset-user
1814 ** New constants: vtable-index-layout, vtable-index-vtable, vtable-index-printer
1816 ** There is now a fourth (optional) argument to make-vtable-vtable and
1817 make-struct when constructing new types (vtables). This argument
1818 initializes field vtable-index-printer of the vtable.
1820 ** The detection of circular references has been extended to structs.
1821 That is, a structure that -- in the process of being printed -- prints
1822 itself does not lead to infinite recursion.
1824 ** There is now some basic support for fluids. Please read
1825 "libguile/fluid.h" to find out more. It is accessible from Scheme with
1826 the following functions and macros:
1828 Function: make-fluid
1830 Create a new fluid object. Fluids are not special variables or
1831 some other extension to the semantics of Scheme, but rather
1832 ordinary Scheme objects. You can store them into variables (that
1833 are still lexically scoped, of course) or into any other place you
1834 like. Every fluid has a initial value of `#f'.
1836 Function: fluid? OBJ
1838 Test whether OBJ is a fluid.
1840 Function: fluid-ref FLUID
1841 Function: fluid-set! FLUID VAL
1843 Access/modify the fluid FLUID. Modifications are only visible
1844 within the current dynamic root (that includes threads).
1846 Function: with-fluids* FLUIDS VALUES THUNK
1848 FLUIDS is a list of fluids and VALUES a corresponding list of
1849 values for these fluids. Before THUNK gets called the values are
1850 installed in the fluids and the old values of the fluids are
1851 saved in the VALUES list. When the flow of control leaves THUNK
1852 or reenters it, the values get swapped again. You might think of
1853 this as a `safe-fluid-excursion'. Note that the VALUES list is
1854 modified by `with-fluids*'.
1856 Macro: with-fluids ((FLUID VALUE) ...) FORM ...
1858 The same as `with-fluids*' but with a different syntax. It looks
1859 just like `let', but both FLUID and VALUE are evaluated. Remember,
1860 fluids are not special variables but ordinary objects. FLUID
1861 should evaluate to a fluid.
1863 ** Changes to system call interfaces:
1865 *** close-port, close-input-port and close-output-port now return a
1866 boolean instead of an `unspecified' object. #t means that the port
1867 was successfully closed, while #f means it was already closed. It is
1868 also now possible for these procedures to raise an exception if an
1869 error occurs (some errors from write can be delayed until close.)
1871 *** the first argument to chmod, fcntl, ftell and fseek can now be a
1874 *** the third argument to fcntl is now optional.
1876 *** the first argument to chown can now be a file descriptor or a port.
1878 *** the argument to stat can now be a port.
1880 *** The following new procedures have been added (most use scsh
1883 *** procedure: close PORT/FD
1884 Similar to close-port (*note close-port: Closing Ports.), but also
1885 works on file descriptors. A side effect of closing a file
1886 descriptor is that any ports using that file descriptor are moved
1887 to a different file descriptor and have their revealed counts set
1890 *** procedure: port->fdes PORT
1891 Returns the integer file descriptor underlying PORT. As a side
1892 effect the revealed count of PORT is incremented.
1894 *** procedure: fdes->ports FDES
1895 Returns a list of existing ports which have FDES as an underlying
1896 file descriptor, without changing their revealed counts.
1898 *** procedure: fdes->inport FDES
1899 Returns an existing input port which has FDES as its underlying
1900 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
1901 Otherwise, returns a new input port with a revealed count of 1.
1903 *** procedure: fdes->outport FDES
1904 Returns an existing output port which has FDES as its underlying
1905 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
1906 Otherwise, returns a new output port with a revealed count of 1.
1908 The next group of procedures perform a `dup2' system call, if NEWFD
1909 (an integer) is supplied, otherwise a `dup'. The file descriptor to be
1910 duplicated can be supplied as an integer or contained in a port. The
1911 type of value returned varies depending on which procedure is used.
1913 All procedures also have the side effect when performing `dup2' that
1914 any ports using NEWFD are moved to a different file descriptor and have
1915 their revealed counts set to zero.
1917 *** procedure: dup->fdes PORT/FD [NEWFD]
1918 Returns an integer file descriptor.
1920 *** procedure: dup->inport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
1921 Returns a new input port using the new file descriptor.
1923 *** procedure: dup->outport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
1924 Returns a new output port using the new file descriptor.
1926 *** procedure: dup PORT/FD [NEWFD]
1927 Returns a new port if PORT/FD is a port, with the same mode as the
1928 supplied port, otherwise returns an integer file descriptor.
1930 *** procedure: dup->port PORT/FD MODE [NEWFD]
1931 Returns a new port using the new file descriptor. MODE supplies a
1932 mode string for the port (*note open-file: File Ports.).
1934 *** procedure: setenv NAME VALUE
1935 Modifies the environment of the current process, which is also the
1936 default environment inherited by child processes.
1938 If VALUE is `#f', then NAME is removed from the environment.
1939 Otherwise, the string NAME=VALUE is added to the environment,
1940 replacing any existing string with name matching NAME.
1942 The return value is unspecified.
1944 *** procedure: truncate-file OBJ SIZE
1945 Truncates the file referred to by OBJ to at most SIZE bytes. OBJ
1946 can be a string containing a file name or an integer file
1947 descriptor or port open for output on the file. The underlying
1948 system calls are `truncate' and `ftruncate'.
1950 The return value is unspecified.
1952 *** procedure: setvbuf PORT MODE [SIZE]
1953 Set the buffering mode for PORT. MODE can be:
1961 block buffered, using a newly allocated buffer of SIZE bytes.
1962 However if SIZE is zero or unspecified, the port will be made
1965 This procedure should not be used after I/O has been performed with
1968 Ports are usually block buffered by default, with a default buffer
1969 size. Procedures e.g., *Note open-file: File Ports, which accept a
1970 mode string allow `0' to be added to request an unbuffered port.
1972 *** procedure: fsync PORT/FD
1973 Copies any unwritten data for the specified output file descriptor
1974 to disk. If PORT/FD is a port, its buffer is flushed before the
1975 underlying file descriptor is fsync'd. The return value is
1978 *** procedure: open-fdes PATH FLAGS [MODES]
1979 Similar to `open' but returns a file descriptor instead of a port.
1981 *** procedure: execle PATH ENV [ARG] ...
1982 Similar to `execl', but the environment of the new process is
1983 specified by ENV, which must be a list of strings as returned by
1984 the `environ' procedure.
1986 This procedure is currently implemented using the `execve' system
1987 call, but we call it `execle' because of its Scheme calling
1990 *** procedure: strerror ERRNO
1991 Returns the Unix error message corresponding to ERRNO, an integer.
1993 *** procedure: primitive-exit [STATUS]
1994 Terminate the current process without unwinding the Scheme stack.
1995 This is would typically be useful after a fork. The exit status
1996 is STATUS if supplied, otherwise zero.
1998 *** procedure: times
1999 Returns an object with information about real and processor time.
2000 The following procedures accept such an object as an argument and
2001 return a selected component:
2004 The current real time, expressed as time units relative to an
2008 The CPU time units used by the calling process.
2011 The CPU time units used by the system on behalf of the
2015 The CPU time units used by terminated child processes of the
2016 calling process, whose status has been collected (e.g., using
2020 Similarly, the CPU times units used by the system on behalf of
2021 terminated child processes.
2023 ** Removed: list-length
2024 ** Removed: list-append, list-append!
2025 ** Removed: list-reverse, list-reverse!
2027 ** array-map renamed to array-map!
2029 ** serial-array-map renamed to serial-array-map!
2031 ** catch doesn't take #f as first argument any longer
2033 Previously, it was possible to pass #f instead of a key to `catch'.
2034 That would cause `catch' to pass a jump buffer object to the procedure
2035 passed as second argument. The procedure could then use this jump
2036 buffer objekt as an argument to throw.
2038 This mechanism has been removed since its utility doesn't motivate the
2039 extra complexity it introduces.
2041 ** The `#/' notation for lists now provokes a warning message from Guile.
2042 This syntax will be removed from Guile in the near future.
2044 To disable the warning message, set the GUILE_HUSH environment
2045 variable to any non-empty value.
2047 ** The newline character now prints as `#\newline', following the
2048 normal Scheme notation, not `#\nl'.
2050 * Changes to the gh_ interface
2052 ** The gh_enter function now takes care of loading the Guile startup files.
2053 gh_enter works by calling scm_boot_guile; see the remarks below.
2055 ** Function: void gh_write (SCM x)
2057 Write the printed representation of the scheme object x to the current
2058 output port. Corresponds to the scheme level `write'.
2060 ** gh_list_length renamed to gh_length.
2062 ** vector handling routines
2064 Several major changes. In particular, gh_vector() now resembles
2065 (vector ...) (with a caveat -- see manual), and gh_make_vector() now
2066 exists and behaves like (make-vector ...). gh_vset() and gh_vref()
2067 have been renamed gh_vector_set_x() and gh_vector_ref(). Some missing
2068 vector-related gh_ functions have been implemented.
2070 ** pair and list routines
2072 Implemented several of the R4RS pair and list functions that were
2075 ** gh_scm2doubles, gh_doubles2scm, gh_doubles2dvect
2077 New function. Converts double arrays back and forth between Scheme
2080 * Changes to the scm_ interface
2082 ** The function scm_boot_guile now takes care of loading the startup files.
2084 Guile's primary initialization function, scm_boot_guile, now takes
2085 care of loading `boot-9.scm', in the `ice-9' module, to initialize
2086 Guile, define the module system, and put together some standard
2087 bindings. It also loads `init.scm', which is intended to hold
2088 site-specific initialization code.
