1 Guile NEWS --- history of user-visible changes.
2 Copyright (C) 1996-2011 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3 See the end for copying conditions.
5 Please send Guile bug reports to bug-guile@gnu.org.
8 Changes in 2.0.1 (since 2.0.0):
12 ** guile.m4 supports linking with rpath
14 The GUILE_FLAGS macro now sets GUILE_LIBS and GUILE_LTLIBS, which
15 include appropriate directives to the linker to include libguile-2.0.so
16 in the runtime library lookup path.
18 ** `begin' expands macros in its body before other expressions
20 This enables support for programs like the following:
25 (or (= x 0) (odd? (- x 1)))))
28 ((odd? x) (not (even? x)))))
31 ** REPL reader usability enhancements
33 The REPL now flushes input after a read error, which should prevent one
34 error from causing other errors. The REPL also now interprets comments
37 ** REPL output has configurable width
39 The REPL now defaults to output with the current terminal's width, in
40 columns. See "Debug Commands" in the manual for more information on
43 ** Better C access to the module system
45 Guile now has convenient C accessors to look up variables or values in
46 modules and their public interfaces. See `scm_c_public_ref' and friends
47 in "Accessing Modules from C" in the manual.
49 ** Added `scm_call_5', `scm_call_6'
51 See "Fly Evaluation" in the manual.
53 ** Added `scm_from_latin1_keyword', `scm_from_utf8_keyword'
55 See "Keyword Procedures" in the manual, for more. Note that
56 `scm_from_locale_keyword' should not be used when the name is a C string
59 ** R6RS unicode and string I/O work
61 Added efficient implementations of `get-string-n' and `get-string-n!'
62 for binary ports. Exported `current-input-port', `current-output-port'
63 and `current-error-port' from `(rnrs io ports)', and enhanced support
66 ** Added `pointer->scm', `scm->pointer' to `(system foreign)'
68 These procedure are useful if one needs to pass and receive SCM values
69 to and from foreign functions. See "Foreign Variables" in the manual,
72 ** Added `heap-allocated-since-gc' to `(gc-stats)'
74 Also fixed the long-standing bug in the REPL `,stat' command.
76 ** Add `on-error' REPL option
78 This option controls what happens when an error occurs at the REPL, and
79 defaults to `debug', indicating that Guile should enter the debugger.
80 Other values include `report', which will simply print a backtrace
81 without entering the debugger. See "System Commands" in the manual.
83 ** Enforce immutability of string literals
85 Attempting to mutate a string literal now causes a runtime error.
87 ** Fix pthread redirection
89 Guile 2.0.0 shipped with headers that, if configured with pthread
90 support, would re-define `pthread_create', `pthread_join', and other API
91 to redirect to the BDW-GC wrappers, `GC_pthread_create', etc. This was
92 unintended, and not necessary: because threads must enter Guile with
93 scm_with_guile, Guile can handle thread registration itself, without
94 needing to make the GC aware of all threads. This oversight has been
97 ** `with-continuation-barrier' now unwinds on `quit'
99 A throw to `quit' in a continuation barrier will cause Guile to exit.
100 Before, it would do so before unwinding to the barrier, which would
101 prevent cleanup handlers from running. This has been fixed so that it
102 exits only after unwinding.
104 ** `string->pointer' and `pointer->string' have optional encoding arg
106 This allows users of the FFI to more easily deal in strings with
107 particular (non-locale) encodings, like "utf-8". See "Void Pointers and
108 Byte Access" in the manual, for more.
110 ** R6RS fixnum arithmetic optimizations
112 R6RS fixnum operations are are still slower than generic arithmetic,
115 ** New procedure: `define-inlinable'
117 See "Inlinable Procedures" in the manual, for more.
119 ** New procedure: `exact-integer-sqrt'
121 See "Integer Operations" in the manual, for more.
123 ** "Extended read syntax" for symbols parses better
125 In #{foo}# symbols, backslashes are now treated as escapes, as the
126 symbol-printing code intended. Additionally, "\x" within #{foo}# is now
127 interpreted as starting an R6RS hex escape. This is backward compatible
128 because the symbol printer would never produce a "\x" before. The
129 printer also works better too.
131 ** Added --force-auto-compile option
133 This allows a user to invalidate the auto-compilation cache. It's
134 usually not needed. See "Compilation" in the manual, for a discussion.
138 ** GOOPS documentation updates
142 Thanks to Mark Harig for improvements to guile.1.
144 ** SRFI-23 documented
146 The humble `error' SRFI now has an entry in the manual.
150 ** `(ice-9 binary-ports)': XXX, in the manual
151 ** `(ice-9 eval-string)': "Fly Evaluation", in the manual
155 ** Fixed iconv_t memory leak on close-port
156 ** Fixed some leaks with weak hash tables
157 ** Export `vhash-delq' and `vhash-delv' from `(ice-9 vlist)'
158 ** `after-gc-hook' works again
159 ** `define-record-type' now allowed in nested contexts
160 ** `exact-integer-sqrt' now handles large integers correctly
161 ** Fixed C extension examples in manual
162 ** `vhash-delete' honors HASH argument
163 ** Make `locale-digit-grouping' more robust
164 ** Default exception printer robustness fixes
165 ** Fix presence of non-I CPPFLAGS in `guile-2.0.pc'
166 ** `read' updates line/column numbers when reading SCSH block comments
167 ** Fix imports of multiple custom interfaces of same module
168 ** Fix encoding scanning for non-seekable ports
169 ** Fix `setter' when called with a non-setter generic
170 ** Fix f32 and f64 bytevectors to not accept rationals
171 ** Fix description of the R6RS `finite?' in manual
172 ** Quotient, remainder and modulo accept inexact integers again
173 ** Fix `continue' within `while' to take zero arguments
174 ** Fix alignment for structures in FFI
175 ** Fix port-filename of stdin, stdout, stderr to match the docs
176 ** Fix weak hash table-related bug in `define-wrapped-pointer-type'
177 ** Fix partial continuation application with pending procedure calls
178 ** scm_{to,from}_locale_string use current locale, not current ports
179 ** Fix thread cleanup, by using a pthread_key destructor
180 ** Fix `quit' at the REPL
181 ** Fix a failure to sync regs in vm bytevector ops
182 ** Fix (texinfo reflection) to handle nested structures like syntax patterns
183 ** Fix stexi->html double translation
184 ** Fix tree-il->scheme fix for <prompt>
185 ** Fix compilation of <prompt> in <fix> in single-value context
186 ** Fix race condition in ensure-writable-dir
187 ** Fix error message on ,disassemble "non-procedure"
188 ** Fix prompt and abort with the boot evaluator
189 ** Fix `procedure->pointer' for functions returning `void'
190 ** Fix error reporting in dynamic-pointer
191 ** Fix problems detecting coding: in block comments
192 ** Fix duplicate load-path and load-compiled-path in compilation environment
193 ** Add fallback read(2) suppport for .go files if mmap(2) unavailable
194 ** Fix c32vector-set!, c64vector-set!
195 ** Fix mistakenly deprecated read syntax for uniform complex vectors
196 ** Fix parsing of exact numbers with negative exponents
197 ** Ignore SIGPIPE in (system repl server)
198 ** Fix optional second arg to R6RS log function
199 ** Fix R6RS `assert' to return true value.
200 ** Fix fencepost error when seeking in bytevector input ports
204 Changes in 2.0.0 (changes since the 1.8.x series):
206 * New modules (see the manual for details)
208 ** `(srfi srfi-18)', more sophisticated multithreading support
209 ** `(srfi srfi-27)', sources of random bits
210 ** `(srfi srfi-38)', External Representation for Data With Shared Structure
211 ** `(srfi srfi-42)', eager comprehensions
212 ** `(srfi srfi-45)', primitives for expressing iterative lazy algorithms
213 ** `(srfi srfi-67)', compare procedures
214 ** `(ice-9 i18n)', internationalization support
215 ** `(ice-9 futures)', fine-grain parallelism
216 ** `(rnrs bytevectors)', the R6RS bytevector API
217 ** `(rnrs io ports)', a subset of the R6RS I/O port API
218 ** `(system xref)', a cross-referencing facility (FIXME undocumented)
219 ** `(ice-9 vlist)', lists with constant-time random access; hash lists
220 ** `(system foreign)', foreign function interface
221 ** `(sxml match)', a pattern matcher for SXML
222 ** `(srfi srfi-9 gnu)', extensions to the SRFI-9 record library
223 ** `(system vm coverage)', a line-by-line code coverage library
224 ** `(web uri)', URI data type, parser, and unparser
225 ** `(web http)', HTTP header parsers and unparsers
226 ** `(web request)', HTTP request data type, reader, and writer
227 ** `(web response)', HTTP response data type, reader, and writer
228 ** `(web server)', Generic HTTP server
229 ** `(ice-9 poll)', a poll wrapper
230 ** `(web server http)', HTTP-over-TCP web server implementation
232 ** Replaced `(ice-9 match)' with Alex Shinn's compatible, hygienic matcher.
234 Guile's copy of Andrew K. Wright's `match' library has been replaced by
235 a compatible hygienic implementation by Alex Shinn. It is now
236 documented, see "Pattern Matching" in the manual.
238 Compared to Andrew K. Wright's `match', the new `match' lacks
239 `match-define', `match:error-control', `match:set-error-control',
240 `match:error', `match:set-error', and all structure-related procedures.
242 ** Imported statprof, SSAX, and texinfo modules from Guile-Lib
244 The statprof statistical profiler, the SSAX XML toolkit, and the texinfo
245 toolkit from Guile-Lib have been imported into Guile proper. See
246 "Standard Library" in the manual for more details.
248 ** Integration of lalr-scm, a parser generator
250 Guile has included Dominique Boucher's fine `lalr-scm' parser generator
251 as `(system base lalr)'. See "LALR(1) Parsing" in the manual, for more
254 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
256 ** Guile now can compile Scheme to bytecode for a custom virtual machine.
258 Compiled code loads much faster than Scheme source code, and runs around
259 3 or 4 times as fast, generating much less garbage in the process.
261 ** Evaluating Scheme code does not use the C stack.
263 Besides when compiling Guile itself, Guile no longer uses a recursive C
264 function as an evaluator. This obviates the need to check the C stack
265 pointer for overflow. Continuations still capture the C stack, however.
267 ** New environment variables: GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH,
268 GUILE_SYSTEM_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH
270 GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH is for compiled files what GUILE_LOAD_PATH is
271 for source files. It is a different path, however, because compiled
272 files are architecture-specific. GUILE_SYSTEM_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH is like
275 ** New read-eval-print loop (REPL) implementation
277 Running Guile with no arguments drops the user into the new REPL. See
278 "Using Guile Interactively" in the manual, for more information.
280 ** Remove old Emacs interface
282 Guile had an unused `--emacs' command line argument that was supposed to
283 help when running Guile inside Emacs. This option has been removed, and
284 the helper functions `named-module-use!' and `load-emacs-interface' have
287 ** Add `(system repl server)' module and `--listen' command-line argument
289 The `(system repl server)' module exposes procedures to listen on
290 sockets for connections, and serve REPLs to those clients. The --listen
291 command-line argument allows any Guile program to thus be remotely
294 See "Invoking Guile" for more information on `--listen'.
296 ** Command line additions
298 The guile binary now supports a new switch "-x", which can be used to
299 extend the list of filename extensions tried when loading files
302 ** New reader options: `square-brackets', `r6rs-hex-escapes',
305 The reader supports a new option (changeable via `read-options'),
306 `square-brackets', which instructs it to interpret square brackets as
307 parentheses. This option is on by default.
309 When the new `r6rs-hex-escapes' reader option is enabled, the reader
310 will recognize string escape sequences as defined in R6RS. R6RS string
311 escape sequences are incompatible with Guile's existing escapes, though,
312 so this option is off by default.
314 Additionally, Guile follows the R6RS newline escaping rules when the
315 `hungry-eol-escapes' option is enabled.
317 See "String Syntax" in the manual, for more information.
319 ** Function profiling and tracing at the REPL
321 The `,profile FORM' REPL meta-command can now be used to statistically
322 profile execution of a form, to see which functions are taking the most
323 time. See `,help profile' for more information.
325 Similarly, `,trace FORM' traces all function applications that occur
326 during the execution of `FORM'. See `,help trace' for more information.
328 ** Recursive debugging REPL on error
330 When Guile sees an error at the REPL, instead of saving the stack, Guile
331 will directly enter a recursive REPL in the dynamic context of the
332 error. See "Error Handling" in the manual, for more information.
334 A recursive REPL is the same as any other REPL, except that it
335 has been augmented with debugging information, so that one can inspect
336 the context of the error. The debugger has been integrated with the REPL
337 via a set of debugging meta-commands.
339 For example, one may access a backtrace with `,backtrace' (or
340 `,bt'). See "Interactive Debugging" in the manual, for more
343 ** New `guile-tools' commands: `compile', `disassemble'
345 Pass the `--help' command-line option to these commands for more
348 ** Guile now adds its install prefix to the LTDL_LIBRARY_PATH
350 Users may now install Guile to nonstandard prefixes and just run
351 `/path/to/bin/guile', instead of also having to set LTDL_LIBRARY_PATH to
352 include `/path/to/lib'.
354 ** Guile's Emacs integration is now more keyboard-friendly
356 Backtraces may now be disclosed with the keyboard in addition to the
359 ** Load path change: search in version-specific paths before site paths
361 When looking for a module, Guile now searches first in Guile's
362 version-specific path (the library path), *then* in the site dir. This
363 allows Guile's copy of SSAX to override any Guile-Lib copy the user has
364 installed. Also it should cut the number of `stat' system calls by half,
367 ** Value history in the REPL on by default
369 By default, the REPL will save computed values in variables like `$1',
370 `$2', and the like. There are programmatic and interactive interfaces to
371 control this. See "Value History" in the manual, for more information.
373 ** Readline tab completion for arguments
375 When readline is enabled, tab completion works for arguments too, not
376 just for the operator position.
378 ** Expression-oriented readline history
380 Guile's readline history now tries to operate on expressions instead of
381 input lines. Let us know what you think!
383 ** Interactive Guile follows GNU conventions
385 As recommended by the GPL, Guile now shows a brief copyright and
386 warranty disclaimer on startup, along with pointers to more information.
388 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
390 ** Support for R6RS libraries
392 The `library' and `import' forms from the latest Scheme report have been
393 added to Guile, in such a way that R6RS libraries share a namespace with
394 Guile modules. R6RS modules may import Guile modules, and are available
395 for Guile modules to import via use-modules and all the rest. See "R6RS
396 Libraries" in the manual for more information.
398 ** Implementations of R6RS libraries
400 Guile now has implementations for all of the libraries defined in the
401 R6RS. Thanks to Julian Graham for this excellent hack. See "R6RS
402 Standard Libraries" in the manual for a full list of libraries.
404 ** Partial R6RS compatibility
406 Guile now has enough support for R6RS to run a reasonably large subset
409 Guile is not fully R6RS compatible. Many incompatibilities are simply
410 bugs, though some parts of Guile will remain R6RS-incompatible for the
411 foreseeable future. See "R6RS Incompatibilities" in the manual, for more
414 Please contact bug-guile@gnu.org if you have found an issue not
415 mentioned in that compatibility list.
417 ** New implementation of `primitive-eval'
419 Guile's `primitive-eval' is now implemented in Scheme. Actually there is
420 still a C evaluator, used when building a fresh Guile to interpret the
421 compiler, so we can compile eval.scm. Thereafter all calls to
422 primitive-eval are implemented by VM-compiled code.
424 This allows all of Guile's procedures, be they interpreted or compiled,
425 to execute on the same stack, unifying multiple-value return semantics,
426 providing for proper tail recursion between interpreted and compiled
427 code, and simplifying debugging.
429 As part of this change, the evaluator no longer mutates the internal
430 representation of the code being evaluated in a thread-unsafe manner.
432 There are two negative aspects of this change, however. First, Guile
433 takes a lot longer to compile now. Also, there is less debugging
434 information available for debugging interpreted code. We hope to improve
435 both of these situations.
437 There are many changes to the internal C evalator interface, but all
438 public interfaces should be the same. See the ChangeLog for details. If
439 we have inadvertantly changed an interface that you were using, please
440 contact bug-guile@gnu.org.
442 ** Procedure removed: `the-environment'
444 This procedure was part of the interpreter's execution model, and does
445 not apply to the compiler.
447 ** No more `local-eval'
449 `local-eval' used to exist so that one could evaluate code in the
450 lexical context of a function. Since there is no way to get the lexical
451 environment any more, as that concept has no meaning for the compiler,
452 and a different meaning for the interpreter, we have removed the
455 If you think you need `local-eval', you should probably implement your
456 own metacircular evaluator. It will probably be as fast as Guile's
459 ** Scheme source files will now be compiled automatically.
461 If a compiled .go file corresponding to a .scm file is not found or is
462 not fresh, the .scm file will be compiled on the fly, and the resulting
463 .go file stored away. An advisory note will be printed on the console.
465 Note that this mechanism depends on the timestamp of the .go file being
466 newer than that of the .scm file; if the .scm or .go files are moved
467 after installation, care should be taken to preserve their original
470 Auto-compiled files will be stored in the $XDG_CACHE_HOME/guile/ccache
471 directory, where $XDG_CACHE_HOME defaults to ~/.cache. This directory
472 will be created if needed.
474 To inhibit automatic compilation, set the GUILE_AUTO_COMPILE environment
475 variable to 0, or pass --no-auto-compile on the Guile command line.
477 ** New POSIX procedures: `getrlimit' and `setrlimit'
479 Note however that the interface of these functions is likely to change
480 in the next prerelease.
482 ** New POSIX procedure: `getsid'
484 Scheme binding for the `getsid' C library call.
486 ** New POSIX procedure: `getaddrinfo'
488 Scheme binding for the `getaddrinfo' C library function.
490 ** Multicast socket options
492 Support was added for the IP_MULTICAST_TTL and IP_MULTICAST_IF socket
493 options. See "Network Sockets and Communication" in the manual, for
496 ** `recv!', `recvfrom!', `send', `sendto' now deal in bytevectors
498 These socket procedures now take bytevectors as arguments, instead of
499 strings. There is some deprecated string support, however.
501 ** New GNU procedures: `setaffinity' and `getaffinity'.
503 See "Processes" in the manual, for more information.
505 ** New procedures: `compose', `negate', and `const'
507 See "Higher-Order Functions" in the manual, for more information.
509 ** New procedure in `(oops goops)': `method-formals'
511 ** New procedures in (ice-9 session): `add-value-help-handler!',
512 `remove-value-help-handler!', `add-name-help-handler!'
513 `remove-name-help-handler!', `procedure-arguments'
515 The value and name help handlers provide some minimal extensibility to
516 the help interface. Guile-lib's `(texinfo reflection)' uses them, for
517 example, to make stexinfo help documentation available. See those
518 procedures' docstrings for more information.
520 `procedure-arguments' describes the arguments that a procedure can take,
521 combining arity and formals. For example:
523 (procedure-arguments resolve-interface)
524 => ((required . (name)) (rest . args))
526 Additionally, `module-commentary' is now publically exported from
529 ** Removed: `procedure->memoizing-macro', `procedure->syntax'
531 These procedures created primitive fexprs for the old evaluator, and are
532 no longer supported. If you feel that you need these functions, you
533 probably need to write your own metacircular evaluator (which will
534 probably be as fast as Guile's, anyway).
536 ** New language: ECMAScript
538 Guile now ships with one other high-level language supported,
539 ECMAScript. The goal is to support all of version 3.1 of the standard,
540 but not all of the libraries are there yet. This support is not yet
541 documented; ask on the mailing list if you are interested.
543 ** New language: Brainfuck
545 Brainfuck is a toy language that closely models Turing machines. Guile's
546 brainfuck compiler is meant to be an example of implementing other
547 languages. See the manual for details, or
548 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainfuck for more information about the
549 Brainfuck language itself.
551 ** New language: Elisp
553 Guile now has an experimental Emacs Lisp compiler and runtime. You can
554 now switch to Elisp at the repl: `,language elisp'. All kudos to Daniel
555 Kraft and Brian Templeton, and all bugs to bug-guile@gnu.org.
557 ** Better documentation infrastructure for macros
559 It is now possible to introspect on the type of a macro, e.g.
560 syntax-rules, identifier-syntax, etc, and extract information about that
561 macro, such as the syntax-rules patterns or the defmacro arguments.
562 `(texinfo reflection)' takes advantage of this to give better macro
565 ** Support for arbitrary procedure metadata
567 Building on its support for docstrings, Guile now supports multiple
568 docstrings, adding them to the tail of a compiled procedure's
569 properties. For example:
575 (procedure-properties foo)
576 => ((name . foo) (documentation . "one") (documentation . "two"))
578 Also, vectors of pairs are now treated as additional metadata entries:
581 #((quz . #f) (docstring . "xyzzy"))
583 (procedure-properties bar)
584 => ((name . bar) (quz . #f) (docstring . "xyzzy"))
586 This allows arbitrary literals to be embedded as metadata in a compiled
589 ** The psyntax expander now knows how to interpret the @ and @@ special
592 ** The psyntax expander is now hygienic with respect to modules.
594 Free variables in a macro are scoped in the module that the macro was
595 defined in, not in the module the macro is used in. For example, code
598 (define-module (foo) #:export (bar))
599 (define (helper x) ...)
601 (syntax-rules () ((_ x) (helper x))))
603 (define-module (baz) #:use-module (foo))
606 It used to be you had to export `helper' from `(foo)' as well.
607 Thankfully, this has been fixed.
609 ** Support for version information in Guile's `module' form
611 Guile modules now have a `#:version' field. See "R6RS Version
612 References", "General Information about Modules", "Using Guile Modules",
613 and "Creating Guile Modules" in the manual for more information.
615 ** Support for renaming bindings on module export
617 Wherever Guile accepts a symbol as an argument to specify a binding to
618 export, it now also accepts a pair of symbols, indicating that a binding
619 should be renamed on export. See "Creating Guile Modules" in the manual
620 for more information.
622 ** New procedure: `module-export-all!'
624 This procedure exports all current and future bindings from a module.
625 Use as `(module-export-all! (current-module))'.
627 ** New procedure `reload-module', and `,reload' REPL command
629 See "Module System Reflection" and "Module Commands" in the manual, for
632 ** `eval-case' has been deprecated, and replaced by `eval-when'.
634 The semantics of `eval-when' are easier to understand. See "Eval When"
635 in the manual, for more information.
637 ** Guile is now more strict about prohibiting definitions in expression
640 Although previous versions of Guile accepted it, the following
641 expression is not valid, in R5RS or R6RS:
643 (if test (define foo 'bar) (define foo 'baz))
645 In this specific case, it would be better to do:
647 (define foo (if test 'bar 'baz))
649 It is possible to circumvent this restriction with e.g.
650 `(module-define! (current-module) 'foo 'baz)'. Contact the list if you
653 ** Support for `letrec*'
655 Guile now supports `letrec*', a recursive lexical binding operator in
656 which the identifiers are bound in order. See "Local Bindings" in the
657 manual, for more details.
659 ** Internal definitions now expand to `letrec*'
661 Following the R6RS, internal definitions now expand to letrec* instead
662 of letrec. The following program is invalid for R5RS, but valid for
667 (define baz (+ bar 20))
670 ;; R5RS and Guile <= 1.8:
671 (foo) => Unbound variable: bar
672 ;; R6RS and Guile >= 2.0:
675 This change should not affect correct R5RS programs, or programs written
676 in earlier Guile dialects.
678 ** Macro expansion produces structures instead of s-expressions
680 In the olden days, macroexpanding an s-expression would yield another
681 s-expression. Though the lexical variables were renamed, expansions of
682 core forms like `if' and `begin' were still non-hygienic, as they relied
683 on the toplevel definitions of `if' et al being the conventional ones.
685 The solution is to expand to structures instead of s-expressions. There
686 is an `if' structure, a `begin' structure, a `toplevel-ref' structure,
687 etc. The expander already did this for compilation, producing Tree-IL
688 directly; it has been changed now to do so when expanding for the
691 ** Defmacros must now produce valid Scheme expressions.
693 It used to be that defmacros could unquote in Scheme values, as a way of
694 supporting partial evaluation, and avoiding some hygiene issues. For
697 (define (helper x) ...)
698 (define-macro (foo bar)
701 Assuming this macro is in the `(baz)' module, the direct translation of
704 (define (helper x) ...)
705 (define-macro (foo bar)
706 `((@@ (baz) helper) ,bar))
708 Of course, one could just use a hygienic macro instead:
712 ((_ bar) (helper bar))))
714 ** Guile's psyntax now supports docstrings and internal definitions.
716 The following Scheme is not strictly legal:
723 However its intent is fairly clear. Guile interprets "bar" to be the
724 docstring of `foo', and the definition of `baz' is still in definition
727 ** Support for settable identifier syntax
729 Following the R6RS, "variable transformers" are settable
730 identifier-syntax. See "Identifier macros" in the manual, for more
733 ** syntax-case treats `_' as a placeholder
735 Following R6RS, a `_' in a syntax-rules or syntax-case pattern matches
736 anything, and binds no pattern variables. Unlike the R6RS, Guile also
737 permits `_' to be in the literals list for a pattern.
739 ** Macros need to be defined before their first use.
741 It used to be that with lazy memoization, this might work:
745 (define-macro (ref x) x)
748 But now, the body of `foo' is interpreted to mean a call to the toplevel
749 `ref' function, instead of a macro expansion. The solution is to define
750 macros before code that uses them.
752 ** Functions needed by macros at expand-time need to be present at
755 For example, this code will work at the REPL:
757 (define (double-helper x) (* x x))
758 (define-macro (double-literal x) (double-helper x))
759 (double-literal 2) => 4
761 But it will not work when a file is compiled, because the definition of
762 `double-helper' is not present at expand-time. The solution is to wrap
763 the definition of `double-helper' in `eval-when':
765 (eval-when (load compile eval)
766 (define (double-helper x) (* x x)))
767 (define-macro (double-literal x) (double-helper x))
768 (double-literal 2) => 4
770 See the documentation for eval-when for more information.
772 ** `macroexpand' produces structures, not S-expressions.
774 Given the need to maintain referential transparency, both lexically and
775 modular, the result of expanding Scheme expressions is no longer itself
776 an s-expression. If you want a human-readable approximation of the
777 result of `macroexpand', call `tree-il->scheme' from `(language
780 ** Removed function: `macroexpand-1'
782 It is unclear how to implement `macroexpand-1' with syntax-case, though
783 PLT Scheme does prove that it is possible.
785 ** New reader macros: #' #` #, #,@
787 These macros translate, respectively, to `syntax', `quasisyntax',
788 `unsyntax', and `unsyntax-splicing'. See the R6RS for more information.
789 These reader macros may be overridden by `read-hash-extend'.
791 ** Incompatible change to #'
793 Guile did have a #' hash-extension, by default, which just returned the
794 subsequent datum: #'foo => foo. In the unlikely event that anyone
795 actually used this, this behavior may be reinstated via the
796 `read-hash-extend' mechanism.
798 ** `unquote' and `unquote-splicing' accept multiple expressions
800 As per the R6RS, these syntax operators can now accept any number of
801 expressions to unquote.
803 ** Scheme expresssions may be commented out with #;
805 #; comments out an entire expression. See SRFI-62 or the R6RS for more
808 ** Prompts: Delimited, composable continuations
810 Guile now has prompts as part of its primitive language. See "Prompts"
811 in the manual, for more information.
813 Expressions entered in at the REPL, or from the command line, are
814 surrounded by a prompt with the default prompt tag.
816 ** `make-stack' with a tail-called procedural narrowing argument no longer
817 works (with compiled procedures)
819 It used to be the case that a captured stack could be narrowed to select
820 calls only up to or from a certain procedure, even if that procedure
821 already tail-called another procedure. This was because the debug
822 information from the original procedure was kept on the stack.
824 Now with the new compiler, the stack only contains active frames from
825 the current continuation. A narrow to a procedure that is not in the
826 stack will result in an empty stack. To fix this, narrow to a procedure
827 that is active in the current continuation, or narrow to a specific
828 number of stack frames.
830 ** Backtraces through compiled procedures only show procedures that are
831 active in the current continuation
833 Similarly to the previous issue, backtraces in compiled code may be
834 different from backtraces in interpreted code. There are no semantic
835 differences, however. Please mail bug-guile@gnu.org if you see any
836 deficiencies with Guile's backtraces.
838 ** `positions' reader option enabled by default
840 This change allows primitive-load without --auto-compile to also
841 propagate source information through the expander, for better errors and
842 to let macros know their source locations. The compiler was already
843 turning it on anyway.
845 ** New macro: `current-source-location'
847 The macro returns the current source location (to be documented).
849 ** syntax-rules and syntax-case macros now propagate source information
850 through to the expanded code
852 This should result in better backtraces.
854 ** The currying behavior of `define' has been removed.
856 Before, `(define ((f a) b) (* a b))' would translate to
858 (define f (lambda (a) (lambda (b) (* a b))))
860 Now a syntax error is signaled, as this syntax is not supported by
861 default. Use the `(ice-9 curried-definitions)' module to get back the
864 ** New procedure, `define!'
866 `define!' is a procedure that takes two arguments, a symbol and a value,
867 and binds the value to the symbol in the current module. It's useful to
868 programmatically make definitions in the current module, and is slightly
869 less verbose than `module-define!'.
871 ** All modules have names now
873 Before, you could have anonymous modules: modules without names. Now,
874 because of hygiene and macros, all modules have names. If a module was
875 created without a name, the first time `module-name' is called on it, a
876 fresh name will be lazily generated for it.
878 ** The module namespace is now separate from the value namespace
880 It was a little-known implementation detail of Guile's module system
881 that it was built on a single hierarchical namespace of values -- that
882 if there was a module named `(foo bar)', then in the module named
883 `(foo)' there was a binding from `bar' to the `(foo bar)' module.
885 This was a neat trick, but presented a number of problems. One problem
886 was that the bindings in a module were not apparent from the module
887 itself; perhaps the `(foo)' module had a private binding for `bar', and
888 then an external contributor defined `(foo bar)'. In the end there can
889 be only one binding, so one of the two will see the wrong thing, and
890 produce an obtuse error of unclear provenance.
892 Also, the public interface of a module was also bound in the value
893 namespace, as `%module-public-interface'. This was a hack from the early
894 days of Guile's modules.
896 Both of these warts have been fixed by the addition of fields in the
897 `module' data type. Access to modules and their interfaces from the
898 value namespace has been deprecated, and all accessors use the new
899 record accessors appropriately.
901 When Guile is built with support for deprecated code, as is the default,
902 the value namespace is still searched for modules and public interfaces,
903 and a deprecation warning is raised as appropriate.
905 Finally, to support lazy loading of modules as one used to be able to do
906 with module binder procedures, Guile now has submodule binders, called
907 if a given submodule is not found. See boot-9.scm for more information.
909 ** New procedures: module-ref-submodule, module-define-submodule,
910 nested-ref-module, nested-define-module!, local-ref-module,
913 These new accessors are like their bare variants, but operate on
914 namespaces instead of values.
916 ** The (app modules) module tree is officially deprecated
918 It used to be that one could access a module named `(foo bar)' via
919 `(nested-ref the-root-module '(app modules foo bar))'. The `(app
920 modules)' bit was a never-used and never-documented abstraction, and has
921 been deprecated. See the following mail for a full discussion:
923 http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guile-devel/2010-04/msg00168.html
925 The `%app' binding is also deprecated.
927 ** `module-filename' field and accessor
929 Modules now record the file in which they are defined. This field may be
930 accessed with the new `module-filename' procedure.
932 ** Modules load within a known environment
934 It takes a few procedure calls to define a module, and those procedure
935 calls need to be in scope. Now we ensure that the current module when
936 loading a module is one that has the needed bindings, instead of relying
939 ** `load' is a macro (!) that resolves paths relative to source file dir
941 The familiar Schem `load' procedure is now a macro that captures the
942 name of the source file being expanded, and dispatches to the new
943 `load-in-vicinity'. Referencing `load' by bare name returns a closure
944 that embeds the current source file name.
946 This fix allows `load' of relative paths to be resolved with respect to
947 the location of the file that calls `load'.
949 ** Many syntax errors have different texts now
951 Syntax errors still throw to the `syntax-error' key, but the arguments
952 are often different now. Perhaps in the future, Guile will switch to
953 using standard SRFI-35 conditions.
955 ** Returning multiple values to compiled code will silently truncate the
956 values to the expected number
958 For example, the interpreter would raise an error evaluating the form,
959 `(+ (values 1 2) (values 3 4))', because it would see the operands as
960 being two compound "values" objects, to which `+' does not apply.
962 The compiler, on the other hand, receives multiple values on the stack,
963 not as a compound object. Given that it must check the number of values
964 anyway, if too many values are provided for a continuation, it chooses
965 to truncate those values, effectively evaluating `(+ 1 3)' instead.
967 The idea is that the semantics that the compiler implements is more
968 intuitive, and the use of the interpreter will fade out with time.
969 This behavior is allowed both by the R5RS and the R6RS.
971 ** Multiple values in compiled code are not represented by compound
974 This change may manifest itself in the following situation:
976 (let ((val (foo))) (do-something) val)
978 In the interpreter, if `foo' returns multiple values, multiple values
979 are produced from the `let' expression. In the compiler, those values
980 are truncated to the first value, and that first value is returned. In
981 the compiler, if `foo' returns no values, an error will be raised, while
982 the interpreter would proceed.
984 Both of these behaviors are allowed by R5RS and R6RS. The compiler's
985 behavior is more correct, however. If you wish to preserve a potentially
986 multiply-valued return, you will need to set up a multiple-value
987 continuation, using `call-with-values'.
989 ** Defmacros are now implemented in terms of syntax-case.
991 The practical ramification of this is that the `defmacro?' predicate has
992 been removed, along with `defmacro-transformer', `macro-table',
993 `xformer-table', `assert-defmacro?!', `set-defmacro-transformer!' and
994 `defmacro:transformer'. This is because defmacros are simply macros. If
995 any of these procedures provided useful facilities to you, we encourage
996 you to contact the Guile developers.
998 ** Hygienic macros documented as the primary syntactic extension mechanism.
1000 The macro documentation was finally fleshed out with some documentation
1001 on `syntax-rules' and `syntax-case' macros, and other parts of the macro
1002 expansion process. See "Macros" in the manual, for details.
1004 ** psyntax is now the default expander
1006 Scheme code is now expanded by default by the psyntax hygienic macro
1007 expander. Expansion is performed completely before compilation or
1010 Notably, syntax errors will be signalled before interpretation begins.
1011 In the past, many syntax errors were only detected at runtime if the
1012 code in question was memoized.
1014 As part of its expansion, psyntax renames all lexically-bound
1015 identifiers. Original identifier names are preserved and given to the
1016 compiler, but the interpreter will see the renamed variables, e.g.,
1017 `x432' instead of `x'.
1019 Note that the psyntax that Guile uses is a fork, as Guile already had
1020 modules before incompatible modules were added to psyntax -- about 10
1021 years ago! Thus there are surely a number of bugs that have been fixed
1022 in psyntax since then. If you find one, please notify bug-guile@gnu.org.
1024 ** syntax-rules and syntax-case are available by default.
1026 There is no longer any need to import the `(ice-9 syncase)' module
1027 (which is now deprecated). The expander may be invoked directly via
1028 `macroexpand', though it is normally searched for via the current module
1031 Also, the helper routines for syntax-case are available in the default
1032 environment as well: `syntax->datum', `datum->syntax',
1033 `bound-identifier=?', `free-identifier=?', `generate-temporaries',
1034 `identifier?', and `syntax-violation'. See the R6RS for documentation.
1036 ** Tail patterns in syntax-case
1038 Guile has pulled in some more recent changes from the psyntax portable
1039 syntax expander, to implement support for "tail patterns". Such patterns
1040 are supported by syntax-rules and syntax-case. This allows a syntax-case
1041 match clause to have ellipses, then a pattern at the end. For example:
1044 (syntax-rules (else)
1045 ((_ val match-clause ... (else e e* ...))
1048 Note how there is MATCH-CLAUSE, which is ellipsized, then there is a
1049 tail pattern for the else clause. Thanks to Andreas Rottmann for the
1050 patch, and Kent Dybvig for the code.
1052 ** Lexical bindings introduced by hygienic macros may not be referenced
1053 by nonhygienic macros.
1055 If a lexical binding is introduced by a hygienic macro, it may not be
1056 referenced by a nonhygienic macro. For example, this works:
1059 (define-macro (bind-x val body)
1060 `(let ((x ,val)) ,body))
1061 (define-macro (ref x)
1063 (bind-x 10 (ref x)))
1068 (define-syntax bind-x
1070 ((_ val body) (let ((x val)) body))))
1071 (define-macro (ref x)
1073 (bind-x 10 (ref x)))
1075 It is not normal to run into this situation with existing code. However,
1076 if you have defmacros that expand to hygienic macros, it is possible to
1077 run into situations like this. For example, if you have a defmacro that
1078 generates a `while' expression, the `break' bound by the `while' may not
1079 be visible within other parts of your defmacro. The solution is to port
1080 from defmacros to syntax-rules or syntax-case.
1082 ** Macros may no longer be referenced as first-class values.
1084 In the past, you could evaluate e.g. `if', and get its macro value. Now,
1085 expanding this form raises a syntax error.
1087 Macros still /exist/ as first-class values, but they must be
1088 /referenced/ via the module system, e.g. `(module-ref (current-module)
1091 ** Macros may now have docstrings.
1093 `object-documentation' from `(ice-9 documentation)' may be used to
1094 retrieve the docstring, once you have a macro value -- but see the above
1095 note about first-class macros. Docstrings are associated with the syntax
1096 transformer procedures.
1098 ** `case-lambda' is now available in the default environment.
1100 The binding in the default environment is equivalent to the one from the
1101 `(srfi srfi-16)' module. Use the srfi-16 module explicitly if you wish
1102 to maintain compatibility with Guile 1.8 and earlier.
1104 ** Procedures may now have more than one arity.
1106 This can be the case, for example, in case-lambda procedures. The
1107 arities of compiled procedures may be accessed via procedures from the
1108 `(system vm program)' module; see "Compiled Procedures", "Optional
1109 Arguments", and "Case-lambda" in the manual.
1111 ** Deprecate arity access via (procedure-properties proc 'arity)
1113 Instead of accessing a procedure's arity as a property, use the new
1114 `procedure-minimum-arity' function, which gives the most permissive
1115 arity that the the function has, in the same format as the old arity
1118 ** `lambda*' and `define*' are now available in the default environment
1120 As with `case-lambda', `(ice-9 optargs)' continues to be supported, for
1121 compatibility purposes. No semantic change has been made (we hope).
1122 Optional and keyword arguments now dispatch via special VM operations,
1123 without the need to cons rest arguments, making them very fast.
1125 ** New syntax: define-once
1127 `define-once' is like Lisp's `defvar': it creates a toplevel binding,
1128 but only if one does not exist already.
1130 ** New function, `truncated-print', with `format' support
1132 `(ice-9 pretty-print)' now exports `truncated-print', a printer that
1133 will ensure that the output stays within a certain width, truncating the
1134 output in what is hopefully an intelligent manner. See the manual for
1137 There is a new `format' specifier, `~@y', for doing a truncated
1138 print (as opposed to `~y', which does a pretty-print). See the `format'
1139 documentation for more details.
1141 ** Better pretty-printing
1143 Indentation recognizes more special forms, like `syntax-case', and read
1144 macros like `quote' are printed better.
1146 ** Passing a number as the destination of `format' is deprecated
1148 The `format' procedure in `(ice-9 format)' now emits a deprecation
1149 warning if a number is passed as its first argument.
1151 Also, it used to be that you could omit passing a port to `format', in
1152 some cases. This still works, but has been formally deprecated.
1154 ** SRFI-4 vectors reimplemented in terms of R6RS bytevectors
1156 Guile now implements SRFI-4 vectors using bytevectors. Often when you
1157 have a numeric vector, you end up wanting to write its bytes somewhere,
1158 or have access to the underlying bytes, or read in bytes from somewhere
1159 else. Bytevectors are very good at this sort of thing. But the SRFI-4
1160 APIs are nicer to use when doing number-crunching, because they are
1161 addressed by element and not by byte.
1163 So as a compromise, Guile allows all bytevector functions to operate on
1164 numeric vectors. They address the underlying bytes in the native
1165 endianness, as one would expect.
1167 Following the same reasoning, that it's just bytes underneath, Guile
1168 also allows uniform vectors of a given type to be accessed as if they
1169 were of any type. One can fill a u32vector, and access its elements with
1170 u8vector-ref. One can use f64vector-ref on bytevectors. It's all the
1173 In this way, uniform numeric vectors may be written to and read from
1174 input/output ports using the procedures that operate on bytevectors.
1176 Calls to SRFI-4 accessors (ref and set functions) from Scheme are now
1177 inlined to the VM instructions for bytevector access.
1179 See "SRFI-4" in the manual, for more information.
1181 ** Nonstandard SRFI-4 procedures now available from `(srfi srfi-4 gnu)'
1183 Guile's `(srfi srfi-4)' now only exports those srfi-4 procedures that
1184 are part of the standard. Complex uniform vectors and the
1185 `any->FOOvector' family are now available only from `(srfi srfi-4 gnu)'.
