1 Guile NEWS --- history of user-visible changes.
2 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3 See the end for copying conditions.
5 Please send Guile bug reports to bug-guile@gnu.org.
7 Each release reports the NEWS in the following sections:
9 * Changes to the distribution
10 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
11 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
12 * Changes to the C interface
15 Changes since the stable branch:
17 * Changes to the distribution
19 ** Guile is now licensed with the GNU Lesser General Public License.
21 ** The manual is now licensed with the GNU Free Documentation License.
23 ** Guile now requires GNU MP (http://swox.com/gmp).
25 Guile now uses the GNU MP library for arbitrary precision arithmetic.
26 At the moment it is being used to handle Guile's bignums.
28 ** Guile now has separate private and public configuration headers.
30 Guile now has config.h and libguile/scmconfig.h. The former is not
31 installed and is private. The latter is installed and used by Guile's
32 public headers. config.h is generated by configure and autoheader,
33 and scmconfig.h is generated by a small C program, gen-scmconfig at
34 build time based in part on the contents of config.h.
36 Seen libguile/__scm.h and gen-scmconfig.c for more information.
38 Note too that nearly all public defines are now set to either 1 or 0
39 rather than being set to 1 or left undefined. See gen-scmconfig.c and
40 the GNU Coding Guidelines for the rationale. However, pre-existing
41 defines that were not renamed were not changed. i.e. GUILE_DEBUG is
42 still either 1 or undefined.
44 ** The INSTALL file is now the generic automake installed one.
46 Guile specific instructions can be found in the README.
48 ** Guile now provides and uses an "effective" version number.
50 Guile now provides scm_effective_version and effective-version
51 functions which return the "effective" version number. This is just
52 the normal full version string without the final micro-version number,
53 so the current effective-version is "1.6". The effective version
54 should remain unchanged during a stable series, and should be used for
55 items like the versioned share directory name
56 i.e. /usr/share/guile/1.6.
58 Providing an unchanging version number during a stable release for
59 things like the versioned share directory can be particularly
60 important for Guile "add-on" packages, since it provides a directory
61 that they can install to that won't be changed out from under them
62 with each micro release during a stable series.
64 ** Thread implementation has changed.
66 When you configure "--with-threads=null", you will get the usual
67 threading API (call-with-new-thread, make-mutex, etc), but you can't
68 actually create new threads. Also, "--with-threads=no" is now
69 equivalent to "--with-threads=null". This means that the thread API
70 is always present, although you might not be able to create new
73 When you configure "--with-threads=pthreads" or "--with-threads=yes",
74 you will get threads that are implemented with the portable POSIX
75 threads. These threads can run concurrently (unlike the previous
76 "coop" thread implementation), but need to cooperate for things like
77 the GC. See the manual for details. [XXX - write this.]
79 The default is "pthreads", unless your platform doesn't have pthreads,
80 in which case "null" threads are used.
82 ** New module (ice-9 serialize):
84 (serialize FORM1 ...) and (parallelize FORM1 ...) are useful when
85 you don't trust the thread safety of most of your program, but
86 where you have some section(s) of code which you consider can run
87 in parallel to other sections.
89 They "flag" (with dynamic extent) sections of code to be of
90 "serial" or "parallel" nature and have the single effect of
91 preventing a serial section from being run in parallel with any
92 serial section (including itself).
94 Both serialize and parallelize can be nested. If so, the
95 inner-most construct is in effect.
97 NOTE 1: A serial section can run in parallel with a parallel
100 NOTE 2: If a serial section S is "interrupted" by a parallel
101 section P in the following manner: S = S1 P S2, S2 is not
102 guaranteed to be resumed by the same thread that previously
105 WARNING: Spawning new threads within a serial section have
106 undefined effects. It is OK, though, to spawn threads in unflagged
107 sections of code where neither serialize or parallelize is in
110 A typical usage is when Guile is used as scripting language in some
111 application doing heavy computations. If each thread is
112 encapsulated with a serialize form, you can then put a parallelize
113 form around the code performing the heavy computations (typically a
114 C code primitive), enabling the computations to run in parallel
115 while the scripting code runs single-threadedly.
117 ** New module (srfi srfi-26)
119 This is an implementation of SRFI-26.
121 ** New module (srfi srfi-31)
123 This is an implementation of SRFI-31 which provides a special form
124 `rec' for recursive evaluation.
126 ** Guile now includes its own version of libltdl.
128 We now use a modified version of libltdl that allows us to make
129 improvements to it without having to rely on libtool releases.
131 ** The --enable-htmldoc option has been removed from 'configure'.
133 Support for translating the documentation into HTML is now always
134 provided. Use 'make html'.
136 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
138 ** New command line option `--no-debug'.
140 Specifying `--no-debug' on the command line will keep the debugging
141 evaluator turned off, even for interactive sessions.
143 ** User-init file ~/.guile is now loaded with the debugging evaluator.
145 Previously, the normal evaluator would have been used. Using the
146 debugging evaluator gives better error messages.
148 ** The '-e' option now 'read's its argument.
150 This is to allow the new '(@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)' construct to
151 be used with '-e'. For example, you can now write a script like
154 exec guile -e '(@ (demo) main)' -s "$0" "$@"
157 (define-module (demo)
161 (format #t "Demo: ~a~%" args))
164 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
166 ** New syntax '@' and '@@':
168 You can now directly refer to variables exported from a module by
171 (@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)
173 For example (@ (ice-9 pretty-print) pretty-print) will directly access
174 the pretty-print variable exported from the (ice-9 pretty-print)
175 module. You don't need to 'use' that module first. You can also use
178 The related syntax (@@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME) works just like '@',
179 but it can also access variables that have not been exported. It is
180 intended only for kluges and temporary fixes and for debugging, not
183 ** 'while' now provides 'break' and 'continue'
185 break and continue were previously bound in a while loop, but not
186 documented, and continue didn't quite work properly. The undocumented
187 parameter to break which gave a return value for the while has been
190 ** 'call-with-current-continuation' is now also available under the name
193 ** Checking for duplicate bindings in module system
195 The module system now can check for name conflicts among imported
198 The behavior can be controlled by specifying one or more duplicates
199 handlers. For example, to make Guile return an error for every name
207 The new default behavior of the module system when a name collision
208 has been detected is to
210 1. Give priority to bindings marked as a replacement.
211 2. Issue a warning (different warning if overriding core binding).
212 3. Give priority to the last encountered binding (this corresponds to
215 If you want the old behavior back without replacements or warnings you
218 (default-duplicate-binding-handler 'last)
220 to your .guile init file.
222 The syntax for the :duplicates option is:
224 :duplicates HANDLER-NAME | (HANDLER1-NAME HANDLER2-NAME ...)
226 Specifying multiple handlers is useful since some handlers (such as
227 replace) can defer conflict resolution to others. Each handler is
228 tried until a binding is selected.
230 Currently available duplicates handlers are:
232 check report an error for bindings with a common name
233 warn issue a warning for bindings with a common name
234 replace replace bindings which have an imported replacement
235 warn-override-core issue a warning for imports which override core bindings
236 and accept the override
237 first select the first encountered binding (override)
238 last select the last encountered binding (override)
240 These two are provided by the (oop goops) module:
242 merge-generics merge generic functions with a common name
243 into an <extended-generic>
244 merge-accessors merge accessors with a common name
246 The default duplicates handler is:
248 (replace warn-override-core warn last)
250 A recommended handler (which is likely to correspond to future Guile
251 behavior) can be installed with:
253 (default-duplicate-binding-handler '(replace warn-override-core check))
255 ** New define-module option: :replace
257 :replace works as :export, but, in addition, marks the binding as a
260 A typical example is `format' in (ice-9 format) which is a replacement
261 for the core binding `format'.
263 ** Adding prefixes to imported bindings in the module system
265 There is now a new :use-module option :prefix. It can be used to add
266 a prefix to all imported bindings.
269 :use-module ((bar) :prefix bar:))
271 will import all bindings exported from bar, but rename them by adding
274 ** Merging generic functions
276 It is sometimes tempting to use GOOPS accessors with short names.
277 For example, it is tempting to use the name `x' for the x-coordinate
280 Assume that we work with a graphical package which needs to use two
281 independent vector packages for 2D and 3D vectors respectively. If
282 both packages export `x' we will encounter a name collision.
284 This can now be resolved automagically with the duplicates handler
285 `merge-generics' which gives the module system license to merge all
286 generic functions sharing a common name:
288 (define-module (math 2D-vectors)
289 :use-module (oop goops)
292 (define-module (math 3D-vectors)
293 :use-module (oop goops)
296 (define-module (my-module)
297 :use-module (math 2D-vectors)
298 :use-module (math 3D-vectors)
299 :duplicates merge-generics)
301 x in (my-module) will now share methods with x in both imported
304 There will, in fact, now be three distinct generic functions named
305 `x': x in (2D-vectors), x in (3D-vectors), and x in (my-module). The
306 last function will be an <extended-generic>, extending the previous
309 Let's call the imported generic functions the "ancestor functions". x
310 in (my-module) is, in turn, a "descendant function" of the imported
311 functions, extending its ancestors.
313 For any generic function G, the applicable methods are selected from
314 the union of the methods of the descendant functions, the methods of G
315 itself and the methods of the ancestor functions.
317 This, ancestor functions share methods with their descendants and vice
318 versa. This implies that x in (math 2D-vectors) can will share the
319 methods of x in (my-module) and vice versa, while x in (math 2D-vectors)
320 doesn't share the methods of x in (math 3D-vectors), thus preserving
323 Sharing is dynamic, so that adding new methods to a descendant implies
324 adding it to the ancestor.
326 If duplicates checking is desired in the above example, the following
327 form of the :duplicates option can be used instead:
329 :duplicates (merge-generics check)
331 ** New function: effective-version
333 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
334 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
335 to the distribution" above.
337 ** Futures: future, make-future, future-ref
339 Futures are like promises, but begun immediately in a new thread. See
340 the "Futures" section in the reference manual.
342 ** New threading functions: parallel, letpar, par-map, and friends
344 These are convenient ways to run calculations in parallel in new
345 threads. See "Parallel forms" in the manual for details.
347 ** Fair mutexes and condition variables
349 Fair mutexes and condition variables have been added. The fairness
350 means that scheduling is arranged to give as equal time shares as
351 possible and that threads are awakened in a first-in-first-out
352 manner. This is not guaranteed with standard mutexes and condition
355 In addition, fair mutexes are recursive. Locking a fair mutex that
356 you have already locked will succeed. Every call to lock-mutex must
357 be matched with a call to unlock-mutex. Only the last call to
358 unlock-mutex will actually unlock the mutex.
360 A fair condition variable must be used together with a fair mutex,
361 just as a standard condition variable must be used together with a
364 ** New functions: make-fair-mutex, make-fair-condition-variable'
366 Make a new fair mutex and a new fair condition variable respectively.
368 ** New function 'try-mutex'.
370 This function will attempt to lock a mutex but will return immediately
371 instead if blocking and indicate failure.
373 ** Waiting on a condition variable can have a timeout.
375 The funtion 'wait-condition-variable' now takes a third, optional
376 argument that specifies the point in time where the waiting should be
379 ** New function 'broadcast-condition-variable'.
381 ** New functions 'all-threads' and 'current-thread'.
383 ** Signals and system asyncs work better with threads.
385 The function 'sigaction' now takes a fourth, optional, argument that
386 specifies the thread that the handler should run in. When the
387 argument is omitted, the handler will run in the thread that called
390 Likewise, 'system-async-mark' takes a second, optional, argument that
391 specifies the thread that the async should run in. When it is
392 omitted, the async will run in the thread that called
395 C code can use the new functions scm_sigaction_for_thread and
396 scm_system_async_mark_for_thread to pass the new thread argument.
398 ** The function 'system-async' is deprecated.
400 You can now pass any zero-argument procedure to 'system-async-mark'.
401 The function 'system-async' will just return its argument unchanged
404 ** New functions 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' and
405 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
407 The expression (call-with-blocked-asyncs PROC) will call PROC and will
408 block execution of system asyncs for the current thread by one level
409 while PROC runs. Likewise, call-with-unblocked-asyncs will call a
410 procedure and will unblock the execution of system asyncs by one
411 level for the current thread.
413 Only system asyncs are affected by these functions.
415 ** The functions 'mask-signals' and 'unmask-signals' are deprecated.
417 Use 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' or 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
418 instead. Those functions are easier to use correctly and can be
421 ** New function 'unsetenv'.
423 ** New macro 'define-syntax-public'.
425 It works like 'define-syntax' and also exports the defined macro (but
428 ** There is support for Infinity and NaNs.
430 Following PLT Scheme, Guile can now work with infinite numbers, and
433 There is new syntax for numbers: "+inf.0" (infinity), "-inf.0"
434 (negative infinity), "+nan.0" (not-a-number), and "-nan.0" (same as
435 "+nan.0"). These numbers are inexact and have no exact counterpart.
437 Dividing by an inexact zero returns +inf.0 or -inf.0, depending on the
438 sign of the dividend. The infinities are integers, and they answer #t
439 for both 'even?' and 'odd?'. The +nan.0 value is not an integer and is
440 not '=' to itself, but '+nan.0' is 'eqv?' to itself.
451 ERROR: Numerical overflow
453 Two new predicates 'inf?' and 'nan?' can be used to test for the
456 ** Inexact zero can have a sign.
458 Guile can now distinguish between plus and minus inexact zero, if your
459 platform supports this, too. The two zeros are equal according to
460 '=', but not according to 'eqv?'. For example
471 ** Guile now has exact rationals.
473 Guile can now represent fractions such as 1/3 exactly. Computing with
474 them is also done exactly, of course:
479 ** 'floor', 'ceiling', 'round' and 'truncate' now return exact numbers
482 For example: (floor 2) now returns an exact 2 where in the past it
483 returned an inexact 2.0. Likewise, (floor 5/4) returns an exact 1.
485 ** inexact->exact no longer returns only integers.
487 Without exact rationals, the closest exact number was always an
488 integer, but now inexact->exact returns the fraction that is exactly
489 equal to a floating point number. For example:
491 (inexact->exact 1.234)
492 => 694680242521899/562949953421312
494 When you want the old behavior, use 'round' explicitely:
496 (inexact->exact (round 1.234))
499 ** New function 'rationalize'.
501 This function finds a simple fraction that is close to a given real
502 number. For example (and compare with inexact->exact above):
504 (rationalize (inexact->exact 1.234) 1/2000)
507 Note that, as required by R5RS, rationalize returns only then an exact
508 result when both its arguments are exact.
510 ** 'odd?' and 'even?' work also for inexact integers.
512 Previously, (odd? 1.0) would signal an error since only exact integers
513 were recognized as integers. Now (odd? 1.0) returns #t, (odd? 2.0)
514 returns #f and (odd? 1.5) signals an error.
516 ** We now have uninterned symbols.
518 The new function 'make-symbol' will return a uninterned symbol. This
519 is a symbol that is unique and is guaranteed to remain unique.
520 However, uninterned symbols can not yet be read back in.
522 Use the new function 'symbol-interned?' to check whether a symbol is
525 ** pretty-print has more options.
527 The function pretty-print from the (ice-9 pretty-print) module can now
528 also be invoked with keyword arguments that control things like
529 maximum output width. See the manual for details.
531 ** Variables have no longer a special behavior for `equal?'.
533 Previously, comparing two variables with `equal?' would recursivly
534 compare their values. This is no longer done. Variables are now only
535 `equal?' if they are `eq?'.
537 ** `(begin)' is now valid.
539 You can now use an empty `begin' form. It will yield #<unspecified>
540 when evaluated and simply be ignored in a definition context.
542 ** Deprecated: procedure->macro
544 Change your code to use either procedure->memoizing-macro or, probably better,
545 to use r5rs macros. Also, be aware that macro expansion will not be done
546 during evaluation, but prior to evaluation.
548 ** Soft ports now allow a `char-ready?' procedure
550 The vector argument to `make-soft-port' can now have a length of
551 either 5 or 6. (Previously the length had to be 5.) The optional 6th
552 element is interpreted as an `input-waiting' thunk -- i.e. a thunk
553 that returns the number of characters that can be read immediately
554 without the soft port blocking.
556 ** New debugging feature: breakpoints.
558 Guile now has breakpoints. For details see the `Debugging Features'
559 chapter in the reference manual.
561 ** Deprecated: undefine
563 There is no replacement for undefine.
565 ** call-with-output-string doesn't segv on closed port
567 Previously call-with-output-string would give a segmentation fault if
568 the string port was closed by the called function. An exception is
571 ** (ice-9 popen) duplicate pipe fd fix
573 open-pipe, open-input-pipe and open-output-pipe left an extra copy of
574 their pipe file descriptor in the child, which was normally harmless,
575 but it can prevent the parent seeing eof or a broken pipe immediately
576 and has now been fixed.
578 ** source-properties and set-source-properties! fix
580 Properties set with set-source-properties! can now be read back
581 correctly with source-properties.
585 delete and delete! now call the "=" procedure with arguments in the
586 order described by the SRFI-1 specification
588 list-copy now accepts improper lists, per the specification.
592 Larger values in 64-bit vectors should print correctly now.
596 date-week-number now correctly respects the requested day of week
599 * Changes to the C interface
601 ** There is the new notion of 'discouraged' features.
603 This is a milder form of deprecation.
605 Things that are discouraged should not be used in new code, but it is
606 OK to leave them in old code for now. When a discouraged feature is
607 used, no warning message is printed like there is for 'deprecated'
608 features. Also, things that are merely discouraged are nevertheless
609 implemented efficiently, while deprecated features can be very slow.
611 You can omit discouraged features from libguile by configuring it with
612 the '--disable-discouraged' option.
614 ** A new family of functions for converting between C values and
615 Scheme values has been added.
617 These functions follow a common naming scheme and are designed to be
618 easier to use, thread-safe and more future-proof than the older
623 These are predicates that return a C boolean: 1 or 0. Instead of
624 SCM_NFALSEP, you can now use scm_is_true, for example.
626 - <type> scm_to_<type> (SCM val, ...)
628 These are functions that convert a Scheme value into an appropriate
629 C value. For example, you can use scm_to_int to safely convert from
632 - SCM scm_from_<type>) (<type> val, ...)
634 These functions convert from a C type to a SCM value; for example,
635 scm_from_int for ints.
637 There is a huge number of these functions, for numbers, strings,
638 symbols, vectors, etc. They are documented in the reference manual in
639 the API section together with the types that they apply to.
641 ** New functions for dealing with complex numbers in C have been added.
643 The new functions are scm_c_make_rectangular, scm_c_make_polar,
644 scm_c_real_part, scm_c_imag_part, scm_c_magnitude and scm_c_angle.
645 They work like scm_make_rectangular etc but take or return doubles
648 ** The function scm_make_complex has been discouraged.
650 Use scm_c_make_rectangular instead.
652 ** The INUM macros have been deprecated.
654 A lot of code uses these macros to do general integer conversions,
655 although they only work correctly with fixnums. Use the following
658 SCM_INUMP -> scm_is_integer or similar
659 SCM_NINUMP -> !scm_is_integer or similar
660 SCM_MAKINUM -> scm_from_int or similar
661 SCM_INUM -> scm_to_int or similar
663 SCM_VALIDATE_INUM_* -> Do not use these, scm_to_int, etc. will
664 do the validating for you.
666 ** The scm_num2<type> and scm_<type>2num functions and scm_make_real
667 have been discouraged.
669 Use the newer scm_to_<type> and scm_from_<type> functions instead for
670 new code. The functions have been discouraged since they don't fit
673 ** The 'boolean' macros SCM_FALSEP etc have been discouraged.
675 They have strange names, especially SCM_NFALSEP, and SCM_BOOLP
676 evaluates its argument twice. Use scm_is_true, etc. instead for new
679 ** The macro SCM_EQ_P has been discouraged.
681 Use scm_is_eq for new code, which fits better into the naming
684 ** SCM_CELL_WORD_LOC has been deprecated.
686 Use the new macro SCM_CELL_OBJECT_LOC instead, which return a pointer
687 to a SCM, as opposed to a pointer to a scm_t_bits.
689 This was done to allow the correct use of pointers into the Scheme
690 heap. Previously, the heap words were of type scm_t_bits and local
691 variables and function arguments were of type SCM, making it
692 non-standards-conformant to have a pointer that can point to both.
694 ** New macros SCM_SMOB_DATA_2, SM_SMOB_DATA_3, etc.
696 These macros should be used instead of SCM_CELL_WORD_2/3 to access the
697 second and third words of double smobs. Likewise for
698 SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_2 and SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_3.
700 Also, there is SCM_SMOB_FLAGS and SCM_SET_SMOB_FLAGS that should be
701 used to get and set the 16 exra bits in the zeroth word of a smob.
703 And finally, there is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT and SCM_SMOB_SET_OBJECT for
704 accesing the first immediate word of a smob as a SCM value, and there
705 is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_LOC for getting a pointer to the first immediate
706 smob words. Like wise for SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_2, etc.
708 ** New way to deal with non-local exits and reentries.
710 There is a new set of functions that essentially do what
711 scm_internal_dynamic_wind does, but in a way that is more convenient
712 for C code in some situations. Here is a quick example of how to
713 prevent a potential memory leak:
722 mem = scm_malloc (100);
723 scm_frame_unwind_handler (free, mem, SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITELY);
725 /* MEM would leak if BAR throws an error.
726 SCM_FRAME_UNWIND_HANDLER frees it nevertheless. */
732 /* Because of SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITELY, MEM will be freed by
733 SCM_FRAME_END as well.
737 For full documentation, see the node "Frames" in the manual.
739 ** New way to block and unblock asyncs
741 In addition to scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs you can now also use
742 scm_frame_block_asyncs in a 'frame' (see above). Likewise for
743 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs and scm_frame_unblock_asyncs.
745 ** New way to temporarily set the current input, output or error ports
747 C code can now use scm_frame_current_<foo>_port in a 'frame' (see
748 above). <foo> is one of "input", "output" or "error".
750 ** New way to temporarily set fluids
752 C code can now use scm_frame_fluid in a 'frame' (see
753 above) to temporarily set the value of a fluid.
755 ** New types scm_t_intmax and scm_t_uintmax.
757 On platforms that have them, these types are identical to intmax_t and
758 uintmax_t, respectively. On other platforms, they are identical to
759 the largest integer types that Guile knows about.
761 ** scm_unmemocopy and scm_unmemoize have been removed from public use.
763 For guile internal use, the functions scm_i_unmemocopy_expr,
764 scm_i_unmemocopy_body and scm_i_unmemoize_expr are provided to replace
765 scm_unmemocopy and scm_unmemoize. User code should not have used
766 scm_unmemocopy and scm_unmemoize and thus should not use the replacement
769 Background: Formerly, scm_unmemocopy and scm_unmemoize would have allowed to
770 unmemoize a single expression as well as a sequence of body forms. This would
771 have lead to problems when unmemoizing code of the new memoizer. Now the two
772 cases have to be distinguished.
775 ** Many public #defines with generic names have been made private.
777 #defines with generic names like HAVE_FOO or SIZEOF_FOO have been made
778 private or renamed with a more suitable public name. See below for
779 the ones which have been renamed.
781 ** HAVE_STDINT_H and HAVE_INTTYPES_H have been removed from public use.
783 HAVE_STDINT_H and HAVE_INTTYPES_H removed from public use. These are
784 no longer needed since the older uses of stdint.h and inttypes.h are
785 now handled by configure.in and gen-scmconfig.c.
787 ** USE_DLL_IMPORT is no longer defined publically.
789 gen-scmconfig now uses it to decide what contents to place in the
790 public scmconfig.h header without adding the USE_DLL_IMPORT itself.
792 ** HAVE_LIMITS_H has been removed from public use.
794 gen-scmconfig now just uses HAVE_LIMITS_H to decide whether or not to
795 add a limits.h include in scmconfig.h.
797 ** time.h, sys/time.h, etc. #ifdefery has been removed from public headers.
799 gen-scmconfig now just uses the same logic to decide what time related
800 #includes to add to scmconfig.h.
802 ** HAVE_STRUCT_TIMESPEC has been removed from public use.
804 scmconfig.h now just defines scm_t_timespec.
806 ** HAVE_PTRDIFF has been removed from public use and Guile doesn't
809 Guile now publically defines scm_t_ptrdiff and
810 SCM_SIZEOF_SCM_T_PTRDIFF in scmconfig.h, and all occurrences of
811 ptrdiff_t have been replaced with scm_t_ptrdiff.
813 Guile defines its own type this rather than just relying on ptrdiff_t
814 and SCM_SIZEOF_PTRDIFF_T because Guile actually typedefs long to
815 scm_t_ptrdiff when ptrdiff_t isn't available. A public "typedef long
816 ptrdiff_t" could conflict with other headers.
818 ** HAVE_UINTPTR_T and HAVE_UINTPTR_T have been removed from public use.
820 They are replaced by public definitions of SCM_SIZEOF_UINTPTR_T and
821 SCM_SIZEOF_INTPTR_T. These are defined to 0 if the corresponding type
824 ** The public #define STDC_HEADERS has been renamed to SCM_HAVE_STDC_HEADERS.
826 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
828 ** The public #define HAVE_SYS_SELECT has been renamed to
829 SCM_HAVE_SYS_SELECT_H.
831 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
833 ** The public #define HAVE_FLOATINGPOINT_H has been renamed to
834 SCM_HAVE_FLOATINGPOINT_H.
836 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
838 ** The public #define HAVE_IEEEFP_H has been renamed to SCM_HAVE_IEEEFP_H.
840 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
842 ** The public #define HAVE_NAN_H has been renamed to SCM_HAVE_NAN_H.
844 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
846 ** The public #define HAVE_WINSOCK2_H has been renamed to SCM_HAVE_WINSOCK2_H.
848 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
850 ** The public #define HAVE_ARRAYS has been renamed to SCM_HAVE_ARRAYS.
852 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
854 ** The public #define STACK_GROWS_UP has been renamed to SCM_STACK_GROWS_UP.
856 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
858 ** The public #define USE_PTHREAD_THREADS has been renamed to
859 SCM_USE_PTHREAD_THREADS.
861 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
863 ** The public #define USE_NULL_THREADS has been renamed to
864 SCM_USE_NULL_THREADS.
866 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
868 ** The public #define USE_COOP_THREADS has been renamed to
869 SCM_USE_COOP_THREADS.
871 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
873 ** SCM_C_INLINE is publically defined if possible.
875 If the platform has a way to define inline functions, SCM_C_INLINE
876 will be defined to that text. Otherwise it will be undefined. This
877 is a little bit different than autoconf's normal handling of the
878 inline define via AC_C_INLINE.
880 ** Guile now publically defines some basic type infrastructure.
885 SCM_SIZEOF_UNSIGNED_CHAR
887 SCM_SIZEOF_UNSIGNED_SHORT
889 SCM_SIZEOF_UNSIGNED_LONG
891 SCM_SIZEOF_UNSIGNED_INT
892 SCM_SIZEOF_LONG_LONG /* defined to 0 if type not available */
893 SCM_SIZEOF_UNSIGNED_LONG_LONG /* defined to 0 if type not available */
902 Guile always defines these to 0 or 1
907 and when either of these are defined to 1, also defines
918 ** The macro SCM_IFLAGP now only returns true for flags
920 User code should never have used this macro anyway. And, you should not use
921 it in the future either. Thus, the following explanation is just for the
922 impropable case that your code actually made use of this macro, and that you
923 are willing to depend on internals which will probably change in the near
926 Formerly, SCM_IFLAGP also returned true for evaluator bytecodes created with
927 SCM_MAKSPCSYM (short instructions) and evaluator bytecodes created with
928 SCM_MAKISYM (short instructions). Now, SCM_IFLAG only returns true for
929 Guile's special constants created with SCM_MAKIFLAG. To achieve the old
930 behaviour, instead of
934 you would have to write
936 (SCM_ISYMP(x) || SCM_IFLAGP(x))
938 ** The macro SCM_TYP16S has been deprecated.
940 This macro is not intended for public use. However, if you allocated types
941 with tc16 type codes in a way that you would have needed this macro, you are
942 expected to have a deep knowledge of Guile's type system. Thus, you should
943 know how to replace this macro.
945 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_INEXACTP has been deprecated.
947 Use SCM_INEXACTP instead.
949 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_REALP has been deprecated.
951 Use SCM_REALP instead.
953 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_COMPLEXP has been deprecated.
955 Use SCM_COMPLEXP instead.
957 ** The preprocessor define USE_THREADS has been deprecated.
959 Going forward, assume that the thread API is always present.
961 ** The preprocessor define GUILE_ISELECT has been deprecated.
963 Going forward, assume that scm_internal_select is always present.
965 ** The preprocessor define READER_EXTENSIONS has been deprecated.
967 Going forward, assume that the features represented by
968 READER_EXTENSIONS are always present.
970 ** The preprocessor define DEBUG_EXTENSIONS has been deprecated.
972 Going forward, assume that the features represented by
973 DEBUG_EXTENSIONS are always present.
975 ** The preprocessor define DYNAMIC_LINKING has been deprecated.
977 Going forward, assume that the features represented by
978 DYNAMIC_LINKING are always present.
980 ** The preprocessor define STACK_DIRECTION has been deprecated.
982 There should be no need to know about the stack direction for ordinary
983 programs. (Do not use.)
985 ** New function: scm_effective_version
987 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
988 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
989 to the distribution" above.
991 ** The function scm_call_with_new_thread has a new prototype.
993 Instead of taking a list with the thunk and handler, these two
994 arguments are now passed directly:
996 SCM scm_call_with_new_thread (SCM thunk, SCM handler);
998 This is an incompatible change.
1000 ** The value 'scm_mask_ints' is no longer writable.