2090 Since Guile cannot operate properly until boot-9.scm is loaded, there
2091 is no reason to separate loading boot-9.scm from Guile's other
2092 initialization processes.
2094 This job used to be done by scm_compile_shell_switches, which didn't
2095 make much sense; in particular, it meant that people using Guile for
2096 non-shell-like applications had to jump through hoops to get Guile
2097 initialized properly.
2099 ** The function scm_compile_shell_switches no longer loads the startup files.
2100 Now, Guile always loads the startup files, whenever it is initialized;
2101 see the notes above for scm_boot_guile and scm_load_startup_files.
2103 ** Function: scm_load_startup_files
2104 This new function takes care of loading Guile's initialization file
2105 (`boot-9.scm'), and the site initialization file, `init.scm'. Since
2106 this is always called by the Guile initialization process, it's
2107 probably not too useful to call this yourself, but it's there anyway.
2109 ** The semantics of smob marking have changed slightly.
2111 The smob marking function (the `mark' member of the scm_smobfuns
2112 structure) is no longer responsible for setting the mark bit on the
2113 smob. The generic smob handling code in the garbage collector will
2114 set this bit. The mark function need only ensure that any other
2115 objects the smob refers to get marked.
2117 Note that this change means that the smob's GC8MARK bit is typically
2118 already set upon entry to the mark function. Thus, marking functions
2119 which look like this:
2122 if (SCM_GC8MARKP (ptr))
2124 SCM_SETGC8MARK (ptr);
2125 ... mark objects to which the smob refers ...
2128 are now incorrect, since they will return early, and fail to mark any
2129 other objects the smob refers to. Some code in the Guile library used
2132 ** The semantics of the I/O port functions in scm_ptobfuns have changed.
2134 If you have implemented your own I/O port type, by writing the
2135 functions required by the scm_ptobfuns and then calling scm_newptob,
2136 you will need to change your functions slightly.
2138 The functions in a scm_ptobfuns structure now expect the port itself
2139 as their argument; they used to expect the `stream' member of the
2140 port's scm_port_table structure. This allows functions in an
2141 scm_ptobfuns structure to easily access the port's cell (and any flags
2142 it its CAR), and the port's scm_port_table structure.
2144 Guile now passes the I/O port itself as the `port' argument in the
2145 following scm_ptobfuns functions:
2147 int (*free) (SCM port);
2148 int (*fputc) (int, SCM port);
2149 int (*fputs) (char *, SCM port);
2150 scm_sizet (*fwrite) SCM_P ((char *ptr,
2154 int (*fflush) (SCM port);
2155 int (*fgetc) (SCM port);
2156 int (*fclose) (SCM port);
2158 The interfaces to the `mark', `print', `equalp', and `fgets' methods
2161 If you have existing code which defines its own port types, it is easy
2162 to convert your code to the new interface; simply apply SCM_STREAM to
2163 the port argument to yield the value you code used to expect.
2165 Note that since both the port and the stream have the same type in the
2166 C code --- they are both SCM values --- the C compiler will not remind
2167 you if you forget to update your scm_ptobfuns functions.
2170 ** Function: int scm_internal_select (int fds,
2174 struct timeval *timeout);
2176 This is a replacement for the `select' function provided by the OS.
2177 It enables I/O blocking and sleeping to happen for one cooperative
2178 thread without blocking other threads. It also avoids busy-loops in
2179 these situations. It is intended that all I/O blocking and sleeping
2180 will finally go through this function. Currently, this function is
2181 only available on systems providing `gettimeofday' and `select'.
2183 ** Function: SCM scm_internal_stack_catch (SCM tag,
2184 scm_catch_body_t body,
2186 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
2189 A new sibling to the other two C level `catch' functions
2190 scm_internal_catch and scm_internal_lazy_catch. Use it if you want
2191 the stack to be saved automatically into the variable `the-last-stack'
2192 (scm_the_last_stack_var) on error. This is necessary if you want to
2193 use advanced error reporting, such as calling scm_display_error and
2194 scm_display_backtrace. (They both take a stack object as argument.)
2196 ** Function: SCM scm_spawn_thread (scm_catch_body_t body,
2198 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
2201 Spawns a new thread. It does a job similar to
2202 scm_call_with_new_thread but takes arguments more suitable when
2203 spawning threads from application C code.
2205 ** The hook scm_error_callback has been removed. It was originally
2206 intended as a way for the user to install his own error handler. But
2207 that method works badly since it intervenes between throw and catch,
2208 thereby changing the semantics of expressions like (catch #t ...).
2209 The correct way to do it is to use one of the C level catch functions
2210 in throw.c: scm_internal_catch/lazy_catch/stack_catch.
2212 ** Removed functions:
2214 scm_obj_length, scm_list_length, scm_list_append, scm_list_append_x,
2215 scm_list_reverse, scm_list_reverse_x
2217 ** New macros: SCM_LISTn where n is one of the integers 0-9.
2219 These can be used for pretty list creation from C. The idea is taken
2220 from Erick Gallesio's STk.
2222 ** scm_array_map renamed to scm_array_map_x
2224 ** mbstrings are now removed
2226 This means that the type codes scm_tc7_mb_string and
2227 scm_tc7_mb_substring has been removed.
2229 ** scm_gen_putc, scm_gen_puts, scm_gen_write, and scm_gen_getc have changed.
2231 Since we no longer support multi-byte strings, these I/O functions
2232 have been simplified, and renamed. Here are their old names, and
2233 their new names and arguments:
2235 scm_gen_putc -> void scm_putc (int c, SCM port);
2236 scm_gen_puts -> void scm_puts (char *s, SCM port);
2237 scm_gen_write -> void scm_lfwrite (char *ptr, scm_sizet size, SCM port);
2238 scm_gen_getc -> void scm_getc (SCM port);
2241 ** The macros SCM_TYP7D and SCM_TYP7SD has been removed.
2243 ** The macro SCM_TYP7S has taken the role of the old SCM_TYP7D
2245 SCM_TYP7S now masks away the bit which distinguishes substrings from
2248 ** scm_catch_body_t: Backward incompatible change!
2250 Body functions to scm_internal_catch and friends do not any longer
2251 take a second argument. This is because it is no longer possible to
2252 pass a #f arg to catch.
2254 ** Calls to scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect now nest properly.
2256 The function scm_protect_object protects its argument from being freed
2257 by the garbage collector. scm_unprotect_object removes that
2260 These functions now nest properly. That is, for every object O, there
2261 is a counter which scm_protect_object(O) increments and
2262 scm_unprotect_object(O) decrements, if the counter is greater than
2263 zero. Every object's counter is zero when it is first created. If an
2264 object's counter is greater than zero, the garbage collector will not
2265 reclaim its storage.
2267 This allows you to use scm_protect_object in your code without
2268 worrying that some other function you call will call
2269 scm_unprotect_object, and allow it to be freed. Assuming that the
2270 functions you call are well-behaved, and unprotect only those objects
2271 they protect, you can follow the same rule and have confidence that
2272 objects will be freed only at appropriate times.
2275 Changes in Guile 1.2 (released Tuesday, June 24 1997):
2277 * Changes to the distribution
2279 ** Nightly snapshots are now available from ftp.red-bean.com.
2280 The old server, ftp.cyclic.com, has been relinquished to its rightful
2283 Nightly snapshots of the Guile development sources are now available via
2284 anonymous FTP from ftp.red-bean.com, as /pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz.
2286 Via the web, that's: ftp://ftp.red-bean.com/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
2287 For getit, that's: ftp.red-bean.com:/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
2289 ** To run Guile without installing it, the procedure has changed a bit.
2291 If you used a separate build directory to compile Guile, you'll need
2292 to include the build directory in SCHEME_LOAD_PATH, as well as the
2293 source directory. See the `INSTALL' file for examples.
2295 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
2297 ** The standard Guile load path for Scheme code now includes
2298 $(datadir)/guile (usually /usr/local/share/guile). This means that
2299 you can install your own Scheme files there, and Guile will find them.
2300 (Previous versions of Guile only checked a directory whose name
2301 contained the Guile version number, so you had to re-install or move
2302 your Scheme sources each time you installed a fresh version of Guile.)
2304 The load path also includes $(datadir)/guile/site; we recommend
2305 putting individual Scheme files there. If you want to install a
2306 package with multiple source files, create a directory for them under
2309 ** Guile 1.2 will now use the Rx regular expression library, if it is
2310 installed on your system. When you are linking libguile into your own
2311 programs, this means you will have to link against -lguile, -lqt (if
2312 you configured Guile with thread support), and -lrx.
2314 If you are using autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your
2315 application, the following lines should suffice to add the appropriate
2316 libraries to your link command:
2318 ### Find Rx, quickthreads and libguile.
2319 AC_CHECK_LIB(rx, main)
2320 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
2321 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
2323 The Guile 1.2 distribution does not contain sources for the Rx
2324 library, as Guile 1.0 did. If you want to use Rx, you'll need to
2325 retrieve it from a GNU FTP site and install it separately.
2327 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
2329 ** The dynamic linking features of Guile are now enabled by default.
2330 You can disable them by giving the `--disable-dynamic-linking' option
2333 (dynamic-link FILENAME)
2335 Find the object file denoted by FILENAME (a string) and link it
2336 into the running Guile application. When everything works out,
2337 return a Scheme object suitable for representing the linked object
2338 file. Otherwise an error is thrown. How object files are
2339 searched is system dependent.
