1 Guile NEWS --- history of user-visible changes.
2 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 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 ** Guile now requires GNU MP (http://swox.com/gmp).
23 Guile now uses the GNU MP library for arbitrary precision arithmetic.
24 At the moment it is being used to handle Guile's bignums.
26 ** Guile now has separate private and public configuration headers.
28 Guile now has config.h and libguile/scmconfig.h. The former is not
29 installed and is private. The latter is installed and used by Guile's
30 public headers. config.h is generated by configure and autoheader,
31 and scmconfig.h is generated by a small C program, gen-scmconfig at
32 build time based in part on the contents of config.h.
34 Seen libguile/__scm.h and gen-scmconfig.c for more information.
36 Note too that nearly all public defines are now set to either 1 or 0
37 rather than being set to 1 or left undefined. See gen-scmconfig.c and
38 the GNU Coding Guidelines for the rationale. However, pre-existing
39 defines that were not renamed were not changed. i.e. GUILE_DEBUG is
40 still either 1 or undefined.
42 ** The INSTALL file is now the generic automake installed one.
44 Guile specific instructions can be found in the README.
46 ** Guile now provides and uses an "effective" version number.
48 Guile now provides scm_effective_version and effective-version
49 functions which return the "effective" version number. This is just
50 the normal full version string without the final micro-version number,
51 so the current effective-version is "1.6". The effective version
52 should remain unchanged during a stable series, and should be used for
53 items like the versioned share directory name
54 i.e. /usr/share/guile/1.6.
56 Providing an unchanging version number during a stable release for
57 things like the versioned share directory can be particularly
58 important for Guile "add-on" packages, since it provides a directory
59 that they can install to that won't be changed out from under them
60 with each micro release during a stable series.
62 ** Thread implementation has changed.
64 When you configure "--with-threads=null", you will get the usual
65 threading API (call-with-new-thread, make-mutex, etc), but you can't
66 actually create new threads. Also, "--with-threads=no" is now
67 equivalent to "--with-threads=null". This means that the thread API
68 is always present, although you might not be able to create new
71 When you configure "--with-threads=pthreads" or "--with-threads=yes",
72 you will get threads that are implemented with the portable POSIX
73 threads. These threads can run concurrently (unlike the previous
74 "coop" thread implementation), but need to cooperate for things like
75 the GC. See the manual for details. [XXX - write this.]
77 The default is "pthreads", unless your platform doesn't have pthreads,
78 in which case "null" threads are used.
80 ** New module (ice-9 serialize):
82 (serialize FORM1 ...) and (parallelize FORM1 ...) are useful when
83 you don't trust the thread safety of most of your program, but
84 where you have some section(s) of code which you consider can run
85 in parallel to other sections.
87 They "flag" (with dynamic extent) sections of code to be of
88 "serial" or "parallel" nature and have the single effect of
89 preventing a serial section from being run in parallel with any
90 serial section (including itself).
92 Both serialize and parallelize can be nested. If so, the
93 inner-most construct is in effect.
95 NOTE 1: A serial section can run in parallel with a parallel
98 NOTE 2: If a serial section S is "interrupted" by a parallel
99 section P in the following manner: S = S1 P S2, S2 is not
100 guaranteed to be resumed by the same thread that previously
103 WARNING: Spawning new threads within a serial section have
104 undefined effects. It is OK, though, to spawn threads in unflagged
105 sections of code where neither serialize or parallelize is in
108 A typical usage is when Guile is used as scripting language in some
109 application doing heavy computations. If each thread is
110 encapsulated with a serialize form, you can then put a parallelize
111 form around the code performing the heavy computations (typically a
112 C code primitive), enabling the computations to run in parallel
113 while the scripting code runs single-threadedly.
115 ** Guile now includes its own version of libltdl.
117 We now use a modified version of libltdl that allows us to make
118 improvements to it without having to rely on libtool releases.
120 * Changes to the standalone interpreter
122 ** New command line option `--no-debug'.
124 Specifying `--no-debug' on the command line will keep the debugging
125 evaluator turned off, even for interactive sessions.
127 ** User-init file ~/.guile is now loaded with the debugging evaluator.
129 Previously, the normal evaluator would have been used. Using the
130 debugging evaluator gives better error messages.
132 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
134 ** 'while' now provides 'break' and 'continue'
136 break and continue were previously bound in a while loop, but not
137 documented, and continue didn't quite work properly. The undocumented
138 parameter to break which gave a return value for the while has been
141 ** 'call-with-current-continuation' is now also available under the name
144 ** Checking for duplicate bindings in module system
146 The module system now can check for name conflicts among imported
149 The behavior can be controlled by specifying one or more duplicates
150 handlers. For example, to make Guile return an error for every name
158 The new default behavior of the module system when a name collision
159 has been detected is to
161 1. Give priority to bindings marked as a replacement.
162 2. Issue a warning (different warning if overriding core binding).
163 3. Give priority to the last encountered binding (this corresponds to
166 If you want the old behavior back without replacements or warnings you
169 (default-duplicate-binding-handler 'last)
171 to your .guile init file.
173 The syntax for the :duplicates option is:
175 :duplicates HANDLER-NAME | (HANDLER1-NAME HANDLER2-NAME ...)
177 Specifying multiple handlers is useful since some handlers (such as
178 replace) can defer conflict resolution to others. Each handler is
179 tried until a binding is selected.
181 Currently available duplicates handlers are:
183 check report an error for bindings with a common name
184 warn issue a warning for bindings with a common name
185 replace replace bindings which have an imported replacement
186 warn-override-core issue a warning for imports which override core bindings
187 and accept the override
188 first select the first encountered binding (override)
189 last select the last encountered binding (override)
191 These two are provided by the (oop goops) module:
193 merge-generics merge generic functions with a common name
194 into an <extended-generic>
195 merge-accessors merge accessors with a common name
197 The default duplicates handler is:
199 (replace warn-override-core warn last)
201 A recommended handler (which is likely to correspond to future Guile
202 behavior) can be installed with:
204 (default-duplicate-binding-handler '(replace warn-override-core check))
206 ** New define-module option: :replace
208 :replace works as :export, but, in addition, marks the binding as a
211 A typical example is `format' in (ice-9 format) which is a replacement
212 for the core binding `format'.
214 ** Adding prefixes to imported bindings in the module system
216 There is now a new :use-module option :prefix. It can be used to add
217 a prefix to all imported bindings.
220 :use-module ((bar) :prefix bar:))
222 will import all bindings exported from bar, but rename them by adding
225 ** Merging generic functions
227 It is sometimes tempting to use GOOPS accessors with short names.
228 For example, it is tempting to use the name `x' for the x-coordinate
231 Assume that we work with a graphical package which needs to use two
232 independent vector packages for 2D and 3D vectors respectively. If
233 both packages export `x' we will encounter a name collision.
235 This can now be resolved automagically with the duplicates handler
236 `merge-generics' which gives the module system license to merge all
237 generic functions sharing a common name:
239 (define-module (math 2D-vectors)
240 :use-module (oop goops)
243 (define-module (math 3D-vectors)
244 :use-module (oop goops)
247 (define-module (my-module)
248 :use-module (math 2D-vectors)
249 :use-module (math 3D-vectors)
250 :duplicates merge-generics)
252 x in (my-module) will now share methods with x in both imported
255 There will, in fact, now be three distinct generic functions named
256 `x': x in (2D-vectors), x in (3D-vectors), and x in (my-module). The
257 last function will be an <extended-generic>, extending the previous
260 Let's call the imported generic functions the "ancestor functions". x
261 in (my-module) is, in turn, a "descendant function" of the imported
262 functions, extending its ancestors.
264 For any generic function G, the applicable methods are selected from
265 the union of the methods of the descendant functions, the methods of G
266 itself and the methods of the ancestor functions.
268 This, ancestor functions share methods with their descendants and vice
269 versa. This implies that x in (math 2D-vectors) can will share the
270 methods of x in (my-module) and vice versa, while x in (math 2D-vectors)
271 doesn't share the methods of x in (math 3D-vectors), thus preserving
274 Sharing is dynamic, so that adding new methods to a descendant implies
275 adding it to the ancestor.
277 If duplicates checking is desired in the above example, the following
278 form of the :duplicates option can be used instead:
280 :duplicates (merge-generics check)
282 ** New function: effective-version
284 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
285 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
286 to the distribution" above.
288 ** Futures: future, make-future, future-ref
290 Futures are like promises, but begun immediately in a new thread. See
291 the "Futures" section in the reference manual.
293 ** New threading functions: parallel, letpar, par-map, and friends
295 These are convenient ways to run calculations in parallel in new
296 threads. See "Parallel forms" in the manual for details.
298 ** Fair mutexes and condition variables
300 Fair mutexes and condition variables have been added. The fairness
301 means that scheduling is arranged to give as equal time shares as
302 possible and that threads are awakened in a first-in-first-out
303 manner. This is not guaranteed with standard mutexes and condition
306 In addition, fair mutexes are recursive. Locking a fair mutex that
307 you have already locked will succeed. Every call to lock-mutex must
308 be matched with a call to unlock-mutex. Only the last call to
309 unlock-mutex will actually unlock the mutex.
311 A fair condition variable must be used together with a fair mutex,
312 just as a standard condition variable must be used together with a
315 ** New functions: make-fair-mutex, make-fair-condition-variable'
317 Make a new fair mutex and a new fair condition variable respectively.
319 ** New function 'try-mutex'.
321 This function will attempt to lock a mutex but will return immediately
322 instead if blocking and indicate failure.
324 ** Waiting on a condition variable can have a timeout.
326 The funtion 'wait-condition-variable' now takes a third, optional
327 argument that specifies the point in time where the waiting should be
330 ** New function 'broadcast-condition-variable'.
332 ** New functions 'all-threads' and 'current-thread'.
334 ** Signals and system asyncs work better with threads.
336 The function 'sigaction' now takes a fourth, optional, argument that
337 specifies the thread that the handler should run in. When the
338 argument is omitted, the handler will run in the thread that called
341 Likewise, 'system-async-mark' takes a second, optional, argument that
342 specifies the thread that the async should run in. When it is
343 omitted, the async will run in the thread that called
346 C code can use the new functions scm_sigaction_for_thread and
347 scm_system_async_mark_for_thread to pass the new thread argument.
349 ** The function 'system-async' is deprecated.
351 You can now pass any zero-argument procedure to 'system-async-mark'.
352 The function 'system-async' will just return its argument unchanged
355 ** New functions 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' and
356 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
358 The expression (call-with-blocked-asyncs PROC) will call PROC and will
359 block execution of system asyncs for the current thread by one level
360 while PROC runs. Likewise, call-with-unblocked-asyncs will call a
361 procedure and will unblock the execution of system asyncs by one
362 level for the current thread.
364 Only system asyncs are affected by these functions.
366 ** The functions 'mask-signals' and 'unmask-signals' are deprecated.
368 Use 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' or 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
369 instead. Those functions are easier to use correctly and can be
372 ** New function 'unsetenv'.
374 ** New macro 'define-syntax-public'.
376 It works like 'define-syntax' and also exports the defined macro (but
379 ** There is support for Infinity and NaNs.
381 Following PLT Scheme, Guile can now work with infinite numbers, and
384 There is new syntax for numbers: "+inf.0" (infinity), "-inf.0"
385 (negative infinity), "+nan.0" (not-a-number), and "-nan.0" (same as
386 "+nan.0"). These numbers are inexact and have no exact counterpart.
388 Dividing by an inexact zero returns +inf.0 or -inf.0, depending on the
389 sign of the dividend. The infinities are integers, and they answer #t
390 for both 'even?' and 'odd?'. The +nan.0 value is not an integer and is
391 not '=' to itself, but '+nan.0' is 'eqv?' to itself.
402 ERROR: Numerical overflow
404 Two new predicates 'inf?' and 'nan?' can be used to test for the
407 ** Inexact zero can have a sign.
409 Guile can now distinguish between plus and minus inexact zero, if your
410 platform supports this, too. The two zeros are equal according to
411 '=', but not according to 'eqv?'. For example
422 ** We now have uninterned symbols.
424 The new function 'make-symbol' will return a uninterned symbol. This
425 is a symbol that is unique and is guaranteed to remain unique.
426 However, uninterned symbols can not yet be read back in.
428 Use the new function 'symbol-interned?' to check whether a symbol is
431 ** pretty-print has more options.
433 The function pretty-print from the (ice-9 pretty-print) module can now
434 also be invoked with keyword arguments that control things like
435 maximum output width. See its online documentation.
437 ** Variables have no longer a special behavior for `equal?'.
439 Previously, comparing two variables with `equal?' would recursivly
440 compare their values. This is no longer done. Variables are now only
441 `equal?' if they are `eq?'.
443 ** `(begin)' is now valid.
445 You can now use an empty `begin' form. It will yield #<unspecified>
446 when evaluated and simply be ignored in a definition context.
448 ** Deprecated: procedure->macro
450 Change your code to use either procedure->memoizing-macro or, probably better,
451 to use r5rs macros. Also, be aware that macro expansion will not be done
452 during evaluation, but prior to evaluation.
454 ** Soft ports now allow a `char-ready?' procedure
456 The vector argument to `make-soft-port' can now have a length of
457 either 5 or 6. (Previously the length had to be 5.) The optional 6th
458 element is interpreted as an `input-waiting' thunk -- i.e. a thunk
459 that returns the number of characters that can be read immediately
460 without the soft port blocking.
462 ** New debugging feature: breakpoints.
464 Guile now has breakpoints. For details see the `Debugging Features'
465 chapter in the reference manual.
467 ** Deprecated: undefine
469 There is no replacement for undefine.
471 ** call-with-output-string doesn't segv on closed port
473 Previously call-with-output-string would give a segmentation fault if
474 the string port was closed by the called function. An exception is
477 ** (ice-9 popen) duplicate pipe fd fix
479 open-pipe, open-input-pipe and open-output-pipe left an extra copy of
480 their pipe file descriptor in the child, which was normally harmless,
481 but it can prevent the parent seeing eof or a broken pipe immediately
482 and has now been fixed.
484 ** source-properties and set-source-properties! fix
486 Properties set with set-source-properties! can now be read back
487 correctly with source-properties.
491 delete and delete! now call the "=" procedure with arguments in the
492 order described by the SRFI-1 specification
494 list-copy now accepts improper lists, per the specification.
498 date-week-number now correctly respects the requested day of week
501 * Changes to the C interface
503 ** Many public #defines with generic names have been made private.
505 #defines with generic names like HAVE_FOO or SIZEOF_FOO have been made
506 private or renamed with a more suitable public name. See below for
507 the ones which have been renamed.
509 ** HAVE_STDINT_H and HAVE_INTTYPES_H have been removed from public use.
511 HAVE_STDINT_H and HAVE_INTTYPES_H removed from public use. These are
512 no longer needed since the older uses of stdint.h and inttypes.h are
513 now handled by configure.in and gen-scmconfig.c.
515 ** USE_DLL_IMPORT is no longer defined publically.
517 gen-scmconfig now uses it to decide what contents to place in the
518 public scmconfig.h header without adding the USE_DLL_IMPORT itself.
520 ** HAVE_LIMITS_H has been removed from public use.
522 gen-scmconfig now just uses HAVE_LIMITS_H to decide whether or not to
523 add a limits.h include in scmconfig.h.
525 ** time.h, sys/time.h, etc. #ifdefery has been removed from public headers.
527 gen-scmconfig now just uses the same logic to decide what time related
528 #includes to add to scmconfig.h.
530 ** HAVE_STRUCT_TIMESPEC has been removed from public use.
532 scmconfig.h now just defines scm_t_timespec.
534 ** HAVE_PTRDIFF has been removed from public use and Guile doesn't
537 Guile now publically defines scm_t_ptrdiff and
538 SCM_SIZEOF_SCM_T_PTRDIFF in scmconfig.h, and all occurrences of
539 ptrdiff_t have been replaced with scm_t_ptrdiff.
541 Guile defines its own type this rather than just relying on ptrdiff_t
542 and SCM_SIZEOF_PTRDIFF_T because Guile actually typedefs long to
543 scm_t_ptrdiff when ptrdiff_t isn't available. A public "typedef long
544 ptrdiff_t" could conflict with other headers.
546 ** HAVE_UINTPTR_T and HAVE_UINTPTR_T have been removed from public use.
548 They are replaced by public definitions of SCM_SIZEOF_UINTPTR_T and
549 SCM_SIZEOF_INTPTR_T. These are defined to 0 if the corresponding type
552 ** The public #define STDC_HEADERS has been renamed to SCM_HAVE_STDC_HEADERS.
554 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
556 ** The public #define HAVE_SYS_SELECT has been renamed to
557 SCM_HAVE_SYS_SELECT_H.
559 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
561 ** The public #define HAVE_FLOATINGPOINT_H has been renamed to
562 SCM_HAVE_FLOATINGPOINT_H.
564 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
566 ** The public #define HAVE_IEEEFP_H has been renamed to SCM_HAVE_IEEEFP_H.
568 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
570 ** The public #define HAVE_NAN_H has been renamed to SCM_HAVE_NAN_H.
572 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
574 ** The public #define HAVE_WINSOCK2_H has been renamed to SCM_HAVE_WINSOCK2_H.
576 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
578 ** The public #define HAVE_ARRAYS has been renamed to SCM_HAVE_ARRAYS.
580 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
582 ** The public #define STACK_GROWS_UP has been renamed to SCM_STACK_GROWS_UP.
584 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
586 ** The public #define USE_PTHREAD_THREADS has been renamed to
587 SCM_USE_PTHREAD_THREADS.
589 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
591 ** The public #define USE_NULL_THREADS has been renamed to
592 SCM_USE_NULL_THREADS.
594 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
596 ** The public #define USE_COOP_THREADS has been renamed to
597 SCM_USE_COOP_THREADS.
599 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
601 ** SCM_C_INLINE is publically defined if possible.
603 If the platform has a way to define inline functions, SCM_C_INLINE
604 will be defined to that text. Otherwise it will be undefined. This
605 is a little bit different than autoconf's normal handling of the
606 inline define via AC_C_INLINE.
608 ** Guile now publically defines some basic type infrastructure.
613 SCM_SIZEOF_UNSIGNED_CHAR
615 SCM_SIZEOF_UNSIGNED_SHORT
617 SCM_SIZEOF_UNSIGNED_LONG
619 SCM_SIZEOF_UNSIGNED_INT
620 SCM_SIZEOF_LONG_LONG /* defined to 0 if type not available */
621 SCM_SIZEOF_UNSIGNED_LONG_LONG /* defined to 0 if type not available */
635 and when either of these are defined to 1, optionally defines
646 ** The macro SCM_IFLAGP now only returns true for flags
648 User code should never have used this macro anyway. And, you should not use
649 it in the future either. Thus, the following explanation is just for the
650 impropable case that your code actually made use of this macro, and that you
651 are willing to depend on internals which will probably change in the near
654 Formerly, SCM_IFLAGP also returned true for evaluator bytecodes created with
655 SCM_MAKSPCSYM (short instructions) and evaluator bytecodes created with
656 SCM_MAKISYM (short instructions). Now, SCM_IFLAG only returns true for
657 Guile's special constants created with SCM_MAKIFLAG. To achieve the old
658 behaviour, instead of
662 you would have to write
664 (SCM_ISYMP(x) || SCM_IFLAGP(x))
666 ** The macro SCM_TYP16S has been deprecated.
668 This macro is not intended for public use. However, if you allocated types
669 with tc16 type codes in a way that you would have needed this macro, you are
670 expected to have a deep knowledge of Guile's type system. Thus, you should
671 know how to replace this macro.
673 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_INEXACTP has been deprecated.
675 Use SCM_INEXACTP instead.
677 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_REALP has been deprecated.
679 Use SCM_REALP instead.
681 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_COMPLEXP has been deprecated.
683 Use SCM_COMPLEXP instead.
685 ** The preprocessor define USE_THREADS has been deprecated.
687 Going forward, assume that the thread API is always present.
689 ** The preprocessor define GUILE_ISELECT has been deprecated.
691 Going forward, assume that scm_internal_select is always present.
693 ** The preprocessor define READER_EXTENSIONS has been deprecated.
695 Going forward, assume that the features represented by
696 READER_EXTENSIONS are always present.
698 ** The preprocessor define DEBUG_EXTENSIONS has been deprecated.
700 Going forward, assume that the features represented by
701 DEBUG_EXTENSIONS are always present.
703 ** The preprocessor define DYNAMIC_LINKING has been deprecated.
705 Going forward, assume that the features represented by
706 DYNAMIC_LINKING are always present.
708 ** The preprocessor define STACK_DIRECTION has been deprecated.
710 There should be no need to know about the stack direction for ordinary
711 programs. (Do not use.)
713 ** New function: scm_effective_version
715 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
716 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
717 to the distribution" above.
719 ** The function scm_call_with_new_thread has a new prototype.
721 Instead of taking a list with the thunk and handler, these two
722 arguments are now passed directly:
724 SCM scm_call_with_new_thread (SCM thunk, SCM handler);
726 This is an incompatible change.
728 ** The value 'scm_mask_ints' is no longer writable.
730 Previously, you could set scm_mask_ints directly. This is no longer
731 possible. Use scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
732 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs instead.
734 ** New functions scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
735 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs
737 Like scm_call_with_blocked_asyncs etc. but for C functions.
739 ** New snarfer macro SCM_DEFINE_PUBLIC.
741 This is like SCM_DEFINE, but also calls scm_c_export for the defined
742 function in the init section.
744 ** The snarfer macro SCM_SNARF_INIT is now officially supported.
746 ** New macros SCM_VECTOR_REF and SCM_VECTOR_SET.
748 Use these in preference to SCM_VELTS.
750 ** The SCM_VELTS macros now returns a read-only vector. For writing,
751 use the new macros SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS or SCM_VECTOR_SET. The use of
752 SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS is discouraged, though.
754 ** Garbage collector rewrite.
756 The garbage collector is cleaned up a lot, and now uses lazy
757 sweeping. This is reflected in the output of (gc-stats); since cells
758 are being freed when they are allocated, the cells-allocated field
759 stays roughly constant.
761 For malloc related triggers, the behavior is changed. It uses the same
762 heuristic as the cell-triggered collections. It may be tuned with the
763 environment variables GUILE_MIN_YIELD_MALLOC. This is the percentage
764 for minimum yield of malloc related triggers. The default is 40.
765 GUILE_INIT_MALLOC_LIMIT sets the initial trigger for doing a GC. The
768 Debugging operations for the freelist have been deprecated, along with
769 the C variables that control garbage collection. The environment
770 variables GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE, GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2,
771 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1, and GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2 should be used.
773 ** The function scm_definedp has been renamed to scm_defined_p
775 The name scm_definedp is deprecated.
777 ** The struct scm_cell has been renamed to scm_t_cell
779 This is in accordance to Guile's naming scheme for types. Note that
780 the name scm_cell is now used for a function that allocates and
781 initializes a new cell (see below).
783 ** New functions for memory management
785 A new set of functions for memory management has been added since the
786 old way (scm_must_malloc, scm_must_free, etc) was error prone and
787 indeed, Guile itself contained some long standing bugs that could
788 cause aborts in long running programs.
790 The new functions are more symmetrical and do not need cooperation
791 from smob free routines, among other improvements.
793 The new functions are scm_malloc, scm_realloc, scm_calloc, scm_strdup,
794 scm_strndup, scm_gc_malloc, scm_gc_calloc, scm_gc_realloc,
795 scm_gc_free, scm_gc_register_collectable_memory, and
796 scm_gc_unregister_collectable_memory. Refer to the manual for more
797 details and for upgrading instructions.
799 The old functions for memory management have been deprecated. They
800 are: scm_must_malloc, scm_must_realloc, scm_must_free,
801 scm_must_strdup, scm_must_strndup, scm_done_malloc, scm_done_free.
803 ** New function: scm_str2string
805 This function creates a scheme string from a 0-terminated C string. The input
808 ** Declarations of exported features are marked with SCM_API.
810 Every declaration of a feature that belongs to the exported Guile API
811 has been marked by adding the macro "SCM_API" to the start of the
812 declaration. This macro can expand into different things, the most
813 common of which is just "extern" for Unix platforms. On Win32, it can
814 be used to control which symbols are exported from a DLL.
816 If you `#define SCM_IMPORT' before including <libguile.h>, SCM_API
817 will expand into "__declspec (dllimport) extern", which is needed for
818 linking to the Guile DLL in Windows.
820 There are also SCM_RL_IMPORT, QT_IMPORT, SCM_SRFI1314_IMPORT, and
821 SCM_SRFI4_IMPORT, for the corresponding libraries.
823 ** SCM_NEWCELL and SCM_NEWCELL2 have been deprecated.
825 Use the new functions scm_cell and scm_double_cell instead. The old macros
826 had problems because with them allocation and initialization was separated and
827 the GC could sometimes observe half initialized cells. Only careful coding by
828 the user of SCM_NEWCELL and SCM_NEWCELL2 could make this safe and efficient.
830 ** CHECK_ENTRY, CHECK_APPLY and CHECK_EXIT have been deprecated.
832 Use the variables scm_check_entry_p, scm_check_apply_p and scm_check_exit_p
835 ** SRCBRKP has been deprecated.
837 Use scm_c_source_property_breakpoint_p instead.
839 ** Deprecated: scm_makmacro
841 Change your code to use either scm_makmmacro or, probably better, to use r5rs
842 macros. Also, be aware that macro expansion will not be done during
843 evaluation, but prior to evaluation.
845 ** Removed from scm_root_state: def_inp, def_outp, def_errp, together
846 with corresponding macros scm_def_inp, scm_def_outp and scm_def_errp.
847 These were undocumented and unused copies of the standard ports at the
848 time that Guile was initialised. Normally the current ports should be
849 used instead, obtained from scm_current_input_port () etc. If an
850 application needs to retain earlier ports, it should save them in a
851 gc-protected location.
853 ** Removed compile time option MEMOIZE_LOCALS
855 Now, caching of local variable positions during memoization is mandatory.
856 However, the option to disable the caching has most probably not been used
859 ** Removed compile time option SCM_RECKLESS
861 Full number of arguments checking of closures is mandatory now. However, the
862 option to disable the checking has most probably not been used anyway.
864 ** Removed compile time option SCM_CAUTIOUS
866 Full number of arguments checking of closures is mandatory now. However, the
867 option to disable the checking has most probably not been used anyway.
869 ** Deprecated configure flags USE_THREADS and GUILE_ISELECT
871 Previously, when the C preprocessor macro USE_THREADS was defined,
872 libguile included a thread API. This API is now always included, even
873 when threads are not really supported. Thus, you don't need to test
876 Analogously, GUILE_ISELECT was defined when the function
877 scm_internal_select was provided by Guile. This function is now
878 always defined, and GUILE_ISELECT with it.
880 ** New function scm_c_port_for_each.
882 This function is like scm_port_for_each but takes a pointer to a C
883 function as the callback instead of a SCM value.
885 ** Deprecated definitions of error strings: scm_s_expression, scm_s_test,
886 scm_s_body, scm_s_bindings, scm_s_variable, scm_s_clauses, scm_s_formals
888 These error message strings were used to issue syntax error messages by
889 guile's evaluator. It's unlikely that they have been used by user code.
891 ** Deprecated helper macros for evaluation and application: SCM_EVALIM2,
892 SCM_EVALIM, SCM_XEVAL, SCM_XEVALCAR
894 These macros were used in the implementation of the evaluator. It's unlikely
895 that they have been used by user code.
897 ** Deprecated macros for iloc handling: SCM_ILOC00, SCM_IDINC, SCM_IDSTMSK
899 These macros were used in the implementation of the evaluator. It's unlikely
900 that they have been used by user code.