1187 Guile's default environment imports `(srfi srfi-4)', and probably should
1188 import `(srfi srfi-4 gnu)' as well.
1190 See "SRFI-4 Extensions" in the manual, for more information.
1192 ** New syntax: include-from-path.
1194 `include-from-path' is like `include', except it looks for its file in
1195 the load path. It can be used to compile other files into a file.
1197 ** New syntax: quasisyntax.
1199 `quasisyntax' is to `syntax' as `quasiquote' is to `quote'. See the R6RS
1200 documentation for more information. Thanks to Andre van Tonder for the
1203 ** `*unspecified*' is identifier syntax
1205 `*unspecified*' is no longer a variable, so it is optimized properly by
1206 the compiler, and is not `set!'-able.
1208 ** Changes and bugfixes in numerics code
1210 *** Added six new sets of fast quotient and remainder operators
1212 Added six new sets of fast quotient and remainder operator pairs with
1213 different semantics than the R5RS operators. They support not only
1214 integers, but all reals, including exact rationals and inexact
1215 floating point numbers.
1217 These procedures accept two real numbers N and D, where the divisor D
1218 must be non-zero. Each set of operators computes an integer quotient
1219 Q and a real remainder R such that N = Q*D + R and |R| < |D|. They
1220 differ only in how N/D is rounded to produce Q.
1222 `euclidean-quotient' returns the integer Q and `euclidean-remainder'
1223 returns the real R such that N = Q*D + R and 0 <= R < |D|. `euclidean/'
1224 returns both Q and R, and is more efficient than computing each
1225 separately. Note that when D > 0, `euclidean-quotient' returns
1226 floor(N/D), and when D < 0 it returns ceiling(N/D).
1228 `centered-quotient', `centered-remainder', and `centered/' are similar
1229 except that the range of remainders is -abs(D/2) <= R < abs(D/2), and
1230 `centered-quotient' rounds N/D to the nearest integer. Note that these
1231 operators are equivalent to the R6RS integer division operators `div',
1232 `mod', `div-and-mod', `div0', `mod0', and `div0-and-mod0'.
1234 `floor-quotient' and `floor-remainder' compute Q and R, respectively,
1235 where Q has been rounded toward negative infinity. `floor/' returns
1236 both Q and R, and is more efficient than computing each separately.
1237 Note that when applied to integers, `floor-remainder' is equivalent to
1238 the R5RS integer-only `modulo' operator. `ceiling-quotient',
1239 `ceiling-remainder', and `ceiling/' are similar except that Q is
1240 rounded toward positive infinity.
1242 For `truncate-quotient', `truncate-remainder', and `truncate/', Q is
1243 rounded toward zero. Note that when applied to integers,
1244 `truncate-quotient' and `truncate-remainder' are equivalent to the
1245 R5RS integer-only operators `quotient' and `remainder'.
1247 For `round-quotient', `round-remainder', and `round/', Q is rounded to
1248 the nearest integer, with ties going to the nearest even integer.
1250 *** Complex number changes
1252 Guile is now able to represent non-real complex numbers whose
1253 imaginary part is an _inexact_ zero (0.0 or -0.0), per R6RS.
1254 Previously, such numbers were immediately changed into inexact reals.
1256 (real? 0.0+0.0i) now returns #f, per R6RS, although (zero? 0.0+0.0i)
1257 still returns #t, per R6RS. (= 0 0.0+0.0i) and (= 0.0 0.0+0.0i) are
1258 #t, but the same comparisons using `eqv?' or `equal?' are #f.
1260 Like other non-real numbers, these complex numbers with inexact zero
1261 imaginary part will raise exceptions is passed to procedures requiring
1262 reals, such as `<', `>', `<=', `>=', `min', `max', `positive?',
1263 `negative?', `inf?', `nan?', `finite?', etc.
1265 **** `make-rectangular' changes
1267 scm_make_rectangular `make-rectangular' now returns a real number only
1268 if the imaginary part is an _exact_ 0. Previously, it would return a
1269 real number if the imaginary part was an inexact zero.
1271 scm_c_make_rectangular now always returns a non-real complex number,
1272 even if the imaginary part is zero. Previously, it would return a
1273 real number if the imaginary part was zero.
1275 **** `make-polar' changes
1277 scm_make_polar `make-polar' now returns a real number only if the
1278 angle or magnitude is an _exact_ 0. If the magnitude is an exact 0,
1279 it now returns an exact 0. Previously, it would return a real
1280 number if the imaginary part was an inexact zero.
1282 scm_c_make_polar now always returns a non-real complex number, even if
1283 the imaginary part is 0.0. Previously, it would return a real number
1284 if the imaginary part was 0.0.
1286 **** `imag-part' changes
1288 scm_imag_part `imag-part' now returns an exact 0 if applied to an
1289 inexact real number. Previously it returned an inexact zero in this
1292 *** `eqv?' and `equal?' now compare numbers equivalently
1294 scm_equal_p `equal?' now behaves equivalently to scm_eqv_p `eqv?' for
1295 numeric values, per R5RS. Previously, equal? worked differently,
1296 e.g. `(equal? 0.0 -0.0)' returned #t but `(eqv? 0.0 -0.0)' returned #f,
1297 and `(equal? +nan.0 +nan.0)' returned #f but `(eqv? +nan.0 +nan.0)'
1300 *** `(equal? +nan.0 +nan.0)' now returns #t
1302 Previously, `(equal? +nan.0 +nan.0)' returned #f, although
1303 `(let ((x +nan.0)) (equal? x x))' and `(eqv? +nan.0 +nan.0)'
1304 both returned #t. R5RS requires that `equal?' behave like
1305 `eqv?' when comparing numbers.
1307 *** Change in handling products `*' involving exact 0
1309 scm_product `*' now handles exact 0 differently. A product containing
1310 an exact 0 now returns an exact 0 if and only if the other arguments
1311 are all exact. An inexact zero is returned if and only if the other
1312 arguments are all finite but not all exact. If an infinite or NaN
1313 value is present, a NaN value is returned. Previously, any product
1314 containing an exact 0 yielded an exact 0, regardless of the other
1317 *** `expt' and `integer-expt' changes when the base is 0
1319 While `(expt 0 0)' is still 1, and `(expt 0 N)' for N > 0 is still
1320 zero, `(expt 0 N)' for N < 0 is now a NaN value, and likewise for
1321 integer-expt. This is more correct, and conforming to R6RS, but seems
1322 to be incompatible with R5RS, which would return 0 for all non-zero
1325 *** `expt' and `integer-expt' are more generic, less strict
1327 When raising to an exact non-negative integer exponent, `expt' and
1328 `integer-expt' are now able to exponentiate any object that can be
1329 multiplied using `*'. They can also raise an object to an exact
1330 negative integer power if its reciprocal can be taken using `/'.
1331 In order to allow this, the type of the first argument is no longer
1332 checked when raising to an exact integer power. If the exponent is 0
1333 or 1, the first parameter is not manipulated at all, and need not
1334 even support multiplication.
1336 *** Infinities are no longer integers, nor rationals
1338 scm_integer_p `integer?' and scm_rational_p `rational?' now return #f
1339 for infinities, per R6RS. Previously they returned #t for real
1340 infinities. The real infinities and NaNs are still considered real by
1341 scm_real `real?' however, per R6RS.
1343 *** NaNs are no longer rationals
1345 scm_rational_p `rational?' now returns #f for NaN values, per R6RS.
1346 Previously it returned #t for real NaN values. They are still
1347 considered real by scm_real `real?' however, per R6RS.
1349 *** `inf?' and `nan?' now throw exceptions for non-reals
1351 The domain of `inf?' and `nan?' is the real numbers. Guile now signals
1352 an error when a non-real number or non-number is passed to these
1353 procedures. (Note that NaNs _are_ considered numbers by scheme, despite
1356 *** `rationalize' bugfixes and changes
1358 Fixed bugs in scm_rationalize `rationalize'. Previously, it returned
1359 exact integers unmodified, although that was incorrect if the epsilon
1360 was at least 1 or inexact, e.g. (rationalize 4 1) should return 3 per
1361 R5RS and R6RS, but previously it returned 4. It also now handles
1362 cases involving infinities and NaNs properly, per R6RS.
1364 *** Trigonometric functions now return exact numbers in some cases
1366 scm_sin `sin', scm_cos `cos', scm_tan `tan', scm_asin `asin', scm_acos
1367 `acos', scm_atan `atan', scm_sinh `sinh', scm_cosh `cosh', scm_tanh
1368 `tanh', scm_sys_asinh `asinh', scm_sys_acosh `acosh', and
1369 scm_sys_atanh `atanh' now return exact results in some cases.
1371 *** New procedure: `finite?'
1373 Add scm_finite_p `finite?' from R6RS to guile core, which returns #t
1374 if and only if its argument is neither infinite nor a NaN. Note that
1375 this is not the same as (not (inf? x)) or (not (infinite? x)), since
1376 NaNs are neither finite nor infinite.
1378 *** Improved exactness handling for complex number parsing
1380 When parsing non-real complex numbers, exactness specifiers are now
1381 applied to each component, as is done in PLT Scheme. For complex
1382 numbers written in rectangular form, exactness specifiers are applied
1383 to the real and imaginary parts before calling scm_make_rectangular.
1384 For complex numbers written in polar form, exactness specifiers are
1385 applied to the magnitude and angle before calling scm_make_polar.
1387 Previously, exactness specifiers were applied to the number as a whole
1388 _after_ calling scm_make_rectangular or scm_make_polar.
1390 For example, (string->number "#i5.0+0i") now does the equivalent of:
1392 (make-rectangular (exact->inexact 5.0) (exact->inexact 0))
1394 which yields 5.0+0.0i. Previously it did the equivalent of:
1396 (exact->inexact (make-rectangular 5.0 0))
1400 ** Unicode characters
1402 Unicode characters may be entered in octal format via e.g. `#\454', or
1403 created via (integer->char 300). A hex external representation will
1404 probably be introduced at some point.
1408 Internally, strings are now represented either in the `latin-1'
1409 encoding, one byte per character, or in UTF-32, with four bytes per
1410 character. Strings manage their own allocation, switching if needed.
1412 Extended characters may be written in a literal string using the
1413 hexadecimal escapes `\xXX', `\uXXXX', or `\UXXXXXX', for 8-bit, 16-bit,
1414 or 24-bit codepoints, respectively, or entered directly in the native
1415 encoding of the port on which the string is read.
1419 One may now use U+03BB (GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMBDA) as an identifier.
1421 ** Support for non-ASCII source code files
1423 The default reader now handles source code files for some of the
1424 non-ASCII character encodings, such as UTF-8. A non-ASCII source file
1425 should have an encoding declaration near the top of the file. Also,
1426 there is a new function, `file-encoding', that scans a port for a coding
1427 declaration. See the section of the manual entitled, "Character Encoding
1430 The pre-1.9.3 reader handled 8-bit clean but otherwise unspecified source
1431 code. This use is now discouraged. Binary input and output is
1432 currently supported by opening ports in the ISO-8859-1 locale.
1434 ** Source files default to UTF-8.
1436 If source files do not specify their encoding via a `coding:' block,
1437 the default encoding is UTF-8, instead of being taken from the current
1440 ** Interactive Guile installs the current locale.
1442 Instead of leaving the user in the "C" locale, running the Guile REPL
1443 installs the current locale. [FIXME xref?]
1445 ** Support for locale transcoding when reading from and writing to ports
1447 Ports now have an associated character encoding, and port read and write
1448 operations do conversion to and from locales automatically. Ports also
1449 have an associated strategy for how to deal with locale conversion
1452 See the documentation in the manual for the four new support functions,
1453 `set-port-encoding!', `port-encoding', `set-port-conversion-strategy!',
1454 and `port-conversion-strategy'.
1456 ** String and SRFI-13 functions can operate on Unicode strings
1458 ** Unicode support for SRFI-14 character sets
1460 The default character sets are no longer locale dependent and contain
1461 characters from the whole Unicode range. There is a new predefined
1462 character set, `char-set:designated', which contains all assigned
1463 Unicode characters. There is a new debugging function, `%char-set-dump'.
1465 ** Character functions operate on Unicode characters
1467 `char-upcase' and `char-downcase' use default Unicode casing rules.
1468 Character comparisons such as `char<?' and `char-ci<?' now sort based on
1469 Unicode code points.
1471 ** Global variables `scm_charnames' and `scm_charnums' are removed
1473 These variables contained the names of control characters and were
1474 used when writing characters. While these were global, they were
1475 never intended to be public API. They have been replaced with private
1478 ** EBCDIC support is removed
1480 There was an EBCDIC compile flag that altered some of the character
1481 processing. It appeared that full EBCDIC support was never completed
1482 and was unmaintained.
1484 ** Compile-time warnings
1486 Guile can warn about potentially unbound free variables. Pass the
1487 -Wunbound-variable on the `guile-tools compile' command line, or add
1488 `#:warnings '(unbound-variable)' to your `compile' or `compile-file'
1489 invocation. Warnings are also enabled by default for expressions entered
1492 Guile can also warn when you pass the wrong number of arguments to a
1493 procedure, with -Warity-mismatch, or `arity-mismatch' in the
1494 `#:warnings' as above.
1496 Other warnings include `-Wunused-variable' and `-Wunused-toplevel', to
1497 warn about unused local or global (top-level) variables, and `-Wformat',
1498 to check for various errors related to the `format' procedure.
1500 ** A new `memoize-symbol' evaluator trap has been added.
1502 This trap can be used for efficiently implementing a Scheme code
1505 ** Duplicate bindings among used modules are resolved lazily.
1507 This slightly improves program startup times.
1509 ** New thread cancellation and thread cleanup API
1511 See `cancel-thread', `set-thread-cleanup!', and `thread-cleanup'.
1513 ** New threads are in `(guile-user)' by default, not `(guile)'
1515 It used to be that a new thread entering Guile would do so in the
1516 `(guile)' module, unless this was the first time Guile was initialized,
1517 in which case it was `(guile-user)'. This has been fixed to have all
1518 new threads unknown to Guile default to `(guile-user)'.
1520 ** New helpers: `print-exception', `set-exception-printer!'
1522 These functions implement an extensible exception printer. Guile
1523 registers printers for all of the exceptions it throws. Users may add
1524 their own printers. There is also `scm_print_exception', for use by C
1525 programs. Pleasantly, this allows SRFI-35 and R6RS exceptions to be
1526 printed appropriately.
1528 ** GOOPS dispatch in scheme
1530 As an implementation detail, GOOPS dispatch is no longer implemented by
1531 special evaluator bytecodes, but rather directly via a Scheme function
1532 associated with an applicable struct. There is some VM support for the
1533 underlying primitives, like `class-of'.
1535 This change will in the future allow users to customize generic function
1536 dispatch without incurring a performance penalty, and allow us to
1537 implement method combinations.
1539 ** Applicable struct support
1541 One may now make structs from Scheme that may be applied as procedures.
1542 To do so, make a struct whose vtable is `<applicable-struct-vtable>'.
1543 That struct will be the vtable of your applicable structs; instances of
1544 that new struct are assumed to have the procedure in their first slot.
1545 `<applicable-struct-vtable>' is like Common Lisp's
1546 `funcallable-standard-class'. Likewise there is
1547 `<applicable-struct-with-setter-vtable>', which looks for the setter in
1548 the second slot. This needs to be better documented.
1552 GOOPS had a number of concepts that were relevant to the days of Tcl,
1553 but not any more: operators and entities, mainly. These objects were
1554 never documented, and it is unlikely that they were ever used. Operators
1555 were a kind of generic specific to the Tcl support. Entities were
1556 replaced by applicable structs, mentioned above.
1558 ** New struct slot allocation: "hidden"
1560 A hidden slot is readable and writable, but will not be initialized by a
1561 call to make-struct. For example in your layout you would say "ph"
1562 instead of "pw". Hidden slots are useful for adding new slots to a
1563 vtable without breaking existing invocations to make-struct.
1565 ** eqv? not a generic
1567 One used to be able to extend `eqv?' as a primitive-generic, but no
1568 more. Because `eqv?' is in the expansion of `case' (via `memv'), which
1569 should be able to compile to static dispatch tables, it doesn't make
1570 sense to allow extensions that would subvert this optimization.
1572 ** `inet-ntop' and `inet-pton' are always available.
1574 Guile now use a portable implementation of `inet_pton'/`inet_ntop', so
1575 there is no more need to use `inet-aton'/`inet-ntoa'. The latter
1576 functions are deprecated.
1578 ** `getopt-long' parsing errors throw to `quit', not `misc-error'
1580 This change should inhibit backtraces on argument parsing errors.
1581 `getopt-long' has been modified to print out the error that it throws
1584 ** New primitive: `tmpfile'.
1586 See "File System" in the manual.
1588 ** Random generator state may be serialized to a datum
1590 `random-state->datum' will serialize a random state to a datum, which
1591 may be written out, read back in later, and revivified using
1592 `datum->random-state'. See "Random" in the manual, for more details.
1594 ** Fix random number generator on 64-bit platforms
1596 There was a nasty bug on 64-bit platforms in which asking for a random
1597 integer with a range between 2**32 and 2**64 caused a segfault. After
1598 many embarrassing iterations, this was fixed.
1600 ** Fast bit operations.
1602 The bit-twiddling operations `ash', `logand', `logior', and `logxor' now
1603 have dedicated bytecodes. Guile is not just for symbolic computation,
1604 it's for number crunching too.
1606 ** Faster SRFI-9 record access
1608 SRFI-9 records are now implemented directly on top of Guile's structs,
1609 and their accessors are defined in such a way that normal call-sites
1610 inline to special VM opcodes, while still allowing for the general case
1611 (e.g. passing a record accessor to `apply').
1613 ** R6RS block comment support
1615 Guile now supports R6RS nested block comments. The start of a comment is
1616 marked with `#|', and the end with `|#'.
1618 ** `guile-2' cond-expand feature
1620 To test if your code is running under Guile 2.0 (or its alpha releases),
1621 test for the `guile-2' cond-expand feature. Like this:
1623 (cond-expand (guile-2 (eval-when (compile)
1624 ;; This must be evaluated at compile time.
1625 (fluid-set! current-reader my-reader)))
1627 ;; Earlier versions of Guile do not have a
1628 ;; separate compilation phase.
1629 (fluid-set! current-reader my-reader)))
1631 ** New global variables: %load-compiled-path, %load-compiled-extensions
1633 These are analogous to %load-path and %load-extensions.
1635 ** New fluid: `%file-port-name-canonicalization'
1637 This fluid parameterizes the file names that are associated with file
1638 ports. If %file-port-name-canonicalization is 'absolute, then file names
1639 are canonicalized to be absolute paths. If it is 'relative, then the
1640 name is canonicalized, but any prefix corresponding to a member of
1641 `%load-path' is stripped off. Otherwise the names are passed through
1644 In addition, the `compile-file' and `compile-and-load' procedures bind
1645 %file-port-name-canonicalization to their `#:canonicalization' keyword
1646 argument, which defaults to 'relative. In this way, one might compile
1647 "../module/ice-9/boot-9.scm", but the path that gets residualized into
1648 the .go is "ice-9/boot-9.scm".
1650 ** New procedure, `make-promise'
1652 `(make-promise (lambda () foo))' is equivalent to `(delay foo)'.
1654 ** `defined?' may accept a module as its second argument
1656 Previously it only accepted internal structures from the evaluator.
1658 ** New entry into %guile-build-info: `ccachedir'
1660 ** Fix bug in `module-bound?'.
1662 `module-bound?' was returning true if a module did have a local
1663 variable, but one that was unbound, but another imported module bound
1664 the variable. This was an error, and was fixed.
1666 ** `(ice-9 syncase)' has been deprecated.
1668 As syntax-case is available by default, importing `(ice-9 syncase)' has
1669 no effect, and will trigger a deprecation warning.
1671 ** New readline history functions
1673 The (ice-9 readline) module now provides add-history, read-history,
1674 write-history and clear-history, which wrap the corresponding GNU
1675 History library functions.
1677 ** Removed deprecated uniform array procedures:
1678 dimensions->uniform-array, list->uniform-array, array-prototype
1680 Instead, use make-typed-array, list->typed-array, or array-type,
1683 ** Deprecate the old `scm-style-repl'
1685 The following bindings from boot-9 are now found in `(ice-9
1686 scm-style-repl)': `scm-style-repl', `error-catching-loop',
1687 `error-catching-repl', `bad-throw', `scm-repl-silent'
1688 `assert-repl-silence', `repl-print-unspecified',
1689 `assert-repl-print-unspecified', `scm-repl-verbose',
1690 `assert-repl-verbosity', `scm-repl-prompt', `set-repl-prompt!', `repl',
1691 `default-pre-unwind-handler', `handle-system-error',
1693 The following bindings have been deprecated, with no replacement:
1694 `pre-unwind-handler-dispatch'.
1696 The following bindings have been totally removed:
1697 `before-signal-stack'.
1699 Deprecated forwarding shims have been installed so that users that
1700 expect these bindings in the main namespace will still work, but receive
1701 a deprecation warning.
1703 ** `set-batch-mode?!' replaced by `ensure-batch-mode!'
1705 "Batch mode" is a flag used to tell a program that it is not running
1706 interactively. One usually turns it on after a fork. It may not be
1707 turned off. `ensure-batch-mode!' deprecates the old `set-batch-mode?!',
1708 because it is a better interface, as it can only turn on batch mode, not
1711 ** Deprecate `save-stack', `the-last-stack'
1713 It used to be that the way to debug programs in Guile was to capture the
1714 stack at the time of error, drop back to the REPL, then debug that
1715 stack. But this approach didn't compose, was tricky to get right in the
1716 presence of threads, and was not very powerful.
1718 So `save-stack', `stack-saved?', and `the-last-stack' have been moved to
1719 `(ice-9 save-stack)', with deprecated bindings left in the root module.
1721 ** `top-repl' has its own module
1723 The `top-repl' binding, called with Guile is run interactively, is now
1724 is its own module, `(ice-9 top-repl)'. A deprecated forwarding shim was
1725 left in the default environment.
1727 ** `display-error' takes a frame
1729 The `display-error' / `scm_display_error' helper now takes a frame as an
1730 argument instead of a stack. Stacks are still supported in deprecated
1731 builds. Additionally, `display-error' will again source location
1732 information for the error.
1734 ** No more `(ice-9 debug)'
1736 This module had some debugging helpers that are no longer applicable to
1737 the current debugging model. Importing this module will produce a
1738 deprecation warning. Users should contact bug-guile for support.
1740 ** Remove obsolete debug-options
1742 Removed `breakpoints', `trace', `procnames', `indent', `frames',
1743 `maxdepth', and `debug' debug-options.
1745 ** `backtrace' debug option on by default
1747 Given that Guile 2.0 can always give you a backtrace, backtraces are now
1750 ** `turn-on-debugging' deprecated
1752 ** Remove obsolete print-options
1754 The `source' and `closure-hook' print options are obsolete, and have
1757 ** Remove obsolete read-options
1759 The "elisp-strings" and "elisp-vectors" read options were unused and
1760 obsolete, so they have been removed.
1762 ** Remove eval-options and trap-options
1764 Eval-options and trap-options are obsolete with the new VM and
1767 ** Remove (ice-9 debugger) and (ice-9 debugging)
1769 See "Traps" and "Interactive Debugging" in the manual, for information
1770 on their replacements.
1772 ** Remove the GDS Emacs integration
1774 See "Using Guile in Emacs" in the manual, for info on how we think you
1775 should use Guile with Emacs.
1777 ** Deprecated: `lazy-catch'
1779 `lazy-catch' was a form that captured the stack at the point of a
1780 `throw', but the dynamic state at the point of the `catch'. It was a bit
1781 crazy. Please change to use `catch', possibly with a throw-handler, or
1782 `with-throw-handler'.
1784 ** Deprecated: primitive properties
1786 The `primitive-make-property', `primitive-property-set!',
1787 `primitive-property-ref', and `primitive-property-del!' procedures were
1788 crufty and only used to implement object properties, which has a new,
1789 threadsafe implementation. Use object properties or weak hash tables
1792 ** Deprecated `@bind' syntax
1794 `@bind' was part of an older implementation of the Emacs Lisp language,
1795 and is no longer used.
1797 ** Miscellaneous other deprecations
1799 `cuserid' has been deprecated, as it only returns 8 bytes of a user's
1800 login. Use `(passwd:name (getpwuid (geteuid)))' instead.
1802 Additionally, the procedures `apply-to-args', `has-suffix?', `scheme-file-suffix'
1803 `get-option', `for-next-option', `display-usage-report',
1804 `transform-usage-lambda', `collect', and `set-batch-mode?!' have all
1807 ** Add support for unbound fluids
1809 See `make-unbound-fluid', `fluid-unset!', and `fluid-bound?' in the
1812 ** Add `variable-unset!'
1814 See "Variables" in the manual, for more details.
1816 ** Last but not least, the `λ' macro can be used in lieu of `lambda'
1818 * Changes to the C interface
1820 ** Guile now uses libgc, the Boehm-Demers-Weiser garbage collector
1822 The semantics of `scm_gc_malloc ()' have been changed, in a
1823 backward-compatible way. A new allocation routine,
1824 `scm_gc_malloc_pointerless ()', was added.
1826 Libgc is a conservative GC, which we hope will make interaction with C
1827 code easier and less error-prone.
1829 ** New procedures: `scm_to_stringn', `scm_from_stringn'
1830 ** New procedures: scm_{to,from}_{utf8,latin1}_symbol{n,}
1831 ** New procedures: scm_{to,from}_{utf8,utf32,latin1}_string{n,}
1833 These new procedures convert to and from string representations in
1834 particular encodings.
1836 Users should continue to use locale encoding for user input, user
1837 output, or interacting with the C library.
1839 Use the Latin-1 functions for ASCII, and for literals in source code.
1841 Use UTF-8 functions for interaction with modern libraries which deal in
1842 UTF-8, and UTF-32 for interaction with utf32-using libraries.
1844 Otherwise, use scm_to_stringn or scm_from_stringn with a specific
1847 ** New type definitions for `scm_t_intptr' and friends.
1849 `SCM_T_UINTPTR_MAX', `SCM_T_INTPTR_MIN', `SCM_T_INTPTR_MAX',
1850 `SIZEOF_SCM_T_BITS', `scm_t_intptr' and `scm_t_uintptr' are now
1851 available to C. Have fun!
1853 ** The GH interface (deprecated in version 1.6, 2001) was removed.
1855 ** Internal `scm_i_' functions now have "hidden" linkage with GCC/ELF
1857 This makes these internal functions technically not callable from
1860 ** Functions for handling `scm_option' now no longer require an argument
1861 indicating length of the `scm_t_option' array.
1863 ** Procedures-with-setters are now implemented using applicable structs
1865 From a user's perspective this doesn't mean very much. But if, for some
1866 odd reason, you used the SCM_PROCEDURE_WITH_SETTER_P, SCM_PROCEDURE, or
1867 SCM_SETTER macros, know that they're deprecated now. Also, scm_tc7_pws
1870 ** Remove old evaluator closures
1872 There used to be ranges of typecodes allocated to interpreted data
1873 structures, but that it no longer the case, given that interpreted
1874 procedure are now just regular VM closures. As a result, there is a
1875 newly free tc3, and a number of removed macros. See the ChangeLog for
1878 ** Primitive procedures are now VM trampoline procedures
1880 It used to be that there were something like 12 different typecodes
1881 allocated to primitive procedures, each with its own calling convention.
1882 Now there is only one, the gsubr. This may affect user code if you were
1883 defining a procedure using scm_c_make_subr rather scm_c_make_gsubr. The
1884 solution is to switch to use scm_c_make_gsubr. This solution works well
1885 both with the old 1.8 and and with the current 1.9 branch.
1887 Guile's old evaluator used to have special cases for applying "gsubrs",
1888 primitive procedures with specified numbers of required, optional, and
1889 rest arguments. Now, however, Guile represents gsubrs as normal VM
1890 procedures, with appropriate bytecode to parse out the correct number of
1891 arguments, including optional and rest arguments, and then with a
1892 special bytecode to apply the gsubr.
1894 This allows primitive procedures to appear on the VM stack, allowing
1895 them to be accurately counted in profiles. Also they now have more
1896 debugging information attached to them -- their number of arguments, for
1897 example. In addition, the VM can completely inline the application
1898 mechanics, allowing for faster primitive calls.
1900 However there are some changes on the C level. There is no more
1901 `scm_tc7_gsubr' or `scm_tcs_subrs' typecode for primitive procedures, as
1902 they are just VM procedures. Likewise the macros `SCM_GSUBR_TYPE',
1903 `SCM_GSUBR_MAKTYPE', `SCM_GSUBR_REQ', `SCM_GSUBR_OPT', and
1904 `SCM_GSUBR_REST' are gone, as are `SCM_SUBR_META_INFO', `SCM_SUBR_PROPS'
1905 `SCM_SET_SUBR_GENERIC_LOC', and `SCM_SUBR_ARITY_TO_TYPE'.
1907 Perhaps more significantly, `scm_c_make_subr',
1908 `scm_c_make_subr_with_generic', `scm_c_define_subr', and
1909 `scm_c_define_subr_with_generic'. They all operated on subr typecodes,
1910 and there are no more subr typecodes. Use the scm_c_make_gsubr family
1913 Normal users of gsubrs should not be affected, though, as the
1914 scm_c_make_gsubr family still is the correct way to create primitive
1917 ** Remove deprecated array C interfaces
1919 Removed the deprecated array functions `scm_i_arrayp',
1920 `scm_i_array_ndim', `scm_i_array_mem', `scm_i_array_v',
1921 `scm_i_array_base', `scm_i_array_dims', and the deprecated macros
1922 `SCM_ARRAYP', `SCM_ARRAY_NDIM', `SCM_ARRAY_CONTP', `SCM_ARRAY_MEM',
1923 `SCM_ARRAY_V', `SCM_ARRAY_BASE', and `SCM_ARRAY_DIMS'.
1925 ** Remove unused snarf macros
1927 `SCM_DEFINE1', `SCM_PRIMITIVE_GENERIC_1', `SCM_PROC1, and `SCM_GPROC1'
1928 are no more. Use SCM_DEFINE or SCM_PRIMITIVE_GENERIC instead.
1930 ** New functions: `scm_call_n', `scm_c_run_hookn'
1932 `scm_call_n' applies to apply a function to an array of arguments.
1933 `scm_c_run_hookn' runs a hook with an array of arguments.
1935 ** Some SMOB types changed to have static typecodes
1937 Fluids, dynamic states, and hash tables used to be SMOB objects, but now
1938 they have statically allocated tc7 typecodes.
1940 ** Preparations for changing SMOB representation
1942 If things go right, we'll be changing the SMOB representation soon. To
1943 that end, we did a lot of cleanups to calls to e.g. SCM_CELL_WORD_2(x) when
1944 the code meant SCM_SMOB_DATA_2(x); user code will need similar changes
1945 in the future. Code accessing SMOBs using SCM_CELL macros was never
1946 correct, but until now things still worked. Users should be aware of
1949 ** Changed invocation mechanics of applicable SMOBs
1951 Guile's old evaluator used to have special cases for applying SMOB
1952 objects. Now, with the VM, when Guile sees a SMOB, it looks up a VM
1953 trampoline procedure for it, and use the normal mechanics to apply the
1954 trampoline. This simplifies procedure application in the normal,
1957 The upshot is that the mechanics used to apply a SMOB are different from
1958 1.8. Descriptors no longer have `apply_0', `apply_1', `apply_2', and
1959 `apply_3' functions, and the macros SCM_SMOB_APPLY_0 and friends are now
1960 deprecated. Just use the scm_call_0 family of procedures.
1962 ** Removed support shlibs for SRFIs 1, 4, 13, 14, and 60
1964 Though these SRFI support libraries did expose API, they encoded a
1965 strange version string into their library names. That version was never
1966 programmatically exported, so there was no way people could use the
1969 This was a fortunate oversight, as it allows us to remove the need for
1970 extra, needless shared libraries --- the C support code for SRFIs 4, 13,
1971 and 14 was already in core --- and allow us to incrementally return the
1972 SRFI implementation to Scheme.
1974 ** New C function: scm_module_public_interface
1976 This procedure corresponds to Scheme's `module-public-interface'.
1978 ** Undeprecate `scm_the_root_module ()'
1980 It's useful to be able to get the root module from C without doing a
1983 ** Inline vector allocation
1985 Instead of having vectors point out into the heap for their data, their
1986 data is now allocated inline to the vector object itself. The same is
1987 true for bytevectors, by default, though there is an indirection
1988 available which should allow for making a bytevector from an existing
1991 ** New struct constructors that don't involve making lists
1993 `scm_c_make_struct' and `scm_c_make_structv' are new varargs and array
1994 constructors, respectively, for structs. You might find them useful.
1998 In Guile 1.8, there were debugging frames on the C stack. Now there is
1999 no more need to explicitly mark the stack in this way, because Guile has
2000 a VM stack that it knows how to walk, which simplifies the C API
2001 considerably. See the ChangeLog for details; the relevant interface is
2002 in libguile/stacks.h. The Scheme API has not been changed significantly.
2004 ** Removal of Guile's primitive object system.
2006 There were a number of pieces in `objects.[ch]' that tried to be a
2007 minimal object system, but were never documented, and were quickly
2008 obseleted by GOOPS' merge into Guile proper. So `scm_make_class_object',
2009 `scm_make_subclass_object', `scm_metaclass_standard', and like symbols
2010 from objects.h are no more. In the very unlikely case in which these
2011 were useful to you, we urge you to contact guile-devel.
2015 Actually the future is still in the state that it was, is, and ever
2016 shall be, Amen, except that `futures.c' and `futures.h' are no longer a
2017 part of it. These files were experimental, never compiled, and would be
2018 better implemented in Scheme anyway. In the future, that is.
2020 ** Deprecate trampolines
2022 There used to be C functions `scm_trampoline_0', `scm_trampoline_1', and
2023 so on. The point was to do some precomputation on the type of the
2024 procedure, then return a specialized "call" procedure. However this
2025 optimization wasn't actually an optimization, so it is now deprecated.
2026 Just use `scm_call_0', etc instead.
2028 ** Deprecated `scm_badargsp'
2030 This function is unused in Guile, but was part of its API.
2032 ** Better support for Lisp `nil'.
2034 The bit representation of `nil' has been tweaked so that it is now very
2035 efficient to check e.g. if a value is equal to Scheme's end-of-list or
2036 Lisp's nil. Additionally there are a heap of new, specific predicates
2037 like scm_is_null_or_nil.
2039 ** Better integration of Lisp `nil'.
2041 `scm_is_boolean', `scm_is_false', and `scm_is_null' all return true now
2042 for Lisp's `nil'. This shouldn't affect any Scheme code at this point,
2043 but when we start to integrate more with Emacs, it is possible that we
2044 break code that assumes that, for example, `(not x)' implies that `x' is
2045 `eq?' to `#f'. This is not a common assumption. Refactoring affected
2046 code to rely on properties instead of identities will improve code
2047 correctness. See "Nil" in the manual, for more details.
2049 ** Support for static allocation of strings, symbols, and subrs.
2051 Calls to snarfing CPP macros like SCM_DEFINE macro will now allocate
2052 much of their associated data as static variables, reducing Guile's
2055 ** `scm_stat' has an additional argument, `exception_on_error'
2056 ** `scm_primitive_load_path' has an additional argument `exception_on_not_found'
2058 ** `scm_set_port_seek' and `scm_set_port_truncate' use the `scm_t_off' type
2060 Previously they would use the `off_t' type, which is fragile since its
2061 definition depends on the application's value for `_FILE_OFFSET_BITS'.
2063 ** The `long_long' C type, deprecated in 1.8, has been removed
2065 ** Removed deprecated uniform array procedures: scm_make_uve,
2066 scm_array_prototype, scm_list_to_uniform_array,
2067 scm_dimensions_to_uniform_array, scm_make_ra, scm_shap2ra, scm_cvref,
2068 scm_ra_set_contp, scm_aind, scm_raprin1
2070 These functions have been deprecated since early 2005.
2072 * Changes to the distribution
2074 ** Guile's license is now LGPLv3+
2076 In other words the GNU Lesser General Public License, version 3 or
2077 later (at the discretion of each person that chooses to redistribute
2082 Guile's build is visually quieter, due to the use of Automake 1.11's
2083 AM_SILENT_RULES. Build as `make V=1' to see all of the output.
2085 ** GOOPS documentation folded into Guile reference manual
2087 GOOPS, Guile's object system, used to be documented in separate manuals.
2088 This content is now included in Guile's manual directly.
2090 ** `guile-config' will be deprecated in favor of `pkg-config'
2092 `guile-config' has been rewritten to get its information from
2093 `pkg-config', so this should be a transparent change. Note however that
2094 guile.m4 has yet to be modified to call pkg-config instead of
2097 ** Guile now provides `guile-2.0.pc' instead of `guile-1.8.pc'
2099 Programs that use `pkg-config' to find Guile or one of its Autoconf
2100 macros should now require `guile-2.0' instead of `guile-1.8'.
2102 ** New installation directory: $(pkglibdir)/1.9/ccache
2104 If $(libdir) is /usr/lib, for example, Guile will install its .go files
2105 to /usr/lib/guile/1.9/ccache. These files are architecture-specific.
2107 ** Parallel installability fixes
2109 Guile now installs its header files to a effective-version-specific
2110 directory, and includes the effective version (e.g. 2.0) in the library
2111 name (e.g. libguile-2.0.so).
2113 This change should be transparent to users, who should detect Guile via
2114 the guile.m4 macro, or the guile-2.0.pc pkg-config file. It will allow
2115 parallel installs for multiple versions of Guile development
2118 ** Dynamically loadable extensions may be placed in a Guile-specific path
2120 Before, Guile only searched the system library paths for extensions
2121 (e.g. /usr/lib), which meant that the names of Guile extensions had to
2122 be globally unique. Installing them to a Guile-specific extensions
2123 directory is cleaner. Use `pkg-config --variable=extensiondir
2124 guile-2.0' to get the location of the extensions directory.
2126 ** User Scheme code may be placed in a version-specific path
2128 Before, there was only one way to install user Scheme code to a
2129 version-specific Guile directory: install to Guile's own path,
2130 e.g. /usr/share/guile/2.0. The site directory,
2131 e.g. /usr/share/guile/site, was unversioned. This has been changed to
2132 add a version-specific site directory, e.g. /usr/share/guile/site/2.0,
2133 searched before the global site directory.
2135 ** New dependency: libgc
2137 See http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc/, for more information.
2139 ** New dependency: GNU libunistring
2141 See http://www.gnu.org/software/libunistring/, for more information. Our
2142 Unicode support uses routines from libunistring.
2144 ** New dependency: libffi
2146 See http://sourceware.org/libffi/, for more information.
2150 Changes in 1.8.8 (since 1.8.7)
2154 ** Fix possible buffer overruns when parsing numbers
2155 ** Avoid clash with system setjmp/longjmp on IA64
2156 ** Fix `wrong type arg' exceptions with IPv6 addresses
2159 Changes in 1.8.7 (since 1.8.6)
2161 * New modules (see the manual for details)
2163 ** `(srfi srfi-98)', an interface to access environment variables
2167 ** Fix compilation with `--disable-deprecated'
2168 ** Fix %fast-slot-ref/set!, to avoid possible segmentation fault
2169 ** Fix MinGW build problem caused by HAVE_STRUCT_TIMESPEC confusion
2170 ** Fix build problem when scm_t_timespec is different from struct timespec
2171 ** Fix build when compiled with -Wundef -Werror
2172 ** More build fixes for `alphaev56-dec-osf5.1b' (Tru64)
2173 ** Build fixes for `powerpc-ibm-aix5.3.0.0' (AIX 5.3)
2174 ** With GCC, always compile with `-mieee' on `alpha*' and `sh*'
2175 ** Better diagnose broken `(strftime "%z" ...)' in `time.test' (bug #24130)
2176 ** Fix parsing of SRFI-88/postfix keywords longer than 128 characters
2177 ** Fix reading of complex numbers where both parts are inexact decimals
2179 ** Allow @ macro to work with (ice-9 syncase)
2181 Previously, use of the @ macro in a module whose code is being
2182 transformed by (ice-9 syncase) would cause an "Invalid syntax" error.
2183 Now it works as you would expect (giving the value of the specified
2186 ** Have `scm_take_locale_symbol ()' return an interned symbol (bug #25865)
2189 Changes in 1.8.6 (since 1.8.5)
2191 * New features (see the manual for details)
2193 ** New convenience function `scm_c_symbol_length ()'
2195 ** Single stepping through code from Emacs
2197 When you use GDS to evaluate Scheme code from Emacs, you can now use
2198 `C-u' to indicate that you want to single step through that code. See
2199 `Evaluating Scheme Code' in the manual for more details.
2201 ** New "guile(1)" man page!
2203 * Changes to the distribution
2205 ** Automake's `AM_MAINTAINER_MODE' is no longer used
2207 Thus, the `--enable-maintainer-mode' configure option is no longer
2208 available: Guile is now always configured in "maintainer mode".
2210 ** `ChangeLog' files are no longer updated
2212 Instead, changes are detailed in the version control system's logs. See
2213 the top-level `ChangeLog' files for details.