2341 (dynamic-object? VAL)
2343 Determine whether VAL represents a dynamically linked object file.
2345 (dynamic-unlink DYNOBJ)
2347 Unlink the indicated object file from the application. DYNOBJ
2348 should be one of the values returned by `dynamic-link'.
2350 (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
2352 Search the C function indicated by FUNCTION (a string or symbol)
2353 in DYNOBJ and return some Scheme object that can later be used
2354 with `dynamic-call' to actually call this function. Right now,
2355 these Scheme objects are formed by casting the address of the
2356 function to `long' and converting this number to its Scheme
2359 (dynamic-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
2361 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ. The
2362 function is passed no arguments and its return value is ignored.
2363 When FUNCTION is something returned by `dynamic-func', call that
2364 function and ignore DYNOBJ. When FUNCTION is a string (or symbol,
2365 etc.), look it up in DYNOBJ; this is equivalent to
2367 (dynamic-call (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ) #f)
2369 Interrupts are deferred while the C function is executing (with
2370 SCM_DEFER_INTS/SCM_ALLOW_INTS).
2372 (dynamic-args-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ ARGS)
2374 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ, but pass it
2375 some arguments and return its return value. The C function is
2376 expected to take two arguments and return an `int', just like
2379 int c_func (int argc, char **argv);
2381 ARGS must be a list of strings and is converted into an array of
2382 `char *'. The array is passed in ARGV and its size in ARGC. The
2383 return value is converted to a Scheme number and returned from the
2384 call to `dynamic-args-call'.
2386 When dynamic linking is disabled or not supported on your system,
2387 the above functions throw errors, but they are still available.
2389 Here is a small example that works on GNU/Linux:
2391 (define libc-obj (dynamic-link "libc.so"))
2392 (dynamic-args-call 'rand libc-obj '())
2394 See the file `libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING' for additional comments.
2396 ** The #/ syntax for module names is depreciated, and will be removed
2397 in a future version of Guile. Instead of
2405 The latter syntax is more consistent with existing Lisp practice.
2407 ** Guile now does fancier printing of structures. Structures are the
2408 underlying implementation for records, which in turn are used to
2409 implement modules, so all of these object now print differently and in
2410 a more informative way.
2412 The Scheme printer will examine the builtin variable *struct-printer*
2413 whenever it needs to print a structure object. When this variable is
2414 not `#f' it is deemed to be a procedure and will be applied to the
2415 structure object and the output port. When *struct-printer* is `#f'
2416 or the procedure return `#f' the structure object will be printed in
2417 the boring #<struct 80458270> form.
2419 This hook is used by some routines in ice-9/boot-9.scm to implement
2420 type specific printing routines. Please read the comments there about
2423 One of the more specific uses of structs are records. The printing
2424 procedure that could be passed to MAKE-RECORD-TYPE is now actually
2425 called. It should behave like a *struct-printer* procedure (described
2428 ** Guile now supports a new R4RS-compliant syntax for keywords. A
2429 token of the form #:NAME, where NAME has the same syntax as a Scheme
2430 symbol, is the external representation of the keyword named NAME.
2431 Keyword objects print using this syntax as well, so values containing
2432 keyword objects can be read back into Guile. When used in an
2433 expression, keywords are self-quoting objects.
2435 Guile suports this read syntax, and uses this print syntax, regardless
2436 of the current setting of the `keyword' read option. The `keyword'
2437 read option only controls whether Guile recognizes the `:NAME' syntax,
2438 which is incompatible with R4RS. (R4RS says such token represent
2441 ** Guile has regular expression support again. Guile 1.0 included
2442 functions for matching regular expressions, based on the Rx library.
2443 In Guile 1.1, the Guile/Rx interface was removed to simplify the
2444 distribution, and thus Guile had no regular expression support. Guile
2445 1.2 again supports the most commonly used functions, and supports all
2446 of SCSH's regular expression functions.
2448 If your system does not include a POSIX regular expression library,
2449 and you have not linked Guile with a third-party regexp library such as
2450 Rx, these functions will not be available. You can tell whether your
2451 Guile installation includes regular expression support by checking
2452 whether the `*features*' list includes the `regex' symbol.
2454 *** regexp functions
2456 By default, Guile supports POSIX extended regular expressions. That
2457 means that the characters `(', `)', `+' and `?' are special, and must
2458 be escaped if you wish to match the literal characters.
2460 This regular expression interface was modeled after that implemented
2461 by SCSH, the Scheme Shell. It is intended to be upwardly compatible
2462 with SCSH regular expressions.
2464 **** Function: string-match PATTERN STR [START]
2465 Compile the string PATTERN into a regular expression and compare
2466 it with STR. The optional numeric argument START specifies the
2467 position of STR at which to begin matching.
2469 `string-match' returns a "match structure" which describes what,
2470 if anything, was matched by the regular expression. *Note Match
2471 Structures::. If STR does not match PATTERN at all,
2472 `string-match' returns `#f'.
2474 Each time `string-match' is called, it must compile its PATTERN
2475 argument into a regular expression structure. This operation is
2476 expensive, which makes `string-match' inefficient if the same regular
2477 expression is used several times (for example, in a loop). For better
2478 performance, you can compile a regular expression in advance and then
2479 match strings against the compiled regexp.
2481 **** Function: make-regexp STR [FLAGS]
2482 Compile the regular expression described by STR, and return the
2483 compiled regexp structure. If STR does not describe a legal
2484 regular expression, `make-regexp' throws a
2485 `regular-expression-syntax' error.
2487 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
2489 **** Constant: regexp/extended
2490 Use POSIX Extended Regular Expression syntax when interpreting
2491 STR. If not set, POSIX Basic Regular Expression syntax is used.
2492 If the FLAGS argument is omitted, we assume regexp/extended.
2494 **** Constant: regexp/icase
2495 Do not differentiate case. Subsequent searches using the
2496 returned regular expression will be case insensitive.
2498 **** Constant: regexp/newline
2499 Match-any-character operators don't match a newline.
2501 A non-matching list ([^...]) not containing a newline matches a
2504 Match-beginning-of-line operator (^) matches the empty string
2505 immediately after a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
2506 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/notbol.
2508 Match-end-of-line operator ($) matches the empty string
2509 immediately before a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
2510 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/noteol.
2512 **** Function: regexp-exec REGEXP STR [START [FLAGS]]
2513 Match the compiled regular expression REGEXP against `str'. If
2514 the optional integer START argument is provided, begin matching
2515 from that position in the string. Return a match structure
2516 describing the results of the match, or `#f' if no match could be
2519 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
2521 **** Constant: regexp/notbol
2522 The match-beginning-of-line operator always fails to match (but
2523 see the compilation flag regexp/newline above) This flag may be
2524 used when different portions of a string are passed to
2525 regexp-exec and the beginning of the string should not be
2526 interpreted as the beginning of the line.
2528 **** Constant: regexp/noteol
2529 The match-end-of-line operator always fails to match (but see the
2530 compilation flag regexp/newline above)
2532 **** Function: regexp? OBJ
2533 Return `#t' if OBJ is a compiled regular expression, or `#f'
2536 Regular expressions are commonly used to find patterns in one string
2537 and replace them with the contents of another string.
2539 **** Function: regexp-substitute PORT MATCH [ITEM...]
2540 Write to the output port PORT selected contents of the match
2541 structure MATCH. Each ITEM specifies what should be written, and
2542 may be one of the following arguments:
2544 * A string. String arguments are written out verbatim.
2546 * An integer. The submatch with that number is written.
2548 * The symbol `pre'. The portion of the matched string preceding
2549 the regexp match is written.
2551 * The symbol `post'. The portion of the matched string
2552 following the regexp match is written.
2554 PORT may be `#f', in which case nothing is written; instead,
2555 `regexp-substitute' constructs a string from the specified ITEMs
2558 **** Function: regexp-substitute/global PORT REGEXP TARGET [ITEM...]
2559 Similar to `regexp-substitute', but can be used to perform global
2560 substitutions on STR. Instead of taking a match structure as an
2561 argument, `regexp-substitute/global' takes two string arguments: a
2562 REGEXP string describing a regular expression, and a TARGET string
2563 which should be matched against this regular expression.
2565 Each ITEM behaves as in REGEXP-SUBSTITUTE, with the following
2568 * A function may be supplied. When this function is called, it
2569 will be passed one argument: a match structure for a given
2570 regular expression match. It should return a string to be
2571 written out to PORT.
2573 * The `post' symbol causes `regexp-substitute/global' to recurse
2574 on the unmatched portion of STR. This *must* be supplied in
2575 order to perform global search-and-replace on STR; if it is
2576 not present among the ITEMs, then `regexp-substitute/global'
2577 will return after processing a single match.
2579 *** Match Structures
2581 A "match structure" is the object returned by `string-match' and
2582 `regexp-exec'. It describes which portion of a string, if any, matched
2583 the given regular expression. Match structures include: a reference to
2584 the string that was checked for matches; the starting and ending
2585 positions of the regexp match; and, if the regexp included any
2586 parenthesized subexpressions, the starting and ending positions of each
2589 In each of the regexp match functions described below, the `match'
2590 argument must be a match structure returned by a previous call to
2591 `string-match' or `regexp-exec'. Most of these functions return some
2592 information about the original target string that was matched against a
2593 regular expression; we will call that string TARGET for easy reference.
2595 **** Function: regexp-match? OBJ
2596 Return `#t' if OBJ is a match structure returned by a previous
2597 call to `regexp-exec', or `#f' otherwise.
2599 **** Function: match:substring MATCH [N]
2600 Return the portion of TARGET matched by subexpression number N.
2601 Submatch 0 (the default) represents the entire regexp match. If
2602 the regular expression as a whole matched, but the subexpression
2603 number N did not match, return `#f'.