902 ** Removed definitions: scm_lisp_nil, scm_lisp_t, s_nil_ify,
903 scm_m_nil_ify, s_t_ify, scm_m_t_ify, s_0_cond, scm_m_0_cond, s_0_ify,
904 scm_m_0_ify, s_1_ify, scm_m_1_ify, scm_debug_newcell,
905 scm_debug_newcell2, scm_tc16_allocated, SCM_SET_SYMBOL_HASH,
906 SCM_IM_NIL_IFY, SCM_IM_T_IFY, SCM_IM_0_COND, SCM_IM_0_IFY,
907 SCM_IM_1_IFY, SCM_GC_SET_ALLOCATED, scm_debug_newcell,
908 scm_debug_newcell2, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL, SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL,
909 SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL, SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL,
910 SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD, SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS,
911 *top-level-lookup-closure*, scm_top_level_lookup_closure_var,
912 scm_system_transformer, scm_eval_3, scm_eval2,
913 root_module_lookup_closure, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP,
914 scm_read_only_string_p, scm_make_shared_substring, scm_tc7_substring,
915 sym_huh, SCM_VARVCELL, SCM_UDVARIABLEP, SCM_DEFVARIABLEP, scm_mkbig,
916 scm_big2inum, scm_adjbig, scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big,
917 scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl, SCM_FIXNUM_BIT, SCM_SETCHARS,
918 SCM_SLOPPY_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_LENGTH_MAX,
919 SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS,
920 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR, scm_sym2vcell, scm_intern,
921 scm_intern0, scm_sysintern, scm_sysintern0,
922 scm_sysintern0_no_module_lookup, scm_init_symbols_deprecated,
923 scm_vector_set_length_x, scm_contregs, scm_debug_info,
924 scm_debug_frame, SCM_DSIDEVAL, SCM_CONST_LONG, SCM_VCELL,
925 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL, SCM_VCELL_INIT, SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL_INIT,
926 SCM_HUGE_LENGTH, SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING,
927 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY, SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY,
928 SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, DIGITS, scm_small_istr2int, scm_istr2int,
929 scm_istr2flo, scm_istring2number, scm_istr2int, scm_istr2flo,
930 scm_istring2number, scm_vtable_index_vcell, scm_si_vcell, SCM_ECONSP,
931 SCM_NECONSP, SCM_GLOC_VAR, SCM_GLOC_VAL, SCM_GLOC_SET_VAL,
932 SCM_GLOC_VAL_LOC, scm_make_gloc, scm_gloc_p, scm_tc16_variable
934 Changes since Guile 1.4:
936 * Changes to the distribution
938 ** A top-level TODO file is included.
940 ** Guile now uses a versioning scheme similar to that of the Linux kernel.
942 Guile now always uses three numbers to represent the version,
943 i.e. "1.6.5". The first number, 1, is the major version number, the
944 second number, 6, is the minor version number, and the third number,
945 5, is the micro version number. Changes in major version number
946 indicate major changes in Guile.
948 Minor version numbers that are even denote stable releases, and odd
949 minor version numbers denote development versions (which may be
950 unstable). The micro version number indicates a minor sub-revision of
951 a given MAJOR.MINOR release.
953 In keeping with the new scheme, (minor-version) and scm_minor_version
954 no longer return everything but the major version number. They now
955 just return the minor version number. Two new functions
956 (micro-version) and scm_micro_version have been added to report the
957 micro version number.
959 In addition, ./GUILE-VERSION now defines GUILE_MICRO_VERSION.
961 ** New preprocessor definitions are available for checking versions.
963 version.h now #defines SCM_MAJOR_VERSION, SCM_MINOR_VERSION, and
964 SCM_MICRO_VERSION to the appropriate integer values.
966 ** Guile now actively warns about deprecated features.
968 The new configure option `--enable-deprecated=LEVEL' and the
969 environment variable GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED control this mechanism.
970 See INSTALL and README for more information.
972 ** Guile is much more likely to work on 64-bit architectures.
974 Guile now compiles and passes "make check" with only two UNRESOLVED GC
975 cases on Alpha and ia64 based machines now. Thanks to John Goerzen
976 for the use of a test machine, and thanks to Stefan Jahn for ia64
979 ** New functions: setitimer and getitimer.
981 These implement a fairly direct interface to the libc functions of the
984 ** The #. reader extension is now disabled by default.
986 For safety reasons, #. evaluation is disabled by default. To
987 re-enable it, set the fluid read-eval? to #t. For example:
989 (fluid-set! read-eval? #t)
991 but make sure you realize the potential security risks involved. With
992 read-eval? enabled, reading a data file from an untrusted source can
995 ** New SRFI modules have been added:
997 SRFI-0 `cond-expand' is now supported in Guile, without requiring
1000 (srfi srfi-1) is a library containing many useful pair- and list-processing
1003 (srfi srfi-2) exports and-let*.
1005 (srfi srfi-4) implements homogeneous numeric vector datatypes.
1007 (srfi srfi-6) is a dummy module for now, since guile already provides
1008 all of the srfi-6 procedures by default: open-input-string,
1009 open-output-string, get-output-string.
1011 (srfi srfi-8) exports receive.
1013 (srfi srfi-9) exports define-record-type.
1015 (srfi srfi-10) exports define-reader-ctor and implements the reader
1018 (srfi srfi-11) exports let-values and let*-values.
1020 (srfi srfi-13) implements the SRFI String Library.
1022 (srfi srfi-14) implements the SRFI Character-Set Library.
1024 (srfi srfi-17) implements setter and getter-with-setter and redefines
1025 some accessor procedures as procedures with getters. (such as car,
1026 cdr, vector-ref etc.)
1028 (srfi srfi-19) implements the SRFI Time/Date Library.
1030 ** New scripts / "executable modules"
1032 Subdirectory "scripts" contains Scheme modules that are packaged to
1033 also be executable as scripts. At this time, these scripts are available:
1042 See README there for more info.
1044 These scripts can be invoked from the shell with the new program
1045 "guile-tools", which keeps track of installation directory for you.
1048 $ guile-tools display-commentary srfi/*.scm
1050 guile-tools is copied to the standard $bindir on "make install".
1052 ** New module (ice-9 stack-catch):
1054 stack-catch is like catch, but saves the current state of the stack in
1055 the fluid the-last-stack. This fluid can be useful when using the
1056 debugger and when re-throwing an error.
1058 ** The module (ice-9 and-let*) has been renamed to (ice-9 and-let-star)
1060 This has been done to prevent problems on lesser operating systems
1061 that can't tolerate `*'s in file names. The exported macro continues
1062 to be named `and-let*', of course.
1064 On systems that support it, there is also a compatibility module named
1065 (ice-9 and-let*). It will go away in the next release.
1067 ** New modules (oop goops) etc.:
1070 (oop goops describe)
1072 (oop goops active-slot)
1073 (oop goops composite-slot)
1075 The Guile Object Oriented Programming System (GOOPS) has been
1076 integrated into Guile. For further information, consult the GOOPS
1077 manual and tutorial in the `doc' directory.
1079 ** New module (ice-9 rdelim).
1081 This exports the following procedures which were previously defined
1082 in the default environment:
1084 read-line read-line! read-delimited read-delimited! %read-delimited!
1085 %read-line write-line
1087 For backwards compatibility the definitions are still imported into the
1088 default environment in this version of Guile. However you should add:
1090 (use-modules (ice-9 rdelim))
1092 to any program which uses the definitions, since this may change in
1095 Alternatively, if guile-scsh is installed, the (scsh rdelim) module
1096 can be used for similar functionality.
1098 ** New module (ice-9 rw)
1100 This is a subset of the (scsh rw) module from guile-scsh. Currently
1101 it defines two procedures:
1103 *** New function: read-string!/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
1105 Read characters from a port or file descriptor into a string STR.
1106 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
1107 fport. This procedure is scsh-compatible and can efficiently read
1110 *** New function: write-string/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
1112 Write characters from a string STR to a port or file descriptor.
1113 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
1114 fport. This procedure is mostly compatible and can efficiently
1115 write large strings.
1117 ** New module (ice-9 match)
1119 This module includes Andrew K. Wright's pattern matcher. See
1120 ice-9/match.scm for brief description or
1122 http://www.star-lab.com/wright/code.html
1124 for complete documentation.
1126 ** New module (ice-9 buffered-input)
1128 This module provides procedures to construct an input port from an
1129 underlying source of input that reads and returns its input in chunks.
1130 The underlying input source is a Scheme procedure, specified by the
1131 caller, which the port invokes whenever it needs more input.
1133 This is useful when building an input port whose back end is Readline
1134 or a UI element such as the GtkEntry widget.
1138 The reference and tutorial documentation that was previously
1139 distributed separately, as `guile-doc', is now included in the core
1140 Guile distribution. The documentation consists of the following
1143 - The Guile Tutorial (guile-tut.texi) contains a tutorial introduction
1146 - The Guile Reference Manual (guile.texi) contains (or is intended to
1147 contain) reference documentation on all aspects of Guile.
1149 - The GOOPS Manual (goops.texi) contains both tutorial-style and
1150 reference documentation for using GOOPS, Guile's Object Oriented
1153 - The Revised^5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme
1156 See the README file in the `doc' directory for more details.
1158 ** There are a couple of examples in the examples/ directory now.
1160 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
1162 ** New command line option `--use-srfi'
1164 Using this option, SRFI modules can be loaded on startup and be
1165 available right from the beginning. This makes programming portable
1166 Scheme programs easier.
1168 The option `--use-srfi' expects a comma-separated list of numbers,
1169 each representing a SRFI number to be loaded into the interpreter
1170 before starting evaluating a script file or the REPL. Additionally,
1171 the feature identifier for the loaded SRFIs is recognized by
1172 `cond-expand' when using this option.
1175 $ guile --use-srfi=8,13
1176 guile> (receive (x z) (values 1 2) (+ 1 2))
1178 guile> (string-pad "bla" 20)
1181 ** Guile now always starts up in the `(guile-user)' module.
1183 Previously, scripts executed via the `-s' option would run in the
1184 `(guile)' module and the repl would run in the `(guile-user)' module.
1185 Now every user action takes place in the `(guile-user)' module by
1188 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
1190 ** Character classifiers work for non-ASCII characters.
1192 The predicates `char-alphabetic?', `char-numeric?',
1193 `char-whitespace?', `char-lower?', `char-upper?' and `char-is-both?'
1194 no longer check whether their arguments are ASCII characters.
1195 Previously, a character would only be considered alphabetic when it
1196 was also ASCII, for example.
1198 ** Previously deprecated Scheme functions have been removed:
1200 tag - no replacement.
1201 fseek - replaced by seek.
1202 list* - replaced by cons*.
1204 ** It's now possible to create modules with controlled environments
1208 (use-modules (ice-9 safe))
1209 (define m (make-safe-module))
1210 ;;; m will now be a module containing only a safe subset of R5RS
1211 (eval '(+ 1 2) m) --> 3
1212 (eval 'load m) --> ERROR: Unbound variable: load
1214 ** Evaluation of "()", the empty list, is now an error.
1216 Previously, the expression "()" evaluated to the empty list. This has
1217 been changed to signal a "missing expression" error. The correct way
1218 to write the empty list as a literal constant is to use quote: "'()".
1220 ** New concept of `Guile Extensions'.
1222 A Guile Extension is just a ordinary shared library that can be linked
1223 at run-time. We found it advantageous to give this simple concept a
1224 dedicated name to distinguish the issues related to shared libraries
1225 from the issues related to the module system.
1227 *** New function: load-extension
1229 Executing (load-extension lib init) is mostly equivalent to
1231 (dynamic-call init (dynamic-link lib))
1233 except when scm_register_extension has been called previously.
1234 Whenever appropriate, you should use `load-extension' instead of
1235 dynamic-link and dynamic-call.
1237 *** New C function: scm_c_register_extension
1239 This function registers a initialization function for use by
1240 `load-extension'. Use it when you don't want specific extensions to
1241 be loaded as shared libraries (for example on platforms that don't
1242 support dynamic linking).
1244 ** Auto-loading of compiled-code modules is deprecated.
1246 Guile used to be able to automatically find and link a shared
1247 library to satisfy requests for a module. For example, the module
1248 `(foo bar)' could be implemented by placing a shared library named
1249 "foo/libbar.so" (or with a different extension) in a directory on the
1252 This has been found to be too tricky, and is no longer supported. The
1253 shared libraries are now called "extensions". You should now write a
1254 small Scheme file that calls `load-extension' to load the shared
1255 library and initialize it explicitely.
1257 The shared libraries themselves should be installed in the usual
1258 places for shared libraries, with names like "libguile-foo-bar".
1260 For example, place this into a file "foo/bar.scm"
1262 (define-module (foo bar))
1264 (load-extension "libguile-foo-bar" "foobar_init")
1266 ** Backward incompatible change: eval EXP ENVIRONMENT-SPECIFIER
1268 `eval' is now R5RS, that is it takes two arguments.
1269 The second argument is an environment specifier, i.e. either
1271 (scheme-report-environment 5)
1272 (null-environment 5)
1273 (interaction-environment)
1279 ** The module system has been made more disciplined.
1281 The function `eval' will save and restore the current module around
1282 the evaluation of the specified expression. While this expression is
1283 evaluated, `(current-module)' will now return the right module, which
1284 is the module specified as the second argument to `eval'.
1286 A consequence of this change is that `eval' is not particularly
1287 useful when you want allow the evaluated code to change what module is
1288 designated as the current module and have this change persist from one
1289 call to `eval' to the next. The read-eval-print-loop is an example
1290 where `eval' is now inadequate. To compensate, there is a new
1291 function `primitive-eval' that does not take a module specifier and
1292 that does not save/restore the current module. You should use this
1293 function together with `set-current-module', `current-module', etc
1294 when you want to have more control over the state that is carried from
1295 one eval to the next.
1297 Additionally, it has been made sure that forms that are evaluated at
1298 the top level are always evaluated with respect to the current module.
1299 Previously, subforms of top-level forms such as `begin', `case',
1300 etc. did not respect changes to the current module although these
1301 subforms are at the top-level as well.
1303 To prevent strange behavior, the forms `define-module',
1304 `use-modules', `use-syntax', and `export' have been restricted to only
1305 work on the top level. The forms `define-public' and
1306 `defmacro-public' only export the new binding on the top level. They
1307 behave just like `define' and `defmacro', respectively, when they are
1308 used in a lexical environment.
1310 Also, `export' will no longer silently re-export bindings imported
1311 from a used module. It will emit a `deprecation' warning and will
1312 cease to perform any re-export in the next version. If you actually
1313 want to re-export bindings, use the new `re-export' in place of
1314 `export'. The new `re-export' will not make copies of variables when
1315 rexporting them, as `export' did wrongly.
1317 ** Module system now allows selection and renaming of imported bindings
1319 Previously, when using `use-modules' or the `#:use-module' clause in
1320 the `define-module' form, all the bindings (association of symbols to
1321 values) for imported modules were added to the "current module" on an
1322 as-is basis. This has been changed to allow finer control through two
1323 new facilities: selection and renaming.
1325 You can now select which of the imported module's bindings are to be
1326 visible in the current module by using the `:select' clause. This
1327 clause also can be used to rename individual bindings. For example:
1329 ;; import all bindings no questions asked
1330 (use-modules (ice-9 common-list))
1332 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them;
1333 ;; the current module sees: every some zonk-y zonk-n
1334 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1336 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1337 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))))
1339 You can also programmatically rename all selected bindings using the
1340 `:renamer' clause, which specifies a proc that takes a symbol and
1341 returns another symbol. Because it is common practice to use a prefix,
1342 we now provide the convenience procedure `symbol-prefix-proc'. For
1345 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
1346 ;; and all four w/ prefix "CL:";
1347 ;; the current module sees: CL:every CL:some CL:zonk-y CL:zonk-n
1348 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1350 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1351 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
1352 :renamer (symbol-prefix-proc 'CL:)))
1354 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
1355 ;; and all four by upcasing.
1356 ;; the current module sees: EVERY SOME ZONK-Y ZONK-N
1357 (define (upcase-symbol sym)
1358 (string->symbol (string-upcase (symbol->string sym))))
1360 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1362 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1363 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
1364 :renamer upcase-symbol))
1366 Note that programmatic renaming is done *after* individual renaming.
1367 Also, the above examples show `use-modules', but the same facilities are
1368 available for the `#:use-module' clause of `define-module'.
1370 See manual for more info.
1372 ** The semantics of guardians have changed.
1374 The changes are for the most part compatible. An important criterion
1375 was to keep the typical usage of guardians as simple as before, but to
1376 make the semantics safer and (as a result) more useful.
1378 *** All objects returned from guardians are now properly alive.
1380 It is now guaranteed that any object referenced by an object returned
1381 from a guardian is alive. It's now impossible for a guardian to
1382 return a "contained" object before its "containing" object.
1384 One incompatible (but probably not very important) change resulting
1385 from this is that it is no longer possible to guard objects that
1386 indirectly reference themselves (i.e. are parts of cycles). If you do
1387 so accidentally, you'll get a warning.
1389 *** There are now two types of guardians: greedy and sharing.
1391 If you call (make-guardian #t) or just (make-guardian), you'll get a
1392 greedy guardian, and for (make-guardian #f) a sharing guardian.
1394 Greedy guardians are the default because they are more "defensive".
1395 You can only greedily guard an object once. If you guard an object
1396 more than once, once in a greedy guardian and the rest of times in
1397 sharing guardians, then it is guaranteed that the object won't be
1398 returned from sharing guardians as long as it is greedily guarded
1401 Guardians returned by calls to `make-guardian' can now take one more
1402 optional parameter, which says whether to throw an error in case an
1403 attempt is made to greedily guard an object that is already greedily
1404 guarded. The default is true, i.e. throw an error. If the parameter
1405 is false, the guardian invocation returns #t if guarding was
1406 successful and #f if it wasn't.
1408 Also, since greedy guarding is, in effect, a side-effecting operation
1409 on objects, a new function is introduced: `destroy-guardian!'.
1410 Invoking this function on a guardian renders it unoperative and, if
1411 the guardian is greedy, clears the "greedily guarded" property of the
1412 objects that were guarded by it, thus undoing the side effect.
1414 Note that all this hair is hardly very important, since guardian
1415 objects are usually permanent.
1417 ** Continuations created by call-with-current-continuation now accept
1418 any number of arguments, as required by R5RS.
1420 ** New function `issue-deprecation-warning'
1422 This function is used to display the deprecation messages that are
1423 controlled by GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATION as explained in the README.
1426 (issue-deprecation-warning "`id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.")
1430 ;; `id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.
1435 ** New syntax `begin-deprecated'
1437 When deprecated features are included (as determined by the configure
1438 option --enable-deprecated), `begin-deprecated' is identical to
1439 `begin'. When deprecated features are excluded, it always evaluates
1440 to `#f', ignoring the body forms.
1442 ** New function `make-object-property'
1444 This function returns a new `procedure with setter' P that can be used
1445 to attach a property to objects. When calling P as
1449 where `obj' is any kind of object, it attaches `val' to `obj' in such
1450 a way that it can be retrieved by calling P as
1454 This function will replace procedure properties, symbol properties and
1455 source properties eventually.
1457 ** Module (ice-9 optargs) now uses keywords instead of `#&'.
1459 Instead of #&optional, #&key, etc you should now use #:optional,
1460 #:key, etc. Since #:optional is a keyword, you can write it as just
1461 :optional when (read-set! keywords 'prefix) is active.
1463 The old reader syntax `#&' is still supported, but deprecated. It
1464 will be removed in the next release.
1466 ** New define-module option: pure
1468 Tells the module system not to include any bindings from the root
1473 (define-module (totally-empty-module)
1476 ** New define-module option: export NAME1 ...
1478 Export names NAME1 ...
1480 This option is required if you want to be able to export bindings from
1481 a module which doesn't import one of `define-public' or `export'.
1485 (define-module (foo)
1487 :use-module (ice-9 r5rs)
1490 ;;; Note that we're pure R5RS below this point!
1495 ** New function: object->string OBJ
1497 Return a Scheme string obtained by printing a given object.
1499 ** New function: port? X
1501 Returns a boolean indicating whether X is a port. Equivalent to
1502 `(or (input-port? X) (output-port? X))'.
1504 ** New function: file-port?
1506 Determines whether a given object is a port that is related to a file.
1508 ** New function: port-for-each proc
1510 Apply PROC to each port in the Guile port table in turn. The return
1511 value is unspecified. More specifically, PROC is applied exactly once
1512 to every port that exists in the system at the time PORT-FOR-EACH is
1513 invoked. Changes to the port table while PORT-FOR-EACH is running
1514 have no effect as far as PORT-FOR-EACH is concerned.
1516 ** New function: dup2 oldfd newfd
1518 A simple wrapper for the `dup2' system call. Copies the file
1519 descriptor OLDFD to descriptor number NEWFD, replacing the
1520 previous meaning of NEWFD. Both OLDFD and NEWFD must be integers.
1521 Unlike for dup->fdes or primitive-move->fdes, no attempt is made
1522 to move away ports which are using NEWFD. The return value is
1525 ** New function: close-fdes fd
1527 A simple wrapper for the `close' system call. Close file
1528 descriptor FD, which must be an integer. Unlike close (*note
1529 close: Ports and File Descriptors.), the file descriptor will be
1530 closed even if a port is using it. The return value is
1533 ** New function: crypt password salt
1535 Encrypts `password' using the standard unix password encryption
1538 ** New function: chroot path
1540 Change the root directory of the running process to `path'.
1542 ** New functions: getlogin, cuserid
1544 Return the login name or the user name of the current effective user
1547 ** New functions: getpriority which who, setpriority which who prio
1549 Get or set the priority of the running process.
1551 ** New function: getpass prompt
1553 Read a password from the terminal, first displaying `prompt' and
1556 ** New function: flock file operation
1558 Set/remove an advisory shared or exclusive lock on `file'.
1560 ** New functions: sethostname name, gethostname
1562 Set or get the hostname of the machine the current process is running
1565 ** New function: mkstemp! tmpl
1567 mkstemp creates a new unique file in the file system and returns a
1568 new buffered port open for reading and writing to the file. TMPL
1569 is a string specifying where the file should be created: it must
1570 end with `XXXXXX' and will be changed in place to return the name
1571 of the temporary file.
1573 ** New function: open-input-string string
1575 Return an input string port which delivers the characters from
1576 `string'. This procedure, together with `open-output-string' and
1577 `get-output-string' implements SRFI-6.
1579 ** New function: open-output-string
1581 Return an output string port which collects all data written to it.
1582 The data can then be retrieved by `get-output-string'.
1584 ** New function: get-output-string
1586 Return the contents of an output string port.
1588 ** New function: identity
1590 Return the argument.
1592 ** socket, connect, accept etc., now have support for IPv6. IPv6 addresses
1593 are represented in Scheme as integers with normal host byte ordering.
1595 ** New function: inet-pton family address
1597 Convert a printable string network address into an integer. Note that
1598 unlike the C version of this function, the result is an integer with
1599 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
1602 (inet-pton AF_INET "127.0.0.1") => 2130706433
1603 (inet-pton AF_INET6 "::1") => 1
1605 ** New function: inet-ntop family address
1607 Convert an integer network address into a printable string. Note that
1608 unlike the C version of this function, the input is an integer with
1609 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
1612 (inet-ntop AF_INET 2130706433) => "127.0.0.1"
1613 (inet-ntop AF_INET6 (- (expt 2 128) 1)) =>
1614 ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff
1618 Use `identity' instead.
1624 ** Deprecated: return-it
1628 ** Deprecated: string-character-length
1630 Use `string-length' instead.
1632 ** Deprecated: flags
1634 Use `logior' instead.
1636 ** Deprecated: close-all-ports-except.
1638 This was intended for closing ports in a child process after a fork,
1639 but it has the undesirable side effect of flushing buffers.
1640 port-for-each is more flexible.
1642 ** The (ice-9 popen) module now attempts to set up file descriptors in
1643 the child process from the current Scheme ports, instead of using the
1644 current values of file descriptors 0, 1, and 2 in the parent process.
1646 ** Removed function: builtin-weak-bindings
1648 There is no such concept as a weak binding any more.
1650 ** Removed constants: bignum-radix, scm-line-incrementors
1652 ** define-method: New syntax mandatory.
1654 The new method syntax is now mandatory:
1656 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ...) BODY ...)
1657 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ... . REST-ARG) BODY ...)
1659 ARG-SPEC ::= ARG-NAME | (ARG-NAME TYPE)
1660 REST-ARG ::= ARG-NAME
1662 If you have old code using the old syntax, import
1663 (oop goops old-define-method) before (oop goops) as in:
1665 (use-modules (oop goops old-define-method) (oop goops))
1667 ** Deprecated function: builtin-variable
1668 Removed function: builtin-bindings
1670 There is no longer a distinction between builtin or other variables.
1671 Use module system operations for all variables.
1673 ** Lazy-catch handlers are no longer allowed to return.
1675 That is, a call to `throw', `error', etc is now guaranteed to not
1678 ** Bugfixes for (ice-9 getopt-long)
1680 This module is now tested using test-suite/tests/getopt-long.test.
1681 The following bugs have been fixed:
1683 *** Parsing for options that are specified to have `optional' args now checks
1684 if the next element is an option instead of unconditionally taking it as the
1687 *** An error is now thrown for `--opt=val' when the option description
1688 does not specify `(value #t)' or `(value optional)'. This condition used to
1689 be accepted w/o error, contrary to the documentation.
1691 *** The error message for unrecognized options is now more informative.
1692 It used to be "not a record", an artifact of the implementation.
1694 *** The error message for `--opt' terminating the arg list (no value), when
1695 `(value #t)' is specified, is now more informative. It used to be "not enough
1698 *** "Clumped" single-char args now preserve trailing string, use it as arg.
1699 The expansion used to be like so:
1701 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "--xyz")
1703 Note that the "5d" is dropped. Now it is like so:
1705 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "5d" "--xyz")
1707 This enables single-char options to have adjoining arguments as long as their
1708 constituent characters are not potential single-char options.
1710 ** (ice-9 session) procedure `arity' now works with (ice-9 optargs) `lambda*'
1712 The `lambda*' and derivative forms in (ice-9 optargs) now set a procedure
1713 property `arglist', which can be retrieved by `arity'. The result is that
1714 `arity' can give more detailed information than before:
1718 guile> (use-modules (ice-9 optargs))
1719 guile> (define* (foo #:optional a b c) a)
1721 0 or more arguments in `lambda*:G0'.
1726 3 optional arguments: `a', `b' and `c'.
1727 guile> (define* (bar a b #:key c d #:allow-other-keys) a)
1729 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 2 keyword arguments: `c'
1730 and `d', other keywords allowed.
1731 guile> (define* (baz a b #:optional c #:rest r) a)
1733 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 1 optional argument: `c',
1736 * Changes to the C interface
1738 ** Types have been renamed from scm_*_t to scm_t_*.
1740 This has been done for POSIX sake. It reserves identifiers ending
1741 with "_t". What a concept.
1743 The old names are still available with status `deprecated'.
1745 ** scm_t_bits (former scm_bits_t) is now a unsigned type.
1747 ** Deprecated features have been removed.
1751 SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP SCM_ICHRP, SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR
1752 SCM_SETJMPBUF SCM_NSTRINGP SCM_NRWSTRINGP SCM_NVECTORP SCM_DOUBLE_CELLP
1754 *** C Functions removed
1756 scm_sysmissing scm_tag scm_tc16_flo scm_tc_flo
1757 scm_fseek - replaced by scm_seek.
1758 gc-thunk - replaced by after-gc-hook.
1759 gh_int2scmb - replaced by gh_bool2scm.
1760 scm_tc_dblr - replaced by scm_tc16_real.
1761 scm_tc_dblc - replaced by scm_tc16_complex.
1762 scm_list_star - replaced by scm_cons_star.
1764 ** Deprecated: scm_makfromstr
1766 Use scm_mem2string instead.
1768 ** Deprecated: scm_make_shared_substring
1770 Explicit shared substrings will disappear from Guile.
1772 Instead, "normal" strings will be implemented using sharing
1773 internally, combined with a copy-on-write strategy.
1775 ** Deprecated: scm_read_only_string_p
1777 The concept of read-only strings will disappear in next release of
1780 ** Deprecated: scm_sloppy_memq, scm_sloppy_memv, scm_sloppy_member
1782 Instead, use scm_c_memq or scm_memq, scm_memv, scm_member.
1784 ** New functions: scm_call_0, scm_call_1, scm_call_2, scm_call_3
1786 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments. See "Fly
1787 Evaluation" in the manual.
1789 ** New functions: scm_apply_0, scm_apply_1, scm_apply_2, scm_apply_3
1791 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments and a list of
1792 further arguments. See "Fly Evaluation" in the manual.
1794 ** New functions: scm_list_1, scm_list_2, scm_list_3, scm_list_4, scm_list_5
1796 Create a list of the given number of elements. See "List
1797 Constructors" in the manual.
1799 ** Renamed function: scm_listify has been replaced by scm_list_n.