2218 ** `symbol->string' now returns a read-only string, as per R5RS
2219 ** Fix incorrect handling of the FLAGS argument of `fold-matches'
2220 ** `guile-config link' now prints `-L$libdir' before `-lguile'
2221 ** Fix memory corruption involving GOOPS' `class-redefinition'
2222 ** Fix possible deadlock in `mutex-lock'
2223 ** Fix build issue on Tru64 and ia64-hp-hpux11.23 (`SCM_UNPACK' macro)
2224 ** Fix build issue on mips, mipsel, powerpc and ia64 (stack direction)
2225 ** Fix build issue on hppa2.0w-hp-hpux11.11 (`dirent64' and `readdir64_r')
2226 ** Fix build issue on i386-unknown-freebsd7.0 ("break strict-aliasing rules")
2227 ** Fix misleading output from `(help rationalize)'
2228 ** Fix build failure on Debian hppa architecture (bad stack growth detection)
2229 ** Fix `gcd' when called with a single, negative argument.
2230 ** Fix `Stack overflow' errors seen when building on some platforms
2231 ** Fix bug when `scm_with_guile ()' was called several times from the
2233 ** The handler of SRFI-34 `with-exception-handler' is now invoked in the
2234 dynamic environment of the call to `raise'
2235 ** Fix potential deadlock in `make-struct'
2236 ** Fix compilation problem with libltdl from Libtool 2.2.x
2237 ** Fix sloppy bound checking in `string-{ref,set!}' with the empty string
2240 Changes in 1.8.5 (since 1.8.4)
2242 * Infrastructure changes
2244 ** Guile repository switched from CVS to Git
2246 The new repository can be accessed using
2247 "git-clone git://git.sv.gnu.org/guile.git", or can be browsed on-line at
2248 http://git.sv.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=guile.git . See `README' for details.
2250 ** Add support for `pkg-config'
2252 See "Autoconf Support" in the manual for details.
2254 * New modules (see the manual for details)
2258 * New features (see the manual for details)
2260 ** New `postfix' read option, for SRFI-88 keyword syntax
2261 ** Some I/O primitives have been inlined, which improves I/O performance
2262 ** New object-based traps infrastructure
2264 This is a GOOPS-based infrastructure that builds on Guile's low-level
2265 evaluator trap calls and facilitates the development of debugging
2266 features like single-stepping, breakpoints, tracing and profiling.
2267 See the `Traps' node of the manual for details.
2269 ** New support for working on Guile code from within Emacs
2271 Guile now incorporates the `GDS' library (previously distributed
2272 separately) for working on Guile code from within Emacs. See the
2273 `Using Guile In Emacs' node of the manual for details.
2277 ** `scm_add_slot ()' no longer segfaults (fixes bug #22369)
2278 ** Fixed `(ice-9 match)' for patterns like `((_ ...) ...)'
2280 Previously, expressions like `(match '((foo) (bar)) (((_ ...) ...) #t))'
2281 would trigger an unbound variable error for `match:andmap'.
2283 ** `(oop goops describe)' now properly provides the `describe' feature
2284 ** Fixed `args-fold' from `(srfi srfi-37)'
2286 Previously, parsing short option names of argument-less options would
2287 lead to a stack overflow.
2289 ** `(srfi srfi-35)' is now visible through `cond-expand'
2290 ** Fixed type-checking for the second argument of `eval'
2291 ** Fixed type-checking for SRFI-1 `partition'
2292 ** Fixed `struct-ref' and `struct-set!' on "light structs"
2293 ** Honor struct field access rights in GOOPS
2294 ** Changed the storage strategy of source properties, which fixes a deadlock
2295 ** Allow compilation of Guile-using programs in C99 mode with GCC 4.3 and later
2296 ** Fixed build issue for GNU/Linux on IA64
2297 ** Fixed build issues on NetBSD 1.6
2298 ** Fixed build issue on Solaris 2.10 x86_64
2299 ** Fixed build issue with DEC/Compaq/HP's compiler
2300 ** Fixed `scm_from_complex_double' build issue on FreeBSD
2301 ** Fixed `alloca' build issue on FreeBSD 6
2302 ** Removed use of non-portable makefile constructs
2303 ** Fixed shadowing of libc's <random.h> on Tru64, which broke compilation
2304 ** Make sure all tests honor `$TMPDIR'
2307 Changes in 1.8.4 (since 1.8.3)
2311 ** CR (ASCII 0x0d) is (again) recognized as a token delimiter by the reader
2312 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when displaying the
2313 backtrace of a stack with a promise object (made by `delay') in it.
2314 ** Make `accept' leave guile mode while blocking
2315 ** `scm_c_read ()' and `scm_c_write ()' now type-check their port argument
2316 ** Fixed a build problem on AIX (use of func_data identifier)
2317 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when hashx-ref or hashx-set! was
2318 called with an associator proc that returns neither a pair nor #f.
2319 ** Secondary threads now always return a valid module for (current-module).
2320 ** Avoid MacOS build problems caused by incorrect combination of "64"
2321 system and library calls.
2322 ** `guile-snarf' now honors `$TMPDIR'
2323 ** `guile-config compile' now reports CPPFLAGS used at compile-time
2324 ** Fixed build with Sun Studio (Solaris 9)
2325 ** Fixed wrong-type-arg errors when creating zero length SRFI-4
2326 uniform vectors on AIX.
2327 ** Fixed a deadlock that occurs upon GC with multiple threads.
2328 ** Fixed compile problem with GCC on Solaris and AIX (use of _Complex_I)
2329 ** Fixed autotool-derived build problems on AIX 6.1.
2330 ** Fixed NetBSD/alpha support
2331 ** Fixed MacOS build problem caused by use of rl_get_keymap(_name)
2333 * New modules (see the manual for details)
2337 * Documentation fixes and improvements
2339 ** Removed premature breakpoint documentation
2341 The features described are not available in the series of 1.8.x
2342 releases, so the documentation was misleading and has been removed.
2344 ** More about Guile's default *random-state* variable
2346 ** GOOPS: more about how to use `next-method'
2348 * Changes to the distribution
2350 ** Corrected a few files that referred incorrectly to the old GPL + special exception licence
2352 In fact Guile since 1.8.0 has been licensed with the GNU Lesser
2353 General Public License, and the few incorrect files have now been
2354 fixed to agree with the rest of the Guile distribution.
2356 ** Removed unnecessary extra copies of COPYING*
2358 The distribution now contains a single COPYING.LESSER at its top level.
2361 Changes in 1.8.3 (since 1.8.2)
2363 * New modules (see the manual for details)
2370 ** The `(ice-9 slib)' module now works as expected
2371 ** Expressions like "(set! 'x #t)" no longer yield a crash
2372 ** Warnings about duplicate bindings now go to stderr
2373 ** A memory leak in `make-socket-address' was fixed
2374 ** Alignment issues (e.g., on SPARC) in network routines were fixed
2375 ** A threading issue that showed up at least on NetBSD was fixed
2376 ** Build problems on Solaris and IRIX fixed
2378 * Implementation improvements
2380 ** The reader is now faster, which reduces startup time
2381 ** Procedures returned by `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' are faster
2384 Changes in 1.8.2 (since 1.8.1):
2386 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
2388 ** set-program-arguments
2391 * Incompatible changes
2393 ** The body of a top-level `define' no longer sees the binding being created
2395 In a top-level `define', the binding being created is no longer visible
2396 from the `define' body. This breaks code like
2397 "(define foo (begin (set! foo 1) (+ foo 1)))", where `foo' is now
2398 unbound in the body. However, such code was not R5RS-compliant anyway,
2403 ** Fractions were not `equal?' if stored in unreduced form.
2404 (A subtle problem, since printing a value reduced it, making it work.)
2405 ** srfi-60 `copy-bit' failed on 64-bit systems
2406 ** "guile --use-srfi" option at the REPL can replace core functions
2407 (Programs run with that option were ok, but in the interactive REPL
2408 the core bindings got priority, preventing SRFI replacements or
2410 ** `regexp-exec' doesn't abort() on #\nul in the input or bad flags arg
2411 ** `kill' on mingw throws an error for a PID other than oneself
2412 ** Procedure names are attached to procedure-with-setters
2413 ** Array read syntax works with negative lower bound
2414 ** `array-in-bounds?' fix if an array has different lower bounds on each index
2415 ** `*' returns exact 0 for "(* inexact 0)"
2416 This follows what it always did for "(* 0 inexact)".
2417 ** SRFI-19: Value returned by `(current-time time-process)' was incorrect
2418 ** SRFI-19: `date->julian-day' did not account for timezone offset
2419 ** `ttyname' no longer crashes when passed a non-tty argument
2420 ** `inet-ntop' no longer crashes on SPARC when passed an `AF_INET' address
2421 ** Small memory leaks have been fixed in `make-fluid' and `add-history'
2422 ** GOOPS: Fixed a bug in `method-more-specific?'
2423 ** Build problems on Solaris fixed
2424 ** Build problems on HP-UX IA64 fixed
2425 ** Build problems on MinGW fixed
2428 Changes in 1.8.1 (since 1.8.0):
2430 * LFS functions are now used to access 64-bit files on 32-bit systems.
2432 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
2434 ** primitive-_exit - [Scheme] the-root-module
2435 ** scm_primitive__exit - [C]
2436 ** make-completion-function - [Scheme] (ice-9 readline)
2437 ** scm_c_locale_stringn_to_number - [C]
2438 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse [C]
2439 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse_x [C]
2447 ** Build problems have been fixed on MacOS, SunOS, and QNX.
2449 ** `strftime' fix sign of %z timezone offset.
2451 ** A one-dimensional array can now be 'equal?' to a vector.
2453 ** Structures, records, and SRFI-9 records can now be compared with `equal?'.
2455 ** SRFI-14 standard char sets are recomputed upon a successful `setlocale'.
2457 ** `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' now have strict type checks.
2459 Record accessor and modifier procedures now throw an error if the
2460 record type of the record they're given is not the type expected.
2461 (Previously accessors returned #f and modifiers silently did nothing).
2463 ** It is now OK to use both autoload and use-modules on a given module.
2465 ** `apply' checks the number of arguments more carefully on "0 or 1" funcs.
2467 Previously there was no checking on primatives like make-vector that
2468 accept "one or two" arguments. Now there is.
2470 ** The srfi-1 assoc function now calls its equality predicate properly.
2472 Previously srfi-1 assoc would call the equality predicate with the key
2473 last. According to the SRFI, the key should be first.
2475 ** A bug in n-par-for-each and n-for-each-par-map has been fixed.
2477 ** The array-set! procedure no longer segfaults when given a bit vector.
2479 ** Bugs in make-shared-array have been fixed.
2481 ** string<? and friends now follow char<? etc order on 8-bit chars.
2483 ** The format procedure now handles inf and nan values for ~f correctly.
2485 ** exact->inexact should no longer overflow when given certain large fractions.
2487 ** srfi-9 accessor and modifier procedures now have strict record type checks.
2489 This matches the srfi-9 specification.
2491 ** (ice-9 ftw) procedures won't ignore different files with same inode number.
2493 Previously the (ice-9 ftw) procedures would ignore any file that had
2494 the same inode number as a file they had already seen, even if that
2495 file was on a different device.
2498 Changes in 1.8.0 (changes since the 1.6.x series):
2500 * Changes to the distribution
2502 ** Guile is now licensed with the GNU Lesser General Public License.
2504 ** The manual is now licensed with the GNU Free Documentation License.
2506 ** Guile now requires GNU MP (http://swox.com/gmp).
2508 Guile now uses the GNU MP library for arbitrary precision arithmetic.
2510 ** Guile now has separate private and public configuration headers.
2512 That is, things like HAVE_STRING_H no longer leak from Guile's
2515 ** Guile now provides and uses an "effective" version number.
2517 Guile now provides scm_effective_version and effective-version
2518 functions which return the "effective" version number. This is just
2519 the normal full version string without the final micro-version number,
2520 so the current effective-version is "1.8". The effective version
2521 should remain unchanged during a stable series, and should be used for
2522 items like the versioned share directory name
2523 i.e. /usr/share/guile/1.8.
2525 Providing an unchanging version number during a stable release for
2526 things like the versioned share directory can be particularly
2527 important for Guile "add-on" packages, since it provides a directory
2528 that they can install to that won't be changed out from under them
2529 with each micro release during a stable series.
2531 ** Thread implementation has changed.
2533 When you configure "--with-threads=null", you will get the usual
2534 threading API (call-with-new-thread, make-mutex, etc), but you can't
2535 actually create new threads. Also, "--with-threads=no" is now
2536 equivalent to "--with-threads=null". This means that the thread API
2537 is always present, although you might not be able to create new
2540 When you configure "--with-threads=pthreads" or "--with-threads=yes",
2541 you will get threads that are implemented with the portable POSIX
2542 threads. These threads can run concurrently (unlike the previous
2543 "coop" thread implementation), but need to cooperate for things like
2546 The default is "pthreads", unless your platform doesn't have pthreads,
2547 in which case "null" threads are used.
2549 See the manual for details, nodes "Initialization", "Multi-Threading",
2550 "Blocking", and others.
2552 ** There is the new notion of 'discouraged' features.
2554 This is a milder form of deprecation.
2556 Things that are discouraged should not be used in new code, but it is
2557 OK to leave them in old code for now. When a discouraged feature is
2558 used, no warning message is printed like there is for 'deprecated'
2559 features. Also, things that are merely discouraged are nevertheless
2560 implemented efficiently, while deprecated features can be very slow.
2562 You can omit discouraged features from libguile by configuring it with
2563 the '--disable-discouraged' option.
2565 ** Deprecation warnings can be controlled at run-time.
2567 (debug-enable 'warn-deprecated) switches them on and (debug-disable
2568 'warn-deprecated) switches them off.
2570 ** Support for SRFI 61, extended cond syntax for multiple values has
2573 This SRFI is always available.
2575 ** Support for require-extension, SRFI-55, has been added.
2577 The SRFI-55 special form `require-extension' has been added. It is
2578 available at startup, and provides a portable way to load Scheme
2579 extensions. SRFI-55 only requires support for one type of extension,
2580 "srfi"; so a set of SRFIs may be loaded via (require-extension (srfi 1
2583 ** New module (srfi srfi-26) provides support for `cut' and `cute'.
2585 The (srfi srfi-26) module is an implementation of SRFI-26 which
2586 provides the `cut' and `cute' syntax. These may be used to specialize
2587 parameters without currying.
2589 ** New module (srfi srfi-31)
2591 This is an implementation of SRFI-31 which provides a special form
2592 `rec' for recursive evaluation.
2594 ** The modules (srfi srfi-13), (srfi srfi-14) and (srfi srfi-4) have
2595 been merged with the core, making their functionality always
2598 The modules are still available, tho, and you could use them together
2599 with a renaming import, for example.
2601 ** Guile no longer includes its own version of libltdl.
2603 The official version is good enough now.
2605 ** The --enable-htmldoc option has been removed from 'configure'.
2607 Support for translating the documentation into HTML is now always
2608 provided. Use 'make html'.
2610 ** New module (ice-9 serialize):
2612 (serialize FORM1 ...) and (parallelize FORM1 ...) are useful when you
2613 don't trust the thread safety of most of your program, but where you
2614 have some section(s) of code which you consider can run in parallel to
2615 other sections. See ice-9/serialize.scm for more information.
2617 ** The configure option '--disable-arrays' has been removed.
2619 Support for arrays and uniform numeric arrays is now always included
2622 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
2624 ** New command line option `-L'.
2626 This option adds a directory to the front of the load path.
2628 ** New command line option `--no-debug'.
2630 Specifying `--no-debug' on the command line will keep the debugging
2631 evaluator turned off, even for interactive sessions.
2633 ** User-init file ~/.guile is now loaded with the debugging evaluator.
2635 Previously, the normal evaluator would have been used. Using the
2636 debugging evaluator gives better error messages.
2638 ** The '-e' option now 'read's its argument.
2640 This is to allow the new '(@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)' construct to
2641 be used with '-e'. For example, you can now write a script like
2644 exec guile -e '(@ (demo) main)' -s "$0" "$@"
2647 (define-module (demo)
2651 (format #t "Demo: ~a~%" args))
2654 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
2656 ** Guardians have changed back to their original semantics
2658 Guardians now behave like described in the paper by Dybvig et al. In
2659 particular, they no longer make guarantees about the order in which
2660 they return objects, and they can no longer be greedy.
2662 They no longer drop cyclic data structures.
2664 The C function scm_make_guardian has been changed incompatibly and no
2665 longer takes the 'greedy_p' argument.
2667 ** New function hashx-remove!
2669 This function completes the set of 'hashx' functions.
2671 ** The concept of dynamic roots has been factored into continuation
2672 barriers and dynamic states.
2674 Each thread has a current dynamic state that carries the values of the
2675 fluids. You can create and copy dynamic states and use them as the
2676 second argument for 'eval'. See "Fluids and Dynamic States" in the
2679 To restrict the influence that captured continuations can have on the
2680 control flow, you can errect continuation barriers. See "Continuation
2681 Barriers" in the manual.
2683 The function call-with-dynamic-root now essentially temporarily
2684 installs a new dynamic state and errects a continuation barrier.
2686 ** The default load path no longer includes "." at the end.
2688 Automatically loading modules from the current directory should not
2689 happen by default. If you want to allow it in a more controlled
2690 manner, set the environment variable GUILE_LOAD_PATH or the Scheme
2691 variable %load-path.
2693 ** The uniform vector and array support has been overhauled.
2695 It now complies with SRFI-4 and the weird prototype based uniform
2696 array creation has been deprecated. See the manual for more details.
2698 Some non-compatible changes have been made:
2699 - characters can no longer be stored into byte arrays.
2700 - strings and bit vectors are no longer considered to be uniform numeric
2702 - array-rank throws an error for non-arrays instead of returning zero.
2703 - array-ref does no longer accept non-arrays when no indices are given.
2705 There is the new notion of 'generalized vectors' and corresponding
2706 procedures like 'generalized-vector-ref'. Generalized vectors include
2707 strings, bitvectors, ordinary vectors, and uniform numeric vectors.
2709 Arrays use generalized vectors as their storage, so that you still
2710 have arrays of characters, bits, etc. However, uniform-array-read!
2711 and uniform-array-write can no longer read/write strings and
2714 ** There is now support for copy-on-write substrings, mutation-sharing
2715 substrings and read-only strings.
2717 Three new procedures are related to this: substring/shared,
2718 substring/copy, and substring/read-only. See the manual for more
2721 ** Backtraces will now highlight the value that caused the error.
2723 By default, these values are enclosed in "{...}", such as in this
2732 <unnamed port>:1:1: In procedure car in expression (car (quote a)):
2733 <unnamed port>:1:1: Wrong type (expecting pair): a
2734 ABORT: (wrong-type-arg)
2736 The prefix and suffix used for highlighting can be set via the two new
2737 printer options 'highlight-prefix' and 'highlight-suffix'. For
2738 example, putting this into ~/.guile will output the bad value in bold
2739 on an ANSI terminal:
2741 (print-set! highlight-prefix "\x1b[1m")
2742 (print-set! highlight-suffix "\x1b[22m")
2745 ** 'gettext' support for internationalization has been added.
2747 See the manual for details.
2749 ** New syntax '@' and '@@':
2751 You can now directly refer to variables exported from a module by
2754 (@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)
2756 For example (@ (ice-9 pretty-print) pretty-print) will directly access
2757 the pretty-print variable exported from the (ice-9 pretty-print)
2758 module. You don't need to 'use' that module first. You can also use
2759 '@' as a target of 'set!', as in (set! (@ mod var) val).
2761 The related syntax (@@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME) works just like '@',
2762 but it can also access variables that have not been exported. It is
2763 intended only for kluges and temporary fixes and for debugging, not
2766 ** Keyword syntax has been made more disciplined.
2768 Previously, the name of a keyword was read as a 'token' but printed as
2769 a symbol. Now, it is read as a general Scheme datum which must be a
2780 ERROR: In expression (a b c):
2784 ERROR: Unbound variable: foo
2789 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): 12
2793 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): (a b c)
2797 ** The printing of symbols that might look like keywords can be
2800 The new printer option 'quote-keywordish-symbols' controls how symbols
2801 are printed that have a colon as their first or last character. The
2802 default now is to only quote a symbol with #{...}# when the read
2803 option 'keywords' is not '#f'. Thus:
2805 guile> (define foo (string->symbol ":foo"))
2806 guile> (read-set! keywords #f)
2809 guile> (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
2812 guile> (print-set! quote-keywordish-symbols #f)
2816 ** 'while' now provides 'break' and 'continue'
2818 break and continue were previously bound in a while loop, but not
2819 documented, and continue didn't quite work properly. The undocumented
2820 parameter to break which gave a return value for the while has been
2823 ** 'call-with-current-continuation' is now also available under the name
2826 ** The module system now checks for duplicate bindings.
2828 The module system now can check for name conflicts among imported
2831 The behavior can be controlled by specifying one or more 'duplicates'
2832 handlers. For example, to make Guile return an error for every name
2835 (define-module (foo)
2840 The new default behavior of the module system when a name collision
2841 has been detected is to
2843 1. Give priority to bindings marked as a replacement.
2844 2. Issue a warning (different warning if overriding core binding).
2845 3. Give priority to the last encountered binding (this corresponds to
2848 If you want the old behavior back without replacements or warnings you
2851 (default-duplicate-binding-handler 'last)
2853 to your .guile init file.
2855 ** New define-module option: :replace
2857 :replace works as :export, but, in addition, marks the binding as a
2860 A typical example is `format' in (ice-9 format) which is a replacement
2861 for the core binding `format'.
2863 ** Adding prefixes to imported bindings in the module system
2865 There is now a new :use-module option :prefix. It can be used to add
2866 a prefix to all imported bindings.
2868 (define-module (foo)
2869 :use-module ((bar) :prefix bar:))
2871 will import all bindings exported from bar, but rename them by adding
2874 ** Conflicting generic functions can be automatically merged.
2876 When two imported bindings conflict and they are both generic
2877 functions, the two functions can now be merged automatically. This is
2878 activated with the 'duplicates' handler 'merge-generics'.
2880 ** New function: effective-version
2882 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
2883 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
2884 to the distribution" above.
2886 ** New threading functions: parallel, letpar, par-map, and friends
2888 These are convenient ways to run calculations in parallel in new
2889 threads. See "Parallel forms" in the manual for details.
2891 ** New function 'try-mutex'.
2893 This function will attempt to lock a mutex but will return immediately
2894 instead of blocking and indicate failure.
2896 ** Waiting on a condition variable can have a timeout.
2898 The function 'wait-condition-variable' now takes a third, optional
2899 argument that specifies the point in time where the waiting should be
2902 ** New function 'broadcast-condition-variable'.
2904 ** New functions 'all-threads' and 'current-thread'.
2906 ** Signals and system asyncs work better with threads.
2908 The function 'sigaction' now takes a fourth, optional, argument that
2909 specifies the thread that the handler should run in. When the
2910 argument is omitted, the handler will run in the thread that called
2913 Likewise, 'system-async-mark' takes a second, optional, argument that
2914 specifies the thread that the async should run in. When it is
2915 omitted, the async will run in the thread that called
2916 'system-async-mark'.
2918 C code can use the new functions scm_sigaction_for_thread and
2919 scm_system_async_mark_for_thread to pass the new thread argument.
2921 When a thread blocks on a mutex, a condition variable or is waiting
2922 for IO to be possible, it will still execute system asyncs. This can
2923 be used to interrupt such a thread by making it execute a 'throw', for
2926 ** The function 'system-async' is deprecated.
2928 You can now pass any zero-argument procedure to 'system-async-mark'.
2929 The function 'system-async' will just return its argument unchanged
2932 ** New functions 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' and
2933 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
2935 The expression (call-with-blocked-asyncs PROC) will call PROC and will
2936 block execution of system asyncs for the current thread by one level
2937 while PROC runs. Likewise, call-with-unblocked-asyncs will call a
2938 procedure and will unblock the execution of system asyncs by one
2939 level for the current thread.
2941 Only system asyncs are affected by these functions.
2943 ** The functions 'mask-signals' and 'unmask-signals' are deprecated.
2945 Use 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' or 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
2946 instead. Those functions are easier to use correctly and can be
2949 ** New function 'unsetenv'.
2951 ** New macro 'define-syntax-public'.
2953 It works like 'define-syntax' and also exports the defined macro (but
2956 ** There is support for Infinity and NaNs.
2958 Following PLT Scheme, Guile can now work with infinite numbers, and
2961 There is new syntax for numbers: "+inf.0" (infinity), "-inf.0"
2962 (negative infinity), "+nan.0" (not-a-number), and "-nan.0" (same as
2963 "+nan.0"). These numbers are inexact and have no exact counterpart.
2965 Dividing by an inexact zero returns +inf.0 or -inf.0, depending on the
2966 sign of the dividend. The infinities are integers, and they answer #t
2967 for both 'even?' and 'odd?'. The +nan.0 value is not an integer and is
2968 not '=' to itself, but '+nan.0' is 'eqv?' to itself.
2979 ERROR: Numerical overflow
2981 Two new predicates 'inf?' and 'nan?' can be used to test for the
2984 ** Inexact zero can have a sign.
2986 Guile can now distinguish between plus and minus inexact zero, if your
2987 platform supports this, too. The two zeros are equal according to
2988 '=', but not according to 'eqv?'. For example
2999 ** Guile now has exact rationals.
3001 Guile can now represent fractions such as 1/3 exactly. Computing with
3002 them is also done exactly, of course:
3007 ** 'floor', 'ceiling', 'round' and 'truncate' now return exact numbers
3008 for exact arguments.
3010 For example: (floor 2) now returns an exact 2 where in the past it
3011 returned an inexact 2.0. Likewise, (floor 5/4) returns an exact 1.
3013 ** inexact->exact no longer returns only integers.
3015 Without exact rationals, the closest exact number was always an
3016 integer, but now inexact->exact returns the fraction that is exactly
3017 equal to a floating point number. For example:
3019 (inexact->exact 1.234)
3020 => 694680242521899/562949953421312
3022 When you want the old behavior, use 'round' explicitly:
3024 (inexact->exact (round 1.234))
3027 ** New function 'rationalize'.
3029 This function finds a simple fraction that is close to a given real
3030 number. For example (and compare with inexact->exact above):
3032 (rationalize (inexact->exact 1.234) 1/2000)
3035 Note that, as required by R5RS, rationalize returns only then an exact
3036 result when both its arguments are exact.
3038 ** 'odd?' and 'even?' work also for inexact integers.
3040 Previously, (odd? 1.0) would signal an error since only exact integers
3041 were recognized as integers. Now (odd? 1.0) returns #t, (odd? 2.0)
3042 returns #f and (odd? 1.5) signals an error.
3044 ** Guile now has uninterned symbols.
3046 The new function 'make-symbol' will return an uninterned symbol. This
3047 is a symbol that is unique and is guaranteed to remain unique.
3048 However, uninterned symbols can not yet be read back in.
3050 Use the new function 'symbol-interned?' to check whether a symbol is
3053 ** pretty-print has more options.
3055 The function pretty-print from the (ice-9 pretty-print) module can now
3056 also be invoked with keyword arguments that control things like
3057 maximum output width. See the manual for details.
3059 ** Variables have no longer a special behavior for `equal?'.
3061 Previously, comparing two variables with `equal?' would recursivly
3062 compare their values. This is no longer done. Variables are now only
3063 `equal?' if they are `eq?'.
3065 ** `(begin)' is now valid.
3067 You can now use an empty `begin' form. It will yield #<unspecified>
3068 when evaluated and simply be ignored in a definition context.
3070 ** Deprecated: procedure->macro
3072 Change your code to use 'define-macro' or r5rs macros. Also, be aware
3073 that macro expansion will not be done during evaluation, but prior to
3076 ** Soft ports now allow a `char-ready?' procedure
3078 The vector argument to `make-soft-port' can now have a length of
3079 either 5 or 6. (Previously the length had to be 5.) The optional 6th
3080 element is interpreted as an `input-waiting' thunk -- i.e. a thunk
3081 that returns the number of characters that can be read immediately
3082 without the soft port blocking.
3084 ** Deprecated: undefine
3086 There is no replacement for undefine.
3088 ** The functions make-keyword-from-dash-symbol and keyword-dash-symbol
3089 have been discouraged.
3091 They are relics from a time where a keyword like #:foo was used
3092 directly as a Tcl option "-foo" and thus keywords were internally
3093 stored as a symbol with a starting dash. We now store a symbol
3096 Use symbol->keyword and keyword->symbol instead.
3098 ** The `cheap' debug option is now obsolete
3100 Evaluator trap calls are now unconditionally "cheap" - in other words,
3101 they pass a debug object to the trap handler rather than a full
3102 continuation. The trap handler code can capture a full continuation
3103 by using `call-with-current-continuation' in the usual way, if it so
3106 The `cheap' option is retained for now so as not to break existing
3107 code which gets or sets it, but setting it now has no effect. It will
3108 be removed in the next major Guile release.
3110 ** Evaluator trap calls now support `tweaking'
3112 `Tweaking' means that the trap handler code can modify the Scheme
3113 expression that is about to be evaluated (in the case of an
3114 enter-frame trap) or the value that is being returned (in the case of
3115 an exit-frame trap). The trap handler code indicates that it wants to
3116 do this by returning a pair whose car is the symbol 'instead and whose
3117 cdr is the modified expression or return value.
3119 * Changes to the C interface
3121 ** The functions scm_hash_fn_remove_x and scm_hashx_remove_x no longer
3122 take a 'delete' function argument.
3124 This argument makes no sense since the delete function is used to
3125 remove a pair from an alist, and this must not be configurable.
3127 This is an incompatible change.
3129 ** The GH interface is now subject to the deprecation mechanism
3131 The GH interface has been deprecated for quite some time but now it is
3132 actually removed from Guile when it is configured with
3133 --disable-deprecated.
3135 See the manual "Transitioning away from GH" for more information.
3137 ** A new family of functions for converting between C values and
3138 Scheme values has been added.
3140 These functions follow a common naming scheme and are designed to be
3141 easier to use, thread-safe and more future-proof than the older
3144 - int scm_is_* (...)
3146 These are predicates that return a C boolean: 1 or 0. Instead of
3147 SCM_NFALSEP, you can now use scm_is_true, for example.
3149 - <type> scm_to_<type> (SCM val, ...)
3151 These are functions that convert a Scheme value into an appropriate
3152 C value. For example, you can use scm_to_int to safely convert from
3155 - SCM scm_from_<type> (<type> val, ...)
3157 These functions convert from a C type to a SCM value; for example,
3158 scm_from_int for ints.
3160 There is a huge number of these functions, for numbers, strings,
3161 symbols, vectors, etc. They are documented in the reference manual in
3162 the API section together with the types that they apply to.
3164 ** New functions for dealing with complex numbers in C have been added.
3166 The new functions are scm_c_make_rectangular, scm_c_make_polar,
3167 scm_c_real_part, scm_c_imag_part, scm_c_magnitude and scm_c_angle.
3168 They work like scm_make_rectangular etc but take or return doubles
3171 ** The function scm_make_complex has been discouraged.
3173 Use scm_c_make_rectangular instead.
3175 ** The INUM macros have been deprecated.
3177 A lot of code uses these macros to do general integer conversions,
3178 although the macros only work correctly with fixnums. Use the
3179 following alternatives.
3181 SCM_INUMP -> scm_is_integer or similar
3182 SCM_NINUMP -> !scm_is_integer or similar
3183 SCM_MAKINUM -> scm_from_int or similar
3184 SCM_INUM -> scm_to_int or similar
3186 SCM_VALIDATE_INUM_* -> Do not use these; scm_to_int, etc. will
3187 do the validating for you.
3189 ** The scm_num2<type> and scm_<type>2num functions and scm_make_real
3190 have been discouraged.
3192 Use the newer scm_to_<type> and scm_from_<type> functions instead for
3193 new code. The functions have been discouraged since they don't fit
3196 ** The 'boolean' macros SCM_FALSEP etc have been discouraged.
3198 They have strange names, especially SCM_NFALSEP, and SCM_BOOLP
3199 evaluates its argument twice. Use scm_is_true, etc. instead for new
3202 ** The macro SCM_EQ_P has been discouraged.
3204 Use scm_is_eq for new code, which fits better into the naming
3207 ** The macros SCM_CONSP, SCM_NCONSP, SCM_NULLP, and SCM_NNULLP have
3210 Use the function scm_is_pair or scm_is_null instead.
3212 ** The functions scm_round and scm_truncate have been deprecated and
3213 are now available as scm_c_round and scm_c_truncate, respectively.
3215 These functions occupy the names that scm_round_number and
3216 scm_truncate_number should have.
3218 ** The functions scm_c_string2str, scm_c_substring2str, and
3219 scm_c_symbol2str have been deprecated.
3221 Use scm_to_locale_stringbuf or similar instead, maybe together with
3224 ** New functions scm_c_make_string, scm_c_string_length,
3225 scm_c_string_ref, scm_c_string_set_x, scm_c_substring,
3226 scm_c_substring_shared, scm_c_substring_copy.
3228 These are like scm_make_string, scm_length, etc. but are slightly
3229 easier to use from C.
3231 ** The macros SCM_STRINGP, SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_STRING_LENGTH,
3232 SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, and SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH have been deprecated.
3234 They export too many assumptions about the implementation of strings
3235 and symbols that are no longer true in the presence of
3236 mutation-sharing substrings and when Guile switches to some form of
3239 When working with strings, it is often best to use the normal string
3240 functions provided by Guile, such as scm_c_string_ref,
3241 scm_c_string_set_x, scm_string_append, etc. Be sure to look in the
3242 manual since many more such functions are now provided than
3245 When you want to convert a SCM string to a C string, use the
3246 scm_to_locale_string function or similar instead. For symbols, use
3247 scm_symbol_to_string and then work with that string. Because of the
3248 new string representation, scm_symbol_to_string does not need to copy
3249 and is thus quite efficient.
3251 ** Some string, symbol and keyword functions have been discouraged.
3253 They don't fit into the uniform naming scheme and are not explicit
3254 about the character encoding.
3256 Replace according to the following table:
3258 scm_allocate_string -> scm_c_make_string
3259 scm_take_str -> scm_take_locale_stringn
3260 scm_take0str -> scm_take_locale_string
3261 scm_mem2string -> scm_from_locale_stringn
3262 scm_str2string -> scm_from_locale_string
3263 scm_makfrom0str -> scm_from_locale_string
3264 scm_mem2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symboln
3265 scm_mem2uninterned_symbol -> scm_from_locale_stringn + scm_make_symbol
3266 scm_str2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symbol
3268 SCM_SYMBOL_HASH -> scm_hashq
3269 SCM_SYMBOL_INTERNED_P -> scm_symbol_interned_p
3271 scm_c_make_keyword -> scm_from_locale_keyword
3273 ** The functions scm_keyword_to_symbol and sym_symbol_to_keyword are
3274 now also available to C code.
3276 ** SCM_KEYWORDP and SCM_KEYWORDSYM have been deprecated.
3278 Use scm_is_keyword and scm_keyword_to_symbol instead, but note that
3279 the latter returns the true name of the keyword, not the 'dash name',
3280 as SCM_KEYWORDSYM used to do.
3282 ** A new way to access arrays in a thread-safe and efficient way has
3285 See the manual, node "Accessing Arrays From C".
3287 ** The old uniform vector and bitvector implementations have been
3288 unceremoniously removed.
3290 This implementation exposed the details of the tagging system of
3291 Guile. Use the new C API explained in the manual in node "Uniform
3292 Numeric Vectors" and "Bit Vectors", respectively.
3294 The following macros are gone: SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE,
3295 SCM_UVECTOR_MAXLENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_UVECTOR_TAG,
3296 SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVECTOR_P, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE,
3297 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
3298 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_BITVECTOR_TAG,
3299 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVEC_REF, SCM_BITVEC_SET,
3302 ** The macros dealing with vectors have been deprecated.
3304 Use the new functions scm_is_vector, scm_vector_elements,
3305 scm_vector_writable_elements, etc, or scm_is_simple_vector,
3306 SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_REF, SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_SET, etc instead. See the
3307 manual for more details.
3309 Deprecated are SCM_VECTORP, SCM_VELTS, SCM_VECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
3310 SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_REF, SCM_VECTOR_SET, SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS.
3312 The following macros have been removed: SCM_VECTOR_BASE,
3313 SCM_SET_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_MAKE_VECTOR_TAG, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH,
3314 SCM_VELTS_AS_STACKITEMS, SCM_SETVELTS, SCM_GC_WRITABLE_VELTS.
3316 ** Some C functions and macros related to arrays have been deprecated.
3318 Migrate according to the following table:
3320 scm_make_uve -> scm_make_typed_array, scm_make_u8vector etc.
3321 scm_make_ra -> scm_make_array
3322 scm_shap2ra -> scm_make_array
3323 scm_cvref -> scm_c_generalized_vector_ref
3324 scm_ra_set_contp -> do not use
3325 scm_aind -> scm_array_handle_pos
3326 scm_raprin1 -> scm_display or scm_write
3328 SCM_ARRAYP -> scm_is_array
3329 SCM_ARRAY_NDIM -> scm_c_array_rank
3330 SCM_ARRAY_DIMS -> scm_array_handle_dims
3331 SCM_ARRAY_CONTP -> do not use
3332 SCM_ARRAY_MEM -> do not use
3333 SCM_ARRAY_V -> scm_array_handle_elements or similar
3334 SCM_ARRAY_BASE -> do not use
3336 ** SCM_CELL_WORD_LOC has been deprecated.
3338 Use the new macro SCM_CELL_OBJECT_LOC instead, which returns a pointer
3339 to a SCM, as opposed to a pointer to a scm_t_bits.
3341 This was done to allow the correct use of pointers into the Scheme
3342 heap. Previously, the heap words were of type scm_t_bits and local
3343 variables and function arguments were of type SCM, making it
3344 non-standards-conformant to have a pointer that can point to both.
3346 ** New macros SCM_SMOB_DATA_2, SCM_SMOB_DATA_3, etc.
3348 These macros should be used instead of SCM_CELL_WORD_2/3 to access the
3349 second and third words of double smobs. Likewise for
3350 SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_2 and SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_3.
3352 Also, there is SCM_SMOB_FLAGS and SCM_SET_SMOB_FLAGS that should be
3353 used to get and set the 16 exra bits in the zeroth word of a smob.
3355 And finally, there is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT and SCM_SMOB_SET_OBJECT for
3356 accesing the first immediate word of a smob as a SCM value, and there
3357 is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_LOC for getting a pointer to the first immediate
3358 smob word. Like wise for SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_2, etc.
3360 ** New way to deal with non-local exits and re-entries.
3362 There is a new set of functions that essentially do what
3363 scm_internal_dynamic_wind does, but in a way that is more convenient
3364 for C code in some situations. Here is a quick example of how to
3365 prevent a potential memory leak:
3372 scm_dynwind_begin (0);
3374 mem = scm_malloc (100);
3375 scm_dynwind_unwind_handler (free, mem, SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY);
3377 /* MEM would leak if BAR throws an error.
3378 SCM_DYNWIND_UNWIND_HANDLER frees it nevertheless.
3385 /* Because of SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY, MEM will be freed by
3386 SCM_DYNWIND_END as well.
3390 For full documentation, see the node "Dynamic Wind" in the manual.
3392 ** New function scm_dynwind_free
3394 This function calls 'free' on a given pointer when a dynwind context
3395 is left. Thus the call to scm_dynwind_unwind_handler above could be
3396 replaced with simply scm_dynwind_free (mem).
3398 ** New functions scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
3399 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs
3401 Like scm_call_with_blocked_asyncs etc. but for C functions.
3403 ** New functions scm_dynwind_block_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs
3405 In addition to scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs you can now also use
3406 scm_dynwind_block_asyncs in a 'dynwind context' (see above). Likewise for
3407 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs.
3409 ** The macros SCM_DEFER_INTS, SCM_ALLOW_INTS, SCM_REDEFER_INTS,
3410 SCM_REALLOW_INTS have been deprecated.
3412 They do no longer fulfill their original role of blocking signal
3413 delivery. Depending on what you want to achieve, replace a pair of
3414 SCM_DEFER_INTS and SCM_ALLOW_INTS with a dynwind context that locks a
3415 mutex, blocks asyncs, or both. See node "Critical Sections" in the
3418 ** The value 'scm_mask_ints' is no longer writable.
3420 Previously, you could set scm_mask_ints directly. This is no longer
3421 possible. Use scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
3422 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs instead.
3424 ** New way to temporarily set the current input, output or error ports
3426 C code can now use scm_dynwind_current_<foo>_port in a 'dynwind
3427 context' (see above). <foo> is one of "input", "output" or "error".
3429 ** New way to temporarily set fluids
3431 C code can now use scm_dynwind_fluid in a 'dynwind context' (see
3432 above) to temporarily set the value of a fluid.
3434 ** New types scm_t_intmax and scm_t_uintmax.
3436 On platforms that have them, these types are identical to intmax_t and
3437 uintmax_t, respectively. On other platforms, they are identical to
3438 the largest integer types that Guile knows about.
3440 ** The functions scm_unmemocopy and scm_unmemoize have been removed.