2605 **** Function: match:start MATCH [N]
2606 Return the starting position of submatch number N.
2608 **** Function: match:end MATCH [N]
2609 Return the ending position of submatch number N.
2611 **** Function: match:prefix MATCH
2612 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET preceding the regexp match.
2614 **** Function: match:suffix MATCH
2615 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET following the regexp match.
2617 **** Function: match:count MATCH
2618 Return the number of parenthesized subexpressions from MATCH.
2619 Note that the entire regular expression match itself counts as a
2620 subexpression, and failed submatches are included in the count.
2622 **** Function: match:string MATCH
2623 Return the original TARGET string.
2625 *** Backslash Escapes
2627 Sometimes you will want a regexp to match characters like `*' or `$'
2628 exactly. For example, to check whether a particular string represents
2629 a menu entry from an Info node, it would be useful to match it against
2630 a regexp like `^* [^:]*::'. However, this won't work; because the
2631 asterisk is a metacharacter, it won't match the `*' at the beginning of
2632 the string. In this case, we want to make the first asterisk un-magic.
2634 You can do this by preceding the metacharacter with a backslash
2635 character `\'. (This is also called "quoting" the metacharacter, and
2636 is known as a "backslash escape".) When Guile sees a backslash in a
2637 regular expression, it considers the following glyph to be an ordinary
2638 character, no matter what special meaning it would ordinarily have.
2639 Therefore, we can make the above example work by changing the regexp to
2640 `^\* [^:]*::'. The `\*' sequence tells the regular expression engine
2641 to match only a single asterisk in the target string.
2643 Since the backslash is itself a metacharacter, you may force a
2644 regexp to match a backslash in the target string by preceding the
2645 backslash with itself. For example, to find variable references in a
2646 TeX program, you might want to find occurrences of the string `\let\'
2647 followed by any number of alphabetic characters. The regular expression
2648 `\\let\\[A-Za-z]*' would do this: the double backslashes in the regexp
2649 each match a single backslash in the target string.
2651 **** Function: regexp-quote STR
2652 Quote each special character found in STR with a backslash, and
2653 return the resulting string.
2655 *Very important:* Using backslash escapes in Guile source code (as
2656 in Emacs Lisp or C) can be tricky, because the backslash character has
2657 special meaning for the Guile reader. For example, if Guile encounters
2658 the character sequence `\n' in the middle of a string while processing
2659 Scheme code, it replaces those characters with a newline character.
2660 Similarly, the character sequence `\t' is replaced by a horizontal tab.
2661 Several of these "escape sequences" are processed by the Guile reader
2662 before your code is executed. Unrecognized escape sequences are
2663 ignored: if the characters `\*' appear in a string, they will be
2664 translated to the single character `*'.
2666 This translation is obviously undesirable for regular expressions,
2667 since we want to be able to include backslashes in a string in order to
2668 escape regexp metacharacters. Therefore, to make sure that a backslash
2669 is preserved in a string in your Guile program, you must use *two*
2670 consecutive backslashes:
2672 (define Info-menu-entry-pattern (make-regexp "^\\* [^:]*"))
2674 The string in this example is preprocessed by the Guile reader before
2675 any code is executed. The resulting argument to `make-regexp' is the
2676 string `^\* [^:]*', which is what we really want.
2678 This also means that in order to write a regular expression that
2679 matches a single backslash character, the regular expression string in
2680 the source code must include *four* backslashes. Each consecutive pair
2681 of backslashes gets translated by the Guile reader to a single
2682 backslash, and the resulting double-backslash is interpreted by the
2683 regexp engine as matching a single backslash character. Hence:
2685 (define tex-variable-pattern (make-regexp "\\\\let\\\\=[A-Za-z]*"))
2687 The reason for the unwieldiness of this syntax is historical. Both
2688 regular expression pattern matchers and Unix string processing systems
2689 have traditionally used backslashes with the special meanings described
2690 above. The POSIX regular expression specification and ANSI C standard
2691 both require these semantics. Attempting to abandon either convention
2692 would cause other kinds of compatibility problems, possibly more severe
2693 ones. Therefore, without extending the Scheme reader to support
2694 strings with different quoting conventions (an ungainly and confusing
2695 extension when implemented in other languages), we must adhere to this
2696 cumbersome escape syntax.
2698 * Changes to the gh_ interface
2700 * Changes to the scm_ interface
2702 * Changes to system call interfaces:
2704 ** The value returned by `raise' is now unspecified. It throws an exception
2707 *** A new procedure `sigaction' can be used to install signal handlers
2709 (sigaction signum [action] [flags])
2711 signum is the signal number, which can be specified using the value
2714 If action is omitted, sigaction returns a pair: the CAR is the current
2715 signal hander, which will be either an integer with the value SIG_DFL
2716 (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or the Scheme procedure which
2717 handles the signal, or #f if a non-Scheme procedure handles the
2718 signal. The CDR contains the current sigaction flags for the handler.
2720 If action is provided, it is installed as the new handler for signum.
2721 action can be a Scheme procedure taking one argument, or the value of
2722 SIG_DFL (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or #f to restore
2723 whatever signal handler was installed before sigaction was first used.
2724 Flags can optionally be specified for the new handler (SA_RESTART is
2725 always used if the system provides it, so need not be specified.) The
2726 return value is a pair with information about the old handler as
2729 This interface does not provide access to the "signal blocking"
2730 facility. Maybe this is not needed, since the thread support may
2731 provide solutions to the problem of consistent access to data
2734 *** A new procedure `flush-all-ports' is equivalent to running
2735 `force-output' on every port open for output.
2737 ** Guile now provides information on how it was built, via the new
2738 global variable, %guile-build-info. This variable records the values
2739 of the standard GNU makefile directory variables as an assocation
2740 list, mapping variable names (symbols) onto directory paths (strings).
2741 For example, to find out where the Guile link libraries were
2742 installed, you can say:
2744 guile -c "(display (assq-ref %guile-build-info 'libdir)) (newline)"
2747 * Changes to the scm_ interface
2749 ** The new function scm_handle_by_message_noexit is just like the
2750 existing scm_handle_by_message function, except that it doesn't call
2751 exit to terminate the process. Instead, it prints a message and just
2752 returns #f. This might be a more appropriate catch-all handler for
2753 new dynamic roots and threads.
2756 Changes in Guile 1.1 (released Friday, May 16 1997):
2758 * Changes to the distribution.
2760 The Guile 1.0 distribution has been split up into several smaller
2762 guile-core --- the Guile interpreter itself.
2763 guile-tcltk --- the interface between the Guile interpreter and
2764 Tcl/Tk; Tcl is an interpreter for a stringy language, and Tk
2765 is a toolkit for building graphical user interfaces.
2766 guile-rgx-ctax --- the interface between Guile and the Rx regular
2767 expression matcher, and the translator for the Ctax
2768 programming language. These are packaged together because the
2769 Ctax translator uses Rx to parse Ctax source code.
2771 This NEWS file describes the changes made to guile-core since the 1.0
2774 We no longer distribute the documentation, since it was either out of
2775 date, or incomplete. As soon as we have current documentation, we
2780 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
2782 ** guile now accepts command-line arguments compatible with SCSH, Olin
2783 Shivers' Scheme Shell.
2785 In general, arguments are evaluated from left to right, but there are
2786 exceptions. The following switches stop argument processing, and
2787 stash all remaining command-line arguments as the value returned by
2788 the (command-line) function.
2789 -s SCRIPT load Scheme source code from FILE, and exit
2790 -c EXPR evalute Scheme expression EXPR, and exit
2791 -- stop scanning arguments; run interactively
2793 The switches below are processed as they are encountered.
2794 -l FILE load Scheme source code from FILE
2795 -e FUNCTION after reading script, apply FUNCTION to
2796 command line arguments
2797 -ds do -s script at this point
2798 --emacs enable Emacs protocol (experimental)
2799 -h, --help display this help and exit
2800 -v, --version display version information and exit
2801 \ read arguments from following script lines
2803 So, for example, here is a Guile script named `ekko' (thanks, Olin)
2804 which re-implements the traditional "echo" command:
2806 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
2809 (map (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
2813 (main (command-line))
2815 Suppose we invoke this script as follows:
2817 ekko a speckled gecko
2819 Through the magic of Unix script processing (triggered by the `#!'
2820 token at the top of the file), /usr/local/bin/guile receives the
2821 following list of command-line arguments:
2823 ("-s" "./ekko" "a" "speckled" "gecko")
2825 Unix inserts the name of the script after the argument specified on
2826 the first line of the file (in this case, "-s"), and then follows that
2827 with the arguments given to the script. Guile loads the script, which
2828 defines the `main' function, and then applies it to the list of
2829 remaining command-line arguments, ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
2831 In Unix, the first line of a script file must take the following form:
2833 #!INTERPRETER ARGUMENT
2835 where INTERPRETER is the absolute filename of the interpreter
2836 executable, and ARGUMENT is a single command-line argument to pass to
2839 You may only pass one argument to the interpreter, and its length is
2840 limited. These restrictions can be annoying to work around, so Guile
2841 provides a general mechanism (borrowed from, and compatible with,
2842 SCSH) for circumventing them.
2844 If the ARGUMENT in a Guile script is a single backslash character,
2845 `\', Guile will open the script file, parse arguments from its second
2846 and subsequent lines, and replace the `\' with them. So, for example,
2847 here is another implementation of the `ekko' script:
2849 #!/usr/local/bin/guile \
2853 (for-each (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
2857 If the user invokes this script as follows:
2859 ekko a speckled gecko
2861 Unix expands this into
2863 /usr/local/bin/guile \ ekko a speckled gecko
2865 When Guile sees the `\' argument, it replaces it with the arguments
2866 read from the second line of the script, producing:
2868 /usr/local/bin/guile -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
2870 This tells Guile to load the `ekko' script, and apply the function
2871 `main' to the argument list ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
2873 Here is how Guile parses the command-line arguments:
2874 - Each space character terminates an argument. This means that two
2875 spaces in a row introduce an empty-string argument.