1002 Previously, you could set scm_mask_ints directly. This is no longer
1003 possible. Use scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
1004 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs instead.
1006 ** New functions scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
1007 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs
1009 Like scm_call_with_blocked_asyncs etc. but for C functions.
1011 ** New snarfer macro SCM_DEFINE_PUBLIC.
1013 This is like SCM_DEFINE, but also calls scm_c_export for the defined
1014 function in the init section.
1016 ** The snarfer macro SCM_SNARF_INIT is now officially supported.
1018 ** New macros SCM_VECTOR_REF and SCM_VECTOR_SET.
1020 Use these in preference to SCM_VELTS.
1022 ** The SCM_VELTS macros now returns a read-only vector. For writing,
1023 use the new macros SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS or SCM_VECTOR_SET. The use of
1024 SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS is discouraged, though.
1026 ** Garbage collector rewrite.
1028 The garbage collector is cleaned up a lot, and now uses lazy
1029 sweeping. This is reflected in the output of (gc-stats); since cells
1030 are being freed when they are allocated, the cells-allocated field
1031 stays roughly constant.
1033 For malloc related triggers, the behavior is changed. It uses the same
1034 heuristic as the cell-triggered collections. It may be tuned with the
1035 environment variables GUILE_MIN_YIELD_MALLOC. This is the percentage
1036 for minimum yield of malloc related triggers. The default is 40.
1037 GUILE_INIT_MALLOC_LIMIT sets the initial trigger for doing a GC. The
1040 Debugging operations for the freelist have been deprecated, along with
1041 the C variables that control garbage collection. The environment
1042 variables GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE, GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2,
1043 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1, and GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2 should be used.
1045 ** The function scm_definedp has been renamed to scm_defined_p
1047 The name scm_definedp is deprecated.
1049 ** The struct scm_cell has been renamed to scm_t_cell
1051 This is in accordance to Guile's naming scheme for types. Note that
1052 the name scm_cell is now used for a function that allocates and
1053 initializes a new cell (see below).
1055 ** New functions for memory management
1057 A new set of functions for memory management has been added since the
1058 old way (scm_must_malloc, scm_must_free, etc) was error prone and
1059 indeed, Guile itself contained some long standing bugs that could
1060 cause aborts in long running programs.
1062 The new functions are more symmetrical and do not need cooperation
1063 from smob free routines, among other improvements.
1065 The new functions are scm_malloc, scm_realloc, scm_calloc, scm_strdup,
1066 scm_strndup, scm_gc_malloc, scm_gc_calloc, scm_gc_realloc,
1067 scm_gc_free, scm_gc_register_collectable_memory, and
1068 scm_gc_unregister_collectable_memory. Refer to the manual for more
1069 details and for upgrading instructions.
1071 The old functions for memory management have been deprecated. They
1072 are: scm_must_malloc, scm_must_realloc, scm_must_free,
1073 scm_must_strdup, scm_must_strndup, scm_done_malloc, scm_done_free.
1075 ** New function: scm_str2string
1077 This function creates a scheme string from a 0-terminated C string. The input
1080 ** Declarations of exported features are marked with SCM_API.
1082 Every declaration of a feature that belongs to the exported Guile API
1083 has been marked by adding the macro "SCM_API" to the start of the
1084 declaration. This macro can expand into different things, the most
1085 common of which is just "extern" for Unix platforms. On Win32, it can
1086 be used to control which symbols are exported from a DLL.
1088 If you `#define SCM_IMPORT' before including <libguile.h>, SCM_API
1089 will expand into "__declspec (dllimport) extern", which is needed for
1090 linking to the Guile DLL in Windows.
1092 There are also SCM_RL_IMPORT, QT_IMPORT, SCM_SRFI1314_IMPORT, and
1093 SCM_SRFI4_IMPORT, for the corresponding libraries.
1095 ** SCM_NEWCELL and SCM_NEWCELL2 have been deprecated.
1097 Use the new functions scm_cell and scm_double_cell instead. The old macros
1098 had problems because with them allocation and initialization was separated and
1099 the GC could sometimes observe half initialized cells. Only careful coding by
1100 the user of SCM_NEWCELL and SCM_NEWCELL2 could make this safe and efficient.
1102 ** CHECK_ENTRY, CHECK_APPLY and CHECK_EXIT have been deprecated.
1104 Use the variables scm_check_entry_p, scm_check_apply_p and scm_check_exit_p
1107 ** SRCBRKP has been deprecated.
1109 Use scm_c_source_property_breakpoint_p instead.
1111 ** Deprecated: scm_makmacro
1113 Change your code to use either scm_makmmacro or, probably better, to use r5rs
1114 macros. Also, be aware that macro expansion will not be done during
1115 evaluation, but prior to evaluation.
1117 ** Removed from scm_root_state: def_inp, def_outp, def_errp, together
1118 with corresponding macros scm_def_inp, scm_def_outp and scm_def_errp.
1119 These were undocumented and unused copies of the standard ports at the
1120 time that Guile was initialised. Normally the current ports should be
1121 used instead, obtained from scm_current_input_port () etc. If an
1122 application needs to retain earlier ports, it should save them in a
1123 gc-protected location.
1125 ** Removed compile time option MEMOIZE_LOCALS
1127 Now, caching of local variable positions during memoization is mandatory.
1128 However, the option to disable the caching has most probably not been used
1131 ** Removed compile time option SCM_RECKLESS
1133 Full number of arguments checking of closures is mandatory now. However, the
1134 option to disable the checking has most probably not been used anyway.
1136 ** Removed compile time option SCM_CAUTIOUS
1138 Full number of arguments checking of closures is mandatory now. However, the
1139 option to disable the checking has most probably not been used anyway.
1141 ** Deprecated configure flags USE_THREADS and GUILE_ISELECT
1143 Previously, when the C preprocessor macro USE_THREADS was defined,
1144 libguile included a thread API. This API is now always included, even
1145 when threads are not really supported. Thus, you don't need to test
1148 Analogously, GUILE_ISELECT was defined when the function
1149 scm_internal_select was provided by Guile. This function is now
1150 always defined, and GUILE_ISELECT with it.
1152 ** New function scm_c_port_for_each.
1154 This function is like scm_port_for_each but takes a pointer to a C
1155 function as the callback instead of a SCM value.
1157 ** Deprecated definitions of error strings: scm_s_expression, scm_s_test,
1158 scm_s_body, scm_s_bindings, scm_s_variable, scm_s_clauses, scm_s_formals
1160 These error message strings were used to issue syntax error messages by
1161 guile's evaluator. It's unlikely that they have been used by user code.
1163 ** Deprecated helper macros for evaluation and application: SCM_EVALIM2,
1164 SCM_EVALIM, SCM_XEVAL, SCM_XEVALCAR
1166 These macros were used in the implementation of the evaluator. It's unlikely
1167 that they have been used by user code.
1169 ** Deprecated helper functions for evaluation and application:
1170 scm_m_expand_body, scm_macroexp
1172 These functions were used in the implementation of the evaluator. It's
1173 unlikely that they have been used by user code.
1175 ** Deprecated functions and variables for evaluation and application:
1176 scm_ceval, scm_deval and scm_ceval_ptr
1178 These functions and variables were used in the implementation of the
1179 evaluator. It's unlikely that they have been used by user code. If you have
1180 used these functions, switch to scm_eval or scm_eval_x.
1182 ** Deprecated functions for unmemoization: scm_unmemocar
1184 ** Deprecated definitions for iloc and isym handling
1186 SCM_ILOC00, SCM_IDINC, SCM_IDSTMSK, SCM_IFRINC, SCM_ICDR, SCM_IFRAME,
1187 SCM_IDIST, SCM_ICDRP, SCM_ISYMNUM, SCM_ISYMCHARS, scm_isymnames.
1189 These definitions were used in the implementation of the evaluator. It's
1190 unlikely that they have been used by user code.
1192 ** Removed definitions: scm_lisp_nil, scm_lisp_t, s_nil_ify,
1193 scm_m_nil_ify, s_t_ify, scm_m_t_ify, s_0_cond, scm_m_0_cond, s_0_ify,
1194 scm_m_0_ify, s_1_ify, scm_m_1_ify, scm_debug_newcell,
1195 scm_debug_newcell2, scm_tc16_allocated, SCM_SET_SYMBOL_HASH,
1196 SCM_IM_NIL_IFY, SCM_IM_T_IFY, SCM_IM_0_COND, SCM_IM_0_IFY,
1197 SCM_IM_1_IFY, SCM_GC_SET_ALLOCATED, scm_debug_newcell,
1198 scm_debug_newcell2, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL, SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL,
1199 SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL, SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL,
1200 SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD, SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS,
1201 scm_top_level_lookup_closure_var, *top-level-lookup-closure*,
1202 scm_system_transformer, scm_eval_3, scm_eval2,
1203 root_module_lookup_closure, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP,
1204 scm_read_only_string_p, scm_make_shared_substring, scm_tc7_substring,
1205 sym_huh, SCM_VARVCELL, SCM_UDVARIABLEP, SCM_DEFVARIABLEP, scm_mkbig,
1206 scm_big2inum, scm_adjbig, scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big,
1207 scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl, SCM_FIXNUM_BIT, SCM_SETCHARS,
1208 SCM_SLOPPY_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_LENGTH_MAX,
1209 SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS,
1210 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR, scm_sym2vcell, scm_intern,
1211 scm_intern0, scm_sysintern, scm_sysintern0,
1212 scm_sysintern0_no_module_lookup, scm_init_symbols_deprecated,
1213 scm_vector_set_length_x, scm_contregs, scm_debug_info,
1214 scm_debug_frame, SCM_DSIDEVAL, SCM_CONST_LONG, SCM_VCELL,
1215 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL, SCM_VCELL_INIT, SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL_INIT,
1216 SCM_HUGE_LENGTH, SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING,
1217 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY, SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY,
1218 SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, DIGITS, scm_small_istr2int, scm_istr2int,
1219 scm_istr2flo, scm_istring2number, scm_istr2int, scm_istr2flo,
1220 scm_istring2number, scm_vtable_index_vcell, scm_si_vcell, SCM_ECONSP,
1221 SCM_NECONSP, SCM_GLOC_VAR, SCM_GLOC_VAL, SCM_GLOC_SET_VAL,
1222 SCM_GLOC_VAL_LOC, scm_make_gloc, scm_gloc_p, scm_tc16_variable
1224 ** Deprecated definitions for debugging: scm_debug_mode, SCM_DEBUGGINGP
1226 These functions were used in the implementation of the evaluator. It's
1227 unlikely that they have been used by user code.
1229 ** Removed macro SCM_MAKSPCSYM
1231 This macro was used for defining byte codes of the evaluator. It is almost
1232 impossible that user code has used this macro.
1235 Changes since Guile 1.4:
1237 * Changes to the distribution
1239 ** A top-level TODO file is included.
1241 ** Guile now uses a versioning scheme similar to that of the Linux kernel.
1243 Guile now always uses three numbers to represent the version,
1244 i.e. "1.6.5". The first number, 1, is the major version number, the
1245 second number, 6, is the minor version number, and the third number,
1246 5, is the micro version number. Changes in major version number
1247 indicate major changes in Guile.
1249 Minor version numbers that are even denote stable releases, and odd
1250 minor version numbers denote development versions (which may be
1251 unstable). The micro version number indicates a minor sub-revision of
1252 a given MAJOR.MINOR release.
1254 In keeping with the new scheme, (minor-version) and scm_minor_version
1255 no longer return everything but the major version number. They now
1256 just return the minor version number. Two new functions
1257 (micro-version) and scm_micro_version have been added to report the
1258 micro version number.
1260 In addition, ./GUILE-VERSION now defines GUILE_MICRO_VERSION.
1262 ** New preprocessor definitions are available for checking versions.
1264 version.h now #defines SCM_MAJOR_VERSION, SCM_MINOR_VERSION, and
1265 SCM_MICRO_VERSION to the appropriate integer values.
1267 ** Guile now actively warns about deprecated features.
1269 The new configure option `--enable-deprecated=LEVEL' and the
1270 environment variable GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED control this mechanism.
1271 See INSTALL and README for more information.
1273 ** Guile is much more likely to work on 64-bit architectures.
1275 Guile now compiles and passes "make check" with only two UNRESOLVED GC
1276 cases on Alpha and ia64 based machines now. Thanks to John Goerzen
1277 for the use of a test machine, and thanks to Stefan Jahn for ia64
1280 ** New functions: setitimer and getitimer.
1282 These implement a fairly direct interface to the libc functions of the
1285 ** The #. reader extension is now disabled by default.
1287 For safety reasons, #. evaluation is disabled by default. To
1288 re-enable it, set the fluid read-eval? to #t. For example:
1290 (fluid-set! read-eval? #t)
1292 but make sure you realize the potential security risks involved. With
1293 read-eval? enabled, reading a data file from an untrusted source can
1296 ** New SRFI modules have been added:
1298 SRFI-0 `cond-expand' is now supported in Guile, without requiring
1301 (srfi srfi-1) is a library containing many useful pair- and list-processing
1304 (srfi srfi-2) exports and-let*.
1306 (srfi srfi-4) implements homogeneous numeric vector datatypes.
1308 (srfi srfi-6) is a dummy module for now, since guile already provides
1309 all of the srfi-6 procedures by default: open-input-string,
1310 open-output-string, get-output-string.
1312 (srfi srfi-8) exports receive.
1314 (srfi srfi-9) exports define-record-type.
1316 (srfi srfi-10) exports define-reader-ctor and implements the reader
1319 (srfi srfi-11) exports let-values and let*-values.
1321 (srfi srfi-13) implements the SRFI String Library.
1323 (srfi srfi-14) implements the SRFI Character-Set Library.
1325 (srfi srfi-17) implements setter and getter-with-setter and redefines
1326 some accessor procedures as procedures with getters. (such as car,
1327 cdr, vector-ref etc.)
1329 (srfi srfi-19) implements the SRFI Time/Date Library.
1331 ** New scripts / "executable modules"
1333 Subdirectory "scripts" contains Scheme modules that are packaged to
1334 also be executable as scripts. At this time, these scripts are available:
1343 See README there for more info.
1345 These scripts can be invoked from the shell with the new program
1346 "guile-tools", which keeps track of installation directory for you.
1349 $ guile-tools display-commentary srfi/*.scm
1351 guile-tools is copied to the standard $bindir on "make install".
1353 ** New module (ice-9 stack-catch):
1355 stack-catch is like catch, but saves the current state of the stack in
1356 the fluid the-last-stack. This fluid can be useful when using the
1357 debugger and when re-throwing an error.
1359 ** The module (ice-9 and-let*) has been renamed to (ice-9 and-let-star)
1361 This has been done to prevent problems on lesser operating systems
1362 that can't tolerate `*'s in file names. The exported macro continues
1363 to be named `and-let*', of course.
1365 On systems that support it, there is also a compatibility module named
1366 (ice-9 and-let*). It will go away in the next release.
1368 ** New modules (oop goops) etc.:
1371 (oop goops describe)
1373 (oop goops active-slot)
1374 (oop goops composite-slot)
1376 The Guile Object Oriented Programming System (GOOPS) has been
1377 integrated into Guile. For further information, consult the GOOPS
1378 manual and tutorial in the `doc' directory.
1380 ** New module (ice-9 rdelim).
1382 This exports the following procedures which were previously defined
1383 in the default environment:
1385 read-line read-line! read-delimited read-delimited! %read-delimited!
1386 %read-line write-line
1388 For backwards compatibility the definitions are still imported into the
1389 default environment in this version of Guile. However you should add:
1391 (use-modules (ice-9 rdelim))
1393 to any program which uses the definitions, since this may change in
1396 Alternatively, if guile-scsh is installed, the (scsh rdelim) module
1397 can be used for similar functionality.
1399 ** New module (ice-9 rw)
1401 This is a subset of the (scsh rw) module from guile-scsh. Currently
1402 it defines two procedures:
1404 *** New function: read-string!/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
1406 Read characters from a port or file descriptor into a string STR.
1407 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
1408 fport. This procedure is scsh-compatible and can efficiently read
1411 *** New function: write-string/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
1413 Write characters from a string STR to a port or file descriptor.
1414 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
1415 fport. This procedure is mostly compatible and can efficiently
1416 write large strings.
1418 ** New module (ice-9 match)
1420 This module includes Andrew K. Wright's pattern matcher. See
1421 ice-9/match.scm for brief description or
1423 http://www.star-lab.com/wright/code.html
1425 for complete documentation.
1427 ** New module (ice-9 buffered-input)
1429 This module provides procedures to construct an input port from an
1430 underlying source of input that reads and returns its input in chunks.
1431 The underlying input source is a Scheme procedure, specified by the
1432 caller, which the port invokes whenever it needs more input.
1434 This is useful when building an input port whose back end is Readline
1435 or a UI element such as the GtkEntry widget.
1439 The reference and tutorial documentation that was previously
1440 distributed separately, as `guile-doc', is now included in the core
1441 Guile distribution. The documentation consists of the following
1444 - The Guile Tutorial (guile-tut.texi) contains a tutorial introduction
1447 - The Guile Reference Manual (guile.texi) contains (or is intended to
1448 contain) reference documentation on all aspects of Guile.
1450 - The GOOPS Manual (goops.texi) contains both tutorial-style and
1451 reference documentation for using GOOPS, Guile's Object Oriented
1454 - The Revised^5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme
1457 See the README file in the `doc' directory for more details.
1459 ** There are a couple of examples in the examples/ directory now.
1461 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
1463 ** New command line option `--use-srfi'
1465 Using this option, SRFI modules can be loaded on startup and be
1466 available right from the beginning. This makes programming portable
1467 Scheme programs easier.
1469 The option `--use-srfi' expects a comma-separated list of numbers,
1470 each representing a SRFI number to be loaded into the interpreter
1471 before starting evaluating a script file or the REPL. Additionally,
1472 the feature identifier for the loaded SRFIs is recognized by
1473 `cond-expand' when using this option.
1476 $ guile --use-srfi=8,13
1477 guile> (receive (x z) (values 1 2) (+ 1 2))
1479 guile> (string-pad "bla" 20)
1482 ** Guile now always starts up in the `(guile-user)' module.
1484 Previously, scripts executed via the `-s' option would run in the
1485 `(guile)' module and the repl would run in the `(guile-user)' module.
1486 Now every user action takes place in the `(guile-user)' module by
1489 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
1491 ** Character classifiers work for non-ASCII characters.
1493 The predicates `char-alphabetic?', `char-numeric?',
1494 `char-whitespace?', `char-lower?', `char-upper?' and `char-is-both?'
1495 no longer check whether their arguments are ASCII characters.
1496 Previously, a character would only be considered alphabetic when it
1497 was also ASCII, for example.
1499 ** Previously deprecated Scheme functions have been removed:
1501 tag - no replacement.
1502 fseek - replaced by seek.
1503 list* - replaced by cons*.
1505 ** It's now possible to create modules with controlled environments
1509 (use-modules (ice-9 safe))
1510 (define m (make-safe-module))
1511 ;;; m will now be a module containing only a safe subset of R5RS
1512 (eval '(+ 1 2) m) --> 3
1513 (eval 'load m) --> ERROR: Unbound variable: load
1515 ** Evaluation of "()", the empty list, is now an error.
1517 Previously, the expression "()" evaluated to the empty list. This has
1518 been changed to signal a "missing expression" error. The correct way
1519 to write the empty list as a literal constant is to use quote: "'()".
1521 ** New concept of `Guile Extensions'.
1523 A Guile Extension is just a ordinary shared library that can be linked
1524 at run-time. We found it advantageous to give this simple concept a
1525 dedicated name to distinguish the issues related to shared libraries
1526 from the issues related to the module system.
1528 *** New function: load-extension
1530 Executing (load-extension lib init) is mostly equivalent to
1532 (dynamic-call init (dynamic-link lib))
1534 except when scm_register_extension has been called previously.
1535 Whenever appropriate, you should use `load-extension' instead of
1536 dynamic-link and dynamic-call.
1538 *** New C function: scm_c_register_extension
1540 This function registers a initialization function for use by
1541 `load-extension'. Use it when you don't want specific extensions to
1542 be loaded as shared libraries (for example on platforms that don't
1543 support dynamic linking).
1545 ** Auto-loading of compiled-code modules is deprecated.
1547 Guile used to be able to automatically find and link a shared
1548 library to satisfy requests for a module. For example, the module
1549 `(foo bar)' could be implemented by placing a shared library named
1550 "foo/libbar.so" (or with a different extension) in a directory on the
1553 This has been found to be too tricky, and is no longer supported. The
1554 shared libraries are now called "extensions". You should now write a
1555 small Scheme file that calls `load-extension' to load the shared
1556 library and initialize it explicitely.
1558 The shared libraries themselves should be installed in the usual
1559 places for shared libraries, with names like "libguile-foo-bar".
1561 For example, place this into a file "foo/bar.scm"
1563 (define-module (foo bar))
1565 (load-extension "libguile-foo-bar" "foobar_init")
1567 ** Backward incompatible change: eval EXP ENVIRONMENT-SPECIFIER
1569 `eval' is now R5RS, that is it takes two arguments.
1570 The second argument is an environment specifier, i.e. either
1572 (scheme-report-environment 5)
1573 (null-environment 5)
1574 (interaction-environment)
1580 ** The module system has been made more disciplined.
1582 The function `eval' will save and restore the current module around
1583 the evaluation of the specified expression. While this expression is
1584 evaluated, `(current-module)' will now return the right module, which
1585 is the module specified as the second argument to `eval'.
1587 A consequence of this change is that `eval' is not particularly
1588 useful when you want allow the evaluated code to change what module is
1589 designated as the current module and have this change persist from one
1590 call to `eval' to the next. The read-eval-print-loop is an example
1591 where `eval' is now inadequate. To compensate, there is a new
1592 function `primitive-eval' that does not take a module specifier and
1593 that does not save/restore the current module. You should use this
1594 function together with `set-current-module', `current-module', etc
1595 when you want to have more control over the state that is carried from
1596 one eval to the next.
1598 Additionally, it has been made sure that forms that are evaluated at
1599 the top level are always evaluated with respect to the current module.
1600 Previously, subforms of top-level forms such as `begin', `case',
1601 etc. did not respect changes to the current module although these
1602 subforms are at the top-level as well.
1604 To prevent strange behavior, the forms `define-module',
1605 `use-modules', `use-syntax', and `export' have been restricted to only
1606 work on the top level. The forms `define-public' and
1607 `defmacro-public' only export the new binding on the top level. They
1608 behave just like `define' and `defmacro', respectively, when they are
1609 used in a lexical environment.
1611 Also, `export' will no longer silently re-export bindings imported
1612 from a used module. It will emit a `deprecation' warning and will
1613 cease to perform any re-export in the next version. If you actually
1614 want to re-export bindings, use the new `re-export' in place of
1615 `export'. The new `re-export' will not make copies of variables when
1616 rexporting them, as `export' did wrongly.
1618 ** Module system now allows selection and renaming of imported bindings
1620 Previously, when using `use-modules' or the `#:use-module' clause in
1621 the `define-module' form, all the bindings (association of symbols to
1622 values) for imported modules were added to the "current module" on an
1623 as-is basis. This has been changed to allow finer control through two
1624 new facilities: selection and renaming.
1626 You can now select which of the imported module's bindings are to be
1627 visible in the current module by using the `:select' clause. This
1628 clause also can be used to rename individual bindings. For example:
1630 ;; import all bindings no questions asked
1631 (use-modules (ice-9 common-list))
1633 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them;
1634 ;; the current module sees: every some zonk-y zonk-n
1635 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1637 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1638 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))))
1640 You can also programmatically rename all selected bindings using the
1641 `:renamer' clause, which specifies a proc that takes a symbol and
1642 returns another symbol. Because it is common practice to use a prefix,
1643 we now provide the convenience procedure `symbol-prefix-proc'. For
1646 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
1647 ;; and all four w/ prefix "CL:";
1648 ;; the current module sees: CL:every CL:some CL:zonk-y CL:zonk-n
1649 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1651 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1652 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
1653 :renamer (symbol-prefix-proc 'CL:)))
1655 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
1656 ;; and all four by upcasing.
1657 ;; the current module sees: EVERY SOME ZONK-Y ZONK-N
1658 (define (upcase-symbol sym)
1659 (string->symbol (string-upcase (symbol->string sym))))
1661 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1663 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1664 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
1665 :renamer upcase-symbol))
1667 Note that programmatic renaming is done *after* individual renaming.
1668 Also, the above examples show `use-modules', but the same facilities are
1669 available for the `#:use-module' clause of `define-module'.
1671 See manual for more info.
1673 ** The semantics of guardians have changed.
1675 The changes are for the most part compatible. An important criterion
1676 was to keep the typical usage of guardians as simple as before, but to
1677 make the semantics safer and (as a result) more useful.
1679 *** All objects returned from guardians are now properly alive.
1681 It is now guaranteed that any object referenced by an object returned
1682 from a guardian is alive. It's now impossible for a guardian to
1683 return a "contained" object before its "containing" object.
1685 One incompatible (but probably not very important) change resulting
1686 from this is that it is no longer possible to guard objects that
1687 indirectly reference themselves (i.e. are parts of cycles). If you do
1688 so accidentally, you'll get a warning.
1690 *** There are now two types of guardians: greedy and sharing.
1692 If you call (make-guardian #t) or just (make-guardian), you'll get a
1693 greedy guardian, and for (make-guardian #f) a sharing guardian.
1695 Greedy guardians are the default because they are more "defensive".
1696 You can only greedily guard an object once. If you guard an object
1697 more than once, once in a greedy guardian and the rest of times in
1698 sharing guardians, then it is guaranteed that the object won't be
1699 returned from sharing guardians as long as it is greedily guarded
1702 Guardians returned by calls to `make-guardian' can now take one more
1703 optional parameter, which says whether to throw an error in case an
1704 attempt is made to greedily guard an object that is already greedily
1705 guarded. The default is true, i.e. throw an error. If the parameter
1706 is false, the guardian invocation returns #t if guarding was
1707 successful and #f if it wasn't.
1709 Also, since greedy guarding is, in effect, a side-effecting operation
1710 on objects, a new function is introduced: `destroy-guardian!'.
1711 Invoking this function on a guardian renders it unoperative and, if
1712 the guardian is greedy, clears the "greedily guarded" property of the
1713 objects that were guarded by it, thus undoing the side effect.
1715 Note that all this hair is hardly very important, since guardian
1716 objects are usually permanent.
1718 ** Continuations created by call-with-current-continuation now accept
1719 any number of arguments, as required by R5RS.
1721 ** New function `issue-deprecation-warning'
1723 This function is used to display the deprecation messages that are
1724 controlled by GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATION as explained in the README.
1727 (issue-deprecation-warning "`id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.")
1731 ;; `id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.
1736 ** New syntax `begin-deprecated'
1738 When deprecated features are included (as determined by the configure
1739 option --enable-deprecated), `begin-deprecated' is identical to
1740 `begin'. When deprecated features are excluded, it always evaluates
1741 to `#f', ignoring the body forms.
1743 ** New function `make-object-property'
1745 This function returns a new `procedure with setter' P that can be used
1746 to attach a property to objects. When calling P as
1750 where `obj' is any kind of object, it attaches `val' to `obj' in such
1751 a way that it can be retrieved by calling P as
1755 This function will replace procedure properties, symbol properties and
1756 source properties eventually.
1758 ** Module (ice-9 optargs) now uses keywords instead of `#&'.
1760 Instead of #&optional, #&key, etc you should now use #:optional,
1761 #:key, etc. Since #:optional is a keyword, you can write it as just
1762 :optional when (read-set! keywords 'prefix) is active.
1764 The old reader syntax `#&' is still supported, but deprecated. It
1765 will be removed in the next release.
1767 ** New define-module option: pure
1769 Tells the module system not to include any bindings from the root
1774 (define-module (totally-empty-module)
1777 ** New define-module option: export NAME1 ...
1779 Export names NAME1 ...
1781 This option is required if you want to be able to export bindings from
1782 a module which doesn't import one of `define-public' or `export'.
1786 (define-module (foo)
1788 :use-module (ice-9 r5rs)
1791 ;;; Note that we're pure R5RS below this point!
1796 ** New function: object->string OBJ
1798 Return a Scheme string obtained by printing a given object.
1800 ** New function: port? X
1802 Returns a boolean indicating whether X is a port. Equivalent to
1803 `(or (input-port? X) (output-port? X))'.
1805 ** New function: file-port?
1807 Determines whether a given object is a port that is related to a file.
1809 ** New function: port-for-each proc
1811 Apply PROC to each port in the Guile port table in turn. The return
1812 value is unspecified. More specifically, PROC is applied exactly once
1813 to every port that exists in the system at the time PORT-FOR-EACH is
1814 invoked. Changes to the port table while PORT-FOR-EACH is running
1815 have no effect as far as PORT-FOR-EACH is concerned.
1817 ** New function: dup2 oldfd newfd
1819 A simple wrapper for the `dup2' system call. Copies the file
1820 descriptor OLDFD to descriptor number NEWFD, replacing the
1821 previous meaning of NEWFD. Both OLDFD and NEWFD must be integers.