1801 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_LIST0, SCM_LIST1, SCM_LIST2, SCM_LIST3, SCM_LIST4,
1802 SCM_LIST5, SCM_LIST6, SCM_LIST7, SCM_LIST8, SCM_LIST9.
1804 Use functions scm_list_N instead.
1806 ** New function: scm_c_read (SCM port, void *buffer, scm_sizet size)
1808 Used by an application to read arbitrary number of bytes from a port.
1809 Same semantics as libc read, except that scm_c_read only returns less
1810 than SIZE bytes if at end-of-file.
1812 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
1814 ** New function: scm_c_write (SCM port, const void *ptr, scm_sizet size)
1816 Used by an application to write arbitrary number of bytes to an SCM
1817 port. Similar semantics as libc write. However, unlike libc
1818 write, scm_c_write writes the requested number of bytes and has no
1821 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
1823 ** New function: scm_init_guile ()
1825 In contrast to scm_boot_guile, scm_init_guile will return normally
1826 after initializing Guile. It is not available on all systems, tho.
1828 ** New functions: scm_str2symbol, scm_mem2symbol
1830 The function scm_str2symbol takes a const char* pointing to a zero-terminated
1831 field of characters and creates a scheme symbol object from that C string.
1832 The function scm_mem2symbol takes a const char* and a number of characters and
1833 creates a symbol from the characters in that memory area.
1835 ** New functions: scm_primitive_make_property
1836 scm_primitive_property_ref
1837 scm_primitive_property_set_x
1838 scm_primitive_property_del_x
1840 These functions implement a new way to deal with object properties.
1841 See libguile/properties.c for their documentation.
1843 ** New function: scm_done_free (long size)
1845 This function is the inverse of scm_done_malloc. Use it to report the
1846 amount of smob memory you free. The previous method, which involved
1847 calling scm_done_malloc with negative argument, was somewhat
1848 unintuitive (and is still available, of course).
1850 ** New function: scm_c_memq (SCM obj, SCM list)
1852 This function provides a fast C level alternative for scm_memq for the case
1853 that the list parameter is known to be a proper list. The function is a
1854 replacement for scm_sloppy_memq, but is stricter in its requirements on its
1855 list input parameter, since for anything else but a proper list the function's
1856 behaviour is undefined - it may even crash or loop endlessly. Further, for
1857 the case that the object is not found in the list, scm_c_memq returns #f which
1858 is similar to scm_memq, but different from scm_sloppy_memq's behaviour.
1860 ** New functions: scm_remember_upto_here_1, scm_remember_upto_here_2,
1861 scm_remember_upto_here
1863 These functions replace the function scm_remember.
1865 ** Deprecated function: scm_remember
1867 Use one of the new functions scm_remember_upto_here_1,
1868 scm_remember_upto_here_2 or scm_remember_upto_here instead.
1870 ** New function: scm_allocate_string
1872 This function replaces the function scm_makstr.
1874 ** Deprecated function: scm_makstr
1876 Use the new function scm_allocate_string instead.
1878 ** New global variable scm_gc_running_p introduced.
1880 Use this variable to find out if garbage collection is being executed. Up to
1881 now applications have used scm_gc_heap_lock to test if garbage collection was
1882 running, which also works because of the fact that up to know only the garbage
1883 collector has set this variable. But, this is an implementation detail that
1884 may change. Further, scm_gc_heap_lock is not set throughout gc, thus the use
1885 of this variable is (and has been) not fully safe anyway.
1887 ** New macros: SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH
1889 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
1891 ** New macros: SCM_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_CCLO_LENGTH, SCM_STACK_LENGTH,
1892 SCM_STRING_LENGTH, SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
1893 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH.
1895 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH.
1897 ** New macros: SCM_SET_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH,
1898 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
1899 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH
1901 Use these instead of SCM_SETLENGTH
1903 ** New macros: SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_CCLO_BASE,
1904 SCM_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_COMPLEX_MEM,
1907 Use these instead of SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS or
1910 ** New macros: SCM_SET_BIGNUM_BASE, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS,
1911 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE,
1914 Use these instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
1916 ** New macro: SCM_BITVECTOR_P
1918 ** New macro: SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X
1920 Use instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
1922 ** New macros: SCM_DIR_OPEN_P, SCM_DIR_FLAG_OPEN
1924 For directory objects, use these instead of SCM_OPDIRP and SCM_OPN.
1926 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_OUTOFRANGE, SCM_NALLOC, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL,
1927 SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL,
1928 SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD,
1929 SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS, SCM_SYMBOL_SLOTS, SCM_SLOTS, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
1930 SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_FREEP, SCM_NFREEP, SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS,
1931 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY,
1932 SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_HUGE_LENGTH,
1933 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
1934 SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP, SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, SCM_ROCHARS,
1935 SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_GC8MARKP,
1936 SCM_SETGC8MARK, SCM_CLRGC8MARK, SCM_GCTYP16, SCM_GCCDR, SCM_SUBR_DOC,
1937 SCM_OPDIRP, SCM_VALIDATE_OPDIR, SCM_WTA, RETURN_SCM_WTA, SCM_CONST_LONG,
1938 SCM_WNA, SCM_FUNC_NAME, SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_COPY,
1939 SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_DEF_COPY, SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP, SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP,
1940 SCM_SETAND_CDR, SCM_SETOR_CDR, SCM_SETAND_CAR, SCM_SETOR_CAR
1942 Use SCM_ASSERT_RANGE or SCM_VALIDATE_XXX_RANGE instead of SCM_OUTOFRANGE.
1943 Use scm_memory_error instead of SCM_NALLOC.
1944 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP.
1945 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR.
1946 Use SCM_FREE_CELL_P instead of SCM_FREEP/SCM_NFREEP
1947 Use a type specific accessor macro instead of SCM_CHARS/SCM_UCHARS.
1948 Use a type specific accessor instead of SCM(_|_RO|_HUGE_)LENGTH.
1949 Use SCM_VALIDATE_(SYMBOL|STRING) instead of SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING.
1950 Use SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
1951 Use SCM_STRINGP or SCM_SYMBOLP instead of SCM_ROSTRINGP.
1952 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_RWSTRINGP.
1953 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING.
1954 Use SCM_STRING_CHARS instead of SCM_ROCHARS.
1955 Use SCM_STRING_UCHARS instead of SCM_ROUCHARS.
1956 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETLENGTH.
1957 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
1958 Use a type specific length macro instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
1959 Use SCM_GCMARKP instead of SCM_GC8MARKP.
1960 Use SCM_SETGCMARK instead of SCM_SETGC8MARK.
1961 Use SCM_CLRGCMARK instead of SCM_CLRGC8MARK.
1962 Use SCM_TYP16 instead of SCM_GCTYP16.
1963 Use SCM_CDR instead of SCM_GCCDR.
1964 Use SCM_DIR_OPEN_P instead of SCM_OPDIRP.
1965 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of SCM_WTA.
1966 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of RETURN_SCM_WTA.
1967 Use SCM_VCELL_INIT instead of SCM_CONST_LONG.
1968 Use SCM_WRONG_NUM_ARGS instead of SCM_WNA.
1969 Use SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP.
1970 Use !SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP.
1972 ** Removed function: scm_struct_init
1974 ** Removed variable: scm_symhash_dim
1976 ** Renamed function: scm_make_cont has been replaced by
1977 scm_make_continuation, which has a different interface.
1979 ** Deprecated function: scm_call_catching_errors
1981 Use scm_catch or scm_lazy_catch from throw.[ch] instead.
1983 ** Deprecated function: scm_strhash
1985 Use scm_string_hash instead.
1987 ** Deprecated function: scm_vector_set_length_x
1989 Instead, create a fresh vector of the desired size and copy the contents.
1991 ** scm_gensym has changed prototype
1993 scm_gensym now only takes one argument.
1995 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc7_ssymbol, scm_tc7_msymbol, scm_tcs_symbols,
1998 There is now only a single symbol type scm_tc7_symbol.
1999 The tag scm_tc7_lvector was not used anyway.
2001 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe, scm_set_smob_mfpe.
2003 Use scm_make_smob_type and scm_set_smob_XXX instead.
2005 ** New function scm_set_smob_apply.
2007 This can be used to set an apply function to a smob type.
2009 ** Deprecated function: scm_strprint_obj
2011 Use scm_object_to_string instead.
2013 ** Deprecated function: scm_wta
2015 Use scm_wrong_type_arg, or another appropriate error signalling function
2018 ** Explicit support for obarrays has been deprecated.
2020 Use `scm_str2symbol' and the generic hashtable functions instead.
2022 ** The concept of `vcells' has been deprecated.
2024 The data type `variable' is now used exclusively. `Vcells' have been
2025 a low-level concept so you are likely not affected by this change.
2027 *** Deprecated functions: scm_sym2vcell, scm_sysintern,
2028 scm_sysintern0, scm_symbol_value0, scm_intern, scm_intern0.
2030 Use scm_c_define or scm_c_lookup instead, as appropriate.
2032 *** New functions: scm_c_module_lookup, scm_c_lookup,
2033 scm_c_module_define, scm_c_define, scm_module_lookup, scm_lookup,
2034 scm_module_define, scm_define.
2036 These functions work with variables instead of with vcells.
2038 ** New functions for creating and defining `subr's and `gsubr's.
2040 The new functions more clearly distinguish between creating a subr (or
2041 gsubr) object and adding it to the current module.
2043 These new functions are available: scm_c_make_subr, scm_c_define_subr,
2044 scm_c_make_subr_with_generic, scm_c_define_subr_with_generic,
2045 scm_c_make_gsubr, scm_c_define_gsubr, scm_c_make_gsubr_with_generic,
2046 scm_c_define_gsubr_with_generic.
2048 ** Deprecated functions: scm_make_subr, scm_make_subr_opt,
2049 scm_make_subr_with_generic, scm_make_gsubr,
2050 scm_make_gsubr_with_generic.
2052 Use the new ones from above instead.
2054 ** C interface to the module system has changed.
2056 While we suggest that you avoid as many explicit module system
2057 operations from C as possible for the time being, the C interface has
2058 been made more similar to the high-level Scheme module system.
2060 *** New functions: scm_c_define_module, scm_c_use_module,
2061 scm_c_export, scm_c_resolve_module.
2063 They mostly work like their Scheme namesakes. scm_c_define_module
2064 takes a function that is called a context where the new module is
2067 *** Deprecated functions: scm_the_root_module, scm_make_module,
2068 scm_ensure_user_module, scm_load_scheme_module.
2070 Use the new functions instead.
2072 ** Renamed function: scm_internal_with_fluids becomes
2075 scm_internal_with_fluids is available as a deprecated function.
2077 ** New function: scm_c_with_fluid.
2079 Just like scm_c_with_fluids, but takes one fluid and one value instead
2082 ** Deprecated typedefs: long_long, ulong_long.
2084 They are of questionable utility and they pollute the global
2087 ** Deprecated typedef: scm_sizet
2089 It is of questionable utility now that Guile requires ANSI C, and is
2092 ** Deprecated typedefs: scm_port_rw_active, scm_port,
2093 scm_ptob_descriptor, scm_debug_info, scm_debug_frame, scm_fport,
2094 scm_option, scm_rstate, scm_rng, scm_array, scm_array_dim.
2096 Made more compliant with the naming policy by adding a _t at the end.
2098 ** Deprecated functions: scm_mkbig, scm_big2num, scm_adjbig,
2099 scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl
2101 With the exception of the mysterious scm_2ulong2big, they are still
2102 available under new names (scm_i_mkbig etc). These functions are not
2103 intended to be used in user code. You should avoid dealing with
2104 bignums directly, and should deal with numbers in general (which can
2107 ** Change in behavior: scm_num2long, scm_num2ulong
2109 The scm_num2[u]long functions don't any longer accept an inexact
2110 argument. This change in behavior is motivated by concordance with
2111 R5RS: It is more common that a primitive doesn't want to accept an
2112 inexact for an exact.
2114 ** New functions: scm_short2num, scm_ushort2num, scm_int2num,
2115 scm_uint2num, scm_size2num, scm_ptrdiff2num, scm_num2short,
2116 scm_num2ushort, scm_num2int, scm_num2uint, scm_num2ptrdiff,
2119 These are conversion functions between the various ANSI C integral
2120 types and Scheme numbers. NOTE: The scm_num2xxx functions don't
2121 accept an inexact argument.
2123 ** New functions: scm_float2num, scm_double2num,
2124 scm_num2float, scm_num2double.
2126 These are conversion functions between the two ANSI C float types and
2129 ** New number validation macros:
2130 SCM_NUM2{SIZE,PTRDIFF,SHORT,USHORT,INT,UINT}[_DEF]
2134 ** New functions: scm_gc_protect_object, scm_gc_unprotect_object
2136 These are just nicer-named old scm_protect_object and
2137 scm_unprotect_object.
2139 ** Deprecated functions: scm_protect_object, scm_unprotect_object
2141 ** New functions: scm_gc_[un]register_root, scm_gc_[un]register_roots
2143 These functions can be used to register pointers to locations that
2146 ** Deprecated function: scm_create_hook.
2148 Its sins are: misleading name, non-modularity and lack of general
2152 Changes since Guile 1.3.4:
2154 * Changes to the distribution
2156 ** Trees from nightly snapshots and CVS now require you to run autogen.sh.
2158 We've changed the way we handle generated files in the Guile source
2159 repository. As a result, the procedure for building trees obtained
2160 from the nightly FTP snapshots or via CVS has changed:
2161 - You must have appropriate versions of autoconf, automake, and
2162 libtool installed on your system. See README for info on how to
2163 obtain these programs.
2164 - Before configuring the tree, you must first run the script
2165 `autogen.sh' at the top of the source tree.
2167 The Guile repository used to contain not only source files, written by
2168 humans, but also some generated files, like configure scripts and
2169 Makefile.in files. Even though the contents of these files could be
2170 derived mechanically from other files present, we thought it would
2171 make the tree easier to build if we checked them into CVS.
2173 However, this approach means that minor differences between
2174 developer's installed tools and habits affected the whole team.
2175 So we have removed the generated files from the repository, and
2176 added the autogen.sh script, which will reconstruct them
2180 ** configure now has experimental options to remove support for certain
2183 --disable-arrays omit array and uniform array support
2184 --disable-posix omit posix interfaces
2185 --disable-networking omit networking interfaces
2186 --disable-regex omit regular expression interfaces
2188 These are likely to become separate modules some day.
2190 ** New configure option --enable-debug-freelist
2192 This enables a debugging version of SCM_NEWCELL(), and also registers
2193 an extra primitive, the setter `gc-set-debug-check-freelist!'.
2195 Configure with the --enable-debug-freelist option to enable
2196 the gc-set-debug-check-freelist! primitive, and then use:
2198 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #t) # turn on checking of the freelist
2199 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #f) # turn off checking
2201 Checking of the freelist forces a traversal of the freelist and
2202 a garbage collection before each allocation of a cell. This can
2203 slow down the interpreter dramatically, so the setter should be used to
2204 turn on this extra processing only when necessary.
2206 ** New configure option --enable-debug-malloc
2208 Include code for debugging of calls to scm_must_malloc/realloc/free.
2212 1. objects freed by scm_must_free has been mallocated by scm_must_malloc
2213 2. objects reallocated by scm_must_realloc has been allocated by
2215 3. reallocated objects are reallocated with the same what string
2217 But, most importantly, it records the number of allocated objects of
2218 each kind. This is useful when searching for memory leaks.
2220 A Guile compiled with this option provides the primitive
2221 `malloc-stats' which returns an alist with pairs of kind and the
2222 number of objects of that kind.
2224 ** All includes are now referenced relative to the root directory
2226 Since some users have had problems with mixups between Guile and
2227 system headers, we have decided to always refer to Guile headers via
2228 their parent directories. This essentially creates a "private name
2229 space" for Guile headers. This means that the compiler only is given
2230 -I options for the root build and root source directory.
2232 ** Header files kw.h and genio.h have been removed.
2234 ** The module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) has been removed.
2236 ** New module (ice-9 documentation)
2238 Implements the interface to documentation strings associated with
2241 ** New module (ice-9 time)
2243 Provides a macro `time', which displays execution time of a given form.
2245 ** New module (ice-9 history)
2247 Loading this module enables value history in the repl.
2249 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
2251 ** New command line option --debug
2253 Start Guile with debugging evaluator and backtraces enabled.
2255 This is useful when debugging your .guile init file or scripts.
2257 ** New help facility
2259 Usage: (help NAME) gives documentation about objects named NAME (a symbol)
2260 (help REGEXP) ditto for objects with names matching REGEXP (a string)
2261 (help 'NAME) gives documentation for NAME, even if it is not an object
2262 (help ,EXPR) gives documentation for object returned by EXPR
2263 (help (my module)) gives module commentary for `(my module)'
2264 (help) gives this text
2266 `help' searches among bindings exported from loaded modules, while
2267 `apropos' searches among bindings visible from the "current" module.
2269 Examples: (help help)
2271 (help "output-string")
2273 ** `help' and `apropos' now prints full module names
2275 ** Dynamic linking now uses libltdl from the libtool package.
2277 The old system dependent code for doing dynamic linking has been
2278 replaced with calls to the libltdl functions which do all the hairy
2281 The major improvement is that you can now directly pass libtool
2282 library names like "libfoo.la" to `dynamic-link' and `dynamic-link'
2283 will be able to do the best shared library job you can get, via
2286 The way dynamic libraries are found has changed and is not really
2287 portable across platforms, probably. It is therefore recommended to
2288 use absolute filenames when possible.
2290 If you pass a filename without an extension to `dynamic-link', it will
2291 try a few appropriate ones. Thus, the most platform ignorant way is
2292 to specify a name like "libfoo", without any directories and
2295 ** Guile COOP threads are now compatible with LinuxThreads
2297 Previously, COOP threading wasn't possible in applications linked with
2298 Linux POSIX threads due to their use of the stack pointer to find the
2299 thread context. This has now been fixed with a workaround which uses
2300 the pthreads to allocate the stack.
2302 ** New primitives: `pkgdata-dir', `site-dir', `library-dir'
2304 ** Positions of erring expression in scripts
2306 With version 1.3.4, the location of the erring expression in Guile
2307 scipts is no longer automatically reported. (This should have been
2308 documented before the 1.3.4 release.)
2310 You can get this information by enabling recording of positions of
2311 source expressions and running the debugging evaluator. Put this at
2312 the top of your script (or in your "site" file):
2314 (read-enable 'positions)
2315 (debug-enable 'debug)
2317 ** Backtraces in scripts
2319 It is now possible to get backtraces in scripts.
2323 (debug-enable 'debug 'backtrace)
2325 at the top of the script.
2327 (The first options enables the debugging evaluator.
2328 The second enables backtraces.)
2330 ** Part of module system symbol lookup now implemented in C
2332 The eval closure of most modules is now implemented in C. Since this
2333 was one of the bottlenecks for loading speed, Guile now loads code
2334 substantially faster than before.
2336 ** Attempting to get the value of an unbound variable now produces
2337 an exception with a key of 'unbound-variable instead of 'misc-error.
2339 ** The initial default output port is now unbuffered if it's using a
2340 tty device. Previously in this situation it was line-buffered.
2342 ** New hook: after-gc-hook
2344 after-gc-hook takes over the role of gc-thunk. This hook is run at
2345 the first SCM_TICK after a GC. (Thus, the code is run at the same
2346 point during evaluation as signal handlers.)
2348 Note that this hook should be used only for diagnostic and debugging
2349 purposes. It is not certain that it will continue to be well-defined
2350 when this hook is run in the future.
2352 C programmers: Note the new C level hooks scm_before_gc_c_hook,
2353 scm_before_sweep_c_hook, scm_after_gc_c_hook.
2355 ** Improvements to garbage collector
2357 Guile 1.4 has a new policy for triggering heap allocation and
2358 determining the sizes of heap segments. It fixes a number of problems
2361 1. The new policy can handle two separate pools of cells
2362 (2-word/4-word) better. (The old policy would run wild, allocating
2363 more and more memory for certain programs.)
2365 2. The old code would sometimes allocate far too much heap so that the
2366 Guile process became gigantic. The new code avoids this.
2368 3. The old code would sometimes allocate too little so that few cells
2369 were freed at GC so that, in turn, too much time was spent in GC.
2371 4. The old code would often trigger heap allocation several times in a
2372 row. (The new scheme predicts how large the segments needs to be
2373 in order not to need further allocation.)
2375 All in all, the new GC policy will make larger applications more
2378 The new GC scheme also is prepared for POSIX threading. Threads can
2379 allocate private pools of cells ("clusters") with just a single
2380 function call. Allocation of single cells from such a cluster can
2381 then proceed without any need of inter-thread synchronization.
2383 ** New environment variables controlling GC parameters
2385 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE Maximal segment size
2388 Allocation of 2-word cell heaps:
2390 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1 Size of initial heap segment in bytes
2393 GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1 Minimum number of freed cells at each
2394 GC in percent of total heap size
2397 Allocation of 4-word cell heaps
2398 (used for real numbers and misc other objects):
2400 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2
2402 (See entry "Way for application to customize GC parameters" under
2403 section "Changes to the scm_ interface" below.)
2405 ** Guile now implements reals using 4-word cells
2407 This speeds up computation with reals. (They were earlier allocated
2408 with `malloc'.) There is still some room for optimizations, however.
2410 ** Some further steps toward POSIX thread support have been taken
2412 *** Guile's critical sections (SCM_DEFER/ALLOW_INTS)
2413 don't have much effect any longer, and many of them will be removed in
2417 are only handled at the top of the evaluator loop, immediately after
2418 I/O, and in scm_equalp.
2420 *** The GC can allocate thread private pools of pairs.
2422 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
2424 ** close-input-port and close-output-port are now R5RS
2426 These procedures have been turned into primitives and have R5RS behaviour.
2428 ** New procedure: simple-format PORT MESSAGE ARG1 ...
2430 (ice-9 boot) makes `format' an alias for `simple-format' until possibly
2431 extended by the more sophisticated version in (ice-9 format)
2433 (simple-format port message . args)
2434 Write MESSAGE to DESTINATION, defaulting to `current-output-port'.
2435 MESSAGE can contain ~A (was %s) and ~S (was %S) escapes. When printed,
2436 the escapes are replaced with corresponding members of ARGS:
2437 ~A formats using `display' and ~S formats using `write'.
2438 If DESTINATION is #t, then use the `current-output-port',
2439 if DESTINATION is #f, then return a string containing the formatted text.
2440 Does not add a trailing newline."
2442 ** string-ref: the second argument is no longer optional.
2444 ** string, list->string: no longer accept strings in their arguments,
2445 only characters, for compatibility with R5RS.
2447 ** New procedure: port-closed? PORT
2448 Returns #t if PORT is closed or #f if it is open.
2450 ** Deprecated: list*
2452 The list* functionality is now provided by cons* (SRFI-1 compliant)
2454 ** New procedure: cons* ARG1 ARG2 ... ARGn
2456 Like `list', but the last arg provides the tail of the constructed list,
2457 returning (cons ARG1 (cons ARG2 (cons ... ARGn))).
2459 Requires at least one argument. If given one argument, that argument
2460 is returned as result.
2462 This function is called `list*' in some other Schemes and in Common LISP.
2464 ** Removed deprecated: serial-map, serial-array-copy!, serial-array-map!
2466 ** New procedure: object-documentation OBJECT
2468 Returns the documentation string associated with OBJECT. The
2469 procedure uses a caching mechanism so that subsequent lookups are
2472 Exported by (ice-9 documentation).
2474 ** module-name now returns full names of modules
2476 Previously, only the last part of the name was returned (`session' for
2477 `(ice-9 session)'). Ex: `(ice-9 session)'.
2479 * Changes to the gh_ interface
2481 ** Deprecated: gh_int2scmb
2483 Use gh_bool2scm instead.
2485 * Changes to the scm_ interface
2487 ** Guile primitives now carry docstrings!
2489 Thanks to Greg Badros!
2491 ** Guile primitives are defined in a new way: SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
2493 Now Guile primitives are defined using the SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
2494 macros and must contain a docstring that is extracted into foo.doc using a new
2495 guile-doc-snarf script (that uses guile-doc-snarf.awk).
2497 However, a major overhaul of these macros is scheduled for the next release of
2500 ** Guile primitives use a new technique for validation of arguments
2502 SCM_VALIDATE_* macros are defined to ease the redundancy and improve
2503 the readability of argument checking.
2505 ** All (nearly?) K&R prototypes for functions replaced with ANSI C equivalents.
2507 ** New macros: SCM_PACK, SCM_UNPACK
2509 Compose/decompose an SCM value.
2511 The SCM type is now treated as an abstract data type and may be defined as a
2512 long, a void* or as a struct, depending on the architecture and compile time
2513 options. This makes it easier to find several types of bugs, for example when
2514 SCM values are treated as integers without conversion. Values of the SCM type
2515 should be treated as "atomic" values. These macros are used when
2516 composing/decomposing an SCM value, either because you want to access
2517 individual bits, or because you want to treat it as an integer value.
2519 E.g., in order to set bit 7 in an SCM value x, use the expression
2521 SCM_PACK (SCM_UNPACK (x) | 0x80)
2523 ** The name property of hooks is deprecated.
2524 Thus, the use of SCM_HOOK_NAME and scm_make_hook_with_name is deprecated.
2526 You can emulate this feature by using object properties.
2528 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP, SCM_CRDY, SCM_ICHRP,
2529 SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR, SCM_SETJMPBUF, SCM_NSTRINGP, SCM_NRWSTRINGP,
2532 These macros will be removed in a future release of Guile.
2534 ** The following types, functions and macros from numbers.h are deprecated:
2535 scm_dblproc, SCM_UNEGFIXABLE, SCM_FLOBUFLEN, SCM_INEXP, SCM_CPLXP, SCM_REAL,
2536 SCM_IMAG, SCM_REALPART, scm_makdbl, SCM_SINGP, SCM_NUM2DBL, SCM_NO_BIGDIG
2538 ** Port internals: the rw_random variable in the scm_port structure
2539 must be set to non-zero in any random access port. In recent Guile
2540 releases it was only set for bidirectional random-access ports.
2542 ** Port internals: the seek ptob procedure is now responsible for
2543 resetting the buffers if required. The change was made so that in the
2544 special case of reading the current position (i.e., seek p 0 SEEK_CUR)
2545 the fport and strport ptobs can avoid resetting the buffers,
2546 in particular to avoid discarding unread chars. An existing port
2547 type can be fixed by adding something like the following to the
2548 beginning of the ptob seek procedure:
2550 if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_READ)
2551 scm_end_input (object);
2552 else if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_WRITE)
2553 ptob->flush (object);
2555 although to actually avoid resetting the buffers and discard unread
2556 chars requires further hacking that depends on the characteristics
2559 ** Deprecated functions: scm_fseek, scm_tag
2561 These functions are no longer used and will be removed in a future version.
2563 ** The scm_sysmissing procedure is no longer used in libguile.
2564 Unless it turns out to be unexpectedly useful to somebody, it will be
2565 removed in a future version.
2567 ** The format of error message strings has changed
2569 The two C procedures: scm_display_error and scm_error, as well as the
2570 primitive `scm-error', now use scm_simple_format to do their work.
2571 This means that the message strings of all code must be updated to use
2572 ~A where %s was used before, and ~S where %S was used before.
2574 During the period when there still are a lot of old Guiles out there,
2575 you might want to support both old and new versions of Guile.
2577 There are basically two methods to achieve this. Both methods use
2580 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(scm_simple_format)
2582 in your configure.in.
2584 Method 1: Use the string concatenation features of ANSI C's
2589 #ifdef HAVE_SCM_SIMPLE_FORMAT
2595 Then represent each of your error messages using a preprocessor macro:
2597 #define E_SPIDER_ERROR "There's a spider in your " ## FMT_S ## "!!!"
2601 (define fmt-s (if (defined? 'simple-format) "~S" "%S"))
2602 (define make-message string-append)
2604 (define e-spider-error (make-message "There's a spider in your " fmt-s "!!!"))
2606 Method 2: Use the oldfmt function found in doc/oldfmt.c.
2610 scm_misc_error ("picnic", scm_c_oldfmt0 ("There's a spider in your ~S!!!"),
2615 (scm-error 'misc-error "picnic" (oldfmt "There's a spider in your ~S!!!")
2619 ** Deprecated: coop_mutex_init, coop_condition_variable_init
2621 Don't use the functions coop_mutex_init and
2622 coop_condition_variable_init. They will change.