3442 You should not have used them.
3444 ** Many public #defines with generic names have been made private.
3446 #defines with generic names like HAVE_FOO or SIZEOF_FOO have been made
3447 private or renamed with a more suitable public name.
3449 ** The macro SCM_TYP16S has been deprecated.
3451 This macro is not intended for public use.
3453 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_INEXACTP has been deprecated.
3455 Use scm_is_true (scm_inexact_p (...)) instead.
3457 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_REALP has been deprecated.
3459 Use scm_is_real instead.
3461 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_COMPLEXP has been deprecated.
3463 Use scm_is_complex instead.
3465 ** Some preprocessor defines have been deprecated.
3467 These defines indicated whether a certain feature was present in Guile
3468 or not. Going forward, assume that the features are always present.
3470 The macros are: USE_THREADS, GUILE_ISELECT, READER_EXTENSIONS,
3471 DEBUG_EXTENSIONS, DYNAMIC_LINKING.
3473 The following macros have been removed completely: MEMOIZE_LOCALS,
3474 SCM_RECKLESS, SCM_CAUTIOUS.
3476 ** The preprocessor define STACK_DIRECTION has been deprecated.
3478 There should be no need to know about the stack direction for ordinary
3481 ** New function: scm_effective_version
3483 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
3484 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
3485 to the distribution" above.
3487 ** The function scm_call_with_new_thread has a new prototype.
3489 Instead of taking a list with the thunk and handler, these two
3490 arguments are now passed directly:
3492 SCM scm_call_with_new_thread (SCM thunk, SCM handler);
3494 This is an incompatible change.
3496 ** New snarfer macro SCM_DEFINE_PUBLIC.
3498 This is like SCM_DEFINE, but also calls scm_c_export for the defined
3499 function in the init section.
3501 ** The snarfer macro SCM_SNARF_INIT is now officially supported.
3503 ** Garbage collector rewrite.
3505 The garbage collector is cleaned up a lot, and now uses lazy
3506 sweeping. This is reflected in the output of (gc-stats); since cells
3507 are being freed when they are allocated, the cells-allocated field
3508 stays roughly constant.
3510 For malloc related triggers, the behavior is changed. It uses the same
3511 heuristic as the cell-triggered collections. It may be tuned with the
3512 environment variables GUILE_MIN_YIELD_MALLOC. This is the percentage
3513 for minimum yield of malloc related triggers. The default is 40.
3514 GUILE_INIT_MALLOC_LIMIT sets the initial trigger for doing a GC. The
3517 Debugging operations for the freelist have been deprecated, along with
3518 the C variables that control garbage collection. The environment
3519 variables GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE, GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2,
3520 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1, and GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2 should be used.
3522 For understanding the memory usage of a GUILE program, the routine
3523 gc-live-object-stats returns an alist containing the number of live
3524 objects for every type.
3527 ** The function scm_definedp has been renamed to scm_defined_p
3529 The name scm_definedp is deprecated.
3531 ** The struct scm_cell type has been renamed to scm_t_cell
3533 This is in accordance to Guile's naming scheme for types. Note that
3534 the name scm_cell is now used for a function that allocates and
3535 initializes a new cell (see below).
3537 ** New functions for memory management
3539 A new set of functions for memory management has been added since the
3540 old way (scm_must_malloc, scm_must_free, etc) was error prone and
3541 indeed, Guile itself contained some long standing bugs that could
3542 cause aborts in long running programs.
3544 The new functions are more symmetrical and do not need cooperation
3545 from smob free routines, among other improvements.
3547 The new functions are scm_malloc, scm_realloc, scm_calloc, scm_strdup,
3548 scm_strndup, scm_gc_malloc, scm_gc_calloc, scm_gc_realloc,
3549 scm_gc_free, scm_gc_register_collectable_memory, and
3550 scm_gc_unregister_collectable_memory. Refer to the manual for more
3551 details and for upgrading instructions.
3553 The old functions for memory management have been deprecated. They
3554 are: scm_must_malloc, scm_must_realloc, scm_must_free,
3555 scm_must_strdup, scm_must_strndup, scm_done_malloc, scm_done_free.
3557 ** Declarations of exported features are marked with SCM_API.
3559 Every declaration of a feature that belongs to the exported Guile API
3560 has been marked by adding the macro "SCM_API" to the start of the
3561 declaration. This macro can expand into different things, the most
3562 common of which is just "extern" for Unix platforms. On Win32, it can
3563 be used to control which symbols are exported from a DLL.
3565 If you `#define SCM_IMPORT' before including <libguile.h>, SCM_API
3566 will expand into "__declspec (dllimport) extern", which is needed for
3567 linking to the Guile DLL in Windows.
3569 There are also SCM_RL_IMPORT, SCM_SRFI1314_IMPORT, and
3570 SCM_SRFI4_IMPORT, for the corresponding libraries.
3572 ** SCM_NEWCELL and SCM_NEWCELL2 have been deprecated.
3574 Use the new functions scm_cell and scm_double_cell instead. The old
3575 macros had problems because with them allocation and initialization
3576 was separated and the GC could sometimes observe half initialized
3577 cells. Only careful coding by the user of SCM_NEWCELL and
3578 SCM_NEWCELL2 could make this safe and efficient.
3580 ** CHECK_ENTRY, CHECK_APPLY and CHECK_EXIT have been deprecated.
3582 Use the variables scm_check_entry_p, scm_check_apply_p and scm_check_exit_p
3585 ** SRCBRKP has been deprecated.
3587 Use scm_c_source_property_breakpoint_p instead.
3589 ** Deprecated: scm_makmacro
3591 Change your code to use either scm_makmmacro or to define macros in
3592 Scheme, using 'define-macro'.
3594 ** New function scm_c_port_for_each.
3596 This function is like scm_port_for_each but takes a pointer to a C
3597 function as the callback instead of a SCM value.
3599 ** The names scm_internal_select, scm_thread_sleep, and
3600 scm_thread_usleep have been discouraged.
3602 Use scm_std_select, scm_std_sleep, scm_std_usleep instead.
3604 ** The GC can no longer be blocked.
3606 The global flags scm_gc_heap_lock and scm_block_gc have been removed.
3607 The GC can now run (partially) concurrently with other code and thus
3608 blocking it is not well defined.
3610 ** Many definitions have been removed that were previously deprecated.
3612 scm_lisp_nil, scm_lisp_t, s_nil_ify, scm_m_nil_ify, s_t_ify,
3613 scm_m_t_ify, s_0_cond, scm_m_0_cond, s_0_ify, scm_m_0_ify, s_1_ify,
3614 scm_m_1_ify, scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2,
3615 scm_tc16_allocated, SCM_SET_SYMBOL_HASH, SCM_IM_NIL_IFY, SCM_IM_T_IFY,
3616 SCM_IM_0_COND, SCM_IM_0_IFY, SCM_IM_1_IFY, SCM_GC_SET_ALLOCATED,
3617 scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL, SCM_INT_SIGNAL,
3618 SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL, SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL,
3619 SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD, SCM_ORD_SIG,
3620 SCM_NUM_SIGS, scm_top_level_lookup_closure_var,
3621 *top-level-lookup-closure*, scm_system_transformer, scm_eval_3,
3622 scm_eval2, root_module_lookup_closure, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
3623 SCM_RWSTRINGP, scm_read_only_string_p, scm_make_shared_substring,
3624 scm_tc7_substring, sym_huh, SCM_VARVCELL, SCM_UDVARIABLEP,
3625 SCM_DEFVARIABLEP, scm_mkbig, scm_big2inum, scm_adjbig, scm_normbig,
3626 scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl, SCM_FIXNUM_BIT,
3627 SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_SLOPPY_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET,
3628 SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_ROLENGTH,
3629 SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
3630 scm_sym2vcell, scm_intern, scm_intern0, scm_sysintern, scm_sysintern0,
3631 scm_sysintern0_no_module_lookup, scm_init_symbols_deprecated,
3632 scm_vector_set_length_x, scm_contregs, scm_debug_info,
3633 scm_debug_frame, SCM_DSIDEVAL, SCM_CONST_LONG, SCM_VCELL,
3634 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL, SCM_VCELL_INIT, SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL_INIT,
3635 SCM_HUGE_LENGTH, SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING,
3636 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY, SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY,
3637 SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, DIGITS, scm_small_istr2int, scm_istr2int,
3638 scm_istr2flo, scm_istring2number, scm_istr2int, scm_istr2flo,
3639 scm_istring2number, scm_vtable_index_vcell, scm_si_vcell, SCM_ECONSP,
3640 SCM_NECONSP, SCM_GLOC_VAR, SCM_GLOC_VAL, SCM_GLOC_SET_VAL,
3641 SCM_GLOC_VAL_LOC, scm_make_gloc, scm_gloc_p, scm_tc16_variable,
3642 SCM_CHARS, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH.
3644 * Changes to bundled modules
3648 Using the (ice-9 debug) module no longer automatically switches Guile
3649 to use the debugging evaluator. If you want to switch to the
3650 debugging evaluator (which is needed for backtrace information if you
3651 hit an error), please add an explicit "(debug-enable 'debug)" to your
3652 code just after the code to use (ice-9 debug).
3655 Changes since Guile 1.4:
3657 * Changes to the distribution
3659 ** A top-level TODO file is included.
3661 ** Guile now uses a versioning scheme similar to that of the Linux kernel.
3663 Guile now always uses three numbers to represent the version,
3664 i.e. "1.6.5". The first number, 1, is the major version number, the
3665 second number, 6, is the minor version number, and the third number,
3666 5, is the micro version number. Changes in major version number
3667 indicate major changes in Guile.
3669 Minor version numbers that are even denote stable releases, and odd
3670 minor version numbers denote development versions (which may be
3671 unstable). The micro version number indicates a minor sub-revision of
3672 a given MAJOR.MINOR release.
3674 In keeping with the new scheme, (minor-version) and scm_minor_version
3675 no longer return everything but the major version number. They now
3676 just return the minor version number. Two new functions
3677 (micro-version) and scm_micro_version have been added to report the
3678 micro version number.
3680 In addition, ./GUILE-VERSION now defines GUILE_MICRO_VERSION.
3682 ** New preprocessor definitions are available for checking versions.
3684 version.h now #defines SCM_MAJOR_VERSION, SCM_MINOR_VERSION, and
3685 SCM_MICRO_VERSION to the appropriate integer values.
3687 ** Guile now actively warns about deprecated features.
3689 The new configure option `--enable-deprecated=LEVEL' and the
3690 environment variable GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED control this mechanism.
3691 See INSTALL and README for more information.
3693 ** Guile is much more likely to work on 64-bit architectures.
3695 Guile now compiles and passes "make check" with only two UNRESOLVED GC
3696 cases on Alpha and ia64 based machines now. Thanks to John Goerzen
3697 for the use of a test machine, and thanks to Stefan Jahn for ia64
3700 ** New functions: setitimer and getitimer.
3702 These implement a fairly direct interface to the libc functions of the
3705 ** The #. reader extension is now disabled by default.
3707 For safety reasons, #. evaluation is disabled by default. To
3708 re-enable it, set the fluid read-eval? to #t. For example:
3710 (fluid-set! read-eval? #t)
3712 but make sure you realize the potential security risks involved. With
3713 read-eval? enabled, reading a data file from an untrusted source can
3716 ** New SRFI modules have been added:
3718 SRFI-0 `cond-expand' is now supported in Guile, without requiring
3721 (srfi srfi-1) is a library containing many useful pair- and list-processing
3724 (srfi srfi-2) exports and-let*.
3726 (srfi srfi-4) implements homogeneous numeric vector datatypes.
3728 (srfi srfi-6) is a dummy module for now, since guile already provides
3729 all of the srfi-6 procedures by default: open-input-string,
3730 open-output-string, get-output-string.
3732 (srfi srfi-8) exports receive.
3734 (srfi srfi-9) exports define-record-type.
3736 (srfi srfi-10) exports define-reader-ctor and implements the reader
3739 (srfi srfi-11) exports let-values and let*-values.
3741 (srfi srfi-13) implements the SRFI String Library.
3743 (srfi srfi-14) implements the SRFI Character-Set Library.
3745 (srfi srfi-17) implements setter and getter-with-setter and redefines
3746 some accessor procedures as procedures with getters. (such as car,
3747 cdr, vector-ref etc.)
3749 (srfi srfi-19) implements the SRFI Time/Date Library.
3751 ** New scripts / "executable modules"
3753 Subdirectory "scripts" contains Scheme modules that are packaged to
3754 also be executable as scripts. At this time, these scripts are available:
3763 See README there for more info.
3765 These scripts can be invoked from the shell with the new program
3766 "guile-tools", which keeps track of installation directory for you.
3769 $ guile-tools display-commentary srfi/*.scm
3771 guile-tools is copied to the standard $bindir on "make install".
3773 ** New module (ice-9 stack-catch):
3775 stack-catch is like catch, but saves the current state of the stack in
3776 the fluid the-last-stack. This fluid can be useful when using the
3777 debugger and when re-throwing an error.
3779 ** The module (ice-9 and-let*) has been renamed to (ice-9 and-let-star)
3781 This has been done to prevent problems on lesser operating systems
3782 that can't tolerate `*'s in file names. The exported macro continues
3783 to be named `and-let*', of course.
3785 On systems that support it, there is also a compatibility module named
3786 (ice-9 and-let*). It will go away in the next release.
3788 ** New modules (oop goops) etc.:
3791 (oop goops describe)
3793 (oop goops active-slot)
3794 (oop goops composite-slot)
3796 The Guile Object Oriented Programming System (GOOPS) has been
3797 integrated into Guile. For further information, consult the GOOPS
3798 manual and tutorial in the `doc' directory.
3800 ** New module (ice-9 rdelim).
3802 This exports the following procedures which were previously defined
3803 in the default environment:
3805 read-line read-line! read-delimited read-delimited! %read-delimited!
3806 %read-line write-line
3808 For backwards compatibility the definitions are still imported into the
3809 default environment in this version of Guile. However you should add:
3811 (use-modules (ice-9 rdelim))
3813 to any program which uses the definitions, since this may change in
3816 Alternatively, if guile-scsh is installed, the (scsh rdelim) module
3817 can be used for similar functionality.
3819 ** New module (ice-9 rw)
3821 This is a subset of the (scsh rw) module from guile-scsh. Currently
3822 it defines two procedures:
3824 *** New function: read-string!/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
3826 Read characters from a port or file descriptor into a string STR.
3827 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
3828 fport. This procedure is scsh-compatible and can efficiently read
3831 *** New function: write-string/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
3833 Write characters from a string STR to a port or file descriptor.
3834 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
3835 fport. This procedure is mostly compatible and can efficiently
3836 write large strings.
3838 ** New module (ice-9 match)
3840 This module includes Andrew K. Wright's pattern matcher. See
3841 ice-9/match.scm for brief description or
3843 http://www.star-lab.com/wright/code.html
3845 for complete documentation.
3847 ** New module (ice-9 buffered-input)
3849 This module provides procedures to construct an input port from an
3850 underlying source of input that reads and returns its input in chunks.
3851 The underlying input source is a Scheme procedure, specified by the
3852 caller, which the port invokes whenever it needs more input.
3854 This is useful when building an input port whose back end is Readline
3855 or a UI element such as the GtkEntry widget.
3859 The reference and tutorial documentation that was previously
3860 distributed separately, as `guile-doc', is now included in the core
3861 Guile distribution. The documentation consists of the following
3864 - The Guile Tutorial (guile-tut.texi) contains a tutorial introduction
3867 - The Guile Reference Manual (guile.texi) contains (or is intended to
3868 contain) reference documentation on all aspects of Guile.
3870 - The GOOPS Manual (goops.texi) contains both tutorial-style and
3871 reference documentation for using GOOPS, Guile's Object Oriented
3874 - The Revised^5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme
3877 See the README file in the `doc' directory for more details.
3879 ** There are a couple of examples in the examples/ directory now.
3881 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3883 ** New command line option `--use-srfi'
3885 Using this option, SRFI modules can be loaded on startup and be
3886 available right from the beginning. This makes programming portable
3887 Scheme programs easier.
3889 The option `--use-srfi' expects a comma-separated list of numbers,
3890 each representing a SRFI number to be loaded into the interpreter
3891 before starting evaluating a script file or the REPL. Additionally,
3892 the feature identifier for the loaded SRFIs is recognized by
3893 `cond-expand' when using this option.
3896 $ guile --use-srfi=8,13
3897 guile> (receive (x z) (values 1 2) (+ 1 2))
3899 guile> (string-pad "bla" 20)
3902 ** Guile now always starts up in the `(guile-user)' module.
3904 Previously, scripts executed via the `-s' option would run in the
3905 `(guile)' module and the repl would run in the `(guile-user)' module.
3906 Now every user action takes place in the `(guile-user)' module by
3909 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3911 ** Character classifiers work for non-ASCII characters.
3913 The predicates `char-alphabetic?', `char-numeric?',
3914 `char-whitespace?', `char-lower?', `char-upper?' and `char-is-both?'
3915 no longer check whether their arguments are ASCII characters.
3916 Previously, a character would only be considered alphabetic when it
3917 was also ASCII, for example.
3919 ** Previously deprecated Scheme functions have been removed:
3921 tag - no replacement.
3922 fseek - replaced by seek.
3923 list* - replaced by cons*.
3925 ** It's now possible to create modules with controlled environments
3929 (use-modules (ice-9 safe))
3930 (define m (make-safe-module))
3931 ;;; m will now be a module containing only a safe subset of R5RS
3932 (eval '(+ 1 2) m) --> 3
3933 (eval 'load m) --> ERROR: Unbound variable: load
3935 ** Evaluation of "()", the empty list, is now an error.
3937 Previously, the expression "()" evaluated to the empty list. This has
3938 been changed to signal a "missing expression" error. The correct way
3939 to write the empty list as a literal constant is to use quote: "'()".
3941 ** New concept of `Guile Extensions'.
3943 A Guile Extension is just a ordinary shared library that can be linked
3944 at run-time. We found it advantageous to give this simple concept a
3945 dedicated name to distinguish the issues related to shared libraries
3946 from the issues related to the module system.
3948 *** New function: load-extension
3950 Executing (load-extension lib init) is mostly equivalent to
3952 (dynamic-call init (dynamic-link lib))
3954 except when scm_register_extension has been called previously.
3955 Whenever appropriate, you should use `load-extension' instead of
3956 dynamic-link and dynamic-call.
3958 *** New C function: scm_c_register_extension
3960 This function registers a initialization function for use by
3961 `load-extension'. Use it when you don't want specific extensions to
3962 be loaded as shared libraries (for example on platforms that don't
3963 support dynamic linking).
3965 ** Auto-loading of compiled-code modules is deprecated.
3967 Guile used to be able to automatically find and link a shared
3968 library to satisfy requests for a module. For example, the module
3969 `(foo bar)' could be implemented by placing a shared library named
3970 "foo/libbar.so" (or with a different extension) in a directory on the
3973 This has been found to be too tricky, and is no longer supported. The
3974 shared libraries are now called "extensions". You should now write a
3975 small Scheme file that calls `load-extension' to load the shared
3976 library and initialize it explicitly.
3978 The shared libraries themselves should be installed in the usual
3979 places for shared libraries, with names like "libguile-foo-bar".
3981 For example, place this into a file "foo/bar.scm"
3983 (define-module (foo bar))
3985 (load-extension "libguile-foo-bar" "foobar_init")
3987 ** Backward incompatible change: eval EXP ENVIRONMENT-SPECIFIER
3989 `eval' is now R5RS, that is it takes two arguments.
3990 The second argument is an environment specifier, i.e. either
3992 (scheme-report-environment 5)
3993 (null-environment 5)
3994 (interaction-environment)
4000 ** The module system has been made more disciplined.
4002 The function `eval' will save and restore the current module around
4003 the evaluation of the specified expression. While this expression is
4004 evaluated, `(current-module)' will now return the right module, which
4005 is the module specified as the second argument to `eval'.
4007 A consequence of this change is that `eval' is not particularly
4008 useful when you want allow the evaluated code to change what module is
4009 designated as the current module and have this change persist from one
4010 call to `eval' to the next. The read-eval-print-loop is an example
4011 where `eval' is now inadequate. To compensate, there is a new
4012 function `primitive-eval' that does not take a module specifier and
4013 that does not save/restore the current module. You should use this
4014 function together with `set-current-module', `current-module', etc
4015 when you want to have more control over the state that is carried from
4016 one eval to the next.
4018 Additionally, it has been made sure that forms that are evaluated at
4019 the top level are always evaluated with respect to the current module.
4020 Previously, subforms of top-level forms such as `begin', `case',
4021 etc. did not respect changes to the current module although these
4022 subforms are at the top-level as well.
4024 To prevent strange behavior, the forms `define-module',
4025 `use-modules', `use-syntax', and `export' have been restricted to only
4026 work on the top level. The forms `define-public' and
4027 `defmacro-public' only export the new binding on the top level. They
4028 behave just like `define' and `defmacro', respectively, when they are
4029 used in a lexical environment.
4031 Also, `export' will no longer silently re-export bindings imported
4032 from a used module. It will emit a `deprecation' warning and will
4033 cease to perform any re-export in the next version. If you actually
4034 want to re-export bindings, use the new `re-export' in place of
4035 `export'. The new `re-export' will not make copies of variables when
4036 rexporting them, as `export' did wrongly.
4038 ** Module system now allows selection and renaming of imported bindings
4040 Previously, when using `use-modules' or the `#:use-module' clause in
4041 the `define-module' form, all the bindings (association of symbols to
4042 values) for imported modules were added to the "current module" on an
4043 as-is basis. This has been changed to allow finer control through two
4044 new facilities: selection and renaming.
4046 You can now select which of the imported module's bindings are to be
4047 visible in the current module by using the `:select' clause. This
4048 clause also can be used to rename individual bindings. For example:
4050 ;; import all bindings no questions asked
4051 (use-modules (ice-9 common-list))
4053 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them;
4054 ;; the current module sees: every some zonk-y zonk-n
4055 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
4057 (remove-if . zonk-y)
4058 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))))
4060 You can also programmatically rename all selected bindings using the
4061 `:renamer' clause, which specifies a proc that takes a symbol and
4062 returns another symbol. Because it is common practice to use a prefix,
4063 we now provide the convenience procedure `symbol-prefix-proc'. For
4066 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
4067 ;; and all four w/ prefix "CL:";
4068 ;; the current module sees: CL:every CL:some CL:zonk-y CL:zonk-n
4069 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
4071 (remove-if . zonk-y)
4072 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
4073 :renamer (symbol-prefix-proc 'CL:)))
4075 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
4076 ;; and all four by upcasing.
4077 ;; the current module sees: EVERY SOME ZONK-Y ZONK-N
4078 (define (upcase-symbol sym)
4079 (string->symbol (string-upcase (symbol->string sym))))
4081 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
4083 (remove-if . zonk-y)
4084 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
4085 :renamer upcase-symbol))
4087 Note that programmatic renaming is done *after* individual renaming.
4088 Also, the above examples show `use-modules', but the same facilities are
4089 available for the `#:use-module' clause of `define-module'.
4091 See manual for more info.
4093 ** The semantics of guardians have changed.
4095 The changes are for the most part compatible. An important criterion
4096 was to keep the typical usage of guardians as simple as before, but to
4097 make the semantics safer and (as a result) more useful.
4099 *** All objects returned from guardians are now properly alive.
4101 It is now guaranteed that any object referenced by an object returned
4102 from a guardian is alive. It's now impossible for a guardian to
4103 return a "contained" object before its "containing" object.
4105 One incompatible (but probably not very important) change resulting
4106 from this is that it is no longer possible to guard objects that
4107 indirectly reference themselves (i.e. are parts of cycles). If you do
4108 so accidentally, you'll get a warning.
4110 *** There are now two types of guardians: greedy and sharing.
4112 If you call (make-guardian #t) or just (make-guardian), you'll get a
4113 greedy guardian, and for (make-guardian #f) a sharing guardian.
4115 Greedy guardians are the default because they are more "defensive".
4116 You can only greedily guard an object once. If you guard an object
4117 more than once, once in a greedy guardian and the rest of times in
4118 sharing guardians, then it is guaranteed that the object won't be
4119 returned from sharing guardians as long as it is greedily guarded
4122 Guardians returned by calls to `make-guardian' can now take one more
4123 optional parameter, which says whether to throw an error in case an
4124 attempt is made to greedily guard an object that is already greedily
4125 guarded. The default is true, i.e. throw an error. If the parameter
4126 is false, the guardian invocation returns #t if guarding was
4127 successful and #f if it wasn't.
4129 Also, since greedy guarding is, in effect, a side-effecting operation
4130 on objects, a new function is introduced: `destroy-guardian!'.
4131 Invoking this function on a guardian renders it unoperative and, if
4132 the guardian is greedy, clears the "greedily guarded" property of the
4133 objects that were guarded by it, thus undoing the side effect.
4135 Note that all this hair is hardly very important, since guardian
4136 objects are usually permanent.
4138 ** Continuations created by call-with-current-continuation now accept
4139 any number of arguments, as required by R5RS.
4141 ** New function `issue-deprecation-warning'
4143 This function is used to display the deprecation messages that are
4144 controlled by GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATION as explained in the README.
4147 (issue-deprecation-warning "`id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.")
4151 ;; `id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.
4156 ** New syntax `begin-deprecated'
4158 When deprecated features are included (as determined by the configure
4159 option --enable-deprecated), `begin-deprecated' is identical to
4160 `begin'. When deprecated features are excluded, it always evaluates
4161 to `#f', ignoring the body forms.
4163 ** New function `make-object-property'
4165 This function returns a new `procedure with setter' P that can be used
4166 to attach a property to objects. When calling P as
4170 where `obj' is any kind of object, it attaches `val' to `obj' in such
4171 a way that it can be retrieved by calling P as
4175 This function will replace procedure properties, symbol properties and
4176 source properties eventually.
4178 ** Module (ice-9 optargs) now uses keywords instead of `#&'.
4180 Instead of #&optional, #&key, etc you should now use #:optional,
4181 #:key, etc. Since #:optional is a keyword, you can write it as just
4182 :optional when (read-set! keywords 'prefix) is active.
4184 The old reader syntax `#&' is still supported, but deprecated. It
4185 will be removed in the next release.
4187 ** New define-module option: pure
4189 Tells the module system not to include any bindings from the root
4194 (define-module (totally-empty-module)
4197 ** New define-module option: export NAME1 ...
4199 Export names NAME1 ...
4201 This option is required if you want to be able to export bindings from
4202 a module which doesn't import one of `define-public' or `export'.
4206 (define-module (foo)
4208 :use-module (ice-9 r5rs)
4211 ;;; Note that we're pure R5RS below this point!
4216 ** New function: object->string OBJ
4218 Return a Scheme string obtained by printing a given object.
4220 ** New function: port? X
4222 Returns a boolean indicating whether X is a port. Equivalent to
4223 `(or (input-port? X) (output-port? X))'.
4225 ** New function: file-port?
4227 Determines whether a given object is a port that is related to a file.
4229 ** New function: port-for-each proc
4231 Apply PROC to each port in the Guile port table in turn. The return
4232 value is unspecified. More specifically, PROC is applied exactly once
4233 to every port that exists in the system at the time PORT-FOR-EACH is
4234 invoked. Changes to the port table while PORT-FOR-EACH is running
4235 have no effect as far as PORT-FOR-EACH is concerned.
4237 ** New function: dup2 oldfd newfd
4239 A simple wrapper for the `dup2' system call. Copies the file
4240 descriptor OLDFD to descriptor number NEWFD, replacing the
4241 previous meaning of NEWFD. Both OLDFD and NEWFD must be integers.
4242 Unlike for dup->fdes or primitive-move->fdes, no attempt is made
4243 to move away ports which are using NEWFD. The return value is
4246 ** New function: close-fdes fd
4248 A simple wrapper for the `close' system call. Close file
4249 descriptor FD, which must be an integer. Unlike close (*note
4250 close: Ports and File Descriptors.), the file descriptor will be
4251 closed even if a port is using it. The return value is
4254 ** New function: crypt password salt
4256 Encrypts `password' using the standard unix password encryption
4259 ** New function: chroot path
4261 Change the root directory of the running process to `path'.
4263 ** New functions: getlogin, cuserid
4265 Return the login name or the user name of the current effective user
4268 ** New functions: getpriority which who, setpriority which who prio
4270 Get or set the priority of the running process.
4272 ** New function: getpass prompt
4274 Read a password from the terminal, first displaying `prompt' and
4277 ** New function: flock file operation
4279 Set/remove an advisory shared or exclusive lock on `file'.
4281 ** New functions: sethostname name, gethostname
4283 Set or get the hostname of the machine the current process is running
4286 ** New function: mkstemp! tmpl
4288 mkstemp creates a new unique file in the file system and returns a
4289 new buffered port open for reading and writing to the file. TMPL
4290 is a string specifying where the file should be created: it must
4291 end with `XXXXXX' and will be changed in place to return the name
4292 of the temporary file.
4294 ** New function: open-input-string string
4296 Return an input string port which delivers the characters from
4297 `string'. This procedure, together with `open-output-string' and
4298 `get-output-string' implements SRFI-6.
4300 ** New function: open-output-string
4302 Return an output string port which collects all data written to it.
4303 The data can then be retrieved by `get-output-string'.
4305 ** New function: get-output-string
4307 Return the contents of an output string port.
4309 ** New function: identity
4311 Return the argument.
4313 ** socket, connect, accept etc., now have support for IPv6. IPv6 addresses
4314 are represented in Scheme as integers with normal host byte ordering.
4316 ** New function: inet-pton family address
4318 Convert a printable string network address into an integer. Note that
4319 unlike the C version of this function, the result is an integer with
4320 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
4323 (inet-pton AF_INET "127.0.0.1") => 2130706433
4324 (inet-pton AF_INET6 "::1") => 1
4326 ** New function: inet-ntop family address
4328 Convert an integer network address into a printable string. Note that
4329 unlike the C version of this function, the input is an integer with
4330 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
4333 (inet-ntop AF_INET 2130706433) => "127.0.0.1"
4334 (inet-ntop AF_INET6 (- (expt 2 128) 1)) =>
4335 ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff
4339 Use `identity' instead.
4345 ** Deprecated: return-it
4349 ** Deprecated: string-character-length
4351 Use `string-length' instead.
4353 ** Deprecated: flags
4355 Use `logior' instead.
4357 ** Deprecated: close-all-ports-except.
4359 This was intended for closing ports in a child process after a fork,
4360 but it has the undesirable side effect of flushing buffers.
4361 port-for-each is more flexible.
4363 ** The (ice-9 popen) module now attempts to set up file descriptors in
4364 the child process from the current Scheme ports, instead of using the
4365 current values of file descriptors 0, 1, and 2 in the parent process.
4367 ** Removed function: builtin-weak-bindings
4369 There is no such concept as a weak binding any more.
4371 ** Removed constants: bignum-radix, scm-line-incrementors
4373 ** define-method: New syntax mandatory.
4375 The new method syntax is now mandatory:
4377 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ...) BODY ...)
4378 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ... . REST-ARG) BODY ...)
4380 ARG-SPEC ::= ARG-NAME | (ARG-NAME TYPE)
4381 REST-ARG ::= ARG-NAME
4383 If you have old code using the old syntax, import
4384 (oop goops old-define-method) before (oop goops) as in:
4386 (use-modules (oop goops old-define-method) (oop goops))
4388 ** Deprecated function: builtin-variable
4389 Removed function: builtin-bindings
4391 There is no longer a distinction between builtin or other variables.
4392 Use module system operations for all variables.
4394 ** Lazy-catch handlers are no longer allowed to return.
4396 That is, a call to `throw', `error', etc is now guaranteed to not
4399 ** Bugfixes for (ice-9 getopt-long)
4401 This module is now tested using test-suite/tests/getopt-long.test.
4402 The following bugs have been fixed:
4404 *** Parsing for options that are specified to have `optional' args now checks
4405 if the next element is an option instead of unconditionally taking it as the
4408 *** An error is now thrown for `--opt=val' when the option description
4409 does not specify `(value #t)' or `(value optional)'. This condition used to
4410 be accepted w/o error, contrary to the documentation.
4412 *** The error message for unrecognized options is now more informative.
4413 It used to be "not a record", an artifact of the implementation.
4415 *** The error message for `--opt' terminating the arg list (no value), when
4416 `(value #t)' is specified, is now more informative. It used to be "not enough
4419 *** "Clumped" single-char args now preserve trailing string, use it as arg.
4420 The expansion used to be like so:
4422 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "--xyz")
4424 Note that the "5d" is dropped. Now it is like so:
4426 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "5d" "--xyz")
4428 This enables single-char options to have adjoining arguments as long as their
4429 constituent characters are not potential single-char options.
4431 ** (ice-9 session) procedure `arity' now works with (ice-9 optargs) `lambda*'
4433 The `lambda*' and derivative forms in (ice-9 optargs) now set a procedure
4434 property `arglist', which can be retrieved by `arity'. The result is that
4435 `arity' can give more detailed information than before:
4439 guile> (use-modules (ice-9 optargs))
4440 guile> (define* (foo #:optional a b c) a)
4442 0 or more arguments in `lambda*:G0'.
4447 3 optional arguments: `a', `b' and `c'.
4448 guile> (define* (bar a b #:key c d #:allow-other-keys) a)
4450 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 2 keyword arguments: `c'
4451 and `d', other keywords allowed.
4452 guile> (define* (baz a b #:optional c #:rest r) a)
4454 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 1 optional argument: `c',
4457 * Changes to the C interface
4459 ** Types have been renamed from scm_*_t to scm_t_*.
4461 This has been done for POSIX sake. It reserves identifiers ending
4462 with "_t". What a concept.
4464 The old names are still available with status `deprecated'.
4466 ** scm_t_bits (former scm_bits_t) is now a unsigned type.
4468 ** Deprecated features have been removed.
4472 SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP SCM_ICHRP, SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR
4473 SCM_SETJMPBUF SCM_NSTRINGP SCM_NRWSTRINGP SCM_NVECTORP SCM_DOUBLE_CELLP
4475 *** C Functions removed
4477 scm_sysmissing scm_tag scm_tc16_flo scm_tc_flo
4478 scm_fseek - replaced by scm_seek.
4479 gc-thunk - replaced by after-gc-hook.
4480 gh_int2scmb - replaced by gh_bool2scm.
4481 scm_tc_dblr - replaced by scm_tc16_real.
4482 scm_tc_dblc - replaced by scm_tc16_complex.
4483 scm_list_star - replaced by scm_cons_star.
4485 ** Deprecated: scm_makfromstr
4487 Use scm_mem2string instead.
4489 ** Deprecated: scm_make_shared_substring
4491 Explicit shared substrings will disappear from Guile.
4493 Instead, "normal" strings will be implemented using sharing
4494 internally, combined with a copy-on-write strategy.
4496 ** Deprecated: scm_read_only_string_p
4498 The concept of read-only strings will disappear in next release of
4501 ** Deprecated: scm_sloppy_memq, scm_sloppy_memv, scm_sloppy_member
4503 Instead, use scm_c_memq or scm_memq, scm_memv, scm_member.
4505 ** New functions: scm_call_0, scm_call_1, scm_call_2, scm_call_3
4507 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments. See "Fly
4508 Evaluation" in the manual.
4510 ** New functions: scm_apply_0, scm_apply_1, scm_apply_2, scm_apply_3
4512 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments and a list of
4513 further arguments. See "Fly Evaluation" in the manual.
4515 ** New functions: scm_list_1, scm_list_2, scm_list_3, scm_list_4, scm_list_5
4517 Create a list of the given number of elements. See "List
4518 Constructors" in the manual.
4520 ** Renamed function: scm_listify has been replaced by scm_list_n.
4522 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_LIST0, SCM_LIST1, SCM_LIST2, SCM_LIST3, SCM_LIST4,
4523 SCM_LIST5, SCM_LIST6, SCM_LIST7, SCM_LIST8, SCM_LIST9.
4525 Use functions scm_list_N instead.
4527 ** New function: scm_c_read (SCM port, void *buffer, scm_sizet size)
4529 Used by an application to read arbitrary number of bytes from a port.
4530 Same semantics as libc read, except that scm_c_read only returns less
4531 than SIZE bytes if at end-of-file.
4533 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
4535 ** New function: scm_c_write (SCM port, const void *ptr, scm_sizet size)
4537 Used by an application to write arbitrary number of bytes to an SCM
4538 port. Similar semantics as libc write. However, unlike libc
4539 write, scm_c_write writes the requested number of bytes and has no
4542 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
4544 ** New function: scm_init_guile ()
4546 In contrast to scm_boot_guile, scm_init_guile will return normally
4547 after initializing Guile. It is not available on all systems, tho.
4549 ** New functions: scm_str2symbol, scm_mem2symbol
4551 The function scm_str2symbol takes a const char* pointing to a zero-terminated
4552 field of characters and creates a scheme symbol object from that C string.
4553 The function scm_mem2symbol takes a const char* and a number of characters and
4554 creates a symbol from the characters in that memory area.
4556 ** New functions: scm_primitive_make_property
4557 scm_primitive_property_ref
4558 scm_primitive_property_set_x
4559 scm_primitive_property_del_x
4561 These functions implement a new way to deal with object properties.
4562 See libguile/properties.c for their documentation.
4564 ** New function: scm_done_free (long size)
4566 This function is the inverse of scm_done_malloc. Use it to report the
4567 amount of smob memory you free. The previous method, which involved
4568 calling scm_done_malloc with negative argument, was somewhat
4569 unintuitive (and is still available, of course).
4571 ** New function: scm_c_memq (SCM obj, SCM list)
4573 This function provides a fast C level alternative for scm_memq for the case
4574 that the list parameter is known to be a proper list. The function is a
4575 replacement for scm_sloppy_memq, but is stricter in its requirements on its
4576 list input parameter, since for anything else but a proper list the function's
4577 behaviour is undefined - it may even crash or loop endlessly. Further, for
4578 the case that the object is not found in the list, scm_c_memq returns #f which
4579 is similar to scm_memq, but different from scm_sloppy_memq's behaviour.
4581 ** New functions: scm_remember_upto_here_1, scm_remember_upto_here_2,
4582 scm_remember_upto_here
4584 These functions replace the function scm_remember.
4586 ** Deprecated function: scm_remember
4588 Use one of the new functions scm_remember_upto_here_1,
4589 scm_remember_upto_here_2 or scm_remember_upto_here instead.
4591 ** New function: scm_allocate_string
4593 This function replaces the function scm_makstr.
4595 ** Deprecated function: scm_makstr
4597 Use the new function scm_allocate_string instead.
4599 ** New global variable scm_gc_running_p introduced.
4601 Use this variable to find out if garbage collection is being executed. Up to
4602 now applications have used scm_gc_heap_lock to test if garbage collection was
4603 running, which also works because of the fact that up to know only the garbage
4604 collector has set this variable. But, this is an implementation detail that
4605 may change. Further, scm_gc_heap_lock is not set throughout gc, thus the use
4606 of this variable is (and has been) not fully safe anyway.
4608 ** New macros: SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH
4610 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
4612 ** New macros: SCM_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_CCLO_LENGTH, SCM_STACK_LENGTH,
4613 SCM_STRING_LENGTH, SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
4614 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH.
4616 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH.
4618 ** New macros: SCM_SET_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH,
4619 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
4620 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH
4622 Use these instead of SCM_SETLENGTH
4624 ** New macros: SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_CCLO_BASE,
4625 SCM_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_COMPLEX_MEM,
4628 Use these instead of SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS or
4631 ** New macros: SCM_SET_BIGNUM_BASE, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS,
4632 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE,
4635 Use these instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
4637 ** New macro: SCM_BITVECTOR_P
4639 ** New macro: SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X
4641 Use instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
4643 ** New macros: SCM_DIR_OPEN_P, SCM_DIR_FLAG_OPEN
4645 For directory objects, use these instead of SCM_OPDIRP and SCM_OPN.
4647 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_OUTOFRANGE, SCM_NALLOC, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL,
4648 SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL,
4649 SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD,
4650 SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS, SCM_SYMBOL_SLOTS, SCM_SLOTS, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
4651 SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_FREEP, SCM_NFREEP, SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS,
4652 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY,
4653 SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_HUGE_LENGTH,
4654 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
4655 SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP, SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, SCM_ROCHARS,
4656 SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_GC8MARKP,
4657 SCM_SETGC8MARK, SCM_CLRGC8MARK, SCM_GCTYP16, SCM_GCCDR, SCM_SUBR_DOC,
4658 SCM_OPDIRP, SCM_VALIDATE_OPDIR, SCM_WTA, RETURN_SCM_WTA, SCM_CONST_LONG,
4659 SCM_WNA, SCM_FUNC_NAME, SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_COPY,
4660 SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_DEF_COPY, SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP, SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP,
4661 SCM_SETAND_CDR, SCM_SETOR_CDR, SCM_SETAND_CAR, SCM_SETOR_CAR
4663 Use SCM_ASSERT_RANGE or SCM_VALIDATE_XXX_RANGE instead of SCM_OUTOFRANGE.
4664 Use scm_memory_error instead of SCM_NALLOC.
4665 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP.
4666 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR.