1822 Unlike for dup->fdes or primitive-move->fdes, no attempt is made
1823 to move away ports which are using NEWFD. The return value is
1826 ** New function: close-fdes fd
1828 A simple wrapper for the `close' system call. Close file
1829 descriptor FD, which must be an integer. Unlike close (*note
1830 close: Ports and File Descriptors.), the file descriptor will be
1831 closed even if a port is using it. The return value is
1834 ** New function: crypt password salt
1836 Encrypts `password' using the standard unix password encryption
1839 ** New function: chroot path
1841 Change the root directory of the running process to `path'.
1843 ** New functions: getlogin, cuserid
1845 Return the login name or the user name of the current effective user
1848 ** New functions: getpriority which who, setpriority which who prio
1850 Get or set the priority of the running process.
1852 ** New function: getpass prompt
1854 Read a password from the terminal, first displaying `prompt' and
1857 ** New function: flock file operation
1859 Set/remove an advisory shared or exclusive lock on `file'.
1861 ** New functions: sethostname name, gethostname
1863 Set or get the hostname of the machine the current process is running
1866 ** New function: mkstemp! tmpl
1868 mkstemp creates a new unique file in the file system and returns a
1869 new buffered port open for reading and writing to the file. TMPL
1870 is a string specifying where the file should be created: it must
1871 end with `XXXXXX' and will be changed in place to return the name
1872 of the temporary file.
1874 ** New function: open-input-string string
1876 Return an input string port which delivers the characters from
1877 `string'. This procedure, together with `open-output-string' and
1878 `get-output-string' implements SRFI-6.
1880 ** New function: open-output-string
1882 Return an output string port which collects all data written to it.
1883 The data can then be retrieved by `get-output-string'.
1885 ** New function: get-output-string
1887 Return the contents of an output string port.
1889 ** New function: identity
1891 Return the argument.
1893 ** socket, connect, accept etc., now have support for IPv6. IPv6 addresses
1894 are represented in Scheme as integers with normal host byte ordering.
1896 ** New function: inet-pton family address
1898 Convert a printable string network address into an integer. Note that
1899 unlike the C version of this function, the result is an integer with
1900 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
1903 (inet-pton AF_INET "127.0.0.1") => 2130706433
1904 (inet-pton AF_INET6 "::1") => 1
1906 ** New function: inet-ntop family address
1908 Convert an integer network address into a printable string. Note that
1909 unlike the C version of this function, the input is an integer with
1910 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
1913 (inet-ntop AF_INET 2130706433) => "127.0.0.1"
1914 (inet-ntop AF_INET6 (- (expt 2 128) 1)) =>
1915 ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff
1919 Use `identity' instead.
1925 ** Deprecated: return-it
1929 ** Deprecated: string-character-length
1931 Use `string-length' instead.
1933 ** Deprecated: flags
1935 Use `logior' instead.
1937 ** Deprecated: close-all-ports-except.
1939 This was intended for closing ports in a child process after a fork,
1940 but it has the undesirable side effect of flushing buffers.
1941 port-for-each is more flexible.
1943 ** The (ice-9 popen) module now attempts to set up file descriptors in
1944 the child process from the current Scheme ports, instead of using the
1945 current values of file descriptors 0, 1, and 2 in the parent process.
1947 ** Removed function: builtin-weak-bindings
1949 There is no such concept as a weak binding any more.
1951 ** Removed constants: bignum-radix, scm-line-incrementors
1953 ** define-method: New syntax mandatory.
1955 The new method syntax is now mandatory:
1957 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ...) BODY ...)
1958 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ... . REST-ARG) BODY ...)
1960 ARG-SPEC ::= ARG-NAME | (ARG-NAME TYPE)
1961 REST-ARG ::= ARG-NAME
1963 If you have old code using the old syntax, import
1964 (oop goops old-define-method) before (oop goops) as in:
1966 (use-modules (oop goops old-define-method) (oop goops))
1968 ** Deprecated function: builtin-variable
1969 Removed function: builtin-bindings
1971 There is no longer a distinction between builtin or other variables.
1972 Use module system operations for all variables.
1974 ** Lazy-catch handlers are no longer allowed to return.
1976 That is, a call to `throw', `error', etc is now guaranteed to not
1979 ** Bugfixes for (ice-9 getopt-long)
1981 This module is now tested using test-suite/tests/getopt-long.test.
1982 The following bugs have been fixed:
1984 *** Parsing for options that are specified to have `optional' args now checks
1985 if the next element is an option instead of unconditionally taking it as the
1988 *** An error is now thrown for `--opt=val' when the option description
1989 does not specify `(value #t)' or `(value optional)'. This condition used to
1990 be accepted w/o error, contrary to the documentation.
1992 *** The error message for unrecognized options is now more informative.
1993 It used to be "not a record", an artifact of the implementation.
1995 *** The error message for `--opt' terminating the arg list (no value), when
1996 `(value #t)' is specified, is now more informative. It used to be "not enough
1999 *** "Clumped" single-char args now preserve trailing string, use it as arg.
2000 The expansion used to be like so:
2002 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "--xyz")
2004 Note that the "5d" is dropped. Now it is like so:
2006 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "5d" "--xyz")
2008 This enables single-char options to have adjoining arguments as long as their
2009 constituent characters are not potential single-char options.
2011 ** (ice-9 session) procedure `arity' now works with (ice-9 optargs) `lambda*'
2013 The `lambda*' and derivative forms in (ice-9 optargs) now set a procedure
2014 property `arglist', which can be retrieved by `arity'. The result is that
2015 `arity' can give more detailed information than before:
2019 guile> (use-modules (ice-9 optargs))
2020 guile> (define* (foo #:optional a b c) a)
2022 0 or more arguments in `lambda*:G0'.
2027 3 optional arguments: `a', `b' and `c'.
2028 guile> (define* (bar a b #:key c d #:allow-other-keys) a)
2030 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 2 keyword arguments: `c'
2031 and `d', other keywords allowed.
2032 guile> (define* (baz a b #:optional c #:rest r) a)
2034 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 1 optional argument: `c',
2037 * Changes to the C interface
2039 ** Types have been renamed from scm_*_t to scm_t_*.
2041 This has been done for POSIX sake. It reserves identifiers ending
2042 with "_t". What a concept.
2044 The old names are still available with status `deprecated'.
2046 ** scm_t_bits (former scm_bits_t) is now a unsigned type.
2048 ** Deprecated features have been removed.
2052 SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP SCM_ICHRP, SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR
2053 SCM_SETJMPBUF SCM_NSTRINGP SCM_NRWSTRINGP SCM_NVECTORP SCM_DOUBLE_CELLP
2055 *** C Functions removed
2057 scm_sysmissing scm_tag scm_tc16_flo scm_tc_flo
2058 scm_fseek - replaced by scm_seek.
2059 gc-thunk - replaced by after-gc-hook.
2060 gh_int2scmb - replaced by gh_bool2scm.
2061 scm_tc_dblr - replaced by scm_tc16_real.
2062 scm_tc_dblc - replaced by scm_tc16_complex.
2063 scm_list_star - replaced by scm_cons_star.
2065 ** Deprecated: scm_makfromstr
2067 Use scm_mem2string instead.
2069 ** Deprecated: scm_make_shared_substring
2071 Explicit shared substrings will disappear from Guile.
2073 Instead, "normal" strings will be implemented using sharing
2074 internally, combined with a copy-on-write strategy.
2076 ** Deprecated: scm_read_only_string_p
2078 The concept of read-only strings will disappear in next release of
2081 ** Deprecated: scm_sloppy_memq, scm_sloppy_memv, scm_sloppy_member
2083 Instead, use scm_c_memq or scm_memq, scm_memv, scm_member.
2085 ** New functions: scm_call_0, scm_call_1, scm_call_2, scm_call_3
2087 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments. See "Fly
2088 Evaluation" in the manual.
2090 ** New functions: scm_apply_0, scm_apply_1, scm_apply_2, scm_apply_3
2092 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments and a list of
2093 further arguments. See "Fly Evaluation" in the manual.
2095 ** New functions: scm_list_1, scm_list_2, scm_list_3, scm_list_4, scm_list_5
2097 Create a list of the given number of elements. See "List
2098 Constructors" in the manual.
2100 ** Renamed function: scm_listify has been replaced by scm_list_n.
2102 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_LIST0, SCM_LIST1, SCM_LIST2, SCM_LIST3, SCM_LIST4,
2103 SCM_LIST5, SCM_LIST6, SCM_LIST7, SCM_LIST8, SCM_LIST9.
2105 Use functions scm_list_N instead.
2107 ** New function: scm_c_read (SCM port, void *buffer, scm_sizet size)
2109 Used by an application to read arbitrary number of bytes from a port.
2110 Same semantics as libc read, except that scm_c_read only returns less
2111 than SIZE bytes if at end-of-file.
2113 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
2115 ** New function: scm_c_write (SCM port, const void *ptr, scm_sizet size)
2117 Used by an application to write arbitrary number of bytes to an SCM
2118 port. Similar semantics as libc write. However, unlike libc
2119 write, scm_c_write writes the requested number of bytes and has no
2122 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
2124 ** New function: scm_init_guile ()
2126 In contrast to scm_boot_guile, scm_init_guile will return normally
2127 after initializing Guile. It is not available on all systems, tho.
2129 ** New functions: scm_str2symbol, scm_mem2symbol
2131 The function scm_str2symbol takes a const char* pointing to a zero-terminated
2132 field of characters and creates a scheme symbol object from that C string.
2133 The function scm_mem2symbol takes a const char* and a number of characters and
2134 creates a symbol from the characters in that memory area.
2136 ** New functions: scm_primitive_make_property
2137 scm_primitive_property_ref
2138 scm_primitive_property_set_x
2139 scm_primitive_property_del_x
2141 These functions implement a new way to deal with object properties.
2142 See libguile/properties.c for their documentation.
2144 ** New function: scm_done_free (long size)
2146 This function is the inverse of scm_done_malloc. Use it to report the
2147 amount of smob memory you free. The previous method, which involved
2148 calling scm_done_malloc with negative argument, was somewhat
2149 unintuitive (and is still available, of course).
2151 ** New function: scm_c_memq (SCM obj, SCM list)
2153 This function provides a fast C level alternative for scm_memq for the case
2154 that the list parameter is known to be a proper list. The function is a
2155 replacement for scm_sloppy_memq, but is stricter in its requirements on its
2156 list input parameter, since for anything else but a proper list the function's
2157 behaviour is undefined - it may even crash or loop endlessly. Further, for
2158 the case that the object is not found in the list, scm_c_memq returns #f which
2159 is similar to scm_memq, but different from scm_sloppy_memq's behaviour.
2161 ** New functions: scm_remember_upto_here_1, scm_remember_upto_here_2,
2162 scm_remember_upto_here
2164 These functions replace the function scm_remember.
2166 ** Deprecated function: scm_remember
2168 Use one of the new functions scm_remember_upto_here_1,
2169 scm_remember_upto_here_2 or scm_remember_upto_here instead.
2171 ** New function: scm_allocate_string
2173 This function replaces the function scm_makstr.
2175 ** Deprecated function: scm_makstr
2177 Use the new function scm_allocate_string instead.
2179 ** New global variable scm_gc_running_p introduced.
2181 Use this variable to find out if garbage collection is being executed. Up to
2182 now applications have used scm_gc_heap_lock to test if garbage collection was
2183 running, which also works because of the fact that up to know only the garbage
2184 collector has set this variable. But, this is an implementation detail that
2185 may change. Further, scm_gc_heap_lock is not set throughout gc, thus the use
2186 of this variable is (and has been) not fully safe anyway.
2188 ** New macros: SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH
2190 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
2192 ** New macros: SCM_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_CCLO_LENGTH, SCM_STACK_LENGTH,
2193 SCM_STRING_LENGTH, SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
2194 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH.
2196 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH.
2198 ** New macros: SCM_SET_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH,
2199 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
2200 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH
2202 Use these instead of SCM_SETLENGTH
2204 ** New macros: SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_CCLO_BASE,
2205 SCM_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_COMPLEX_MEM,
2208 Use these instead of SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS or
2211 ** New macros: SCM_SET_BIGNUM_BASE, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS,
2212 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE,
2215 Use these instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
2217 ** New macro: SCM_BITVECTOR_P
2219 ** New macro: SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X
2221 Use instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
2223 ** New macros: SCM_DIR_OPEN_P, SCM_DIR_FLAG_OPEN
2225 For directory objects, use these instead of SCM_OPDIRP and SCM_OPN.
2227 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_OUTOFRANGE, SCM_NALLOC, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL,
2228 SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL,
2229 SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD,
2230 SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS, SCM_SYMBOL_SLOTS, SCM_SLOTS, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
2231 SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_FREEP, SCM_NFREEP, SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS,
2232 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY,
2233 SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_HUGE_LENGTH,
2234 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
2235 SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP, SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, SCM_ROCHARS,
2236 SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_GC8MARKP,
2237 SCM_SETGC8MARK, SCM_CLRGC8MARK, SCM_GCTYP16, SCM_GCCDR, SCM_SUBR_DOC,
2238 SCM_OPDIRP, SCM_VALIDATE_OPDIR, SCM_WTA, RETURN_SCM_WTA, SCM_CONST_LONG,
2239 SCM_WNA, SCM_FUNC_NAME, SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_COPY,
2240 SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_DEF_COPY, SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP, SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP,
2241 SCM_SETAND_CDR, SCM_SETOR_CDR, SCM_SETAND_CAR, SCM_SETOR_CAR
2243 Use SCM_ASSERT_RANGE or SCM_VALIDATE_XXX_RANGE instead of SCM_OUTOFRANGE.
2244 Use scm_memory_error instead of SCM_NALLOC.
2245 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP.
2246 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR.
2247 Use SCM_FREE_CELL_P instead of SCM_FREEP/SCM_NFREEP
2248 Use a type specific accessor macro instead of SCM_CHARS/SCM_UCHARS.
2249 Use a type specific accessor instead of SCM(_|_RO|_HUGE_)LENGTH.
2250 Use SCM_VALIDATE_(SYMBOL|STRING) instead of SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING.
2251 Use SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
2252 Use SCM_STRINGP or SCM_SYMBOLP instead of SCM_ROSTRINGP.
2253 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_RWSTRINGP.
2254 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING.
2255 Use SCM_STRING_CHARS instead of SCM_ROCHARS.
2256 Use SCM_STRING_UCHARS instead of SCM_ROUCHARS.
2257 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETLENGTH.
2258 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
2259 Use a type specific length macro instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
2260 Use SCM_GCMARKP instead of SCM_GC8MARKP.
2261 Use SCM_SETGCMARK instead of SCM_SETGC8MARK.
2262 Use SCM_CLRGCMARK instead of SCM_CLRGC8MARK.
2263 Use SCM_TYP16 instead of SCM_GCTYP16.
2264 Use SCM_CDR instead of SCM_GCCDR.
2265 Use SCM_DIR_OPEN_P instead of SCM_OPDIRP.
2266 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of SCM_WTA.
2267 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of RETURN_SCM_WTA.
2268 Use SCM_VCELL_INIT instead of SCM_CONST_LONG.
2269 Use SCM_WRONG_NUM_ARGS instead of SCM_WNA.
2270 Use SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP.
2271 Use !SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP.
2273 ** Removed function: scm_struct_init
2275 ** Removed variable: scm_symhash_dim
2277 ** Renamed function: scm_make_cont has been replaced by
2278 scm_make_continuation, which has a different interface.
2280 ** Deprecated function: scm_call_catching_errors
2282 Use scm_catch or scm_lazy_catch from throw.[ch] instead.
2284 ** Deprecated function: scm_strhash
2286 Use scm_string_hash instead.
2288 ** Deprecated function: scm_vector_set_length_x
2290 Instead, create a fresh vector of the desired size and copy the contents.
2292 ** scm_gensym has changed prototype
2294 scm_gensym now only takes one argument.
2296 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc7_ssymbol, scm_tc7_msymbol, scm_tcs_symbols,
2299 There is now only a single symbol type scm_tc7_symbol.
2300 The tag scm_tc7_lvector was not used anyway.
2302 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe, scm_set_smob_mfpe.
2304 Use scm_make_smob_type and scm_set_smob_XXX instead.
2306 ** New function scm_set_smob_apply.
2308 This can be used to set an apply function to a smob type.
2310 ** Deprecated function: scm_strprint_obj
2312 Use scm_object_to_string instead.
2314 ** Deprecated function: scm_wta
2316 Use scm_wrong_type_arg, or another appropriate error signalling function
2319 ** Explicit support for obarrays has been deprecated.
2321 Use `scm_str2symbol' and the generic hashtable functions instead.
2323 ** The concept of `vcells' has been deprecated.
2325 The data type `variable' is now used exclusively. `Vcells' have been
2326 a low-level concept so you are likely not affected by this change.
2328 *** Deprecated functions: scm_sym2vcell, scm_sysintern,
2329 scm_sysintern0, scm_symbol_value0, scm_intern, scm_intern0.
2331 Use scm_c_define or scm_c_lookup instead, as appropriate.
2333 *** New functions: scm_c_module_lookup, scm_c_lookup,
2334 scm_c_module_define, scm_c_define, scm_module_lookup, scm_lookup,
2335 scm_module_define, scm_define.
2337 These functions work with variables instead of with vcells.
2339 ** New functions for creating and defining `subr's and `gsubr's.
2341 The new functions more clearly distinguish between creating a subr (or
2342 gsubr) object and adding it to the current module.
2344 These new functions are available: scm_c_make_subr, scm_c_define_subr,
2345 scm_c_make_subr_with_generic, scm_c_define_subr_with_generic,
2346 scm_c_make_gsubr, scm_c_define_gsubr, scm_c_make_gsubr_with_generic,
2347 scm_c_define_gsubr_with_generic.
2349 ** Deprecated functions: scm_make_subr, scm_make_subr_opt,
2350 scm_make_subr_with_generic, scm_make_gsubr,
2351 scm_make_gsubr_with_generic.
2353 Use the new ones from above instead.
2355 ** C interface to the module system has changed.
2357 While we suggest that you avoid as many explicit module system
2358 operations from C as possible for the time being, the C interface has
2359 been made more similar to the high-level Scheme module system.
2361 *** New functions: scm_c_define_module, scm_c_use_module,
2362 scm_c_export, scm_c_resolve_module.
2364 They mostly work like their Scheme namesakes. scm_c_define_module
2365 takes a function that is called a context where the new module is
2368 *** Deprecated functions: scm_the_root_module, scm_make_module,
2369 scm_ensure_user_module, scm_load_scheme_module.
2371 Use the new functions instead.
2373 ** Renamed function: scm_internal_with_fluids becomes
2376 scm_internal_with_fluids is available as a deprecated function.
2378 ** New function: scm_c_with_fluid.
2380 Just like scm_c_with_fluids, but takes one fluid and one value instead
2383 ** Deprecated typedefs: long_long, ulong_long.
2385 They are of questionable utility and they pollute the global
2388 ** Deprecated typedef: scm_sizet
2390 It is of questionable utility now that Guile requires ANSI C, and is
2393 ** Deprecated typedefs: scm_port_rw_active, scm_port,
2394 scm_ptob_descriptor, scm_debug_info, scm_debug_frame, scm_fport,
2395 scm_option, scm_rstate, scm_rng, scm_array, scm_array_dim.
2397 Made more compliant with the naming policy by adding a _t at the end.
2399 ** Deprecated functions: scm_mkbig, scm_big2num, scm_adjbig,
2400 scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl
2402 With the exception of the mysterious scm_2ulong2big, they are still
2403 available under new names (scm_i_mkbig etc). These functions are not
2404 intended to be used in user code. You should avoid dealing with
2405 bignums directly, and should deal with numbers in general (which can
2408 ** Change in behavior: scm_num2long, scm_num2ulong
2410 The scm_num2[u]long functions don't any longer accept an inexact
2411 argument. This change in behavior is motivated by concordance with
2412 R5RS: It is more common that a primitive doesn't want to accept an
2413 inexact for an exact.
2415 ** New functions: scm_short2num, scm_ushort2num, scm_int2num,
2416 scm_uint2num, scm_size2num, scm_ptrdiff2num, scm_num2short,
2417 scm_num2ushort, scm_num2int, scm_num2uint, scm_num2ptrdiff,
2420 These are conversion functions between the various ANSI C integral
2421 types and Scheme numbers. NOTE: The scm_num2xxx functions don't
2422 accept an inexact argument.
2424 ** New functions: scm_float2num, scm_double2num,
2425 scm_num2float, scm_num2double.
2427 These are conversion functions between the two ANSI C float types and
2430 ** New number validation macros:
2431 SCM_NUM2{SIZE,PTRDIFF,SHORT,USHORT,INT,UINT}[_DEF]
2435 ** New functions: scm_gc_protect_object, scm_gc_unprotect_object
2437 These are just nicer-named old scm_protect_object and
2438 scm_unprotect_object.
2440 ** Deprecated functions: scm_protect_object, scm_unprotect_object
2442 ** New functions: scm_gc_[un]register_root, scm_gc_[un]register_roots
2444 These functions can be used to register pointers to locations that
2447 ** Deprecated function: scm_create_hook.
2449 Its sins are: misleading name, non-modularity and lack of general
2453 Changes since Guile 1.3.4:
2455 * Changes to the distribution
2457 ** Trees from nightly snapshots and CVS now require you to run autogen.sh.
2459 We've changed the way we handle generated files in the Guile source
2460 repository. As a result, the procedure for building trees obtained
2461 from the nightly FTP snapshots or via CVS has changed:
2462 - You must have appropriate versions of autoconf, automake, and
2463 libtool installed on your system. See README for info on how to
2464 obtain these programs.
2465 - Before configuring the tree, you must first run the script
2466 `autogen.sh' at the top of the source tree.
2468 The Guile repository used to contain not only source files, written by
2469 humans, but also some generated files, like configure scripts and
2470 Makefile.in files. Even though the contents of these files could be
2471 derived mechanically from other files present, we thought it would
2472 make the tree easier to build if we checked them into CVS.
2474 However, this approach means that minor differences between
2475 developer's installed tools and habits affected the whole team.
2476 So we have removed the generated files from the repository, and
2477 added the autogen.sh script, which will reconstruct them
2481 ** configure now has experimental options to remove support for certain
2484 --disable-arrays omit array and uniform array support
2485 --disable-posix omit posix interfaces
2486 --disable-networking omit networking interfaces
2487 --disable-regex omit regular expression interfaces
2489 These are likely to become separate modules some day.
2491 ** New configure option --enable-debug-freelist
2493 This enables a debugging version of SCM_NEWCELL(), and also registers
2494 an extra primitive, the setter `gc-set-debug-check-freelist!'.
2496 Configure with the --enable-debug-freelist option to enable
2497 the gc-set-debug-check-freelist! primitive, and then use:
2499 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #t) # turn on checking of the freelist
2500 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #f) # turn off checking
2502 Checking of the freelist forces a traversal of the freelist and
2503 a garbage collection before each allocation of a cell. This can
2504 slow down the interpreter dramatically, so the setter should be used to
2505 turn on this extra processing only when necessary.
2507 ** New configure option --enable-debug-malloc
2509 Include code for debugging of calls to scm_must_malloc/realloc/free.
2513 1. objects freed by scm_must_free has been mallocated by scm_must_malloc
2514 2. objects reallocated by scm_must_realloc has been allocated by
2516 3. reallocated objects are reallocated with the same what string
2518 But, most importantly, it records the number of allocated objects of
2519 each kind. This is useful when searching for memory leaks.
2521 A Guile compiled with this option provides the primitive
2522 `malloc-stats' which returns an alist with pairs of kind and the
2523 number of objects of that kind.
2525 ** All includes are now referenced relative to the root directory
2527 Since some users have had problems with mixups between Guile and
2528 system headers, we have decided to always refer to Guile headers via
2529 their parent directories. This essentially creates a "private name
2530 space" for Guile headers. This means that the compiler only is given
2531 -I options for the root build and root source directory.
2533 ** Header files kw.h and genio.h have been removed.
2535 ** The module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) has been removed.
2537 ** New module (ice-9 documentation)
2539 Implements the interface to documentation strings associated with
2542 ** New module (ice-9 time)
2544 Provides a macro `time', which displays execution time of a given form.
2546 ** New module (ice-9 history)
2548 Loading this module enables value history in the repl.
2550 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
2552 ** New command line option --debug
2554 Start Guile with debugging evaluator and backtraces enabled.
2556 This is useful when debugging your .guile init file or scripts.
2558 ** New help facility
2560 Usage: (help NAME) gives documentation about objects named NAME (a symbol)
2561 (help REGEXP) ditto for objects with names matching REGEXP (a string)
2562 (help 'NAME) gives documentation for NAME, even if it is not an object
2563 (help ,EXPR) gives documentation for object returned by EXPR
2564 (help (my module)) gives module commentary for `(my module)'
2565 (help) gives this text
2567 `help' searches among bindings exported from loaded modules, while
2568 `apropos' searches among bindings visible from the "current" module.
2570 Examples: (help help)
2572 (help "output-string")
2574 ** `help' and `apropos' now prints full module names
2576 ** Dynamic linking now uses libltdl from the libtool package.
2578 The old system dependent code for doing dynamic linking has been
2579 replaced with calls to the libltdl functions which do all the hairy
2582 The major improvement is that you can now directly pass libtool
2583 library names like "libfoo.la" to `dynamic-link' and `dynamic-link'
2584 will be able to do the best shared library job you can get, via
2587 The way dynamic libraries are found has changed and is not really
2588 portable across platforms, probably. It is therefore recommended to
2589 use absolute filenames when possible.
2591 If you pass a filename without an extension to `dynamic-link', it will
2592 try a few appropriate ones. Thus, the most platform ignorant way is
2593 to specify a name like "libfoo", without any directories and
2596 ** Guile COOP threads are now compatible with LinuxThreads
2598 Previously, COOP threading wasn't possible in applications linked with
2599 Linux POSIX threads due to their use of the stack pointer to find the
2600 thread context. This has now been fixed with a workaround which uses
2601 the pthreads to allocate the stack.
2603 ** New primitives: `pkgdata-dir', `site-dir', `library-dir'
2605 ** Positions of erring expression in scripts
2607 With version 1.3.4, the location of the erring expression in Guile
2608 scipts is no longer automatically reported. (This should have been
2609 documented before the 1.3.4 release.)
2611 You can get this information by enabling recording of positions of
2612 source expressions and running the debugging evaluator. Put this at
2613 the top of your script (or in your "site" file):
2615 (read-enable 'positions)
2616 (debug-enable 'debug)
2618 ** Backtraces in scripts
2620 It is now possible to get backtraces in scripts.
2624 (debug-enable 'debug 'backtrace)
2626 at the top of the script.
2628 (The first options enables the debugging evaluator.
2629 The second enables backtraces.)
2631 ** Part of module system symbol lookup now implemented in C
2633 The eval closure of most modules is now implemented in C. Since this
2634 was one of the bottlenecks for loading speed, Guile now loads code
2635 substantially faster than before.
2637 ** Attempting to get the value of an unbound variable now produces
2638 an exception with a key of 'unbound-variable instead of 'misc-error.
2640 ** The initial default output port is now unbuffered if it's using a
2641 tty device. Previously in this situation it was line-buffered.
2643 ** New hook: after-gc-hook
2645 after-gc-hook takes over the role of gc-thunk. This hook is run at
2646 the first SCM_TICK after a GC. (Thus, the code is run at the same
2647 point during evaluation as signal handlers.)
2649 Note that this hook should be used only for diagnostic and debugging
2650 purposes. It is not certain that it will continue to be well-defined
2651 when this hook is run in the future.
2653 C programmers: Note the new C level hooks scm_before_gc_c_hook,
2654 scm_before_sweep_c_hook, scm_after_gc_c_hook.
2656 ** Improvements to garbage collector
2658 Guile 1.4 has a new policy for triggering heap allocation and
2659 determining the sizes of heap segments. It fixes a number of problems
2662 1. The new policy can handle two separate pools of cells
2663 (2-word/4-word) better. (The old policy would run wild, allocating
2664 more and more memory for certain programs.)
2666 2. The old code would sometimes allocate far too much heap so that the
2667 Guile process became gigantic. The new code avoids this.
2669 3. The old code would sometimes allocate too little so that few cells
2670 were freed at GC so that, in turn, too much time was spent in GC.
2672 4. The old code would often trigger heap allocation several times in a
2673 row. (The new scheme predicts how large the segments needs to be
2674 in order not to need further allocation.)
2676 All in all, the new GC policy will make larger applications more
2679 The new GC scheme also is prepared for POSIX threading. Threads can
2680 allocate private pools of cells ("clusters") with just a single
2681 function call. Allocation of single cells from such a cluster can
2682 then proceed without any need of inter-thread synchronization.
2684 ** New environment variables controlling GC parameters
2686 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE Maximal segment size
2689 Allocation of 2-word cell heaps:
2691 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1 Size of initial heap segment in bytes
2694 GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1 Minimum number of freed cells at each
2695 GC in percent of total heap size
2698 Allocation of 4-word cell heaps
2699 (used for real numbers and misc other objects):
2701 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2
2703 (See entry "Way for application to customize GC parameters" under
2704 section "Changes to the scm_ interface" below.)
2706 ** Guile now implements reals using 4-word cells
2708 This speeds up computation with reals. (They were earlier allocated
2709 with `malloc'.) There is still some room for optimizations, however.
2711 ** Some further steps toward POSIX thread support have been taken
2713 *** Guile's critical sections (SCM_DEFER/ALLOW_INTS)
2714 don't have much effect any longer, and many of them will be removed in
2718 are only handled at the top of the evaluator loop, immediately after
2719 I/O, and in scm_equalp.
2721 *** The GC can allocate thread private pools of pairs.
2723 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
2725 ** close-input-port and close-output-port are now R5RS
2727 These procedures have been turned into primitives and have R5RS behaviour.
2729 ** New procedure: simple-format PORT MESSAGE ARG1 ...
2731 (ice-9 boot) makes `format' an alias for `simple-format' until possibly
2732 extended by the more sophisticated version in (ice-9 format)
2734 (simple-format port message . args)
2735 Write MESSAGE to DESTINATION, defaulting to `current-output-port'.
2736 MESSAGE can contain ~A (was %s) and ~S (was %S) escapes. When printed,
2737 the escapes are replaced with corresponding members of ARGS:
2738 ~A formats using `display' and ~S formats using `write'.