2624 Use scm_mutex_init and scm_cond_init instead.
2626 ** New function: int scm_cond_timedwait (scm_cond_t *COND, scm_mutex_t *MUTEX, const struct timespec *ABSTIME)
2627 `scm_cond_timedwait' atomically unlocks MUTEX and waits on
2628 COND, as `scm_cond_wait' does, but it also bounds the duration
2629 of the wait. If COND has not been signaled before time ABSTIME,
2630 the mutex MUTEX is re-acquired and `scm_cond_timedwait'
2631 returns the error code `ETIMEDOUT'.
2633 The ABSTIME parameter specifies an absolute time, with the same
2634 origin as `time' and `gettimeofday': an ABSTIME of 0 corresponds
2635 to 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970.
2637 ** New function: scm_cond_broadcast (scm_cond_t *COND)
2638 `scm_cond_broadcast' restarts all the threads that are waiting
2639 on the condition variable COND. Nothing happens if no threads are
2642 ** New function: scm_key_create (scm_key_t *KEY, void (*destr_function) (void *))
2643 `scm_key_create' allocates a new TSD key. The key is stored in
2644 the location pointed to by KEY. There is no limit on the number
2645 of keys allocated at a given time. The value initially associated
2646 with the returned key is `NULL' in all currently executing threads.
2648 The DESTR_FUNCTION argument, if not `NULL', specifies a destructor
2649 function associated with the key. When a thread terminates,
2650 DESTR_FUNCTION is called on the value associated with the key in
2651 that thread. The DESTR_FUNCTION is not called if a key is deleted
2652 with `scm_key_delete' or a value is changed with
2653 `scm_setspecific'. The order in which destructor functions are
2654 called at thread termination time is unspecified.
2656 Destructors are not yet implemented.
2658 ** New function: scm_setspecific (scm_key_t KEY, const void *POINTER)
2659 `scm_setspecific' changes the value associated with KEY in the
2660 calling thread, storing the given POINTER instead.
2662 ** New function: scm_getspecific (scm_key_t KEY)
2663 `scm_getspecific' returns the value currently associated with
2664 KEY in the calling thread.
2666 ** New function: scm_key_delete (scm_key_t KEY)
2667 `scm_key_delete' deallocates a TSD key. It does not check
2668 whether non-`NULL' values are associated with that key in the
2669 currently executing threads, nor call the destructor function
2670 associated with the key.
2672 ** New function: scm_c_hook_init (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *HOOK_DATA, scm_c_hook_type_t TYPE)
2674 Initialize a C level hook HOOK with associated HOOK_DATA and type
2675 TYPE. (See scm_c_hook_run ().)
2677 ** New function: scm_c_hook_add (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA, int APPENDP)
2679 Add hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA to HOOK. If APPENDP
2680 is true, add it last, otherwise first. The same FUNC can be added
2681 multiple times if FUNC_DATA differ and vice versa.
2683 ** New function: scm_c_hook_remove (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA)
2685 Remove hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA from HOOK. A
2686 function is only removed if both FUNC and FUNC_DATA matches.
2688 ** New function: void *scm_c_hook_run (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *DATA)
2690 Run hook HOOK passing DATA to the hook functions.
2692 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_NORMAL, all hook functions are run. The value
2693 returned is undefined.
2695 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_OR, hook functions are run until a function
2696 returns a non-NULL value. This value is returned as the result of
2697 scm_c_hook_run. If all functions return NULL, NULL is returned.
2699 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_AND, hook functions are run until a function
2700 returns a NULL value, and NULL is returned. If all functions returns
2701 a non-NULL value, the last value is returned.
2703 ** New C level GC hooks
2705 Five new C level hooks has been added to the garbage collector.
2707 scm_before_gc_c_hook
2710 are run before locking and after unlocking the heap. The system is
2711 thus in a mode where evaluation can take place. (Except that
2712 scm_before_gc_c_hook must not allocate new cells.)
2714 scm_before_mark_c_hook
2715 scm_before_sweep_c_hook
2716 scm_after_sweep_c_hook
2718 are run when the heap is locked. These are intended for extension of
2719 the GC in a modular fashion. Examples are the weaks and guardians
2722 ** Way for application to customize GC parameters
2724 The application can set up other default values for the GC heap
2725 allocation parameters
2727 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_1, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1,
2728 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2,
2729 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE,
2733 scm_default_init_heap_size_1, scm_default_min_yield_1,
2734 scm_default_init_heap_size_2, scm_default_min_yield_2,
2735 scm_default_max_segment_size
2737 respectively before callong scm_boot_guile.
2739 (See entry "New environment variables ..." in section
2740 "Changes to the stand-alone interpreter" above.)
2742 ** scm_protect_object/scm_unprotect_object now nest
2744 This means that you can call scm_protect_object multiple times on an
2745 object and count on the object being protected until
2746 scm_unprotect_object has been call the same number of times.
2748 The functions also have better time complexity.
2750 Still, it is usually possible to structure the application in a way
2751 that you don't need to use these functions. For example, if you use a
2752 protected standard Guile list to keep track of live objects rather
2753 than some custom data type, objects will die a natural death when they
2754 are no longer needed.
2756 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc16_flo, scm_tc_flo, scm_tc_dblr, scm_tc_dblc
2758 Guile does not provide the float representation for inexact real numbers any
2759 more. Now, only doubles are used to represent inexact real numbers. Further,
2760 the tag names scm_tc_dblr and scm_tc_dblc have been changed to scm_tc16_real
2761 and scm_tc16_complex, respectively.
2763 ** Removed deprecated type scm_smobfuns
2765 ** Removed deprecated function scm_newsmob
2767 ** Warning: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe might become deprecated in a future release
2769 There is an ongoing discussion among the developers whether to
2770 deprecate `scm_make_smob_type_mfpe' or not. Please use the current
2771 standard interface (scm_make_smob_type, scm_set_smob_XXX) in new code
2772 until this issue has been settled.
2774 ** Removed deprecated type tag scm_tc16_kw
2776 ** Added type tag scm_tc16_keyword
2778 (This was introduced already in release 1.3.4 but was not documented
2781 ** gdb_print now prints "*** Guile not initialized ***" until Guile initialized
2783 * Changes to system call interfaces:
2785 ** The "select" procedure now tests port buffers for the ability to
2786 provide input or accept output. Previously only the underlying file
2787 descriptors were checked.
2789 ** New variable PIPE_BUF: the maximum number of bytes that can be
2790 atomically written to a pipe.
2792 ** If a facility is not available on the system when Guile is
2793 compiled, the corresponding primitive procedure will not be defined.
2794 Previously it would have been defined but would throw a system-error
2795 exception if called. Exception handlers which catch this case may
2796 need minor modification: an error will be thrown with key
2797 'unbound-variable instead of 'system-error. Alternatively it's
2798 now possible to use `defined?' to check whether the facility is
2801 ** Procedures which depend on the timezone should now give the correct
2802 result on systems which cache the TZ environment variable, even if TZ
2803 is changed without calling tzset.
2805 * Changes to the networking interfaces:
2807 ** New functions: htons, ntohs, htonl, ntohl: for converting short and
2808 long integers between network and host format. For now, it's not
2809 particularly convenient to do this kind of thing, but consider:
2811 (define write-network-long
2812 (lambda (value port)
2813 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
2814 (uniform-vector-set! v 0 (htonl value))
2815 (uniform-vector-write v port))))
2817 (define read-network-long
2819 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
2820 (uniform-vector-read! v port)
2821 (ntohl (uniform-vector-ref v 0)))))
2823 ** If inet-aton fails, it now throws an error with key 'misc-error
2824 instead of 'system-error, since errno is not relevant.
2826 ** Certain gethostbyname/gethostbyaddr failures now throw errors with
2827 specific keys instead of 'system-error. The latter is inappropriate
2828 since errno will not have been set. The keys are:
2829 'host-not-found, 'try-again, 'no-recovery and 'no-data.
2831 ** sethostent, setnetent, setprotoent, setservent: now take an
2832 optional argument STAYOPEN, which specifies whether the database
2833 remains open after a database entry is accessed randomly (e.g., using
2834 gethostbyname for the hosts database.) The default is #f. Previously
2838 Changes since Guile 1.3.2:
2840 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
2844 An initial version of the Guile debugger written by Chris Hanson has
2845 been added. The debugger is still under development but is included
2846 in the distribution anyway since it is already quite useful.
2852 after an error to enter the debugger. Type `help' inside the debugger
2853 for a description of available commands.
2855 If you prefer to have stack frames numbered and printed in
2856 anti-chronological order and prefer up in the stack to be down on the
2857 screen as is the case in gdb, you can put
2859 (debug-enable 'backwards)
2861 in your .guile startup file. (However, this means that Guile can't
2862 use indentation to indicate stack level.)
2864 The debugger is autoloaded into Guile at the first use.
2866 ** Further enhancements to backtraces
2868 There is a new debug option `width' which controls the maximum width
2869 on the screen of printed stack frames. Fancy printing parameters
2870 ("level" and "length" as in Common LISP) are adaptively adjusted for
2871 each stack frame to give maximum information while still fitting
2872 within the bounds. If the stack frame can't be made to fit by
2873 adjusting parameters, it is simply cut off at the end. This is marked
2876 ** Some modules are now only loaded when the repl is started
2878 The modules (ice-9 debug), (ice-9 session), (ice-9 threads) and (ice-9
2879 regex) are now loaded into (guile-user) only if the repl has been
2880 started. The effect is that the startup time for scripts has been
2881 reduced to 30% of what it was previously.
2883 Correctly written scripts load the modules they require at the top of
2884 the file and should not be affected by this change.
2886 ** Hooks are now represented as smobs
2888 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
2890 ** Readline support has changed again.
2892 The old (readline-activator) module is gone. Use (ice-9 readline)
2893 instead, which now contains all readline functionality. So the code
2894 to activate readline is now
2896 (use-modules (ice-9 readline))
2899 This should work at any time, including from the guile prompt.
2901 To avoid confusion about the terms of Guile's license, please only
2902 enable readline for your personal use; please don't make it the
2903 default for others. Here is why we make this rather odd-sounding
2906 Guile is normally licensed under a weakened form of the GNU General
2907 Public License, which allows you to link code with Guile without
2908 placing that code under the GPL. This exception is important to some
2911 However, since readline is distributed under the GNU General Public
2912 License, when you link Guile with readline, either statically or
2913 dynamically, you effectively change Guile's license to the strict GPL.
2914 Whenever you link any strictly GPL'd code into Guile, uses of Guile
2915 which are normally permitted become forbidden. This is a rather
2916 non-obvious consequence of the licensing terms.
2918 So, to make sure things remain clear, please let people choose for
2919 themselves whether to link GPL'd libraries like readline with Guile.
2921 ** regexp-substitute/global has changed slightly, but incompatibly.
2923 If you include a function in the item list, the string of the match
2924 object it receives is the same string passed to
2925 regexp-substitute/global, not some suffix of that string.
2926 Correspondingly, the match's positions are relative to the entire
2927 string, not the suffix.
2929 If the regexp can match the empty string, the way matches are chosen
2930 from the string has changed. regexp-substitute/global recognizes the
2931 same set of matches that list-matches does; see below.
2933 ** New function: list-matches REGEXP STRING [FLAGS]
2935 Return a list of match objects, one for every non-overlapping, maximal
2936 match of REGEXP in STRING. The matches appear in left-to-right order.
2937 list-matches only reports matches of the empty string if there are no
2938 other matches which begin on, end at, or include the empty match's
2941 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
2943 ** New function: fold-matches REGEXP STRING INIT PROC [FLAGS]
2945 For each match of REGEXP in STRING, apply PROC to the match object,
2946 and the last value PROC returned, or INIT for the first call. Return
2947 the last value returned by PROC. We apply PROC to the matches as they
2948 appear from left to right.
2950 This function recognizes matches according to the same criteria as
2953 Thus, you could define list-matches like this:
2955 (define (list-matches regexp string . flags)
2956 (reverse! (apply fold-matches regexp string '() cons flags)))
2958 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
2962 *** New function: hook? OBJ
2964 Return #t if OBJ is a hook, otherwise #f.
2966 *** New function: make-hook-with-name NAME [ARITY]
2968 Return a hook with name NAME and arity ARITY. The default value for
2969 ARITY is 0. The only effect of NAME is that it will appear when the
2970 hook object is printed to ease debugging.
2972 *** New function: hook-empty? HOOK
2974 Return #t if HOOK doesn't contain any procedures, otherwise #f.
2976 *** New function: hook->list HOOK
2978 Return a list of the procedures that are called when run-hook is
2981 ** `map' signals an error if its argument lists are not all the same length.
2983 This is the behavior required by R5RS, so this change is really a bug
2984 fix. But it seems to affect a lot of people's code, so we're
2985 mentioning it here anyway.
2987 ** Print-state handling has been made more transparent
2989 Under certain circumstances, ports are represented as a port with an
2990 associated print state. Earlier, this pair was represented as a pair
2991 (see "Some magic has been added to the printer" below). It is now
2992 indistinguishable (almost; see `get-print-state') from a port on the
2995 *** New function: port-with-print-state OUTPUT-PORT PRINT-STATE
2997 Return a new port with the associated print state PRINT-STATE.
2999 *** New function: get-print-state OUTPUT-PORT
3001 Return the print state associated with this port if it exists,
3002 otherwise return #f.
3004 *** New function: directory-stream? OBJECT
3006 Returns true iff OBJECT is a directory stream --- the sort of object
3007 returned by `opendir'.
3009 ** New function: using-readline?
3011 Return #t if readline is in use in the current repl.
3013 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
3015 Structs will be replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into Guile
3016 and use GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
3018 * Changes to the scm_ interface
3020 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
3022 The entire current struct interface (struct.c, struct.h) will be
3023 replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into libguile and use
3024 GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
3026 ** The internal representation of subr's has changed
3028 Instead of giving a hint to the subr name, the CAR field of the subr
3029 now contains an index to a subr entry in scm_subr_table.
3031 *** New variable: scm_subr_table
3033 An array of subr entries. A subr entry contains the name, properties
3034 and documentation associated with the subr. The properties and
3035 documentation slots are not yet used.
3037 ** A new scheme for "forwarding" calls to a builtin to a generic function
3039 It is now possible to extend the functionality of some Guile
3040 primitives by letting them defer a call to a GOOPS generic function on
3041 argument mismatch. This means that there is no loss of efficiency in
3046 (use-modules (oop goops)) ; Must be GOOPS version 0.2.
3047 (define-method + ((x <string>) (y <string>))
3048 (string-append x y))
3050 + will still be as efficient as usual in numerical calculations, but
3051 can also be used for concatenating strings.
3053 Who will be the first one to extend Guile's numerical tower to
3054 rationals? :) [OK, there a few other things to fix before this can
3055 be made in a clean way.]
3057 *** New snarf macros for defining primitives: SCM_GPROC, SCM_GPROC1
3059 New macro: SCM_GPROC (CNAME, SNAME, REQ, OPT, VAR, CFUNC, GENERIC)
3061 New macro: SCM_GPROC1 (CNAME, SNAME, TYPE, CFUNC, GENERIC)
3063 These do the same job as SCM_PROC and SCM_PROC1, but they also define
3064 a variable GENERIC which can be used by the dispatch macros below.
3066 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3068 *** New macros for forwarding control to a generic on arg type error
3070 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1 (GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
3072 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
3074 These correspond to the scm_wta function call, and have the same
3075 behaviour until the user has called the GOOPS primitive
3076 `enable-primitive-generic!'. After that, these macros will apply the
3077 generic function GENERIC to the argument(s) instead of calling
3080 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3082 *** New macros for argument testing with generic dispatch
3084 New macro: SCM_GASSERT1 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
3086 New macro: SCM_GASSERT2 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
3088 These correspond to the SCM_ASSERT macro, but will defer control to
3089 GENERIC on error after `enable-primitive-generic!' has been called.
3091 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3093 ** New function: SCM scm_eval_body (SCM body, SCM env)
3095 Evaluates the body of a special form.
3097 ** The internal representation of struct's has changed
3099 Previously, four slots were allocated for the procedure(s) of entities
3100 and operators. The motivation for this representation had to do with
3101 the structure of the evaluator, the wish to support tail-recursive
3102 generic functions, and efficiency. Since the generic function
3103 dispatch mechanism has changed, there is no longer a need for such an
3104 expensive representation, and the representation has been simplified.
3106 This should not make any difference for most users.
3108 ** GOOPS support has been cleaned up.
3110 Some code has been moved from eval.c to objects.c and code in both of
3111 these compilation units has been cleaned up and better structured.
3113 *** New functions for applying generic functions
3115 New function: SCM scm_apply_generic (GENERIC, ARGS)
3116 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_0 (GENERIC)
3117 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_1 (GENERIC, ARG1)
3118 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2)
3119 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_3 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, ARG3)
3121 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_named_hook
3123 It is now replaced by:
3125 ** New function: SCM scm_create_hook (const char *name, int arity)
3127 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
3128 binds a variable named NAME to it.
3130 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
3132 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module.
3133 This might change when we get the new module system.
3135 [The behaviour is identical to scm_make_named_hook.]
3139 Changes since Guile 1.3:
3141 * Changes to mailing lists
3143 ** Some of the Guile mailing lists have moved to sourceware.cygnus.com.
3145 See the README file to find current addresses for all the Guile
3148 * Changes to the distribution
3150 ** Readline support is no longer included with Guile by default.
3152 Based on the different license terms of Guile and Readline, we
3153 concluded that Guile should not *by default* cause the linking of
3154 Readline into an application program. Readline support is now offered
3155 as a separate module, which is linked into an application only when
3156 you explicitly specify it.
3158 Although Guile is GNU software, its distribution terms add a special
3159 exception to the usual GNU General Public License (GPL). Guile's
3160 license includes a clause that allows you to link Guile with non-free
3161 programs. We add this exception so as not to put Guile at a
3162 disadvantage vis-a-vis other extensibility packages that support other
3165 In contrast, the GNU Readline library is distributed under the GNU
3166 General Public License pure and simple. This means that you may not
3167 link Readline, even dynamically, into an application unless it is
3168 distributed under a free software license that is compatible the GPL.
3170 Because of this difference in distribution terms, an application that
3171 can use Guile may not be able to use Readline. Now users will be
3172 explicitly offered two independent decisions about the use of these
3175 You can activate the readline support by issuing
3177 (use-modules (readline-activator))
3180 from your ".guile" file, for example.
3182 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3184 ** All builtins now print as primitives.
3185 Previously builtin procedures not belonging to the fundamental subr
3186 types printed as #<compiled closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>.
3187 Now, they print as #<primitive-procedure NAME>.
3189 ** Backtraces slightly more intelligible.
3190 gsubr-apply and macro transformer application frames no longer appear
3193 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3195 ** Guile now correctly handles internal defines by rewriting them into
3196 their equivalent letrec. Previously, internal defines would
3197 incrementally add to the innermost environment, without checking
3198 whether the restrictions specified in RnRS were met. This lead to the
3199 correct behaviour when these restriction actually were met, but didn't
3200 catch all illegal uses. Such an illegal use could lead to crashes of
3201 the Guile interpreter or or other unwanted results. An example of
3202 incorrect internal defines that made Guile behave erratically:
3214 The problem with this example is that the definition of `c' uses the
3215 value of `b' directly. This confuses the meoization machine of Guile
3216 so that the second call of `b' (this time in a larger environment that
3217 also contains bindings for `c' and `d') refers to the binding of `c'
3218 instead of `a'. You could also make Guile crash with a variation on
3223 (define (b flag) (if flag a 1))
3224 (define c (1+ (b flag)))
3232 From now on, Guile will issue an `Unbound variable: b' error message
3237 A hook contains a list of functions which should be called on
3238 particular occasions in an existing program. Hooks are used for
3241 A window manager might have a hook before-window-map-hook. The window
3242 manager uses the function run-hooks to call all functions stored in
3243 before-window-map-hook each time a window is mapped. The user can
3244 store functions in the hook using add-hook!.
3246 In Guile, hooks are first class objects.
3248 *** New function: make-hook [N_ARGS]
3250 Return a hook for hook functions which can take N_ARGS arguments.
3251 The default value for N_ARGS is 0.
3253 (See also scm_make_named_hook below.)
3255 *** New function: add-hook! HOOK PROC [APPEND_P]
3257 Put PROC at the beginning of the list of functions stored in HOOK.
3258 If APPEND_P is supplied, and non-false, put PROC at the end instead.
3260 PROC must be able to take the number of arguments specified when the
3263 If PROC already exists in HOOK, then remove it first.
3265 *** New function: remove-hook! HOOK PROC
3267 Remove PROC from the list of functions in HOOK.
3269 *** New function: reset-hook! HOOK
3271 Clear the list of hook functions stored in HOOK.
3273 *** New function: run-hook HOOK ARG1 ...
3275 Run all hook functions stored in HOOK with arguments ARG1 ... .
3276 The number of arguments supplied must correspond to the number given
3277 when the hook was created.
3279 ** The function `dynamic-link' now takes optional keyword arguments.
3280 The only keyword argument that is currently defined is `:global
3281 BOOL'. With it, you can control whether the shared library will be
3282 linked in global mode or not. In global mode, the symbols from the
3283 linked library can be used to resolve references from other
3284 dynamically linked libraries. In non-global mode, the linked
3285 library is essentially invisible and can only be accessed via
3286 `dynamic-func', etc. The default is now to link in global mode.
3287 Previously, the default has been non-global mode.
3289 The `#:global' keyword is only effective on platforms that support
3290 the dlopen family of functions.
3292 ** New function `provided?'
3294 - Function: provided? FEATURE
3295 Return true iff FEATURE is supported by this installation of
3296 Guile. FEATURE must be a symbol naming a feature; the global
3297 variable `*features*' is a list of available features.
3299 ** Changes to the module (ice-9 expect):
3301 *** The expect-strings macro now matches `$' in a regular expression
3302 only at a line-break or end-of-file by default. Previously it would
3303 match the end of the string accumulated so far. The old behaviour
3304 can be obtained by setting the variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
3307 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
3308 for the regexp-exec flags. If `regexp/noteol' is included, then `$'
3309 in a regular expression will still match before a line-break or
3310 end-of-file. The default is `regexp/noteol'.
3312 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable
3313 `expect-strings-compile-flags' for the flags to be supplied to
3314 `make-regexp'. The default is `regexp/newline', which was previously
3317 *** The expect macro now supplies two arguments to a match procedure:
3318 the current accumulated string and a flag to indicate whether
3319 end-of-file has been reached. Previously only the string was supplied.
3320 If end-of-file is reached, the match procedure will be called an
3321 additional time with the same accumulated string as the previous call
3322 but with the flag set.
3324 ** New module (ice-9 format), implementing the Common Lisp `format' function.
3326 This code, and the documentation for it that appears here, was
3327 borrowed from SLIB, with minor adaptations for Guile.
3329 - Function: format DESTINATION FORMAT-STRING . ARGUMENTS
3330 An almost complete implementation of Common LISP format description
3331 according to the CL reference book `Common LISP' from Guy L.
3332 Steele, Digital Press. Backward compatible to most of the
3333 available Scheme format implementations.
3335 Returns `#t', `#f' or a string; has side effect of printing
3336 according to FORMAT-STRING. If DESTINATION is `#t', the output is
3337 to the current output port and `#t' is returned. If DESTINATION
3338 is `#f', a formatted string is returned as the result of the call.
3339 NEW: If DESTINATION is a string, DESTINATION is regarded as the
3340 format string; FORMAT-STRING is then the first argument and the
3341 output is returned as a string. If DESTINATION is a number, the
3342 output is to the current error port if available by the
3343 implementation. Otherwise DESTINATION must be an output port and
3346 FORMAT-STRING must be a string. In case of a formatting error
3347 format returns `#f' and prints a message on the current output or
3348 error port. Characters are output as if the string were output by
3349 the `display' function with the exception of those prefixed by a
3350 tilde (~). For a detailed description of the FORMAT-STRING syntax
3351 please consult a Common LISP format reference manual. For a test
3352 suite to verify this format implementation load `formatst.scm'.
3353 Please send bug reports to `lutzeb@cs.tu-berlin.de'.
3355 Note: `format' is not reentrant, i.e. only one `format'-call may
3356 be executed at a time.
3359 *** Format Specification (Format version 3.0)
3361 Please consult a Common LISP format reference manual for a detailed
3362 description of the format string syntax. For a demonstration of the
3363 implemented directives see `formatst.scm'.
3365 This implementation supports directive parameters and modifiers (`:'
3366 and `@' characters). Multiple parameters must be separated by a comma
3367 (`,'). Parameters can be numerical parameters (positive or negative),
3368 character parameters (prefixed by a quote character (`''), variable
3369 parameters (`v'), number of rest arguments parameter (`#'), empty and
3370 default parameters. Directive characters are case independent. The
3371 general form of a directive is:
3373 DIRECTIVE ::= ~{DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER,}[:][@]DIRECTIVE-CHARACTER
3375 DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER ::= [ [-|+]{0-9}+ | 'CHARACTER | v | # ]
3377 *** Implemented CL Format Control Directives
3379 Documentation syntax: Uppercase characters represent the
3380 corresponding control directive characters. Lowercase characters
3381 represent control directive parameter descriptions.
3384 Any (print as `display' does).
3388 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARA'
3392 S-expression (print as `write' does).
3396 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARS'
3402 print number sign always.
3405 print comma separated.
3407 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARD'
3413 print number sign always.
3416 print comma separated.
3418 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARX'
3424 print number sign always.
3427 print comma separated.
3429 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARO'
3435 print number sign always.
3438 print comma separated.
3440 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARB'
3445 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARR'
3449 print a number as a Roman numeral.
3452 print a number as an "old fashioned" Roman numeral.
3455 print a number as an ordinal English number.
3458 print a number as a cardinal English number.
3463 prints `y' and `ies'.
3466 as `~P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
3469 as `~@P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
3474 prints a character as the reader can understand it (i.e. `#\'
3478 prints a character as emacs does (eg. `^C' for ASCII 03).
3481 Fixed-format floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN).
3482 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHARF'
3484 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3487 Exponential floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN`E'EE).
3488 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARE'
3490 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3493 General floating-point (prints a flonum either fixed or
3495 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARG'
3497 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3500 Dollars floating-point (prints a flonum in fixed with signs
3502 `~DIGITS,SCALE,WIDTH,PADCHAR$'
3504 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3507 A sign is always printed and appears before the padding.
3510 The sign appears before the padding.
3518 print newline if not at the beginning of the output line.
3520 prints `~&' and then N-1 newlines.
3525 print N page separators.
3535 newline is ignored, white space left.
3538 newline is left, white space ignored.
3543 relative tabulation.
3549 Indirection (expects indirect arguments as a list).
3551 extracts indirect arguments from format arguments.
3554 Case conversion (converts by `string-downcase').
3556 converts by `string-capitalize'.
3559 converts by `string-capitalize-first'.
3562 converts by `string-upcase'.
3565 Argument Jumping (jumps 1 argument forward).
3567 jumps N arguments forward.
3570 jumps 1 argument backward.
3573 jumps N arguments backward.
3576 jumps to the 0th argument.
3579 jumps to the Nth argument (beginning from 0)
3581 `~[STR0~;STR1~;...~;STRN~]'
3582 Conditional Expression (numerical clause conditional).
3584 take argument from N.
3587 true test conditional.
3590 if-else-then conditional.
3596 default clause follows.
3599 Iteration (args come from the next argument (a list)).
3601 at most N iterations.
3604 args from next arg (a list of lists).
3607 args from the rest of arguments.
3610 args from the rest args (lists).
3621 aborts if N <= M <= K
3623 *** Not Implemented CL Format Control Directives
3626 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
3629 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
3635 (sorry I don't understand its semantics completely)
3637 *** Extended, Replaced and Additional Control Directives
3639 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHD'
3640 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHX'
3641 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHO'
3642 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHB'
3643 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHR'
3644 COMMAWIDTH is the number of characters between two comma
3648 print a R4RS complex number as `~F~@Fi' with passed parameters for
3652 Pretty print formatting of an argument for scheme code lists.
3658 Flushes the output if format DESTINATION is a port.
3661 Print a `#\space' character
3663 print N `#\space' characters.
3666 Print a `#\tab' character
3668 print N `#\tab' characters.
3671 Takes N as an integer representation for a character. No arguments
3672 are consumed. N is converted to a character by `integer->char'. N
3673 must be a positive decimal number.
3676 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
3677 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
3678 be processed by `read'.
3681 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
3682 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
3683 be processed by `read'.