2876 - The tab character is not permitted (unless you quote it with the
2877 backslash character, as described below), to avoid confusion.
2878 - The newline character terminates the sequence of arguments, and will
2879 also terminate a final non-empty argument. (However, a newline
2880 following a space will not introduce a final empty-string argument;
2881 it only terminates the argument list.)
2882 - The backslash character is the escape character. It escapes
2883 backslash, space, tab, and newline. The ANSI C escape sequences
2884 like \n and \t are also supported. These produce argument
2885 constituents; the two-character combination \n doesn't act like a
2886 terminating newline. The escape sequence \NNN for exactly three
2887 octal digits reads as the character whose ASCII code is NNN. As
2888 above, characters produced this way are argument constituents.
2889 Backslash followed by other characters is not allowed.
2891 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
2893 ** Guile now builds and installs a shared guile library, if your
2894 system support shared libraries. (It still builds a static library on
2895 all systems.) Guile automatically detects whether your system
2896 supports shared libraries. To prevent Guile from buildisg shared
2897 libraries, pass the `--disable-shared' flag to the configure script.
2899 Guile takes longer to compile when it builds shared libraries, because
2900 it must compile every file twice --- once to produce position-
2901 independent object code, and once to produce normal object code.
2903 ** The libthreads library has been merged into libguile.
2905 To link a program against Guile, you now need only link against
2906 -lguile and -lqt; -lthreads is no longer needed. If you are using
2907 autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your application, the
2908 following lines should suffice to add the appropriate libraries to
2911 ### Find quickthreads and libguile.
2912 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
2913 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
2915 * Changes to Scheme functions
2917 ** Guile Scheme's special syntax for keyword objects is now optional,
2918 and disabled by default.
2920 The syntax variation from R4RS made it difficult to port some
2921 interesting packages to Guile. The routines which accepted keyword
2922 arguments (mostly in the module system) have been modified to also
2923 accept symbols whose names begin with `:'.
2925 To change the keyword syntax, you must first import the (ice-9 debug)
2927 (use-modules (ice-9 debug))
2929 Then you can enable the keyword syntax as follows:
2930 (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
2932 To disable keyword syntax, do this:
2933 (read-set! keywords #f)
2935 ** Many more primitive functions accept shared substrings as
2936 arguments. In the past, these functions required normal, mutable
2937 strings as arguments, although they never made use of this
2940 ** The uniform array functions now operate on byte vectors. These
2941 functions are `array-fill!', `serial-array-copy!', `array-copy!',
2942 `serial-array-map', `array-map', `array-for-each', and
2945 ** The new functions `trace' and `untrace' implement simple debugging
2946 support for Scheme functions.
2948 The `trace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
2949 and tells the Guile interpreter to display each procedure's name and
2950 arguments each time the procedure is invoked. When invoked with no
2951 arguments, `trace' returns the list of procedures currently being
2954 The `untrace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
2955 and tells the Guile interpreter not to trace them any more. When
2956 invoked with no arguments, `untrace' untraces all curretly traced
2959 The tracing in Guile has an advantage over most other systems: we
2960 don't create new procedure objects, but mark the procedure objects
2961 themselves. This means that anonymous and internal procedures can be
2964 ** The function `assert-repl-prompt' has been renamed to
2965 `set-repl-prompt!'. It takes one argument, PROMPT.
2966 - If PROMPT is #f, the Guile read-eval-print loop will not prompt.
2967 - If PROMPT is a string, we use it as a prompt.
2968 - If PROMPT is a procedure accepting no arguments, we call it, and
2969 display the result as a prompt.
2970 - Otherwise, we display "> ".
2972 ** The new function `eval-string' reads Scheme expressions from a
2973 string and evaluates them, returning the value of the last expression
2974 in the string. If the string contains no expressions, it returns an
2977 ** The new function `thunk?' returns true iff its argument is a
2978 procedure of zero arguments.
2980 ** `defined?' is now a builtin function, instead of syntax. This
2981 means that its argument should be quoted. It returns #t iff its
2982 argument is bound in the current module.
2984 ** The new syntax `use-modules' allows you to add new modules to your
2985 environment without re-typing a complete `define-module' form. It
2986 accepts any number of module names as arguments, and imports their
2987 public bindings into the current module.
2989 ** The new function (module-defined? NAME MODULE) returns true iff
2990 NAME, a symbol, is defined in MODULE, a module object.
2992 ** The new function `builtin-bindings' creates and returns a hash
2993 table containing copies of all the root module's bindings.
2995 ** The new function `builtin-weak-bindings' does the same as
2996 `builtin-bindings', but creates a doubly-weak hash table.
2998 ** The `equal?' function now considers variable objects to be
2999 equivalent if they have the same name and the same value.
3001 ** The new function `command-line' returns the command-line arguments
3002 given to Guile, as a list of strings.
3004 When using guile as a script interpreter, `command-line' returns the
3005 script's arguments; those processed by the interpreter (like `-s' or
3006 `-c') are omitted. (In other words, you get the normal, expected
3007 behavior.) Any application that uses scm_shell to process its
3008 command-line arguments gets this behavior as well.
3010 ** The new function `load-user-init' looks for a file called `.guile'
3011 in the user's home directory, and loads it if it exists. This is
3012 mostly for use by the code generated by scm_compile_shell_switches,
3013 but we thought it might also be useful in other circumstances.
3015 ** The new function `log10' returns the base-10 logarithm of its
3018 ** Changes to I/O functions
3020 *** The functions `read', `primitive-load', `read-and-eval!', and
3021 `primitive-load-path' no longer take optional arguments controlling
3022 case insensitivity and a `#' parser.
3024 Case sensitivity is now controlled by a read option called
3025 `case-insensitive'. The user can add new `#' syntaxes with the
3026 `read-hash-extend' function (see below).
3028 *** The new function `read-hash-extend' allows the user to change the
3029 syntax of Guile Scheme in a somewhat controlled way.
3031 (read-hash-extend CHAR PROC)
3032 When parsing S-expressions, if we read a `#' character followed by
3033 the character CHAR, use PROC to parse an object from the stream.
3034 If PROC is #f, remove any parsing procedure registered for CHAR.
3036 The reader applies PROC to two arguments: CHAR and an input port.
3038 *** The new functions read-delimited and read-delimited! provide a
3039 general mechanism for doing delimited input on streams.
3041 (read-delimited DELIMS [PORT HANDLE-DELIM])
3042 Read until we encounter one of the characters in DELIMS (a string),
3043 or end-of-file. PORT is the input port to read from; it defaults to
3044 the current input port. The HANDLE-DELIM parameter determines how
3045 the terminating character is handled; it should be one of the
3048 'trim omit delimiter from result
3049 'peek leave delimiter character in input stream
3050 'concat append delimiter character to returned value
3051 'split return a pair: (RESULT . TERMINATOR)
3053 HANDLE-DELIM defaults to 'peek.
3055 (read-delimited! DELIMS BUF [PORT HANDLE-DELIM START END])
3056 A side-effecting variant of `read-delimited'.
3058 The data is written into the string BUF at the indices in the
3059 half-open interval [START, END); the default interval is the whole
3060 string: START = 0 and END = (string-length BUF). The values of
3061 START and END must specify a well-defined interval in BUF, i.e.
3062 0 <= START <= END <= (string-length BUF).
3064 It returns NBYTES, the number of bytes read. If the buffer filled
3065 up without a delimiter character being found, it returns #f. If the
3066 port is at EOF when the read starts, it returns the EOF object.
3068 If an integer is returned (i.e., the read is successfully terminated
3069 by reading a delimiter character), then the HANDLE-DELIM parameter
3070 determines how to handle the terminating character. It is described
3071 above, and defaults to 'peek.
3073 (The descriptions of these functions were borrowed from the SCSH
3074 manual, by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
3076 *** The `%read-delimited!' function is the primitive used to implement
3077 `read-delimited' and `read-delimited!'.
3079 (%read-delimited! DELIMS BUF GOBBLE? [PORT START END])
3081 This returns a pair of values: (TERMINATOR . NUM-READ).
3082 - TERMINATOR describes why the read was terminated. If it is a
3083 character or the eof object, then that is the value that terminated
3084 the read. If it is #f, the function filled the buffer without finding
3085 a delimiting character.
3086 - NUM-READ is the number of characters read into BUF.
3088 If the read is successfully terminated by reading a delimiter
3089 character, then the gobble? parameter determines what to do with the
3090 terminating character. If true, the character is removed from the
3091 input stream; if false, the character is left in the input stream
3092 where a subsequent read operation will retrieve it. In either case,
3093 the character is also the first value returned by the procedure call.
3095 (The descriptions of this function was borrowed from the SCSH manual,
3096 by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
3098 *** The `read-line' and `read-line!' functions have changed; they now
3099 trim the terminator by default; previously they appended it to the
3100 returned string. For the old behavior, use (read-line PORT 'concat).
3102 *** The functions `uniform-array-read!' and `uniform-array-write!' now
3103 take new optional START and END arguments, specifying the region of
3104 the array to read and write.