2739 If DESTINATION is #t, then use the `current-output-port',
2740 if DESTINATION is #f, then return a string containing the formatted text.
2741 Does not add a trailing newline."
2743 ** string-ref: the second argument is no longer optional.
2745 ** string, list->string: no longer accept strings in their arguments,
2746 only characters, for compatibility with R5RS.
2748 ** New procedure: port-closed? PORT
2749 Returns #t if PORT is closed or #f if it is open.
2751 ** Deprecated: list*
2753 The list* functionality is now provided by cons* (SRFI-1 compliant)
2755 ** New procedure: cons* ARG1 ARG2 ... ARGn
2757 Like `list', but the last arg provides the tail of the constructed list,
2758 returning (cons ARG1 (cons ARG2 (cons ... ARGn))).
2760 Requires at least one argument. If given one argument, that argument
2761 is returned as result.
2763 This function is called `list*' in some other Schemes and in Common LISP.
2765 ** Removed deprecated: serial-map, serial-array-copy!, serial-array-map!
2767 ** New procedure: object-documentation OBJECT
2769 Returns the documentation string associated with OBJECT. The
2770 procedure uses a caching mechanism so that subsequent lookups are
2773 Exported by (ice-9 documentation).
2775 ** module-name now returns full names of modules
2777 Previously, only the last part of the name was returned (`session' for
2778 `(ice-9 session)'). Ex: `(ice-9 session)'.
2780 * Changes to the gh_ interface
2782 ** Deprecated: gh_int2scmb
2784 Use gh_bool2scm instead.
2786 * Changes to the scm_ interface
2788 ** Guile primitives now carry docstrings!
2790 Thanks to Greg Badros!
2792 ** Guile primitives are defined in a new way: SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
2794 Now Guile primitives are defined using the SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
2795 macros and must contain a docstring that is extracted into foo.doc using a new
2796 guile-doc-snarf script (that uses guile-doc-snarf.awk).
2798 However, a major overhaul of these macros is scheduled for the next release of
2801 ** Guile primitives use a new technique for validation of arguments
2803 SCM_VALIDATE_* macros are defined to ease the redundancy and improve
2804 the readability of argument checking.
2806 ** All (nearly?) K&R prototypes for functions replaced with ANSI C equivalents.
2808 ** New macros: SCM_PACK, SCM_UNPACK
2810 Compose/decompose an SCM value.
2812 The SCM type is now treated as an abstract data type and may be defined as a
2813 long, a void* or as a struct, depending on the architecture and compile time
2814 options. This makes it easier to find several types of bugs, for example when
2815 SCM values are treated as integers without conversion. Values of the SCM type
2816 should be treated as "atomic" values. These macros are used when
2817 composing/decomposing an SCM value, either because you want to access
2818 individual bits, or because you want to treat it as an integer value.
2820 E.g., in order to set bit 7 in an SCM value x, use the expression
2822 SCM_PACK (SCM_UNPACK (x) | 0x80)
2824 ** The name property of hooks is deprecated.
2825 Thus, the use of SCM_HOOK_NAME and scm_make_hook_with_name is deprecated.
2827 You can emulate this feature by using object properties.
2829 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP, SCM_CRDY, SCM_ICHRP,
2830 SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR, SCM_SETJMPBUF, SCM_NSTRINGP, SCM_NRWSTRINGP,
2833 These macros will be removed in a future release of Guile.
2835 ** The following types, functions and macros from numbers.h are deprecated:
2836 scm_dblproc, SCM_UNEGFIXABLE, SCM_FLOBUFLEN, SCM_INEXP, SCM_CPLXP, SCM_REAL,
2837 SCM_IMAG, SCM_REALPART, scm_makdbl, SCM_SINGP, SCM_NUM2DBL, SCM_NO_BIGDIG
2839 ** Port internals: the rw_random variable in the scm_port structure
2840 must be set to non-zero in any random access port. In recent Guile
2841 releases it was only set for bidirectional random-access ports.
2843 ** Port internals: the seek ptob procedure is now responsible for
2844 resetting the buffers if required. The change was made so that in the
2845 special case of reading the current position (i.e., seek p 0 SEEK_CUR)
2846 the fport and strport ptobs can avoid resetting the buffers,
2847 in particular to avoid discarding unread chars. An existing port
2848 type can be fixed by adding something like the following to the
2849 beginning of the ptob seek procedure:
2851 if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_READ)
2852 scm_end_input (object);
2853 else if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_WRITE)
2854 ptob->flush (object);
2856 although to actually avoid resetting the buffers and discard unread
2857 chars requires further hacking that depends on the characteristics
2860 ** Deprecated functions: scm_fseek, scm_tag
2862 These functions are no longer used and will be removed in a future version.
2864 ** The scm_sysmissing procedure is no longer used in libguile.
2865 Unless it turns out to be unexpectedly useful to somebody, it will be
2866 removed in a future version.
2868 ** The format of error message strings has changed
2870 The two C procedures: scm_display_error and scm_error, as well as the
2871 primitive `scm-error', now use scm_simple_format to do their work.
2872 This means that the message strings of all code must be updated to use
2873 ~A where %s was used before, and ~S where %S was used before.
2875 During the period when there still are a lot of old Guiles out there,
2876 you might want to support both old and new versions of Guile.
2878 There are basically two methods to achieve this. Both methods use
2881 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(scm_simple_format)
2883 in your configure.in.
2885 Method 1: Use the string concatenation features of ANSI C's
2890 #ifdef HAVE_SCM_SIMPLE_FORMAT
2896 Then represent each of your error messages using a preprocessor macro:
2898 #define E_SPIDER_ERROR "There's a spider in your " ## FMT_S ## "!!!"
2902 (define fmt-s (if (defined? 'simple-format) "~S" "%S"))
2903 (define make-message string-append)
2905 (define e-spider-error (make-message "There's a spider in your " fmt-s "!!!"))
2907 Method 2: Use the oldfmt function found in doc/oldfmt.c.
2911 scm_misc_error ("picnic", scm_c_oldfmt0 ("There's a spider in your ~S!!!"),
2916 (scm-error 'misc-error "picnic" (oldfmt "There's a spider in your ~S!!!")
2920 ** Deprecated: coop_mutex_init, coop_condition_variable_init
2922 Don't use the functions coop_mutex_init and
2923 coop_condition_variable_init. They will change.
2925 Use scm_mutex_init and scm_cond_init instead.
2927 ** New function: int scm_cond_timedwait (scm_cond_t *COND, scm_mutex_t *MUTEX, const struct timespec *ABSTIME)
2928 `scm_cond_timedwait' atomically unlocks MUTEX and waits on
2929 COND, as `scm_cond_wait' does, but it also bounds the duration
2930 of the wait. If COND has not been signaled before time ABSTIME,
2931 the mutex MUTEX is re-acquired and `scm_cond_timedwait'
2932 returns the error code `ETIMEDOUT'.
2934 The ABSTIME parameter specifies an absolute time, with the same
2935 origin as `time' and `gettimeofday': an ABSTIME of 0 corresponds
2936 to 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970.
2938 ** New function: scm_cond_broadcast (scm_cond_t *COND)
2939 `scm_cond_broadcast' restarts all the threads that are waiting
2940 on the condition variable COND. Nothing happens if no threads are
2943 ** New function: scm_key_create (scm_key_t *KEY, void (*destr_function) (void *))
2944 `scm_key_create' allocates a new TSD key. The key is stored in
2945 the location pointed to by KEY. There is no limit on the number
2946 of keys allocated at a given time. The value initially associated
2947 with the returned key is `NULL' in all currently executing threads.
2949 The DESTR_FUNCTION argument, if not `NULL', specifies a destructor
2950 function associated with the key. When a thread terminates,
2951 DESTR_FUNCTION is called on the value associated with the key in
2952 that thread. The DESTR_FUNCTION is not called if a key is deleted
2953 with `scm_key_delete' or a value is changed with
2954 `scm_setspecific'. The order in which destructor functions are
2955 called at thread termination time is unspecified.
2957 Destructors are not yet implemented.
2959 ** New function: scm_setspecific (scm_key_t KEY, const void *POINTER)
2960 `scm_setspecific' changes the value associated with KEY in the
2961 calling thread, storing the given POINTER instead.
2963 ** New function: scm_getspecific (scm_key_t KEY)
2964 `scm_getspecific' returns the value currently associated with
2965 KEY in the calling thread.
2967 ** New function: scm_key_delete (scm_key_t KEY)
2968 `scm_key_delete' deallocates a TSD key. It does not check
2969 whether non-`NULL' values are associated with that key in the
2970 currently executing threads, nor call the destructor function
2971 associated with the key.
2973 ** New function: scm_c_hook_init (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *HOOK_DATA, scm_c_hook_type_t TYPE)
2975 Initialize a C level hook HOOK with associated HOOK_DATA and type
2976 TYPE. (See scm_c_hook_run ().)
2978 ** New function: scm_c_hook_add (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA, int APPENDP)
2980 Add hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA to HOOK. If APPENDP
2981 is true, add it last, otherwise first. The same FUNC can be added
2982 multiple times if FUNC_DATA differ and vice versa.
2984 ** New function: scm_c_hook_remove (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA)
2986 Remove hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA from HOOK. A
2987 function is only removed if both FUNC and FUNC_DATA matches.
2989 ** New function: void *scm_c_hook_run (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *DATA)
2991 Run hook HOOK passing DATA to the hook functions.
2993 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_NORMAL, all hook functions are run. The value
2994 returned is undefined.
2996 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_OR, hook functions are run until a function
2997 returns a non-NULL value. This value is returned as the result of
2998 scm_c_hook_run. If all functions return NULL, NULL is returned.
3000 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_AND, hook functions are run until a function
3001 returns a NULL value, and NULL is returned. If all functions returns
3002 a non-NULL value, the last value is returned.
3004 ** New C level GC hooks
3006 Five new C level hooks has been added to the garbage collector.
3008 scm_before_gc_c_hook
3011 are run before locking and after unlocking the heap. The system is
3012 thus in a mode where evaluation can take place. (Except that
3013 scm_before_gc_c_hook must not allocate new cells.)
3015 scm_before_mark_c_hook
3016 scm_before_sweep_c_hook
3017 scm_after_sweep_c_hook
3019 are run when the heap is locked. These are intended for extension of
3020 the GC in a modular fashion. Examples are the weaks and guardians
3023 ** Way for application to customize GC parameters
3025 The application can set up other default values for the GC heap
3026 allocation parameters
3028 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_1, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1,
3029 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2,
3030 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE,
3034 scm_default_init_heap_size_1, scm_default_min_yield_1,
3035 scm_default_init_heap_size_2, scm_default_min_yield_2,
3036 scm_default_max_segment_size
3038 respectively before callong scm_boot_guile.
3040 (See entry "New environment variables ..." in section
3041 "Changes to the stand-alone interpreter" above.)
3043 ** scm_protect_object/scm_unprotect_object now nest
3045 This means that you can call scm_protect_object multiple times on an
3046 object and count on the object being protected until
3047 scm_unprotect_object has been call the same number of times.
3049 The functions also have better time complexity.
3051 Still, it is usually possible to structure the application in a way
3052 that you don't need to use these functions. For example, if you use a
3053 protected standard Guile list to keep track of live objects rather
3054 than some custom data type, objects will die a natural death when they
3055 are no longer needed.
3057 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc16_flo, scm_tc_flo, scm_tc_dblr, scm_tc_dblc
3059 Guile does not provide the float representation for inexact real numbers any
3060 more. Now, only doubles are used to represent inexact real numbers. Further,
3061 the tag names scm_tc_dblr and scm_tc_dblc have been changed to scm_tc16_real
3062 and scm_tc16_complex, respectively.
3064 ** Removed deprecated type scm_smobfuns
3066 ** Removed deprecated function scm_newsmob
3068 ** Warning: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe might become deprecated in a future release
3070 There is an ongoing discussion among the developers whether to
3071 deprecate `scm_make_smob_type_mfpe' or not. Please use the current
3072 standard interface (scm_make_smob_type, scm_set_smob_XXX) in new code
3073 until this issue has been settled.
3075 ** Removed deprecated type tag scm_tc16_kw
3077 ** Added type tag scm_tc16_keyword
3079 (This was introduced already in release 1.3.4 but was not documented
3082 ** gdb_print now prints "*** Guile not initialized ***" until Guile initialized
3084 * Changes to system call interfaces:
3086 ** The "select" procedure now tests port buffers for the ability to
3087 provide input or accept output. Previously only the underlying file
3088 descriptors were checked.
3090 ** New variable PIPE_BUF: the maximum number of bytes that can be
3091 atomically written to a pipe.
3093 ** If a facility is not available on the system when Guile is
3094 compiled, the corresponding primitive procedure will not be defined.
3095 Previously it would have been defined but would throw a system-error
3096 exception if called. Exception handlers which catch this case may
3097 need minor modification: an error will be thrown with key
3098 'unbound-variable instead of 'system-error. Alternatively it's
3099 now possible to use `defined?' to check whether the facility is
3102 ** Procedures which depend on the timezone should now give the correct
3103 result on systems which cache the TZ environment variable, even if TZ
3104 is changed without calling tzset.
3106 * Changes to the networking interfaces:
3108 ** New functions: htons, ntohs, htonl, ntohl: for converting short and
3109 long integers between network and host format. For now, it's not
3110 particularly convenient to do this kind of thing, but consider:
3112 (define write-network-long
3113 (lambda (value port)
3114 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
3115 (uniform-vector-set! v 0 (htonl value))
3116 (uniform-vector-write v port))))
3118 (define read-network-long
3120 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
3121 (uniform-vector-read! v port)
3122 (ntohl (uniform-vector-ref v 0)))))
3124 ** If inet-aton fails, it now throws an error with key 'misc-error
3125 instead of 'system-error, since errno is not relevant.
3127 ** Certain gethostbyname/gethostbyaddr failures now throw errors with
3128 specific keys instead of 'system-error. The latter is inappropriate
3129 since errno will not have been set. The keys are:
3130 'host-not-found, 'try-again, 'no-recovery and 'no-data.
3132 ** sethostent, setnetent, setprotoent, setservent: now take an
3133 optional argument STAYOPEN, which specifies whether the database
3134 remains open after a database entry is accessed randomly (e.g., using
3135 gethostbyname for the hosts database.) The default is #f. Previously
3139 Changes since Guile 1.3.2:
3141 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3145 An initial version of the Guile debugger written by Chris Hanson has
3146 been added. The debugger is still under development but is included
3147 in the distribution anyway since it is already quite useful.
3153 after an error to enter the debugger. Type `help' inside the debugger
3154 for a description of available commands.
3156 If you prefer to have stack frames numbered and printed in
3157 anti-chronological order and prefer up in the stack to be down on the
3158 screen as is the case in gdb, you can put
3160 (debug-enable 'backwards)
3162 in your .guile startup file. (However, this means that Guile can't
3163 use indentation to indicate stack level.)
3165 The debugger is autoloaded into Guile at the first use.
3167 ** Further enhancements to backtraces
3169 There is a new debug option `width' which controls the maximum width
3170 on the screen of printed stack frames. Fancy printing parameters
3171 ("level" and "length" as in Common LISP) are adaptively adjusted for
3172 each stack frame to give maximum information while still fitting
3173 within the bounds. If the stack frame can't be made to fit by
3174 adjusting parameters, it is simply cut off at the end. This is marked
3177 ** Some modules are now only loaded when the repl is started
3179 The modules (ice-9 debug), (ice-9 session), (ice-9 threads) and (ice-9
3180 regex) are now loaded into (guile-user) only if the repl has been
3181 started. The effect is that the startup time for scripts has been
3182 reduced to 30% of what it was previously.
3184 Correctly written scripts load the modules they require at the top of
3185 the file and should not be affected by this change.
3187 ** Hooks are now represented as smobs
3189 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3191 ** Readline support has changed again.
3193 The old (readline-activator) module is gone. Use (ice-9 readline)
3194 instead, which now contains all readline functionality. So the code
3195 to activate readline is now
3197 (use-modules (ice-9 readline))
3200 This should work at any time, including from the guile prompt.
3202 To avoid confusion about the terms of Guile's license, please only
3203 enable readline for your personal use; please don't make it the
3204 default for others. Here is why we make this rather odd-sounding
3207 Guile is normally licensed under a weakened form of the GNU General
3208 Public License, which allows you to link code with Guile without
3209 placing that code under the GPL. This exception is important to some
3212 However, since readline is distributed under the GNU General Public
3213 License, when you link Guile with readline, either statically or
3214 dynamically, you effectively change Guile's license to the strict GPL.
3215 Whenever you link any strictly GPL'd code into Guile, uses of Guile
3216 which are normally permitted become forbidden. This is a rather
3217 non-obvious consequence of the licensing terms.
3219 So, to make sure things remain clear, please let people choose for
3220 themselves whether to link GPL'd libraries like readline with Guile.
3222 ** regexp-substitute/global has changed slightly, but incompatibly.
3224 If you include a function in the item list, the string of the match
3225 object it receives is the same string passed to
3226 regexp-substitute/global, not some suffix of that string.
3227 Correspondingly, the match's positions are relative to the entire
3228 string, not the suffix.
3230 If the regexp can match the empty string, the way matches are chosen
3231 from the string has changed. regexp-substitute/global recognizes the
3232 same set of matches that list-matches does; see below.
3234 ** New function: list-matches REGEXP STRING [FLAGS]
3236 Return a list of match objects, one for every non-overlapping, maximal
3237 match of REGEXP in STRING. The matches appear in left-to-right order.
3238 list-matches only reports matches of the empty string if there are no
3239 other matches which begin on, end at, or include the empty match's
3242 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
3244 ** New function: fold-matches REGEXP STRING INIT PROC [FLAGS]
3246 For each match of REGEXP in STRING, apply PROC to the match object,
3247 and the last value PROC returned, or INIT for the first call. Return
3248 the last value returned by PROC. We apply PROC to the matches as they
3249 appear from left to right.
3251 This function recognizes matches according to the same criteria as
3254 Thus, you could define list-matches like this:
3256 (define (list-matches regexp string . flags)
3257 (reverse! (apply fold-matches regexp string '() cons flags)))
3259 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
3263 *** New function: hook? OBJ
3265 Return #t if OBJ is a hook, otherwise #f.
3267 *** New function: make-hook-with-name NAME [ARITY]
3269 Return a hook with name NAME and arity ARITY. The default value for
3270 ARITY is 0. The only effect of NAME is that it will appear when the
3271 hook object is printed to ease debugging.
3273 *** New function: hook-empty? HOOK
3275 Return #t if HOOK doesn't contain any procedures, otherwise #f.
3277 *** New function: hook->list HOOK
3279 Return a list of the procedures that are called when run-hook is
3282 ** `map' signals an error if its argument lists are not all the same length.
3284 This is the behavior required by R5RS, so this change is really a bug
3285 fix. But it seems to affect a lot of people's code, so we're
3286 mentioning it here anyway.
3288 ** Print-state handling has been made more transparent
3290 Under certain circumstances, ports are represented as a port with an
3291 associated print state. Earlier, this pair was represented as a pair
3292 (see "Some magic has been added to the printer" below). It is now
3293 indistinguishable (almost; see `get-print-state') from a port on the
3296 *** New function: port-with-print-state OUTPUT-PORT PRINT-STATE
3298 Return a new port with the associated print state PRINT-STATE.
3300 *** New function: get-print-state OUTPUT-PORT
3302 Return the print state associated with this port if it exists,
3303 otherwise return #f.
3305 *** New function: directory-stream? OBJECT
3307 Returns true iff OBJECT is a directory stream --- the sort of object
3308 returned by `opendir'.
3310 ** New function: using-readline?
3312 Return #t if readline is in use in the current repl.
3314 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
3316 Structs will be replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into Guile
3317 and use GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
3319 * Changes to the scm_ interface
3321 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
3323 The entire current struct interface (struct.c, struct.h) will be
3324 replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into libguile and use
3325 GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
3327 ** The internal representation of subr's has changed
3329 Instead of giving a hint to the subr name, the CAR field of the subr
3330 now contains an index to a subr entry in scm_subr_table.
3332 *** New variable: scm_subr_table
3334 An array of subr entries. A subr entry contains the name, properties
3335 and documentation associated with the subr. The properties and
3336 documentation slots are not yet used.
3338 ** A new scheme for "forwarding" calls to a builtin to a generic function
3340 It is now possible to extend the functionality of some Guile
3341 primitives by letting them defer a call to a GOOPS generic function on
3342 argument mismatch. This means that there is no loss of efficiency in
3347 (use-modules (oop goops)) ; Must be GOOPS version 0.2.
3348 (define-method + ((x <string>) (y <string>))
3349 (string-append x y))
3351 + will still be as efficient as usual in numerical calculations, but
3352 can also be used for concatenating strings.
3354 Who will be the first one to extend Guile's numerical tower to
3355 rationals? :) [OK, there a few other things to fix before this can
3356 be made in a clean way.]
3358 *** New snarf macros for defining primitives: SCM_GPROC, SCM_GPROC1
3360 New macro: SCM_GPROC (CNAME, SNAME, REQ, OPT, VAR, CFUNC, GENERIC)
3362 New macro: SCM_GPROC1 (CNAME, SNAME, TYPE, CFUNC, GENERIC)
3364 These do the same job as SCM_PROC and SCM_PROC1, but they also define
3365 a variable GENERIC which can be used by the dispatch macros below.
3367 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3369 *** New macros for forwarding control to a generic on arg type error
3371 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1 (GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
3373 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
3375 These correspond to the scm_wta function call, and have the same
3376 behaviour until the user has called the GOOPS primitive
3377 `enable-primitive-generic!'. After that, these macros will apply the
3378 generic function GENERIC to the argument(s) instead of calling
3381 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3383 *** New macros for argument testing with generic dispatch
3385 New macro: SCM_GASSERT1 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
3387 New macro: SCM_GASSERT2 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
3389 These correspond to the SCM_ASSERT macro, but will defer control to
3390 GENERIC on error after `enable-primitive-generic!' has been called.
3392 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3394 ** New function: SCM scm_eval_body (SCM body, SCM env)
3396 Evaluates the body of a special form.
3398 ** The internal representation of struct's has changed
3400 Previously, four slots were allocated for the procedure(s) of entities
3401 and operators. The motivation for this representation had to do with
3402 the structure of the evaluator, the wish to support tail-recursive
3403 generic functions, and efficiency. Since the generic function
3404 dispatch mechanism has changed, there is no longer a need for such an
3405 expensive representation, and the representation has been simplified.
3407 This should not make any difference for most users.
3409 ** GOOPS support has been cleaned up.
3411 Some code has been moved from eval.c to objects.c and code in both of
3412 these compilation units has been cleaned up and better structured.
3414 *** New functions for applying generic functions
3416 New function: SCM scm_apply_generic (GENERIC, ARGS)
3417 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_0 (GENERIC)
3418 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_1 (GENERIC, ARG1)
3419 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2)
3420 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_3 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, ARG3)
3422 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_named_hook
3424 It is now replaced by:
3426 ** New function: SCM scm_create_hook (const char *name, int arity)
3428 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
3429 binds a variable named NAME to it.
3431 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
3433 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module.
3434 This might change when we get the new module system.
3436 [The behaviour is identical to scm_make_named_hook.]
3440 Changes since Guile 1.3:
3442 * Changes to mailing lists
3444 ** Some of the Guile mailing lists have moved to sourceware.cygnus.com.
3446 See the README file to find current addresses for all the Guile
3449 * Changes to the distribution
3451 ** Readline support is no longer included with Guile by default.
3453 Based on the different license terms of Guile and Readline, we
3454 concluded that Guile should not *by default* cause the linking of
3455 Readline into an application program. Readline support is now offered
3456 as a separate module, which is linked into an application only when
3457 you explicitly specify it.
3459 Although Guile is GNU software, its distribution terms add a special
3460 exception to the usual GNU General Public License (GPL). Guile's
3461 license includes a clause that allows you to link Guile with non-free
3462 programs. We add this exception so as not to put Guile at a
3463 disadvantage vis-a-vis other extensibility packages that support other
3466 In contrast, the GNU Readline library is distributed under the GNU
3467 General Public License pure and simple. This means that you may not
3468 link Readline, even dynamically, into an application unless it is
3469 distributed under a free software license that is compatible the GPL.
3471 Because of this difference in distribution terms, an application that
3472 can use Guile may not be able to use Readline. Now users will be
3473 explicitly offered two independent decisions about the use of these
3476 You can activate the readline support by issuing
3478 (use-modules (readline-activator))
3481 from your ".guile" file, for example.
3483 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3485 ** All builtins now print as primitives.
3486 Previously builtin procedures not belonging to the fundamental subr
3487 types printed as #<compiled closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>.
3488 Now, they print as #<primitive-procedure NAME>.
3490 ** Backtraces slightly more intelligible.
3491 gsubr-apply and macro transformer application frames no longer appear
3494 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3496 ** Guile now correctly handles internal defines by rewriting them into
3497 their equivalent letrec. Previously, internal defines would
3498 incrementally add to the innermost environment, without checking
3499 whether the restrictions specified in RnRS were met. This lead to the
3500 correct behaviour when these restriction actually were met, but didn't
3501 catch all illegal uses. Such an illegal use could lead to crashes of
3502 the Guile interpreter or or other unwanted results. An example of
3503 incorrect internal defines that made Guile behave erratically:
3515 The problem with this example is that the definition of `c' uses the
3516 value of `b' directly. This confuses the meoization machine of Guile
3517 so that the second call of `b' (this time in a larger environment that
3518 also contains bindings for `c' and `d') refers to the binding of `c'
3519 instead of `a'. You could also make Guile crash with a variation on
3524 (define (b flag) (if flag a 1))
3525 (define c (1+ (b flag)))
3533 From now on, Guile will issue an `Unbound variable: b' error message
3538 A hook contains a list of functions which should be called on
3539 particular occasions in an existing program. Hooks are used for
3542 A window manager might have a hook before-window-map-hook. The window
3543 manager uses the function run-hooks to call all functions stored in
3544 before-window-map-hook each time a window is mapped. The user can
3545 store functions in the hook using add-hook!.
3547 In Guile, hooks are first class objects.
3549 *** New function: make-hook [N_ARGS]
3551 Return a hook for hook functions which can take N_ARGS arguments.
3552 The default value for N_ARGS is 0.
3554 (See also scm_make_named_hook below.)
3556 *** New function: add-hook! HOOK PROC [APPEND_P]
3558 Put PROC at the beginning of the list of functions stored in HOOK.
3559 If APPEND_P is supplied, and non-false, put PROC at the end instead.
3561 PROC must be able to take the number of arguments specified when the
3564 If PROC already exists in HOOK, then remove it first.
3566 *** New function: remove-hook! HOOK PROC
3568 Remove PROC from the list of functions in HOOK.
3570 *** New function: reset-hook! HOOK
3572 Clear the list of hook functions stored in HOOK.
3574 *** New function: run-hook HOOK ARG1 ...
3576 Run all hook functions stored in HOOK with arguments ARG1 ... .
3577 The number of arguments supplied must correspond to the number given
3578 when the hook was created.
3580 ** The function `dynamic-link' now takes optional keyword arguments.
3581 The only keyword argument that is currently defined is `:global
3582 BOOL'. With it, you can control whether the shared library will be
3583 linked in global mode or not. In global mode, the symbols from the
3584 linked library can be used to resolve references from other
3585 dynamically linked libraries. In non-global mode, the linked
3586 library is essentially invisible and can only be accessed via
3587 `dynamic-func', etc. The default is now to link in global mode.
3588 Previously, the default has been non-global mode.
3590 The `#:global' keyword is only effective on platforms that support
3591 the dlopen family of functions.
3593 ** New function `provided?'
3595 - Function: provided? FEATURE
3596 Return true iff FEATURE is supported by this installation of
3597 Guile. FEATURE must be a symbol naming a feature; the global
3598 variable `*features*' is a list of available features.
3600 ** Changes to the module (ice-9 expect):
3602 *** The expect-strings macro now matches `$' in a regular expression
3603 only at a line-break or end-of-file by default. Previously it would
3604 match the end of the string accumulated so far. The old behaviour
3605 can be obtained by setting the variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
3608 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
3609 for the regexp-exec flags. If `regexp/noteol' is included, then `$'
3610 in a regular expression will still match before a line-break or
3611 end-of-file. The default is `regexp/noteol'.
3613 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable
3614 `expect-strings-compile-flags' for the flags to be supplied to
3615 `make-regexp'. The default is `regexp/newline', which was previously
3618 *** The expect macro now supplies two arguments to a match procedure:
3619 the current accumulated string and a flag to indicate whether
3620 end-of-file has been reached. Previously only the string was supplied.
3621 If end-of-file is reached, the match procedure will be called an
3622 additional time with the same accumulated string as the previous call
3623 but with the flag set.
3625 ** New module (ice-9 format), implementing the Common Lisp `format' function.
3627 This code, and the documentation for it that appears here, was
3628 borrowed from SLIB, with minor adaptations for Guile.
3630 - Function: format DESTINATION FORMAT-STRING . ARGUMENTS
3631 An almost complete implementation of Common LISP format description
3632 according to the CL reference book `Common LISP' from Guy L.
3633 Steele, Digital Press. Backward compatible to most of the
3634 available Scheme format implementations.
3636 Returns `#t', `#f' or a string; has side effect of printing
3637 according to FORMAT-STRING. If DESTINATION is `#t', the output is
3638 to the current output port and `#t' is returned. If DESTINATION
3639 is `#f', a formatted string is returned as the result of the call.