3686 Prints information and a copyright notice on the format
3689 prints format version.
3692 may also print number strings, i.e. passing a number as a string
3693 and format it accordingly.
3695 *** Configuration Variables
3697 The format module exports some configuration variables to suit the
3698 systems and users needs. There should be no modification necessary for
3699 the configuration that comes with Guile. Format detects automatically
3700 if the running scheme system implements floating point numbers and
3703 format:symbol-case-conv
3704 Symbols are converted by `symbol->string' so the case type of the
3705 printed symbols is implementation dependent.
3706 `format:symbol-case-conv' is a one arg closure which is either
3707 `#f' (no conversion), `string-upcase', `string-downcase' or
3708 `string-capitalize'. (default `#f')
3710 format:iobj-case-conv
3711 As FORMAT:SYMBOL-CASE-CONV but applies for the representation of
3712 implementation internal objects. (default `#f')
3715 The character prefixing the exponent value in `~E' printing.
3718 *** Compatibility With Other Format Implementations
3724 Downward compatible except for padding support and `~A', `~S',
3725 `~P', `~X' uppercase printing. SLIB format 1.4 uses C-style
3726 `printf' padding support which is completely replaced by the CL
3727 `format' padding style.
3730 Downward compatible except for `~', which is not documented
3731 (ignores all characters inside the format string up to a newline
3732 character). (7.1 implements `~a', `~s', ~NEWLINE, `~~', `~%',
3733 numerical and variable parameters and `:/@' modifiers in the CL
3737 Downward compatible except for `~A' and `~S' which print in
3738 uppercase. (Elk implements `~a', `~s', `~~', and `~%' (no
3739 directive parameters or modifiers)).
3742 Downward compatible except for an optional destination parameter:
3743 S2C accepts a format call without a destination which returns a
3744 formatted string. This is equivalent to a #f destination in S2C.
3745 (S2C implements `~a', `~s', `~c', `~%', and `~~' (no directive
3746 parameters or modifiers)).
3749 ** Changes to string-handling functions.
3751 These functions were added to support the (ice-9 format) module, above.
3753 *** New function: string-upcase STRING
3754 *** New function: string-downcase STRING
3756 These are non-destructive versions of the existing string-upcase! and
3757 string-downcase! functions.
3759 *** New function: string-capitalize! STRING
3760 *** New function: string-capitalize STRING
3762 These functions convert the first letter of each word in the string to
3765 (string-capitalize "howdy there")
3768 As with the other functions, string-capitalize! modifies the string in
3769 place, while string-capitalize returns a modified copy of its argument.
3771 *** New function: string-ci->symbol STRING
3773 Return a symbol whose name is STRING, but having the same case as if
3774 the symbol had be read by `read'.
3776 Guile can be configured to be sensitive or insensitive to case
3777 differences in Scheme identifiers. If Guile is case-insensitive, all
3778 symbols are converted to lower case on input. The `string-ci->symbol'
3779 function returns a symbol whose name in STRING, transformed as Guile
3780 would if STRING were input.
3782 *** New function: substring-move! STRING1 START END STRING2 START
3784 Copy the substring of STRING1 from START (inclusive) to END
3785 (exclusive) to STRING2 at START. STRING1 and STRING2 may be the same
3786 string, and the source and destination areas may overlap; in all
3787 cases, the function behaves as if all the characters were copied
3790 *** Extended functions: substring-move-left! substring-move-right!
3792 These functions now correctly copy arbitrarily overlapping substrings;
3793 they are both synonyms for substring-move!.
3796 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-long), with the function `getopt-long'.
3798 getopt-long is a function for parsing command-line arguments in a
3799 manner consistent with other GNU programs.
3801 (getopt-long ARGS GRAMMAR)
3802 Parse the arguments ARGS according to the argument list grammar GRAMMAR.
3804 ARGS should be a list of strings. Its first element should be the
3805 name of the program; subsequent elements should be the arguments
3806 that were passed to the program on the command line. The
3807 `program-arguments' procedure returns a list of this form.
3809 GRAMMAR is a list of the form:
3810 ((OPTION (PROPERTY VALUE) ...) ...)
3812 Each OPTION should be a symbol. `getopt-long' will accept a
3813 command-line option named `--OPTION'.
3814 Each option can have the following (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs:
3816 (single-char CHAR) --- Accept `-CHAR' as a single-character
3817 equivalent to `--OPTION'. This is how to specify traditional
3819 (required? BOOL) --- If BOOL is true, the option is required.
3820 getopt-long will raise an error if it is not found in ARGS.
3821 (value BOOL) --- If BOOL is #t, the option accepts a value; if
3822 it is #f, it does not; and if it is the symbol
3823 `optional', the option may appear in ARGS with or
3825 (predicate FUNC) --- If the option accepts a value (i.e. you
3826 specified `(value #t)' for this option), then getopt
3827 will apply FUNC to the value, and throw an exception
3828 if it returns #f. FUNC should be a procedure which
3829 accepts a string and returns a boolean value; you may
3830 need to use quasiquotes to get it into GRAMMAR.
3832 The (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs may occur in any order, but each
3833 property may occur only once. By default, options do not have
3834 single-character equivalents, are not required, and do not take
3837 In ARGS, single-character options may be combined, in the usual
3838 Unix fashion: ("-x" "-y") is equivalent to ("-xy"). If an option
3839 accepts values, then it must be the last option in the
3840 combination; the value is the next argument. So, for example, using
3841 the following grammar:
3842 ((apples (single-char #\a))
3843 (blimps (single-char #\b) (value #t))
3844 (catalexis (single-char #\c) (value #t)))
3845 the following argument lists would be acceptable:
3846 ("-a" "-b" "bang" "-c" "couth") ("bang" and "couth" are the values
3847 for "blimps" and "catalexis")
3848 ("-ab" "bang" "-c" "couth") (same)
3849 ("-ac" "couth" "-b" "bang") (same)
3850 ("-abc" "couth" "bang") (an error, since `-b' is not the
3851 last option in its combination)
3853 If an option's value is optional, then `getopt-long' decides
3854 whether it has a value by looking at what follows it in ARGS. If
3855 the next element is a string, and it does not appear to be an
3856 option itself, then that string is the option's value.
3858 The value of a long option can appear as the next element in ARGS,
3859 or it can follow the option name, separated by an `=' character.
3860 Thus, using the same grammar as above, the following argument lists
3862 ("--apples" "Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
3863 ("--apples=Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
3864 ("--blimps" "Goodyear" "--apples=Braeburn")
3866 If the option "--" appears in ARGS, argument parsing stops there;
3867 subsequent arguments are returned as ordinary arguments, even if
3868 they resemble options. So, in the argument list:
3869 ("--apples" "Granny Smith" "--" "--blimp" "Goodyear")
3870 `getopt-long' will recognize the `apples' option as having the
3871 value "Granny Smith", but it will not recognize the `blimp'
3872 option; it will return the strings "--blimp" and "Goodyear" as
3873 ordinary argument strings.
3875 The `getopt-long' function returns the parsed argument list as an
3876 assocation list, mapping option names --- the symbols from GRAMMAR
3877 --- onto their values, or #t if the option does not accept a value.
3878 Unused options do not appear in the alist.
3880 All arguments that are not the value of any option are returned
3881 as a list, associated with the empty list.
3883 `getopt-long' throws an exception if:
3884 - it finds an unrecognized option in ARGS
3885 - a required option is omitted
3886 - an option that requires an argument doesn't get one
3887 - an option that doesn't accept an argument does get one (this can
3888 only happen using the long option `--opt=value' syntax)
3889 - an option predicate fails
3894 `((lockfile-dir (required? #t)
3897 (predicate ,file-is-directory?))
3898 (verbose (required? #f)
3901 (x-includes (single-char #\x))
3902 (rnet-server (single-char #\y)
3903 (predicate ,string?))))
3905 (getopt-long '("my-prog" "-vk" "/tmp" "foo1" "--x-includes=/usr/include"
3906 "--rnet-server=lamprod" "--" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
3908 => ((() "foo1" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
3909 (rnet-server . "lamprod")
3910 (x-includes . "/usr/include")
3911 (lockfile-dir . "/tmp")
3914 ** The (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) module is obsolete; use (ice-9 getopt-long).
3916 It will be removed in a few releases.
3918 ** New syntax: lambda*
3919 ** New syntax: define*
3920 ** New syntax: define*-public
3921 ** New syntax: defmacro*
3922 ** New syntax: defmacro*-public
3923 Guile now supports optional arguments.
3925 `lambda*', `define*', `define*-public', `defmacro*' and
3926 `defmacro*-public' are identical to the non-* versions except that
3927 they use an extended type of parameter list that has the following BNF
3928 syntax (parentheses are literal, square brackets indicate grouping,
3929 and `*', `+' and `?' have the usual meaning):
3931 ext-param-list ::= ( [identifier]* [#&optional [ext-var-decl]+]?
3932 [#&key [ext-var-decl]+ [#&allow-other-keys]?]?
3933 [[#&rest identifier]|[. identifier]]? ) | [identifier]
3935 ext-var-decl ::= identifier | ( identifier expression )
3937 The semantics are best illustrated with the following documentation
3938 and examples for `lambda*':
3941 lambda extended for optional and keyword arguments
3943 lambda* creates a procedure that takes optional arguments. These
3944 are specified by putting them inside brackets at the end of the
3945 paramater list, but before any dotted rest argument. For example,
3946 (lambda* (a b #&optional c d . e) '())
3947 creates a procedure with fixed arguments a and b, optional arguments c
3948 and d, and rest argument e. If the optional arguments are omitted
3949 in a call, the variables for them are unbound in the procedure. This
3950 can be checked with the bound? macro.
3952 lambda* can also take keyword arguments. For example, a procedure
3954 (lambda* (#&key xyzzy larch) '())
3955 can be called with any of the argument lists (#:xyzzy 11)
3956 (#:larch 13) (#:larch 42 #:xyzzy 19) (). Whichever arguments
3957 are given as keywords are bound to values.
3959 Optional and keyword arguments can also be given default values
3960 which they take on when they are not present in a call, by giving a
3961 two-item list in place of an optional argument, for example in:
3962 (lambda* (foo #&optional (bar 42) #&key (baz 73)) (list foo bar baz))
3963 foo is a fixed argument, bar is an optional argument with default
3964 value 42, and baz is a keyword argument with default value 73.
3965 Default value expressions are not evaluated unless they are needed
3966 and until the procedure is called.
3968 lambda* now supports two more special parameter list keywords.
3970 lambda*-defined procedures now throw an error by default if a
3971 keyword other than one of those specified is found in the actual
3972 passed arguments. However, specifying #&allow-other-keys
3973 immediately after the kyword argument declarations restores the
3974 previous behavior of ignoring unknown keywords. lambda* also now
3975 guarantees that if the same keyword is passed more than once, the
3976 last one passed is the one that takes effect. For example,
3977 ((lambda* (#&key (heads 0) (tails 0)) (display (list heads tails)))
3978 #:heads 37 #:tails 42 #:heads 99)
3979 would result in (99 47) being displayed.
3981 #&rest is also now provided as a synonym for the dotted syntax rest
3982 argument. The argument lists (a . b) and (a #&rest b) are equivalent in
3983 all respects to lambda*. This is provided for more similarity to DSSSL,
3984 MIT-Scheme and Kawa among others, as well as for refugees from other
3987 Further documentation may be found in the optargs.scm file itself.
3989 The optional argument module also exports the macros `let-optional',
3990 `let-optional*', `let-keywords', `let-keywords*' and `bound?'. These
3991 are not documented here because they may be removed in the future, but
3992 full documentation is still available in optargs.scm.
3994 ** New syntax: and-let*
3995 Guile now supports the `and-let*' form, described in the draft SRFI-2.
3997 Syntax: (land* (<clause> ...) <body> ...)
3998 Each <clause> should have one of the following forms:
3999 (<variable> <expression>)
4002 Each <variable> or <bound-variable> should be an identifier. Each
4003 <expression> should be a valid expression. The <body> should be a
4004 possibly empty sequence of expressions, like the <body> of a
4007 Semantics: A LAND* expression is evaluated by evaluating the
4008 <expression> or <bound-variable> of each of the <clause>s from
4009 left to right. The value of the first <expression> or
4010 <bound-variable> that evaluates to a false value is returned; the
4011 remaining <expression>s and <bound-variable>s are not evaluated.
4012 The <body> forms are evaluated iff all the <expression>s and
4013 <bound-variable>s evaluate to true values.
4015 The <expression>s and the <body> are evaluated in an environment
4016 binding each <variable> of the preceding (<variable> <expression>)
4017 clauses to the value of the <expression>. Later bindings
4018 shadow earlier bindings.
4020 Guile's and-let* macro was contributed by Michael Livshin.
4022 ** New sorting functions
4024 *** New function: sorted? SEQUENCE LESS?
4025 Returns `#t' when the sequence argument is in non-decreasing order
4026 according to LESS? (that is, there is no adjacent pair `... x y
4027 ...' for which `(less? y x)').
4029 Returns `#f' when the sequence contains at least one out-of-order
4030 pair. It is an error if the sequence is neither a list nor a
4033 *** New function: merge LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
4034 LIST1 and LIST2 are sorted lists.
4035 Returns the sorted list of all elements in LIST1 and LIST2.
4037 Assume that the elements a and b1 in LIST1 and b2 in LIST2 are "equal"
4038 in the sense that (LESS? x y) --> #f for x, y in {a, b1, b2},
4039 and that a < b1 in LIST1. Then a < b1 < b2 in the result.
4040 (Here "<" should read "comes before".)
4042 *** New procedure: merge! LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
4043 Merges two lists, re-using the pairs of LIST1 and LIST2 to build
4044 the result. If the code is compiled, and LESS? constructs no new
4045 pairs, no pairs at all will be allocated. The first pair of the
4046 result will be either the first pair of LIST1 or the first pair of
4049 *** New function: sort SEQUENCE LESS?
4050 Accepts either a list or a vector, and returns a new sequence
4051 which is sorted. The new sequence is the same type as the input.
4052 Always `(sorted? (sort sequence less?) less?)'. The original
4053 sequence is not altered in any way. The new sequence shares its
4054 elements with the old one; no elements are copied.
4056 *** New procedure: sort! SEQUENCE LESS
4057 Returns its sorted result in the original boxes. No new storage is
4058 allocated at all. Proper usage: (set! slist (sort! slist <))
4060 *** New function: stable-sort SEQUENCE LESS?
4061 Similar to `sort' but stable. That is, if "equal" elements are
4062 ordered a < b in the original sequence, they will have the same order
4065 *** New function: stable-sort! SEQUENCE LESS?
4066 Similar to `sort!' but stable.
4067 Uses temporary storage when sorting vectors.
4069 *** New functions: sort-list, sort-list!
4070 Added for compatibility with scsh.
4072 ** New built-in random number support
4074 *** New function: random N [STATE]
4075 Accepts a positive integer or real N and returns a number of the
4076 same type between zero (inclusive) and N (exclusive). The values
4077 returned have a uniform distribution.
4079 The optional argument STATE must be of the type produced by
4080 `copy-random-state' or `seed->random-state'. It defaults to the value
4081 of the variable `*random-state*'. This object is used to maintain the
4082 state of the pseudo-random-number generator and is altered as a side
4083 effect of the `random' operation.
4085 *** New variable: *random-state*
4086 Holds a data structure that encodes the internal state of the
4087 random-number generator that `random' uses by default. The nature
4088 of this data structure is implementation-dependent. It may be
4089 printed out and successfully read back in, but may or may not
4090 function correctly as a random-number state object in another
4093 *** New function: copy-random-state [STATE]
4094 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
4095 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
4096 If argument STATE is given, a copy of it is returned. Otherwise a
4097 copy of `*random-state*' is returned.
4099 *** New function: seed->random-state SEED
4100 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
4101 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
4102 SEED is a string or a number. A new state is generated and
4103 initialized using SEED.
4105 *** New function: random:uniform [STATE]
4106 Returns an uniformly distributed inexact real random number in the
4107 range between 0 and 1.
4109 *** New procedure: random:solid-sphere! VECT [STATE]
4110 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose
4111 squares is less than 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in
4112 space of dimension N = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are
4113 uniformly distributed within the unit N-shere. The sum of the
4114 squares of the numbers is returned. VECT can be either a vector
4115 or a uniform vector of doubles.
4117 *** New procedure: random:hollow-sphere! VECT [STATE]
4118 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose squares
4119 is equal to 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in space of
4120 dimension n = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are uniformly
4121 distributed over the surface of the unit n-shere. VECT can be either
4122 a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
4124 *** New function: random:normal [STATE]
4125 Returns an inexact real in a normal distribution with mean 0 and
4126 standard deviation 1. For a normal distribution with mean M and
4127 standard deviation D use `(+ M (* D (random:normal)))'.
4129 *** New procedure: random:normal-vector! VECT [STATE]
4130 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers which are independent and
4131 standard normally distributed (i.e., with mean 0 and variance 1).
4132 VECT can be either a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
4134 *** New function: random:exp STATE
4135 Returns an inexact real in an exponential distribution with mean 1.
4136 For an exponential distribution with mean U use (* U (random:exp)).
4138 ** The range of logand, logior, logxor, logtest, and logbit? have changed.
4140 These functions now operate on numbers in the range of a C unsigned
4143 These functions used to operate on numbers in the range of a C signed
4144 long; however, this seems inappropriate, because Guile integers don't
4147 ** New function: make-guardian
4148 This is an implementation of guardians as described in
4149 R. Kent Dybvig, Carl Bruggeman, and David Eby (1993) "Guardians in a
4150 Generation-Based Garbage Collector" ACM SIGPLAN Conference on
4151 Programming Language Design and Implementation, June 1993
4152 ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/scheme-repository/doc/pubs/guardians.ps.gz
4154 ** New functions: delq1!, delv1!, delete1!
4155 These procedures behave similar to delq! and friends but delete only
4156 one object if at all.
4158 ** New function: unread-string STRING PORT
4159 Unread STRING to PORT, that is, push it back onto the port so that
4160 next read operation will work on the pushed back characters.
4162 ** unread-char can now be called multiple times
4163 If unread-char is called multiple times, the unread characters will be
4164 read again in last-in first-out order.
4166 ** the procedures uniform-array-read! and uniform-array-write! now
4167 work on any kind of port, not just ports which are open on a file.
4169 ** Now 'l' in a port mode requests line buffering.
4171 ** The procedure truncate-file now works on string ports as well
4172 as file ports. If the size argument is omitted, the current
4173 file position is used.
4175 ** new procedure: seek PORT/FDES OFFSET WHENCE
4176 The arguments are the same as for the old fseek procedure, but it
4177 works on string ports as well as random-access file ports.
4179 ** the fseek procedure now works on string ports, since it has been
4180 redefined using seek.
4182 ** the setvbuf procedure now uses a default size if mode is _IOFBF and
4183 size is not supplied.
4185 ** the newline procedure no longer flushes the port if it's not
4186 line-buffered: previously it did if it was the current output port.
4188 ** open-pipe and close-pipe are no longer primitive procedures, but
4189 an emulation can be obtained using `(use-modules (ice-9 popen))'.
4191 ** the freopen procedure has been removed.
4193 ** new procedure: drain-input PORT
4194 Drains PORT's read buffers (including any pushed-back characters)
4195 and returns the contents as a single string.
4197 ** New function: map-in-order PROC LIST1 LIST2 ...
4198 Version of `map' which guarantees that the procedure is applied to the
4199 lists in serial order.
4201 ** Renamed `serial-array-copy!' and `serial-array-map!' to
4202 `array-copy-in-order!' and `array-map-in-order!'. The old names are
4203 now obsolete and will go away in release 1.5.
4205 ** New syntax: collect BODY1 ...
4206 Version of `begin' which returns a list of the results of the body
4207 forms instead of the result of the last body form. In contrast to
4208 `begin', `collect' allows an empty body.
4210 ** New functions: read-history FILENAME, write-history FILENAME
4211 Read/write command line history from/to file. Returns #t on success
4212 and #f if an error occured.
4214 ** `ls' and `lls' in module (ice-9 ls) now handle no arguments.
4216 These procedures return a list of definitions available in the specified
4217 argument, a relative module reference. In the case of no argument,
4218 `(current-module)' is now consulted for definitions to return, instead
4219 of simply returning #f, the former behavior.
4221 ** The #/ syntax for lists is no longer supported.
4223 Earlier versions of Scheme accepted this syntax, but printed a
4226 ** Guile no longer consults the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable.
4228 Instead, you should set GUILE_LOAD_PATH to tell Guile where to find
4231 * Changes to the gh_ interface
4235 Now takes a second argument which is the result array. If this
4236 pointer is NULL, a new array is malloced (the old behaviour).
4238 ** gh_chars2byvect, gh_shorts2svect, gh_floats2fvect, gh_scm2chars,
4239 gh_scm2shorts, gh_scm2longs, gh_scm2floats
4243 * Changes to the scm_ interface
4245 ** Function: scm_make_named_hook (char* name, int n_args)
4247 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
4248 binds a variable named NAME to it.
4250 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
4252 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module. This
4253 might change when we get the new module system.
4255 ** The smob interface
4257 The interface for creating smobs has changed. For documentation, see
4258 data-rep.info (made from guile-core/doc/data-rep.texi).
4260 *** Deprecated function: SCM scm_newsmob (scm_smobfuns *)
4262 >>> This function will be removed in 1.3.4. <<<
4266 *** Function: SCM scm_make_smob_type (const char *name, scm_sizet size)
4267 This function adds a new smob type, named NAME, with instance size
4268 SIZE to the system. The return value is a tag that is used in
4269 creating instances of the type. If SIZE is 0, then no memory will
4270 be allocated when instances of the smob are created, and nothing
4271 will be freed by the default free function.
4273 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_mark (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
4274 This function sets the smob marking procedure for the smob type
4275 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4276 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4278 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_free (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
4279 This function sets the smob freeing procedure for the smob type
4280 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4281 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4283 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_print (tc, print)
4285 - Function: void scm_set_smob_print (long tc,
4286 scm_sizet (*print) (SCM,
4290 This function sets the smob printing procedure for the smob type
4291 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4292 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4294 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_equalp (long tc, SCM (*equalp) (SCM, SCM))
4295 This function sets the smob equality-testing predicate for the
4296 smob type specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4297 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4299 *** Macro: void SCM_NEWSMOB (SCM var, long tc, void *data)
4300 Make VALUE contain a smob instance of the type with type code TC and
4301 smob data DATA. VALUE must be previously declared as C type `SCM'.
4303 *** Macro: fn_returns SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB (long tc, void *data)
4304 This macro expands to a block of code that creates a smob instance
4305 of the type with type code TC and smob data DATA, and returns that
4306 `SCM' value. It should be the last piece of code in a block.
4308 ** The interfaces for using I/O ports and implementing port types
4309 (ptobs) have changed significantly. The new interface is based on
4310 shared access to buffers and a new set of ptob procedures.
4312 *** scm_newptob has been removed
4316 *** Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (type_name, fill_buffer, write_flush)
4318 - Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (char *type_name,
4319 int (*fill_buffer) (SCM port),
4320 void (*write_flush) (SCM port));
4322 Similarly to the new smob interface, there is a set of function
4323 setters by which the user can customize the behaviour of his port
4324 type. See ports.h (scm_set_port_XXX).
4326 ** scm_strport_to_string: New function: creates a new string from
4327 a string port's buffer.
4329 ** Plug in interface for random number generators
4330 The variable `scm_the_rng' in random.c contains a value and three
4331 function pointers which together define the current random number
4332 generator being used by the Scheme level interface and the random
4333 number library functions.
4335 The user is free to replace the default generator with the generator
4338 *** Variable: size_t scm_the_rng.rstate_size
4339 The size of the random state type used by the current RNG
4342 *** Function: unsigned long scm_the_rng.random_bits (scm_rstate *STATE)
4343 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
4345 *** Function: void scm_the_rng.init_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE, chars *S, int N)
4346 Seed random state STATE using string S of length N.
4348 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_the_rng.copy_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE)
4349 Given random state STATE, return a malloced copy.
4352 The default RNG is the MWC (Multiply With Carry) random number
4353 generator described by George Marsaglia at the Department of
4354 Statistics and Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, The
4355 Florida State University (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo).
4357 It uses 64 bits, has a period of 4578426017172946943 (4.6e18), and
4358 passes all tests in the DIEHARD test suite
4359 (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo/diehard.html). The generation of 32 bits
4360 costs one multiply and one add on platforms which either supports long
4361 longs (gcc does this on most systems) or have 64 bit longs. The cost
4362 is four multiply on other systems but this can be optimized by writing
4363 scm_i_uniform32 in assembler.
4365 These functions are provided through the scm_the_rng interface for use
4366 by libguile and the application.
4368 *** Function: unsigned long scm_i_uniform32 (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
4369 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
4370 Don't use this function directly. Instead go through the plugin
4371 interface (see "Plug in interface" above).
4373 *** Function: void scm_i_init_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE, char *SEED, int N)
4374 Initialize STATE using SEED of length N.
4376 *** Function: scm_i_rstate *scm_i_copy_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
4377 Return a malloc:ed copy of STATE. This function can easily be re-used
4378 in the interfaces to other RNGs.
4380 ** Random number library functions
4381 These functions use the current RNG through the scm_the_rng interface.
4382 It might be a good idea to use these functions from your C code so
4383 that only one random generator is used by all code in your program.
4385 The default random state is stored in:
4387 *** Variable: SCM scm_var_random_state
4388 Contains the vcell of the Scheme variable "*random-state*" which is
4389 used as default state by all random number functions in the Scheme
4394 double x = scm_c_uniform01 (SCM_RSTATE (SCM_CDR (scm_var_random_state)));
4396 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_default_rstate (void)
4397 This is a convenience function which returns the value of
4398 scm_var_random_state. An error message is generated if this value
4399 isn't a random state.
4401 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_make_rstate (char *SEED, int LENGTH)
4402 Make a new random state from the string SEED of length LENGTH.
4404 It is generally not a good idea to use multiple random states in a
4405 program. While subsequent random numbers generated from one random
4406 state are guaranteed to be reasonably independent, there is no such
4407 guarantee for numbers generated from different random states.
4409 *** Macro: unsigned long scm_c_uniform32 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4410 Return 32 random bits.
4412 *** Function: double scm_c_uniform01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4413 Return a sample from the uniform(0,1) distribution.
4415 *** Function: double scm_c_normal01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4416 Return a sample from the normal(0,1) distribution.
4418 *** Function: double scm_c_exp1 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4419 Return a sample from the exp(1) distribution.
4421 *** Function: unsigned long scm_c_random (scm_rstate *STATE, unsigned long M)
4422 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
4424 *** Function: SCM scm_c_random_bignum (scm_rstate *STATE, SCM M)
4425 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
4426 M must be a bignum object. The returned value may be an INUM.
4430 Changes in Guile 1.3 (released Monday, October 19, 1998):
4432 * Changes to the distribution
4434 ** We renamed the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable to GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
4435 To avoid conflicts, programs should name environment variables after
4436 themselves, except when there's a common practice establishing some
4439 For now, Guile supports both GUILE_LOAD_PATH and SCHEME_LOAD_PATH,
4440 giving the former precedence, and printing a warning message if the
4441 latter is set. Guile 1.4 will not recognize SCHEME_LOAD_PATH at all.
4443 ** The header files related to multi-byte characters have been removed.
4444 They were: libguile/extchrs.h and libguile/mbstrings.h. Any C code
4445 which referred to these explicitly will probably need to be rewritten,
4446 since the support for the variant string types has been removed; see
4449 ** The header files append.h and sequences.h have been removed. These
4450 files implemented non-R4RS operations which would encourage
4451 non-portable programming style and less easy-to-read code.
4453 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
4455 ** New procedures have been added to implement a "batch mode":
4457 *** Function: batch-mode?
4459 Returns a boolean indicating whether the interpreter is in batch
4462 *** Function: set-batch-mode?! ARG
4464 If ARG is true, switches the interpreter to batch mode. The `#f'
4465 case has not been implemented.
4467 ** Guile now provides full command-line editing, when run interactively.
4468 To use this feature, you must have the readline library installed.
4469 The Guile build process will notice it, and automatically include
4472 The readline library is available via anonymous FTP from any GNU
4473 mirror site; the canonical location is "ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu".
4475 ** the-last-stack is now a fluid.
4477 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
4479 ** You can now use the `guile-config' utility to build programs that use Guile.