3106 *** The `ungetc-char-ready?' function has been removed. We feel it's
3107 inappropriate for an interface to expose implementation details this
3110 ** Changes to the Unix library and system call interface
3112 *** The new fcntl function provides access to the Unix `fcntl' system
3115 (fcntl PORT COMMAND VALUE)
3116 Apply COMMAND to PORT's file descriptor, with VALUE as an argument.
3117 Values for COMMAND are:
3119 F_DUPFD duplicate a file descriptor
3120 F_GETFD read the descriptor's close-on-exec flag
3121 F_SETFD set the descriptor's close-on-exec flag to VALUE
3122 F_GETFL read the descriptor's flags, as set on open
3123 F_SETFL set the descriptor's flags, as set on open to VALUE
3124 F_GETOWN return the process ID of a socket's owner, for SIGIO
3125 F_SETOWN set the process that owns a socket to VALUE, for SIGIO
3126 FD_CLOEXEC not sure what this is
3128 For details, see the documentation for the fcntl system call.
3130 *** The arguments to `select' have changed, for compatibility with
3131 SCSH. The TIMEOUT parameter may now be non-integral, yielding the
3132 expected behavior. The MILLISECONDS parameter has been changed to
3133 MICROSECONDS, to more closely resemble the underlying system call.
3134 The RVEC, WVEC, and EVEC arguments can now be vectors; the type of the
3135 corresponding return set will be the same.
3137 *** The arguments to the `mknod' system call have changed. They are
3140 (mknod PATH TYPE PERMS DEV)
3141 Create a new file (`node') in the file system. PATH is the name of
3142 the file to create. TYPE is the kind of file to create; it should
3143 be 'fifo, 'block-special, or 'char-special. PERMS specifies the
3144 permission bits to give the newly created file. If TYPE is
3145 'block-special or 'char-special, DEV specifies which device the
3146 special file refers to; its interpretation depends on the kind of
3147 special file being created.
3149 *** The `fork' function has been renamed to `primitive-fork', to avoid
3150 clashing with various SCSH forks.
3152 *** The `recv' and `recvfrom' functions have been renamed to `recv!'
3153 and `recvfrom!'. They no longer accept a size for a second argument;
3154 you must pass a string to hold the received value. They no longer
3155 return the buffer. Instead, `recv' returns the length of the message
3156 received, and `recvfrom' returns a pair containing the packet's length
3157 and originating address.
3159 *** The file descriptor datatype has been removed, as have the
3160 `read-fd', `write-fd', `close', `lseek', and `dup' functions.
3161 We plan to replace these functions with a SCSH-compatible interface.
3163 *** The `create' function has been removed; it's just a special case
3166 *** There are new functions to break down process termination status
3167 values. In the descriptions below, STATUS is a value returned by
3170 (status:exit-val STATUS)
3171 If the child process exited normally, this function returns the exit
3172 code for the child process (i.e., the value passed to exit, or
3173 returned from main). If the child process did not exit normally,
3174 this function returns #f.
3176 (status:stop-sig STATUS)
3177 If the child process was suspended by a signal, this function
3178 returns the signal that suspended the child. Otherwise, it returns
3181 (status:term-sig STATUS)
3182 If the child process terminated abnormally, this function returns
3183 the signal that terminated the child. Otherwise, this function
3186 POSIX promises that exactly one of these functions will return true on
3187 a valid STATUS value.
3189 These functions are compatible with SCSH.
3191 *** There are new accessors and setters for the broken-out time vectors
3192 returned by `localtime', `gmtime', and that ilk. They are:
3194 Component Accessor Setter
3195 ========================= ============ ============
3196 seconds tm:sec set-tm:sec
3197 minutes tm:min set-tm:min
3198 hours tm:hour set-tm:hour
3199 day of the month tm:mday set-tm:mday
3200 month tm:mon set-tm:mon
3201 year tm:year set-tm:year
3202 day of the week tm:wday set-tm:wday
3203 day in the year tm:yday set-tm:yday
3204 daylight saving time tm:isdst set-tm:isdst
3205 GMT offset, seconds tm:gmtoff set-tm:gmtoff
3206 name of time zone tm:zone set-tm:zone
3208 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `uname',
3209 describing the host system:
3212 ============================================== ================
3213 name of the operating system implementation utsname:sysname
3214 network name of this machine utsname:nodename
3215 release level of the operating system utsname:release
3216 version level of the operating system utsname:version
3217 machine hardware platform utsname:machine
3219 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getpw',
3220 `getpwnam', `getpwuid', and `getpwent', describing entries from the
3221 system's user database:
3224 ====================== =================
3225 user name passwd:name
3226 user password passwd:passwd
3229 real name passwd:gecos
3230 home directory passwd:dir
3231 shell program passwd:shell
3233 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getgr',
3234 `getgrnam', `getgrgid', and `getgrent', describing entries from the
3235 system's group database:
3238 ======================= ============
3239 group name group:name
3240 group password group:passwd
3242 group members group:mem
3244 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `gethost',
3245 `gethostbyaddr', `gethostbyname', and `gethostent', describing
3249 ========================= ===============
3250 official name of host hostent:name
3251 alias list hostent:aliases
3252 host address type hostent:addrtype
3253 length of address hostent:length
3254 list of addresses hostent:addr-list
3256 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getnet',
3257 `getnetbyaddr', `getnetbyname', and `getnetent', describing internet
3261 ========================= ===============
3262 official name of net netent:name
3263 alias list netent:aliases
3264 net number type netent:addrtype
3265 net number netent:net
3267 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getproto',
3268 `getprotobyname', `getprotobynumber', and `getprotoent', describing
3272 ========================= ===============
3273 official protocol name protoent:name
3274 alias list protoent:aliases
3275 protocol number protoent:proto
3277 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getserv',
3278 `getservbyname', `getservbyport', and `getservent', describing
3282 ========================= ===============
3283 official service name servent:name
3284 alias list servent:aliases
3285 port number servent:port
3286 protocol to use servent:proto
3288 *** There are new accessors for the sockaddr structures returned by
3289 `accept', `getsockname', `getpeername', `recvfrom!':
3292 ======================================== ===============
3293 address format (`family') sockaddr:fam
3294 path, for file domain addresses sockaddr:path
3295 address, for internet domain addresses sockaddr:addr
3296 TCP or UDP port, for internet sockaddr:port
3298 *** The `getpwent', `getgrent', `gethostent', `getnetent',
3299 `getprotoent', and `getservent' functions now return #f at the end of
3300 the user database. (They used to throw an exception.)
3302 Note that calling MUMBLEent function is equivalent to calling the
3303 corresponding MUMBLE function with no arguments.
3305 *** The `setpwent', `setgrent', `sethostent', `setnetent',
3306 `setprotoent', and `setservent' routines now take no arguments.
3308 *** The `gethost', `getproto', `getnet', and `getserv' functions now
3309 provide more useful information when they throw an exception.
3311 *** The `lnaof' function has been renamed to `inet-lnaof'.
3313 *** Guile now claims to have the `current-time' feature.
3315 *** The `mktime' function now takes an optional second argument ZONE,
3316 giving the time zone to use for the conversion. ZONE should be a
3317 string, in the same format as expected for the "TZ" environment variable.
3319 *** The `strptime' function now returns a pair (TIME . COUNT), where
3320 TIME is the parsed time as a vector, and COUNT is the number of
3321 characters from the string left unparsed. This function used to
3322 return the remaining characters as a string.
3324 *** The `gettimeofday' function has replaced the old `time+ticks' function.
3325 The return value is now (SECONDS . MICROSECONDS); the fractional
3326 component is no longer expressed in "ticks".
3328 *** The `ticks/sec' constant has been removed, in light of the above change.
3330 * Changes to the gh_ interface
3332 ** gh_eval_str() now returns an SCM object which is the result of the
3335 ** gh_scm2str() now copies the Scheme data to a caller-provided C
3338 ** gh_scm2newstr() now makes a C array, copies the Scheme data to it,
3339 and returns the array
3341 ** gh_scm2str0() is gone: there is no need to distinguish
3342 null-terminated from non-null-terminated, since gh_scm2newstr() allows
3343 the user to interpret the data both ways.
3345 * Changes to the scm_ interface
3347 ** The new function scm_symbol_value0 provides an easy way to get a
3348 symbol's value from C code:
3350 SCM scm_symbol_value0 (char *NAME)
3351 Return the value of the symbol named by the null-terminated string
3352 NAME in the current module. If the symbol named NAME is unbound in
3353 the current module, return SCM_UNDEFINED.
3355 ** The new function scm_sysintern0 creates new top-level variables,
3356 without assigning them a value.
3358 SCM scm_sysintern0 (char *NAME)
3359 Create a new Scheme top-level variable named NAME. NAME is a
3360 null-terminated string. Return the variable's value cell.
3362 ** The function scm_internal_catch is the guts of catch. It handles
3363 all the mechanics of setting up a catch target, invoking the catch
3364 body, and perhaps invoking the handler if the body does a throw.
3366 The function is designed to be usable from C code, but is general
3367 enough to implement all the semantics Guile Scheme expects from throw.
3369 TAG is the catch tag. Typically, this is a symbol, but this function
3370 doesn't actually care about that.
3372 BODY is a pointer to a C function which runs the body of the catch;
3373 this is the code you can throw from. We call it like this:
3374 BODY (BODY_DATA, JMPBUF)
3376 BODY_DATA is just the BODY_DATA argument we received; we pass it
3377 through to BODY as its first argument. The caller can make
3378 BODY_DATA point to anything useful that BODY might need.
3379 JMPBUF is the Scheme jmpbuf object corresponding to this catch,
3380 which we have just created and initialized.