3640 NEW: If DESTINATION is a string, DESTINATION is regarded as the
3641 format string; FORMAT-STRING is then the first argument and the
3642 output is returned as a string. If DESTINATION is a number, the
3643 output is to the current error port if available by the
3644 implementation. Otherwise DESTINATION must be an output port and
3647 FORMAT-STRING must be a string. In case of a formatting error
3648 format returns `#f' and prints a message on the current output or
3649 error port. Characters are output as if the string were output by
3650 the `display' function with the exception of those prefixed by a
3651 tilde (~). For a detailed description of the FORMAT-STRING syntax
3652 please consult a Common LISP format reference manual. For a test
3653 suite to verify this format implementation load `formatst.scm'.
3654 Please send bug reports to `lutzeb@cs.tu-berlin.de'.
3656 Note: `format' is not reentrant, i.e. only one `format'-call may
3657 be executed at a time.
3660 *** Format Specification (Format version 3.0)
3662 Please consult a Common LISP format reference manual for a detailed
3663 description of the format string syntax. For a demonstration of the
3664 implemented directives see `formatst.scm'.
3666 This implementation supports directive parameters and modifiers (`:'
3667 and `@' characters). Multiple parameters must be separated by a comma
3668 (`,'). Parameters can be numerical parameters (positive or negative),
3669 character parameters (prefixed by a quote character (`''), variable
3670 parameters (`v'), number of rest arguments parameter (`#'), empty and
3671 default parameters. Directive characters are case independent. The
3672 general form of a directive is:
3674 DIRECTIVE ::= ~{DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER,}[:][@]DIRECTIVE-CHARACTER
3676 DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER ::= [ [-|+]{0-9}+ | 'CHARACTER | v | # ]
3678 *** Implemented CL Format Control Directives
3680 Documentation syntax: Uppercase characters represent the
3681 corresponding control directive characters. Lowercase characters
3682 represent control directive parameter descriptions.
3685 Any (print as `display' does).
3689 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARA'
3693 S-expression (print as `write' does).
3697 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARS'
3703 print number sign always.
3706 print comma separated.
3708 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARD'
3714 print number sign always.
3717 print comma separated.
3719 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARX'
3725 print number sign always.
3728 print comma separated.
3730 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARO'
3736 print number sign always.
3739 print comma separated.
3741 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARB'
3746 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARR'
3750 print a number as a Roman numeral.
3753 print a number as an "old fashioned" Roman numeral.
3756 print a number as an ordinal English number.
3759 print a number as a cardinal English number.
3764 prints `y' and `ies'.
3767 as `~P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
3770 as `~@P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
3775 prints a character as the reader can understand it (i.e. `#\'
3779 prints a character as emacs does (eg. `^C' for ASCII 03).
3782 Fixed-format floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN).
3783 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHARF'
3785 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3788 Exponential floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN`E'EE).
3789 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARE'
3791 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3794 General floating-point (prints a flonum either fixed or
3796 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARG'
3798 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3801 Dollars floating-point (prints a flonum in fixed with signs
3803 `~DIGITS,SCALE,WIDTH,PADCHAR$'
3805 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3808 A sign is always printed and appears before the padding.
3811 The sign appears before the padding.
3819 print newline if not at the beginning of the output line.
3821 prints `~&' and then N-1 newlines.
3826 print N page separators.
3836 newline is ignored, white space left.
3839 newline is left, white space ignored.
3844 relative tabulation.
3850 Indirection (expects indirect arguments as a list).
3852 extracts indirect arguments from format arguments.
3855 Case conversion (converts by `string-downcase').
3857 converts by `string-capitalize'.
3860 converts by `string-capitalize-first'.
3863 converts by `string-upcase'.
3866 Argument Jumping (jumps 1 argument forward).
3868 jumps N arguments forward.
3871 jumps 1 argument backward.
3874 jumps N arguments backward.
3877 jumps to the 0th argument.
3880 jumps to the Nth argument (beginning from 0)
3882 `~[STR0~;STR1~;...~;STRN~]'
3883 Conditional Expression (numerical clause conditional).
3885 take argument from N.
3888 true test conditional.
3891 if-else-then conditional.
3897 default clause follows.
3900 Iteration (args come from the next argument (a list)).
3902 at most N iterations.
3905 args from next arg (a list of lists).
3908 args from the rest of arguments.
3911 args from the rest args (lists).
3922 aborts if N <= M <= K
3924 *** Not Implemented CL Format Control Directives
3927 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
3930 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
3936 (sorry I don't understand its semantics completely)
3938 *** Extended, Replaced and Additional Control Directives
3940 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHD'
3941 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHX'
3942 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHO'
3943 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHB'
3944 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHR'
3945 COMMAWIDTH is the number of characters between two comma
3949 print a R4RS complex number as `~F~@Fi' with passed parameters for
3953 Pretty print formatting of an argument for scheme code lists.
3959 Flushes the output if format DESTINATION is a port.
3962 Print a `#\space' character
3964 print N `#\space' characters.
3967 Print a `#\tab' character
3969 print N `#\tab' characters.
3972 Takes N as an integer representation for a character. No arguments
3973 are consumed. N is converted to a character by `integer->char'. N
3974 must be a positive decimal number.
3977 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
3978 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
3979 be processed by `read'.
3982 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
3983 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
3984 be processed by `read'.
3987 Prints information and a copyright notice on the format
3990 prints format version.
3993 may also print number strings, i.e. passing a number as a string
3994 and format it accordingly.
3996 *** Configuration Variables
3998 The format module exports some configuration variables to suit the
3999 systems and users needs. There should be no modification necessary for
4000 the configuration that comes with Guile. Format detects automatically
4001 if the running scheme system implements floating point numbers and
4004 format:symbol-case-conv
4005 Symbols are converted by `symbol->string' so the case type of the
4006 printed symbols is implementation dependent.
4007 `format:symbol-case-conv' is a one arg closure which is either
4008 `#f' (no conversion), `string-upcase', `string-downcase' or
4009 `string-capitalize'. (default `#f')
4011 format:iobj-case-conv
4012 As FORMAT:SYMBOL-CASE-CONV but applies for the representation of
4013 implementation internal objects. (default `#f')
4016 The character prefixing the exponent value in `~E' printing.
4019 *** Compatibility With Other Format Implementations
4025 Downward compatible except for padding support and `~A', `~S',
4026 `~P', `~X' uppercase printing. SLIB format 1.4 uses C-style
4027 `printf' padding support which is completely replaced by the CL
4028 `format' padding style.
4031 Downward compatible except for `~', which is not documented
4032 (ignores all characters inside the format string up to a newline
4033 character). (7.1 implements `~a', `~s', ~NEWLINE, `~~', `~%',
4034 numerical and variable parameters and `:/@' modifiers in the CL
4038 Downward compatible except for `~A' and `~S' which print in
4039 uppercase. (Elk implements `~a', `~s', `~~', and `~%' (no
4040 directive parameters or modifiers)).
4043 Downward compatible except for an optional destination parameter:
4044 S2C accepts a format call without a destination which returns a
4045 formatted string. This is equivalent to a #f destination in S2C.
4046 (S2C implements `~a', `~s', `~c', `~%', and `~~' (no directive
4047 parameters or modifiers)).
4050 ** Changes to string-handling functions.
4052 These functions were added to support the (ice-9 format) module, above.
4054 *** New function: string-upcase STRING
4055 *** New function: string-downcase STRING
4057 These are non-destructive versions of the existing string-upcase! and
4058 string-downcase! functions.
4060 *** New function: string-capitalize! STRING
4061 *** New function: string-capitalize STRING
4063 These functions convert the first letter of each word in the string to
4066 (string-capitalize "howdy there")
4069 As with the other functions, string-capitalize! modifies the string in
4070 place, while string-capitalize returns a modified copy of its argument.
4072 *** New function: string-ci->symbol STRING
4074 Return a symbol whose name is STRING, but having the same case as if
4075 the symbol had be read by `read'.
4077 Guile can be configured to be sensitive or insensitive to case
4078 differences in Scheme identifiers. If Guile is case-insensitive, all
4079 symbols are converted to lower case on input. The `string-ci->symbol'
4080 function returns a symbol whose name in STRING, transformed as Guile
4081 would if STRING were input.
4083 *** New function: substring-move! STRING1 START END STRING2 START
4085 Copy the substring of STRING1 from START (inclusive) to END
4086 (exclusive) to STRING2 at START. STRING1 and STRING2 may be the same
4087 string, and the source and destination areas may overlap; in all
4088 cases, the function behaves as if all the characters were copied
4091 *** Extended functions: substring-move-left! substring-move-right!
4093 These functions now correctly copy arbitrarily overlapping substrings;
4094 they are both synonyms for substring-move!.
4097 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-long), with the function `getopt-long'.
4099 getopt-long is a function for parsing command-line arguments in a
4100 manner consistent with other GNU programs.
4102 (getopt-long ARGS GRAMMAR)
4103 Parse the arguments ARGS according to the argument list grammar GRAMMAR.
4105 ARGS should be a list of strings. Its first element should be the
4106 name of the program; subsequent elements should be the arguments
4107 that were passed to the program on the command line. The
4108 `program-arguments' procedure returns a list of this form.
4110 GRAMMAR is a list of the form:
4111 ((OPTION (PROPERTY VALUE) ...) ...)
4113 Each OPTION should be a symbol. `getopt-long' will accept a
4114 command-line option named `--OPTION'.
4115 Each option can have the following (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs:
4117 (single-char CHAR) --- Accept `-CHAR' as a single-character
4118 equivalent to `--OPTION'. This is how to specify traditional
4120 (required? BOOL) --- If BOOL is true, the option is required.
4121 getopt-long will raise an error if it is not found in ARGS.
4122 (value BOOL) --- If BOOL is #t, the option accepts a value; if
4123 it is #f, it does not; and if it is the symbol
4124 `optional', the option may appear in ARGS with or
4126 (predicate FUNC) --- If the option accepts a value (i.e. you
4127 specified `(value #t)' for this option), then getopt
4128 will apply FUNC to the value, and throw an exception
4129 if it returns #f. FUNC should be a procedure which
4130 accepts a string and returns a boolean value; you may
4131 need to use quasiquotes to get it into GRAMMAR.
4133 The (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs may occur in any order, but each
4134 property may occur only once. By default, options do not have
4135 single-character equivalents, are not required, and do not take
4138 In ARGS, single-character options may be combined, in the usual
4139 Unix fashion: ("-x" "-y") is equivalent to ("-xy"). If an option
4140 accepts values, then it must be the last option in the
4141 combination; the value is the next argument. So, for example, using
4142 the following grammar:
4143 ((apples (single-char #\a))
4144 (blimps (single-char #\b) (value #t))
4145 (catalexis (single-char #\c) (value #t)))
4146 the following argument lists would be acceptable:
4147 ("-a" "-b" "bang" "-c" "couth") ("bang" and "couth" are the values
4148 for "blimps" and "catalexis")
4149 ("-ab" "bang" "-c" "couth") (same)
4150 ("-ac" "couth" "-b" "bang") (same)
4151 ("-abc" "couth" "bang") (an error, since `-b' is not the
4152 last option in its combination)
4154 If an option's value is optional, then `getopt-long' decides
4155 whether it has a value by looking at what follows it in ARGS. If
4156 the next element is a string, and it does not appear to be an
4157 option itself, then that string is the option's value.
4159 The value of a long option can appear as the next element in ARGS,
4160 or it can follow the option name, separated by an `=' character.
4161 Thus, using the same grammar as above, the following argument lists
4163 ("--apples" "Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
4164 ("--apples=Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
4165 ("--blimps" "Goodyear" "--apples=Braeburn")
4167 If the option "--" appears in ARGS, argument parsing stops there;
4168 subsequent arguments are returned as ordinary arguments, even if
4169 they resemble options. So, in the argument list:
4170 ("--apples" "Granny Smith" "--" "--blimp" "Goodyear")
4171 `getopt-long' will recognize the `apples' option as having the
4172 value "Granny Smith", but it will not recognize the `blimp'
4173 option; it will return the strings "--blimp" and "Goodyear" as
4174 ordinary argument strings.
4176 The `getopt-long' function returns the parsed argument list as an
4177 assocation list, mapping option names --- the symbols from GRAMMAR
4178 --- onto their values, or #t if the option does not accept a value.
4179 Unused options do not appear in the alist.
4181 All arguments that are not the value of any option are returned
4182 as a list, associated with the empty list.
4184 `getopt-long' throws an exception if:
4185 - it finds an unrecognized option in ARGS
4186 - a required option is omitted
4187 - an option that requires an argument doesn't get one
4188 - an option that doesn't accept an argument does get one (this can
4189 only happen using the long option `--opt=value' syntax)
4190 - an option predicate fails
4195 `((lockfile-dir (required? #t)
4198 (predicate ,file-is-directory?))
4199 (verbose (required? #f)
4202 (x-includes (single-char #\x))
4203 (rnet-server (single-char #\y)
4204 (predicate ,string?))))
4206 (getopt-long '("my-prog" "-vk" "/tmp" "foo1" "--x-includes=/usr/include"
4207 "--rnet-server=lamprod" "--" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
4209 => ((() "foo1" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
4210 (rnet-server . "lamprod")
4211 (x-includes . "/usr/include")
4212 (lockfile-dir . "/tmp")
4215 ** The (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) module is obsolete; use (ice-9 getopt-long).
4217 It will be removed in a few releases.
4219 ** New syntax: lambda*
4220 ** New syntax: define*
4221 ** New syntax: define*-public
4222 ** New syntax: defmacro*
4223 ** New syntax: defmacro*-public
4224 Guile now supports optional arguments.
4226 `lambda*', `define*', `define*-public', `defmacro*' and
4227 `defmacro*-public' are identical to the non-* versions except that
4228 they use an extended type of parameter list that has the following BNF
4229 syntax (parentheses are literal, square brackets indicate grouping,
4230 and `*', `+' and `?' have the usual meaning):
4232 ext-param-list ::= ( [identifier]* [#&optional [ext-var-decl]+]?
4233 [#&key [ext-var-decl]+ [#&allow-other-keys]?]?
4234 [[#&rest identifier]|[. identifier]]? ) | [identifier]
4236 ext-var-decl ::= identifier | ( identifier expression )
4238 The semantics are best illustrated with the following documentation
4239 and examples for `lambda*':
4242 lambda extended for optional and keyword arguments
4244 lambda* creates a procedure that takes optional arguments. These
4245 are specified by putting them inside brackets at the end of the
4246 paramater list, but before any dotted rest argument. For example,
4247 (lambda* (a b #&optional c d . e) '())
4248 creates a procedure with fixed arguments a and b, optional arguments c
4249 and d, and rest argument e. If the optional arguments are omitted
4250 in a call, the variables for them are unbound in the procedure. This
4251 can be checked with the bound? macro.
4253 lambda* can also take keyword arguments. For example, a procedure
4255 (lambda* (#&key xyzzy larch) '())
4256 can be called with any of the argument lists (#:xyzzy 11)
4257 (#:larch 13) (#:larch 42 #:xyzzy 19) (). Whichever arguments
4258 are given as keywords are bound to values.
4260 Optional and keyword arguments can also be given default values
4261 which they take on when they are not present in a call, by giving a
4262 two-item list in place of an optional argument, for example in:
4263 (lambda* (foo #&optional (bar 42) #&key (baz 73)) (list foo bar baz))
4264 foo is a fixed argument, bar is an optional argument with default
4265 value 42, and baz is a keyword argument with default value 73.
4266 Default value expressions are not evaluated unless they are needed
4267 and until the procedure is called.
4269 lambda* now supports two more special parameter list keywords.
4271 lambda*-defined procedures now throw an error by default if a
4272 keyword other than one of those specified is found in the actual
4273 passed arguments. However, specifying #&allow-other-keys
4274 immediately after the kyword argument declarations restores the
4275 previous behavior of ignoring unknown keywords. lambda* also now
4276 guarantees that if the same keyword is passed more than once, the
4277 last one passed is the one that takes effect. For example,
4278 ((lambda* (#&key (heads 0) (tails 0)) (display (list heads tails)))
4279 #:heads 37 #:tails 42 #:heads 99)
4280 would result in (99 47) being displayed.
4282 #&rest is also now provided as a synonym for the dotted syntax rest
4283 argument. The argument lists (a . b) and (a #&rest b) are equivalent in
4284 all respects to lambda*. This is provided for more similarity to DSSSL,
4285 MIT-Scheme and Kawa among others, as well as for refugees from other
4288 Further documentation may be found in the optargs.scm file itself.
4290 The optional argument module also exports the macros `let-optional',
4291 `let-optional*', `let-keywords', `let-keywords*' and `bound?'. These
4292 are not documented here because they may be removed in the future, but
4293 full documentation is still available in optargs.scm.
4295 ** New syntax: and-let*
4296 Guile now supports the `and-let*' form, described in the draft SRFI-2.
4298 Syntax: (land* (<clause> ...) <body> ...)
4299 Each <clause> should have one of the following forms:
4300 (<variable> <expression>)
4303 Each <variable> or <bound-variable> should be an identifier. Each
4304 <expression> should be a valid expression. The <body> should be a
4305 possibly empty sequence of expressions, like the <body> of a
4308 Semantics: A LAND* expression is evaluated by evaluating the
4309 <expression> or <bound-variable> of each of the <clause>s from
4310 left to right. The value of the first <expression> or
4311 <bound-variable> that evaluates to a false value is returned; the
4312 remaining <expression>s and <bound-variable>s are not evaluated.
4313 The <body> forms are evaluated iff all the <expression>s and
4314 <bound-variable>s evaluate to true values.
4316 The <expression>s and the <body> are evaluated in an environment
4317 binding each <variable> of the preceding (<variable> <expression>)
4318 clauses to the value of the <expression>. Later bindings
4319 shadow earlier bindings.
4321 Guile's and-let* macro was contributed by Michael Livshin.
4323 ** New sorting functions
4325 *** New function: sorted? SEQUENCE LESS?
4326 Returns `#t' when the sequence argument is in non-decreasing order
4327 according to LESS? (that is, there is no adjacent pair `... x y
4328 ...' for which `(less? y x)').
4330 Returns `#f' when the sequence contains at least one out-of-order
4331 pair. It is an error if the sequence is neither a list nor a
4334 *** New function: merge LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
4335 LIST1 and LIST2 are sorted lists.
4336 Returns the sorted list of all elements in LIST1 and LIST2.
4338 Assume that the elements a and b1 in LIST1 and b2 in LIST2 are "equal"
4339 in the sense that (LESS? x y) --> #f for x, y in {a, b1, b2},
4340 and that a < b1 in LIST1. Then a < b1 < b2 in the result.
4341 (Here "<" should read "comes before".)
4343 *** New procedure: merge! LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
4344 Merges two lists, re-using the pairs of LIST1 and LIST2 to build
4345 the result. If the code is compiled, and LESS? constructs no new
4346 pairs, no pairs at all will be allocated. The first pair of the
4347 result will be either the first pair of LIST1 or the first pair of
4350 *** New function: sort SEQUENCE LESS?
4351 Accepts either a list or a vector, and returns a new sequence
4352 which is sorted. The new sequence is the same type as the input.
4353 Always `(sorted? (sort sequence less?) less?)'. The original
4354 sequence is not altered in any way. The new sequence shares its
4355 elements with the old one; no elements are copied.
4357 *** New procedure: sort! SEQUENCE LESS
4358 Returns its sorted result in the original boxes. No new storage is
4359 allocated at all. Proper usage: (set! slist (sort! slist <))
4361 *** New function: stable-sort SEQUENCE LESS?
4362 Similar to `sort' but stable. That is, if "equal" elements are
4363 ordered a < b in the original sequence, they will have the same order
4366 *** New function: stable-sort! SEQUENCE LESS?
4367 Similar to `sort!' but stable.
4368 Uses temporary storage when sorting vectors.
4370 *** New functions: sort-list, sort-list!
4371 Added for compatibility with scsh.
4373 ** New built-in random number support
4375 *** New function: random N [STATE]
4376 Accepts a positive integer or real N and returns a number of the
4377 same type between zero (inclusive) and N (exclusive). The values
4378 returned have a uniform distribution.
4380 The optional argument STATE must be of the type produced by
4381 `copy-random-state' or `seed->random-state'. It defaults to the value
4382 of the variable `*random-state*'. This object is used to maintain the
4383 state of the pseudo-random-number generator and is altered as a side
4384 effect of the `random' operation.
4386 *** New variable: *random-state*
4387 Holds a data structure that encodes the internal state of the
4388 random-number generator that `random' uses by default. The nature
4389 of this data structure is implementation-dependent. It may be
4390 printed out and successfully read back in, but may or may not
4391 function correctly as a random-number state object in another
4394 *** New function: copy-random-state [STATE]
4395 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
4396 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
4397 If argument STATE is given, a copy of it is returned. Otherwise a
4398 copy of `*random-state*' is returned.
4400 *** New function: seed->random-state SEED
4401 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
4402 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
4403 SEED is a string or a number. A new state is generated and
4404 initialized using SEED.
4406 *** New function: random:uniform [STATE]
4407 Returns an uniformly distributed inexact real random number in the
4408 range between 0 and 1.
4410 *** New procedure: random:solid-sphere! VECT [STATE]
4411 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose
4412 squares is less than 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in
4413 space of dimension N = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are
4414 uniformly distributed within the unit N-shere. The sum of the
4415 squares of the numbers is returned. VECT can be either a vector
4416 or a uniform vector of doubles.
4418 *** New procedure: random:hollow-sphere! VECT [STATE]
4419 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose squares
4420 is equal to 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in space of
4421 dimension n = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are uniformly
4422 distributed over the surface of the unit n-shere. VECT can be either
4423 a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
4425 *** New function: random:normal [STATE]
4426 Returns an inexact real in a normal distribution with mean 0 and
4427 standard deviation 1. For a normal distribution with mean M and
4428 standard deviation D use `(+ M (* D (random:normal)))'.
4430 *** New procedure: random:normal-vector! VECT [STATE]
4431 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers which are independent and
4432 standard normally distributed (i.e., with mean 0 and variance 1).
4433 VECT can be either a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
4435 *** New function: random:exp STATE
4436 Returns an inexact real in an exponential distribution with mean 1.
4437 For an exponential distribution with mean U use (* U (random:exp)).
4439 ** The range of logand, logior, logxor, logtest, and logbit? have changed.
4441 These functions now operate on numbers in the range of a C unsigned
4444 These functions used to operate on numbers in the range of a C signed
4445 long; however, this seems inappropriate, because Guile integers don't
4448 ** New function: make-guardian
4449 This is an implementation of guardians as described in
4450 R. Kent Dybvig, Carl Bruggeman, and David Eby (1993) "Guardians in a
4451 Generation-Based Garbage Collector" ACM SIGPLAN Conference on
4452 Programming Language Design and Implementation, June 1993
4453 ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/scheme-repository/doc/pubs/guardians.ps.gz
4455 ** New functions: delq1!, delv1!, delete1!
4456 These procedures behave similar to delq! and friends but delete only
4457 one object if at all.
4459 ** New function: unread-string STRING PORT
4460 Unread STRING to PORT, that is, push it back onto the port so that
4461 next read operation will work on the pushed back characters.
4463 ** unread-char can now be called multiple times
4464 If unread-char is called multiple times, the unread characters will be
4465 read again in last-in first-out order.
4467 ** the procedures uniform-array-read! and uniform-array-write! now
4468 work on any kind of port, not just ports which are open on a file.
4470 ** Now 'l' in a port mode requests line buffering.
4472 ** The procedure truncate-file now works on string ports as well
4473 as file ports. If the size argument is omitted, the current
4474 file position is used.
4476 ** new procedure: seek PORT/FDES OFFSET WHENCE
4477 The arguments are the same as for the old fseek procedure, but it
4478 works on string ports as well as random-access file ports.
4480 ** the fseek procedure now works on string ports, since it has been
4481 redefined using seek.
4483 ** the setvbuf procedure now uses a default size if mode is _IOFBF and
4484 size is not supplied.
4486 ** the newline procedure no longer flushes the port if it's not
4487 line-buffered: previously it did if it was the current output port.
4489 ** open-pipe and close-pipe are no longer primitive procedures, but
4490 an emulation can be obtained using `(use-modules (ice-9 popen))'.
4492 ** the freopen procedure has been removed.
4494 ** new procedure: drain-input PORT
4495 Drains PORT's read buffers (including any pushed-back characters)
4496 and returns the contents as a single string.
4498 ** New function: map-in-order PROC LIST1 LIST2 ...
4499 Version of `map' which guarantees that the procedure is applied to the
4500 lists in serial order.
4502 ** Renamed `serial-array-copy!' and `serial-array-map!' to
4503 `array-copy-in-order!' and `array-map-in-order!'. The old names are
4504 now obsolete and will go away in release 1.5.
4506 ** New syntax: collect BODY1 ...
4507 Version of `begin' which returns a list of the results of the body
4508 forms instead of the result of the last body form. In contrast to
4509 `begin', `collect' allows an empty body.
4511 ** New functions: read-history FILENAME, write-history FILENAME
4512 Read/write command line history from/to file. Returns #t on success
4513 and #f if an error occured.
4515 ** `ls' and `lls' in module (ice-9 ls) now handle no arguments.
4517 These procedures return a list of definitions available in the specified
4518 argument, a relative module reference. In the case of no argument,
4519 `(current-module)' is now consulted for definitions to return, instead
4520 of simply returning #f, the former behavior.
4522 ** The #/ syntax for lists is no longer supported.
4524 Earlier versions of Scheme accepted this syntax, but printed a
4527 ** Guile no longer consults the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable.
4529 Instead, you should set GUILE_LOAD_PATH to tell Guile where to find
4532 * Changes to the gh_ interface
4536 Now takes a second argument which is the result array. If this
4537 pointer is NULL, a new array is malloced (the old behaviour).
4539 ** gh_chars2byvect, gh_shorts2svect, gh_floats2fvect, gh_scm2chars,
4540 gh_scm2shorts, gh_scm2longs, gh_scm2floats
4544 * Changes to the scm_ interface
4546 ** Function: scm_make_named_hook (char* name, int n_args)
4548 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
4549 binds a variable named NAME to it.
4551 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
4553 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module. This
4554 might change when we get the new module system.
4556 ** The smob interface
4558 The interface for creating smobs has changed. For documentation, see
4559 data-rep.info (made from guile-core/doc/data-rep.texi).
4561 *** Deprecated function: SCM scm_newsmob (scm_smobfuns *)
4563 >>> This function will be removed in 1.3.4. <<<
4567 *** Function: SCM scm_make_smob_type (const char *name, scm_sizet size)
4568 This function adds a new smob type, named NAME, with instance size
4569 SIZE to the system. The return value is a tag that is used in
4570 creating instances of the type. If SIZE is 0, then no memory will
4571 be allocated when instances of the smob are created, and nothing
4572 will be freed by the default free function.
4574 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_mark (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
4575 This function sets the smob marking procedure for the smob type
4576 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4577 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4579 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_free (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
4580 This function sets the smob freeing procedure for the smob type
4581 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4582 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4584 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_print (tc, print)
4586 - Function: void scm_set_smob_print (long tc,
4587 scm_sizet (*print) (SCM,
4591 This function sets the smob printing procedure for the smob type
4592 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4593 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4595 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_equalp (long tc, SCM (*equalp) (SCM, SCM))
4596 This function sets the smob equality-testing predicate for the
4597 smob type specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4598 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4600 *** Macro: void SCM_NEWSMOB (SCM var, long tc, void *data)
4601 Make VALUE contain a smob instance of the type with type code TC and
4602 smob data DATA. VALUE must be previously declared as C type `SCM'.
4604 *** Macro: fn_returns SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB (long tc, void *data)
4605 This macro expands to a block of code that creates a smob instance
4606 of the type with type code TC and smob data DATA, and returns that
4607 `SCM' value. It should be the last piece of code in a block.
4609 ** The interfaces for using I/O ports and implementing port types
4610 (ptobs) have changed significantly. The new interface is based on
4611 shared access to buffers and a new set of ptob procedures.
4613 *** scm_newptob has been removed
4617 *** Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (type_name, fill_buffer, write_flush)
4619 - Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (char *type_name,
4620 int (*fill_buffer) (SCM port),
4621 void (*write_flush) (SCM port));
4623 Similarly to the new smob interface, there is a set of function
4624 setters by which the user can customize the behaviour of his port
4625 type. See ports.h (scm_set_port_XXX).
4627 ** scm_strport_to_string: New function: creates a new string from
4628 a string port's buffer.
4630 ** Plug in interface for random number generators
4631 The variable `scm_the_rng' in random.c contains a value and three
4632 function pointers which together define the current random number
4633 generator being used by the Scheme level interface and the random
4634 number library functions.
4636 The user is free to replace the default generator with the generator
4639 *** Variable: size_t scm_the_rng.rstate_size
4640 The size of the random state type used by the current RNG
4643 *** Function: unsigned long scm_the_rng.random_bits (scm_rstate *STATE)
4644 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
4646 *** Function: void scm_the_rng.init_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE, chars *S, int N)
4647 Seed random state STATE using string S of length N.
4649 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_the_rng.copy_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE)
4650 Given random state STATE, return a malloced copy.
4653 The default RNG is the MWC (Multiply With Carry) random number
4654 generator described by George Marsaglia at the Department of
4655 Statistics and Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, The
4656 Florida State University (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo).
4658 It uses 64 bits, has a period of 4578426017172946943 (4.6e18), and
4659 passes all tests in the DIEHARD test suite
4660 (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo/diehard.html). The generation of 32 bits
4661 costs one multiply and one add on platforms which either supports long
4662 longs (gcc does this on most systems) or have 64 bit longs. The cost
4663 is four multiply on other systems but this can be optimized by writing
4664 scm_i_uniform32 in assembler.