4667 Use SCM_FREE_CELL_P instead of SCM_FREEP/SCM_NFREEP
4668 Use a type specific accessor macro instead of SCM_CHARS/SCM_UCHARS.
4669 Use a type specific accessor instead of SCM(_|_RO|_HUGE_)LENGTH.
4670 Use SCM_VALIDATE_(SYMBOL|STRING) instead of SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING.
4671 Use SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
4672 Use SCM_STRINGP or SCM_SYMBOLP instead of SCM_ROSTRINGP.
4673 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_RWSTRINGP.
4674 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING.
4675 Use SCM_STRING_CHARS instead of SCM_ROCHARS.
4676 Use SCM_STRING_UCHARS instead of SCM_ROUCHARS.
4677 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETLENGTH.
4678 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
4679 Use a type specific length macro instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
4680 Use SCM_GCMARKP instead of SCM_GC8MARKP.
4681 Use SCM_SETGCMARK instead of SCM_SETGC8MARK.
4682 Use SCM_CLRGCMARK instead of SCM_CLRGC8MARK.
4683 Use SCM_TYP16 instead of SCM_GCTYP16.
4684 Use SCM_CDR instead of SCM_GCCDR.
4685 Use SCM_DIR_OPEN_P instead of SCM_OPDIRP.
4686 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of SCM_WTA.
4687 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of RETURN_SCM_WTA.
4688 Use SCM_VCELL_INIT instead of SCM_CONST_LONG.
4689 Use SCM_WRONG_NUM_ARGS instead of SCM_WNA.
4690 Use SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP.
4691 Use !SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP.
4693 ** Removed function: scm_struct_init
4695 ** Removed variable: scm_symhash_dim
4697 ** Renamed function: scm_make_cont has been replaced by
4698 scm_make_continuation, which has a different interface.
4700 ** Deprecated function: scm_call_catching_errors
4702 Use scm_catch or scm_lazy_catch from throw.[ch] instead.
4704 ** Deprecated function: scm_strhash
4706 Use scm_string_hash instead.
4708 ** Deprecated function: scm_vector_set_length_x
4710 Instead, create a fresh vector of the desired size and copy the contents.
4712 ** scm_gensym has changed prototype
4714 scm_gensym now only takes one argument.
4716 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc7_ssymbol, scm_tc7_msymbol, scm_tcs_symbols,
4719 There is now only a single symbol type scm_tc7_symbol.
4720 The tag scm_tc7_lvector was not used anyway.
4722 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe, scm_set_smob_mfpe.
4724 Use scm_make_smob_type and scm_set_smob_XXX instead.
4726 ** New function scm_set_smob_apply.
4728 This can be used to set an apply function to a smob type.
4730 ** Deprecated function: scm_strprint_obj
4732 Use scm_object_to_string instead.
4734 ** Deprecated function: scm_wta
4736 Use scm_wrong_type_arg, or another appropriate error signalling function
4739 ** Explicit support for obarrays has been deprecated.
4741 Use `scm_str2symbol' and the generic hashtable functions instead.
4743 ** The concept of `vcells' has been deprecated.
4745 The data type `variable' is now used exclusively. `Vcells' have been
4746 a low-level concept so you are likely not affected by this change.
4748 *** Deprecated functions: scm_sym2vcell, scm_sysintern,
4749 scm_sysintern0, scm_symbol_value0, scm_intern, scm_intern0.
4751 Use scm_c_define or scm_c_lookup instead, as appropriate.
4753 *** New functions: scm_c_module_lookup, scm_c_lookup,
4754 scm_c_module_define, scm_c_define, scm_module_lookup, scm_lookup,
4755 scm_module_define, scm_define.
4757 These functions work with variables instead of with vcells.
4759 ** New functions for creating and defining `subr's and `gsubr's.
4761 The new functions more clearly distinguish between creating a subr (or
4762 gsubr) object and adding it to the current module.
4764 These new functions are available: scm_c_make_subr, scm_c_define_subr,
4765 scm_c_make_subr_with_generic, scm_c_define_subr_with_generic,
4766 scm_c_make_gsubr, scm_c_define_gsubr, scm_c_make_gsubr_with_generic,
4767 scm_c_define_gsubr_with_generic.
4769 ** Deprecated functions: scm_make_subr, scm_make_subr_opt,
4770 scm_make_subr_with_generic, scm_make_gsubr,
4771 scm_make_gsubr_with_generic.
4773 Use the new ones from above instead.
4775 ** C interface to the module system has changed.
4777 While we suggest that you avoid as many explicit module system
4778 operations from C as possible for the time being, the C interface has
4779 been made more similar to the high-level Scheme module system.
4781 *** New functions: scm_c_define_module, scm_c_use_module,
4782 scm_c_export, scm_c_resolve_module.
4784 They mostly work like their Scheme namesakes. scm_c_define_module
4785 takes a function that is called a context where the new module is
4788 *** Deprecated functions: scm_the_root_module, scm_make_module,
4789 scm_ensure_user_module, scm_load_scheme_module.
4791 Use the new functions instead.
4793 ** Renamed function: scm_internal_with_fluids becomes
4796 scm_internal_with_fluids is available as a deprecated function.
4798 ** New function: scm_c_with_fluid.
4800 Just like scm_c_with_fluids, but takes one fluid and one value instead
4803 ** Deprecated typedefs: long_long, ulong_long.
4805 They are of questionable utility and they pollute the global
4808 ** Deprecated typedef: scm_sizet
4810 It is of questionable utility now that Guile requires ANSI C, and is
4813 ** Deprecated typedefs: scm_port_rw_active, scm_port,
4814 scm_ptob_descriptor, scm_debug_info, scm_debug_frame, scm_fport,
4815 scm_option, scm_rstate, scm_rng, scm_array, scm_array_dim.
4817 Made more compliant with the naming policy by adding a _t at the end.
4819 ** Deprecated functions: scm_mkbig, scm_big2num, scm_adjbig,
4820 scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl
4822 With the exception of the mysterious scm_2ulong2big, they are still
4823 available under new names (scm_i_mkbig etc). These functions are not
4824 intended to be used in user code. You should avoid dealing with
4825 bignums directly, and should deal with numbers in general (which can
4828 ** Change in behavior: scm_num2long, scm_num2ulong
4830 The scm_num2[u]long functions don't any longer accept an inexact
4831 argument. This change in behavior is motivated by concordance with
4832 R5RS: It is more common that a primitive doesn't want to accept an
4833 inexact for an exact.
4835 ** New functions: scm_short2num, scm_ushort2num, scm_int2num,
4836 scm_uint2num, scm_size2num, scm_ptrdiff2num, scm_num2short,
4837 scm_num2ushort, scm_num2int, scm_num2uint, scm_num2ptrdiff,
4840 These are conversion functions between the various ANSI C integral
4841 types and Scheme numbers. NOTE: The scm_num2xxx functions don't
4842 accept an inexact argument.
4844 ** New functions: scm_float2num, scm_double2num,
4845 scm_num2float, scm_num2double.
4847 These are conversion functions between the two ANSI C float types and
4850 ** New number validation macros:
4851 SCM_NUM2{SIZE,PTRDIFF,SHORT,USHORT,INT,UINT}[_DEF]
4855 ** New functions: scm_gc_protect_object, scm_gc_unprotect_object
4857 These are just nicer-named old scm_protect_object and
4858 scm_unprotect_object.
4860 ** Deprecated functions: scm_protect_object, scm_unprotect_object
4862 ** New functions: scm_gc_[un]register_root, scm_gc_[un]register_roots
4864 These functions can be used to register pointers to locations that
4867 ** Deprecated function: scm_create_hook.
4869 Its sins are: misleading name, non-modularity and lack of general
4873 Changes since Guile 1.3.4:
4875 * Changes to the distribution
4877 ** Trees from nightly snapshots and CVS now require you to run autogen.sh.
4879 We've changed the way we handle generated files in the Guile source
4880 repository. As a result, the procedure for building trees obtained
4881 from the nightly FTP snapshots or via CVS has changed:
4882 - You must have appropriate versions of autoconf, automake, and
4883 libtool installed on your system. See README for info on how to
4884 obtain these programs.
4885 - Before configuring the tree, you must first run the script
4886 `autogen.sh' at the top of the source tree.
4888 The Guile repository used to contain not only source files, written by
4889 humans, but also some generated files, like configure scripts and
4890 Makefile.in files. Even though the contents of these files could be
4891 derived mechanically from other files present, we thought it would
4892 make the tree easier to build if we checked them into CVS.
4894 However, this approach means that minor differences between
4895 developer's installed tools and habits affected the whole team.
4896 So we have removed the generated files from the repository, and
4897 added the autogen.sh script, which will reconstruct them
4901 ** configure now has experimental options to remove support for certain
4904 --disable-arrays omit array and uniform array support
4905 --disable-posix omit posix interfaces
4906 --disable-networking omit networking interfaces
4907 --disable-regex omit regular expression interfaces
4909 These are likely to become separate modules some day.
4911 ** New configure option --enable-debug-freelist
4913 This enables a debugging version of SCM_NEWCELL(), and also registers
4914 an extra primitive, the setter `gc-set-debug-check-freelist!'.
4916 Configure with the --enable-debug-freelist option to enable
4917 the gc-set-debug-check-freelist! primitive, and then use:
4919 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #t) # turn on checking of the freelist
4920 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #f) # turn off checking
4922 Checking of the freelist forces a traversal of the freelist and
4923 a garbage collection before each allocation of a cell. This can
4924 slow down the interpreter dramatically, so the setter should be used to
4925 turn on this extra processing only when necessary.
4927 ** New configure option --enable-debug-malloc
4929 Include code for debugging of calls to scm_must_malloc/realloc/free.
4933 1. objects freed by scm_must_free has been mallocated by scm_must_malloc
4934 2. objects reallocated by scm_must_realloc has been allocated by
4936 3. reallocated objects are reallocated with the same what string
4938 But, most importantly, it records the number of allocated objects of
4939 each kind. This is useful when searching for memory leaks.
4941 A Guile compiled with this option provides the primitive
4942 `malloc-stats' which returns an alist with pairs of kind and the
4943 number of objects of that kind.
4945 ** All includes are now referenced relative to the root directory
4947 Since some users have had problems with mixups between Guile and
4948 system headers, we have decided to always refer to Guile headers via
4949 their parent directories. This essentially creates a "private name
4950 space" for Guile headers. This means that the compiler only is given
4951 -I options for the root build and root source directory.
4953 ** Header files kw.h and genio.h have been removed.
4955 ** The module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) has been removed.
4957 ** New module (ice-9 documentation)
4959 Implements the interface to documentation strings associated with
4962 ** New module (ice-9 time)
4964 Provides a macro `time', which displays execution time of a given form.
4966 ** New module (ice-9 history)
4968 Loading this module enables value history in the repl.
4970 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
4972 ** New command line option --debug
4974 Start Guile with debugging evaluator and backtraces enabled.
4976 This is useful when debugging your .guile init file or scripts.
4978 ** New help facility
4980 Usage: (help NAME) gives documentation about objects named NAME (a symbol)
4981 (help REGEXP) ditto for objects with names matching REGEXP (a string)
4982 (help 'NAME) gives documentation for NAME, even if it is not an object
4983 (help ,EXPR) gives documentation for object returned by EXPR
4984 (help (my module)) gives module commentary for `(my module)'
4985 (help) gives this text
4987 `help' searches among bindings exported from loaded modules, while
4988 `apropos' searches among bindings visible from the "current" module.
4990 Examples: (help help)
4992 (help "output-string")
4994 ** `help' and `apropos' now prints full module names
4996 ** Dynamic linking now uses libltdl from the libtool package.
4998 The old system dependent code for doing dynamic linking has been
4999 replaced with calls to the libltdl functions which do all the hairy
5002 The major improvement is that you can now directly pass libtool
5003 library names like "libfoo.la" to `dynamic-link' and `dynamic-link'
5004 will be able to do the best shared library job you can get, via
5007 The way dynamic libraries are found has changed and is not really
5008 portable across platforms, probably. It is therefore recommended to
5009 use absolute filenames when possible.
5011 If you pass a filename without an extension to `dynamic-link', it will
5012 try a few appropriate ones. Thus, the most platform ignorant way is
5013 to specify a name like "libfoo", without any directories and
5016 ** Guile COOP threads are now compatible with LinuxThreads
5018 Previously, COOP threading wasn't possible in applications linked with
5019 Linux POSIX threads due to their use of the stack pointer to find the
5020 thread context. This has now been fixed with a workaround which uses
5021 the pthreads to allocate the stack.
5023 ** New primitives: `pkgdata-dir', `site-dir', `library-dir'
5025 ** Positions of erring expression in scripts
5027 With version 1.3.4, the location of the erring expression in Guile
5028 scipts is no longer automatically reported. (This should have been
5029 documented before the 1.3.4 release.)
5031 You can get this information by enabling recording of positions of
5032 source expressions and running the debugging evaluator. Put this at
5033 the top of your script (or in your "site" file):
5035 (read-enable 'positions)
5036 (debug-enable 'debug)
5038 ** Backtraces in scripts
5040 It is now possible to get backtraces in scripts.
5044 (debug-enable 'debug 'backtrace)
5046 at the top of the script.
5048 (The first options enables the debugging evaluator.
5049 The second enables backtraces.)
5051 ** Part of module system symbol lookup now implemented in C
5053 The eval closure of most modules is now implemented in C. Since this
5054 was one of the bottlenecks for loading speed, Guile now loads code
5055 substantially faster than before.
5057 ** Attempting to get the value of an unbound variable now produces
5058 an exception with a key of 'unbound-variable instead of 'misc-error.
5060 ** The initial default output port is now unbuffered if it's using a
5061 tty device. Previously in this situation it was line-buffered.
5063 ** New hook: after-gc-hook
5065 after-gc-hook takes over the role of gc-thunk. This hook is run at
5066 the first SCM_TICK after a GC. (Thus, the code is run at the same
5067 point during evaluation as signal handlers.)
5069 Note that this hook should be used only for diagnostic and debugging
5070 purposes. It is not certain that it will continue to be well-defined
5071 when this hook is run in the future.
5073 C programmers: Note the new C level hooks scm_before_gc_c_hook,
5074 scm_before_sweep_c_hook, scm_after_gc_c_hook.
5076 ** Improvements to garbage collector
5078 Guile 1.4 has a new policy for triggering heap allocation and
5079 determining the sizes of heap segments. It fixes a number of problems
5082 1. The new policy can handle two separate pools of cells
5083 (2-word/4-word) better. (The old policy would run wild, allocating
5084 more and more memory for certain programs.)
5086 2. The old code would sometimes allocate far too much heap so that the
5087 Guile process became gigantic. The new code avoids this.
5089 3. The old code would sometimes allocate too little so that few cells
5090 were freed at GC so that, in turn, too much time was spent in GC.
5092 4. The old code would often trigger heap allocation several times in a
5093 row. (The new scheme predicts how large the segments needs to be
5094 in order not to need further allocation.)
5096 All in all, the new GC policy will make larger applications more
5099 The new GC scheme also is prepared for POSIX threading. Threads can
5100 allocate private pools of cells ("clusters") with just a single
5101 function call. Allocation of single cells from such a cluster can
5102 then proceed without any need of inter-thread synchronization.
5104 ** New environment variables controlling GC parameters
5106 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE Maximal segment size
5109 Allocation of 2-word cell heaps:
5111 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1 Size of initial heap segment in bytes
5114 GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1 Minimum number of freed cells at each
5115 GC in percent of total heap size
5118 Allocation of 4-word cell heaps
5119 (used for real numbers and misc other objects):
5121 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2
5123 (See entry "Way for application to customize GC parameters" under
5124 section "Changes to the scm_ interface" below.)
5126 ** Guile now implements reals using 4-word cells
5128 This speeds up computation with reals. (They were earlier allocated
5129 with `malloc'.) There is still some room for optimizations, however.
5131 ** Some further steps toward POSIX thread support have been taken
5133 *** Guile's critical sections (SCM_DEFER/ALLOW_INTS)
5134 don't have much effect any longer, and many of them will be removed in
5138 are only handled at the top of the evaluator loop, immediately after
5139 I/O, and in scm_equalp.
5141 *** The GC can allocate thread private pools of pairs.
5143 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5145 ** close-input-port and close-output-port are now R5RS
5147 These procedures have been turned into primitives and have R5RS behaviour.
5149 ** New procedure: simple-format PORT MESSAGE ARG1 ...
5151 (ice-9 boot) makes `format' an alias for `simple-format' until possibly
5152 extended by the more sophisticated version in (ice-9 format)
5154 (simple-format port message . args)
5155 Write MESSAGE to DESTINATION, defaulting to `current-output-port'.
5156 MESSAGE can contain ~A (was %s) and ~S (was %S) escapes. When printed,
5157 the escapes are replaced with corresponding members of ARGS:
5158 ~A formats using `display' and ~S formats using `write'.
5159 If DESTINATION is #t, then use the `current-output-port',
5160 if DESTINATION is #f, then return a string containing the formatted text.
5161 Does not add a trailing newline."
5163 ** string-ref: the second argument is no longer optional.
5165 ** string, list->string: no longer accept strings in their arguments,
5166 only characters, for compatibility with R5RS.
5168 ** New procedure: port-closed? PORT
5169 Returns #t if PORT is closed or #f if it is open.
5171 ** Deprecated: list*
5173 The list* functionality is now provided by cons* (SRFI-1 compliant)
5175 ** New procedure: cons* ARG1 ARG2 ... ARGn
5177 Like `list', but the last arg provides the tail of the constructed list,
5178 returning (cons ARG1 (cons ARG2 (cons ... ARGn))).
5180 Requires at least one argument. If given one argument, that argument
5181 is returned as result.
5183 This function is called `list*' in some other Schemes and in Common LISP.
5185 ** Removed deprecated: serial-map, serial-array-copy!, serial-array-map!
5187 ** New procedure: object-documentation OBJECT
5189 Returns the documentation string associated with OBJECT. The
5190 procedure uses a caching mechanism so that subsequent lookups are
5193 Exported by (ice-9 documentation).
5195 ** module-name now returns full names of modules
5197 Previously, only the last part of the name was returned (`session' for
5198 `(ice-9 session)'). Ex: `(ice-9 session)'.
5200 * Changes to the gh_ interface
5202 ** Deprecated: gh_int2scmb
5204 Use gh_bool2scm instead.
5206 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5208 ** Guile primitives now carry docstrings!
5210 Thanks to Greg Badros!
5212 ** Guile primitives are defined in a new way: SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
5214 Now Guile primitives are defined using the SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
5215 macros and must contain a docstring that is extracted into foo.doc using a new
5216 guile-doc-snarf script (that uses guile-doc-snarf.awk).
5218 However, a major overhaul of these macros is scheduled for the next release of
5221 ** Guile primitives use a new technique for validation of arguments
5223 SCM_VALIDATE_* macros are defined to ease the redundancy and improve
5224 the readability of argument checking.
5226 ** All (nearly?) K&R prototypes for functions replaced with ANSI C equivalents.
5228 ** New macros: SCM_PACK, SCM_UNPACK
5230 Compose/decompose an SCM value.
5232 The SCM type is now treated as an abstract data type and may be defined as a
5233 long, a void* or as a struct, depending on the architecture and compile time
5234 options. This makes it easier to find several types of bugs, for example when
5235 SCM values are treated as integers without conversion. Values of the SCM type
5236 should be treated as "atomic" values. These macros are used when
5237 composing/decomposing an SCM value, either because you want to access
5238 individual bits, or because you want to treat it as an integer value.
5240 E.g., in order to set bit 7 in an SCM value x, use the expression
5242 SCM_PACK (SCM_UNPACK (x) | 0x80)
5244 ** The name property of hooks is deprecated.
5245 Thus, the use of SCM_HOOK_NAME and scm_make_hook_with_name is deprecated.
5247 You can emulate this feature by using object properties.
5249 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP, SCM_CRDY, SCM_ICHRP,
5250 SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR, SCM_SETJMPBUF, SCM_NSTRINGP, SCM_NRWSTRINGP,
5253 These macros will be removed in a future release of Guile.
5255 ** The following types, functions and macros from numbers.h are deprecated:
5256 scm_dblproc, SCM_UNEGFIXABLE, SCM_FLOBUFLEN, SCM_INEXP, SCM_CPLXP, SCM_REAL,
5257 SCM_IMAG, SCM_REALPART, scm_makdbl, SCM_SINGP, SCM_NUM2DBL, SCM_NO_BIGDIG
5259 ** Port internals: the rw_random variable in the scm_port structure
5260 must be set to non-zero in any random access port. In recent Guile
5261 releases it was only set for bidirectional random-access ports.
5263 ** Port internals: the seek ptob procedure is now responsible for
5264 resetting the buffers if required. The change was made so that in the
5265 special case of reading the current position (i.e., seek p 0 SEEK_CUR)
5266 the fport and strport ptobs can avoid resetting the buffers,
5267 in particular to avoid discarding unread chars. An existing port
5268 type can be fixed by adding something like the following to the
5269 beginning of the ptob seek procedure:
5271 if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_READ)
5272 scm_end_input (object);
5273 else if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_WRITE)
5274 ptob->flush (object);
5276 although to actually avoid resetting the buffers and discard unread
5277 chars requires further hacking that depends on the characteristics
5280 ** Deprecated functions: scm_fseek, scm_tag
5282 These functions are no longer used and will be removed in a future version.
5284 ** The scm_sysmissing procedure is no longer used in libguile.
5285 Unless it turns out to be unexpectedly useful to somebody, it will be
5286 removed in a future version.
5288 ** The format of error message strings has changed
5290 The two C procedures: scm_display_error and scm_error, as well as the
5291 primitive `scm-error', now use scm_simple_format to do their work.
5292 This means that the message strings of all code must be updated to use
5293 ~A where %s was used before, and ~S where %S was used before.
5295 During the period when there still are a lot of old Guiles out there,
5296 you might want to support both old and new versions of Guile.
5298 There are basically two methods to achieve this. Both methods use
5301 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(scm_simple_format)
5303 in your configure.in.
5305 Method 1: Use the string concatenation features of ANSI C's
5310 #ifdef HAVE_SCM_SIMPLE_FORMAT
5316 Then represent each of your error messages using a preprocessor macro:
5318 #define E_SPIDER_ERROR "There's a spider in your " ## FMT_S ## "!!!"
5322 (define fmt-s (if (defined? 'simple-format) "~S" "%S"))
5323 (define make-message string-append)
5325 (define e-spider-error (make-message "There's a spider in your " fmt-s "!!!"))
5327 Method 2: Use the oldfmt function found in doc/oldfmt.c.
5331 scm_misc_error ("picnic", scm_c_oldfmt0 ("There's a spider in your ~S!!!"),
5336 (scm-error 'misc-error "picnic" (oldfmt "There's a spider in your ~S!!!")
5340 ** Deprecated: coop_mutex_init, coop_condition_variable_init
5342 Don't use the functions coop_mutex_init and
5343 coop_condition_variable_init. They will change.
5345 Use scm_mutex_init and scm_cond_init instead.
5347 ** New function: int scm_cond_timedwait (scm_cond_t *COND, scm_mutex_t *MUTEX, const struct timespec *ABSTIME)
5348 `scm_cond_timedwait' atomically unlocks MUTEX and waits on
5349 COND, as `scm_cond_wait' does, but it also bounds the duration
5350 of the wait. If COND has not been signaled before time ABSTIME,
5351 the mutex MUTEX is re-acquired and `scm_cond_timedwait'
5352 returns the error code `ETIMEDOUT'.
5354 The ABSTIME parameter specifies an absolute time, with the same
5355 origin as `time' and `gettimeofday': an ABSTIME of 0 corresponds
5356 to 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970.
5358 ** New function: scm_cond_broadcast (scm_cond_t *COND)
5359 `scm_cond_broadcast' restarts all the threads that are waiting
5360 on the condition variable COND. Nothing happens if no threads are
5363 ** New function: scm_key_create (scm_key_t *KEY, void (*destr_function) (void *))
5364 `scm_key_create' allocates a new TSD key. The key is stored in
5365 the location pointed to by KEY. There is no limit on the number
5366 of keys allocated at a given time. The value initially associated
5367 with the returned key is `NULL' in all currently executing threads.
5369 The DESTR_FUNCTION argument, if not `NULL', specifies a destructor
5370 function associated with the key. When a thread terminates,
5371 DESTR_FUNCTION is called on the value associated with the key in
5372 that thread. The DESTR_FUNCTION is not called if a key is deleted
5373 with `scm_key_delete' or a value is changed with
5374 `scm_setspecific'. The order in which destructor functions are
5375 called at thread termination time is unspecified.
5377 Destructors are not yet implemented.
5379 ** New function: scm_setspecific (scm_key_t KEY, const void *POINTER)
5380 `scm_setspecific' changes the value associated with KEY in the
5381 calling thread, storing the given POINTER instead.
5383 ** New function: scm_getspecific (scm_key_t KEY)
5384 `scm_getspecific' returns the value currently associated with
5385 KEY in the calling thread.
5387 ** New function: scm_key_delete (scm_key_t KEY)
5388 `scm_key_delete' deallocates a TSD key. It does not check
5389 whether non-`NULL' values are associated with that key in the
5390 currently executing threads, nor call the destructor function
5391 associated with the key.
5393 ** New function: scm_c_hook_init (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *HOOK_DATA, scm_c_hook_type_t TYPE)
5395 Initialize a C level hook HOOK with associated HOOK_DATA and type
5396 TYPE. (See scm_c_hook_run ().)
5398 ** New function: scm_c_hook_add (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA, int APPENDP)
5400 Add hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA to HOOK. If APPENDP
5401 is true, add it last, otherwise first. The same FUNC can be added
5402 multiple times if FUNC_DATA differ and vice versa.
5404 ** New function: scm_c_hook_remove (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA)
5406 Remove hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA from HOOK. A
5407 function is only removed if both FUNC and FUNC_DATA matches.
5409 ** New function: void *scm_c_hook_run (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *DATA)
5411 Run hook HOOK passing DATA to the hook functions.
5413 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_NORMAL, all hook functions are run. The value
5414 returned is undefined.
5416 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_OR, hook functions are run until a function
5417 returns a non-NULL value. This value is returned as the result of
5418 scm_c_hook_run. If all functions return NULL, NULL is returned.
5420 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_AND, hook functions are run until a function
5421 returns a NULL value, and NULL is returned. If all functions returns
5422 a non-NULL value, the last value is returned.
5424 ** New C level GC hooks
5426 Five new C level hooks has been added to the garbage collector.
5428 scm_before_gc_c_hook
5431 are run before locking and after unlocking the heap. The system is
5432 thus in a mode where evaluation can take place. (Except that
5433 scm_before_gc_c_hook must not allocate new cells.)
5435 scm_before_mark_c_hook
5436 scm_before_sweep_c_hook
5437 scm_after_sweep_c_hook
5439 are run when the heap is locked. These are intended for extension of
5440 the GC in a modular fashion. Examples are the weaks and guardians
5443 ** Way for application to customize GC parameters
5445 The application can set up other default values for the GC heap
5446 allocation parameters
5448 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_1, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1,
5449 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2,
5450 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE,
5454 scm_default_init_heap_size_1, scm_default_min_yield_1,
5455 scm_default_init_heap_size_2, scm_default_min_yield_2,
5456 scm_default_max_segment_size
5458 respectively before callong scm_boot_guile.
5460 (See entry "New environment variables ..." in section
5461 "Changes to the stand-alone interpreter" above.)
5463 ** scm_protect_object/scm_unprotect_object now nest
5465 This means that you can call scm_protect_object multiple times on an
5466 object and count on the object being protected until
5467 scm_unprotect_object has been call the same number of times.
5469 The functions also have better time complexity.
5471 Still, it is usually possible to structure the application in a way
5472 that you don't need to use these functions. For example, if you use a
5473 protected standard Guile list to keep track of live objects rather
5474 than some custom data type, objects will die a natural death when they
5475 are no longer needed.
5477 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc16_flo, scm_tc_flo, scm_tc_dblr, scm_tc_dblc
5479 Guile does not provide the float representation for inexact real numbers any
5480 more. Now, only doubles are used to represent inexact real numbers. Further,
5481 the tag names scm_tc_dblr and scm_tc_dblc have been changed to scm_tc16_real
5482 and scm_tc16_complex, respectively.
5484 ** Removed deprecated type scm_smobfuns
5486 ** Removed deprecated function scm_newsmob
5488 ** Warning: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe might become deprecated in a future release
5490 There is an ongoing discussion among the developers whether to
5491 deprecate `scm_make_smob_type_mfpe' or not. Please use the current
5492 standard interface (scm_make_smob_type, scm_set_smob_XXX) in new code
5493 until this issue has been settled.
5495 ** Removed deprecated type tag scm_tc16_kw
5497 ** Added type tag scm_tc16_keyword
5499 (This was introduced already in release 1.3.4 but was not documented
5502 ** gdb_print now prints "*** Guile not initialized ***" until Guile initialized
5504 * Changes to system call interfaces:
5506 ** The "select" procedure now tests port buffers for the ability to
5507 provide input or accept output. Previously only the underlying file
5508 descriptors were checked.
5510 ** New variable PIPE_BUF: the maximum number of bytes that can be
5511 atomically written to a pipe.
5513 ** If a facility is not available on the system when Guile is
5514 compiled, the corresponding primitive procedure will not be defined.
5515 Previously it would have been defined but would throw a system-error
5516 exception if called. Exception handlers which catch this case may
5517 need minor modification: an error will be thrown with key
5518 'unbound-variable instead of 'system-error. Alternatively it's
5519 now possible to use `defined?' to check whether the facility is
5522 ** Procedures which depend on the timezone should now give the correct
5523 result on systems which cache the TZ environment variable, even if TZ
5524 is changed without calling tzset.
5526 * Changes to the networking interfaces:
5528 ** New functions: htons, ntohs, htonl, ntohl: for converting short and
5529 long integers between network and host format. For now, it's not
5530 particularly convenient to do this kind of thing, but consider:
5532 (define write-network-long
5533 (lambda (value port)
5534 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
5535 (uniform-vector-set! v 0 (htonl value))
5536 (uniform-vector-write v port))))
5538 (define read-network-long
5540 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
5541 (uniform-vector-read! v port)
5542 (ntohl (uniform-vector-ref v 0)))))
5544 ** If inet-aton fails, it now throws an error with key 'misc-error
5545 instead of 'system-error, since errno is not relevant.
5547 ** Certain gethostbyname/gethostbyaddr failures now throw errors with
5548 specific keys instead of 'system-error. The latter is inappropriate
5549 since errno will not have been set. The keys are:
5550 'host-not-found, 'try-again, 'no-recovery and 'no-data.
5552 ** sethostent, setnetent, setprotoent, setservent: now take an
5553 optional argument STAYOPEN, which specifies whether the database
5554 remains open after a database entry is accessed randomly (e.g., using
5555 gethostbyname for the hosts database.) The default is #f. Previously
5559 Changes since Guile 1.3.2:
5561 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
5565 An initial version of the Guile debugger written by Chris Hanson has
5566 been added. The debugger is still under development but is included
5567 in the distribution anyway since it is already quite useful.
5573 after an error to enter the debugger. Type `help' inside the debugger
5574 for a description of available commands.
5576 If you prefer to have stack frames numbered and printed in
5577 anti-chronological order and prefer up in the stack to be down on the
5578 screen as is the case in gdb, you can put
5580 (debug-enable 'backwards)
5582 in your .guile startup file. (However, this means that Guile can't
5583 use indentation to indicate stack level.)
5585 The debugger is autoloaded into Guile at the first use.
5587 ** Further enhancements to backtraces
5589 There is a new debug option `width' which controls the maximum width
5590 on the screen of printed stack frames. Fancy printing parameters
5591 ("level" and "length" as in Common LISP) are adaptively adjusted for
5592 each stack frame to give maximum information while still fitting
5593 within the bounds. If the stack frame can't be made to fit by
5594 adjusting parameters, it is simply cut off at the end. This is marked
5597 ** Some modules are now only loaded when the repl is started
5599 The modules (ice-9 debug), (ice-9 session), (ice-9 threads) and (ice-9
5600 regex) are now loaded into (guile-user) only if the repl has been
5601 started. The effect is that the startup time for scripts has been
5602 reduced to 30% of what it was previously.
5604 Correctly written scripts load the modules they require at the top of
5605 the file and should not be affected by this change.
5607 ** Hooks are now represented as smobs
5609 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5611 ** Readline support has changed again.
5613 The old (readline-activator) module is gone. Use (ice-9 readline)
5614 instead, which now contains all readline functionality. So the code
5615 to activate readline is now
5617 (use-modules (ice-9 readline))
5620 This should work at any time, including from the guile prompt.
5622 To avoid confusion about the terms of Guile's license, please only
5623 enable readline for your personal use; please don't make it the
5624 default for others. Here is why we make this rather odd-sounding
5627 Guile is normally licensed under a weakened form of the GNU General
5628 Public License, which allows you to link code with Guile without
5629 placing that code under the GPL. This exception is important to some
5632 However, since readline is distributed under the GNU General Public
5633 License, when you link Guile with readline, either statically or
5634 dynamically, you effectively change Guile's license to the strict GPL.
5635 Whenever you link any strictly GPL'd code into Guile, uses of Guile
5636 which are normally permitted become forbidden. This is a rather
5637 non-obvious consequence of the licensing terms.
5639 So, to make sure things remain clear, please let people choose for
5640 themselves whether to link GPL'd libraries like readline with Guile.
5642 ** regexp-substitute/global has changed slightly, but incompatibly.
5644 If you include a function in the item list, the string of the match
5645 object it receives is the same string passed to
5646 regexp-substitute/global, not some suffix of that string.
5647 Correspondingly, the match's positions are relative to the entire
5648 string, not the suffix.
5650 If the regexp can match the empty string, the way matches are chosen
5651 from the string has changed. regexp-substitute/global recognizes the
5652 same set of matches that list-matches does; see below.
5654 ** New function: list-matches REGEXP STRING [FLAGS]
5656 Return a list of match objects, one for every non-overlapping, maximal
5657 match of REGEXP in STRING. The matches appear in left-to-right order.
5658 list-matches only reports matches of the empty string if there are no
5659 other matches which begin on, end at, or include the empty match's
5662 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
5664 ** New function: fold-matches REGEXP STRING INIT PROC [FLAGS]
5666 For each match of REGEXP in STRING, apply PROC to the match object,
5667 and the last value PROC returned, or INIT for the first call. Return
5668 the last value returned by PROC. We apply PROC to the matches as they
5669 appear from left to right.
5671 This function recognizes matches according to the same criteria as
5674 Thus, you could define list-matches like this:
5676 (define (list-matches regexp string . flags)
5677 (reverse! (apply fold-matches regexp string '() cons flags)))
5679 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
5683 *** New function: hook? OBJ
5685 Return #t if OBJ is a hook, otherwise #f.
5687 *** New function: make-hook-with-name NAME [ARITY]
5689 Return a hook with name NAME and arity ARITY. The default value for
5690 ARITY is 0. The only effect of NAME is that it will appear when the
5691 hook object is printed to ease debugging.
5693 *** New function: hook-empty? HOOK
5695 Return #t if HOOK doesn't contain any procedures, otherwise #f.
5697 *** New function: hook->list HOOK
5699 Return a list of the procedures that are called when run-hook is
5702 ** `map' signals an error if its argument lists are not all the same length.
5704 This is the behavior required by R5RS, so this change is really a bug
5705 fix. But it seems to affect a lot of people's code, so we're
5706 mentioning it here anyway.
5708 ** Print-state handling has been made more transparent
5710 Under certain circumstances, ports are represented as a port with an
5711 associated print state. Earlier, this pair was represented as a pair
5712 (see "Some magic has been added to the printer" below). It is now
5713 indistinguishable (almost; see `get-print-state') from a port on the
5716 *** New function: port-with-print-state OUTPUT-PORT PRINT-STATE
5718 Return a new port with the associated print state PRINT-STATE.
5720 *** New function: get-print-state OUTPUT-PORT
5722 Return the print state associated with this port if it exists,
5723 otherwise return #f.
5725 *** New function: directory-stream? OBJECT
5727 Returns true iff OBJECT is a directory stream --- the sort of object
5728 returned by `opendir'.
5730 ** New function: using-readline?
5732 Return #t if readline is in use in the current repl.
5734 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
5736 Structs will be replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into Guile
5737 and use GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
5739 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5741 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
5743 The entire current struct interface (struct.c, struct.h) will be
5744 replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into libguile and use
5745 GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
5747 ** The internal representation of subr's has changed
5749 Instead of giving a hint to the subr name, the CAR field of the subr
5750 now contains an index to a subr entry in scm_subr_table.
5752 *** New variable: scm_subr_table
5754 An array of subr entries. A subr entry contains the name, properties
5755 and documentation associated with the subr. The properties and
5756 documentation slots are not yet used.
5758 ** A new scheme for "forwarding" calls to a builtin to a generic function
5760 It is now possible to extend the functionality of some Guile
5761 primitives by letting them defer a call to a GOOPS generic function on
5762 argument mismatch. This means that there is no loss of efficiency in
5767 (use-modules (oop goops)) ; Must be GOOPS version 0.2.
5768 (define-method + ((x <string>) (y <string>))
5769 (string-append x y))
5771 + will still be as efficient as usual in numerical calculations, but
5772 can also be used for concatenating strings.
5774 Who will be the first one to extend Guile's numerical tower to
5775 rationals? :) [OK, there a few other things to fix before this can
5776 be made in a clean way.]
5778 *** New snarf macros for defining primitives: SCM_GPROC, SCM_GPROC1
5780 New macro: SCM_GPROC (CNAME, SNAME, REQ, OPT, VAR, CFUNC, GENERIC)
5782 New macro: SCM_GPROC1 (CNAME, SNAME, TYPE, CFUNC, GENERIC)
5784 These do the same job as SCM_PROC and SCM_PROC1, but they also define
5785 a variable GENERIC which can be used by the dispatch macros below.
5787 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
5789 *** New macros for forwarding control to a generic on arg type error
5791 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1 (GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
5793 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
5795 These correspond to the scm_wta function call, and have the same
5796 behaviour until the user has called the GOOPS primitive
5797 `enable-primitive-generic!'. After that, these macros will apply the
5798 generic function GENERIC to the argument(s) instead of calling
5801 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
5803 *** New macros for argument testing with generic dispatch
5805 New macro: SCM_GASSERT1 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
5807 New macro: SCM_GASSERT2 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
5809 These correspond to the SCM_ASSERT macro, but will defer control to
5810 GENERIC on error after `enable-primitive-generic!' has been called.
5812 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
5814 ** New function: SCM scm_eval_body (SCM body, SCM env)
5816 Evaluates the body of a special form.
5818 ** The internal representation of struct's has changed
5820 Previously, four slots were allocated for the procedure(s) of entities
5821 and operators. The motivation for this representation had to do with
5822 the structure of the evaluator, the wish to support tail-recursive
5823 generic functions, and efficiency. Since the generic function
5824 dispatch mechanism has changed, there is no longer a need for such an
5825 expensive representation, and the representation has been simplified.
5827 This should not make any difference for most users.
5829 ** GOOPS support has been cleaned up.
5831 Some code has been moved from eval.c to objects.c and code in both of
5832 these compilation units has been cleaned up and better structured.
5834 *** New functions for applying generic functions
5836 New function: SCM scm_apply_generic (GENERIC, ARGS)
5837 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_0 (GENERIC)
5838 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_1 (GENERIC, ARG1)
5839 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2)
5840 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_3 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, ARG3)
5842 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_named_hook
5844 It is now replaced by:
5846 ** New function: SCM scm_create_hook (const char *name, int arity)
5848 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
5849 binds a variable named NAME to it.
5851 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
5853 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module.
5854 This might change when we get the new module system.
5856 [The behaviour is identical to scm_make_named_hook.]
5860 Changes since Guile 1.3:
5862 * Changes to mailing lists
5864 ** Some of the Guile mailing lists have moved to sourceware.cygnus.com.
5866 See the README file to find current addresses for all the Guile
5869 * Changes to the distribution
5871 ** Readline support is no longer included with Guile by default.
5873 Based on the different license terms of Guile and Readline, we
5874 concluded that Guile should not *by default* cause the linking of
5875 Readline into an application program. Readline support is now offered
5876 as a separate module, which is linked into an application only when
5877 you explicitly specify it.
5879 Although Guile is GNU software, its distribution terms add a special
5880 exception to the usual GNU General Public License (GPL). Guile's
5881 license includes a clause that allows you to link Guile with non-free
5882 programs. We add this exception so as not to put Guile at a
5883 disadvantage vis-a-vis other extensibility packages that support other
5886 In contrast, the GNU Readline library is distributed under the GNU
5887 General Public License pure and simple. This means that you may not
5888 link Readline, even dynamically, into an application unless it is
5889 distributed under a free software license that is compatible the GPL.
5891 Because of this difference in distribution terms, an application that
5892 can use Guile may not be able to use Readline. Now users will be
5893 explicitly offered two independent decisions about the use of these
5896 You can activate the readline support by issuing
5898 (use-modules (readline-activator))
5901 from your ".guile" file, for example.
5903 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
5905 ** All builtins now print as primitives.
5906 Previously builtin procedures not belonging to the fundamental subr
5907 types printed as #<compiled closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>.