3382 HANDLER is a pointer to a C function to deal with a throw to TAG,
3383 should one occur. We call it like this:
3384 HANDLER (HANDLER_DATA, THROWN_TAG, THROW_ARGS)
3386 HANDLER_DATA is the HANDLER_DATA argument we recevied; it's the
3387 same idea as BODY_DATA above.
3388 THROWN_TAG is the tag that the user threw to; usually this is
3389 TAG, but it could be something else if TAG was #t (i.e., a
3390 catch-all), or the user threw to a jmpbuf.
3391 THROW_ARGS is the list of arguments the user passed to the THROW
3394 BODY_DATA is just a pointer we pass through to BODY. HANDLER_DATA
3395 is just a pointer we pass through to HANDLER. We don't actually
3396 use either of those pointers otherwise ourselves. The idea is
3397 that, if our caller wants to communicate something to BODY or
3398 HANDLER, it can pass a pointer to it as MUMBLE_DATA, which BODY and
3399 HANDLER can then use. Think of it as a way to make BODY and
3400 HANDLER closures, not just functions; MUMBLE_DATA points to the
3403 Of course, it's up to the caller to make sure that any data a
3404 MUMBLE_DATA needs is protected from GC. A common way to do this is
3405 to make MUMBLE_DATA a pointer to data stored in an automatic
3406 structure variable; since the collector must scan the stack for
3407 references anyway, this assures that any references in MUMBLE_DATA
3410 ** The new function scm_internal_lazy_catch is exactly like
3411 scm_internal_catch, except:
3413 - It does not unwind the stack (this is the major difference).
3414 - If handler returns, its value is returned from the throw.
3415 - BODY always receives #f as its JMPBUF argument (since there's no
3416 jmpbuf associated with a lazy catch, because we don't unwind the
3419 ** scm_body_thunk is a new body function you can pass to
3420 scm_internal_catch if you want the body to be like Scheme's `catch'
3421 --- a thunk, or a function of one argument if the tag is #f.
3423 BODY_DATA is a pointer to a scm_body_thunk_data structure, which
3424 contains the Scheme procedure to invoke as the body, and the tag
3425 we're catching. If the tag is #f, then we pass JMPBUF (created by
3426 scm_internal_catch) to the body procedure; otherwise, the body gets
3429 ** scm_handle_by_proc is a new handler function you can pass to
3430 scm_internal_catch if you want the handler to act like Scheme's catch
3431 --- call a procedure with the tag and the throw arguments.
3433 If the user does a throw to this catch, this function runs a handler
3434 procedure written in Scheme. HANDLER_DATA is a pointer to an SCM
3435 variable holding the Scheme procedure object to invoke. It ought to
3436 be a pointer to an automatic variable (i.e., one living on the stack),
3437 or the procedure object should be otherwise protected from GC.
3439 ** scm_handle_by_message is a new handler function to use with
3440 `scm_internal_catch' if you want Guile to print a message and die.
3441 It's useful for dealing with throws to uncaught keys at the top level.
3443 HANDLER_DATA, if non-zero, is assumed to be a char * pointing to a
3444 message header to print; if zero, we use "guile" instead. That
3445 text is followed by a colon, then the message described by ARGS.
3447 ** The return type of scm_boot_guile is now void; the function does
3448 not return a value, and indeed, never returns at all.
3450 ** The new function scm_shell makes it easy for user applications to
3451 process command-line arguments in a way that is compatible with the
3452 stand-alone guile interpreter (which is in turn compatible with SCSH,
3455 To use the scm_shell function, first initialize any guile modules
3456 linked into your application, and then call scm_shell with the values
3457 of ARGC and ARGV your `main' function received. scm_shell will add
3458 any SCSH-style meta-arguments from the top of the script file to the
3459 argument vector, and then process the command-line arguments. This
3460 generally means loading a script file or starting up an interactive
3461 command interpreter. For details, see "Changes to the stand-alone
3464 ** The new functions scm_get_meta_args and scm_count_argv help you
3465 implement the SCSH-style meta-argument, `\'.
3467 char **scm_get_meta_args (int ARGC, char **ARGV)
3468 If the second element of ARGV is a string consisting of a single
3469 backslash character (i.e. "\\" in Scheme notation), open the file
3470 named by the following argument, parse arguments from it, and return
3471 the spliced command line. The returned array is terminated by a
3474 For details of argument parsing, see above, under "guile now accepts
3475 command-line arguments compatible with SCSH..."
3477 int scm_count_argv (char **ARGV)
3478 Count the arguments in ARGV, assuming it is terminated by a null
3481 For an example of how these functions might be used, see the source
3482 code for the function scm_shell in libguile/script.c.
3484 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
3487 ** The new function scm_compile_shell_switches turns an array of
3488 command-line arguments into Scheme code to carry out the actions they
3489 describe. Given ARGC and ARGV, it returns a Scheme expression to
3490 evaluate, and calls scm_set_program_arguments to make any remaining
3491 command-line arguments available to the Scheme code. For example,
3492 given the following arguments:
3494 -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
3496 scm_set_program_arguments will return the following expression:
3498 (begin (load "ekko") (main (command-line)) (quit))
3500 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
3503 ** The function scm_shell_usage prints a usage message appropriate for
3504 an interpreter that uses scm_compile_shell_switches to handle its
3505 command-line arguments.
3507 void scm_shell_usage (int FATAL, char *MESSAGE)
3508 Print a usage message to the standard error output. If MESSAGE is
3509 non-zero, write it before the usage message, followed by a newline.
3510 If FATAL is non-zero, exit the process, using FATAL as the
3511 termination status. (If you want to be compatible with Guile,
3512 always use 1 as the exit status when terminating due to command-line
3515 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
3518 ** scm_eval_0str now returns SCM_UNSPECIFIED if the string contains no
3519 expressions. It used to return SCM_EOL. Earth-shattering.
3521 ** The macros for declaring scheme objects in C code have been
3522 rearranged slightly. They are now:
3524 SCM_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
3525 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
3526 point to the Scheme symbol whose name is SCHEME_NAME. C_NAME should
3527 be a C identifier, and SCHEME_NAME should be a C string.
3529 SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
3530 Just like SCM_SYMBOL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
3532 SCM_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
3533 Create a global variable at the Scheme level named SCHEME_NAME.
3534 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
3535 point to the Scheme variable's value cell.
3537 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
3538 Just like SCM_VCELL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
3540 The `guile-snarf' script writes initialization code for these macros
3541 to its standard output, given C source code as input.
3543 The SCM_GLOBAL macro is gone.
3545 ** The scm_read_line and scm_read_line_x functions have been replaced
3546 by Scheme code based on the %read-delimited! procedure (known to C
3547 code as scm_read_delimited_x). See its description above for more
3550 ** The function scm_sys_open has been renamed to scm_open. It now
3551 returns a port instead of an FD object.
3553 * The dynamic linking support has changed. For more information, see
3554 libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING.
3559 User-visible changes from Thursday, September 5, 1996 until Guile 1.0
3562 * Changes to the 'guile' program:
3564 ** Guile now loads some new files when it starts up. Guile first
3565 searches the load path for init.scm, and loads it if found. Then, if
3566 Guile is not being used to execute a script, and the user's home
3567 directory contains a file named `.guile', Guile loads that.
3569 ** You can now use Guile as a shell script interpreter.
3571 To paraphrase the SCSH manual:
3573 When Unix tries to execute an executable file whose first two
3574 characters are the `#!', it treats the file not as machine code to
3575 be directly executed by the native processor, but as source code
3576 to be executed by some interpreter. The interpreter to use is
3577 specified immediately after the #! sequence on the first line of
3578 the source file. The kernel reads in the name of the interpreter,
3579 and executes that instead. It passes the interpreter the source
3580 filename as its first argument, with the original arguments
3581 following. Consult the Unix man page for the `exec' system call
3582 for more information.
3584 Now you can use Guile as an interpreter, using a mechanism which is a
3585 compatible subset of that provided by SCSH.
3587 Guile now recognizes a '-s' command line switch, whose argument is the
3588 name of a file of Scheme code to load. It also treats the two
3589 characters `#!' as the start of a comment, terminated by `!#'. Thus,
3590 to make a file of Scheme code directly executable by Unix, insert the
3591 following two lines at the top of the file:
3593 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
3596 Guile treats the argument of the `-s' command-line switch as the name
3597 of a file of Scheme code to load, and treats the sequence `#!' as the
3598 start of a block comment, terminated by `!#'.
3600 For example, here's a version of 'echo' written in Scheme:
3602 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
3604 (let loop ((args (cdr (program-arguments))))
3607 (display (car args))
3608 (if (pair? (cdr args))
3610 (loop (cdr args)))))
3613 Why does `#!' start a block comment terminated by `!#', instead of the
3614 end of the line? That is the notation SCSH uses, and although we
3615 don't yet support the other SCSH features that motivate that choice,
3616 we would like to be backward-compatible with any existing Guile
3617 scripts once we do. Furthermore, if the path to Guile on your system
3618 is too long for your kernel, you can start the script with this
3622 exec /really/long/path/to/guile -s "$0" ${1+"$@"}
3625 Note that some very old Unix systems don't support the `#!' syntax.
3628 ** You can now run Guile without installing it.