4666 These functions are provided through the scm_the_rng interface for use
4667 by libguile and the application.
4669 *** Function: unsigned long scm_i_uniform32 (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
4670 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
4671 Don't use this function directly. Instead go through the plugin
4672 interface (see "Plug in interface" above).
4674 *** Function: void scm_i_init_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE, char *SEED, int N)
4675 Initialize STATE using SEED of length N.
4677 *** Function: scm_i_rstate *scm_i_copy_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
4678 Return a malloc:ed copy of STATE. This function can easily be re-used
4679 in the interfaces to other RNGs.
4681 ** Random number library functions
4682 These functions use the current RNG through the scm_the_rng interface.
4683 It might be a good idea to use these functions from your C code so
4684 that only one random generator is used by all code in your program.
4686 The default random state is stored in:
4688 *** Variable: SCM scm_var_random_state
4689 Contains the vcell of the Scheme variable "*random-state*" which is
4690 used as default state by all random number functions in the Scheme
4695 double x = scm_c_uniform01 (SCM_RSTATE (SCM_CDR (scm_var_random_state)));
4697 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_default_rstate (void)
4698 This is a convenience function which returns the value of
4699 scm_var_random_state. An error message is generated if this value
4700 isn't a random state.
4702 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_make_rstate (char *SEED, int LENGTH)
4703 Make a new random state from the string SEED of length LENGTH.
4705 It is generally not a good idea to use multiple random states in a
4706 program. While subsequent random numbers generated from one random
4707 state are guaranteed to be reasonably independent, there is no such
4708 guarantee for numbers generated from different random states.
4710 *** Macro: unsigned long scm_c_uniform32 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4711 Return 32 random bits.
4713 *** Function: double scm_c_uniform01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4714 Return a sample from the uniform(0,1) distribution.
4716 *** Function: double scm_c_normal01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4717 Return a sample from the normal(0,1) distribution.
4719 *** Function: double scm_c_exp1 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4720 Return a sample from the exp(1) distribution.
4722 *** Function: unsigned long scm_c_random (scm_rstate *STATE, unsigned long M)
4723 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
4725 *** Function: SCM scm_c_random_bignum (scm_rstate *STATE, SCM M)
4726 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
4727 M must be a bignum object. The returned value may be an INUM.
4731 Changes in Guile 1.3 (released Monday, October 19, 1998):
4733 * Changes to the distribution
4735 ** We renamed the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable to GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
4736 To avoid conflicts, programs should name environment variables after
4737 themselves, except when there's a common practice establishing some
4740 For now, Guile supports both GUILE_LOAD_PATH and SCHEME_LOAD_PATH,
4741 giving the former precedence, and printing a warning message if the
4742 latter is set. Guile 1.4 will not recognize SCHEME_LOAD_PATH at all.
4744 ** The header files related to multi-byte characters have been removed.
4745 They were: libguile/extchrs.h and libguile/mbstrings.h. Any C code
4746 which referred to these explicitly will probably need to be rewritten,
4747 since the support for the variant string types has been removed; see
4750 ** The header files append.h and sequences.h have been removed. These
4751 files implemented non-R4RS operations which would encourage
4752 non-portable programming style and less easy-to-read code.
4754 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
4756 ** New procedures have been added to implement a "batch mode":
4758 *** Function: batch-mode?
4760 Returns a boolean indicating whether the interpreter is in batch
4763 *** Function: set-batch-mode?! ARG
4765 If ARG is true, switches the interpreter to batch mode. The `#f'
4766 case has not been implemented.
4768 ** Guile now provides full command-line editing, when run interactively.
4769 To use this feature, you must have the readline library installed.
4770 The Guile build process will notice it, and automatically include
4773 The readline library is available via anonymous FTP from any GNU
4774 mirror site; the canonical location is "ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu".
4776 ** the-last-stack is now a fluid.
4778 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
4780 ** You can now use the `guile-config' utility to build programs that use Guile.
4782 Guile now includes a command-line utility called `guile-config', which
4783 can provide information about how to compile and link programs that
4786 *** `guile-config compile' prints any C compiler flags needed to use Guile.
4787 You should include this command's output on the command line you use
4788 to compile C or C++ code that #includes the Guile header files. It's
4789 usually just a `-I' flag to help the compiler find the Guile headers.
4792 *** `guile-config link' prints any linker flags necessary to link with Guile.
4794 This command writes to its standard output a list of flags which you
4795 must pass to the linker to link your code against the Guile library.
4796 The flags include '-lguile' itself, any other libraries the Guile
4797 library depends upon, and any `-L' flags needed to help the linker
4798 find those libraries.
4800 For example, here is a Makefile rule that builds a program named 'foo'
4801 from the object files ${FOO_OBJECTS}, and links them against Guile:
4804 ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${FOO_OBJECTS} `guile-config link` -o foo
4806 Previous Guile releases recommended that you use autoconf to detect
4807 which of a predefined set of libraries were present on your system.
4808 It is more robust to use `guile-config', since it records exactly which
4809 libraries the installed Guile library requires.
4811 This was originally called `build-guile', but was renamed to
4812 `guile-config' before Guile 1.3 was released, to be consistent with
4813 the analogous script for the GTK+ GUI toolkit, which is called
4817 ** Use the GUILE_FLAGS macro in your configure.in file to find Guile.
4819 If you are using the GNU autoconf package to configure your program,
4820 you can use the GUILE_FLAGS autoconf macro to call `guile-config'
4821 (described above) and gather the necessary values for use in your
4824 The GUILE_FLAGS macro expands to configure script code which runs the
4825 `guile-config' script, to find out where Guile's header files and
4826 libraries are installed. It sets two variables, marked for
4827 substitution, as by AC_SUBST.
4829 GUILE_CFLAGS --- flags to pass to a C or C++ compiler to build
4830 code that uses Guile header files. This is almost always just a
4833 GUILE_LDFLAGS --- flags to pass to the linker to link a
4834 program against Guile. This includes `-lguile' for the Guile
4835 library itself, any libraries that Guile itself requires (like
4836 -lqthreads), and so on. It may also include a -L flag to tell the
4837 compiler where to find the libraries.
4839 GUILE_FLAGS is defined in the file guile.m4, in the top-level
4840 directory of the Guile distribution. You can copy it into your
4841 package's aclocal.m4 file, and then use it in your configure.in file.
4843 If you are using the `aclocal' program, distributed with GNU automake,
4844 to maintain your aclocal.m4 file, the Guile installation process
4845 installs guile.m4 where aclocal will find it. All you need to do is
4846 use GUILE_FLAGS in your configure.in file, and then run `aclocal';
4847 this will copy the definition of GUILE_FLAGS into your aclocal.m4
4851 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
4853 ** Multi-byte strings have been removed, as have multi-byte and wide
4854 ports. We felt that these were the wrong approach to
4855 internationalization support.
4857 ** New function: readline [PROMPT]
4858 Read a line from the terminal, and allow the user to edit it,
4859 prompting with PROMPT. READLINE provides a large set of Emacs-like
4860 editing commands, lets the user recall previously typed lines, and
4861 works on almost every kind of terminal, including dumb terminals.
4863 READLINE assumes that the cursor is at the beginning of the line when
4864 it is invoked. Thus, you can't print a prompt yourself, and then call
4865 READLINE; you need to package up your prompt as a string, pass it to
4866 the function, and let READLINE print the prompt itself. This is
4867 because READLINE needs to know the prompt's screen width.
4869 For Guile to provide this function, you must have the readline
4870 library, version 2.1 or later, installed on your system. Readline is
4871 available via anonymous FTP from prep.ai.mit.edu in pub/gnu, or from
4872 any GNU mirror site.
4874 See also ADD-HISTORY function.
4876 ** New function: add-history STRING
4877 Add STRING as the most recent line in the history used by the READLINE
4878 command. READLINE does not add lines to the history itself; you must
4879 call ADD-HISTORY to make previous input available to the user.
4881 ** The behavior of the read-line function has changed.
4883 This function now uses standard C library functions to read the line,
4884 for speed. This means that it doesn not respect the value of
4885 scm-line-incrementors; it assumes that lines are delimited with
4888 (Note that this is read-line, the function that reads a line of text
4889 from a port, not readline, the function that reads a line from a
4890 terminal, providing full editing capabilities.)
4892 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style): Parse command-line arguments.
4894 This module provides some simple argument parsing. It exports one
4897 Function: getopt-gnu-style ARG-LS
4898 Parse a list of program arguments into an alist of option
4901 Each item in the list of program arguments is examined to see if
4902 it meets the syntax of a GNU long-named option. An argument like
4903 `--MUMBLE' produces an element of the form (MUMBLE . #t) in the
4904 returned alist, where MUMBLE is a keyword object with the same
4905 name as the argument. An argument like `--MUMBLE=FROB' produces
4906 an element of the form (MUMBLE . FROB), where FROB is a string.
4908 As a special case, the returned alist also contains a pair whose
4909 car is the symbol `rest'. The cdr of this pair is a list
4910 containing all the items in the argument list that are not options
4911 of the form mentioned above.
4913 The argument `--' is treated specially: all items in the argument
4914 list appearing after such an argument are not examined, and are
4915 returned in the special `rest' list.
4917 This function does not parse normal single-character switches.
4918 You will need to parse them out of the `rest' list yourself.
4920 ** The read syntax for byte vectors and short vectors has changed.
4922 Instead of #bytes(...), write #y(...).
4924 Instead of #short(...), write #h(...).
4926 This may seem nutty, but, like the other uniform vectors, byte vectors
4927 and short vectors want to have the same print and read syntax (and,
4928 more basic, want to have read syntax!). Changing the read syntax to
4929 use multiple characters after the hash sign breaks with the
4930 conventions used in R5RS and the conventions used for the other
4931 uniform vectors. It also introduces complexity in the current reader,
4932 both on the C and Scheme levels. (The Right solution is probably to
4933 change the syntax and prototypes for uniform vectors entirely.)
4936 ** The new module (ice-9 session) provides useful interactive functions.
4938 *** New procedure: (apropos REGEXP OPTION ...)
4940 Display a list of top-level variables whose names match REGEXP, and
4941 the modules they are imported from. Each OPTION should be one of the
4944 value --- Show the value of each matching variable.
4945 shadow --- Show bindings shadowed by subsequently imported modules.
4946 full --- Same as both `shadow' and `value'.
4950 guile> (apropos "trace" 'full)
4951 debug: trace #<procedure trace args>
4952 debug: untrace #<procedure untrace args>
4953 the-scm-module: display-backtrace #<compiled-closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>
4954 the-scm-module: before-backtrace-hook ()
4955 the-scm-module: backtrace #<primitive-procedure backtrace>
4956 the-scm-module: after-backtrace-hook ()
4957 the-scm-module: has-shown-backtrace-hint? #f
4960 ** There are new functions and syntax for working with macros.
4962 Guile implements macros as a special object type. Any variable whose
4963 top-level binding is a macro object acts as a macro. The macro object
4964 specifies how the expression should be transformed before evaluation.
4966 *** Macro objects now print in a reasonable way, resembling procedures.
4968 *** New function: (macro? OBJ)
4969 True iff OBJ is a macro object.
4971 *** New function: (primitive-macro? OBJ)
4972 Like (macro? OBJ), but true only if OBJ is one of the Guile primitive
4973 macro transformers, implemented in eval.c rather than Scheme code.
4975 Why do we have this function?
4976 - For symmetry with procedure? and primitive-procedure?,
4977 - to allow custom print procedures to tell whether a macro is
4978 primitive, and display it differently, and
4979 - to allow compilers and user-written evaluators to distinguish
4980 builtin special forms from user-defined ones, which could be
4983 *** New function: (macro-type OBJ)
4984 Return a value indicating what kind of macro OBJ is. Possible return
4987 The symbol `syntax' --- a macro created by procedure->syntax.
4988 The symbol `macro' --- a macro created by procedure->macro.
4989 The symbol `macro!' --- a macro created by procedure->memoizing-macro.
4990 The boolean #f --- if OBJ is not a macro object.
4992 *** New function: (macro-name MACRO)
4993 Return the name of the macro object MACRO's procedure, as returned by
4996 *** New function: (macro-transformer MACRO)
4997 Return the transformer procedure for MACRO.
4999 *** New syntax: (use-syntax MODULE ... TRANSFORMER)
5001 Specify a new macro expander to use in the current module. Each
5002 MODULE is a module name, with the same meaning as in the `use-modules'
5003 form; each named module's exported bindings are added to the current
5004 top-level environment. TRANSFORMER is an expression evaluated in the
5005 resulting environment which must yield a procedure to use as the
5006 module's eval transformer: every expression evaluated in this module
5007 is passed to this function, and the result passed to the Guile
5010 *** macro-eval! is removed. Use local-eval instead.
5012 ** Some magic has been added to the printer to better handle user
5013 written printing routines (like record printers, closure printers).
5015 The problem is that these user written routines must have access to
5016 the current `print-state' to be able to handle fancy things like
5017 detection of circular references. These print-states have to be
5018 passed to the builtin printing routines (display, write, etc) to
5019 properly continue the print chain.
5021 We didn't want to change all existing print code so that it
5022 explicitly passes thru a print state in addition to a port. Instead,
5023 we extented the possible values that the builtin printing routines
5024 accept as a `port'. In addition to a normal port, they now also take
5025 a pair of a normal port and a print-state. Printing will go to the
5026 port and the print-state will be used to control the detection of
5027 circular references, etc. If the builtin function does not care for a
5028 print-state, it is simply ignored.
5030 User written callbacks are now called with such a pair as their
5031 `port', but because every function now accepts this pair as a PORT
5032 argument, you don't have to worry about that. In fact, it is probably
5033 safest to not check for these pairs.
5035 However, it is sometimes necessary to continue a print chain on a
5036 different port, for example to get a intermediate string
5037 representation of the printed value, mangle that string somehow, and
5038 then to finally print the mangled string. Use the new function
5040 inherit-print-state OLD-PORT NEW-PORT
5042 for this. It constructs a new `port' that prints to NEW-PORT but
5043 inherits the print-state of OLD-PORT.
5045 ** struct-vtable-offset renamed to vtable-offset-user
5047 ** New constants: vtable-index-layout, vtable-index-vtable, vtable-index-printer
5049 ** There is now a third optional argument to make-vtable-vtable
5050 (and fourth to make-struct) when constructing new types (vtables).
5051 This argument initializes field vtable-index-printer of the vtable.
5053 ** The detection of circular references has been extended to structs.
5054 That is, a structure that -- in the process of being printed -- prints
5055 itself does not lead to infinite recursion.
5057 ** There is now some basic support for fluids. Please read
5058 "libguile/fluid.h" to find out more. It is accessible from Scheme with
5059 the following functions and macros:
5061 Function: make-fluid
5063 Create a new fluid object. Fluids are not special variables or
5064 some other extension to the semantics of Scheme, but rather
5065 ordinary Scheme objects. You can store them into variables (that
5066 are still lexically scoped, of course) or into any other place you
5067 like. Every fluid has a initial value of `#f'.
5069 Function: fluid? OBJ
5071 Test whether OBJ is a fluid.
5073 Function: fluid-ref FLUID
5074 Function: fluid-set! FLUID VAL
5076 Access/modify the fluid FLUID. Modifications are only visible
5077 within the current dynamic root (that includes threads).
5079 Function: with-fluids* FLUIDS VALUES THUNK
5081 FLUIDS is a list of fluids and VALUES a corresponding list of
5082 values for these fluids. Before THUNK gets called the values are
5083 installed in the fluids and the old values of the fluids are
5084 saved in the VALUES list. When the flow of control leaves THUNK
5085 or reenters it, the values get swapped again. You might think of
5086 this as a `safe-fluid-excursion'. Note that the VALUES list is
5087 modified by `with-fluids*'.
5089 Macro: with-fluids ((FLUID VALUE) ...) FORM ...
5091 The same as `with-fluids*' but with a different syntax. It looks
5092 just like `let', but both FLUID and VALUE are evaluated. Remember,
5093 fluids are not special variables but ordinary objects. FLUID
5094 should evaluate to a fluid.
5096 ** Changes to system call interfaces:
5098 *** close-port, close-input-port and close-output-port now return a
5099 boolean instead of an `unspecified' object. #t means that the port
5100 was successfully closed, while #f means it was already closed. It is
5101 also now possible for these procedures to raise an exception if an
5102 error occurs (some errors from write can be delayed until close.)
5104 *** the first argument to chmod, fcntl, ftell and fseek can now be a
5107 *** the third argument to fcntl is now optional.
5109 *** the first argument to chown can now be a file descriptor or a port.
5111 *** the argument to stat can now be a port.
5113 *** The following new procedures have been added (most use scsh
5116 *** procedure: close PORT/FD
5117 Similar to close-port (*note close-port: Closing Ports.), but also
5118 works on file descriptors. A side effect of closing a file
5119 descriptor is that any ports using that file descriptor are moved
5120 to a different file descriptor and have their revealed counts set
5123 *** procedure: port->fdes PORT
5124 Returns the integer file descriptor underlying PORT. As a side
5125 effect the revealed count of PORT is incremented.
5127 *** procedure: fdes->ports FDES
5128 Returns a list of existing ports which have FDES as an underlying
5129 file descriptor, without changing their revealed counts.
5131 *** procedure: fdes->inport FDES
5132 Returns an existing input port which has FDES as its underlying
5133 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
5134 Otherwise, returns a new input port with a revealed count of 1.
5136 *** procedure: fdes->outport FDES
5137 Returns an existing output port which has FDES as its underlying
5138 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
5139 Otherwise, returns a new output port with a revealed count of 1.
5141 The next group of procedures perform a `dup2' system call, if NEWFD
5142 (an integer) is supplied, otherwise a `dup'. The file descriptor to be
5143 duplicated can be supplied as an integer or contained in a port. The
5144 type of value returned varies depending on which procedure is used.
5146 All procedures also have the side effect when performing `dup2' that
5147 any ports using NEWFD are moved to a different file descriptor and have
5148 their revealed counts set to zero.
5150 *** procedure: dup->fdes PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5151 Returns an integer file descriptor.
5153 *** procedure: dup->inport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5154 Returns a new input port using the new file descriptor.
5156 *** procedure: dup->outport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5157 Returns a new output port using the new file descriptor.
5159 *** procedure: dup PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5160 Returns a new port if PORT/FD is a port, with the same mode as the
5161 supplied port, otherwise returns an integer file descriptor.
5163 *** procedure: dup->port PORT/FD MODE [NEWFD]
5164 Returns a new port using the new file descriptor. MODE supplies a
5165 mode string for the port (*note open-file: File Ports.).
5167 *** procedure: setenv NAME VALUE
5168 Modifies the environment of the current process, which is also the
5169 default environment inherited by child processes.
5171 If VALUE is `#f', then NAME is removed from the environment.
5172 Otherwise, the string NAME=VALUE is added to the environment,
5173 replacing any existing string with name matching NAME.
5175 The return value is unspecified.
5177 *** procedure: truncate-file OBJ SIZE
5178 Truncates the file referred to by OBJ to at most SIZE bytes. OBJ
5179 can be a string containing a file name or an integer file
5180 descriptor or port open for output on the file. The underlying
5181 system calls are `truncate' and `ftruncate'.
5183 The return value is unspecified.
5185 *** procedure: setvbuf PORT MODE [SIZE]
5186 Set the buffering mode for PORT. MODE can be:
5194 block buffered, using a newly allocated buffer of SIZE bytes.
5195 However if SIZE is zero or unspecified, the port will be made
5198 This procedure should not be used after I/O has been performed with
5201 Ports are usually block buffered by default, with a default buffer
5202 size. Procedures e.g., *Note open-file: File Ports, which accept a
5203 mode string allow `0' to be added to request an unbuffered port.
5205 *** procedure: fsync PORT/FD
5206 Copies any unwritten data for the specified output file descriptor
5207 to disk. If PORT/FD is a port, its buffer is flushed before the
5208 underlying file descriptor is fsync'd. The return value is
5211 *** procedure: open-fdes PATH FLAGS [MODES]
5212 Similar to `open' but returns a file descriptor instead of a port.
5214 *** procedure: execle PATH ENV [ARG] ...
5215 Similar to `execl', but the environment of the new process is
5216 specified by ENV, which must be a list of strings as returned by
5217 the `environ' procedure.
5219 This procedure is currently implemented using the `execve' system
5220 call, but we call it `execle' because of its Scheme calling
5223 *** procedure: strerror ERRNO
5224 Returns the Unix error message corresponding to ERRNO, an integer.
5226 *** procedure: primitive-exit [STATUS]
5227 Terminate the current process without unwinding the Scheme stack.
5228 This is would typically be useful after a fork. The exit status
5229 is STATUS if supplied, otherwise zero.
5231 *** procedure: times
5232 Returns an object with information about real and processor time.
5233 The following procedures accept such an object as an argument and
5234 return a selected component:
5237 The current real time, expressed as time units relative to an
5241 The CPU time units used by the calling process.
5244 The CPU time units used by the system on behalf of the
5248 The CPU time units used by terminated child processes of the
5249 calling process, whose status has been collected (e.g., using
5253 Similarly, the CPU times units used by the system on behalf of
5254 terminated child processes.
5256 ** Removed: list-length
5257 ** Removed: list-append, list-append!
5258 ** Removed: list-reverse, list-reverse!
5260 ** array-map renamed to array-map!
5262 ** serial-array-map renamed to serial-array-map!
5264 ** catch doesn't take #f as first argument any longer
5266 Previously, it was possible to pass #f instead of a key to `catch'.
5267 That would cause `catch' to pass a jump buffer object to the procedure
5268 passed as second argument. The procedure could then use this jump
5269 buffer objekt as an argument to throw.
5271 This mechanism has been removed since its utility doesn't motivate the
5272 extra complexity it introduces.
5274 ** The `#/' notation for lists now provokes a warning message from Guile.
5275 This syntax will be removed from Guile in the near future.
5277 To disable the warning message, set the GUILE_HUSH environment
5278 variable to any non-empty value.
5280 ** The newline character now prints as `#\newline', following the
5281 normal Scheme notation, not `#\nl'.
5283 * Changes to the gh_ interface
5285 ** The gh_enter function now takes care of loading the Guile startup files.
5286 gh_enter works by calling scm_boot_guile; see the remarks below.
5288 ** Function: void gh_write (SCM x)
5290 Write the printed representation of the scheme object x to the current
5291 output port. Corresponds to the scheme level `write'.
5293 ** gh_list_length renamed to gh_length.
5295 ** vector handling routines
5297 Several major changes. In particular, gh_vector() now resembles
5298 (vector ...) (with a caveat -- see manual), and gh_make_vector() now
5299 exists and behaves like (make-vector ...). gh_vset() and gh_vref()
5300 have been renamed gh_vector_set_x() and gh_vector_ref(). Some missing
5301 vector-related gh_ functions have been implemented.
5303 ** pair and list routines
5305 Implemented several of the R4RS pair and list functions that were
5308 ** gh_scm2doubles, gh_doubles2scm, gh_doubles2dvect
5310 New function. Converts double arrays back and forth between Scheme
5313 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5315 ** The function scm_boot_guile now takes care of loading the startup files.
5317 Guile's primary initialization function, scm_boot_guile, now takes
5318 care of loading `boot-9.scm', in the `ice-9' module, to initialize
5319 Guile, define the module system, and put together some standard
5320 bindings. It also loads `init.scm', which is intended to hold
5321 site-specific initialization code.
5323 Since Guile cannot operate properly until boot-9.scm is loaded, there
5324 is no reason to separate loading boot-9.scm from Guile's other
5325 initialization processes.
5327 This job used to be done by scm_compile_shell_switches, which didn't
5328 make much sense; in particular, it meant that people using Guile for
5329 non-shell-like applications had to jump through hoops to get Guile
5330 initialized properly.
5332 ** The function scm_compile_shell_switches no longer loads the startup files.
5333 Now, Guile always loads the startup files, whenever it is initialized;
5334 see the notes above for scm_boot_guile and scm_load_startup_files.
5336 ** Function: scm_load_startup_files
5337 This new function takes care of loading Guile's initialization file
5338 (`boot-9.scm'), and the site initialization file, `init.scm'. Since
5339 this is always called by the Guile initialization process, it's
5340 probably not too useful to call this yourself, but it's there anyway.
5342 ** The semantics of smob marking have changed slightly.
5344 The smob marking function (the `mark' member of the scm_smobfuns
5345 structure) is no longer responsible for setting the mark bit on the
5346 smob. The generic smob handling code in the garbage collector will
5347 set this bit. The mark function need only ensure that any other
5348 objects the smob refers to get marked.
5350 Note that this change means that the smob's GC8MARK bit is typically
5351 already set upon entry to the mark function. Thus, marking functions
5352 which look like this:
5355 if (SCM_GC8MARKP (ptr))
5357 SCM_SETGC8MARK (ptr);
5358 ... mark objects to which the smob refers ...
5361 are now incorrect, since they will return early, and fail to mark any
5362 other objects the smob refers to. Some code in the Guile library used
5365 ** The semantics of the I/O port functions in scm_ptobfuns have changed.
5367 If you have implemented your own I/O port type, by writing the
5368 functions required by the scm_ptobfuns and then calling scm_newptob,
5369 you will need to change your functions slightly.
5371 The functions in a scm_ptobfuns structure now expect the port itself
5372 as their argument; they used to expect the `stream' member of the
5373 port's scm_port_table structure. This allows functions in an
5374 scm_ptobfuns structure to easily access the port's cell (and any flags
5375 it its CAR), and the port's scm_port_table structure.
5377 Guile now passes the I/O port itself as the `port' argument in the
5378 following scm_ptobfuns functions:
5380 int (*free) (SCM port);
5381 int (*fputc) (int, SCM port);
5382 int (*fputs) (char *, SCM port);
5383 scm_sizet (*fwrite) SCM_P ((char *ptr,
5387 int (*fflush) (SCM port);
5388 int (*fgetc) (SCM port);
5389 int (*fclose) (SCM port);
5391 The interfaces to the `mark', `print', `equalp', and `fgets' methods
5394 If you have existing code which defines its own port types, it is easy
5395 to convert your code to the new interface; simply apply SCM_STREAM to
5396 the port argument to yield the value you code used to expect.
5398 Note that since both the port and the stream have the same type in the
5399 C code --- they are both SCM values --- the C compiler will not remind
5400 you if you forget to update your scm_ptobfuns functions.
5403 ** Function: int scm_internal_select (int fds,
5407 struct timeval *timeout);
5409 This is a replacement for the `select' function provided by the OS.
5410 It enables I/O blocking and sleeping to happen for one cooperative
5411 thread without blocking other threads. It also avoids busy-loops in
5412 these situations. It is intended that all I/O blocking and sleeping
5413 will finally go through this function. Currently, this function is
5414 only available on systems providing `gettimeofday' and `select'.
5416 ** Function: SCM scm_internal_stack_catch (SCM tag,
5417 scm_catch_body_t body,
5419 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
5422 A new sibling to the other two C level `catch' functions
5423 scm_internal_catch and scm_internal_lazy_catch. Use it if you want
5424 the stack to be saved automatically into the variable `the-last-stack'
5425 (scm_the_last_stack_var) on error. This is necessary if you want to
5426 use advanced error reporting, such as calling scm_display_error and
5427 scm_display_backtrace. (They both take a stack object as argument.)
5429 ** Function: SCM scm_spawn_thread (scm_catch_body_t body,
5431 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
5434 Spawns a new thread. It does a job similar to
5435 scm_call_with_new_thread but takes arguments more suitable when
5436 spawning threads from application C code.
5438 ** The hook scm_error_callback has been removed. It was originally
5439 intended as a way for the user to install his own error handler. But
5440 that method works badly since it intervenes between throw and catch,
5441 thereby changing the semantics of expressions like (catch #t ...).
5442 The correct way to do it is to use one of the C level catch functions
5443 in throw.c: scm_internal_catch/lazy_catch/stack_catch.
5445 ** Removed functions:
5447 scm_obj_length, scm_list_length, scm_list_append, scm_list_append_x,
5448 scm_list_reverse, scm_list_reverse_x
5450 ** New macros: SCM_LISTn where n is one of the integers 0-9.
5452 These can be used for pretty list creation from C. The idea is taken
5453 from Erick Gallesio's STk.
5455 ** scm_array_map renamed to scm_array_map_x
5457 ** mbstrings are now removed
5459 This means that the type codes scm_tc7_mb_string and
5460 scm_tc7_mb_substring has been removed.
5462 ** scm_gen_putc, scm_gen_puts, scm_gen_write, and scm_gen_getc have changed.
5464 Since we no longer support multi-byte strings, these I/O functions
5465 have been simplified, and renamed. Here are their old names, and
5466 their new names and arguments:
5468 scm_gen_putc -> void scm_putc (int c, SCM port);
5469 scm_gen_puts -> void scm_puts (char *s, SCM port);
5470 scm_gen_write -> void scm_lfwrite (char *ptr, scm_sizet size, SCM port);
5471 scm_gen_getc -> void scm_getc (SCM port);
5474 ** The macros SCM_TYP7D and SCM_TYP7SD has been removed.
5476 ** The macro SCM_TYP7S has taken the role of the old SCM_TYP7D
5478 SCM_TYP7S now masks away the bit which distinguishes substrings from
5481 ** scm_catch_body_t: Backward incompatible change!
5483 Body functions to scm_internal_catch and friends do not any longer
5484 take a second argument. This is because it is no longer possible to
5485 pass a #f arg to catch.
5487 ** Calls to scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect now nest properly.