4481 Guile now includes a command-line utility called `guile-config', which
4482 can provide information about how to compile and link programs that
4485 *** `guile-config compile' prints any C compiler flags needed to use Guile.
4486 You should include this command's output on the command line you use
4487 to compile C or C++ code that #includes the Guile header files. It's
4488 usually just a `-I' flag to help the compiler find the Guile headers.
4491 *** `guile-config link' prints any linker flags necessary to link with Guile.
4493 This command writes to its standard output a list of flags which you
4494 must pass to the linker to link your code against the Guile library.
4495 The flags include '-lguile' itself, any other libraries the Guile
4496 library depends upon, and any `-L' flags needed to help the linker
4497 find those libraries.
4499 For example, here is a Makefile rule that builds a program named 'foo'
4500 from the object files ${FOO_OBJECTS}, and links them against Guile:
4503 ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${FOO_OBJECTS} `guile-config link` -o foo
4505 Previous Guile releases recommended that you use autoconf to detect
4506 which of a predefined set of libraries were present on your system.
4507 It is more robust to use `guile-config', since it records exactly which
4508 libraries the installed Guile library requires.
4510 This was originally called `build-guile', but was renamed to
4511 `guile-config' before Guile 1.3 was released, to be consistent with
4512 the analogous script for the GTK+ GUI toolkit, which is called
4516 ** Use the GUILE_FLAGS macro in your configure.in file to find Guile.
4518 If you are using the GNU autoconf package to configure your program,
4519 you can use the GUILE_FLAGS autoconf macro to call `guile-config'
4520 (described above) and gather the necessary values for use in your
4523 The GUILE_FLAGS macro expands to configure script code which runs the
4524 `guile-config' script, to find out where Guile's header files and
4525 libraries are installed. It sets two variables, marked for
4526 substitution, as by AC_SUBST.
4528 GUILE_CFLAGS --- flags to pass to a C or C++ compiler to build
4529 code that uses Guile header files. This is almost always just a
4532 GUILE_LDFLAGS --- flags to pass to the linker to link a
4533 program against Guile. This includes `-lguile' for the Guile
4534 library itself, any libraries that Guile itself requires (like
4535 -lqthreads), and so on. It may also include a -L flag to tell the
4536 compiler where to find the libraries.
4538 GUILE_FLAGS is defined in the file guile.m4, in the top-level
4539 directory of the Guile distribution. You can copy it into your
4540 package's aclocal.m4 file, and then use it in your configure.in file.
4542 If you are using the `aclocal' program, distributed with GNU automake,
4543 to maintain your aclocal.m4 file, the Guile installation process
4544 installs guile.m4 where aclocal will find it. All you need to do is
4545 use GUILE_FLAGS in your configure.in file, and then run `aclocal';
4546 this will copy the definition of GUILE_FLAGS into your aclocal.m4
4550 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
4552 ** Multi-byte strings have been removed, as have multi-byte and wide
4553 ports. We felt that these were the wrong approach to
4554 internationalization support.
4556 ** New function: readline [PROMPT]
4557 Read a line from the terminal, and allow the user to edit it,
4558 prompting with PROMPT. READLINE provides a large set of Emacs-like
4559 editing commands, lets the user recall previously typed lines, and
4560 works on almost every kind of terminal, including dumb terminals.
4562 READLINE assumes that the cursor is at the beginning of the line when
4563 it is invoked. Thus, you can't print a prompt yourself, and then call
4564 READLINE; you need to package up your prompt as a string, pass it to
4565 the function, and let READLINE print the prompt itself. This is
4566 because READLINE needs to know the prompt's screen width.
4568 For Guile to provide this function, you must have the readline
4569 library, version 2.1 or later, installed on your system. Readline is
4570 available via anonymous FTP from prep.ai.mit.edu in pub/gnu, or from
4571 any GNU mirror site.
4573 See also ADD-HISTORY function.
4575 ** New function: add-history STRING
4576 Add STRING as the most recent line in the history used by the READLINE
4577 command. READLINE does not add lines to the history itself; you must
4578 call ADD-HISTORY to make previous input available to the user.
4580 ** The behavior of the read-line function has changed.
4582 This function now uses standard C library functions to read the line,
4583 for speed. This means that it doesn not respect the value of
4584 scm-line-incrementors; it assumes that lines are delimited with
4587 (Note that this is read-line, the function that reads a line of text
4588 from a port, not readline, the function that reads a line from a
4589 terminal, providing full editing capabilities.)
4591 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style): Parse command-line arguments.
4593 This module provides some simple argument parsing. It exports one
4596 Function: getopt-gnu-style ARG-LS
4597 Parse a list of program arguments into an alist of option
4600 Each item in the list of program arguments is examined to see if
4601 it meets the syntax of a GNU long-named option. An argument like
4602 `--MUMBLE' produces an element of the form (MUMBLE . #t) in the
4603 returned alist, where MUMBLE is a keyword object with the same
4604 name as the argument. An argument like `--MUMBLE=FROB' produces
4605 an element of the form (MUMBLE . FROB), where FROB is a string.
4607 As a special case, the returned alist also contains a pair whose
4608 car is the symbol `rest'. The cdr of this pair is a list
4609 containing all the items in the argument list that are not options
4610 of the form mentioned above.
4612 The argument `--' is treated specially: all items in the argument
4613 list appearing after such an argument are not examined, and are
4614 returned in the special `rest' list.
4616 This function does not parse normal single-character switches.
4617 You will need to parse them out of the `rest' list yourself.
4619 ** The read syntax for byte vectors and short vectors has changed.
4621 Instead of #bytes(...), write #y(...).
4623 Instead of #short(...), write #h(...).
4625 This may seem nutty, but, like the other uniform vectors, byte vectors
4626 and short vectors want to have the same print and read syntax (and,
4627 more basic, want to have read syntax!). Changing the read syntax to
4628 use multiple characters after the hash sign breaks with the
4629 conventions used in R5RS and the conventions used for the other
4630 uniform vectors. It also introduces complexity in the current reader,
4631 both on the C and Scheme levels. (The Right solution is probably to
4632 change the syntax and prototypes for uniform vectors entirely.)
4635 ** The new module (ice-9 session) provides useful interactive functions.
4637 *** New procedure: (apropos REGEXP OPTION ...)
4639 Display a list of top-level variables whose names match REGEXP, and
4640 the modules they are imported from. Each OPTION should be one of the
4643 value --- Show the value of each matching variable.
4644 shadow --- Show bindings shadowed by subsequently imported modules.
4645 full --- Same as both `shadow' and `value'.
4649 guile> (apropos "trace" 'full)
4650 debug: trace #<procedure trace args>
4651 debug: untrace #<procedure untrace args>
4652 the-scm-module: display-backtrace #<compiled-closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>
4653 the-scm-module: before-backtrace-hook ()
4654 the-scm-module: backtrace #<primitive-procedure backtrace>
4655 the-scm-module: after-backtrace-hook ()
4656 the-scm-module: has-shown-backtrace-hint? #f
4659 ** There are new functions and syntax for working with macros.
4661 Guile implements macros as a special object type. Any variable whose
4662 top-level binding is a macro object acts as a macro. The macro object
4663 specifies how the expression should be transformed before evaluation.
4665 *** Macro objects now print in a reasonable way, resembling procedures.
4667 *** New function: (macro? OBJ)
4668 True iff OBJ is a macro object.
4670 *** New function: (primitive-macro? OBJ)
4671 Like (macro? OBJ), but true only if OBJ is one of the Guile primitive
4672 macro transformers, implemented in eval.c rather than Scheme code.
4674 Why do we have this function?
4675 - For symmetry with procedure? and primitive-procedure?,
4676 - to allow custom print procedures to tell whether a macro is
4677 primitive, and display it differently, and
4678 - to allow compilers and user-written evaluators to distinguish
4679 builtin special forms from user-defined ones, which could be
4682 *** New function: (macro-type OBJ)
4683 Return a value indicating what kind of macro OBJ is. Possible return
4686 The symbol `syntax' --- a macro created by procedure->syntax.
4687 The symbol `macro' --- a macro created by procedure->macro.
4688 The symbol `macro!' --- a macro created by procedure->memoizing-macro.
4689 The boolean #f --- if OBJ is not a macro object.
4691 *** New function: (macro-name MACRO)
4692 Return the name of the macro object MACRO's procedure, as returned by
4695 *** New function: (macro-transformer MACRO)
4696 Return the transformer procedure for MACRO.
4698 *** New syntax: (use-syntax MODULE ... TRANSFORMER)
4700 Specify a new macro expander to use in the current module. Each
4701 MODULE is a module name, with the same meaning as in the `use-modules'
4702 form; each named module's exported bindings are added to the current
4703 top-level environment. TRANSFORMER is an expression evaluated in the
4704 resulting environment which must yield a procedure to use as the
4705 module's eval transformer: every expression evaluated in this module
4706 is passed to this function, and the result passed to the Guile
4709 *** macro-eval! is removed. Use local-eval instead.
4711 ** Some magic has been added to the printer to better handle user
4712 written printing routines (like record printers, closure printers).
4714 The problem is that these user written routines must have access to
4715 the current `print-state' to be able to handle fancy things like
4716 detection of circular references. These print-states have to be
4717 passed to the builtin printing routines (display, write, etc) to
4718 properly continue the print chain.
4720 We didn't want to change all existing print code so that it
4721 explicitly passes thru a print state in addition to a port. Instead,
4722 we extented the possible values that the builtin printing routines
4723 accept as a `port'. In addition to a normal port, they now also take
4724 a pair of a normal port and a print-state. Printing will go to the
4725 port and the print-state will be used to control the detection of
4726 circular references, etc. If the builtin function does not care for a
4727 print-state, it is simply ignored.
4729 User written callbacks are now called with such a pair as their
4730 `port', but because every function now accepts this pair as a PORT
4731 argument, you don't have to worry about that. In fact, it is probably
4732 safest to not check for these pairs.
4734 However, it is sometimes necessary to continue a print chain on a
4735 different port, for example to get a intermediate string
4736 representation of the printed value, mangle that string somehow, and
4737 then to finally print the mangled string. Use the new function
4739 inherit-print-state OLD-PORT NEW-PORT
4741 for this. It constructs a new `port' that prints to NEW-PORT but
4742 inherits the print-state of OLD-PORT.
4744 ** struct-vtable-offset renamed to vtable-offset-user
4746 ** New constants: vtable-index-layout, vtable-index-vtable, vtable-index-printer
4748 ** There is now a third optional argument to make-vtable-vtable
4749 (and fourth to make-struct) when constructing new types (vtables).
4750 This argument initializes field vtable-index-printer of the vtable.
4752 ** The detection of circular references has been extended to structs.
4753 That is, a structure that -- in the process of being printed -- prints
4754 itself does not lead to infinite recursion.
4756 ** There is now some basic support for fluids. Please read
4757 "libguile/fluid.h" to find out more. It is accessible from Scheme with
4758 the following functions and macros:
4760 Function: make-fluid
4762 Create a new fluid object. Fluids are not special variables or
4763 some other extension to the semantics of Scheme, but rather
4764 ordinary Scheme objects. You can store them into variables (that
4765 are still lexically scoped, of course) or into any other place you
4766 like. Every fluid has a initial value of `#f'.
4768 Function: fluid? OBJ
4770 Test whether OBJ is a fluid.
4772 Function: fluid-ref FLUID
4773 Function: fluid-set! FLUID VAL
4775 Access/modify the fluid FLUID. Modifications are only visible
4776 within the current dynamic root (that includes threads).
4778 Function: with-fluids* FLUIDS VALUES THUNK
4780 FLUIDS is a list of fluids and VALUES a corresponding list of
4781 values for these fluids. Before THUNK gets called the values are
4782 installed in the fluids and the old values of the fluids are
4783 saved in the VALUES list. When the flow of control leaves THUNK
4784 or reenters it, the values get swapped again. You might think of
4785 this as a `safe-fluid-excursion'. Note that the VALUES list is
4786 modified by `with-fluids*'.
4788 Macro: with-fluids ((FLUID VALUE) ...) FORM ...
4790 The same as `with-fluids*' but with a different syntax. It looks
4791 just like `let', but both FLUID and VALUE are evaluated. Remember,
4792 fluids are not special variables but ordinary objects. FLUID
4793 should evaluate to a fluid.
4795 ** Changes to system call interfaces:
4797 *** close-port, close-input-port and close-output-port now return a
4798 boolean instead of an `unspecified' object. #t means that the port
4799 was successfully closed, while #f means it was already closed. It is
4800 also now possible for these procedures to raise an exception if an
4801 error occurs (some errors from write can be delayed until close.)
4803 *** the first argument to chmod, fcntl, ftell and fseek can now be a
4806 *** the third argument to fcntl is now optional.
4808 *** the first argument to chown can now be a file descriptor or a port.
4810 *** the argument to stat can now be a port.
4812 *** The following new procedures have been added (most use scsh
4815 *** procedure: close PORT/FD
4816 Similar to close-port (*note close-port: Closing Ports.), but also
4817 works on file descriptors. A side effect of closing a file
4818 descriptor is that any ports using that file descriptor are moved
4819 to a different file descriptor and have their revealed counts set
4822 *** procedure: port->fdes PORT
4823 Returns the integer file descriptor underlying PORT. As a side
4824 effect the revealed count of PORT is incremented.
4826 *** procedure: fdes->ports FDES
4827 Returns a list of existing ports which have FDES as an underlying
4828 file descriptor, without changing their revealed counts.
4830 *** procedure: fdes->inport FDES
4831 Returns an existing input port which has FDES as its underlying
4832 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
4833 Otherwise, returns a new input port with a revealed count of 1.
4835 *** procedure: fdes->outport FDES
4836 Returns an existing output port which has FDES as its underlying
4837 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
4838 Otherwise, returns a new output port with a revealed count of 1.
4840 The next group of procedures perform a `dup2' system call, if NEWFD
4841 (an integer) is supplied, otherwise a `dup'. The file descriptor to be
4842 duplicated can be supplied as an integer or contained in a port. The
4843 type of value returned varies depending on which procedure is used.
4845 All procedures also have the side effect when performing `dup2' that
4846 any ports using NEWFD are moved to a different file descriptor and have
4847 their revealed counts set to zero.
4849 *** procedure: dup->fdes PORT/FD [NEWFD]
4850 Returns an integer file descriptor.
4852 *** procedure: dup->inport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
4853 Returns a new input port using the new file descriptor.
4855 *** procedure: dup->outport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
4856 Returns a new output port using the new file descriptor.
4858 *** procedure: dup PORT/FD [NEWFD]
4859 Returns a new port if PORT/FD is a port, with the same mode as the
4860 supplied port, otherwise returns an integer file descriptor.
4862 *** procedure: dup->port PORT/FD MODE [NEWFD]
4863 Returns a new port using the new file descriptor. MODE supplies a
4864 mode string for the port (*note open-file: File Ports.).
4866 *** procedure: setenv NAME VALUE
4867 Modifies the environment of the current process, which is also the
4868 default environment inherited by child processes.
4870 If VALUE is `#f', then NAME is removed from the environment.
4871 Otherwise, the string NAME=VALUE is added to the environment,
4872 replacing any existing string with name matching NAME.
4874 The return value is unspecified.
4876 *** procedure: truncate-file OBJ SIZE
4877 Truncates the file referred to by OBJ to at most SIZE bytes. OBJ
4878 can be a string containing a file name or an integer file
4879 descriptor or port open for output on the file. The underlying
4880 system calls are `truncate' and `ftruncate'.
4882 The return value is unspecified.
4884 *** procedure: setvbuf PORT MODE [SIZE]
4885 Set the buffering mode for PORT. MODE can be:
4893 block buffered, using a newly allocated buffer of SIZE bytes.
4894 However if SIZE is zero or unspecified, the port will be made
4897 This procedure should not be used after I/O has been performed with
4900 Ports are usually block buffered by default, with a default buffer
4901 size. Procedures e.g., *Note open-file: File Ports, which accept a
4902 mode string allow `0' to be added to request an unbuffered port.
4904 *** procedure: fsync PORT/FD
4905 Copies any unwritten data for the specified output file descriptor
4906 to disk. If PORT/FD is a port, its buffer is flushed before the
4907 underlying file descriptor is fsync'd. The return value is
4910 *** procedure: open-fdes PATH FLAGS [MODES]
4911 Similar to `open' but returns a file descriptor instead of a port.
4913 *** procedure: execle PATH ENV [ARG] ...
4914 Similar to `execl', but the environment of the new process is
4915 specified by ENV, which must be a list of strings as returned by
4916 the `environ' procedure.
4918 This procedure is currently implemented using the `execve' system
4919 call, but we call it `execle' because of its Scheme calling
4922 *** procedure: strerror ERRNO
4923 Returns the Unix error message corresponding to ERRNO, an integer.
4925 *** procedure: primitive-exit [STATUS]
4926 Terminate the current process without unwinding the Scheme stack.
4927 This is would typically be useful after a fork. The exit status
4928 is STATUS if supplied, otherwise zero.
4930 *** procedure: times
4931 Returns an object with information about real and processor time.
4932 The following procedures accept such an object as an argument and
4933 return a selected component:
4936 The current real time, expressed as time units relative to an
4940 The CPU time units used by the calling process.
4943 The CPU time units used by the system on behalf of the
4947 The CPU time units used by terminated child processes of the
4948 calling process, whose status has been collected (e.g., using
4952 Similarly, the CPU times units used by the system on behalf of
4953 terminated child processes.
4955 ** Removed: list-length
4956 ** Removed: list-append, list-append!
4957 ** Removed: list-reverse, list-reverse!
4959 ** array-map renamed to array-map!
4961 ** serial-array-map renamed to serial-array-map!
4963 ** catch doesn't take #f as first argument any longer
4965 Previously, it was possible to pass #f instead of a key to `catch'.
4966 That would cause `catch' to pass a jump buffer object to the procedure
4967 passed as second argument. The procedure could then use this jump
4968 buffer objekt as an argument to throw.
4970 This mechanism has been removed since its utility doesn't motivate the
4971 extra complexity it introduces.
4973 ** The `#/' notation for lists now provokes a warning message from Guile.
4974 This syntax will be removed from Guile in the near future.
4976 To disable the warning message, set the GUILE_HUSH environment
4977 variable to any non-empty value.
4979 ** The newline character now prints as `#\newline', following the
4980 normal Scheme notation, not `#\nl'.
4982 * Changes to the gh_ interface
4984 ** The gh_enter function now takes care of loading the Guile startup files.
4985 gh_enter works by calling scm_boot_guile; see the remarks below.
4987 ** Function: void gh_write (SCM x)
4989 Write the printed representation of the scheme object x to the current
4990 output port. Corresponds to the scheme level `write'.
4992 ** gh_list_length renamed to gh_length.
4994 ** vector handling routines
4996 Several major changes. In particular, gh_vector() now resembles
4997 (vector ...) (with a caveat -- see manual), and gh_make_vector() now
4998 exists and behaves like (make-vector ...). gh_vset() and gh_vref()
4999 have been renamed gh_vector_set_x() and gh_vector_ref(). Some missing
5000 vector-related gh_ functions have been implemented.
5002 ** pair and list routines
5004 Implemented several of the R4RS pair and list functions that were
5007 ** gh_scm2doubles, gh_doubles2scm, gh_doubles2dvect
5009 New function. Converts double arrays back and forth between Scheme
5012 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5014 ** The function scm_boot_guile now takes care of loading the startup files.
5016 Guile's primary initialization function, scm_boot_guile, now takes
5017 care of loading `boot-9.scm', in the `ice-9' module, to initialize
5018 Guile, define the module system, and put together some standard
5019 bindings. It also loads `init.scm', which is intended to hold
5020 site-specific initialization code.
5022 Since Guile cannot operate properly until boot-9.scm is loaded, there
5023 is no reason to separate loading boot-9.scm from Guile's other
5024 initialization processes.
5026 This job used to be done by scm_compile_shell_switches, which didn't
5027 make much sense; in particular, it meant that people using Guile for
5028 non-shell-like applications had to jump through hoops to get Guile
5029 initialized properly.
5031 ** The function scm_compile_shell_switches no longer loads the startup files.
5032 Now, Guile always loads the startup files, whenever it is initialized;
5033 see the notes above for scm_boot_guile and scm_load_startup_files.
5035 ** Function: scm_load_startup_files
5036 This new function takes care of loading Guile's initialization file
5037 (`boot-9.scm'), and the site initialization file, `init.scm'. Since
5038 this is always called by the Guile initialization process, it's
5039 probably not too useful to call this yourself, but it's there anyway.
5041 ** The semantics of smob marking have changed slightly.
5043 The smob marking function (the `mark' member of the scm_smobfuns
5044 structure) is no longer responsible for setting the mark bit on the
5045 smob. The generic smob handling code in the garbage collector will
5046 set this bit. The mark function need only ensure that any other
5047 objects the smob refers to get marked.
5049 Note that this change means that the smob's GC8MARK bit is typically
5050 already set upon entry to the mark function. Thus, marking functions
5051 which look like this:
5054 if (SCM_GC8MARKP (ptr))
5056 SCM_SETGC8MARK (ptr);
5057 ... mark objects to which the smob refers ...
5060 are now incorrect, since they will return early, and fail to mark any
5061 other objects the smob refers to. Some code in the Guile library used
5064 ** The semantics of the I/O port functions in scm_ptobfuns have changed.
5066 If you have implemented your own I/O port type, by writing the
5067 functions required by the scm_ptobfuns and then calling scm_newptob,
5068 you will need to change your functions slightly.
5070 The functions in a scm_ptobfuns structure now expect the port itself
5071 as their argument; they used to expect the `stream' member of the
5072 port's scm_port_table structure. This allows functions in an
5073 scm_ptobfuns structure to easily access the port's cell (and any flags
5074 it its CAR), and the port's scm_port_table structure.
5076 Guile now passes the I/O port itself as the `port' argument in the
5077 following scm_ptobfuns functions:
5079 int (*free) (SCM port);
5080 int (*fputc) (int, SCM port);
5081 int (*fputs) (char *, SCM port);
5082 scm_sizet (*fwrite) SCM_P ((char *ptr,
5086 int (*fflush) (SCM port);
5087 int (*fgetc) (SCM port);
5088 int (*fclose) (SCM port);
5090 The interfaces to the `mark', `print', `equalp', and `fgets' methods
5093 If you have existing code which defines its own port types, it is easy
5094 to convert your code to the new interface; simply apply SCM_STREAM to
5095 the port argument to yield the value you code used to expect.
5097 Note that since both the port and the stream have the same type in the
5098 C code --- they are both SCM values --- the C compiler will not remind
5099 you if you forget to update your scm_ptobfuns functions.
5102 ** Function: int scm_internal_select (int fds,
5106 struct timeval *timeout);
5108 This is a replacement for the `select' function provided by the OS.
5109 It enables I/O blocking and sleeping to happen for one cooperative
5110 thread without blocking other threads. It also avoids busy-loops in
5111 these situations. It is intended that all I/O blocking and sleeping
5112 will finally go through this function. Currently, this function is
5113 only available on systems providing `gettimeofday' and `select'.
5115 ** Function: SCM scm_internal_stack_catch (SCM tag,
5116 scm_catch_body_t body,
5118 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
5121 A new sibling to the other two C level `catch' functions
5122 scm_internal_catch and scm_internal_lazy_catch. Use it if you want
5123 the stack to be saved automatically into the variable `the-last-stack'
5124 (scm_the_last_stack_var) on error. This is necessary if you want to
5125 use advanced error reporting, such as calling scm_display_error and
5126 scm_display_backtrace. (They both take a stack object as argument.)
5128 ** Function: SCM scm_spawn_thread (scm_catch_body_t body,
5130 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
5133 Spawns a new thread. It does a job similar to
5134 scm_call_with_new_thread but takes arguments more suitable when
5135 spawning threads from application C code.
5137 ** The hook scm_error_callback has been removed. It was originally
5138 intended as a way for the user to install his own error handler. But
5139 that method works badly since it intervenes between throw and catch,
5140 thereby changing the semantics of expressions like (catch #t ...).
5141 The correct way to do it is to use one of the C level catch functions
5142 in throw.c: scm_internal_catch/lazy_catch/stack_catch.
5144 ** Removed functions:
5146 scm_obj_length, scm_list_length, scm_list_append, scm_list_append_x,
5147 scm_list_reverse, scm_list_reverse_x
5149 ** New macros: SCM_LISTn where n is one of the integers 0-9.
5151 These can be used for pretty list creation from C. The idea is taken
5152 from Erick Gallesio's STk.
5154 ** scm_array_map renamed to scm_array_map_x
5156 ** mbstrings are now removed
5158 This means that the type codes scm_tc7_mb_string and
5159 scm_tc7_mb_substring has been removed.
5161 ** scm_gen_putc, scm_gen_puts, scm_gen_write, and scm_gen_getc have changed.
5163 Since we no longer support multi-byte strings, these I/O functions
5164 have been simplified, and renamed. Here are their old names, and
5165 their new names and arguments:
5167 scm_gen_putc -> void scm_putc (int c, SCM port);
5168 scm_gen_puts -> void scm_puts (char *s, SCM port);
5169 scm_gen_write -> void scm_lfwrite (char *ptr, scm_sizet size, SCM port);
5170 scm_gen_getc -> void scm_getc (SCM port);
5173 ** The macros SCM_TYP7D and SCM_TYP7SD has been removed.
5175 ** The macro SCM_TYP7S has taken the role of the old SCM_TYP7D
5177 SCM_TYP7S now masks away the bit which distinguishes substrings from
5180 ** scm_catch_body_t: Backward incompatible change!
5182 Body functions to scm_internal_catch and friends do not any longer
5183 take a second argument. This is because it is no longer possible to
5184 pass a #f arg to catch.
5186 ** Calls to scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect now nest properly.
5188 The function scm_protect_object protects its argument from being freed
5189 by the garbage collector. scm_unprotect_object removes that
5192 These functions now nest properly. That is, for every object O, there
5193 is a counter which scm_protect_object(O) increments and
5194 scm_unprotect_object(O) decrements, if the counter is greater than
5195 zero. Every object's counter is zero when it is first created. If an
5196 object's counter is greater than zero, the garbage collector will not
5197 reclaim its storage.
5199 This allows you to use scm_protect_object in your code without
5200 worrying that some other function you call will call
5201 scm_unprotect_object, and allow it to be freed. Assuming that the
5202 functions you call are well-behaved, and unprotect only those objects
5203 they protect, you can follow the same rule and have confidence that
5204 objects will be freed only at appropriate times.
5207 Changes in Guile 1.2 (released Tuesday, June 24 1997):
5209 * Changes to the distribution
5211 ** Nightly snapshots are now available from ftp.red-bean.com.
5212 The old server, ftp.cyclic.com, has been relinquished to its rightful
5215 Nightly snapshots of the Guile development sources are now available via
5216 anonymous FTP from ftp.red-bean.com, as /pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz.
5218 Via the web, that's: ftp://ftp.red-bean.com/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
5219 For getit, that's: ftp.red-bean.com:/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
5221 ** To run Guile without installing it, the procedure has changed a bit.
5223 If you used a separate build directory to compile Guile, you'll need
5224 to include the build directory in SCHEME_LOAD_PATH, as well as the
5225 source directory. See the `INSTALL' file for examples.
5227 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
5229 ** The standard Guile load path for Scheme code now includes
5230 $(datadir)/guile (usually /usr/local/share/guile). This means that
5231 you can install your own Scheme files there, and Guile will find them.
5232 (Previous versions of Guile only checked a directory whose name
5233 contained the Guile version number, so you had to re-install or move
5234 your Scheme sources each time you installed a fresh version of Guile.)
5236 The load path also includes $(datadir)/guile/site; we recommend
5237 putting individual Scheme files there. If you want to install a
5238 package with multiple source files, create a directory for them under
5241 ** Guile 1.2 will now use the Rx regular expression library, if it is
5242 installed on your system. When you are linking libguile into your own
5243 programs, this means you will have to link against -lguile, -lqt (if
5244 you configured Guile with thread support), and -lrx.
5246 If you are using autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your
5247 application, the following lines should suffice to add the appropriate
5248 libraries to your link command:
5250 ### Find Rx, quickthreads and libguile.
5251 AC_CHECK_LIB(rx, main)
5252 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
5253 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
5255 The Guile 1.2 distribution does not contain sources for the Rx
5256 library, as Guile 1.0 did. If you want to use Rx, you'll need to
5257 retrieve it from a GNU FTP site and install it separately.