5908 Now, they print as #<primitive-procedure NAME>.
5910 ** Backtraces slightly more intelligible.
5911 gsubr-apply and macro transformer application frames no longer appear
5914 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5916 ** Guile now correctly handles internal defines by rewriting them into
5917 their equivalent letrec. Previously, internal defines would
5918 incrementally add to the innermost environment, without checking
5919 whether the restrictions specified in RnRS were met. This lead to the
5920 correct behaviour when these restriction actually were met, but didn't
5921 catch all illegal uses. Such an illegal use could lead to crashes of
5922 the Guile interpreter or or other unwanted results. An example of
5923 incorrect internal defines that made Guile behave erratically:
5935 The problem with this example is that the definition of `c' uses the
5936 value of `b' directly. This confuses the meoization machine of Guile
5937 so that the second call of `b' (this time in a larger environment that
5938 also contains bindings for `c' and `d') refers to the binding of `c'
5939 instead of `a'. You could also make Guile crash with a variation on
5944 (define (b flag) (if flag a 1))
5945 (define c (1+ (b flag)))
5953 From now on, Guile will issue an `Unbound variable: b' error message
5958 A hook contains a list of functions which should be called on
5959 particular occasions in an existing program. Hooks are used for
5962 A window manager might have a hook before-window-map-hook. The window
5963 manager uses the function run-hooks to call all functions stored in
5964 before-window-map-hook each time a window is mapped. The user can
5965 store functions in the hook using add-hook!.
5967 In Guile, hooks are first class objects.
5969 *** New function: make-hook [N_ARGS]
5971 Return a hook for hook functions which can take N_ARGS arguments.
5972 The default value for N_ARGS is 0.
5974 (See also scm_make_named_hook below.)
5976 *** New function: add-hook! HOOK PROC [APPEND_P]
5978 Put PROC at the beginning of the list of functions stored in HOOK.
5979 If APPEND_P is supplied, and non-false, put PROC at the end instead.
5981 PROC must be able to take the number of arguments specified when the
5984 If PROC already exists in HOOK, then remove it first.
5986 *** New function: remove-hook! HOOK PROC
5988 Remove PROC from the list of functions in HOOK.
5990 *** New function: reset-hook! HOOK
5992 Clear the list of hook functions stored in HOOK.
5994 *** New function: run-hook HOOK ARG1 ...
5996 Run all hook functions stored in HOOK with arguments ARG1 ... .
5997 The number of arguments supplied must correspond to the number given
5998 when the hook was created.
6000 ** The function `dynamic-link' now takes optional keyword arguments.
6001 The only keyword argument that is currently defined is `:global
6002 BOOL'. With it, you can control whether the shared library will be
6003 linked in global mode or not. In global mode, the symbols from the
6004 linked library can be used to resolve references from other
6005 dynamically linked libraries. In non-global mode, the linked
6006 library is essentially invisible and can only be accessed via
6007 `dynamic-func', etc. The default is now to link in global mode.
6008 Previously, the default has been non-global mode.
6010 The `#:global' keyword is only effective on platforms that support
6011 the dlopen family of functions.
6013 ** New function `provided?'
6015 - Function: provided? FEATURE
6016 Return true iff FEATURE is supported by this installation of
6017 Guile. FEATURE must be a symbol naming a feature; the global
6018 variable `*features*' is a list of available features.
6020 ** Changes to the module (ice-9 expect):
6022 *** The expect-strings macro now matches `$' in a regular expression
6023 only at a line-break or end-of-file by default. Previously it would
6024 match the end of the string accumulated so far. The old behaviour
6025 can be obtained by setting the variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
6028 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
6029 for the regexp-exec flags. If `regexp/noteol' is included, then `$'
6030 in a regular expression will still match before a line-break or
6031 end-of-file. The default is `regexp/noteol'.
6033 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable
6034 `expect-strings-compile-flags' for the flags to be supplied to
6035 `make-regexp'. The default is `regexp/newline', which was previously
6038 *** The expect macro now supplies two arguments to a match procedure:
6039 the current accumulated string and a flag to indicate whether
6040 end-of-file has been reached. Previously only the string was supplied.
6041 If end-of-file is reached, the match procedure will be called an
6042 additional time with the same accumulated string as the previous call
6043 but with the flag set.
6045 ** New module (ice-9 format), implementing the Common Lisp `format' function.
6047 This code, and the documentation for it that appears here, was
6048 borrowed from SLIB, with minor adaptations for Guile.
6050 - Function: format DESTINATION FORMAT-STRING . ARGUMENTS
6051 An almost complete implementation of Common LISP format description
6052 according to the CL reference book `Common LISP' from Guy L.
6053 Steele, Digital Press. Backward compatible to most of the
6054 available Scheme format implementations.
6056 Returns `#t', `#f' or a string; has side effect of printing
6057 according to FORMAT-STRING. If DESTINATION is `#t', the output is
6058 to the current output port and `#t' is returned. If DESTINATION
6059 is `#f', a formatted string is returned as the result of the call.
6060 NEW: If DESTINATION is a string, DESTINATION is regarded as the
6061 format string; FORMAT-STRING is then the first argument and the
6062 output is returned as a string. If DESTINATION is a number, the
6063 output is to the current error port if available by the
6064 implementation. Otherwise DESTINATION must be an output port and
6067 FORMAT-STRING must be a string. In case of a formatting error
6068 format returns `#f' and prints a message on the current output or
6069 error port. Characters are output as if the string were output by
6070 the `display' function with the exception of those prefixed by a
6071 tilde (~). For a detailed description of the FORMAT-STRING syntax
6072 please consult a Common LISP format reference manual. For a test
6073 suite to verify this format implementation load `formatst.scm'.
6074 Please send bug reports to `lutzeb@cs.tu-berlin.de'.
6076 Note: `format' is not reentrant, i.e. only one `format'-call may
6077 be executed at a time.
6080 *** Format Specification (Format version 3.0)
6082 Please consult a Common LISP format reference manual for a detailed
6083 description of the format string syntax. For a demonstration of the
6084 implemented directives see `formatst.scm'.
6086 This implementation supports directive parameters and modifiers (`:'
6087 and `@' characters). Multiple parameters must be separated by a comma
6088 (`,'). Parameters can be numerical parameters (positive or negative),
6089 character parameters (prefixed by a quote character (`''), variable
6090 parameters (`v'), number of rest arguments parameter (`#'), empty and
6091 default parameters. Directive characters are case independent. The
6092 general form of a directive is:
6094 DIRECTIVE ::= ~{DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER,}[:][@]DIRECTIVE-CHARACTER
6096 DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER ::= [ [-|+]{0-9}+ | 'CHARACTER | v | # ]
6098 *** Implemented CL Format Control Directives
6100 Documentation syntax: Uppercase characters represent the
6101 corresponding control directive characters. Lowercase characters
6102 represent control directive parameter descriptions.
6105 Any (print as `display' does).
6109 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARA'
6113 S-expression (print as `write' does).
6117 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARS'
6123 print number sign always.
6126 print comma separated.
6128 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARD'
6134 print number sign always.
6137 print comma separated.
6139 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARX'
6145 print number sign always.
6148 print comma separated.
6150 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARO'
6156 print number sign always.
6159 print comma separated.
6161 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARB'
6166 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARR'
6170 print a number as a Roman numeral.
6173 print a number as an "old fashioned" Roman numeral.
6176 print a number as an ordinal English number.
6179 print a number as a cardinal English number.
6184 prints `y' and `ies'.
6187 as `~P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
6190 as `~@P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
6195 prints a character as the reader can understand it (i.e. `#\'
6199 prints a character as emacs does (eg. `^C' for ASCII 03).
6202 Fixed-format floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN).
6203 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHARF'
6205 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
6208 Exponential floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN`E'EE).
6209 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARE'
6211 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
6214 General floating-point (prints a flonum either fixed or
6216 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARG'
6218 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
6221 Dollars floating-point (prints a flonum in fixed with signs
6223 `~DIGITS,SCALE,WIDTH,PADCHAR$'
6225 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
6228 A sign is always printed and appears before the padding.
6231 The sign appears before the padding.
6239 print newline if not at the beginning of the output line.
6241 prints `~&' and then N-1 newlines.
6246 print N page separators.
6256 newline is ignored, white space left.
6259 newline is left, white space ignored.
6264 relative tabulation.
6270 Indirection (expects indirect arguments as a list).
6272 extracts indirect arguments from format arguments.
6275 Case conversion (converts by `string-downcase').
6277 converts by `string-capitalize'.
6280 converts by `string-capitalize-first'.
6283 converts by `string-upcase'.
6286 Argument Jumping (jumps 1 argument forward).
6288 jumps N arguments forward.
6291 jumps 1 argument backward.
6294 jumps N arguments backward.
6297 jumps to the 0th argument.
6300 jumps to the Nth argument (beginning from 0)
6302 `~[STR0~;STR1~;...~;STRN~]'
6303 Conditional Expression (numerical clause conditional).
6305 take argument from N.
6308 true test conditional.
6311 if-else-then conditional.
6317 default clause follows.
6320 Iteration (args come from the next argument (a list)).
6322 at most N iterations.
6325 args from next arg (a list of lists).
6328 args from the rest of arguments.
6331 args from the rest args (lists).
6342 aborts if N <= M <= K
6344 *** Not Implemented CL Format Control Directives
6347 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
6350 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
6356 (sorry I don't understand its semantics completely)
6358 *** Extended, Replaced and Additional Control Directives
6360 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHD'
6361 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHX'
6362 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHO'
6363 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHB'
6364 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHR'
6365 COMMAWIDTH is the number of characters between two comma
6369 print a R4RS complex number as `~F~@Fi' with passed parameters for
6373 Pretty print formatting of an argument for scheme code lists.
6379 Flushes the output if format DESTINATION is a port.
6382 Print a `#\space' character
6384 print N `#\space' characters.
6387 Print a `#\tab' character
6389 print N `#\tab' characters.
6392 Takes N as an integer representation for a character. No arguments
6393 are consumed. N is converted to a character by `integer->char'. N
6394 must be a positive decimal number.
6397 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
6398 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
6399 be processed by `read'.
6402 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
6403 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
6404 be processed by `read'.
6407 Prints information and a copyright notice on the format
6410 prints format version.
6413 may also print number strings, i.e. passing a number as a string
6414 and format it accordingly.
6416 *** Configuration Variables
6418 The format module exports some configuration variables to suit the
6419 systems and users needs. There should be no modification necessary for
6420 the configuration that comes with Guile. Format detects automatically
6421 if the running scheme system implements floating point numbers and
6424 format:symbol-case-conv
6425 Symbols are converted by `symbol->string' so the case type of the
6426 printed symbols is implementation dependent.
6427 `format:symbol-case-conv' is a one arg closure which is either
6428 `#f' (no conversion), `string-upcase', `string-downcase' or
6429 `string-capitalize'. (default `#f')
6431 format:iobj-case-conv
6432 As FORMAT:SYMBOL-CASE-CONV but applies for the representation of
6433 implementation internal objects. (default `#f')
6436 The character prefixing the exponent value in `~E' printing.
6439 *** Compatibility With Other Format Implementations
6445 Downward compatible except for padding support and `~A', `~S',
6446 `~P', `~X' uppercase printing. SLIB format 1.4 uses C-style
6447 `printf' padding support which is completely replaced by the CL
6448 `format' padding style.
6451 Downward compatible except for `~', which is not documented
6452 (ignores all characters inside the format string up to a newline
6453 character). (7.1 implements `~a', `~s', ~NEWLINE, `~~', `~%',
6454 numerical and variable parameters and `:/@' modifiers in the CL
6458 Downward compatible except for `~A' and `~S' which print in
6459 uppercase. (Elk implements `~a', `~s', `~~', and `~%' (no
6460 directive parameters or modifiers)).
6463 Downward compatible except for an optional destination parameter:
6464 S2C accepts a format call without a destination which returns a
6465 formatted string. This is equivalent to a #f destination in S2C.
6466 (S2C implements `~a', `~s', `~c', `~%', and `~~' (no directive
6467 parameters or modifiers)).
6470 ** Changes to string-handling functions.
6472 These functions were added to support the (ice-9 format) module, above.
6474 *** New function: string-upcase STRING
6475 *** New function: string-downcase STRING
6477 These are non-destructive versions of the existing string-upcase! and
6478 string-downcase! functions.
6480 *** New function: string-capitalize! STRING
6481 *** New function: string-capitalize STRING
6483 These functions convert the first letter of each word in the string to
6486 (string-capitalize "howdy there")
6489 As with the other functions, string-capitalize! modifies the string in
6490 place, while string-capitalize returns a modified copy of its argument.
6492 *** New function: string-ci->symbol STRING
6494 Return a symbol whose name is STRING, but having the same case as if
6495 the symbol had be read by `read'.
6497 Guile can be configured to be sensitive or insensitive to case
6498 differences in Scheme identifiers. If Guile is case-insensitive, all
6499 symbols are converted to lower case on input. The `string-ci->symbol'
6500 function returns a symbol whose name in STRING, transformed as Guile
6501 would if STRING were input.
6503 *** New function: substring-move! STRING1 START END STRING2 START
6505 Copy the substring of STRING1 from START (inclusive) to END
6506 (exclusive) to STRING2 at START. STRING1 and STRING2 may be the same
6507 string, and the source and destination areas may overlap; in all
6508 cases, the function behaves as if all the characters were copied
6511 *** Extended functions: substring-move-left! substring-move-right!
6513 These functions now correctly copy arbitrarily overlapping substrings;
6514 they are both synonyms for substring-move!.
6517 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-long), with the function `getopt-long'.
6519 getopt-long is a function for parsing command-line arguments in a
6520 manner consistent with other GNU programs.
6522 (getopt-long ARGS GRAMMAR)
6523 Parse the arguments ARGS according to the argument list grammar GRAMMAR.
6525 ARGS should be a list of strings. Its first element should be the
6526 name of the program; subsequent elements should be the arguments
6527 that were passed to the program on the command line. The
6528 `program-arguments' procedure returns a list of this form.
6530 GRAMMAR is a list of the form:
6531 ((OPTION (PROPERTY VALUE) ...) ...)
6533 Each OPTION should be a symbol. `getopt-long' will accept a
6534 command-line option named `--OPTION'.
6535 Each option can have the following (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs:
6537 (single-char CHAR) --- Accept `-CHAR' as a single-character
6538 equivalent to `--OPTION'. This is how to specify traditional
6540 (required? BOOL) --- If BOOL is true, the option is required.
6541 getopt-long will raise an error if it is not found in ARGS.
6542 (value BOOL) --- If BOOL is #t, the option accepts a value; if
6543 it is #f, it does not; and if it is the symbol
6544 `optional', the option may appear in ARGS with or
6546 (predicate FUNC) --- If the option accepts a value (i.e. you
6547 specified `(value #t)' for this option), then getopt
6548 will apply FUNC to the value, and throw an exception
6549 if it returns #f. FUNC should be a procedure which
6550 accepts a string and returns a boolean value; you may
6551 need to use quasiquotes to get it into GRAMMAR.
6553 The (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs may occur in any order, but each
6554 property may occur only once. By default, options do not have
6555 single-character equivalents, are not required, and do not take
6558 In ARGS, single-character options may be combined, in the usual
6559 Unix fashion: ("-x" "-y") is equivalent to ("-xy"). If an option
6560 accepts values, then it must be the last option in the
6561 combination; the value is the next argument. So, for example, using
6562 the following grammar:
6563 ((apples (single-char #\a))
6564 (blimps (single-char #\b) (value #t))
6565 (catalexis (single-char #\c) (value #t)))
6566 the following argument lists would be acceptable:
6567 ("-a" "-b" "bang" "-c" "couth") ("bang" and "couth" are the values
6568 for "blimps" and "catalexis")
6569 ("-ab" "bang" "-c" "couth") (same)
6570 ("-ac" "couth" "-b" "bang") (same)
6571 ("-abc" "couth" "bang") (an error, since `-b' is not the
6572 last option in its combination)
6574 If an option's value is optional, then `getopt-long' decides
6575 whether it has a value by looking at what follows it in ARGS. If
6576 the next element is a string, and it does not appear to be an
6577 option itself, then that string is the option's value.
6579 The value of a long option can appear as the next element in ARGS,
6580 or it can follow the option name, separated by an `=' character.
6581 Thus, using the same grammar as above, the following argument lists
6583 ("--apples" "Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
6584 ("--apples=Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
6585 ("--blimps" "Goodyear" "--apples=Braeburn")
6587 If the option "--" appears in ARGS, argument parsing stops there;
6588 subsequent arguments are returned as ordinary arguments, even if
6589 they resemble options. So, in the argument list:
6590 ("--apples" "Granny Smith" "--" "--blimp" "Goodyear")
6591 `getopt-long' will recognize the `apples' option as having the
6592 value "Granny Smith", but it will not recognize the `blimp'
6593 option; it will return the strings "--blimp" and "Goodyear" as
6594 ordinary argument strings.
6596 The `getopt-long' function returns the parsed argument list as an
6597 assocation list, mapping option names --- the symbols from GRAMMAR
6598 --- onto their values, or #t if the option does not accept a value.
6599 Unused options do not appear in the alist.
6601 All arguments that are not the value of any option are returned
6602 as a list, associated with the empty list.
6604 `getopt-long' throws an exception if:
6605 - it finds an unrecognized option in ARGS
6606 - a required option is omitted
6607 - an option that requires an argument doesn't get one
6608 - an option that doesn't accept an argument does get one (this can
6609 only happen using the long option `--opt=value' syntax)
6610 - an option predicate fails
6615 `((lockfile-dir (required? #t)
6618 (predicate ,file-is-directory?))
6619 (verbose (required? #f)
6622 (x-includes (single-char #\x))
6623 (rnet-server (single-char #\y)
6624 (predicate ,string?))))
6626 (getopt-long '("my-prog" "-vk" "/tmp" "foo1" "--x-includes=/usr/include"
6627 "--rnet-server=lamprod" "--" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
6629 => ((() "foo1" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
6630 (rnet-server . "lamprod")
6631 (x-includes . "/usr/include")
6632 (lockfile-dir . "/tmp")
6635 ** The (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) module is obsolete; use (ice-9 getopt-long).
6637 It will be removed in a few releases.
6639 ** New syntax: lambda*
6640 ** New syntax: define*
6641 ** New syntax: define*-public
6642 ** New syntax: defmacro*
6643 ** New syntax: defmacro*-public
6644 Guile now supports optional arguments.
6646 `lambda*', `define*', `define*-public', `defmacro*' and
6647 `defmacro*-public' are identical to the non-* versions except that
6648 they use an extended type of parameter list that has the following BNF
6649 syntax (parentheses are literal, square brackets indicate grouping,
6650 and `*', `+' and `?' have the usual meaning):
6652 ext-param-list ::= ( [identifier]* [#&optional [ext-var-decl]+]?
6653 [#&key [ext-var-decl]+ [#&allow-other-keys]?]?
6654 [[#&rest identifier]|[. identifier]]? ) | [identifier]
6656 ext-var-decl ::= identifier | ( identifier expression )
6658 The semantics are best illustrated with the following documentation
6659 and examples for `lambda*':
6662 lambda extended for optional and keyword arguments
6664 lambda* creates a procedure that takes optional arguments. These
6665 are specified by putting them inside brackets at the end of the
6666 paramater list, but before any dotted rest argument. For example,
6667 (lambda* (a b #&optional c d . e) '())
6668 creates a procedure with fixed arguments a and b, optional arguments c
6669 and d, and rest argument e. If the optional arguments are omitted
6670 in a call, the variables for them are unbound in the procedure. This
6671 can be checked with the bound? macro.
6673 lambda* can also take keyword arguments. For example, a procedure
6675 (lambda* (#&key xyzzy larch) '())
6676 can be called with any of the argument lists (#:xyzzy 11)
6677 (#:larch 13) (#:larch 42 #:xyzzy 19) (). Whichever arguments
6678 are given as keywords are bound to values.
6680 Optional and keyword arguments can also be given default values
6681 which they take on when they are not present in a call, by giving a
6682 two-item list in place of an optional argument, for example in:
6683 (lambda* (foo #&optional (bar 42) #&key (baz 73)) (list foo bar baz))
6684 foo is a fixed argument, bar is an optional argument with default
6685 value 42, and baz is a keyword argument with default value 73.
6686 Default value expressions are not evaluated unless they are needed
6687 and until the procedure is called.
6689 lambda* now supports two more special parameter list keywords.
6691 lambda*-defined procedures now throw an error by default if a
6692 keyword other than one of those specified is found in the actual
6693 passed arguments. However, specifying #&allow-other-keys
6694 immediately after the kyword argument declarations restores the
6695 previous behavior of ignoring unknown keywords. lambda* also now
6696 guarantees that if the same keyword is passed more than once, the
6697 last one passed is the one that takes effect. For example,
6698 ((lambda* (#&key (heads 0) (tails 0)) (display (list heads tails)))
6699 #:heads 37 #:tails 42 #:heads 99)
6700 would result in (99 47) being displayed.
6702 #&rest is also now provided as a synonym for the dotted syntax rest
6703 argument. The argument lists (a . b) and (a #&rest b) are equivalent in
6704 all respects to lambda*. This is provided for more similarity to DSSSL,
6705 MIT-Scheme and Kawa among others, as well as for refugees from other
6708 Further documentation may be found in the optargs.scm file itself.
6710 The optional argument module also exports the macros `let-optional',
6711 `let-optional*', `let-keywords', `let-keywords*' and `bound?'. These
6712 are not documented here because they may be removed in the future, but
6713 full documentation is still available in optargs.scm.
6715 ** New syntax: and-let*
6716 Guile now supports the `and-let*' form, described in the draft SRFI-2.
6718 Syntax: (land* (<clause> ...) <body> ...)
6719 Each <clause> should have one of the following forms:
6720 (<variable> <expression>)
6723 Each <variable> or <bound-variable> should be an identifier. Each
6724 <expression> should be a valid expression. The <body> should be a
6725 possibly empty sequence of expressions, like the <body> of a
6728 Semantics: A LAND* expression is evaluated by evaluating the
6729 <expression> or <bound-variable> of each of the <clause>s from
6730 left to right. The value of the first <expression> or
6731 <bound-variable> that evaluates to a false value is returned; the
6732 remaining <expression>s and <bound-variable>s are not evaluated.
6733 The <body> forms are evaluated iff all the <expression>s and
6734 <bound-variable>s evaluate to true values.
6736 The <expression>s and the <body> are evaluated in an environment
6737 binding each <variable> of the preceding (<variable> <expression>)
6738 clauses to the value of the <expression>. Later bindings
6739 shadow earlier bindings.
6741 Guile's and-let* macro was contributed by Michael Livshin.
6743 ** New sorting functions
6745 *** New function: sorted? SEQUENCE LESS?
6746 Returns `#t' when the sequence argument is in non-decreasing order
6747 according to LESS? (that is, there is no adjacent pair `... x y
6748 ...' for which `(less? y x)').
6750 Returns `#f' when the sequence contains at least one out-of-order
6751 pair. It is an error if the sequence is neither a list nor a
6754 *** New function: merge LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
6755 LIST1 and LIST2 are sorted lists.
6756 Returns the sorted list of all elements in LIST1 and LIST2.
6758 Assume that the elements a and b1 in LIST1 and b2 in LIST2 are "equal"
6759 in the sense that (LESS? x y) --> #f for x, y in {a, b1, b2},
6760 and that a < b1 in LIST1. Then a < b1 < b2 in the result.
6761 (Here "<" should read "comes before".)
6763 *** New procedure: merge! LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
6764 Merges two lists, re-using the pairs of LIST1 and LIST2 to build
6765 the result. If the code is compiled, and LESS? constructs no new
6766 pairs, no pairs at all will be allocated. The first pair of the
6767 result will be either the first pair of LIST1 or the first pair of
6770 *** New function: sort SEQUENCE LESS?
6771 Accepts either a list or a vector, and returns a new sequence
6772 which is sorted. The new sequence is the same type as the input.
6773 Always `(sorted? (sort sequence less?) less?)'. The original
6774 sequence is not altered in any way. The new sequence shares its
6775 elements with the old one; no elements are copied.
6777 *** New procedure: sort! SEQUENCE LESS
6778 Returns its sorted result in the original boxes. No new storage is
6779 allocated at all. Proper usage: (set! slist (sort! slist <))
6781 *** New function: stable-sort SEQUENCE LESS?
6782 Similar to `sort' but stable. That is, if "equal" elements are
6783 ordered a < b in the original sequence, they will have the same order
6786 *** New function: stable-sort! SEQUENCE LESS?
6787 Similar to `sort!' but stable.
6788 Uses temporary storage when sorting vectors.
6790 *** New functions: sort-list, sort-list!
6791 Added for compatibility with scsh.
6793 ** New built-in random number support
6795 *** New function: random N [STATE]
6796 Accepts a positive integer or real N and returns a number of the
6797 same type between zero (inclusive) and N (exclusive). The values
6798 returned have a uniform distribution.
6800 The optional argument STATE must be of the type produced by
6801 `copy-random-state' or `seed->random-state'. It defaults to the value
6802 of the variable `*random-state*'. This object is used to maintain the
6803 state of the pseudo-random-number generator and is altered as a side
6804 effect of the `random' operation.
6806 *** New variable: *random-state*
6807 Holds a data structure that encodes the internal state of the
6808 random-number generator that `random' uses by default. The nature
6809 of this data structure is implementation-dependent. It may be
6810 printed out and successfully read back in, but may or may not
6811 function correctly as a random-number state object in another
6814 *** New function: copy-random-state [STATE]
6815 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
6816 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
6817 If argument STATE is given, a copy of it is returned. Otherwise a
6818 copy of `*random-state*' is returned.
6820 *** New function: seed->random-state SEED
6821 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
6822 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
6823 SEED is a string or a number. A new state is generated and
6824 initialized using SEED.
6826 *** New function: random:uniform [STATE]
6827 Returns an uniformly distributed inexact real random number in the
6828 range between 0 and 1.
6830 *** New procedure: random:solid-sphere! VECT [STATE]
6831 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose
6832 squares is less than 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in
6833 space of dimension N = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are
6834 uniformly distributed within the unit N-shere. The sum of the
6835 squares of the numbers is returned. VECT can be either a vector
6836 or a uniform vector of doubles.
6838 *** New procedure: random:hollow-sphere! VECT [STATE]
6839 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose squares
6840 is equal to 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in space of
6841 dimension n = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are uniformly
6842 distributed over the surface of the unit n-shere. VECT can be either
6843 a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
6845 *** New function: random:normal [STATE]
6846 Returns an inexact real in a normal distribution with mean 0 and
6847 standard deviation 1. For a normal distribution with mean M and
6848 standard deviation D use `(+ M (* D (random:normal)))'.
6850 *** New procedure: random:normal-vector! VECT [STATE]
6851 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers which are independent and
6852 standard normally distributed (i.e., with mean 0 and variance 1).
6853 VECT can be either a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
6855 *** New function: random:exp STATE
6856 Returns an inexact real in an exponential distribution with mean 1.
6857 For an exponential distribution with mean U use (* U (random:exp)).
6859 ** The range of logand, logior, logxor, logtest, and logbit? have changed.
6861 These functions now operate on numbers in the range of a C unsigned
6864 These functions used to operate on numbers in the range of a C signed
6865 long; however, this seems inappropriate, because Guile integers don't
6868 ** New function: make-guardian
6869 This is an implementation of guardians as described in
6870 R. Kent Dybvig, Carl Bruggeman, and David Eby (1993) "Guardians in a
6871 Generation-Based Garbage Collector" ACM SIGPLAN Conference on
6872 Programming Language Design and Implementation, June 1993
6873 ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/scheme-repository/doc/pubs/guardians.ps.gz
6875 ** New functions: delq1!, delv1!, delete1!
6876 These procedures behave similar to delq! and friends but delete only
6877 one object if at all.
6879 ** New function: unread-string STRING PORT
6880 Unread STRING to PORT, that is, push it back onto the port so that
6881 next read operation will work on the pushed back characters.
6883 ** unread-char can now be called multiple times
6884 If unread-char is called multiple times, the unread characters will be
6885 read again in last-in first-out order.
6887 ** the procedures uniform-array-read! and uniform-array-write! now
6888 work on any kind of port, not just ports which are open on a file.
6890 ** Now 'l' in a port mode requests line buffering.
6892 ** The procedure truncate-file now works on string ports as well
6893 as file ports. If the size argument is omitted, the current
6894 file position is used.
6896 ** new procedure: seek PORT/FDES OFFSET WHENCE
6897 The arguments are the same as for the old fseek procedure, but it
6898 works on string ports as well as random-access file ports.
6900 ** the fseek procedure now works on string ports, since it has been
6901 redefined using seek.
6903 ** the setvbuf procedure now uses a default size if mode is _IOFBF and
6904 size is not supplied.
6906 ** the newline procedure no longer flushes the port if it's not
6907 line-buffered: previously it did if it was the current output port.
6909 ** open-pipe and close-pipe are no longer primitive procedures, but
6910 an emulation can be obtained using `(use-modules (ice-9 popen))'.
6912 ** the freopen procedure has been removed.
6914 ** new procedure: drain-input PORT
6915 Drains PORT's read buffers (including any pushed-back characters)
6916 and returns the contents as a single string.
6918 ** New function: map-in-order PROC LIST1 LIST2 ...
6919 Version of `map' which guarantees that the procedure is applied to the
6920 lists in serial order.
6922 ** Renamed `serial-array-copy!' and `serial-array-map!' to
6923 `array-copy-in-order!' and `array-map-in-order!'. The old names are
6924 now obsolete and will go away in release 1.5.
6926 ** New syntax: collect BODY1 ...
6927 Version of `begin' which returns a list of the results of the body
6928 forms instead of the result of the last body form. In contrast to
6929 `begin', `collect' allows an empty body.
6931 ** New functions: read-history FILENAME, write-history FILENAME
6932 Read/write command line history from/to file. Returns #t on success
6933 and #f if an error occured.
6935 ** `ls' and `lls' in module (ice-9 ls) now handle no arguments.
6937 These procedures return a list of definitions available in the specified
6938 argument, a relative module reference. In the case of no argument,
6939 `(current-module)' is now consulted for definitions to return, instead
6940 of simply returning #f, the former behavior.
6942 ** The #/ syntax for lists is no longer supported.
6944 Earlier versions of Scheme accepted this syntax, but printed a
6947 ** Guile no longer consults the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable.
6949 Instead, you should set GUILE_LOAD_PATH to tell Guile where to find
6952 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6956 Now takes a second argument which is the result array. If this
6957 pointer is NULL, a new array is malloced (the old behaviour).
6959 ** gh_chars2byvect, gh_shorts2svect, gh_floats2fvect, gh_scm2chars,
6960 gh_scm2shorts, gh_scm2longs, gh_scm2floats
6964 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6966 ** Function: scm_make_named_hook (char* name, int n_args)
6968 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
6969 binds a variable named NAME to it.
6971 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
6973 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module. This
6974 might change when we get the new module system.
6976 ** The smob interface
6978 The interface for creating smobs has changed. For documentation, see
6979 data-rep.info (made from guile-core/doc/data-rep.texi).
6981 *** Deprecated function: SCM scm_newsmob (scm_smobfuns *)
6983 >>> This function will be removed in 1.3.4. <<<
6987 *** Function: SCM scm_make_smob_type (const char *name, scm_sizet size)
6988 This function adds a new smob type, named NAME, with instance size
6989 SIZE to the system. The return value is a tag that is used in
6990 creating instances of the type. If SIZE is 0, then no memory will
6991 be allocated when instances of the smob are created, and nothing
6992 will be freed by the default free function.
6994 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_mark (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
6995 This function sets the smob marking procedure for the smob type
6996 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
6997 `scm_make_smob_type'.
6999 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_free (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
7000 This function sets the smob freeing procedure for the smob type
7001 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
7002 `scm_make_smob_type'.
7004 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_print (tc, print)
7006 - Function: void scm_set_smob_print (long tc,
7007 scm_sizet (*print) (SCM,
7011 This function sets the smob printing procedure for the smob type
7012 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
7013 `scm_make_smob_type'.
7015 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_equalp (long tc, SCM (*equalp) (SCM, SCM))
7016 This function sets the smob equality-testing predicate for the
7017 smob type specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
7018 `scm_make_smob_type'.
7020 *** Macro: void SCM_NEWSMOB (SCM var, long tc, void *data)
7021 Make VALUE contain a smob instance of the type with type code TC and
7022 smob data DATA. VALUE must be previously declared as C type `SCM'.
7024 *** Macro: fn_returns SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB (long tc, void *data)
7025 This macro expands to a block of code that creates a smob instance
7026 of the type with type code TC and smob data DATA, and returns that
7027 `SCM' value. It should be the last piece of code in a block.
7029 ** The interfaces for using I/O ports and implementing port types
7030 (ptobs) have changed significantly. The new interface is based on
7031 shared access to buffers and a new set of ptob procedures.
7033 *** scm_newptob has been removed
7037 *** Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (type_name, fill_buffer, write_flush)
7039 - Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (char *type_name,
7040 int (*fill_buffer) (SCM port),
7041 void (*write_flush) (SCM port));
7043 Similarly to the new smob interface, there is a set of function
7044 setters by which the user can customize the behaviour of his port
7045 type. See ports.h (scm_set_port_XXX).
7047 ** scm_strport_to_string: New function: creates a new string from
7048 a string port's buffer.
7050 ** Plug in interface for random number generators
7051 The variable `scm_the_rng' in random.c contains a value and three
7052 function pointers which together define the current random number
7053 generator being used by the Scheme level interface and the random
7054 number library functions.
7056 The user is free to replace the default generator with the generator
7059 *** Variable: size_t scm_the_rng.rstate_size
7060 The size of the random state type used by the current RNG
7063 *** Function: unsigned long scm_the_rng.random_bits (scm_rstate *STATE)
7064 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
7066 *** Function: void scm_the_rng.init_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE, chars *S, int N)
7067 Seed random state STATE using string S of length N.
7069 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_the_rng.copy_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE)
7070 Given random state STATE, return a malloced copy.
7073 The default RNG is the MWC (Multiply With Carry) random number
7074 generator described by George Marsaglia at the Department of
7075 Statistics and Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, The
7076 Florida State University (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo).
7078 It uses 64 bits, has a period of 4578426017172946943 (4.6e18), and
7079 passes all tests in the DIEHARD test suite
7080 (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo/diehard.html). The generation of 32 bits
7081 costs one multiply and one add on platforms which either supports long
7082 longs (gcc does this on most systems) or have 64 bit longs. The cost
7083 is four multiply on other systems but this can be optimized by writing
7084 scm_i_uniform32 in assembler.
7086 These functions are provided through the scm_the_rng interface for use
7087 by libguile and the application.
7089 *** Function: unsigned long scm_i_uniform32 (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
7090 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
7091 Don't use this function directly. Instead go through the plugin
7092 interface (see "Plug in interface" above).
7094 *** Function: void scm_i_init_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE, char *SEED, int N)
7095 Initialize STATE using SEED of length N.
7097 *** Function: scm_i_rstate *scm_i_copy_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
7098 Return a malloc:ed copy of STATE. This function can easily be re-used
7099 in the interfaces to other RNGs.
7101 ** Random number library functions
7102 These functions use the current RNG through the scm_the_rng interface.
7103 It might be a good idea to use these functions from your C code so
7104 that only one random generator is used by all code in your program.
7106 The default random state is stored in:
7108 *** Variable: SCM scm_var_random_state
7109 Contains the vcell of the Scheme variable "*random-state*" which is
7110 used as default state by all random number functions in the Scheme
7115 double x = scm_c_uniform01 (SCM_RSTATE (SCM_CDR (scm_var_random_state)));
7117 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_default_rstate (void)
7118 This is a convenience function which returns the value of
7119 scm_var_random_state. An error message is generated if this value
7120 isn't a random state.
7122 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_make_rstate (char *SEED, int LENGTH)
7123 Make a new random state from the string SEED of length LENGTH.
7125 It is generally not a good idea to use multiple random states in a
7126 program. While subsequent random numbers generated from one random
7127 state are guaranteed to be reasonably independent, there is no such
7128 guarantee for numbers generated from different random states.
7130 *** Macro: unsigned long scm_c_uniform32 (scm_rstate *STATE)
7131 Return 32 random bits.
7133 *** Function: double scm_c_uniform01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
7134 Return a sample from the uniform(0,1) distribution.
7136 *** Function: double scm_c_normal01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
7137 Return a sample from the normal(0,1) distribution.
7139 *** Function: double scm_c_exp1 (scm_rstate *STATE)
7140 Return a sample from the exp(1) distribution.
7142 *** Function: unsigned long scm_c_random (scm_rstate *STATE, unsigned long M)
7143 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
7145 *** Function: SCM scm_c_random_bignum (scm_rstate *STATE, SCM M)
7146 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
7147 M must be a bignum object. The returned value may be an INUM.
7151 Changes in Guile 1.3 (released Monday, October 19, 1998):
7153 * Changes to the distribution
7155 ** We renamed the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable to GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
7156 To avoid conflicts, programs should name environment variables after
7157 themselves, except when there's a common practice establishing some
7160 For now, Guile supports both GUILE_LOAD_PATH and SCHEME_LOAD_PATH,
7161 giving the former precedence, and printing a warning message if the
7162 latter is set. Guile 1.4 will not recognize SCHEME_LOAD_PATH at all.
7164 ** The header files related to multi-byte characters have been removed.
7165 They were: libguile/extchrs.h and libguile/mbstrings.h. Any C code
7166 which referred to these explicitly will probably need to be rewritten,
7167 since the support for the variant string types has been removed; see
7170 ** The header files append.h and sequences.h have been removed. These
7171 files implemented non-R4RS operations which would encourage
7172 non-portable programming style and less easy-to-read code.
7174 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
7176 ** New procedures have been added to implement a "batch mode":
7178 *** Function: batch-mode?
7180 Returns a boolean indicating whether the interpreter is in batch
7183 *** Function: set-batch-mode?! ARG
7185 If ARG is true, switches the interpreter to batch mode. The `#f'
7186 case has not been implemented.
7188 ** Guile now provides full command-line editing, when run interactively.
7189 To use this feature, you must have the readline library installed.
7190 The Guile build process will notice it, and automatically include
7193 The readline library is available via anonymous FTP from any GNU
7194 mirror site; the canonical location is "ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu".
7196 ** the-last-stack is now a fluid.
7198 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
7200 ** You can now use the `guile-config' utility to build programs that use Guile.
7202 Guile now includes a command-line utility called `guile-config', which
7203 can provide information about how to compile and link programs that
7206 *** `guile-config compile' prints any C compiler flags needed to use Guile.
7207 You should include this command's output on the command line you use
7208 to compile C or C++ code that #includes the Guile header files. It's
7209 usually just a `-I' flag to help the compiler find the Guile headers.
7212 *** `guile-config link' prints any linker flags necessary to link with Guile.
7214 This command writes to its standard output a list of flags which you
7215 must pass to the linker to link your code against the Guile library.
7216 The flags include '-lguile' itself, any other libraries the Guile
7217 library depends upon, and any `-L' flags needed to help the linker
7218 find those libraries.
7220 For example, here is a Makefile rule that builds a program named 'foo'
7221 from the object files ${FOO_OBJECTS}, and links them against Guile:
7224 ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${FOO_OBJECTS} `guile-config link` -o foo
7226 Previous Guile releases recommended that you use autoconf to detect
7227 which of a predefined set of libraries were present on your system.
7228 It is more robust to use `guile-config', since it records exactly which
7229 libraries the installed Guile library requires.
7231 This was originally called `build-guile', but was renamed to
7232 `guile-config' before Guile 1.3 was released, to be consistent with
7233 the analogous script for the GTK+ GUI toolkit, which is called
7237 ** Use the GUILE_FLAGS macro in your configure.in file to find Guile.
7239 If you are using the GNU autoconf package to configure your program,
7240 you can use the GUILE_FLAGS autoconf macro to call `guile-config'
7241 (described above) and gather the necessary values for use in your
7244 The GUILE_FLAGS macro expands to configure script code which runs the
7245 `guile-config' script, to find out where Guile's header files and
7246 libraries are installed. It sets two variables, marked for
7247 substitution, as by AC_SUBST.
7249 GUILE_CFLAGS --- flags to pass to a C or C++ compiler to build
7250 code that uses Guile header files. This is almost always just a
7253 GUILE_LDFLAGS --- flags to pass to the linker to link a
7254 program against Guile. This includes `-lguile' for the Guile
7255 library itself, any libraries that Guile itself requires (like
7256 -lqthreads), and so on. It may also include a -L flag to tell the
7257 compiler where to find the libraries.
7259 GUILE_FLAGS is defined in the file guile.m4, in the top-level
7260 directory of the Guile distribution. You can copy it into your
7261 package's aclocal.m4 file, and then use it in your configure.in file.
7263 If you are using the `aclocal' program, distributed with GNU automake,
7264 to maintain your aclocal.m4 file, the Guile installation process
7265 installs guile.m4 where aclocal will find it. All you need to do is
7266 use GUILE_FLAGS in your configure.in file, and then run `aclocal';
7267 this will copy the definition of GUILE_FLAGS into your aclocal.m4
7271 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
7273 ** Multi-byte strings have been removed, as have multi-byte and wide
7274 ports. We felt that these were the wrong approach to
7275 internationalization support.