3630 Previous versions of the interactive Guile interpreter (`guile')
3631 couldn't start up unless Guile's Scheme library had been installed;
3632 they used the value of the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH'
3633 later on in the startup process, but not to find the startup code
3634 itself. Now Guile uses `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' in all searches for Scheme
3637 To run Guile without installing it, build it in the normal way, and
3638 then set the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' to a
3639 colon-separated list of directories, including the top-level directory
3640 of the Guile sources. For example, if you unpacked Guile so that the
3641 full filename of this NEWS file is /home/jimb/guile-1.0b3/NEWS, then
3644 export SCHEME_LOAD_PATH=/home/jimb/my-scheme:/home/jimb/guile-1.0b3
3647 ** Guile's read-eval-print loop no longer prints #<unspecified>
3648 results. If the user wants to see this, she can evaluate the
3649 expression (assert-repl-print-unspecified #t), perhaps in her startup
3652 ** Guile no longer shows backtraces by default when an error occurs;
3653 however, it does display a message saying how to get one, and how to
3654 request that they be displayed by default. After an error, evaluate
3656 to see a backtrace, and
3657 (debug-enable 'backtrace)
3658 to see them by default.
3662 * Changes to Guile Scheme:
3664 ** Guile now distinguishes between #f and the empty list.
3666 This is for compatibility with the IEEE standard, the (possibly)
3667 upcoming Revised^5 Report on Scheme, and many extant Scheme
3670 Guile used to have #f and '() denote the same object, to make Scheme's
3671 type system more compatible with Emacs Lisp's. However, the change
3672 caused too much trouble for Scheme programmers, and we found another
3673 way to reconcile Emacs Lisp with Scheme that didn't require this.
3676 ** Guile's delq, delv, delete functions, and their destructive
3677 counterparts, delq!, delv!, and delete!, now remove all matching
3678 elements from the list, not just the first. This matches the behavior
3679 of the corresponding Emacs Lisp functions, and (I believe) the Maclisp
3680 functions which inspired them.
3682 I recognize that this change may break code in subtle ways, but it
3683 seems best to make the change before the FSF's first Guile release,
3687 ** The compiled-library-path function has been deleted from libguile.
3689 ** The facilities for loading Scheme source files have changed.
3691 *** The variable %load-path now tells Guile which directories to search
3692 for Scheme code. Its value is a list of strings, each of which names
3695 *** The variable %load-extensions now tells Guile which extensions to
3696 try appending to a filename when searching the load path. Its value
3697 is a list of strings. Its default value is ("" ".scm").
3699 *** (%search-load-path FILENAME) searches the directories listed in the
3700 value of the %load-path variable for a Scheme file named FILENAME,
3701 with all the extensions listed in %load-extensions. If it finds a
3702 match, then it returns its full filename. If FILENAME is absolute, it
3703 returns it unchanged. Otherwise, it returns #f.
3705 %search-load-path will not return matches that refer to directories.
3707 *** (primitive-load FILENAME :optional CASE-INSENSITIVE-P SHARP)
3708 uses %seach-load-path to find a file named FILENAME, and loads it if
3709 it finds it. If it can't read FILENAME for any reason, it throws an
3712 The arguments CASE-INSENSITIVE-P and SHARP are interpreted as by the
3715 *** load uses the same searching semantics as primitive-load.
3717 *** The functions %try-load, try-load-with-path, %load, load-with-path,
3718 basic-try-load-with-path, basic-load-with-path, try-load-module-with-
3719 path, and load-module-with-path have been deleted. The functions
3720 above should serve their purposes.
3722 *** If the value of the variable %load-hook is a procedure,
3723 `primitive-load' applies its value to the name of the file being
3724 loaded (without the load path directory name prepended). If its value
3725 is #f, it is ignored. Otherwise, an error occurs.
3727 This is mostly useful for printing load notification messages.
3730 ** The function `eval!' is no longer accessible from the scheme level.
3731 We can't allow operations which introduce glocs into the scheme level,
3732 because Guile's type system can't handle these as data. Use `eval' or
3733 `read-and-eval!' (see below) as replacement.
3735 ** The new function read-and-eval! reads an expression from PORT,
3736 evaluates it, and returns the result. This is more efficient than
3737 simply calling `read' and `eval', since it is not necessary to make a
3738 copy of the expression for the evaluator to munge.
3740 Its optional arguments CASE_INSENSITIVE_P and SHARP are interpreted as
3741 for the `read' function.
3744 ** The function `int?' has been removed; its definition was identical
3745 to that of `integer?'.
3747 ** The functions `<?', `<?', `<=?', `=?', `>?', and `>=?'. Code should
3748 use the R4RS names for these functions.
3750 ** The function object-properties no longer returns the hash handle;
3751 it simply returns the object's property list.
3753 ** Many functions have been changed to throw errors, instead of
3754 returning #f on failure. The point of providing exception handling in
3755 the language is to simplify the logic of user code, but this is less
3756 useful if Guile's primitives don't throw exceptions.
3758 ** The function `fileno' has been renamed from `%fileno'.
3760 ** The function primitive-mode->fdes returns #t or #f now, not 1 or 0.
3763 * Changes to Guile's C interface:
3765 ** The library's initialization procedure has been simplified.
3766 scm_boot_guile now has the prototype:
3768 void scm_boot_guile (int ARGC,
3770 void (*main_func) (),
3773 scm_boot_guile calls MAIN_FUNC, passing it CLOSURE, ARGC, and ARGV.
3774 MAIN_FUNC should do all the work of the program (initializing other
3775 packages, reading user input, etc.) before returning. When MAIN_FUNC
3776 returns, call exit (0); this function never returns. If you want some
3777 other exit value, MAIN_FUNC may call exit itself.
3779 scm_boot_guile arranges for program-arguments to return the strings
3780 given by ARGC and ARGV. If MAIN_FUNC modifies ARGC/ARGV, should call
3781 scm_set_program_arguments with the final list, so Scheme code will
3782 know which arguments have been processed.
3784 scm_boot_guile establishes a catch-all catch handler which prints an
3785 error message and exits the process. This means that Guile exits in a
3786 coherent way when system errors occur and the user isn't prepared to
3787 handle it. If the user doesn't like this behavior, they can establish
3788 their own universal catcher in MAIN_FUNC to shadow this one.
3790 Why must the caller do all the real work from MAIN_FUNC? The garbage
3791 collector assumes that all local variables of type SCM will be above
3792 scm_boot_guile's stack frame on the stack. If you try to manipulate
3793 SCM values after this function returns, it's the luck of the draw
3794 whether the GC will be able to find the objects you allocate. So,
3795 scm_boot_guile function exits, rather than returning, to discourage
3796 people from making that mistake.
3798 The IN, OUT, and ERR arguments were removed; there are other
3799 convenient ways to override these when desired.
3801 The RESULT argument was deleted; this function should never return.
3803 The BOOT_CMD argument was deleted; the MAIN_FUNC argument is more
3807 ** Guile's header files should no longer conflict with your system's
3810 In order to compile code which #included <libguile.h>, previous
3811 versions of Guile required you to add a directory containing all the
3812 Guile header files to your #include path. This was a problem, since
3813 Guile's header files have names which conflict with many systems'
3816 Now only <libguile.h> need appear in your #include path; you must
3817 refer to all Guile's other header files as <libguile/mumble.h>.
3818 Guile's installation procedure puts libguile.h in $(includedir), and
3819 the rest in $(includedir)/libguile.
3822 ** Two new C functions, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object,
3823 have been added to the Guile library.
3825 scm_protect_object (OBJ) protects OBJ from the garbage collector.
3826 OBJ will not be freed, even if all other references are dropped,
3827 until someone does scm_unprotect_object (OBJ). Both functions
3830 Note that calls to scm_protect_object do not nest. You can call
3831 scm_protect_object any number of times on a given object, and the
3832 next call to scm_unprotect_object will unprotect it completely.
3834 Basically, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object just
3835 maintain a list of references to things. Since the GC knows about
3836 this list, all objects it mentions stay alive. scm_protect_object
3837 adds its argument to the list; scm_unprotect_object remove its
3838 argument from the list.
3841 ** scm_eval_0str now returns the value of the last expression
3844 ** The new function scm_read_0str reads an s-expression from a
3845 null-terminated string, and returns it.
3847 ** The new function `scm_stdio_to_port' converts a STDIO file pointer
3848 to a Scheme port object.
3850 ** The new function `scm_set_program_arguments' allows C code to set
3851 the value returned by the Scheme `program-arguments' function.
3856 * Guile no longer includes sophisticated Tcl/Tk support.
3858 The old Tcl/Tk support was unsatisfying to us, because it required the
3859 user to link against the Tcl library, as well as Tk and Guile. The
3860 interface was also un-lispy, in that it preserved Tcl/Tk's practice of
3861 referring to widgets by names, rather than exporting widgets to Scheme
3862 code as a special datatype.
3864 In the Usenix Tk Developer's Workshop held in July 1996, the Tcl/Tk
3865 maintainers described some very interesting changes in progress to the
3866 Tcl/Tk internals, which would facilitate clean interfaces between lone
3867 Tk and other interpreters --- even for garbage-collected languages
3868 like Scheme. They expected the new Tk to be publicly available in the
3871 Since it seems that Guile might soon have a new, cleaner interface to
3872 lone Tk, and that the old Guile/Tk glue code would probably need to be
3873 completely rewritten, we (Jim Blandy and Richard Stallman) have
3874 decided not to support the old code. We'll spend the time instead on
3875 a good interface to the newer Tk, as soon as it is available.
3877 Until then, gtcltk-lib provides trivial, low-maintenance functionality.
3880 Copyright information:
3882 Copyright (C) 1996,1997 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3884 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
3885 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
3886 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
3887 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
3889 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
3890 of this document, or of portions of it,
3891 under the above conditions, provided also that they
3892 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
3897 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"