5259 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5261 ** The dynamic linking features of Guile are now enabled by default.
5262 You can disable them by giving the `--disable-dynamic-linking' option
5265 (dynamic-link FILENAME)
5267 Find the object file denoted by FILENAME (a string) and link it
5268 into the running Guile application. When everything works out,
5269 return a Scheme object suitable for representing the linked object
5270 file. Otherwise an error is thrown. How object files are
5271 searched is system dependent.
5273 (dynamic-object? VAL)
5275 Determine whether VAL represents a dynamically linked object file.
5277 (dynamic-unlink DYNOBJ)
5279 Unlink the indicated object file from the application. DYNOBJ
5280 should be one of the values returned by `dynamic-link'.
5282 (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
5284 Search the C function indicated by FUNCTION (a string or symbol)
5285 in DYNOBJ and return some Scheme object that can later be used
5286 with `dynamic-call' to actually call this function. Right now,
5287 these Scheme objects are formed by casting the address of the
5288 function to `long' and converting this number to its Scheme
5291 (dynamic-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
5293 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ. The
5294 function is passed no arguments and its return value is ignored.
5295 When FUNCTION is something returned by `dynamic-func', call that
5296 function and ignore DYNOBJ. When FUNCTION is a string (or symbol,
5297 etc.), look it up in DYNOBJ; this is equivalent to
5299 (dynamic-call (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ) #f)
5301 Interrupts are deferred while the C function is executing (with
5302 SCM_DEFER_INTS/SCM_ALLOW_INTS).
5304 (dynamic-args-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ ARGS)
5306 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ, but pass it
5307 some arguments and return its return value. The C function is
5308 expected to take two arguments and return an `int', just like
5311 int c_func (int argc, char **argv);
5313 ARGS must be a list of strings and is converted into an array of
5314 `char *'. The array is passed in ARGV and its size in ARGC. The
5315 return value is converted to a Scheme number and returned from the
5316 call to `dynamic-args-call'.
5318 When dynamic linking is disabled or not supported on your system,
5319 the above functions throw errors, but they are still available.
5321 Here is a small example that works on GNU/Linux:
5323 (define libc-obj (dynamic-link "libc.so"))
5324 (dynamic-args-call 'rand libc-obj '())
5326 See the file `libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING' for additional comments.
5328 ** The #/ syntax for module names is depreciated, and will be removed
5329 in a future version of Guile. Instead of
5337 The latter syntax is more consistent with existing Lisp practice.
5339 ** Guile now does fancier printing of structures. Structures are the
5340 underlying implementation for records, which in turn are used to
5341 implement modules, so all of these object now print differently and in
5342 a more informative way.
5344 The Scheme printer will examine the builtin variable *struct-printer*
5345 whenever it needs to print a structure object. When this variable is
5346 not `#f' it is deemed to be a procedure and will be applied to the
5347 structure object and the output port. When *struct-printer* is `#f'
5348 or the procedure return `#f' the structure object will be printed in
5349 the boring #<struct 80458270> form.
5351 This hook is used by some routines in ice-9/boot-9.scm to implement
5352 type specific printing routines. Please read the comments there about
5355 One of the more specific uses of structs are records. The printing
5356 procedure that could be passed to MAKE-RECORD-TYPE is now actually
5357 called. It should behave like a *struct-printer* procedure (described
5360 ** Guile now supports a new R4RS-compliant syntax for keywords. A
5361 token of the form #:NAME, where NAME has the same syntax as a Scheme
5362 symbol, is the external representation of the keyword named NAME.
5363 Keyword objects print using this syntax as well, so values containing
5364 keyword objects can be read back into Guile. When used in an
5365 expression, keywords are self-quoting objects.
5367 Guile suports this read syntax, and uses this print syntax, regardless
5368 of the current setting of the `keyword' read option. The `keyword'
5369 read option only controls whether Guile recognizes the `:NAME' syntax,
5370 which is incompatible with R4RS. (R4RS says such token represent
5373 ** Guile has regular expression support again. Guile 1.0 included
5374 functions for matching regular expressions, based on the Rx library.
5375 In Guile 1.1, the Guile/Rx interface was removed to simplify the
5376 distribution, and thus Guile had no regular expression support. Guile
5377 1.2 again supports the most commonly used functions, and supports all
5378 of SCSH's regular expression functions.
5380 If your system does not include a POSIX regular expression library,
5381 and you have not linked Guile with a third-party regexp library such as
5382 Rx, these functions will not be available. You can tell whether your
5383 Guile installation includes regular expression support by checking
5384 whether the `*features*' list includes the `regex' symbol.
5386 *** regexp functions
5388 By default, Guile supports POSIX extended regular expressions. That
5389 means that the characters `(', `)', `+' and `?' are special, and must
5390 be escaped if you wish to match the literal characters.
5392 This regular expression interface was modeled after that implemented
5393 by SCSH, the Scheme Shell. It is intended to be upwardly compatible
5394 with SCSH regular expressions.
5396 **** Function: string-match PATTERN STR [START]
5397 Compile the string PATTERN into a regular expression and compare
5398 it with STR. The optional numeric argument START specifies the
5399 position of STR at which to begin matching.
5401 `string-match' returns a "match structure" which describes what,
5402 if anything, was matched by the regular expression. *Note Match
5403 Structures::. If STR does not match PATTERN at all,
5404 `string-match' returns `#f'.
5406 Each time `string-match' is called, it must compile its PATTERN
5407 argument into a regular expression structure. This operation is
5408 expensive, which makes `string-match' inefficient if the same regular
5409 expression is used several times (for example, in a loop). For better
5410 performance, you can compile a regular expression in advance and then
5411 match strings against the compiled regexp.
5413 **** Function: make-regexp STR [FLAGS]
5414 Compile the regular expression described by STR, and return the
5415 compiled regexp structure. If STR does not describe a legal
5416 regular expression, `make-regexp' throws a
5417 `regular-expression-syntax' error.
5419 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
5421 **** Constant: regexp/extended
5422 Use POSIX Extended Regular Expression syntax when interpreting
5423 STR. If not set, POSIX Basic Regular Expression syntax is used.
5424 If the FLAGS argument is omitted, we assume regexp/extended.
5426 **** Constant: regexp/icase
5427 Do not differentiate case. Subsequent searches using the
5428 returned regular expression will be case insensitive.
5430 **** Constant: regexp/newline
5431 Match-any-character operators don't match a newline.
5433 A non-matching list ([^...]) not containing a newline matches a
5436 Match-beginning-of-line operator (^) matches the empty string
5437 immediately after a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
5438 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/notbol.
5440 Match-end-of-line operator ($) matches the empty string
5441 immediately before a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
5442 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/noteol.
5444 **** Function: regexp-exec REGEXP STR [START [FLAGS]]
5445 Match the compiled regular expression REGEXP against `str'. If
5446 the optional integer START argument is provided, begin matching
5447 from that position in the string. Return a match structure
5448 describing the results of the match, or `#f' if no match could be
5451 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
5453 **** Constant: regexp/notbol
5454 The match-beginning-of-line operator always fails to match (but
5455 see the compilation flag regexp/newline above) This flag may be
5456 used when different portions of a string are passed to
5457 regexp-exec and the beginning of the string should not be
5458 interpreted as the beginning of the line.
5460 **** Constant: regexp/noteol
5461 The match-end-of-line operator always fails to match (but see the
5462 compilation flag regexp/newline above)
5464 **** Function: regexp? OBJ
5465 Return `#t' if OBJ is a compiled regular expression, or `#f'
5468 Regular expressions are commonly used to find patterns in one string
5469 and replace them with the contents of another string.
5471 **** Function: regexp-substitute PORT MATCH [ITEM...]
5472 Write to the output port PORT selected contents of the match
5473 structure MATCH. Each ITEM specifies what should be written, and
5474 may be one of the following arguments:
5476 * A string. String arguments are written out verbatim.
5478 * An integer. The submatch with that number is written.
5480 * The symbol `pre'. The portion of the matched string preceding
5481 the regexp match is written.
5483 * The symbol `post'. The portion of the matched string
5484 following the regexp match is written.
5486 PORT may be `#f', in which case nothing is written; instead,
5487 `regexp-substitute' constructs a string from the specified ITEMs
5490 **** Function: regexp-substitute/global PORT REGEXP TARGET [ITEM...]
5491 Similar to `regexp-substitute', but can be used to perform global
5492 substitutions on STR. Instead of taking a match structure as an
5493 argument, `regexp-substitute/global' takes two string arguments: a
5494 REGEXP string describing a regular expression, and a TARGET string
5495 which should be matched against this regular expression.
5497 Each ITEM behaves as in REGEXP-SUBSTITUTE, with the following
5500 * A function may be supplied. When this function is called, it
5501 will be passed one argument: a match structure for a given
5502 regular expression match. It should return a string to be
5503 written out to PORT.
5505 * The `post' symbol causes `regexp-substitute/global' to recurse
5506 on the unmatched portion of STR. This *must* be supplied in
5507 order to perform global search-and-replace on STR; if it is
5508 not present among the ITEMs, then `regexp-substitute/global'
5509 will return after processing a single match.
5511 *** Match Structures
5513 A "match structure" is the object returned by `string-match' and
5514 `regexp-exec'. It describes which portion of a string, if any, matched
5515 the given regular expression. Match structures include: a reference to
5516 the string that was checked for matches; the starting and ending
5517 positions of the regexp match; and, if the regexp included any
5518 parenthesized subexpressions, the starting and ending positions of each
5521 In each of the regexp match functions described below, the `match'
5522 argument must be a match structure returned by a previous call to
5523 `string-match' or `regexp-exec'. Most of these functions return some
5524 information about the original target string that was matched against a
5525 regular expression; we will call that string TARGET for easy reference.
5527 **** Function: regexp-match? OBJ
5528 Return `#t' if OBJ is a match structure returned by a previous
5529 call to `regexp-exec', or `#f' otherwise.
5531 **** Function: match:substring MATCH [N]
5532 Return the portion of TARGET matched by subexpression number N.
5533 Submatch 0 (the default) represents the entire regexp match. If
5534 the regular expression as a whole matched, but the subexpression
5535 number N did not match, return `#f'.
5537 **** Function: match:start MATCH [N]
5538 Return the starting position of submatch number N.
5540 **** Function: match:end MATCH [N]
5541 Return the ending position of submatch number N.
5543 **** Function: match:prefix MATCH
5544 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET preceding the regexp match.
5546 **** Function: match:suffix MATCH
5547 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET following the regexp match.
5549 **** Function: match:count MATCH
5550 Return the number of parenthesized subexpressions from MATCH.
5551 Note that the entire regular expression match itself counts as a
5552 subexpression, and failed submatches are included in the count.
5554 **** Function: match:string MATCH
5555 Return the original TARGET string.
5557 *** Backslash Escapes
5559 Sometimes you will want a regexp to match characters like `*' or `$'
5560 exactly. For example, to check whether a particular string represents
5561 a menu entry from an Info node, it would be useful to match it against
5562 a regexp like `^* [^:]*::'. However, this won't work; because the
5563 asterisk is a metacharacter, it won't match the `*' at the beginning of
5564 the string. In this case, we want to make the first asterisk un-magic.
5566 You can do this by preceding the metacharacter with a backslash
5567 character `\'. (This is also called "quoting" the metacharacter, and
5568 is known as a "backslash escape".) When Guile sees a backslash in a
5569 regular expression, it considers the following glyph to be an ordinary
5570 character, no matter what special meaning it would ordinarily have.
5571 Therefore, we can make the above example work by changing the regexp to
5572 `^\* [^:]*::'. The `\*' sequence tells the regular expression engine
5573 to match only a single asterisk in the target string.
5575 Since the backslash is itself a metacharacter, you may force a
5576 regexp to match a backslash in the target string by preceding the
5577 backslash with itself. For example, to find variable references in a
5578 TeX program, you might want to find occurrences of the string `\let\'
5579 followed by any number of alphabetic characters. The regular expression
5580 `\\let\\[A-Za-z]*' would do this: the double backslashes in the regexp
5581 each match a single backslash in the target string.
5583 **** Function: regexp-quote STR
5584 Quote each special character found in STR with a backslash, and
5585 return the resulting string.
5587 *Very important:* Using backslash escapes in Guile source code (as
5588 in Emacs Lisp or C) can be tricky, because the backslash character has
5589 special meaning for the Guile reader. For example, if Guile encounters
5590 the character sequence `\n' in the middle of a string while processing
5591 Scheme code, it replaces those characters with a newline character.
5592 Similarly, the character sequence `\t' is replaced by a horizontal tab.
5593 Several of these "escape sequences" are processed by the Guile reader
5594 before your code is executed. Unrecognized escape sequences are
5595 ignored: if the characters `\*' appear in a string, they will be
5596 translated to the single character `*'.
5598 This translation is obviously undesirable for regular expressions,
5599 since we want to be able to include backslashes in a string in order to
5600 escape regexp metacharacters. Therefore, to make sure that a backslash
5601 is preserved in a string in your Guile program, you must use *two*
5602 consecutive backslashes:
5604 (define Info-menu-entry-pattern (make-regexp "^\\* [^:]*"))
5606 The string in this example is preprocessed by the Guile reader before
5607 any code is executed. The resulting argument to `make-regexp' is the
5608 string `^\* [^:]*', which is what we really want.
5610 This also means that in order to write a regular expression that
5611 matches a single backslash character, the regular expression string in
5612 the source code must include *four* backslashes. Each consecutive pair
5613 of backslashes gets translated by the Guile reader to a single
5614 backslash, and the resulting double-backslash is interpreted by the
5615 regexp engine as matching a single backslash character. Hence:
5617 (define tex-variable-pattern (make-regexp "\\\\let\\\\=[A-Za-z]*"))
5619 The reason for the unwieldiness of this syntax is historical. Both
5620 regular expression pattern matchers and Unix string processing systems
5621 have traditionally used backslashes with the special meanings described
5622 above. The POSIX regular expression specification and ANSI C standard
5623 both require these semantics. Attempting to abandon either convention
5624 would cause other kinds of compatibility problems, possibly more severe
5625 ones. Therefore, without extending the Scheme reader to support
5626 strings with different quoting conventions (an ungainly and confusing
5627 extension when implemented in other languages), we must adhere to this
5628 cumbersome escape syntax.
5630 * Changes to the gh_ interface
5632 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5634 * Changes to system call interfaces:
5636 ** The value returned by `raise' is now unspecified. It throws an exception
5639 *** A new procedure `sigaction' can be used to install signal handlers
5641 (sigaction signum [action] [flags])
5643 signum is the signal number, which can be specified using the value
5646 If action is omitted, sigaction returns a pair: the CAR is the current
5647 signal hander, which will be either an integer with the value SIG_DFL
5648 (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or the Scheme procedure which
5649 handles the signal, or #f if a non-Scheme procedure handles the
5650 signal. The CDR contains the current sigaction flags for the handler.
5652 If action is provided, it is installed as the new handler for signum.
5653 action can be a Scheme procedure taking one argument, or the value of
5654 SIG_DFL (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or #f to restore
5655 whatever signal handler was installed before sigaction was first used.
5656 Flags can optionally be specified for the new handler (SA_RESTART is
5657 always used if the system provides it, so need not be specified.) The
5658 return value is a pair with information about the old handler as
5661 This interface does not provide access to the "signal blocking"
5662 facility. Maybe this is not needed, since the thread support may
5663 provide solutions to the problem of consistent access to data
5666 *** A new procedure `flush-all-ports' is equivalent to running
5667 `force-output' on every port open for output.
5669 ** Guile now provides information on how it was built, via the new
5670 global variable, %guile-build-info. This variable records the values
5671 of the standard GNU makefile directory variables as an assocation
5672 list, mapping variable names (symbols) onto directory paths (strings).
5673 For example, to find out where the Guile link libraries were
5674 installed, you can say:
5676 guile -c "(display (assq-ref %guile-build-info 'libdir)) (newline)"
5679 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5681 ** The new function scm_handle_by_message_noexit is just like the
5682 existing scm_handle_by_message function, except that it doesn't call
5683 exit to terminate the process. Instead, it prints a message and just
5684 returns #f. This might be a more appropriate catch-all handler for
5685 new dynamic roots and threads.
5688 Changes in Guile 1.1 (released Friday, May 16 1997):
5690 * Changes to the distribution.
5692 The Guile 1.0 distribution has been split up into several smaller
5694 guile-core --- the Guile interpreter itself.
5695 guile-tcltk --- the interface between the Guile interpreter and
5696 Tcl/Tk; Tcl is an interpreter for a stringy language, and Tk
5697 is a toolkit for building graphical user interfaces.
5698 guile-rgx-ctax --- the interface between Guile and the Rx regular
5699 expression matcher, and the translator for the Ctax
5700 programming language. These are packaged together because the
5701 Ctax translator uses Rx to parse Ctax source code.
5703 This NEWS file describes the changes made to guile-core since the 1.0
5706 We no longer distribute the documentation, since it was either out of
5707 date, or incomplete. As soon as we have current documentation, we
5712 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
5714 ** guile now accepts command-line arguments compatible with SCSH, Olin
5715 Shivers' Scheme Shell.
5717 In general, arguments are evaluated from left to right, but there are
5718 exceptions. The following switches stop argument processing, and
5719 stash all remaining command-line arguments as the value returned by
5720 the (command-line) function.
5721 -s SCRIPT load Scheme source code from FILE, and exit
5722 -c EXPR evalute Scheme expression EXPR, and exit
5723 -- stop scanning arguments; run interactively
5725 The switches below are processed as they are encountered.
5726 -l FILE load Scheme source code from FILE
5727 -e FUNCTION after reading script, apply FUNCTION to
5728 command line arguments
5729 -ds do -s script at this point
5730 --emacs enable Emacs protocol (experimental)
5731 -h, --help display this help and exit
5732 -v, --version display version information and exit
5733 \ read arguments from following script lines
5735 So, for example, here is a Guile script named `ekko' (thanks, Olin)
5736 which re-implements the traditional "echo" command:
5738 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
5741 (map (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
5745 (main (command-line))
5747 Suppose we invoke this script as follows:
5749 ekko a speckled gecko
5751 Through the magic of Unix script processing (triggered by the `#!'
5752 token at the top of the file), /usr/local/bin/guile receives the
5753 following list of command-line arguments:
5755 ("-s" "./ekko" "a" "speckled" "gecko")
5757 Unix inserts the name of the script after the argument specified on
5758 the first line of the file (in this case, "-s"), and then follows that
5759 with the arguments given to the script. Guile loads the script, which
5760 defines the `main' function, and then applies it to the list of
5761 remaining command-line arguments, ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
5763 In Unix, the first line of a script file must take the following form:
5765 #!INTERPRETER ARGUMENT
5767 where INTERPRETER is the absolute filename of the interpreter
5768 executable, and ARGUMENT is a single command-line argument to pass to
5771 You may only pass one argument to the interpreter, and its length is
5772 limited. These restrictions can be annoying to work around, so Guile
5773 provides a general mechanism (borrowed from, and compatible with,
5774 SCSH) for circumventing them.
5776 If the ARGUMENT in a Guile script is a single backslash character,
5777 `\', Guile will open the script file, parse arguments from its second
5778 and subsequent lines, and replace the `\' with them. So, for example,
5779 here is another implementation of the `ekko' script:
5781 #!/usr/local/bin/guile \
5785 (for-each (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
5789 If the user invokes this script as follows:
5791 ekko a speckled gecko
5793 Unix expands this into
5795 /usr/local/bin/guile \ ekko a speckled gecko
5797 When Guile sees the `\' argument, it replaces it with the arguments
5798 read from the second line of the script, producing:
5800 /usr/local/bin/guile -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
5802 This tells Guile to load the `ekko' script, and apply the function
5803 `main' to the argument list ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
5805 Here is how Guile parses the command-line arguments:
5806 - Each space character terminates an argument. This means that two
5807 spaces in a row introduce an empty-string argument.
5808 - The tab character is not permitted (unless you quote it with the
5809 backslash character, as described below), to avoid confusion.
5810 - The newline character terminates the sequence of arguments, and will
5811 also terminate a final non-empty argument. (However, a newline
5812 following a space will not introduce a final empty-string argument;
5813 it only terminates the argument list.)
5814 - The backslash character is the escape character. It escapes
5815 backslash, space, tab, and newline. The ANSI C escape sequences
5816 like \n and \t are also supported. These produce argument
5817 constituents; the two-character combination \n doesn't act like a
5818 terminating newline. The escape sequence \NNN for exactly three
5819 octal digits reads as the character whose ASCII code is NNN. As
5820 above, characters produced this way are argument constituents.
5821 Backslash followed by other characters is not allowed.
5823 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
5825 ** Guile now builds and installs a shared guile library, if your
5826 system support shared libraries. (It still builds a static library on
5827 all systems.) Guile automatically detects whether your system
5828 supports shared libraries. To prevent Guile from buildisg shared
5829 libraries, pass the `--disable-shared' flag to the configure script.
5831 Guile takes longer to compile when it builds shared libraries, because
5832 it must compile every file twice --- once to produce position-
5833 independent object code, and once to produce normal object code.
5835 ** The libthreads library has been merged into libguile.
5837 To link a program against Guile, you now need only link against
5838 -lguile and -lqt; -lthreads is no longer needed. If you are using
5839 autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your application, the
5840 following lines should suffice to add the appropriate libraries to
5843 ### Find quickthreads and libguile.
5844 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
5845 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
5847 * Changes to Scheme functions
5849 ** Guile Scheme's special syntax for keyword objects is now optional,
5850 and disabled by default.
5852 The syntax variation from R4RS made it difficult to port some
5853 interesting packages to Guile. The routines which accepted keyword
5854 arguments (mostly in the module system) have been modified to also
5855 accept symbols whose names begin with `:'.
5857 To change the keyword syntax, you must first import the (ice-9 debug)
5859 (use-modules (ice-9 debug))
5861 Then you can enable the keyword syntax as follows:
5862 (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
5864 To disable keyword syntax, do this:
5865 (read-set! keywords #f)
5867 ** Many more primitive functions accept shared substrings as
5868 arguments. In the past, these functions required normal, mutable
5869 strings as arguments, although they never made use of this
5872 ** The uniform array functions now operate on byte vectors. These
5873 functions are `array-fill!', `serial-array-copy!', `array-copy!',
5874 `serial-array-map', `array-map', `array-for-each', and
5877 ** The new functions `trace' and `untrace' implement simple debugging
5878 support for Scheme functions.
5880 The `trace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
5881 and tells the Guile interpreter to display each procedure's name and
5882 arguments each time the procedure is invoked. When invoked with no
5883 arguments, `trace' returns the list of procedures currently being
5886 The `untrace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
5887 and tells the Guile interpreter not to trace them any more. When
5888 invoked with no arguments, `untrace' untraces all curretly traced
5891 The tracing in Guile has an advantage over most other systems: we
5892 don't create new procedure objects, but mark the procedure objects
5893 themselves. This means that anonymous and internal procedures can be
5896 ** The function `assert-repl-prompt' has been renamed to
5897 `set-repl-prompt!'. It takes one argument, PROMPT.
5898 - If PROMPT is #f, the Guile read-eval-print loop will not prompt.
5899 - If PROMPT is a string, we use it as a prompt.
5900 - If PROMPT is a procedure accepting no arguments, we call it, and
5901 display the result as a prompt.
5902 - Otherwise, we display "> ".
5904 ** The new function `eval-string' reads Scheme expressions from a
5905 string and evaluates them, returning the value of the last expression
5906 in the string. If the string contains no expressions, it returns an
5909 ** The new function `thunk?' returns true iff its argument is a
5910 procedure of zero arguments.
5912 ** `defined?' is now a builtin function, instead of syntax. This
5913 means that its argument should be quoted. It returns #t iff its
5914 argument is bound in the current module.
5916 ** The new syntax `use-modules' allows you to add new modules to your
5917 environment without re-typing a complete `define-module' form. It
5918 accepts any number of module names as arguments, and imports their
5919 public bindings into the current module.
5921 ** The new function (module-defined? NAME MODULE) returns true iff
5922 NAME, a symbol, is defined in MODULE, a module object.
5924 ** The new function `builtin-bindings' creates and returns a hash
5925 table containing copies of all the root module's bindings.
5927 ** The new function `builtin-weak-bindings' does the same as
5928 `builtin-bindings', but creates a doubly-weak hash table.
5930 ** The `equal?' function now considers variable objects to be
5931 equivalent if they have the same name and the same value.
5933 ** The new function `command-line' returns the command-line arguments
5934 given to Guile, as a list of strings.
5936 When using guile as a script interpreter, `command-line' returns the
5937 script's arguments; those processed by the interpreter (like `-s' or
5938 `-c') are omitted. (In other words, you get the normal, expected
5939 behavior.) Any application that uses scm_shell to process its
5940 command-line arguments gets this behavior as well.
5942 ** The new function `load-user-init' looks for a file called `.guile'
5943 in the user's home directory, and loads it if it exists. This is
5944 mostly for use by the code generated by scm_compile_shell_switches,
5945 but we thought it might also be useful in other circumstances.
5947 ** The new function `log10' returns the base-10 logarithm of its
5950 ** Changes to I/O functions
5952 *** The functions `read', `primitive-load', `read-and-eval!', and
5953 `primitive-load-path' no longer take optional arguments controlling
5954 case insensitivity and a `#' parser.
5956 Case sensitivity is now controlled by a read option called
5957 `case-insensitive'. The user can add new `#' syntaxes with the
5958 `read-hash-extend' function (see below).
5960 *** The new function `read-hash-extend' allows the user to change the
5961 syntax of Guile Scheme in a somewhat controlled way.
5963 (read-hash-extend CHAR PROC)
5964 When parsing S-expressions, if we read a `#' character followed by
5965 the character CHAR, use PROC to parse an object from the stream.
5966 If PROC is #f, remove any parsing procedure registered for CHAR.
5968 The reader applies PROC to two arguments: CHAR and an input port.
5970 *** The new functions read-delimited and read-delimited! provide a
5971 general mechanism for doing delimited input on streams.
5973 (read-delimited DELIMS [PORT HANDLE-DELIM])
5974 Read until we encounter one of the characters in DELIMS (a string),
5975 or end-of-file. PORT is the input port to read from; it defaults to
5976 the current input port. The HANDLE-DELIM parameter determines how
5977 the terminating character is handled; it should be one of the
5980 'trim omit delimiter from result
5981 'peek leave delimiter character in input stream
5982 'concat append delimiter character to returned value
5983 'split return a pair: (RESULT . TERMINATOR)
5985 HANDLE-DELIM defaults to 'peek.
5987 (read-delimited! DELIMS BUF [PORT HANDLE-DELIM START END])
5988 A side-effecting variant of `read-delimited'.
5990 The data is written into the string BUF at the indices in the
5991 half-open interval [START, END); the default interval is the whole
5992 string: START = 0 and END = (string-length BUF). The values of
5993 START and END must specify a well-defined interval in BUF, i.e.
5994 0 <= START <= END <= (string-length BUF).
5996 It returns NBYTES, the number of bytes read. If the buffer filled
5997 up without a delimiter character being found, it returns #f. If the
5998 port is at EOF when the read starts, it returns the EOF object.
6000 If an integer is returned (i.e., the read is successfully terminated
6001 by reading a delimiter character), then the HANDLE-DELIM parameter
6002 determines how to handle the terminating character. It is described
6003 above, and defaults to 'peek.
6005 (The descriptions of these functions were borrowed from the SCSH
6006 manual, by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
6008 *** The `%read-delimited!' function is the primitive used to implement
6009 `read-delimited' and `read-delimited!'.
6011 (%read-delimited! DELIMS BUF GOBBLE? [PORT START END])
6013 This returns a pair of values: (TERMINATOR . NUM-READ).
6014 - TERMINATOR describes why the read was terminated. If it is a
6015 character or the eof object, then that is the value that terminated
6016 the read. If it is #f, the function filled the buffer without finding
6017 a delimiting character.
6018 - NUM-READ is the number of characters read into BUF.
6020 If the read is successfully terminated by reading a delimiter
6021 character, then the gobble? parameter determines what to do with the
6022 terminating character. If true, the character is removed from the
6023 input stream; if false, the character is left in the input stream
6024 where a subsequent read operation will retrieve it. In either case,
6025 the character is also the first value returned by the procedure call.
6027 (The descriptions of this function was borrowed from the SCSH manual,
6028 by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
6030 *** The `read-line' and `read-line!' functions have changed; they now
6031 trim the terminator by default; previously they appended it to the
6032 returned string. For the old behavior, use (read-line PORT 'concat).