5489 The function scm_protect_object protects its argument from being freed
5490 by the garbage collector. scm_unprotect_object removes that
5493 These functions now nest properly. That is, for every object O, there
5494 is a counter which scm_protect_object(O) increments and
5495 scm_unprotect_object(O) decrements, if the counter is greater than
5496 zero. Every object's counter is zero when it is first created. If an
5497 object's counter is greater than zero, the garbage collector will not
5498 reclaim its storage.
5500 This allows you to use scm_protect_object in your code without
5501 worrying that some other function you call will call
5502 scm_unprotect_object, and allow it to be freed. Assuming that the
5503 functions you call are well-behaved, and unprotect only those objects
5504 they protect, you can follow the same rule and have confidence that
5505 objects will be freed only at appropriate times.
5508 Changes in Guile 1.2 (released Tuesday, June 24 1997):
5510 * Changes to the distribution
5512 ** Nightly snapshots are now available from ftp.red-bean.com.
5513 The old server, ftp.cyclic.com, has been relinquished to its rightful
5516 Nightly snapshots of the Guile development sources are now available via
5517 anonymous FTP from ftp.red-bean.com, as /pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz.
5519 Via the web, that's: ftp://ftp.red-bean.com/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
5520 For getit, that's: ftp.red-bean.com:/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
5522 ** To run Guile without installing it, the procedure has changed a bit.
5524 If you used a separate build directory to compile Guile, you'll need
5525 to include the build directory in SCHEME_LOAD_PATH, as well as the
5526 source directory. See the `INSTALL' file for examples.
5528 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
5530 ** The standard Guile load path for Scheme code now includes
5531 $(datadir)/guile (usually /usr/local/share/guile). This means that
5532 you can install your own Scheme files there, and Guile will find them.
5533 (Previous versions of Guile only checked a directory whose name
5534 contained the Guile version number, so you had to re-install or move
5535 your Scheme sources each time you installed a fresh version of Guile.)
5537 The load path also includes $(datadir)/guile/site; we recommend
5538 putting individual Scheme files there. If you want to install a
5539 package with multiple source files, create a directory for them under
5542 ** Guile 1.2 will now use the Rx regular expression library, if it is
5543 installed on your system. When you are linking libguile into your own
5544 programs, this means you will have to link against -lguile, -lqt (if
5545 you configured Guile with thread support), and -lrx.
5547 If you are using autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your
5548 application, the following lines should suffice to add the appropriate
5549 libraries to your link command:
5551 ### Find Rx, quickthreads and libguile.
5552 AC_CHECK_LIB(rx, main)
5553 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
5554 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
5556 The Guile 1.2 distribution does not contain sources for the Rx
5557 library, as Guile 1.0 did. If you want to use Rx, you'll need to
5558 retrieve it from a GNU FTP site and install it separately.
5560 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5562 ** The dynamic linking features of Guile are now enabled by default.
5563 You can disable them by giving the `--disable-dynamic-linking' option
5566 (dynamic-link FILENAME)
5568 Find the object file denoted by FILENAME (a string) and link it
5569 into the running Guile application. When everything works out,
5570 return a Scheme object suitable for representing the linked object
5571 file. Otherwise an error is thrown. How object files are
5572 searched is system dependent.
5574 (dynamic-object? VAL)
5576 Determine whether VAL represents a dynamically linked object file.
5578 (dynamic-unlink DYNOBJ)
5580 Unlink the indicated object file from the application. DYNOBJ
5581 should be one of the values returned by `dynamic-link'.
5583 (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
5585 Search the C function indicated by FUNCTION (a string or symbol)
5586 in DYNOBJ and return some Scheme object that can later be used
5587 with `dynamic-call' to actually call this function. Right now,
5588 these Scheme objects are formed by casting the address of the
5589 function to `long' and converting this number to its Scheme
5592 (dynamic-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
5594 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ. The
5595 function is passed no arguments and its return value is ignored.
5596 When FUNCTION is something returned by `dynamic-func', call that
5597 function and ignore DYNOBJ. When FUNCTION is a string (or symbol,
5598 etc.), look it up in DYNOBJ; this is equivalent to
5600 (dynamic-call (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ) #f)
5602 Interrupts are deferred while the C function is executing (with
5603 SCM_DEFER_INTS/SCM_ALLOW_INTS).
5605 (dynamic-args-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ ARGS)
5607 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ, but pass it
5608 some arguments and return its return value. The C function is
5609 expected to take two arguments and return an `int', just like
5612 int c_func (int argc, char **argv);
5614 ARGS must be a list of strings and is converted into an array of
5615 `char *'. The array is passed in ARGV and its size in ARGC. The
5616 return value is converted to a Scheme number and returned from the
5617 call to `dynamic-args-call'.
5619 When dynamic linking is disabled or not supported on your system,
5620 the above functions throw errors, but they are still available.
5622 Here is a small example that works on GNU/Linux:
5624 (define libc-obj (dynamic-link "libc.so"))
5625 (dynamic-args-call 'rand libc-obj '())
5627 See the file `libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING' for additional comments.
5629 ** The #/ syntax for module names is depreciated, and will be removed
5630 in a future version of Guile. Instead of
5638 The latter syntax is more consistent with existing Lisp practice.
5640 ** Guile now does fancier printing of structures. Structures are the
5641 underlying implementation for records, which in turn are used to
5642 implement modules, so all of these object now print differently and in
5643 a more informative way.
5645 The Scheme printer will examine the builtin variable *struct-printer*
5646 whenever it needs to print a structure object. When this variable is
5647 not `#f' it is deemed to be a procedure and will be applied to the
5648 structure object and the output port. When *struct-printer* is `#f'
5649 or the procedure return `#f' the structure object will be printed in
5650 the boring #<struct 80458270> form.
5652 This hook is used by some routines in ice-9/boot-9.scm to implement
5653 type specific printing routines. Please read the comments there about
5656 One of the more specific uses of structs are records. The printing
5657 procedure that could be passed to MAKE-RECORD-TYPE is now actually
5658 called. It should behave like a *struct-printer* procedure (described
5661 ** Guile now supports a new R4RS-compliant syntax for keywords. A
5662 token of the form #:NAME, where NAME has the same syntax as a Scheme
5663 symbol, is the external representation of the keyword named NAME.
5664 Keyword objects print using this syntax as well, so values containing
5665 keyword objects can be read back into Guile. When used in an
5666 expression, keywords are self-quoting objects.
5668 Guile suports this read syntax, and uses this print syntax, regardless
5669 of the current setting of the `keyword' read option. The `keyword'
5670 read option only controls whether Guile recognizes the `:NAME' syntax,
5671 which is incompatible with R4RS. (R4RS says such token represent
5674 ** Guile has regular expression support again. Guile 1.0 included
5675 functions for matching regular expressions, based on the Rx library.
5676 In Guile 1.1, the Guile/Rx interface was removed to simplify the
5677 distribution, and thus Guile had no regular expression support. Guile
5678 1.2 again supports the most commonly used functions, and supports all
5679 of SCSH's regular expression functions.
5681 If your system does not include a POSIX regular expression library,
5682 and you have not linked Guile with a third-party regexp library such as
5683 Rx, these functions will not be available. You can tell whether your
5684 Guile installation includes regular expression support by checking
5685 whether the `*features*' list includes the `regex' symbol.
5687 *** regexp functions
5689 By default, Guile supports POSIX extended regular expressions. That
5690 means that the characters `(', `)', `+' and `?' are special, and must
5691 be escaped if you wish to match the literal characters.
5693 This regular expression interface was modeled after that implemented
5694 by SCSH, the Scheme Shell. It is intended to be upwardly compatible
5695 with SCSH regular expressions.
5697 **** Function: string-match PATTERN STR [START]
5698 Compile the string PATTERN into a regular expression and compare
5699 it with STR. The optional numeric argument START specifies the
5700 position of STR at which to begin matching.
5702 `string-match' returns a "match structure" which describes what,
5703 if anything, was matched by the regular expression. *Note Match
5704 Structures::. If STR does not match PATTERN at all,
5705 `string-match' returns `#f'.
5707 Each time `string-match' is called, it must compile its PATTERN
5708 argument into a regular expression structure. This operation is
5709 expensive, which makes `string-match' inefficient if the same regular
5710 expression is used several times (for example, in a loop). For better
5711 performance, you can compile a regular expression in advance and then
5712 match strings against the compiled regexp.
5714 **** Function: make-regexp STR [FLAGS]
5715 Compile the regular expression described by STR, and return the
5716 compiled regexp structure. If STR does not describe a legal
5717 regular expression, `make-regexp' throws a
5718 `regular-expression-syntax' error.
5720 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
5722 **** Constant: regexp/extended
5723 Use POSIX Extended Regular Expression syntax when interpreting
5724 STR. If not set, POSIX Basic Regular Expression syntax is used.
5725 If the FLAGS argument is omitted, we assume regexp/extended.
5727 **** Constant: regexp/icase
5728 Do not differentiate case. Subsequent searches using the
5729 returned regular expression will be case insensitive.
5731 **** Constant: regexp/newline
5732 Match-any-character operators don't match a newline.
5734 A non-matching list ([^...]) not containing a newline matches a
5737 Match-beginning-of-line operator (^) matches the empty string
5738 immediately after a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
5739 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/notbol.
5741 Match-end-of-line operator ($) matches the empty string
5742 immediately before a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
5743 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/noteol.
5745 **** Function: regexp-exec REGEXP STR [START [FLAGS]]
5746 Match the compiled regular expression REGEXP against `str'. If
5747 the optional integer START argument is provided, begin matching
5748 from that position in the string. Return a match structure
5749 describing the results of the match, or `#f' if no match could be
5752 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
5754 **** Constant: regexp/notbol
5755 The match-beginning-of-line operator always fails to match (but
5756 see the compilation flag regexp/newline above) This flag may be
5757 used when different portions of a string are passed to
5758 regexp-exec and the beginning of the string should not be
5759 interpreted as the beginning of the line.
5761 **** Constant: regexp/noteol
5762 The match-end-of-line operator always fails to match (but see the
5763 compilation flag regexp/newline above)
5765 **** Function: regexp? OBJ
5766 Return `#t' if OBJ is a compiled regular expression, or `#f'
5769 Regular expressions are commonly used to find patterns in one string
5770 and replace them with the contents of another string.
5772 **** Function: regexp-substitute PORT MATCH [ITEM...]
5773 Write to the output port PORT selected contents of the match
5774 structure MATCH. Each ITEM specifies what should be written, and
5775 may be one of the following arguments:
5777 * A string. String arguments are written out verbatim.
5779 * An integer. The submatch with that number is written.
5781 * The symbol `pre'. The portion of the matched string preceding
5782 the regexp match is written.
5784 * The symbol `post'. The portion of the matched string
5785 following the regexp match is written.
5787 PORT may be `#f', in which case nothing is written; instead,
5788 `regexp-substitute' constructs a string from the specified ITEMs
5791 **** Function: regexp-substitute/global PORT REGEXP TARGET [ITEM...]
5792 Similar to `regexp-substitute', but can be used to perform global
5793 substitutions on STR. Instead of taking a match structure as an
5794 argument, `regexp-substitute/global' takes two string arguments: a
5795 REGEXP string describing a regular expression, and a TARGET string
5796 which should be matched against this regular expression.
5798 Each ITEM behaves as in REGEXP-SUBSTITUTE, with the following
5801 * A function may be supplied. When this function is called, it
5802 will be passed one argument: a match structure for a given
5803 regular expression match. It should return a string to be
5804 written out to PORT.
5806 * The `post' symbol causes `regexp-substitute/global' to recurse
5807 on the unmatched portion of STR. This *must* be supplied in
5808 order to perform global search-and-replace on STR; if it is
5809 not present among the ITEMs, then `regexp-substitute/global'
5810 will return after processing a single match.
5812 *** Match Structures
5814 A "match structure" is the object returned by `string-match' and
5815 `regexp-exec'. It describes which portion of a string, if any, matched
5816 the given regular expression. Match structures include: a reference to
5817 the string that was checked for matches; the starting and ending
5818 positions of the regexp match; and, if the regexp included any
5819 parenthesized subexpressions, the starting and ending positions of each
5822 In each of the regexp match functions described below, the `match'
5823 argument must be a match structure returned by a previous call to
5824 `string-match' or `regexp-exec'. Most of these functions return some
5825 information about the original target string that was matched against a
5826 regular expression; we will call that string TARGET for easy reference.
5828 **** Function: regexp-match? OBJ
5829 Return `#t' if OBJ is a match structure returned by a previous
5830 call to `regexp-exec', or `#f' otherwise.
5832 **** Function: match:substring MATCH [N]
5833 Return the portion of TARGET matched by subexpression number N.
5834 Submatch 0 (the default) represents the entire regexp match. If
5835 the regular expression as a whole matched, but the subexpression
5836 number N did not match, return `#f'.
5838 **** Function: match:start MATCH [N]
5839 Return the starting position of submatch number N.
5841 **** Function: match:end MATCH [N]
5842 Return the ending position of submatch number N.
5844 **** Function: match:prefix MATCH
5845 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET preceding the regexp match.
5847 **** Function: match:suffix MATCH
5848 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET following the regexp match.
5850 **** Function: match:count MATCH
5851 Return the number of parenthesized subexpressions from MATCH.
5852 Note that the entire regular expression match itself counts as a
5853 subexpression, and failed submatches are included in the count.
5855 **** Function: match:string MATCH
5856 Return the original TARGET string.
5858 *** Backslash Escapes
5860 Sometimes you will want a regexp to match characters like `*' or `$'
5861 exactly. For example, to check whether a particular string represents
5862 a menu entry from an Info node, it would be useful to match it against
5863 a regexp like `^* [^:]*::'. However, this won't work; because the
5864 asterisk is a metacharacter, it won't match the `*' at the beginning of
5865 the string. In this case, we want to make the first asterisk un-magic.
5867 You can do this by preceding the metacharacter with a backslash
5868 character `\'. (This is also called "quoting" the metacharacter, and
5869 is known as a "backslash escape".) When Guile sees a backslash in a
5870 regular expression, it considers the following glyph to be an ordinary
5871 character, no matter what special meaning it would ordinarily have.
5872 Therefore, we can make the above example work by changing the regexp to
5873 `^\* [^:]*::'. The `\*' sequence tells the regular expression engine
5874 to match only a single asterisk in the target string.
5876 Since the backslash is itself a metacharacter, you may force a
5877 regexp to match a backslash in the target string by preceding the
5878 backslash with itself. For example, to find variable references in a
5879 TeX program, you might want to find occurrences of the string `\let\'
5880 followed by any number of alphabetic characters. The regular expression
5881 `\\let\\[A-Za-z]*' would do this: the double backslashes in the regexp
5882 each match a single backslash in the target string.
5884 **** Function: regexp-quote STR
5885 Quote each special character found in STR with a backslash, and
5886 return the resulting string.
5888 *Very important:* Using backslash escapes in Guile source code (as
5889 in Emacs Lisp or C) can be tricky, because the backslash character has
5890 special meaning for the Guile reader. For example, if Guile encounters
5891 the character sequence `\n' in the middle of a string while processing
5892 Scheme code, it replaces those characters with a newline character.
5893 Similarly, the character sequence `\t' is replaced by a horizontal tab.
5894 Several of these "escape sequences" are processed by the Guile reader
5895 before your code is executed. Unrecognized escape sequences are
5896 ignored: if the characters `\*' appear in a string, they will be
5897 translated to the single character `*'.
5899 This translation is obviously undesirable for regular expressions,
5900 since we want to be able to include backslashes in a string in order to
5901 escape regexp metacharacters. Therefore, to make sure that a backslash
5902 is preserved in a string in your Guile program, you must use *two*
5903 consecutive backslashes:
5905 (define Info-menu-entry-pattern (make-regexp "^\\* [^:]*"))
5907 The string in this example is preprocessed by the Guile reader before
5908 any code is executed. The resulting argument to `make-regexp' is the
5909 string `^\* [^:]*', which is what we really want.
5911 This also means that in order to write a regular expression that
5912 matches a single backslash character, the regular expression string in
5913 the source code must include *four* backslashes. Each consecutive pair
5914 of backslashes gets translated by the Guile reader to a single
5915 backslash, and the resulting double-backslash is interpreted by the
5916 regexp engine as matching a single backslash character. Hence:
5918 (define tex-variable-pattern (make-regexp "\\\\let\\\\=[A-Za-z]*"))
5920 The reason for the unwieldiness of this syntax is historical. Both
5921 regular expression pattern matchers and Unix string processing systems
5922 have traditionally used backslashes with the special meanings described
5923 above. The POSIX regular expression specification and ANSI C standard
5924 both require these semantics. Attempting to abandon either convention
5925 would cause other kinds of compatibility problems, possibly more severe
5926 ones. Therefore, without extending the Scheme reader to support
5927 strings with different quoting conventions (an ungainly and confusing
5928 extension when implemented in other languages), we must adhere to this
5929 cumbersome escape syntax.
5931 * Changes to the gh_ interface
5933 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5935 * Changes to system call interfaces:
5937 ** The value returned by `raise' is now unspecified. It throws an exception
5940 *** A new procedure `sigaction' can be used to install signal handlers
5942 (sigaction signum [action] [flags])
5944 signum is the signal number, which can be specified using the value
5947 If action is omitted, sigaction returns a pair: the CAR is the current
5948 signal hander, which will be either an integer with the value SIG_DFL
5949 (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or the Scheme procedure which
5950 handles the signal, or #f if a non-Scheme procedure handles the
5951 signal. The CDR contains the current sigaction flags for the handler.
5953 If action is provided, it is installed as the new handler for signum.
5954 action can be a Scheme procedure taking one argument, or the value of
5955 SIG_DFL (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or #f to restore
5956 whatever signal handler was installed before sigaction was first used.
5957 Flags can optionally be specified for the new handler (SA_RESTART is
5958 always used if the system provides it, so need not be specified.) The
5959 return value is a pair with information about the old handler as
5962 This interface does not provide access to the "signal blocking"
5963 facility. Maybe this is not needed, since the thread support may
5964 provide solutions to the problem of consistent access to data
5967 *** A new procedure `flush-all-ports' is equivalent to running
5968 `force-output' on every port open for output.
5970 ** Guile now provides information on how it was built, via the new
5971 global variable, %guile-build-info. This variable records the values
5972 of the standard GNU makefile directory variables as an assocation
5973 list, mapping variable names (symbols) onto directory paths (strings).
5974 For example, to find out where the Guile link libraries were
5975 installed, you can say:
5977 guile -c "(display (assq-ref %guile-build-info 'libdir)) (newline)"
5980 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5982 ** The new function scm_handle_by_message_noexit is just like the
5983 existing scm_handle_by_message function, except that it doesn't call
5984 exit to terminate the process. Instead, it prints a message and just
5985 returns #f. This might be a more appropriate catch-all handler for
5986 new dynamic roots and threads.
5989 Changes in Guile 1.1 (released Friday, May 16 1997):
5991 * Changes to the distribution.
5993 The Guile 1.0 distribution has been split up into several smaller
5995 guile-core --- the Guile interpreter itself.
5996 guile-tcltk --- the interface between the Guile interpreter and
5997 Tcl/Tk; Tcl is an interpreter for a stringy language, and Tk
5998 is a toolkit for building graphical user interfaces.
5999 guile-rgx-ctax --- the interface between Guile and the Rx regular
6000 expression matcher, and the translator for the Ctax
6001 programming language. These are packaged together because the
6002 Ctax translator uses Rx to parse Ctax source code.
6004 This NEWS file describes the changes made to guile-core since the 1.0
6007 We no longer distribute the documentation, since it was either out of
6008 date, or incomplete. As soon as we have current documentation, we
6013 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
6015 ** guile now accepts command-line arguments compatible with SCSH, Olin
6016 Shivers' Scheme Shell.
6018 In general, arguments are evaluated from left to right, but there are
6019 exceptions. The following switches stop argument processing, and
6020 stash all remaining command-line arguments as the value returned by
6021 the (command-line) function.
6022 -s SCRIPT load Scheme source code from FILE, and exit
6023 -c EXPR evalute Scheme expression EXPR, and exit
6024 -- stop scanning arguments; run interactively
6026 The switches below are processed as they are encountered.
6027 -l FILE load Scheme source code from FILE
6028 -e FUNCTION after reading script, apply FUNCTION to
6029 command line arguments
6030 -ds do -s script at this point
6031 --emacs enable Emacs protocol (experimental)
6032 -h, --help display this help and exit
6033 -v, --version display version information and exit
6034 \ read arguments from following script lines
6036 So, for example, here is a Guile script named `ekko' (thanks, Olin)
6037 which re-implements the traditional "echo" command:
6039 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
6042 (map (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
6046 (main (command-line))
6048 Suppose we invoke this script as follows:
6050 ekko a speckled gecko
6052 Through the magic of Unix script processing (triggered by the `#!'
6053 token at the top of the file), /usr/local/bin/guile receives the
6054 following list of command-line arguments:
6056 ("-s" "./ekko" "a" "speckled" "gecko")
6058 Unix inserts the name of the script after the argument specified on
6059 the first line of the file (in this case, "-s"), and then follows that
6060 with the arguments given to the script. Guile loads the script, which
6061 defines the `main' function, and then applies it to the list of
6062 remaining command-line arguments, ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
6064 In Unix, the first line of a script file must take the following form:
6066 #!INTERPRETER ARGUMENT
6068 where INTERPRETER is the absolute filename of the interpreter
6069 executable, and ARGUMENT is a single command-line argument to pass to
6072 You may only pass one argument to the interpreter, and its length is
6073 limited. These restrictions can be annoying to work around, so Guile
6074 provides a general mechanism (borrowed from, and compatible with,
6075 SCSH) for circumventing them.
6077 If the ARGUMENT in a Guile script is a single backslash character,
6078 `\', Guile will open the script file, parse arguments from its second
6079 and subsequent lines, and replace the `\' with them. So, for example,
6080 here is another implementation of the `ekko' script:
6082 #!/usr/local/bin/guile \
6086 (for-each (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
6090 If the user invokes this script as follows:
6092 ekko a speckled gecko
6094 Unix expands this into
6096 /usr/local/bin/guile \ ekko a speckled gecko
6098 When Guile sees the `\' argument, it replaces it with the arguments
6099 read from the second line of the script, producing:
6101 /usr/local/bin/guile -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
6103 This tells Guile to load the `ekko' script, and apply the function
6104 `main' to the argument list ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
6106 Here is how Guile parses the command-line arguments:
6107 - Each space character terminates an argument. This means that two
6108 spaces in a row introduce an empty-string argument.
6109 - The tab character is not permitted (unless you quote it with the
6110 backslash character, as described below), to avoid confusion.
6111 - The newline character terminates the sequence of arguments, and will
6112 also terminate a final non-empty argument. (However, a newline
6113 following a space will not introduce a final empty-string argument;
6114 it only terminates the argument list.)
6115 - The backslash character is the escape character. It escapes
6116 backslash, space, tab, and newline. The ANSI C escape sequences
6117 like \n and \t are also supported. These produce argument
6118 constituents; the two-character combination \n doesn't act like a
6119 terminating newline. The escape sequence \NNN for exactly three
6120 octal digits reads as the character whose ASCII code is NNN. As
6121 above, characters produced this way are argument constituents.
6122 Backslash followed by other characters is not allowed.
6124 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
6126 ** Guile now builds and installs a shared guile library, if your
6127 system support shared libraries. (It still builds a static library on
6128 all systems.) Guile automatically detects whether your system
6129 supports shared libraries. To prevent Guile from buildisg shared
6130 libraries, pass the `--disable-shared' flag to the configure script.
6132 Guile takes longer to compile when it builds shared libraries, because
6133 it must compile every file twice --- once to produce position-
6134 independent object code, and once to produce normal object code.
6136 ** The libthreads library has been merged into libguile.
6138 To link a program against Guile, you now need only link against
6139 -lguile and -lqt; -lthreads is no longer needed. If you are using
6140 autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your application, the
6141 following lines should suffice to add the appropriate libraries to
6144 ### Find quickthreads and libguile.
6145 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
6146 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
6148 * Changes to Scheme functions
6150 ** Guile Scheme's special syntax for keyword objects is now optional,
6151 and disabled by default.
6153 The syntax variation from R4RS made it difficult to port some
6154 interesting packages to Guile. The routines which accepted keyword
6155 arguments (mostly in the module system) have been modified to also
6156 accept symbols whose names begin with `:'.
6158 To change the keyword syntax, you must first import the (ice-9 debug)
6160 (use-modules (ice-9 debug))
6162 Then you can enable the keyword syntax as follows:
6163 (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
6165 To disable keyword syntax, do this:
6166 (read-set! keywords #f)
6168 ** Many more primitive functions accept shared substrings as
6169 arguments. In the past, these functions required normal, mutable
6170 strings as arguments, although they never made use of this
6173 ** The uniform array functions now operate on byte vectors. These
6174 functions are `array-fill!', `serial-array-copy!', `array-copy!',
6175 `serial-array-map', `array-map', `array-for-each', and
6178 ** The new functions `trace' and `untrace' implement simple debugging
6179 support for Scheme functions.
6181 The `trace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
6182 and tells the Guile interpreter to display each procedure's name and
6183 arguments each time the procedure is invoked. When invoked with no
6184 arguments, `trace' returns the list of procedures currently being
6187 The `untrace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
6188 and tells the Guile interpreter not to trace them any more. When
6189 invoked with no arguments, `untrace' untraces all curretly traced
6192 The tracing in Guile has an advantage over most other systems: we
6193 don't create new procedure objects, but mark the procedure objects
6194 themselves. This means that anonymous and internal procedures can be
6197 ** The function `assert-repl-prompt' has been renamed to
6198 `set-repl-prompt!'. It takes one argument, PROMPT.
6199 - If PROMPT is #f, the Guile read-eval-print loop will not prompt.
6200 - If PROMPT is a string, we use it as a prompt.
6201 - If PROMPT is a procedure accepting no arguments, we call it, and
6202 display the result as a prompt.
6203 - Otherwise, we display "> ".
6205 ** The new function `eval-string' reads Scheme expressions from a
6206 string and evaluates them, returning the value of the last expression
6207 in the string. If the string contains no expressions, it returns an
6210 ** The new function `thunk?' returns true iff its argument is a
6211 procedure of zero arguments.
6213 ** `defined?' is now a builtin function, instead of syntax. This
6214 means that its argument should be quoted. It returns #t iff its
6215 argument is bound in the current module.
6217 ** The new syntax `use-modules' allows you to add new modules to your
6218 environment without re-typing a complete `define-module' form. It
6219 accepts any number of module names as arguments, and imports their
6220 public bindings into the current module.
6222 ** The new function (module-defined? NAME MODULE) returns true iff
6223 NAME, a symbol, is defined in MODULE, a module object.
6225 ** The new function `builtin-bindings' creates and returns a hash
6226 table containing copies of all the root module's bindings.
6228 ** The new function `builtin-weak-bindings' does the same as
6229 `builtin-bindings', but creates a doubly-weak hash table.
6231 ** The `equal?' function now considers variable objects to be
6232 equivalent if they have the same name and the same value.
6234 ** The new function `command-line' returns the command-line arguments
6235 given to Guile, as a list of strings.
6237 When using guile as a script interpreter, `command-line' returns the
6238 script's arguments; those processed by the interpreter (like `-s' or
6239 `-c') are omitted. (In other words, you get the normal, expected
6240 behavior.) Any application that uses scm_shell to process its
6241 command-line arguments gets this behavior as well.
6243 ** The new function `load-user-init' looks for a file called `.guile'
6244 in the user's home directory, and loads it if it exists. This is
6245 mostly for use by the code generated by scm_compile_shell_switches,
6246 but we thought it might also be useful in other circumstances.
6248 ** The new function `log10' returns the base-10 logarithm of its
6251 ** Changes to I/O functions
6253 *** The functions `read', `primitive-load', `read-and-eval!', and
6254 `primitive-load-path' no longer take optional arguments controlling
6255 case insensitivity and a `#' parser.
6257 Case sensitivity is now controlled by a read option called
6258 `case-insensitive'. The user can add new `#' syntaxes with the
6259 `read-hash-extend' function (see below).
6261 *** The new function `read-hash-extend' allows the user to change the
6262 syntax of Guile Scheme in a somewhat controlled way.
6264 (read-hash-extend CHAR PROC)
6265 When parsing S-expressions, if we read a `#' character followed by
6266 the character CHAR, use PROC to parse an object from the stream.
6267 If PROC is #f, remove any parsing procedure registered for CHAR.
6269 The reader applies PROC to two arguments: CHAR and an input port.
6271 *** The new functions read-delimited and read-delimited! provide a
6272 general mechanism for doing delimited input on streams.
6274 (read-delimited DELIMS [PORT HANDLE-DELIM])
6275 Read until we encounter one of the characters in DELIMS (a string),
6276 or end-of-file. PORT is the input port to read from; it defaults to
6277 the current input port. The HANDLE-DELIM parameter determines how
6278 the terminating character is handled; it should be one of the
6281 'trim omit delimiter from result
6282 'peek leave delimiter character in input stream
6283 'concat append delimiter character to returned value
6284 'split return a pair: (RESULT . TERMINATOR)
6286 HANDLE-DELIM defaults to 'peek.
6288 (read-delimited! DELIMS BUF [PORT HANDLE-DELIM START END])
6289 A side-effecting variant of `read-delimited'.
6291 The data is written into the string BUF at the indices in the
6292 half-open interval [START, END); the default interval is the whole
6293 string: START = 0 and END = (string-length BUF). The values of
6294 START and END must specify a well-defined interval in BUF, i.e.
6295 0 <= START <= END <= (string-length BUF).
6297 It returns NBYTES, the number of bytes read. If the buffer filled
6298 up without a delimiter character being found, it returns #f. If the
6299 port is at EOF when the read starts, it returns the EOF object.