7277 ** New function: readline [PROMPT]
7278 Read a line from the terminal, and allow the user to edit it,
7279 prompting with PROMPT. READLINE provides a large set of Emacs-like
7280 editing commands, lets the user recall previously typed lines, and
7281 works on almost every kind of terminal, including dumb terminals.
7283 READLINE assumes that the cursor is at the beginning of the line when
7284 it is invoked. Thus, you can't print a prompt yourself, and then call
7285 READLINE; you need to package up your prompt as a string, pass it to
7286 the function, and let READLINE print the prompt itself. This is
7287 because READLINE needs to know the prompt's screen width.
7289 For Guile to provide this function, you must have the readline
7290 library, version 2.1 or later, installed on your system. Readline is
7291 available via anonymous FTP from prep.ai.mit.edu in pub/gnu, or from
7292 any GNU mirror site.
7294 See also ADD-HISTORY function.
7296 ** New function: add-history STRING
7297 Add STRING as the most recent line in the history used by the READLINE
7298 command. READLINE does not add lines to the history itself; you must
7299 call ADD-HISTORY to make previous input available to the user.
7301 ** The behavior of the read-line function has changed.
7303 This function now uses standard C library functions to read the line,
7304 for speed. This means that it doesn not respect the value of
7305 scm-line-incrementors; it assumes that lines are delimited with
7308 (Note that this is read-line, the function that reads a line of text
7309 from a port, not readline, the function that reads a line from a
7310 terminal, providing full editing capabilities.)
7312 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style): Parse command-line arguments.
7314 This module provides some simple argument parsing. It exports one
7317 Function: getopt-gnu-style ARG-LS
7318 Parse a list of program arguments into an alist of option
7321 Each item in the list of program arguments is examined to see if
7322 it meets the syntax of a GNU long-named option. An argument like
7323 `--MUMBLE' produces an element of the form (MUMBLE . #t) in the
7324 returned alist, where MUMBLE is a keyword object with the same
7325 name as the argument. An argument like `--MUMBLE=FROB' produces
7326 an element of the form (MUMBLE . FROB), where FROB is a string.
7328 As a special case, the returned alist also contains a pair whose
7329 car is the symbol `rest'. The cdr of this pair is a list
7330 containing all the items in the argument list that are not options
7331 of the form mentioned above.
7333 The argument `--' is treated specially: all items in the argument
7334 list appearing after such an argument are not examined, and are
7335 returned in the special `rest' list.
7337 This function does not parse normal single-character switches.
7338 You will need to parse them out of the `rest' list yourself.
7340 ** The read syntax for byte vectors and short vectors has changed.
7342 Instead of #bytes(...), write #y(...).
7344 Instead of #short(...), write #h(...).
7346 This may seem nutty, but, like the other uniform vectors, byte vectors
7347 and short vectors want to have the same print and read syntax (and,
7348 more basic, want to have read syntax!). Changing the read syntax to
7349 use multiple characters after the hash sign breaks with the
7350 conventions used in R5RS and the conventions used for the other
7351 uniform vectors. It also introduces complexity in the current reader,
7352 both on the C and Scheme levels. (The Right solution is probably to
7353 change the syntax and prototypes for uniform vectors entirely.)
7356 ** The new module (ice-9 session) provides useful interactive functions.
7358 *** New procedure: (apropos REGEXP OPTION ...)
7360 Display a list of top-level variables whose names match REGEXP, and
7361 the modules they are imported from. Each OPTION should be one of the
7364 value --- Show the value of each matching variable.
7365 shadow --- Show bindings shadowed by subsequently imported modules.
7366 full --- Same as both `shadow' and `value'.
7370 guile> (apropos "trace" 'full)
7371 debug: trace #<procedure trace args>
7372 debug: untrace #<procedure untrace args>
7373 the-scm-module: display-backtrace #<compiled-closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>
7374 the-scm-module: before-backtrace-hook ()
7375 the-scm-module: backtrace #<primitive-procedure backtrace>
7376 the-scm-module: after-backtrace-hook ()
7377 the-scm-module: has-shown-backtrace-hint? #f
7380 ** There are new functions and syntax for working with macros.
7382 Guile implements macros as a special object type. Any variable whose
7383 top-level binding is a macro object acts as a macro. The macro object
7384 specifies how the expression should be transformed before evaluation.
7386 *** Macro objects now print in a reasonable way, resembling procedures.
7388 *** New function: (macro? OBJ)
7389 True iff OBJ is a macro object.
7391 *** New function: (primitive-macro? OBJ)
7392 Like (macro? OBJ), but true only if OBJ is one of the Guile primitive
7393 macro transformers, implemented in eval.c rather than Scheme code.
7395 Why do we have this function?
7396 - For symmetry with procedure? and primitive-procedure?,
7397 - to allow custom print procedures to tell whether a macro is
7398 primitive, and display it differently, and
7399 - to allow compilers and user-written evaluators to distinguish
7400 builtin special forms from user-defined ones, which could be
7403 *** New function: (macro-type OBJ)
7404 Return a value indicating what kind of macro OBJ is. Possible return
7407 The symbol `syntax' --- a macro created by procedure->syntax.
7408 The symbol `macro' --- a macro created by procedure->macro.
7409 The symbol `macro!' --- a macro created by procedure->memoizing-macro.
7410 The boolean #f --- if OBJ is not a macro object.
7412 *** New function: (macro-name MACRO)
7413 Return the name of the macro object MACRO's procedure, as returned by
7416 *** New function: (macro-transformer MACRO)
7417 Return the transformer procedure for MACRO.
7419 *** New syntax: (use-syntax MODULE ... TRANSFORMER)
7421 Specify a new macro expander to use in the current module. Each
7422 MODULE is a module name, with the same meaning as in the `use-modules'
7423 form; each named module's exported bindings are added to the current
7424 top-level environment. TRANSFORMER is an expression evaluated in the
7425 resulting environment which must yield a procedure to use as the
7426 module's eval transformer: every expression evaluated in this module
7427 is passed to this function, and the result passed to the Guile
7430 *** macro-eval! is removed. Use local-eval instead.
7432 ** Some magic has been added to the printer to better handle user
7433 written printing routines (like record printers, closure printers).
7435 The problem is that these user written routines must have access to
7436 the current `print-state' to be able to handle fancy things like
7437 detection of circular references. These print-states have to be
7438 passed to the builtin printing routines (display, write, etc) to
7439 properly continue the print chain.
7441 We didn't want to change all existing print code so that it
7442 explicitly passes thru a print state in addition to a port. Instead,
7443 we extented the possible values that the builtin printing routines
7444 accept as a `port'. In addition to a normal port, they now also take
7445 a pair of a normal port and a print-state. Printing will go to the
7446 port and the print-state will be used to control the detection of
7447 circular references, etc. If the builtin function does not care for a
7448 print-state, it is simply ignored.
7450 User written callbacks are now called with such a pair as their
7451 `port', but because every function now accepts this pair as a PORT
7452 argument, you don't have to worry about that. In fact, it is probably
7453 safest to not check for these pairs.
7455 However, it is sometimes necessary to continue a print chain on a
7456 different port, for example to get a intermediate string
7457 representation of the printed value, mangle that string somehow, and
7458 then to finally print the mangled string. Use the new function
7460 inherit-print-state OLD-PORT NEW-PORT
7462 for this. It constructs a new `port' that prints to NEW-PORT but
7463 inherits the print-state of OLD-PORT.
7465 ** struct-vtable-offset renamed to vtable-offset-user
7467 ** New constants: vtable-index-layout, vtable-index-vtable, vtable-index-printer
7469 ** There is now a third optional argument to make-vtable-vtable
7470 (and fourth to make-struct) when constructing new types (vtables).
7471 This argument initializes field vtable-index-printer of the vtable.
7473 ** The detection of circular references has been extended to structs.
7474 That is, a structure that -- in the process of being printed -- prints
7475 itself does not lead to infinite recursion.
7477 ** There is now some basic support for fluids. Please read
7478 "libguile/fluid.h" to find out more. It is accessible from Scheme with
7479 the following functions and macros:
7481 Function: make-fluid
7483 Create a new fluid object. Fluids are not special variables or
7484 some other extension to the semantics of Scheme, but rather
7485 ordinary Scheme objects. You can store them into variables (that
7486 are still lexically scoped, of course) or into any other place you
7487 like. Every fluid has a initial value of `#f'.
7489 Function: fluid? OBJ
7491 Test whether OBJ is a fluid.
7493 Function: fluid-ref FLUID
7494 Function: fluid-set! FLUID VAL
7496 Access/modify the fluid FLUID. Modifications are only visible
7497 within the current dynamic root (that includes threads).
7499 Function: with-fluids* FLUIDS VALUES THUNK
7501 FLUIDS is a list of fluids and VALUES a corresponding list of
7502 values for these fluids. Before THUNK gets called the values are
7503 installed in the fluids and the old values of the fluids are
7504 saved in the VALUES list. When the flow of control leaves THUNK
7505 or reenters it, the values get swapped again. You might think of
7506 this as a `safe-fluid-excursion'. Note that the VALUES list is
7507 modified by `with-fluids*'.
7509 Macro: with-fluids ((FLUID VALUE) ...) FORM ...
7511 The same as `with-fluids*' but with a different syntax. It looks
7512 just like `let', but both FLUID and VALUE are evaluated. Remember,
7513 fluids are not special variables but ordinary objects. FLUID
7514 should evaluate to a fluid.
7516 ** Changes to system call interfaces:
7518 *** close-port, close-input-port and close-output-port now return a
7519 boolean instead of an `unspecified' object. #t means that the port
7520 was successfully closed, while #f means it was already closed. It is
7521 also now possible for these procedures to raise an exception if an
7522 error occurs (some errors from write can be delayed until close.)
7524 *** the first argument to chmod, fcntl, ftell and fseek can now be a
7527 *** the third argument to fcntl is now optional.
7529 *** the first argument to chown can now be a file descriptor or a port.
7531 *** the argument to stat can now be a port.
7533 *** The following new procedures have been added (most use scsh
7536 *** procedure: close PORT/FD
7537 Similar to close-port (*note close-port: Closing Ports.), but also
7538 works on file descriptors. A side effect of closing a file
7539 descriptor is that any ports using that file descriptor are moved
7540 to a different file descriptor and have their revealed counts set
7543 *** procedure: port->fdes PORT
7544 Returns the integer file descriptor underlying PORT. As a side
7545 effect the revealed count of PORT is incremented.
7547 *** procedure: fdes->ports FDES
7548 Returns a list of existing ports which have FDES as an underlying
7549 file descriptor, without changing their revealed counts.
7551 *** procedure: fdes->inport FDES
7552 Returns an existing input port which has FDES as its underlying
7553 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
7554 Otherwise, returns a new input port with a revealed count of 1.
7556 *** procedure: fdes->outport FDES
7557 Returns an existing output port which has FDES as its underlying
7558 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
7559 Otherwise, returns a new output port with a revealed count of 1.
7561 The next group of procedures perform a `dup2' system call, if NEWFD
7562 (an integer) is supplied, otherwise a `dup'. The file descriptor to be
7563 duplicated can be supplied as an integer or contained in a port. The
7564 type of value returned varies depending on which procedure is used.
7566 All procedures also have the side effect when performing `dup2' that
7567 any ports using NEWFD are moved to a different file descriptor and have
7568 their revealed counts set to zero.
7570 *** procedure: dup->fdes PORT/FD [NEWFD]
7571 Returns an integer file descriptor.
7573 *** procedure: dup->inport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
7574 Returns a new input port using the new file descriptor.
7576 *** procedure: dup->outport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
7577 Returns a new output port using the new file descriptor.
7579 *** procedure: dup PORT/FD [NEWFD]
7580 Returns a new port if PORT/FD is a port, with the same mode as the
7581 supplied port, otherwise returns an integer file descriptor.
7583 *** procedure: dup->port PORT/FD MODE [NEWFD]
7584 Returns a new port using the new file descriptor. MODE supplies a
7585 mode string for the port (*note open-file: File Ports.).
7587 *** procedure: setenv NAME VALUE
7588 Modifies the environment of the current process, which is also the
7589 default environment inherited by child processes.
7591 If VALUE is `#f', then NAME is removed from the environment.
7592 Otherwise, the string NAME=VALUE is added to the environment,
7593 replacing any existing string with name matching NAME.
7595 The return value is unspecified.
7597 *** procedure: truncate-file OBJ SIZE
7598 Truncates the file referred to by OBJ to at most SIZE bytes. OBJ
7599 can be a string containing a file name or an integer file
7600 descriptor or port open for output on the file. The underlying
7601 system calls are `truncate' and `ftruncate'.
7603 The return value is unspecified.
7605 *** procedure: setvbuf PORT MODE [SIZE]
7606 Set the buffering mode for PORT. MODE can be:
7614 block buffered, using a newly allocated buffer of SIZE bytes.
7615 However if SIZE is zero or unspecified, the port will be made
7618 This procedure should not be used after I/O has been performed with
7621 Ports are usually block buffered by default, with a default buffer
7622 size. Procedures e.g., *Note open-file: File Ports, which accept a
7623 mode string allow `0' to be added to request an unbuffered port.
7625 *** procedure: fsync PORT/FD
7626 Copies any unwritten data for the specified output file descriptor
7627 to disk. If PORT/FD is a port, its buffer is flushed before the
7628 underlying file descriptor is fsync'd. The return value is
7631 *** procedure: open-fdes PATH FLAGS [MODES]
7632 Similar to `open' but returns a file descriptor instead of a port.
7634 *** procedure: execle PATH ENV [ARG] ...
7635 Similar to `execl', but the environment of the new process is
7636 specified by ENV, which must be a list of strings as returned by
7637 the `environ' procedure.
7639 This procedure is currently implemented using the `execve' system
7640 call, but we call it `execle' because of its Scheme calling
7643 *** procedure: strerror ERRNO
7644 Returns the Unix error message corresponding to ERRNO, an integer.
7646 *** procedure: primitive-exit [STATUS]
7647 Terminate the current process without unwinding the Scheme stack.
7648 This is would typically be useful after a fork. The exit status
7649 is STATUS if supplied, otherwise zero.
7651 *** procedure: times
7652 Returns an object with information about real and processor time.
7653 The following procedures accept such an object as an argument and
7654 return a selected component:
7657 The current real time, expressed as time units relative to an
7661 The CPU time units used by the calling process.
7664 The CPU time units used by the system on behalf of the
7668 The CPU time units used by terminated child processes of the
7669 calling process, whose status has been collected (e.g., using
7673 Similarly, the CPU times units used by the system on behalf of
7674 terminated child processes.
7676 ** Removed: list-length
7677 ** Removed: list-append, list-append!
7678 ** Removed: list-reverse, list-reverse!
7680 ** array-map renamed to array-map!
7682 ** serial-array-map renamed to serial-array-map!
7684 ** catch doesn't take #f as first argument any longer
7686 Previously, it was possible to pass #f instead of a key to `catch'.
7687 That would cause `catch' to pass a jump buffer object to the procedure
7688 passed as second argument. The procedure could then use this jump
7689 buffer objekt as an argument to throw.
7691 This mechanism has been removed since its utility doesn't motivate the
7692 extra complexity it introduces.
7694 ** The `#/' notation for lists now provokes a warning message from Guile.
7695 This syntax will be removed from Guile in the near future.
7697 To disable the warning message, set the GUILE_HUSH environment
7698 variable to any non-empty value.
7700 ** The newline character now prints as `#\newline', following the
7701 normal Scheme notation, not `#\nl'.
7703 * Changes to the gh_ interface
7705 ** The gh_enter function now takes care of loading the Guile startup files.
7706 gh_enter works by calling scm_boot_guile; see the remarks below.
7708 ** Function: void gh_write (SCM x)
7710 Write the printed representation of the scheme object x to the current
7711 output port. Corresponds to the scheme level `write'.
7713 ** gh_list_length renamed to gh_length.
7715 ** vector handling routines
7717 Several major changes. In particular, gh_vector() now resembles
7718 (vector ...) (with a caveat -- see manual), and gh_make_vector() now
7719 exists and behaves like (make-vector ...). gh_vset() and gh_vref()
7720 have been renamed gh_vector_set_x() and gh_vector_ref(). Some missing
7721 vector-related gh_ functions have been implemented.
7723 ** pair and list routines
7725 Implemented several of the R4RS pair and list functions that were
7728 ** gh_scm2doubles, gh_doubles2scm, gh_doubles2dvect
7730 New function. Converts double arrays back and forth between Scheme
7733 * Changes to the scm_ interface
7735 ** The function scm_boot_guile now takes care of loading the startup files.
7737 Guile's primary initialization function, scm_boot_guile, now takes
7738 care of loading `boot-9.scm', in the `ice-9' module, to initialize
7739 Guile, define the module system, and put together some standard
7740 bindings. It also loads `init.scm', which is intended to hold
7741 site-specific initialization code.
7743 Since Guile cannot operate properly until boot-9.scm is loaded, there
7744 is no reason to separate loading boot-9.scm from Guile's other
7745 initialization processes.
7747 This job used to be done by scm_compile_shell_switches, which didn't
7748 make much sense; in particular, it meant that people using Guile for
7749 non-shell-like applications had to jump through hoops to get Guile
7750 initialized properly.
7752 ** The function scm_compile_shell_switches no longer loads the startup files.
7753 Now, Guile always loads the startup files, whenever it is initialized;
7754 see the notes above for scm_boot_guile and scm_load_startup_files.
7756 ** Function: scm_load_startup_files
7757 This new function takes care of loading Guile's initialization file
7758 (`boot-9.scm'), and the site initialization file, `init.scm'. Since
7759 this is always called by the Guile initialization process, it's
7760 probably not too useful to call this yourself, but it's there anyway.
7762 ** The semantics of smob marking have changed slightly.
7764 The smob marking function (the `mark' member of the scm_smobfuns
7765 structure) is no longer responsible for setting the mark bit on the
7766 smob. The generic smob handling code in the garbage collector will
7767 set this bit. The mark function need only ensure that any other
7768 objects the smob refers to get marked.
7770 Note that this change means that the smob's GC8MARK bit is typically
7771 already set upon entry to the mark function. Thus, marking functions
7772 which look like this:
7775 if (SCM_GC8MARKP (ptr))
7777 SCM_SETGC8MARK (ptr);
7778 ... mark objects to which the smob refers ...
7781 are now incorrect, since they will return early, and fail to mark any
7782 other objects the smob refers to. Some code in the Guile library used
7785 ** The semantics of the I/O port functions in scm_ptobfuns have changed.
7787 If you have implemented your own I/O port type, by writing the
7788 functions required by the scm_ptobfuns and then calling scm_newptob,
7789 you will need to change your functions slightly.
7791 The functions in a scm_ptobfuns structure now expect the port itself
7792 as their argument; they used to expect the `stream' member of the
7793 port's scm_port_table structure. This allows functions in an
7794 scm_ptobfuns structure to easily access the port's cell (and any flags
7795 it its CAR), and the port's scm_port_table structure.
7797 Guile now passes the I/O port itself as the `port' argument in the
7798 following scm_ptobfuns functions:
7800 int (*free) (SCM port);
7801 int (*fputc) (int, SCM port);
7802 int (*fputs) (char *, SCM port);
7803 scm_sizet (*fwrite) SCM_P ((char *ptr,
7807 int (*fflush) (SCM port);
7808 int (*fgetc) (SCM port);
7809 int (*fclose) (SCM port);
7811 The interfaces to the `mark', `print', `equalp', and `fgets' methods
7814 If you have existing code which defines its own port types, it is easy
7815 to convert your code to the new interface; simply apply SCM_STREAM to
7816 the port argument to yield the value you code used to expect.
7818 Note that since both the port and the stream have the same type in the
7819 C code --- they are both SCM values --- the C compiler will not remind
7820 you if you forget to update your scm_ptobfuns functions.
7823 ** Function: int scm_internal_select (int fds,
7827 struct timeval *timeout);
7829 This is a replacement for the `select' function provided by the OS.
7830 It enables I/O blocking and sleeping to happen for one cooperative
7831 thread without blocking other threads. It also avoids busy-loops in
7832 these situations. It is intended that all I/O blocking and sleeping
7833 will finally go through this function. Currently, this function is
7834 only available on systems providing `gettimeofday' and `select'.
7836 ** Function: SCM scm_internal_stack_catch (SCM tag,
7837 scm_catch_body_t body,
7839 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
7842 A new sibling to the other two C level `catch' functions
7843 scm_internal_catch and scm_internal_lazy_catch. Use it if you want
7844 the stack to be saved automatically into the variable `the-last-stack'
7845 (scm_the_last_stack_var) on error. This is necessary if you want to
7846 use advanced error reporting, such as calling scm_display_error and
7847 scm_display_backtrace. (They both take a stack object as argument.)
7849 ** Function: SCM scm_spawn_thread (scm_catch_body_t body,
7851 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
7854 Spawns a new thread. It does a job similar to
7855 scm_call_with_new_thread but takes arguments more suitable when
7856 spawning threads from application C code.
7858 ** The hook scm_error_callback has been removed. It was originally
7859 intended as a way for the user to install his own error handler. But
7860 that method works badly since it intervenes between throw and catch,
7861 thereby changing the semantics of expressions like (catch #t ...).
7862 The correct way to do it is to use one of the C level catch functions
7863 in throw.c: scm_internal_catch/lazy_catch/stack_catch.
7865 ** Removed functions:
7867 scm_obj_length, scm_list_length, scm_list_append, scm_list_append_x,
7868 scm_list_reverse, scm_list_reverse_x
7870 ** New macros: SCM_LISTn where n is one of the integers 0-9.
7872 These can be used for pretty list creation from C. The idea is taken
7873 from Erick Gallesio's STk.
7875 ** scm_array_map renamed to scm_array_map_x
7877 ** mbstrings are now removed
7879 This means that the type codes scm_tc7_mb_string and
7880 scm_tc7_mb_substring has been removed.
7882 ** scm_gen_putc, scm_gen_puts, scm_gen_write, and scm_gen_getc have changed.
7884 Since we no longer support multi-byte strings, these I/O functions
7885 have been simplified, and renamed. Here are their old names, and
7886 their new names and arguments:
7888 scm_gen_putc -> void scm_putc (int c, SCM port);
7889 scm_gen_puts -> void scm_puts (char *s, SCM port);
7890 scm_gen_write -> void scm_lfwrite (char *ptr, scm_sizet size, SCM port);
7891 scm_gen_getc -> void scm_getc (SCM port);
7894 ** The macros SCM_TYP7D and SCM_TYP7SD has been removed.
7896 ** The macro SCM_TYP7S has taken the role of the old SCM_TYP7D
7898 SCM_TYP7S now masks away the bit which distinguishes substrings from
7901 ** scm_catch_body_t: Backward incompatible change!
7903 Body functions to scm_internal_catch and friends do not any longer
7904 take a second argument. This is because it is no longer possible to
7905 pass a #f arg to catch.
7907 ** Calls to scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect now nest properly.
7909 The function scm_protect_object protects its argument from being freed
7910 by the garbage collector. scm_unprotect_object removes that
7913 These functions now nest properly. That is, for every object O, there
7914 is a counter which scm_protect_object(O) increments and
7915 scm_unprotect_object(O) decrements, if the counter is greater than
7916 zero. Every object's counter is zero when it is first created. If an
7917 object's counter is greater than zero, the garbage collector will not
7918 reclaim its storage.
7920 This allows you to use scm_protect_object in your code without
7921 worrying that some other function you call will call
7922 scm_unprotect_object, and allow it to be freed. Assuming that the
7923 functions you call are well-behaved, and unprotect only those objects
7924 they protect, you can follow the same rule and have confidence that
7925 objects will be freed only at appropriate times.
7928 Changes in Guile 1.2 (released Tuesday, June 24 1997):
7930 * Changes to the distribution
7932 ** Nightly snapshots are now available from ftp.red-bean.com.
7933 The old server, ftp.cyclic.com, has been relinquished to its rightful
7936 Nightly snapshots of the Guile development sources are now available via
7937 anonymous FTP from ftp.red-bean.com, as /pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz.
7939 Via the web, that's: ftp://ftp.red-bean.com/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
7940 For getit, that's: ftp.red-bean.com:/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
7942 ** To run Guile without installing it, the procedure has changed a bit.
7944 If you used a separate build directory to compile Guile, you'll need
7945 to include the build directory in SCHEME_LOAD_PATH, as well as the
7946 source directory. See the `INSTALL' file for examples.
7948 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
7950 ** The standard Guile load path for Scheme code now includes
7951 $(datadir)/guile (usually /usr/local/share/guile). This means that
7952 you can install your own Scheme files there, and Guile will find them.
7953 (Previous versions of Guile only checked a directory whose name
7954 contained the Guile version number, so you had to re-install or move
7955 your Scheme sources each time you installed a fresh version of Guile.)
7957 The load path also includes $(datadir)/guile/site; we recommend
7958 putting individual Scheme files there. If you want to install a
7959 package with multiple source files, create a directory for them under
7962 ** Guile 1.2 will now use the Rx regular expression library, if it is
7963 installed on your system. When you are linking libguile into your own
7964 programs, this means you will have to link against -lguile, -lqt (if
7965 you configured Guile with thread support), and -lrx.
7967 If you are using autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your
7968 application, the following lines should suffice to add the appropriate
7969 libraries to your link command:
7971 ### Find Rx, quickthreads and libguile.
7972 AC_CHECK_LIB(rx, main)
7973 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
7974 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
7976 The Guile 1.2 distribution does not contain sources for the Rx
7977 library, as Guile 1.0 did. If you want to use Rx, you'll need to
7978 retrieve it from a GNU FTP site and install it separately.
7980 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
7982 ** The dynamic linking features of Guile are now enabled by default.
7983 You can disable them by giving the `--disable-dynamic-linking' option
7986 (dynamic-link FILENAME)
7988 Find the object file denoted by FILENAME (a string) and link it
7989 into the running Guile application. When everything works out,
7990 return a Scheme object suitable for representing the linked object
7991 file. Otherwise an error is thrown. How object files are
7992 searched is system dependent.
7994 (dynamic-object? VAL)
7996 Determine whether VAL represents a dynamically linked object file.
7998 (dynamic-unlink DYNOBJ)
8000 Unlink the indicated object file from the application. DYNOBJ
8001 should be one of the values returned by `dynamic-link'.
8003 (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
8005 Search the C function indicated by FUNCTION (a string or symbol)
8006 in DYNOBJ and return some Scheme object that can later be used
8007 with `dynamic-call' to actually call this function. Right now,
8008 these Scheme objects are formed by casting the address of the
8009 function to `long' and converting this number to its Scheme
8012 (dynamic-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
8014 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ. The
8015 function is passed no arguments and its return value is ignored.
8016 When FUNCTION is something returned by `dynamic-func', call that
8017 function and ignore DYNOBJ. When FUNCTION is a string (or symbol,
8018 etc.), look it up in DYNOBJ; this is equivalent to
8020 (dynamic-call (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ) #f)
8022 Interrupts are deferred while the C function is executing (with
8023 SCM_DEFER_INTS/SCM_ALLOW_INTS).
8025 (dynamic-args-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ ARGS)
8027 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ, but pass it
8028 some arguments and return its return value. The C function is
8029 expected to take two arguments and return an `int', just like
8032 int c_func (int argc, char **argv);
8034 ARGS must be a list of strings and is converted into an array of
8035 `char *'. The array is passed in ARGV and its size in ARGC. The
8036 return value is converted to a Scheme number and returned from the
8037 call to `dynamic-args-call'.
8039 When dynamic linking is disabled or not supported on your system,
8040 the above functions throw errors, but they are still available.
8042 Here is a small example that works on GNU/Linux:
8044 (define libc-obj (dynamic-link "libc.so"))
8045 (dynamic-args-call 'rand libc-obj '())
8047 See the file `libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING' for additional comments.
8049 ** The #/ syntax for module names is depreciated, and will be removed
8050 in a future version of Guile. Instead of
8058 The latter syntax is more consistent with existing Lisp practice.
8060 ** Guile now does fancier printing of structures. Structures are the
8061 underlying implementation for records, which in turn are used to
8062 implement modules, so all of these object now print differently and in
8063 a more informative way.
8065 The Scheme printer will examine the builtin variable *struct-printer*
8066 whenever it needs to print a structure object. When this variable is
8067 not `#f' it is deemed to be a procedure and will be applied to the
8068 structure object and the output port. When *struct-printer* is `#f'
8069 or the procedure return `#f' the structure object will be printed in
8070 the boring #<struct 80458270> form.
8072 This hook is used by some routines in ice-9/boot-9.scm to implement
8073 type specific printing routines. Please read the comments there about
8076 One of the more specific uses of structs are records. The printing
8077 procedure that could be passed to MAKE-RECORD-TYPE is now actually
8078 called. It should behave like a *struct-printer* procedure (described
8081 ** Guile now supports a new R4RS-compliant syntax for keywords. A
8082 token of the form #:NAME, where NAME has the same syntax as a Scheme
8083 symbol, is the external representation of the keyword named NAME.
8084 Keyword objects print using this syntax as well, so values containing
8085 keyword objects can be read back into Guile. When used in an
8086 expression, keywords are self-quoting objects.
8088 Guile suports this read syntax, and uses this print syntax, regardless
8089 of the current setting of the `keyword' read option. The `keyword'
8090 read option only controls whether Guile recognizes the `:NAME' syntax,
8091 which is incompatible with R4RS. (R4RS says such token represent
8094 ** Guile has regular expression support again. Guile 1.0 included
8095 functions for matching regular expressions, based on the Rx library.
8096 In Guile 1.1, the Guile/Rx interface was removed to simplify the
8097 distribution, and thus Guile had no regular expression support. Guile
8098 1.2 again supports the most commonly used functions, and supports all
8099 of SCSH's regular expression functions.
8101 If your system does not include a POSIX regular expression library,
8102 and you have not linked Guile with a third-party regexp library such as
8103 Rx, these functions will not be available. You can tell whether your
8104 Guile installation includes regular expression support by checking
8105 whether the `*features*' list includes the `regex' symbol.
8107 *** regexp functions
8109 By default, Guile supports POSIX extended regular expressions. That
8110 means that the characters `(', `)', `+' and `?' are special, and must
8111 be escaped if you wish to match the literal characters.
8113 This regular expression interface was modeled after that implemented
8114 by SCSH, the Scheme Shell. It is intended to be upwardly compatible
8115 with SCSH regular expressions.
8117 **** Function: string-match PATTERN STR [START]
8118 Compile the string PATTERN into a regular expression and compare
8119 it with STR. The optional numeric argument START specifies the
8120 position of STR at which to begin matching.
8122 `string-match' returns a "match structure" which describes what,
8123 if anything, was matched by the regular expression. *Note Match
8124 Structures::. If STR does not match PATTERN at all,
8125 `string-match' returns `#f'.
8127 Each time `string-match' is called, it must compile its PATTERN
8128 argument into a regular expression structure. This operation is
8129 expensive, which makes `string-match' inefficient if the same regular
8130 expression is used several times (for example, in a loop). For better
8131 performance, you can compile a regular expression in advance and then
8132 match strings against the compiled regexp.
8134 **** Function: make-regexp STR [FLAGS]
8135 Compile the regular expression described by STR, and return the
8136 compiled regexp structure. If STR does not describe a legal
8137 regular expression, `make-regexp' throws a
8138 `regular-expression-syntax' error.
8140 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
8142 **** Constant: regexp/extended
8143 Use POSIX Extended Regular Expression syntax when interpreting
8144 STR. If not set, POSIX Basic Regular Expression syntax is used.
8145 If the FLAGS argument is omitted, we assume regexp/extended.
8147 **** Constant: regexp/icase
8148 Do not differentiate case. Subsequent searches using the
8149 returned regular expression will be case insensitive.
8151 **** Constant: regexp/newline
8152 Match-any-character operators don't match a newline.
8154 A non-matching list ([^...]) not containing a newline matches a
8157 Match-beginning-of-line operator (^) matches the empty string
8158 immediately after a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
8159 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/notbol.
8161 Match-end-of-line operator ($) matches the empty string
8162 immediately before a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
8163 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/noteol.
8165 **** Function: regexp-exec REGEXP STR [START [FLAGS]]
8166 Match the compiled regular expression REGEXP against `str'. If
8167 the optional integer START argument is provided, begin matching
8168 from that position in the string. Return a match structure
8169 describing the results of the match, or `#f' if no match could be
8172 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
8174 **** Constant: regexp/notbol
8175 The match-beginning-of-line operator always fails to match (but
8176 see the compilation flag regexp/newline above) This flag may be
8177 used when different portions of a string are passed to
8178 regexp-exec and the beginning of the string should not be
8179 interpreted as the beginning of the line.
8181 **** Constant: regexp/noteol
8182 The match-end-of-line operator always fails to match (but see the
8183 compilation flag regexp/newline above)
8185 **** Function: regexp? OBJ
8186 Return `#t' if OBJ is a compiled regular expression, or `#f'
8189 Regular expressions are commonly used to find patterns in one string
8190 and replace them with the contents of another string.
8192 **** Function: regexp-substitute PORT MATCH [ITEM...]
8193 Write to the output port PORT selected contents of the match
8194 structure MATCH. Each ITEM specifies what should be written, and
8195 may be one of the following arguments:
8197 * A string. String arguments are written out verbatim.
8199 * An integer. The submatch with that number is written.
8201 * The symbol `pre'. The portion of the matched string preceding
8202 the regexp match is written.
8204 * The symbol `post'. The portion of the matched string
8205 following the regexp match is written.
8207 PORT may be `#f', in which case nothing is written; instead,
8208 `regexp-substitute' constructs a string from the specified ITEMs
8211 **** Function: regexp-substitute/global PORT REGEXP TARGET [ITEM...]
8212 Similar to `regexp-substitute', but can be used to perform global
8213 substitutions on STR. Instead of taking a match structure as an
8214 argument, `regexp-substitute/global' takes two string arguments: a
8215 REGEXP string describing a regular expression, and a TARGET string
8216 which should be matched against this regular expression.
8218 Each ITEM behaves as in REGEXP-SUBSTITUTE, with the following
8221 * A function may be supplied. When this function is called, it
8222 will be passed one argument: a match structure for a given
8223 regular expression match. It should return a string to be
8224 written out to PORT.
8226 * The `post' symbol causes `regexp-substitute/global' to recurse
8227 on the unmatched portion of STR. This *must* be supplied in
8228 order to perform global search-and-replace on STR; if it is
8229 not present among the ITEMs, then `regexp-substitute/global'
8230 will return after processing a single match.
8232 *** Match Structures
8234 A "match structure" is the object returned by `string-match' and
8235 `regexp-exec'. It describes which portion of a string, if any, matched
8236 the given regular expression. Match structures include: a reference to
8237 the string that was checked for matches; the starting and ending
8238 positions of the regexp match; and, if the regexp included any
8239 parenthesized subexpressions, the starting and ending positions of each
8242 In each of the regexp match functions described below, the `match'
8243 argument must be a match structure returned by a previous call to
8244 `string-match' or `regexp-exec'. Most of these functions return some
8245 information about the original target string that was matched against a
8246 regular expression; we will call that string TARGET for easy reference.
8248 **** Function: regexp-match? OBJ
8249 Return `#t' if OBJ is a match structure returned by a previous
8250 call to `regexp-exec', or `#f' otherwise.
8252 **** Function: match:substring MATCH [N]
8253 Return the portion of TARGET matched by subexpression number N.
8254 Submatch 0 (the default) represents the entire regexp match. If
8255 the regular expression as a whole matched, but the subexpression
8256 number N did not match, return `#f'.
8258 **** Function: match:start MATCH [N]
8259 Return the starting position of submatch number N.
8261 **** Function: match:end MATCH [N]
8262 Return the ending position of submatch number N.
8264 **** Function: match:prefix MATCH
8265 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET preceding the regexp match.
8267 **** Function: match:suffix MATCH
8268 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET following the regexp match.
8270 **** Function: match:count MATCH
8271 Return the number of parenthesized subexpressions from MATCH.
8272 Note that the entire regular expression match itself counts as a
8273 subexpression, and failed submatches are included in the count.
8275 **** Function: match:string MATCH
8276 Return the original TARGET string.
8278 *** Backslash Escapes
8280 Sometimes you will want a regexp to match characters like `*' or `$'
8281 exactly. For example, to check whether a particular string represents
8282 a menu entry from an Info node, it would be useful to match it against
8283 a regexp like `^* [^:]*::'. However, this won't work; because the
8284 asterisk is a metacharacter, it won't match the `*' at the beginning of
8285 the string. In this case, we want to make the first asterisk un-magic.
8287 You can do this by preceding the metacharacter with a backslash
8288 character `\'. (This is also called "quoting" the metacharacter, and
8289 is known as a "backslash escape".) When Guile sees a backslash in a
8290 regular expression, it considers the following glyph to be an ordinary
8291 character, no matter what special meaning it would ordinarily have.
8292 Therefore, we can make the above example work by changing the regexp to
8293 `^\* [^:]*::'. The `\*' sequence tells the regular expression engine
8294 to match only a single asterisk in the target string.
8296 Since the backslash is itself a metacharacter, you may force a
8297 regexp to match a backslash in the target string by preceding the
8298 backslash with itself. For example, to find variable references in a
8299 TeX program, you might want to find occurrences of the string `\let\'
8300 followed by any number of alphabetic characters. The regular expression
8301 `\\let\\[A-Za-z]*' would do this: the double backslashes in the regexp
8302 each match a single backslash in the target string.
8304 **** Function: regexp-quote STR
8305 Quote each special character found in STR with a backslash, and
8306 return the resulting string.
8308 *Very important:* Using backslash escapes in Guile source code (as
8309 in Emacs Lisp or C) can be tricky, because the backslash character has
8310 special meaning for the Guile reader. For example, if Guile encounters
8311 the character sequence `\n' in the middle of a string while processing
8312 Scheme code, it replaces those characters with a newline character.
8313 Similarly, the character sequence `\t' is replaced by a horizontal tab.
8314 Several of these "escape sequences" are processed by the Guile reader
8315 before your code is executed. Unrecognized escape sequences are
8316 ignored: if the characters `\*' appear in a string, they will be
8317 translated to the single character `*'.
8319 This translation is obviously undesirable for regular expressions,
8320 since we want to be able to include backslashes in a string in order to
8321 escape regexp metacharacters. Therefore, to make sure that a backslash
8322 is preserved in a string in your Guile program, you must use *two*
8323 consecutive backslashes:
8325 (define Info-menu-entry-pattern (make-regexp "^\\* [^:]*"))
8327 The string in this example is preprocessed by the Guile reader before
8328 any code is executed. The resulting argument to `make-regexp' is the
8329 string `^\* [^:]*', which is what we really want.
8331 This also means that in order to write a regular expression that
8332 matches a single backslash character, the regular expression string in
8333 the source code must include *four* backslashes. Each consecutive pair
8334 of backslashes gets translated by the Guile reader to a single
8335 backslash, and the resulting double-backslash is interpreted by the
8336 regexp engine as matching a single backslash character. Hence:
8338 (define tex-variable-pattern (make-regexp "\\\\let\\\\=[A-Za-z]*"))
8340 The reason for the unwieldiness of this syntax is historical. Both
8341 regular expression pattern matchers and Unix string processing systems
8342 have traditionally used backslashes with the special meanings described
8343 above. The POSIX regular expression specification and ANSI C standard
8344 both require these semantics. Attempting to abandon either convention
8345 would cause other kinds of compatibility problems, possibly more severe
8346 ones. Therefore, without extending the Scheme reader to support
8347 strings with different quoting conventions (an ungainly and confusing
8348 extension when implemented in other languages), we must adhere to this
8349 cumbersome escape syntax.
8351 * Changes to the gh_ interface
8353 * Changes to the scm_ interface
8355 * Changes to system call interfaces:
8357 ** The value returned by `raise' is now unspecified. It throws an exception
8360 *** A new procedure `sigaction' can be used to install signal handlers
8362 (sigaction signum [action] [flags])
8364 signum is the signal number, which can be specified using the value
8367 If action is omitted, sigaction returns a pair: the CAR is the current
8368 signal hander, which will be either an integer with the value SIG_DFL
8369 (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or the Scheme procedure which
8370 handles the signal, or #f if a non-Scheme procedure handles the
8371 signal. The CDR contains the current sigaction flags for the handler.
8373 If action is provided, it is installed as the new handler for signum.
8374 action can be a Scheme procedure taking one argument, or the value of
8375 SIG_DFL (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or #f to restore
8376 whatever signal handler was installed before sigaction was first used.
8377 Flags can optionally be specified for the new handler (SA_RESTART is
8378 always used if the system provides it, so need not be specified.) The
8379 return value is a pair with information about the old handler as
8382 This interface does not provide access to the "signal blocking"
8383 facility. Maybe this is not needed, since the thread support may
8384 provide solutions to the problem of consistent access to data
8387 *** A new procedure `flush-all-ports' is equivalent to running
8388 `force-output' on every port open for output.
8390 ** Guile now provides information on how it was built, via the new
8391 global variable, %guile-build-info. This variable records the values
8392 of the standard GNU makefile directory variables as an assocation
8393 list, mapping variable names (symbols) onto directory paths (strings).