6034 *** The functions `uniform-array-read!' and `uniform-array-write!' now
6035 take new optional START and END arguments, specifying the region of
6036 the array to read and write.
6038 *** The `ungetc-char-ready?' function has been removed. We feel it's
6039 inappropriate for an interface to expose implementation details this
6042 ** Changes to the Unix library and system call interface
6044 *** The new fcntl function provides access to the Unix `fcntl' system
6047 (fcntl PORT COMMAND VALUE)
6048 Apply COMMAND to PORT's file descriptor, with VALUE as an argument.
6049 Values for COMMAND are:
6051 F_DUPFD duplicate a file descriptor
6052 F_GETFD read the descriptor's close-on-exec flag
6053 F_SETFD set the descriptor's close-on-exec flag to VALUE
6054 F_GETFL read the descriptor's flags, as set on open
6055 F_SETFL set the descriptor's flags, as set on open to VALUE
6056 F_GETOWN return the process ID of a socket's owner, for SIGIO
6057 F_SETOWN set the process that owns a socket to VALUE, for SIGIO
6058 FD_CLOEXEC not sure what this is
6060 For details, see the documentation for the fcntl system call.
6062 *** The arguments to `select' have changed, for compatibility with
6063 SCSH. The TIMEOUT parameter may now be non-integral, yielding the
6064 expected behavior. The MILLISECONDS parameter has been changed to
6065 MICROSECONDS, to more closely resemble the underlying system call.
6066 The RVEC, WVEC, and EVEC arguments can now be vectors; the type of the
6067 corresponding return set will be the same.
6069 *** The arguments to the `mknod' system call have changed. They are
6072 (mknod PATH TYPE PERMS DEV)
6073 Create a new file (`node') in the file system. PATH is the name of
6074 the file to create. TYPE is the kind of file to create; it should
6075 be 'fifo, 'block-special, or 'char-special. PERMS specifies the
6076 permission bits to give the newly created file. If TYPE is
6077 'block-special or 'char-special, DEV specifies which device the
6078 special file refers to; its interpretation depends on the kind of
6079 special file being created.
6081 *** The `fork' function has been renamed to `primitive-fork', to avoid
6082 clashing with various SCSH forks.
6084 *** The `recv' and `recvfrom' functions have been renamed to `recv!'
6085 and `recvfrom!'. They no longer accept a size for a second argument;
6086 you must pass a string to hold the received value. They no longer
6087 return the buffer. Instead, `recv' returns the length of the message
6088 received, and `recvfrom' returns a pair containing the packet's length
6089 and originating address.
6091 *** The file descriptor datatype has been removed, as have the
6092 `read-fd', `write-fd', `close', `lseek', and `dup' functions.
6093 We plan to replace these functions with a SCSH-compatible interface.
6095 *** The `create' function has been removed; it's just a special case
6098 *** There are new functions to break down process termination status
6099 values. In the descriptions below, STATUS is a value returned by
6102 (status:exit-val STATUS)
6103 If the child process exited normally, this function returns the exit
6104 code for the child process (i.e., the value passed to exit, or
6105 returned from main). If the child process did not exit normally,
6106 this function returns #f.
6108 (status:stop-sig STATUS)
6109 If the child process was suspended by a signal, this function
6110 returns the signal that suspended the child. Otherwise, it returns
6113 (status:term-sig STATUS)
6114 If the child process terminated abnormally, this function returns
6115 the signal that terminated the child. Otherwise, this function
6118 POSIX promises that exactly one of these functions will return true on
6119 a valid STATUS value.
6121 These functions are compatible with SCSH.
6123 *** There are new accessors and setters for the broken-out time vectors
6124 returned by `localtime', `gmtime', and that ilk. They are:
6126 Component Accessor Setter
6127 ========================= ============ ============
6128 seconds tm:sec set-tm:sec
6129 minutes tm:min set-tm:min
6130 hours tm:hour set-tm:hour
6131 day of the month tm:mday set-tm:mday
6132 month tm:mon set-tm:mon
6133 year tm:year set-tm:year
6134 day of the week tm:wday set-tm:wday
6135 day in the year tm:yday set-tm:yday
6136 daylight saving time tm:isdst set-tm:isdst
6137 GMT offset, seconds tm:gmtoff set-tm:gmtoff
6138 name of time zone tm:zone set-tm:zone
6140 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `uname',
6141 describing the host system:
6144 ============================================== ================
6145 name of the operating system implementation utsname:sysname
6146 network name of this machine utsname:nodename
6147 release level of the operating system utsname:release
6148 version level of the operating system utsname:version
6149 machine hardware platform utsname:machine
6151 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getpw',
6152 `getpwnam', `getpwuid', and `getpwent', describing entries from the
6153 system's user database:
6156 ====================== =================
6157 user name passwd:name
6158 user password passwd:passwd
6161 real name passwd:gecos
6162 home directory passwd:dir
6163 shell program passwd:shell
6165 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getgr',
6166 `getgrnam', `getgrgid', and `getgrent', describing entries from the
6167 system's group database:
6170 ======================= ============
6171 group name group:name
6172 group password group:passwd
6174 group members group:mem
6176 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `gethost',
6177 `gethostbyaddr', `gethostbyname', and `gethostent', describing
6181 ========================= ===============
6182 official name of host hostent:name
6183 alias list hostent:aliases
6184 host address type hostent:addrtype
6185 length of address hostent:length
6186 list of addresses hostent:addr-list
6188 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getnet',
6189 `getnetbyaddr', `getnetbyname', and `getnetent', describing internet
6193 ========================= ===============
6194 official name of net netent:name
6195 alias list netent:aliases
6196 net number type netent:addrtype
6197 net number netent:net
6199 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getproto',
6200 `getprotobyname', `getprotobynumber', and `getprotoent', describing
6204 ========================= ===============
6205 official protocol name protoent:name
6206 alias list protoent:aliases
6207 protocol number protoent:proto
6209 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getserv',
6210 `getservbyname', `getservbyport', and `getservent', describing
6214 ========================= ===============
6215 official service name servent:name
6216 alias list servent:aliases
6217 port number servent:port
6218 protocol to use servent:proto
6220 *** There are new accessors for the sockaddr structures returned by
6221 `accept', `getsockname', `getpeername', `recvfrom!':
6224 ======================================== ===============
6225 address format (`family') sockaddr:fam
6226 path, for file domain addresses sockaddr:path
6227 address, for internet domain addresses sockaddr:addr
6228 TCP or UDP port, for internet sockaddr:port
6230 *** The `getpwent', `getgrent', `gethostent', `getnetent',
6231 `getprotoent', and `getservent' functions now return #f at the end of
6232 the user database. (They used to throw an exception.)
6234 Note that calling MUMBLEent function is equivalent to calling the
6235 corresponding MUMBLE function with no arguments.
6237 *** The `setpwent', `setgrent', `sethostent', `setnetent',
6238 `setprotoent', and `setservent' routines now take no arguments.
6240 *** The `gethost', `getproto', `getnet', and `getserv' functions now
6241 provide more useful information when they throw an exception.
6243 *** The `lnaof' function has been renamed to `inet-lnaof'.
6245 *** Guile now claims to have the `current-time' feature.
6247 *** The `mktime' function now takes an optional second argument ZONE,
6248 giving the time zone to use for the conversion. ZONE should be a
6249 string, in the same format as expected for the "TZ" environment variable.
6251 *** The `strptime' function now returns a pair (TIME . COUNT), where
6252 TIME is the parsed time as a vector, and COUNT is the number of
6253 characters from the string left unparsed. This function used to
6254 return the remaining characters as a string.
6256 *** The `gettimeofday' function has replaced the old `time+ticks' function.
6257 The return value is now (SECONDS . MICROSECONDS); the fractional
6258 component is no longer expressed in "ticks".
6260 *** The `ticks/sec' constant has been removed, in light of the above change.
6262 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6264 ** gh_eval_str() now returns an SCM object which is the result of the
6267 ** gh_scm2str() now copies the Scheme data to a caller-provided C
6270 ** gh_scm2newstr() now makes a C array, copies the Scheme data to it,
6271 and returns the array
6273 ** gh_scm2str0() is gone: there is no need to distinguish
6274 null-terminated from non-null-terminated, since gh_scm2newstr() allows
6275 the user to interpret the data both ways.
6277 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6279 ** The new function scm_symbol_value0 provides an easy way to get a
6280 symbol's value from C code:
6282 SCM scm_symbol_value0 (char *NAME)
6283 Return the value of the symbol named by the null-terminated string
6284 NAME in the current module. If the symbol named NAME is unbound in
6285 the current module, return SCM_UNDEFINED.
6287 ** The new function scm_sysintern0 creates new top-level variables,
6288 without assigning them a value.
6290 SCM scm_sysintern0 (char *NAME)
6291 Create a new Scheme top-level variable named NAME. NAME is a
6292 null-terminated string. Return the variable's value cell.
6294 ** The function scm_internal_catch is the guts of catch. It handles
6295 all the mechanics of setting up a catch target, invoking the catch
6296 body, and perhaps invoking the handler if the body does a throw.
6298 The function is designed to be usable from C code, but is general
6299 enough to implement all the semantics Guile Scheme expects from throw.
6301 TAG is the catch tag. Typically, this is a symbol, but this function
6302 doesn't actually care about that.
6304 BODY is a pointer to a C function which runs the body of the catch;
6305 this is the code you can throw from. We call it like this:
6306 BODY (BODY_DATA, JMPBUF)
6308 BODY_DATA is just the BODY_DATA argument we received; we pass it
6309 through to BODY as its first argument. The caller can make
6310 BODY_DATA point to anything useful that BODY might need.
6311 JMPBUF is the Scheme jmpbuf object corresponding to this catch,
6312 which we have just created and initialized.
6314 HANDLER is a pointer to a C function to deal with a throw to TAG,
6315 should one occur. We call it like this:
6316 HANDLER (HANDLER_DATA, THROWN_TAG, THROW_ARGS)
6318 HANDLER_DATA is the HANDLER_DATA argument we recevied; it's the
6319 same idea as BODY_DATA above.
6320 THROWN_TAG is the tag that the user threw to; usually this is
6321 TAG, but it could be something else if TAG was #t (i.e., a
6322 catch-all), or the user threw to a jmpbuf.
6323 THROW_ARGS is the list of arguments the user passed to the THROW
6326 BODY_DATA is just a pointer we pass through to BODY. HANDLER_DATA
6327 is just a pointer we pass through to HANDLER. We don't actually
6328 use either of those pointers otherwise ourselves. The idea is
6329 that, if our caller wants to communicate something to BODY or
6330 HANDLER, it can pass a pointer to it as MUMBLE_DATA, which BODY and
6331 HANDLER can then use. Think of it as a way to make BODY and
6332 HANDLER closures, not just functions; MUMBLE_DATA points to the
6335 Of course, it's up to the caller to make sure that any data a
6336 MUMBLE_DATA needs is protected from GC. A common way to do this is
6337 to make MUMBLE_DATA a pointer to data stored in an automatic
6338 structure variable; since the collector must scan the stack for
6339 references anyway, this assures that any references in MUMBLE_DATA
6342 ** The new function scm_internal_lazy_catch is exactly like
6343 scm_internal_catch, except:
6345 - It does not unwind the stack (this is the major difference).
6346 - If handler returns, its value is returned from the throw.
6347 - BODY always receives #f as its JMPBUF argument (since there's no
6348 jmpbuf associated with a lazy catch, because we don't unwind the
6351 ** scm_body_thunk is a new body function you can pass to
6352 scm_internal_catch if you want the body to be like Scheme's `catch'
6353 --- a thunk, or a function of one argument if the tag is #f.
6355 BODY_DATA is a pointer to a scm_body_thunk_data structure, which
6356 contains the Scheme procedure to invoke as the body, and the tag
6357 we're catching. If the tag is #f, then we pass JMPBUF (created by
6358 scm_internal_catch) to the body procedure; otherwise, the body gets
6361 ** scm_handle_by_proc is a new handler function you can pass to
6362 scm_internal_catch if you want the handler to act like Scheme's catch
6363 --- call a procedure with the tag and the throw arguments.
6365 If the user does a throw to this catch, this function runs a handler
6366 procedure written in Scheme. HANDLER_DATA is a pointer to an SCM
6367 variable holding the Scheme procedure object to invoke. It ought to
6368 be a pointer to an automatic variable (i.e., one living on the stack),
6369 or the procedure object should be otherwise protected from GC.
6371 ** scm_handle_by_message is a new handler function to use with
6372 `scm_internal_catch' if you want Guile to print a message and die.
6373 It's useful for dealing with throws to uncaught keys at the top level.
6375 HANDLER_DATA, if non-zero, is assumed to be a char * pointing to a
6376 message header to print; if zero, we use "guile" instead. That
6377 text is followed by a colon, then the message described by ARGS.
6379 ** The return type of scm_boot_guile is now void; the function does
6380 not return a value, and indeed, never returns at all.
6382 ** The new function scm_shell makes it easy for user applications to
6383 process command-line arguments in a way that is compatible with the
6384 stand-alone guile interpreter (which is in turn compatible with SCSH,
6387 To use the scm_shell function, first initialize any guile modules
6388 linked into your application, and then call scm_shell with the values
6389 of ARGC and ARGV your `main' function received. scm_shell will add
6390 any SCSH-style meta-arguments from the top of the script file to the
6391 argument vector, and then process the command-line arguments. This
6392 generally means loading a script file or starting up an interactive
6393 command interpreter. For details, see "Changes to the stand-alone
6396 ** The new functions scm_get_meta_args and scm_count_argv help you
6397 implement the SCSH-style meta-argument, `\'.
6399 char **scm_get_meta_args (int ARGC, char **ARGV)
6400 If the second element of ARGV is a string consisting of a single
6401 backslash character (i.e. "\\" in Scheme notation), open the file
6402 named by the following argument, parse arguments from it, and return
6403 the spliced command line. The returned array is terminated by a
6406 For details of argument parsing, see above, under "guile now accepts
6407 command-line arguments compatible with SCSH..."
6409 int scm_count_argv (char **ARGV)
6410 Count the arguments in ARGV, assuming it is terminated by a null
6413 For an example of how these functions might be used, see the source
6414 code for the function scm_shell in libguile/script.c.
6416 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6419 ** The new function scm_compile_shell_switches turns an array of
6420 command-line arguments into Scheme code to carry out the actions they
6421 describe. Given ARGC and ARGV, it returns a Scheme expression to
6422 evaluate, and calls scm_set_program_arguments to make any remaining
6423 command-line arguments available to the Scheme code. For example,
6424 given the following arguments:
6426 -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
6428 scm_set_program_arguments will return the following expression:
6430 (begin (load "ekko") (main (command-line)) (quit))
6432 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6435 ** The function scm_shell_usage prints a usage message appropriate for
6436 an interpreter that uses scm_compile_shell_switches to handle its
6437 command-line arguments.
6439 void scm_shell_usage (int FATAL, char *MESSAGE)
6440 Print a usage message to the standard error output. If MESSAGE is
6441 non-zero, write it before the usage message, followed by a newline.
6442 If FATAL is non-zero, exit the process, using FATAL as the
6443 termination status. (If you want to be compatible with Guile,
6444 always use 1 as the exit status when terminating due to command-line
6447 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6450 ** scm_eval_0str now returns SCM_UNSPECIFIED if the string contains no
6451 expressions. It used to return SCM_EOL. Earth-shattering.
6453 ** The macros for declaring scheme objects in C code have been
6454 rearranged slightly. They are now:
6456 SCM_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6457 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
6458 point to the Scheme symbol whose name is SCHEME_NAME. C_NAME should
6459 be a C identifier, and SCHEME_NAME should be a C string.
6461 SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6462 Just like SCM_SYMBOL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
6464 SCM_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6465 Create a global variable at the Scheme level named SCHEME_NAME.
6466 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
6467 point to the Scheme variable's value cell.
6469 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6470 Just like SCM_VCELL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
6472 The `guile-snarf' script writes initialization code for these macros
6473 to its standard output, given C source code as input.
6475 The SCM_GLOBAL macro is gone.
6477 ** The scm_read_line and scm_read_line_x functions have been replaced
6478 by Scheme code based on the %read-delimited! procedure (known to C
6479 code as scm_read_delimited_x). See its description above for more
6482 ** The function scm_sys_open has been renamed to scm_open. It now
6483 returns a port instead of an FD object.
6485 * The dynamic linking support has changed. For more information, see
6486 libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING.
6491 User-visible changes from Thursday, September 5, 1996 until Guile 1.0
6494 * Changes to the 'guile' program:
6496 ** Guile now loads some new files when it starts up. Guile first
6497 searches the load path for init.scm, and loads it if found. Then, if
6498 Guile is not being used to execute a script, and the user's home
6499 directory contains a file named `.guile', Guile loads that.
6501 ** You can now use Guile as a shell script interpreter.
6503 To paraphrase the SCSH manual:
6505 When Unix tries to execute an executable file whose first two
6506 characters are the `#!', it treats the file not as machine code to
6507 be directly executed by the native processor, but as source code
6508 to be executed by some interpreter. The interpreter to use is
6509 specified immediately after the #! sequence on the first line of
6510 the source file. The kernel reads in the name of the interpreter,
6511 and executes that instead. It passes the interpreter the source
6512 filename as its first argument, with the original arguments
6513 following. Consult the Unix man page for the `exec' system call
6514 for more information.
6516 Now you can use Guile as an interpreter, using a mechanism which is a
6517 compatible subset of that provided by SCSH.
6519 Guile now recognizes a '-s' command line switch, whose argument is the
6520 name of a file of Scheme code to load. It also treats the two
6521 characters `#!' as the start of a comment, terminated by `!#'. Thus,
6522 to make a file of Scheme code directly executable by Unix, insert the
6523 following two lines at the top of the file:
6525 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
6528 Guile treats the argument of the `-s' command-line switch as the name
6529 of a file of Scheme code to load, and treats the sequence `#!' as the
6530 start of a block comment, terminated by `!#'.
6532 For example, here's a version of 'echo' written in Scheme:
6534 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
6536 (let loop ((args (cdr (program-arguments))))
6539 (display (car args))
6540 (if (pair? (cdr args))
6542 (loop (cdr args)))))
6545 Why does `#!' start a block comment terminated by `!#', instead of the
6546 end of the line? That is the notation SCSH uses, and although we
6547 don't yet support the other SCSH features that motivate that choice,
6548 we would like to be backward-compatible with any existing Guile
6549 scripts once we do. Furthermore, if the path to Guile on your system
6550 is too long for your kernel, you can start the script with this
6554 exec /really/long/path/to/guile -s "$0" ${1+"$@"}
6557 Note that some very old Unix systems don't support the `#!' syntax.
6560 ** You can now run Guile without installing it.
6562 Previous versions of the interactive Guile interpreter (`guile')
6563 couldn't start up unless Guile's Scheme library had been installed;
6564 they used the value of the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH'
6565 later on in the startup process, but not to find the startup code
6566 itself. Now Guile uses `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' in all searches for Scheme
6569 To run Guile without installing it, build it in the normal way, and
6570 then set the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' to a
6571 colon-separated list of directories, including the top-level directory
6572 of the Guile sources. For example, if you unpacked Guile so that the
6573 full filename of this NEWS file is /home/jimb/guile-1.0b3/NEWS, then
6576 export SCHEME_LOAD_PATH=/home/jimb/my-scheme:/home/jimb/guile-1.0b3
6579 ** Guile's read-eval-print loop no longer prints #<unspecified>
6580 results. If the user wants to see this, she can evaluate the
6581 expression (assert-repl-print-unspecified #t), perhaps in her startup
6584 ** Guile no longer shows backtraces by default when an error occurs;
6585 however, it does display a message saying how to get one, and how to
6586 request that they be displayed by default. After an error, evaluate
6588 to see a backtrace, and
6589 (debug-enable 'backtrace)
6590 to see them by default.
6594 * Changes to Guile Scheme:
6596 ** Guile now distinguishes between #f and the empty list.
6598 This is for compatibility with the IEEE standard, the (possibly)
6599 upcoming Revised^5 Report on Scheme, and many extant Scheme
6602 Guile used to have #f and '() denote the same object, to make Scheme's
6603 type system more compatible with Emacs Lisp's. However, the change
6604 caused too much trouble for Scheme programmers, and we found another
6605 way to reconcile Emacs Lisp with Scheme that didn't require this.
6608 ** Guile's delq, delv, delete functions, and their destructive
6609 counterparts, delq!, delv!, and delete!, now remove all matching
6610 elements from the list, not just the first. This matches the behavior
6611 of the corresponding Emacs Lisp functions, and (I believe) the Maclisp
6612 functions which inspired them.
6614 I recognize that this change may break code in subtle ways, but it
6615 seems best to make the change before the FSF's first Guile release,
6619 ** The compiled-library-path function has been deleted from libguile.
6621 ** The facilities for loading Scheme source files have changed.
6623 *** The variable %load-path now tells Guile which directories to search
6624 for Scheme code. Its value is a list of strings, each of which names
6627 *** The variable %load-extensions now tells Guile which extensions to
6628 try appending to a filename when searching the load path. Its value
6629 is a list of strings. Its default value is ("" ".scm").
6631 *** (%search-load-path FILENAME) searches the directories listed in the
6632 value of the %load-path variable for a Scheme file named FILENAME,
6633 with all the extensions listed in %load-extensions. If it finds a
6634 match, then it returns its full filename. If FILENAME is absolute, it
6635 returns it unchanged. Otherwise, it returns #f.
6637 %search-load-path will not return matches that refer to directories.
6639 *** (primitive-load FILENAME :optional CASE-INSENSITIVE-P SHARP)
6640 uses %seach-load-path to find a file named FILENAME, and loads it if
6641 it finds it. If it can't read FILENAME for any reason, it throws an
6644 The arguments CASE-INSENSITIVE-P and SHARP are interpreted as by the
6647 *** load uses the same searching semantics as primitive-load.
6649 *** The functions %try-load, try-load-with-path, %load, load-with-path,
6650 basic-try-load-with-path, basic-load-with-path, try-load-module-with-
6651 path, and load-module-with-path have been deleted. The functions
6652 above should serve their purposes.
6654 *** If the value of the variable %load-hook is a procedure,
6655 `primitive-load' applies its value to the name of the file being
6656 loaded (without the load path directory name prepended). If its value
6657 is #f, it is ignored. Otherwise, an error occurs.
6659 This is mostly useful for printing load notification messages.
6662 ** The function `eval!' is no longer accessible from the scheme level.
6663 We can't allow operations which introduce glocs into the scheme level,
6664 because Guile's type system can't handle these as data. Use `eval' or
6665 `read-and-eval!' (see below) as replacement.
6667 ** The new function read-and-eval! reads an expression from PORT,
6668 evaluates it, and returns the result. This is more efficient than
6669 simply calling `read' and `eval', since it is not necessary to make a
6670 copy of the expression for the evaluator to munge.
6672 Its optional arguments CASE_INSENSITIVE_P and SHARP are interpreted as
6673 for the `read' function.
6676 ** The function `int?' has been removed; its definition was identical
6677 to that of `integer?'.
6679 ** The functions `<?', `<?', `<=?', `=?', `>?', and `>=?'. Code should
6680 use the R4RS names for these functions.
6682 ** The function object-properties no longer returns the hash handle;
6683 it simply returns the object's property list.
6685 ** Many functions have been changed to throw errors, instead of
6686 returning #f on failure. The point of providing exception handling in
6687 the language is to simplify the logic of user code, but this is less
6688 useful if Guile's primitives don't throw exceptions.
6690 ** The function `fileno' has been renamed from `%fileno'.
6692 ** The function primitive-mode->fdes returns #t or #f now, not 1 or 0.
6695 * Changes to Guile's C interface:
6697 ** The library's initialization procedure has been simplified.
6698 scm_boot_guile now has the prototype:
6700 void scm_boot_guile (int ARGC,
6702 void (*main_func) (),
6705 scm_boot_guile calls MAIN_FUNC, passing it CLOSURE, ARGC, and ARGV.
6706 MAIN_FUNC should do all the work of the program (initializing other
6707 packages, reading user input, etc.) before returning. When MAIN_FUNC
6708 returns, call exit (0); this function never returns. If you want some
6709 other exit value, MAIN_FUNC may call exit itself.
6711 scm_boot_guile arranges for program-arguments to return the strings
6712 given by ARGC and ARGV. If MAIN_FUNC modifies ARGC/ARGV, should call
6713 scm_set_program_arguments with the final list, so Scheme code will
6714 know which arguments have been processed.
6716 scm_boot_guile establishes a catch-all catch handler which prints an
6717 error message and exits the process. This means that Guile exits in a
6718 coherent way when system errors occur and the user isn't prepared to
6719 handle it. If the user doesn't like this behavior, they can establish
6720 their own universal catcher in MAIN_FUNC to shadow this one.
6722 Why must the caller do all the real work from MAIN_FUNC? The garbage
6723 collector assumes that all local variables of type SCM will be above
6724 scm_boot_guile's stack frame on the stack. If you try to manipulate
6725 SCM values after this function returns, it's the luck of the draw
6726 whether the GC will be able to find the objects you allocate. So,
6727 scm_boot_guile function exits, rather than returning, to discourage
6728 people from making that mistake.
6730 The IN, OUT, and ERR arguments were removed; there are other
6731 convenient ways to override these when desired.
6733 The RESULT argument was deleted; this function should never return.
6735 The BOOT_CMD argument was deleted; the MAIN_FUNC argument is more
6739 ** Guile's header files should no longer conflict with your system's
6742 In order to compile code which #included <libguile.h>, previous
6743 versions of Guile required you to add a directory containing all the
6744 Guile header files to your #include path. This was a problem, since
6745 Guile's header files have names which conflict with many systems'
6748 Now only <libguile.h> need appear in your #include path; you must
6749 refer to all Guile's other header files as <libguile/mumble.h>.
6750 Guile's installation procedure puts libguile.h in $(includedir), and
6751 the rest in $(includedir)/libguile.
6754 ** Two new C functions, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object,
6755 have been added to the Guile library.
6757 scm_protect_object (OBJ) protects OBJ from the garbage collector.
6758 OBJ will not be freed, even if all other references are dropped,
6759 until someone does scm_unprotect_object (OBJ). Both functions
6762 Note that calls to scm_protect_object do not nest. You can call
6763 scm_protect_object any number of times on a given object, and the
6764 next call to scm_unprotect_object will unprotect it completely.
6766 Basically, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object just
6767 maintain a list of references to things. Since the GC knows about
6768 this list, all objects it mentions stay alive. scm_protect_object
6769 adds its argument to the list; scm_unprotect_object remove its
6770 argument from the list.
6773 ** scm_eval_0str now returns the value of the last expression
6776 ** The new function scm_read_0str reads an s-expression from a
6777 null-terminated string, and returns it.
6779 ** The new function `scm_stdio_to_port' converts a STDIO file pointer
6780 to a Scheme port object.
6782 ** The new function `scm_set_program_arguments' allows C code to set
6783 the value returned by the Scheme `program-arguments' function.
6788 * Guile no longer includes sophisticated Tcl/Tk support.
6790 The old Tcl/Tk support was unsatisfying to us, because it required the
6791 user to link against the Tcl library, as well as Tk and Guile. The
6792 interface was also un-lispy, in that it preserved Tcl/Tk's practice of
6793 referring to widgets by names, rather than exporting widgets to Scheme
6794 code as a special datatype.
6796 In the Usenix Tk Developer's Workshop held in July 1996, the Tcl/Tk
6797 maintainers described some very interesting changes in progress to the
6798 Tcl/Tk internals, which would facilitate clean interfaces between lone
6799 Tk and other interpreters --- even for garbage-collected languages
6800 like Scheme. They expected the new Tk to be publicly available in the
6803 Since it seems that Guile might soon have a new, cleaner interface to
6804 lone Tk, and that the old Guile/Tk glue code would probably need to be
6805 completely rewritten, we (Jim Blandy and Richard Stallman) have
6806 decided not to support the old code. We'll spend the time instead on
6807 a good interface to the newer Tk, as soon as it is available.
6809 Until then, gtcltk-lib provides trivial, low-maintenance functionality.
6812 Copyright information:
6814 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
6816 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
6817 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
6818 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
6819 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
6821 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
6822 of this document, or of portions of it,
6823 under the above conditions, provided also that they
6824 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
6829 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"