6301 If an integer is returned (i.e., the read is successfully terminated
6302 by reading a delimiter character), then the HANDLE-DELIM parameter
6303 determines how to handle the terminating character. It is described
6304 above, and defaults to 'peek.
6306 (The descriptions of these functions were borrowed from the SCSH
6307 manual, by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
6309 *** The `%read-delimited!' function is the primitive used to implement
6310 `read-delimited' and `read-delimited!'.
6312 (%read-delimited! DELIMS BUF GOBBLE? [PORT START END])
6314 This returns a pair of values: (TERMINATOR . NUM-READ).
6315 - TERMINATOR describes why the read was terminated. If it is a
6316 character or the eof object, then that is the value that terminated
6317 the read. If it is #f, the function filled the buffer without finding
6318 a delimiting character.
6319 - NUM-READ is the number of characters read into BUF.
6321 If the read is successfully terminated by reading a delimiter
6322 character, then the gobble? parameter determines what to do with the
6323 terminating character. If true, the character is removed from the
6324 input stream; if false, the character is left in the input stream
6325 where a subsequent read operation will retrieve it. In either case,
6326 the character is also the first value returned by the procedure call.
6328 (The descriptions of this function was borrowed from the SCSH manual,
6329 by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
6331 *** The `read-line' and `read-line!' functions have changed; they now
6332 trim the terminator by default; previously they appended it to the
6333 returned string. For the old behavior, use (read-line PORT 'concat).
6335 *** The functions `uniform-array-read!' and `uniform-array-write!' now
6336 take new optional START and END arguments, specifying the region of
6337 the array to read and write.
6339 *** The `ungetc-char-ready?' function has been removed. We feel it's
6340 inappropriate for an interface to expose implementation details this
6343 ** Changes to the Unix library and system call interface
6345 *** The new fcntl function provides access to the Unix `fcntl' system
6348 (fcntl PORT COMMAND VALUE)
6349 Apply COMMAND to PORT's file descriptor, with VALUE as an argument.
6350 Values for COMMAND are:
6352 F_DUPFD duplicate a file descriptor
6353 F_GETFD read the descriptor's close-on-exec flag
6354 F_SETFD set the descriptor's close-on-exec flag to VALUE
6355 F_GETFL read the descriptor's flags, as set on open
6356 F_SETFL set the descriptor's flags, as set on open to VALUE
6357 F_GETOWN return the process ID of a socket's owner, for SIGIO
6358 F_SETOWN set the process that owns a socket to VALUE, for SIGIO
6359 FD_CLOEXEC not sure what this is
6361 For details, see the documentation for the fcntl system call.
6363 *** The arguments to `select' have changed, for compatibility with
6364 SCSH. The TIMEOUT parameter may now be non-integral, yielding the
6365 expected behavior. The MILLISECONDS parameter has been changed to
6366 MICROSECONDS, to more closely resemble the underlying system call.
6367 The RVEC, WVEC, and EVEC arguments can now be vectors; the type of the
6368 corresponding return set will be the same.
6370 *** The arguments to the `mknod' system call have changed. They are
6373 (mknod PATH TYPE PERMS DEV)
6374 Create a new file (`node') in the file system. PATH is the name of
6375 the file to create. TYPE is the kind of file to create; it should
6376 be 'fifo, 'block-special, or 'char-special. PERMS specifies the
6377 permission bits to give the newly created file. If TYPE is
6378 'block-special or 'char-special, DEV specifies which device the
6379 special file refers to; its interpretation depends on the kind of
6380 special file being created.
6382 *** The `fork' function has been renamed to `primitive-fork', to avoid
6383 clashing with various SCSH forks.
6385 *** The `recv' and `recvfrom' functions have been renamed to `recv!'
6386 and `recvfrom!'. They no longer accept a size for a second argument;
6387 you must pass a string to hold the received value. They no longer
6388 return the buffer. Instead, `recv' returns the length of the message
6389 received, and `recvfrom' returns a pair containing the packet's length
6390 and originating address.
6392 *** The file descriptor datatype has been removed, as have the
6393 `read-fd', `write-fd', `close', `lseek', and `dup' functions.
6394 We plan to replace these functions with a SCSH-compatible interface.
6396 *** The `create' function has been removed; it's just a special case
6399 *** There are new functions to break down process termination status
6400 values. In the descriptions below, STATUS is a value returned by
6403 (status:exit-val STATUS)
6404 If the child process exited normally, this function returns the exit
6405 code for the child process (i.e., the value passed to exit, or
6406 returned from main). If the child process did not exit normally,
6407 this function returns #f.
6409 (status:stop-sig STATUS)
6410 If the child process was suspended by a signal, this function
6411 returns the signal that suspended the child. Otherwise, it returns
6414 (status:term-sig STATUS)
6415 If the child process terminated abnormally, this function returns
6416 the signal that terminated the child. Otherwise, this function
6419 POSIX promises that exactly one of these functions will return true on
6420 a valid STATUS value.
6422 These functions are compatible with SCSH.
6424 *** There are new accessors and setters for the broken-out time vectors
6425 returned by `localtime', `gmtime', and that ilk. They are:
6427 Component Accessor Setter
6428 ========================= ============ ============
6429 seconds tm:sec set-tm:sec
6430 minutes tm:min set-tm:min
6431 hours tm:hour set-tm:hour
6432 day of the month tm:mday set-tm:mday
6433 month tm:mon set-tm:mon
6434 year tm:year set-tm:year
6435 day of the week tm:wday set-tm:wday
6436 day in the year tm:yday set-tm:yday
6437 daylight saving time tm:isdst set-tm:isdst
6438 GMT offset, seconds tm:gmtoff set-tm:gmtoff
6439 name of time zone tm:zone set-tm:zone
6441 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `uname',
6442 describing the host system:
6445 ============================================== ================
6446 name of the operating system implementation utsname:sysname
6447 network name of this machine utsname:nodename
6448 release level of the operating system utsname:release
6449 version level of the operating system utsname:version
6450 machine hardware platform utsname:machine
6452 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getpw',
6453 `getpwnam', `getpwuid', and `getpwent', describing entries from the
6454 system's user database:
6457 ====================== =================
6458 user name passwd:name
6459 user password passwd:passwd
6462 real name passwd:gecos
6463 home directory passwd:dir
6464 shell program passwd:shell
6466 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getgr',
6467 `getgrnam', `getgrgid', and `getgrent', describing entries from the
6468 system's group database:
6471 ======================= ============
6472 group name group:name
6473 group password group:passwd
6475 group members group:mem
6477 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `gethost',
6478 `gethostbyaddr', `gethostbyname', and `gethostent', describing
6482 ========================= ===============
6483 official name of host hostent:name
6484 alias list hostent:aliases
6485 host address type hostent:addrtype
6486 length of address hostent:length
6487 list of addresses hostent:addr-list
6489 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getnet',
6490 `getnetbyaddr', `getnetbyname', and `getnetent', describing internet
6494 ========================= ===============
6495 official name of net netent:name
6496 alias list netent:aliases
6497 net number type netent:addrtype
6498 net number netent:net
6500 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getproto',
6501 `getprotobyname', `getprotobynumber', and `getprotoent', describing
6505 ========================= ===============
6506 official protocol name protoent:name
6507 alias list protoent:aliases
6508 protocol number protoent:proto
6510 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getserv',
6511 `getservbyname', `getservbyport', and `getservent', describing
6515 ========================= ===============
6516 official service name servent:name
6517 alias list servent:aliases
6518 port number servent:port
6519 protocol to use servent:proto
6521 *** There are new accessors for the sockaddr structures returned by
6522 `accept', `getsockname', `getpeername', `recvfrom!':
6525 ======================================== ===============
6526 address format (`family') sockaddr:fam
6527 path, for file domain addresses sockaddr:path
6528 address, for internet domain addresses sockaddr:addr
6529 TCP or UDP port, for internet sockaddr:port
6531 *** The `getpwent', `getgrent', `gethostent', `getnetent',
6532 `getprotoent', and `getservent' functions now return #f at the end of
6533 the user database. (They used to throw an exception.)
6535 Note that calling MUMBLEent function is equivalent to calling the
6536 corresponding MUMBLE function with no arguments.
6538 *** The `setpwent', `setgrent', `sethostent', `setnetent',
6539 `setprotoent', and `setservent' routines now take no arguments.
6541 *** The `gethost', `getproto', `getnet', and `getserv' functions now
6542 provide more useful information when they throw an exception.
6544 *** The `lnaof' function has been renamed to `inet-lnaof'.
6546 *** Guile now claims to have the `current-time' feature.
6548 *** The `mktime' function now takes an optional second argument ZONE,
6549 giving the time zone to use for the conversion. ZONE should be a
6550 string, in the same format as expected for the "TZ" environment variable.
6552 *** The `strptime' function now returns a pair (TIME . COUNT), where
6553 TIME is the parsed time as a vector, and COUNT is the number of
6554 characters from the string left unparsed. This function used to
6555 return the remaining characters as a string.
6557 *** The `gettimeofday' function has replaced the old `time+ticks' function.
6558 The return value is now (SECONDS . MICROSECONDS); the fractional
6559 component is no longer expressed in "ticks".
6561 *** The `ticks/sec' constant has been removed, in light of the above change.
6563 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6565 ** gh_eval_str() now returns an SCM object which is the result of the
6568 ** gh_scm2str() now copies the Scheme data to a caller-provided C
6571 ** gh_scm2newstr() now makes a C array, copies the Scheme data to it,
6572 and returns the array
6574 ** gh_scm2str0() is gone: there is no need to distinguish
6575 null-terminated from non-null-terminated, since gh_scm2newstr() allows
6576 the user to interpret the data both ways.
6578 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6580 ** The new function scm_symbol_value0 provides an easy way to get a
6581 symbol's value from C code:
6583 SCM scm_symbol_value0 (char *NAME)
6584 Return the value of the symbol named by the null-terminated string
6585 NAME in the current module. If the symbol named NAME is unbound in
6586 the current module, return SCM_UNDEFINED.
6588 ** The new function scm_sysintern0 creates new top-level variables,
6589 without assigning them a value.
6591 SCM scm_sysintern0 (char *NAME)
6592 Create a new Scheme top-level variable named NAME. NAME is a
6593 null-terminated string. Return the variable's value cell.
6595 ** The function scm_internal_catch is the guts of catch. It handles
6596 all the mechanics of setting up a catch target, invoking the catch
6597 body, and perhaps invoking the handler if the body does a throw.
6599 The function is designed to be usable from C code, but is general
6600 enough to implement all the semantics Guile Scheme expects from throw.
6602 TAG is the catch tag. Typically, this is a symbol, but this function
6603 doesn't actually care about that.
6605 BODY is a pointer to a C function which runs the body of the catch;
6606 this is the code you can throw from. We call it like this:
6607 BODY (BODY_DATA, JMPBUF)
6609 BODY_DATA is just the BODY_DATA argument we received; we pass it
6610 through to BODY as its first argument. The caller can make
6611 BODY_DATA point to anything useful that BODY might need.
6612 JMPBUF is the Scheme jmpbuf object corresponding to this catch,
6613 which we have just created and initialized.
6615 HANDLER is a pointer to a C function to deal with a throw to TAG,
6616 should one occur. We call it like this:
6617 HANDLER (HANDLER_DATA, THROWN_TAG, THROW_ARGS)
6619 HANDLER_DATA is the HANDLER_DATA argument we recevied; it's the
6620 same idea as BODY_DATA above.
6621 THROWN_TAG is the tag that the user threw to; usually this is
6622 TAG, but it could be something else if TAG was #t (i.e., a
6623 catch-all), or the user threw to a jmpbuf.
6624 THROW_ARGS is the list of arguments the user passed to the THROW
6627 BODY_DATA is just a pointer we pass through to BODY. HANDLER_DATA
6628 is just a pointer we pass through to HANDLER. We don't actually
6629 use either of those pointers otherwise ourselves. The idea is
6630 that, if our caller wants to communicate something to BODY or
6631 HANDLER, it can pass a pointer to it as MUMBLE_DATA, which BODY and
6632 HANDLER can then use. Think of it as a way to make BODY and
6633 HANDLER closures, not just functions; MUMBLE_DATA points to the
6636 Of course, it's up to the caller to make sure that any data a
6637 MUMBLE_DATA needs is protected from GC. A common way to do this is
6638 to make MUMBLE_DATA a pointer to data stored in an automatic
6639 structure variable; since the collector must scan the stack for
6640 references anyway, this assures that any references in MUMBLE_DATA
6643 ** The new function scm_internal_lazy_catch is exactly like
6644 scm_internal_catch, except:
6646 - It does not unwind the stack (this is the major difference).
6647 - If handler returns, its value is returned from the throw.
6648 - BODY always receives #f as its JMPBUF argument (since there's no
6649 jmpbuf associated with a lazy catch, because we don't unwind the
6652 ** scm_body_thunk is a new body function you can pass to
6653 scm_internal_catch if you want the body to be like Scheme's `catch'
6654 --- a thunk, or a function of one argument if the tag is #f.
6656 BODY_DATA is a pointer to a scm_body_thunk_data structure, which
6657 contains the Scheme procedure to invoke as the body, and the tag
6658 we're catching. If the tag is #f, then we pass JMPBUF (created by
6659 scm_internal_catch) to the body procedure; otherwise, the body gets
6662 ** scm_handle_by_proc is a new handler function you can pass to
6663 scm_internal_catch if you want the handler to act like Scheme's catch
6664 --- call a procedure with the tag and the throw arguments.
6666 If the user does a throw to this catch, this function runs a handler
6667 procedure written in Scheme. HANDLER_DATA is a pointer to an SCM
6668 variable holding the Scheme procedure object to invoke. It ought to
6669 be a pointer to an automatic variable (i.e., one living on the stack),
6670 or the procedure object should be otherwise protected from GC.
6672 ** scm_handle_by_message is a new handler function to use with
6673 `scm_internal_catch' if you want Guile to print a message and die.
6674 It's useful for dealing with throws to uncaught keys at the top level.
6676 HANDLER_DATA, if non-zero, is assumed to be a char * pointing to a
6677 message header to print; if zero, we use "guile" instead. That
6678 text is followed by a colon, then the message described by ARGS.
6680 ** The return type of scm_boot_guile is now void; the function does
6681 not return a value, and indeed, never returns at all.
6683 ** The new function scm_shell makes it easy for user applications to
6684 process command-line arguments in a way that is compatible with the
6685 stand-alone guile interpreter (which is in turn compatible with SCSH,
6688 To use the scm_shell function, first initialize any guile modules
6689 linked into your application, and then call scm_shell with the values
6690 of ARGC and ARGV your `main' function received. scm_shell will add
6691 any SCSH-style meta-arguments from the top of the script file to the
6692 argument vector, and then process the command-line arguments. This
6693 generally means loading a script file or starting up an interactive
6694 command interpreter. For details, see "Changes to the stand-alone
6697 ** The new functions scm_get_meta_args and scm_count_argv help you
6698 implement the SCSH-style meta-argument, `\'.
6700 char **scm_get_meta_args (int ARGC, char **ARGV)
6701 If the second element of ARGV is a string consisting of a single
6702 backslash character (i.e. "\\" in Scheme notation), open the file
6703 named by the following argument, parse arguments from it, and return
6704 the spliced command line. The returned array is terminated by a
6707 For details of argument parsing, see above, under "guile now accepts
6708 command-line arguments compatible with SCSH..."
6710 int scm_count_argv (char **ARGV)
6711 Count the arguments in ARGV, assuming it is terminated by a null
6714 For an example of how these functions might be used, see the source
6715 code for the function scm_shell in libguile/script.c.
6717 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6720 ** The new function scm_compile_shell_switches turns an array of
6721 command-line arguments into Scheme code to carry out the actions they
6722 describe. Given ARGC and ARGV, it returns a Scheme expression to
6723 evaluate, and calls scm_set_program_arguments to make any remaining
6724 command-line arguments available to the Scheme code. For example,
6725 given the following arguments:
6727 -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
6729 scm_set_program_arguments will return the following expression:
6731 (begin (load "ekko") (main (command-line)) (quit))
6733 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6736 ** The function scm_shell_usage prints a usage message appropriate for
6737 an interpreter that uses scm_compile_shell_switches to handle its
6738 command-line arguments.
6740 void scm_shell_usage (int FATAL, char *MESSAGE)
6741 Print a usage message to the standard error output. If MESSAGE is
6742 non-zero, write it before the usage message, followed by a newline.
6743 If FATAL is non-zero, exit the process, using FATAL as the
6744 termination status. (If you want to be compatible with Guile,
6745 always use 1 as the exit status when terminating due to command-line
6748 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6751 ** scm_eval_0str now returns SCM_UNSPECIFIED if the string contains no
6752 expressions. It used to return SCM_EOL. Earth-shattering.
6754 ** The macros for declaring scheme objects in C code have been
6755 rearranged slightly. They are now:
6757 SCM_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6758 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
6759 point to the Scheme symbol whose name is SCHEME_NAME. C_NAME should
6760 be a C identifier, and SCHEME_NAME should be a C string.
6762 SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6763 Just like SCM_SYMBOL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
6765 SCM_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6766 Create a global variable at the Scheme level named SCHEME_NAME.
6767 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
6768 point to the Scheme variable's value cell.
6770 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6771 Just like SCM_VCELL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
6773 The `guile-snarf' script writes initialization code for these macros
6774 to its standard output, given C source code as input.
6776 The SCM_GLOBAL macro is gone.
6778 ** The scm_read_line and scm_read_line_x functions have been replaced
6779 by Scheme code based on the %read-delimited! procedure (known to C
6780 code as scm_read_delimited_x). See its description above for more
6783 ** The function scm_sys_open has been renamed to scm_open. It now
6784 returns a port instead of an FD object.
6786 * The dynamic linking support has changed. For more information, see
6787 libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING.
6792 User-visible changes from Thursday, September 5, 1996 until Guile 1.0
6795 * Changes to the 'guile' program:
6797 ** Guile now loads some new files when it starts up. Guile first
6798 searches the load path for init.scm, and loads it if found. Then, if
6799 Guile is not being used to execute a script, and the user's home
6800 directory contains a file named `.guile', Guile loads that.
6802 ** You can now use Guile as a shell script interpreter.
6804 To paraphrase the SCSH manual:
6806 When Unix tries to execute an executable file whose first two
6807 characters are the `#!', it treats the file not as machine code to
6808 be directly executed by the native processor, but as source code
6809 to be executed by some interpreter. The interpreter to use is
6810 specified immediately after the #! sequence on the first line of
6811 the source file. The kernel reads in the name of the interpreter,
6812 and executes that instead. It passes the interpreter the source
6813 filename as its first argument, with the original arguments
6814 following. Consult the Unix man page for the `exec' system call
6815 for more information.
6817 Now you can use Guile as an interpreter, using a mechanism which is a
6818 compatible subset of that provided by SCSH.
6820 Guile now recognizes a '-s' command line switch, whose argument is the
6821 name of a file of Scheme code to load. It also treats the two
6822 characters `#!' as the start of a comment, terminated by `!#'. Thus,
6823 to make a file of Scheme code directly executable by Unix, insert the
6824 following two lines at the top of the file:
6826 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
6829 Guile treats the argument of the `-s' command-line switch as the name
6830 of a file of Scheme code to load, and treats the sequence `#!' as the
6831 start of a block comment, terminated by `!#'.
6833 For example, here's a version of 'echo' written in Scheme:
6835 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
6837 (let loop ((args (cdr (program-arguments))))
6840 (display (car args))
6841 (if (pair? (cdr args))
6843 (loop (cdr args)))))
6846 Why does `#!' start a block comment terminated by `!#', instead of the
6847 end of the line? That is the notation SCSH uses, and although we
6848 don't yet support the other SCSH features that motivate that choice,
6849 we would like to be backward-compatible with any existing Guile
6850 scripts once we do. Furthermore, if the path to Guile on your system
6851 is too long for your kernel, you can start the script with this
6855 exec /really/long/path/to/guile -s "$0" ${1+"$@"}
6858 Note that some very old Unix systems don't support the `#!' syntax.
6861 ** You can now run Guile without installing it.
6863 Previous versions of the interactive Guile interpreter (`guile')
6864 couldn't start up unless Guile's Scheme library had been installed;
6865 they used the value of the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH'
6866 later on in the startup process, but not to find the startup code
6867 itself. Now Guile uses `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' in all searches for Scheme
6870 To run Guile without installing it, build it in the normal way, and
6871 then set the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' to a
6872 colon-separated list of directories, including the top-level directory
6873 of the Guile sources. For example, if you unpacked Guile so that the
6874 full filename of this NEWS file is /home/jimb/guile-1.0b3/NEWS, then
6877 export SCHEME_LOAD_PATH=/home/jimb/my-scheme:/home/jimb/guile-1.0b3
6880 ** Guile's read-eval-print loop no longer prints #<unspecified>
6881 results. If the user wants to see this, she can evaluate the
6882 expression (assert-repl-print-unspecified #t), perhaps in her startup
6885 ** Guile no longer shows backtraces by default when an error occurs;
6886 however, it does display a message saying how to get one, and how to
6887 request that they be displayed by default. After an error, evaluate
6889 to see a backtrace, and
6890 (debug-enable 'backtrace)
6891 to see them by default.
6895 * Changes to Guile Scheme:
6897 ** Guile now distinguishes between #f and the empty list.
6899 This is for compatibility with the IEEE standard, the (possibly)
6900 upcoming Revised^5 Report on Scheme, and many extant Scheme
6903 Guile used to have #f and '() denote the same object, to make Scheme's
6904 type system more compatible with Emacs Lisp's. However, the change
6905 caused too much trouble for Scheme programmers, and we found another
6906 way to reconcile Emacs Lisp with Scheme that didn't require this.
6909 ** Guile's delq, delv, delete functions, and their destructive
6910 counterparts, delq!, delv!, and delete!, now remove all matching
6911 elements from the list, not just the first. This matches the behavior
6912 of the corresponding Emacs Lisp functions, and (I believe) the Maclisp
6913 functions which inspired them.
6915 I recognize that this change may break code in subtle ways, but it
6916 seems best to make the change before the FSF's first Guile release,
6920 ** The compiled-library-path function has been deleted from libguile.
6922 ** The facilities for loading Scheme source files have changed.
6924 *** The variable %load-path now tells Guile which directories to search
6925 for Scheme code. Its value is a list of strings, each of which names
6928 *** The variable %load-extensions now tells Guile which extensions to
6929 try appending to a filename when searching the load path. Its value
6930 is a list of strings. Its default value is ("" ".scm").
6932 *** (%search-load-path FILENAME) searches the directories listed in the
6933 value of the %load-path variable for a Scheme file named FILENAME,
6934 with all the extensions listed in %load-extensions. If it finds a
6935 match, then it returns its full filename. If FILENAME is absolute, it
6936 returns it unchanged. Otherwise, it returns #f.
6938 %search-load-path will not return matches that refer to directories.
6940 *** (primitive-load FILENAME :optional CASE-INSENSITIVE-P SHARP)
6941 uses %seach-load-path to find a file named FILENAME, and loads it if
6942 it finds it. If it can't read FILENAME for any reason, it throws an
6945 The arguments CASE-INSENSITIVE-P and SHARP are interpreted as by the
6948 *** load uses the same searching semantics as primitive-load.
6950 *** The functions %try-load, try-load-with-path, %load, load-with-path,
6951 basic-try-load-with-path, basic-load-with-path, try-load-module-with-
6952 path, and load-module-with-path have been deleted. The functions
6953 above should serve their purposes.
6955 *** If the value of the variable %load-hook is a procedure,
6956 `primitive-load' applies its value to the name of the file being
6957 loaded (without the load path directory name prepended). If its value
6958 is #f, it is ignored. Otherwise, an error occurs.
6960 This is mostly useful for printing load notification messages.
6963 ** The function `eval!' is no longer accessible from the scheme level.
6964 We can't allow operations which introduce glocs into the scheme level,
6965 because Guile's type system can't handle these as data. Use `eval' or
6966 `read-and-eval!' (see below) as replacement.
6968 ** The new function read-and-eval! reads an expression from PORT,
6969 evaluates it, and returns the result. This is more efficient than
6970 simply calling `read' and `eval', since it is not necessary to make a
6971 copy of the expression for the evaluator to munge.
6973 Its optional arguments CASE_INSENSITIVE_P and SHARP are interpreted as
6974 for the `read' function.
6977 ** The function `int?' has been removed; its definition was identical
6978 to that of `integer?'.
6980 ** The functions `<?', `<?', `<=?', `=?', `>?', and `>=?'. Code should
6981 use the R4RS names for these functions.
6983 ** The function object-properties no longer returns the hash handle;
6984 it simply returns the object's property list.
6986 ** Many functions have been changed to throw errors, instead of
6987 returning #f on failure. The point of providing exception handling in
6988 the language is to simplify the logic of user code, but this is less
6989 useful if Guile's primitives don't throw exceptions.
6991 ** The function `fileno' has been renamed from `%fileno'.
6993 ** The function primitive-mode->fdes returns #t or #f now, not 1 or 0.
6996 * Changes to Guile's C interface:
6998 ** The library's initialization procedure has been simplified.
6999 scm_boot_guile now has the prototype:
7001 void scm_boot_guile (int ARGC,
7003 void (*main_func) (),
7006 scm_boot_guile calls MAIN_FUNC, passing it CLOSURE, ARGC, and ARGV.
7007 MAIN_FUNC should do all the work of the program (initializing other
7008 packages, reading user input, etc.) before returning. When MAIN_FUNC
7009 returns, call exit (0); this function never returns. If you want some
7010 other exit value, MAIN_FUNC may call exit itself.
7012 scm_boot_guile arranges for program-arguments to return the strings
7013 given by ARGC and ARGV. If MAIN_FUNC modifies ARGC/ARGV, should call
7014 scm_set_program_arguments with the final list, so Scheme code will
7015 know which arguments have been processed.
7017 scm_boot_guile establishes a catch-all catch handler which prints an
7018 error message and exits the process. This means that Guile exits in a
7019 coherent way when system errors occur and the user isn't prepared to
7020 handle it. If the user doesn't like this behavior, they can establish
7021 their own universal catcher in MAIN_FUNC to shadow this one.
7023 Why must the caller do all the real work from MAIN_FUNC? The garbage
7024 collector assumes that all local variables of type SCM will be above
7025 scm_boot_guile's stack frame on the stack. If you try to manipulate
7026 SCM values after this function returns, it's the luck of the draw
7027 whether the GC will be able to find the objects you allocate. So,
7028 scm_boot_guile function exits, rather than returning, to discourage
7029 people from making that mistake.
7031 The IN, OUT, and ERR arguments were removed; there are other
7032 convenient ways to override these when desired.
7034 The RESULT argument was deleted; this function should never return.
7036 The BOOT_CMD argument was deleted; the MAIN_FUNC argument is more
7040 ** Guile's header files should no longer conflict with your system's
7043 In order to compile code which #included <libguile.h>, previous
7044 versions of Guile required you to add a directory containing all the
7045 Guile header files to your #include path. This was a problem, since
7046 Guile's header files have names which conflict with many systems'
7049 Now only <libguile.h> need appear in your #include path; you must
7050 refer to all Guile's other header files as <libguile/mumble.h>.
7051 Guile's installation procedure puts libguile.h in $(includedir), and
7052 the rest in $(includedir)/libguile.
7055 ** Two new C functions, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object,
7056 have been added to the Guile library.
7058 scm_protect_object (OBJ) protects OBJ from the garbage collector.
7059 OBJ will not be freed, even if all other references are dropped,
7060 until someone does scm_unprotect_object (OBJ). Both functions
7063 Note that calls to scm_protect_object do not nest. You can call
7064 scm_protect_object any number of times on a given object, and the
7065 next call to scm_unprotect_object will unprotect it completely.
7067 Basically, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object just
7068 maintain a list of references to things. Since the GC knows about
7069 this list, all objects it mentions stay alive. scm_protect_object
7070 adds its argument to the list; scm_unprotect_object remove its
7071 argument from the list.
7074 ** scm_eval_0str now returns the value of the last expression
7077 ** The new function scm_read_0str reads an s-expression from a
7078 null-terminated string, and returns it.
7080 ** The new function `scm_stdio_to_port' converts a STDIO file pointer
7081 to a Scheme port object.
7083 ** The new function `scm_set_program_arguments' allows C code to set
7084 the value returned by the Scheme `program-arguments' function.
7089 * Guile no longer includes sophisticated Tcl/Tk support.
7091 The old Tcl/Tk support was unsatisfying to us, because it required the
7092 user to link against the Tcl library, as well as Tk and Guile. The
7093 interface was also un-lispy, in that it preserved Tcl/Tk's practice of
7094 referring to widgets by names, rather than exporting widgets to Scheme
7095 code as a special datatype.
7097 In the Usenix Tk Developer's Workshop held in July 1996, the Tcl/Tk
7098 maintainers described some very interesting changes in progress to the
7099 Tcl/Tk internals, which would facilitate clean interfaces between lone
7100 Tk and other interpreters --- even for garbage-collected languages
7101 like Scheme. They expected the new Tk to be publicly available in the
7104 Since it seems that Guile might soon have a new, cleaner interface to
7105 lone Tk, and that the old Guile/Tk glue code would probably need to be
7106 completely rewritten, we (Jim Blandy and Richard Stallman) have
7107 decided not to support the old code. We'll spend the time instead on
7108 a good interface to the newer Tk, as soon as it is available.
7110 Until then, gtcltk-lib provides trivial, low-maintenance functionality.
7113 Copyright information:
7115 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
7117 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
7118 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
7119 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
7120 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
7122 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
7123 of this document, or of portions of it,
7124 under the above conditions, provided also that they
7125 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
7130 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"