8394 For example, to find out where the Guile link libraries were
8395 installed, you can say:
8397 guile -c "(display (assq-ref %guile-build-info 'libdir)) (newline)"
8400 * Changes to the scm_ interface
8402 ** The new function scm_handle_by_message_noexit is just like the
8403 existing scm_handle_by_message function, except that it doesn't call
8404 exit to terminate the process. Instead, it prints a message and just
8405 returns #f. This might be a more appropriate catch-all handler for
8406 new dynamic roots and threads.
8409 Changes in Guile 1.1 (released Friday, May 16 1997):
8411 * Changes to the distribution.
8413 The Guile 1.0 distribution has been split up into several smaller
8415 guile-core --- the Guile interpreter itself.
8416 guile-tcltk --- the interface between the Guile interpreter and
8417 Tcl/Tk; Tcl is an interpreter for a stringy language, and Tk
8418 is a toolkit for building graphical user interfaces.
8419 guile-rgx-ctax --- the interface between Guile and the Rx regular
8420 expression matcher, and the translator for the Ctax
8421 programming language. These are packaged together because the
8422 Ctax translator uses Rx to parse Ctax source code.
8424 This NEWS file describes the changes made to guile-core since the 1.0
8427 We no longer distribute the documentation, since it was either out of
8428 date, or incomplete. As soon as we have current documentation, we
8433 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
8435 ** guile now accepts command-line arguments compatible with SCSH, Olin
8436 Shivers' Scheme Shell.
8438 In general, arguments are evaluated from left to right, but there are
8439 exceptions. The following switches stop argument processing, and
8440 stash all remaining command-line arguments as the value returned by
8441 the (command-line) function.
8442 -s SCRIPT load Scheme source code from FILE, and exit
8443 -c EXPR evalute Scheme expression EXPR, and exit
8444 -- stop scanning arguments; run interactively
8446 The switches below are processed as they are encountered.
8447 -l FILE load Scheme source code from FILE
8448 -e FUNCTION after reading script, apply FUNCTION to
8449 command line arguments
8450 -ds do -s script at this point
8451 --emacs enable Emacs protocol (experimental)
8452 -h, --help display this help and exit
8453 -v, --version display version information and exit
8454 \ read arguments from following script lines
8456 So, for example, here is a Guile script named `ekko' (thanks, Olin)
8457 which re-implements the traditional "echo" command:
8459 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
8462 (map (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
8466 (main (command-line))
8468 Suppose we invoke this script as follows:
8470 ekko a speckled gecko
8472 Through the magic of Unix script processing (triggered by the `#!'
8473 token at the top of the file), /usr/local/bin/guile receives the
8474 following list of command-line arguments:
8476 ("-s" "./ekko" "a" "speckled" "gecko")
8478 Unix inserts the name of the script after the argument specified on
8479 the first line of the file (in this case, "-s"), and then follows that
8480 with the arguments given to the script. Guile loads the script, which
8481 defines the `main' function, and then applies it to the list of
8482 remaining command-line arguments, ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
8484 In Unix, the first line of a script file must take the following form:
8486 #!INTERPRETER ARGUMENT
8488 where INTERPRETER is the absolute filename of the interpreter
8489 executable, and ARGUMENT is a single command-line argument to pass to
8492 You may only pass one argument to the interpreter, and its length is
8493 limited. These restrictions can be annoying to work around, so Guile
8494 provides a general mechanism (borrowed from, and compatible with,
8495 SCSH) for circumventing them.
8497 If the ARGUMENT in a Guile script is a single backslash character,
8498 `\', Guile will open the script file, parse arguments from its second
8499 and subsequent lines, and replace the `\' with them. So, for example,
8500 here is another implementation of the `ekko' script:
8502 #!/usr/local/bin/guile \
8506 (for-each (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
8510 If the user invokes this script as follows:
8512 ekko a speckled gecko
8514 Unix expands this into
8516 /usr/local/bin/guile \ ekko a speckled gecko
8518 When Guile sees the `\' argument, it replaces it with the arguments
8519 read from the second line of the script, producing:
8521 /usr/local/bin/guile -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
8523 This tells Guile to load the `ekko' script, and apply the function
8524 `main' to the argument list ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
8526 Here is how Guile parses the command-line arguments:
8527 - Each space character terminates an argument. This means that two
8528 spaces in a row introduce an empty-string argument.
8529 - The tab character is not permitted (unless you quote it with the
8530 backslash character, as described below), to avoid confusion.
8531 - The newline character terminates the sequence of arguments, and will
8532 also terminate a final non-empty argument. (However, a newline
8533 following a space will not introduce a final empty-string argument;
8534 it only terminates the argument list.)
8535 - The backslash character is the escape character. It escapes
8536 backslash, space, tab, and newline. The ANSI C escape sequences
8537 like \n and \t are also supported. These produce argument
8538 constituents; the two-character combination \n doesn't act like a
8539 terminating newline. The escape sequence \NNN for exactly three
8540 octal digits reads as the character whose ASCII code is NNN. As
8541 above, characters produced this way are argument constituents.
8542 Backslash followed by other characters is not allowed.
8544 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
8546 ** Guile now builds and installs a shared guile library, if your
8547 system support shared libraries. (It still builds a static library on
8548 all systems.) Guile automatically detects whether your system
8549 supports shared libraries. To prevent Guile from buildisg shared
8550 libraries, pass the `--disable-shared' flag to the configure script.
8552 Guile takes longer to compile when it builds shared libraries, because
8553 it must compile every file twice --- once to produce position-
8554 independent object code, and once to produce normal object code.
8556 ** The libthreads library has been merged into libguile.
8558 To link a program against Guile, you now need only link against
8559 -lguile and -lqt; -lthreads is no longer needed. If you are using
8560 autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your application, the
8561 following lines should suffice to add the appropriate libraries to
8564 ### Find quickthreads and libguile.
8565 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
8566 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
8568 * Changes to Scheme functions
8570 ** Guile Scheme's special syntax for keyword objects is now optional,
8571 and disabled by default.
8573 The syntax variation from R4RS made it difficult to port some
8574 interesting packages to Guile. The routines which accepted keyword
8575 arguments (mostly in the module system) have been modified to also
8576 accept symbols whose names begin with `:'.
8578 To change the keyword syntax, you must first import the (ice-9 debug)
8580 (use-modules (ice-9 debug))
8582 Then you can enable the keyword syntax as follows:
8583 (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
8585 To disable keyword syntax, do this:
8586 (read-set! keywords #f)
8588 ** Many more primitive functions accept shared substrings as
8589 arguments. In the past, these functions required normal, mutable
8590 strings as arguments, although they never made use of this
8593 ** The uniform array functions now operate on byte vectors. These
8594 functions are `array-fill!', `serial-array-copy!', `array-copy!',
8595 `serial-array-map', `array-map', `array-for-each', and
8598 ** The new functions `trace' and `untrace' implement simple debugging
8599 support for Scheme functions.
8601 The `trace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
8602 and tells the Guile interpreter to display each procedure's name and
8603 arguments each time the procedure is invoked. When invoked with no
8604 arguments, `trace' returns the list of procedures currently being
8607 The `untrace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
8608 and tells the Guile interpreter not to trace them any more. When
8609 invoked with no arguments, `untrace' untraces all curretly traced
8612 The tracing in Guile has an advantage over most other systems: we
8613 don't create new procedure objects, but mark the procedure objects
8614 themselves. This means that anonymous and internal procedures can be
8617 ** The function `assert-repl-prompt' has been renamed to
8618 `set-repl-prompt!'. It takes one argument, PROMPT.
8619 - If PROMPT is #f, the Guile read-eval-print loop will not prompt.
8620 - If PROMPT is a string, we use it as a prompt.
8621 - If PROMPT is a procedure accepting no arguments, we call it, and
8622 display the result as a prompt.
8623 - Otherwise, we display "> ".
8625 ** The new function `eval-string' reads Scheme expressions from a
8626 string and evaluates them, returning the value of the last expression
8627 in the string. If the string contains no expressions, it returns an
8630 ** The new function `thunk?' returns true iff its argument is a
8631 procedure of zero arguments.
8633 ** `defined?' is now a builtin function, instead of syntax. This
8634 means that its argument should be quoted. It returns #t iff its
8635 argument is bound in the current module.
8637 ** The new syntax `use-modules' allows you to add new modules to your
8638 environment without re-typing a complete `define-module' form. It
8639 accepts any number of module names as arguments, and imports their
8640 public bindings into the current module.
8642 ** The new function (module-defined? NAME MODULE) returns true iff
8643 NAME, a symbol, is defined in MODULE, a module object.
8645 ** The new function `builtin-bindings' creates and returns a hash
8646 table containing copies of all the root module's bindings.
8648 ** The new function `builtin-weak-bindings' does the same as
8649 `builtin-bindings', but creates a doubly-weak hash table.
8651 ** The `equal?' function now considers variable objects to be
8652 equivalent if they have the same name and the same value.
8654 ** The new function `command-line' returns the command-line arguments
8655 given to Guile, as a list of strings.
8657 When using guile as a script interpreter, `command-line' returns the
8658 script's arguments; those processed by the interpreter (like `-s' or
8659 `-c') are omitted. (In other words, you get the normal, expected
8660 behavior.) Any application that uses scm_shell to process its
8661 command-line arguments gets this behavior as well.
8663 ** The new function `load-user-init' looks for a file called `.guile'
8664 in the user's home directory, and loads it if it exists. This is
8665 mostly for use by the code generated by scm_compile_shell_switches,
8666 but we thought it might also be useful in other circumstances.
8668 ** The new function `log10' returns the base-10 logarithm of its
8671 ** Changes to I/O functions
8673 *** The functions `read', `primitive-load', `read-and-eval!', and
8674 `primitive-load-path' no longer take optional arguments controlling
8675 case insensitivity and a `#' parser.
8677 Case sensitivity is now controlled by a read option called
8678 `case-insensitive'. The user can add new `#' syntaxes with the
8679 `read-hash-extend' function (see below).
8681 *** The new function `read-hash-extend' allows the user to change the
8682 syntax of Guile Scheme in a somewhat controlled way.
8684 (read-hash-extend CHAR PROC)
8685 When parsing S-expressions, if we read a `#' character followed by
8686 the character CHAR, use PROC to parse an object from the stream.
8687 If PROC is #f, remove any parsing procedure registered for CHAR.
8689 The reader applies PROC to two arguments: CHAR and an input port.
8691 *** The new functions read-delimited and read-delimited! provide a
8692 general mechanism for doing delimited input on streams.
8694 (read-delimited DELIMS [PORT HANDLE-DELIM])
8695 Read until we encounter one of the characters in DELIMS (a string),
8696 or end-of-file. PORT is the input port to read from; it defaults to
8697 the current input port. The HANDLE-DELIM parameter determines how
8698 the terminating character is handled; it should be one of the
8701 'trim omit delimiter from result
8702 'peek leave delimiter character in input stream
8703 'concat append delimiter character to returned value
8704 'split return a pair: (RESULT . TERMINATOR)
8706 HANDLE-DELIM defaults to 'peek.
8708 (read-delimited! DELIMS BUF [PORT HANDLE-DELIM START END])
8709 A side-effecting variant of `read-delimited'.
8711 The data is written into the string BUF at the indices in the
8712 half-open interval [START, END); the default interval is the whole
8713 string: START = 0 and END = (string-length BUF). The values of
8714 START and END must specify a well-defined interval in BUF, i.e.
8715 0 <= START <= END <= (string-length BUF).
8717 It returns NBYTES, the number of bytes read. If the buffer filled
8718 up without a delimiter character being found, it returns #f. If the
8719 port is at EOF when the read starts, it returns the EOF object.
8721 If an integer is returned (i.e., the read is successfully terminated
8722 by reading a delimiter character), then the HANDLE-DELIM parameter
8723 determines how to handle the terminating character. It is described
8724 above, and defaults to 'peek.
8726 (The descriptions of these functions were borrowed from the SCSH
8727 manual, by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
8729 *** The `%read-delimited!' function is the primitive used to implement
8730 `read-delimited' and `read-delimited!'.
8732 (%read-delimited! DELIMS BUF GOBBLE? [PORT START END])
8734 This returns a pair of values: (TERMINATOR . NUM-READ).
8735 - TERMINATOR describes why the read was terminated. If it is a
8736 character or the eof object, then that is the value that terminated
8737 the read. If it is #f, the function filled the buffer without finding
8738 a delimiting character.
8739 - NUM-READ is the number of characters read into BUF.
8741 If the read is successfully terminated by reading a delimiter
8742 character, then the gobble? parameter determines what to do with the
8743 terminating character. If true, the character is removed from the
8744 input stream; if false, the character is left in the input stream
8745 where a subsequent read operation will retrieve it. In either case,
8746 the character is also the first value returned by the procedure call.
8748 (The descriptions of this function was borrowed from the SCSH manual,
8749 by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
8751 *** The `read-line' and `read-line!' functions have changed; they now
8752 trim the terminator by default; previously they appended it to the
8753 returned string. For the old behavior, use (read-line PORT 'concat).
8755 *** The functions `uniform-array-read!' and `uniform-array-write!' now
8756 take new optional START and END arguments, specifying the region of
8757 the array to read and write.
8759 *** The `ungetc-char-ready?' function has been removed. We feel it's
8760 inappropriate for an interface to expose implementation details this
8763 ** Changes to the Unix library and system call interface
8765 *** The new fcntl function provides access to the Unix `fcntl' system
8768 (fcntl PORT COMMAND VALUE)
8769 Apply COMMAND to PORT's file descriptor, with VALUE as an argument.
8770 Values for COMMAND are:
8772 F_DUPFD duplicate a file descriptor
8773 F_GETFD read the descriptor's close-on-exec flag
8774 F_SETFD set the descriptor's close-on-exec flag to VALUE
8775 F_GETFL read the descriptor's flags, as set on open
8776 F_SETFL set the descriptor's flags, as set on open to VALUE
8777 F_GETOWN return the process ID of a socket's owner, for SIGIO
8778 F_SETOWN set the process that owns a socket to VALUE, for SIGIO
8779 FD_CLOEXEC not sure what this is
8781 For details, see the documentation for the fcntl system call.
8783 *** The arguments to `select' have changed, for compatibility with
8784 SCSH. The TIMEOUT parameter may now be non-integral, yielding the
8785 expected behavior. The MILLISECONDS parameter has been changed to
8786 MICROSECONDS, to more closely resemble the underlying system call.
8787 The RVEC, WVEC, and EVEC arguments can now be vectors; the type of the
8788 corresponding return set will be the same.
8790 *** The arguments to the `mknod' system call have changed. They are
8793 (mknod PATH TYPE PERMS DEV)
8794 Create a new file (`node') in the file system. PATH is the name of
8795 the file to create. TYPE is the kind of file to create; it should
8796 be 'fifo, 'block-special, or 'char-special. PERMS specifies the
8797 permission bits to give the newly created file. If TYPE is
8798 'block-special or 'char-special, DEV specifies which device the
8799 special file refers to; its interpretation depends on the kind of
8800 special file being created.
8802 *** The `fork' function has been renamed to `primitive-fork', to avoid
8803 clashing with various SCSH forks.
8805 *** The `recv' and `recvfrom' functions have been renamed to `recv!'
8806 and `recvfrom!'. They no longer accept a size for a second argument;
8807 you must pass a string to hold the received value. They no longer
8808 return the buffer. Instead, `recv' returns the length of the message
8809 received, and `recvfrom' returns a pair containing the packet's length
8810 and originating address.
8812 *** The file descriptor datatype has been removed, as have the
8813 `read-fd', `write-fd', `close', `lseek', and `dup' functions.
8814 We plan to replace these functions with a SCSH-compatible interface.
8816 *** The `create' function has been removed; it's just a special case
8819 *** There are new functions to break down process termination status
8820 values. In the descriptions below, STATUS is a value returned by
8823 (status:exit-val STATUS)
8824 If the child process exited normally, this function returns the exit
8825 code for the child process (i.e., the value passed to exit, or
8826 returned from main). If the child process did not exit normally,
8827 this function returns #f.
8829 (status:stop-sig STATUS)
8830 If the child process was suspended by a signal, this function
8831 returns the signal that suspended the child. Otherwise, it returns
8834 (status:term-sig STATUS)
8835 If the child process terminated abnormally, this function returns
8836 the signal that terminated the child. Otherwise, this function
8839 POSIX promises that exactly one of these functions will return true on
8840 a valid STATUS value.
8842 These functions are compatible with SCSH.
8844 *** There are new accessors and setters for the broken-out time vectors
8845 returned by `localtime', `gmtime', and that ilk. They are:
8847 Component Accessor Setter
8848 ========================= ============ ============
8849 seconds tm:sec set-tm:sec
8850 minutes tm:min set-tm:min
8851 hours tm:hour set-tm:hour
8852 day of the month tm:mday set-tm:mday
8853 month tm:mon set-tm:mon
8854 year tm:year set-tm:year
8855 day of the week tm:wday set-tm:wday
8856 day in the year tm:yday set-tm:yday
8857 daylight saving time tm:isdst set-tm:isdst
8858 GMT offset, seconds tm:gmtoff set-tm:gmtoff
8859 name of time zone tm:zone set-tm:zone
8861 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `uname',
8862 describing the host system:
8865 ============================================== ================
8866 name of the operating system implementation utsname:sysname
8867 network name of this machine utsname:nodename
8868 release level of the operating system utsname:release
8869 version level of the operating system utsname:version
8870 machine hardware platform utsname:machine
8872 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getpw',
8873 `getpwnam', `getpwuid', and `getpwent', describing entries from the
8874 system's user database:
8877 ====================== =================
8878 user name passwd:name
8879 user password passwd:passwd
8882 real name passwd:gecos
8883 home directory passwd:dir
8884 shell program passwd:shell
8886 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getgr',
8887 `getgrnam', `getgrgid', and `getgrent', describing entries from the
8888 system's group database:
8891 ======================= ============
8892 group name group:name
8893 group password group:passwd
8895 group members group:mem
8897 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `gethost',
8898 `gethostbyaddr', `gethostbyname', and `gethostent', describing
8902 ========================= ===============
8903 official name of host hostent:name
8904 alias list hostent:aliases
8905 host address type hostent:addrtype
8906 length of address hostent:length
8907 list of addresses hostent:addr-list
8909 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getnet',
8910 `getnetbyaddr', `getnetbyname', and `getnetent', describing internet
8914 ========================= ===============
8915 official name of net netent:name
8916 alias list netent:aliases
8917 net number type netent:addrtype
8918 net number netent:net
8920 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getproto',
8921 `getprotobyname', `getprotobynumber', and `getprotoent', describing
8925 ========================= ===============
8926 official protocol name protoent:name
8927 alias list protoent:aliases
8928 protocol number protoent:proto
8930 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getserv',
8931 `getservbyname', `getservbyport', and `getservent', describing
8935 ========================= ===============
8936 official service name servent:name
8937 alias list servent:aliases
8938 port number servent:port
8939 protocol to use servent:proto
8941 *** There are new accessors for the sockaddr structures returned by
8942 `accept', `getsockname', `getpeername', `recvfrom!':
8945 ======================================== ===============
8946 address format (`family') sockaddr:fam
8947 path, for file domain addresses sockaddr:path
8948 address, for internet domain addresses sockaddr:addr
8949 TCP or UDP port, for internet sockaddr:port
8951 *** The `getpwent', `getgrent', `gethostent', `getnetent',
8952 `getprotoent', and `getservent' functions now return #f at the end of
8953 the user database. (They used to throw an exception.)
8955 Note that calling MUMBLEent function is equivalent to calling the
8956 corresponding MUMBLE function with no arguments.
8958 *** The `setpwent', `setgrent', `sethostent', `setnetent',
8959 `setprotoent', and `setservent' routines now take no arguments.
8961 *** The `gethost', `getproto', `getnet', and `getserv' functions now
8962 provide more useful information when they throw an exception.
8964 *** The `lnaof' function has been renamed to `inet-lnaof'.
8966 *** Guile now claims to have the `current-time' feature.
8968 *** The `mktime' function now takes an optional second argument ZONE,
8969 giving the time zone to use for the conversion. ZONE should be a
8970 string, in the same format as expected for the "TZ" environment variable.
8972 *** The `strptime' function now returns a pair (TIME . COUNT), where
8973 TIME is the parsed time as a vector, and COUNT is the number of
8974 characters from the string left unparsed. This function used to
8975 return the remaining characters as a string.
8977 *** The `gettimeofday' function has replaced the old `time+ticks' function.
8978 The return value is now (SECONDS . MICROSECONDS); the fractional
8979 component is no longer expressed in "ticks".
8981 *** The `ticks/sec' constant has been removed, in light of the above change.
8983 * Changes to the gh_ interface
8985 ** gh_eval_str() now returns an SCM object which is the result of the
8988 ** gh_scm2str() now copies the Scheme data to a caller-provided C
8991 ** gh_scm2newstr() now makes a C array, copies the Scheme data to it,
8992 and returns the array
8994 ** gh_scm2str0() is gone: there is no need to distinguish
8995 null-terminated from non-null-terminated, since gh_scm2newstr() allows
8996 the user to interpret the data both ways.
8998 * Changes to the scm_ interface
9000 ** The new function scm_symbol_value0 provides an easy way to get a
9001 symbol's value from C code:
9003 SCM scm_symbol_value0 (char *NAME)
9004 Return the value of the symbol named by the null-terminated string
9005 NAME in the current module. If the symbol named NAME is unbound in
9006 the current module, return SCM_UNDEFINED.
9008 ** The new function scm_sysintern0 creates new top-level variables,
9009 without assigning them a value.
9011 SCM scm_sysintern0 (char *NAME)
9012 Create a new Scheme top-level variable named NAME. NAME is a
9013 null-terminated string. Return the variable's value cell.
9015 ** The function scm_internal_catch is the guts of catch. It handles
9016 all the mechanics of setting up a catch target, invoking the catch
9017 body, and perhaps invoking the handler if the body does a throw.
9019 The function is designed to be usable from C code, but is general
9020 enough to implement all the semantics Guile Scheme expects from throw.
9022 TAG is the catch tag. Typically, this is a symbol, but this function
9023 doesn't actually care about that.
9025 BODY is a pointer to a C function which runs the body of the catch;
9026 this is the code you can throw from. We call it like this:
9027 BODY (BODY_DATA, JMPBUF)
9029 BODY_DATA is just the BODY_DATA argument we received; we pass it
9030 through to BODY as its first argument. The caller can make
9031 BODY_DATA point to anything useful that BODY might need.
9032 JMPBUF is the Scheme jmpbuf object corresponding to this catch,
9033 which we have just created and initialized.
9035 HANDLER is a pointer to a C function to deal with a throw to TAG,
9036 should one occur. We call it like this:
9037 HANDLER (HANDLER_DATA, THROWN_TAG, THROW_ARGS)
9039 HANDLER_DATA is the HANDLER_DATA argument we recevied; it's the
9040 same idea as BODY_DATA above.
9041 THROWN_TAG is the tag that the user threw to; usually this is
9042 TAG, but it could be something else if TAG was #t (i.e., a
9043 catch-all), or the user threw to a jmpbuf.
9044 THROW_ARGS is the list of arguments the user passed to the THROW
9047 BODY_DATA is just a pointer we pass through to BODY. HANDLER_DATA
9048 is just a pointer we pass through to HANDLER. We don't actually
9049 use either of those pointers otherwise ourselves. The idea is
9050 that, if our caller wants to communicate something to BODY or
9051 HANDLER, it can pass a pointer to it as MUMBLE_DATA, which BODY and
9052 HANDLER can then use. Think of it as a way to make BODY and
9053 HANDLER closures, not just functions; MUMBLE_DATA points to the
9056 Of course, it's up to the caller to make sure that any data a
9057 MUMBLE_DATA needs is protected from GC. A common way to do this is
9058 to make MUMBLE_DATA a pointer to data stored in an automatic
9059 structure variable; since the collector must scan the stack for
9060 references anyway, this assures that any references in MUMBLE_DATA
9063 ** The new function scm_internal_lazy_catch is exactly like
9064 scm_internal_catch, except:
9066 - It does not unwind the stack (this is the major difference).
9067 - If handler returns, its value is returned from the throw.
9068 - BODY always receives #f as its JMPBUF argument (since there's no
9069 jmpbuf associated with a lazy catch, because we don't unwind the
9072 ** scm_body_thunk is a new body function you can pass to
9073 scm_internal_catch if you want the body to be like Scheme's `catch'
9074 --- a thunk, or a function of one argument if the tag is #f.
9076 BODY_DATA is a pointer to a scm_body_thunk_data structure, which
9077 contains the Scheme procedure to invoke as the body, and the tag
9078 we're catching. If the tag is #f, then we pass JMPBUF (created by
9079 scm_internal_catch) to the body procedure; otherwise, the body gets
9082 ** scm_handle_by_proc is a new handler function you can pass to
9083 scm_internal_catch if you want the handler to act like Scheme's catch
9084 --- call a procedure with the tag and the throw arguments.
9086 If the user does a throw to this catch, this function runs a handler
9087 procedure written in Scheme. HANDLER_DATA is a pointer to an SCM
9088 variable holding the Scheme procedure object to invoke. It ought to
9089 be a pointer to an automatic variable (i.e., one living on the stack),
9090 or the procedure object should be otherwise protected from GC.
9092 ** scm_handle_by_message is a new handler function to use with
9093 `scm_internal_catch' if you want Guile to print a message and die.
9094 It's useful for dealing with throws to uncaught keys at the top level.
9096 HANDLER_DATA, if non-zero, is assumed to be a char * pointing to a
9097 message header to print; if zero, we use "guile" instead. That
9098 text is followed by a colon, then the message described by ARGS.
9100 ** The return type of scm_boot_guile is now void; the function does
9101 not return a value, and indeed, never returns at all.
9103 ** The new function scm_shell makes it easy for user applications to
9104 process command-line arguments in a way that is compatible with the
9105 stand-alone guile interpreter (which is in turn compatible with SCSH,
9108 To use the scm_shell function, first initialize any guile modules
9109 linked into your application, and then call scm_shell with the values
9110 of ARGC and ARGV your `main' function received. scm_shell will add
9111 any SCSH-style meta-arguments from the top of the script file to the
9112 argument vector, and then process the command-line arguments. This
9113 generally means loading a script file or starting up an interactive
9114 command interpreter. For details, see "Changes to the stand-alone
9117 ** The new functions scm_get_meta_args and scm_count_argv help you
9118 implement the SCSH-style meta-argument, `\'.
9120 char **scm_get_meta_args (int ARGC, char **ARGV)
9121 If the second element of ARGV is a string consisting of a single
9122 backslash character (i.e. "\\" in Scheme notation), open the file
9123 named by the following argument, parse arguments from it, and return
9124 the spliced command line. The returned array is terminated by a
9127 For details of argument parsing, see above, under "guile now accepts
9128 command-line arguments compatible with SCSH..."
9130 int scm_count_argv (char **ARGV)
9131 Count the arguments in ARGV, assuming it is terminated by a null
9134 For an example of how these functions might be used, see the source
9135 code for the function scm_shell in libguile/script.c.
9137 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
9140 ** The new function scm_compile_shell_switches turns an array of
9141 command-line arguments into Scheme code to carry out the actions they
9142 describe. Given ARGC and ARGV, it returns a Scheme expression to
9143 evaluate, and calls scm_set_program_arguments to make any remaining
9144 command-line arguments available to the Scheme code. For example,
9145 given the following arguments:
9147 -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
9149 scm_set_program_arguments will return the following expression:
9151 (begin (load "ekko") (main (command-line)) (quit))
9153 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
9156 ** The function scm_shell_usage prints a usage message appropriate for
9157 an interpreter that uses scm_compile_shell_switches to handle its
9158 command-line arguments.
9160 void scm_shell_usage (int FATAL, char *MESSAGE)
9161 Print a usage message to the standard error output. If MESSAGE is
9162 non-zero, write it before the usage message, followed by a newline.
9163 If FATAL is non-zero, exit the process, using FATAL as the
9164 termination status. (If you want to be compatible with Guile,
9165 always use 1 as the exit status when terminating due to command-line
9168 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
9171 ** scm_eval_0str now returns SCM_UNSPECIFIED if the string contains no
9172 expressions. It used to return SCM_EOL. Earth-shattering.
9174 ** The macros for declaring scheme objects in C code have been
9175 rearranged slightly. They are now:
9177 SCM_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
9178 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
9179 point to the Scheme symbol whose name is SCHEME_NAME. C_NAME should
9180 be a C identifier, and SCHEME_NAME should be a C string.
9182 SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
9183 Just like SCM_SYMBOL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
9185 SCM_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
9186 Create a global variable at the Scheme level named SCHEME_NAME.
9187 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
9188 point to the Scheme variable's value cell.
9190 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
9191 Just like SCM_VCELL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
9193 The `guile-snarf' script writes initialization code for these macros
9194 to its standard output, given C source code as input.
9196 The SCM_GLOBAL macro is gone.
9198 ** The scm_read_line and scm_read_line_x functions have been replaced
9199 by Scheme code based on the %read-delimited! procedure (known to C
9200 code as scm_read_delimited_x). See its description above for more
9203 ** The function scm_sys_open has been renamed to scm_open. It now
9204 returns a port instead of an FD object.
9206 * The dynamic linking support has changed. For more information, see
9207 libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING.
9212 User-visible changes from Thursday, September 5, 1996 until Guile 1.0
9215 * Changes to the 'guile' program:
9217 ** Guile now loads some new files when it starts up. Guile first
9218 searches the load path for init.scm, and loads it if found. Then, if
9219 Guile is not being used to execute a script, and the user's home
9220 directory contains a file named `.guile', Guile loads that.
9222 ** You can now use Guile as a shell script interpreter.
9224 To paraphrase the SCSH manual:
9226 When Unix tries to execute an executable file whose first two
9227 characters are the `#!', it treats the file not as machine code to
9228 be directly executed by the native processor, but as source code
9229 to be executed by some interpreter. The interpreter to use is
9230 specified immediately after the #! sequence on the first line of
9231 the source file. The kernel reads in the name of the interpreter,
9232 and executes that instead. It passes the interpreter the source
9233 filename as its first argument, with the original arguments
9234 following. Consult the Unix man page for the `exec' system call
9235 for more information.
9237 Now you can use Guile as an interpreter, using a mechanism which is a
9238 compatible subset of that provided by SCSH.
9240 Guile now recognizes a '-s' command line switch, whose argument is the
9241 name of a file of Scheme code to load. It also treats the two
9242 characters `#!' as the start of a comment, terminated by `!#'. Thus,
9243 to make a file of Scheme code directly executable by Unix, insert the
9244 following two lines at the top of the file:
9246 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
9249 Guile treats the argument of the `-s' command-line switch as the name
9250 of a file of Scheme code to load, and treats the sequence `#!' as the
9251 start of a block comment, terminated by `!#'.
9253 For example, here's a version of 'echo' written in Scheme:
9255 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
9257 (let loop ((args (cdr (program-arguments))))
9260 (display (car args))
9261 (if (pair? (cdr args))
9263 (loop (cdr args)))))
9266 Why does `#!' start a block comment terminated by `!#', instead of the
9267 end of the line? That is the notation SCSH uses, and although we
9268 don't yet support the other SCSH features that motivate that choice,
9269 we would like to be backward-compatible with any existing Guile
9270 scripts once we do. Furthermore, if the path to Guile on your system
9271 is too long for your kernel, you can start the script with this
9275 exec /really/long/path/to/guile -s "$0" ${1+"$@"}
9278 Note that some very old Unix systems don't support the `#!' syntax.
9281 ** You can now run Guile without installing it.
9283 Previous versions of the interactive Guile interpreter (`guile')
9284 couldn't start up unless Guile's Scheme library had been installed;
9285 they used the value of the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH'
9286 later on in the startup process, but not to find the startup code
9287 itself. Now Guile uses `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' in all searches for Scheme
9290 To run Guile without installing it, build it in the normal way, and
9291 then set the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' to a
9292 colon-separated list of directories, including the top-level directory
9293 of the Guile sources. For example, if you unpacked Guile so that the
9294 full filename of this NEWS file is /home/jimb/guile-1.0b3/NEWS, then
9297 export SCHEME_LOAD_PATH=/home/jimb/my-scheme:/home/jimb/guile-1.0b3
9300 ** Guile's read-eval-print loop no longer prints #<unspecified>
9301 results. If the user wants to see this, she can evaluate the
9302 expression (assert-repl-print-unspecified #t), perhaps in her startup
9305 ** Guile no longer shows backtraces by default when an error occurs;
9306 however, it does display a message saying how to get one, and how to
9307 request that they be displayed by default. After an error, evaluate
9309 to see a backtrace, and
9310 (debug-enable 'backtrace)
9311 to see them by default.
9315 * Changes to Guile Scheme:
9317 ** Guile now distinguishes between #f and the empty list.
9319 This is for compatibility with the IEEE standard, the (possibly)
9320 upcoming Revised^5 Report on Scheme, and many extant Scheme
9323 Guile used to have #f and '() denote the same object, to make Scheme's
9324 type system more compatible with Emacs Lisp's. However, the change
9325 caused too much trouble for Scheme programmers, and we found another
9326 way to reconcile Emacs Lisp with Scheme that didn't require this.
9329 ** Guile's delq, delv, delete functions, and their destructive
9330 counterparts, delq!, delv!, and delete!, now remove all matching
9331 elements from the list, not just the first. This matches the behavior
9332 of the corresponding Emacs Lisp functions, and (I believe) the Maclisp
9333 functions which inspired them.
9335 I recognize that this change may break code in subtle ways, but it
9336 seems best to make the change before the FSF's first Guile release,
9340 ** The compiled-library-path function has been deleted from libguile.
9342 ** The facilities for loading Scheme source files have changed.
9344 *** The variable %load-path now tells Guile which directories to search
9345 for Scheme code. Its value is a list of strings, each of which names
9348 *** The variable %load-extensions now tells Guile which extensions to
9349 try appending to a filename when searching the load path. Its value
9350 is a list of strings. Its default value is ("" ".scm").
9352 *** (%search-load-path FILENAME) searches the directories listed in the
9353 value of the %load-path variable for a Scheme file named FILENAME,
9354 with all the extensions listed in %load-extensions. If it finds a
9355 match, then it returns its full filename. If FILENAME is absolute, it
9356 returns it unchanged. Otherwise, it returns #f.
9358 %search-load-path will not return matches that refer to directories.
9360 *** (primitive-load FILENAME :optional CASE-INSENSITIVE-P SHARP)
9361 uses %seach-load-path to find a file named FILENAME, and loads it if
9362 it finds it. If it can't read FILENAME for any reason, it throws an
9365 The arguments CASE-INSENSITIVE-P and SHARP are interpreted as by the
9368 *** load uses the same searching semantics as primitive-load.
9370 *** The functions %try-load, try-load-with-path, %load, load-with-path,
9371 basic-try-load-with-path, basic-load-with-path, try-load-module-with-
9372 path, and load-module-with-path have been deleted. The functions
9373 above should serve their purposes.
9375 *** If the value of the variable %load-hook is a procedure,
9376 `primitive-load' applies its value to the name of the file being
9377 loaded (without the load path directory name prepended). If its value
9378 is #f, it is ignored. Otherwise, an error occurs.
9380 This is mostly useful for printing load notification messages.
9383 ** The function `eval!' is no longer accessible from the scheme level.
9384 We can't allow operations which introduce glocs into the scheme level,
9385 because Guile's type system can't handle these as data. Use `eval' or
9386 `read-and-eval!' (see below) as replacement.
9388 ** The new function read-and-eval! reads an expression from PORT,
9389 evaluates it, and returns the result. This is more efficient than
9390 simply calling `read' and `eval', since it is not necessary to make a
9391 copy of the expression for the evaluator to munge.
9393 Its optional arguments CASE_INSENSITIVE_P and SHARP are interpreted as
9394 for the `read' function.
9397 ** The function `int?' has been removed; its definition was identical
9398 to that of `integer?'.
9400 ** The functions `<?', `<?', `<=?', `=?', `>?', and `>=?'. Code should
9401 use the R4RS names for these functions.
9403 ** The function object-properties no longer returns the hash handle;
9404 it simply returns the object's property list.
9406 ** Many functions have been changed to throw errors, instead of
9407 returning #f on failure. The point of providing exception handling in
9408 the language is to simplify the logic of user code, but this is less
9409 useful if Guile's primitives don't throw exceptions.
9411 ** The function `fileno' has been renamed from `%fileno'.
9413 ** The function primitive-mode->fdes returns #t or #f now, not 1 or 0.
9416 * Changes to Guile's C interface:
9418 ** The library's initialization procedure has been simplified.
9419 scm_boot_guile now has the prototype:
9421 void scm_boot_guile (int ARGC,
9423 void (*main_func) (),
9426 scm_boot_guile calls MAIN_FUNC, passing it CLOSURE, ARGC, and ARGV.
9427 MAIN_FUNC should do all the work of the program (initializing other
9428 packages, reading user input, etc.) before returning. When MAIN_FUNC
9429 returns, call exit (0); this function never returns. If you want some
9430 other exit value, MAIN_FUNC may call exit itself.
9432 scm_boot_guile arranges for program-arguments to return the strings
9433 given by ARGC and ARGV. If MAIN_FUNC modifies ARGC/ARGV, should call
9434 scm_set_program_arguments with the final list, so Scheme code will
9435 know which arguments have been processed.
9437 scm_boot_guile establishes a catch-all catch handler which prints an
9438 error message and exits the process. This means that Guile exits in a
9439 coherent way when system errors occur and the user isn't prepared to
9440 handle it. If the user doesn't like this behavior, they can establish
9441 their own universal catcher in MAIN_FUNC to shadow this one.
9443 Why must the caller do all the real work from MAIN_FUNC? The garbage
9444 collector assumes that all local variables of type SCM will be above
9445 scm_boot_guile's stack frame on the stack. If you try to manipulate
9446 SCM values after this function returns, it's the luck of the draw
9447 whether the GC will be able to find the objects you allocate. So,
9448 scm_boot_guile function exits, rather than returning, to discourage
9449 people from making that mistake.
9451 The IN, OUT, and ERR arguments were removed; there are other
9452 convenient ways to override these when desired.
9454 The RESULT argument was deleted; this function should never return.
9456 The BOOT_CMD argument was deleted; the MAIN_FUNC argument is more
9460 ** Guile's header files should no longer conflict with your system's
9463 In order to compile code which #included <libguile.h>, previous
9464 versions of Guile required you to add a directory containing all the
9465 Guile header files to your #include path. This was a problem, since
9466 Guile's header files have names which conflict with many systems'
9469 Now only <libguile.h> need appear in your #include path; you must
9470 refer to all Guile's other header files as <libguile/mumble.h>.
9471 Guile's installation procedure puts libguile.h in $(includedir), and
9472 the rest in $(includedir)/libguile.
9475 ** Two new C functions, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object,
9476 have been added to the Guile library.
9478 scm_protect_object (OBJ) protects OBJ from the garbage collector.
9479 OBJ will not be freed, even if all other references are dropped,
9480 until someone does scm_unprotect_object (OBJ). Both functions
9483 Note that calls to scm_protect_object do not nest. You can call
9484 scm_protect_object any number of times on a given object, and the
9485 next call to scm_unprotect_object will unprotect it completely.
9487 Basically, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object just
9488 maintain a list of references to things. Since the GC knows about
9489 this list, all objects it mentions stay alive. scm_protect_object
9490 adds its argument to the list; scm_unprotect_object remove its
9491 argument from the list.
9494 ** scm_eval_0str now returns the value of the last expression
9497 ** The new function scm_read_0str reads an s-expression from a
9498 null-terminated string, and returns it.
9500 ** The new function `scm_stdio_to_port' converts a STDIO file pointer
9501 to a Scheme port object.
9503 ** The new function `scm_set_program_arguments' allows C code to set
9504 the value returned by the Scheme `program-arguments' function.
9509 * Guile no longer includes sophisticated Tcl/Tk support.
9511 The old Tcl/Tk support was unsatisfying to us, because it required the
9512 user to link against the Tcl library, as well as Tk and Guile. The
9513 interface was also un-lispy, in that it preserved Tcl/Tk's practice of
9514 referring to widgets by names, rather than exporting widgets to Scheme
9515 code as a special datatype.
9517 In the Usenix Tk Developer's Workshop held in July 1996, the Tcl/Tk
9518 maintainers described some very interesting changes in progress to the
9519 Tcl/Tk internals, which would facilitate clean interfaces between lone
9520 Tk and other interpreters --- even for garbage-collected languages
9521 like Scheme. They expected the new Tk to be publicly available in the
9524 Since it seems that Guile might soon have a new, cleaner interface to
9525 lone Tk, and that the old Guile/Tk glue code would probably need to be
9526 completely rewritten, we (Jim Blandy and Richard Stallman) have
9527 decided not to support the old code. We'll spend the time instead on
9528 a good interface to the newer Tk, as soon as it is available.
9530 Until then, gtcltk-lib provides trivial, low-maintenance functionality.
9533 Copyright information:
9535 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
9537 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
9538 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
9539 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
9540 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
9542 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
9543 of this document, or of portions of it,
9544 under the above conditions, provided also that they
9545 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
9550 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"