1 Guile NEWS --- history of user-visible changes.
2 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3 See the end for copying conditions.
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9 Each release reports the NEWS in the following sections:
11 * Changes to the distribution
12 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
13 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
14 * Changes to the C interface
17 Changes in 1.9.XXXXXXXX:
19 * Changes to the distribution
20 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
21 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
23 ** A new 'memoize-symbol evaluator trap has been added. This trap can
24 be used for efficiently implementing a Scheme code coverage.
26 * Changes to the C interface
28 ** Functions for handling scm_option now no longer require an argument
29 indicating length of the scm_t_option array.
32 Changes in 1.8.3 (since 1.8.2)
34 * New modules (see the manual for details)
39 Changes in 1.8.2 (since 1.8.1):
41 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
43 ** set-program-arguments
48 ** Fractions were not `equal?' if stored in unreduced form.
49 (A subtle problem, since printing a value reduced it, making it work.)
50 ** srfi-60 `copy-bit' failed on 64-bit systems
51 ** "guile --use-srfi" option at the REPL can replace core functions
52 (Programs run with that option were ok, but in the interactive REPL
53 the core bindings got priority, preventing SRFI replacements or
55 ** `regexp-exec' doesn't abort() on #\nul in the input or bad flags arg
56 ** `kill' on mingw throws an error for a PID other than oneself
57 ** Procedure names are attached to procedure-with-setters
58 ** Array read syntax works with negative lower bound
59 ** `array-in-bounds?' fix if an array has different lower bounds on each index
60 ** `*' returns exact 0 for "(* inexact 0)"
61 This follows what it always did for "(* 0 inexact)".
62 ** SRFI-19: Value returned by `(current-time time-process)' was incorrect
63 ** SRFI-19: `date->julian-day' did not account for timezone offset
64 ** `ttyname' no longer crashes when passed a non-tty argument
65 ** `inet-ntop' no longer crashes on SPARC when passed an `AF_INET' address
66 ** Small memory leaks have been fixed in `make-fluid' and `add-history'
67 ** GOOPS: Fixed a bug in `method-more-specific?'
68 ** Build problems on Solaris fixed
69 ** Build problems on HP-UX IA64 fixed
70 ** Build problems on MinGW fixed
73 Changes in 1.8.1 (since 1.8.0):
75 * LFS functions are now used to access 64-bit files on 32-bit systems.
77 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
79 ** primitive-_exit - [Scheme] the-root-module
80 ** scm_primitive__exit - [C]
81 ** make-completion-function - [Scheme] (ice-9 readline)
82 ** scm_c_locale_stringn_to_number - [C]
83 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse [C]
84 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse_x [C]
90 * New `(ice-9 i18n)' module (see the manual for details)
94 ** Build problems have been fixed on MacOS, SunOS, and QNX.
96 ** `strftime' fix sign of %z timezone offset.
98 ** A one-dimensional array can now be 'equal?' to a vector.
100 ** Structures, records, and SRFI-9 records can now be compared with `equal?'.
102 ** SRFI-14 standard char sets are recomputed upon a successful `setlocale'.
104 ** `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' now have strict type checks.
106 Record accessor and modifier procedures now throw an error if the
107 record type of the record they're given is not the type expected.
108 (Previously accessors returned #f and modifiers silently did nothing).
110 ** It is now OK to use both autoload and use-modules on a given module.
112 ** `apply' checks the number of arguments more carefully on "0 or 1" funcs.
114 Previously there was no checking on primatives like make-vector that
115 accept "one or two" arguments. Now there is.
117 ** The srfi-1 assoc function now calls its equality predicate properly.
119 Previously srfi-1 assoc would call the equality predicate with the key
120 last. According to the SRFI, the key should be first.
122 ** A bug in n-par-for-each and n-for-each-par-map has been fixed.
124 ** The array-set! procedure no longer segfaults when given a bit vector.
126 ** Bugs in make-shared-array have been fixed.
128 ** string<? and friends now follow char<? etc order on 8-bit chars.
130 ** The format procedure now handles inf and nan values for ~f correctly.
132 ** exact->inexact should no longer overflow when given certain large fractions.
134 ** srfi-9 accessor and modifier procedures now have strict record type checks.
136 This matches the srfi-9 specification.
138 ** (ice-9 ftw) procedures won't ignore different files with same inode number.
140 Previously the (ice-9 ftw) procedures would ignore any file that had
141 the same inode number as a file they had already seen, even if that
142 file was on a different device.
145 Changes in 1.8.0 (changes since the 1.6.x series):
147 * Changes to the distribution
149 ** Guile is now licensed with the GNU Lesser General Public License.
151 ** The manual is now licensed with the GNU Free Documentation License.
153 ** Guile now requires GNU MP (http://swox.com/gmp).
155 Guile now uses the GNU MP library for arbitrary precision arithmetic.
157 ** Guile now has separate private and public configuration headers.
159 That is, things like HAVE_STRING_H no longer leak from Guile's
162 ** Guile now provides and uses an "effective" version number.
164 Guile now provides scm_effective_version and effective-version
165 functions which return the "effective" version number. This is just
166 the normal full version string without the final micro-version number,
167 so the current effective-version is "1.8". The effective version
168 should remain unchanged during a stable series, and should be used for
169 items like the versioned share directory name
170 i.e. /usr/share/guile/1.8.
172 Providing an unchanging version number during a stable release for
173 things like the versioned share directory can be particularly
174 important for Guile "add-on" packages, since it provides a directory
175 that they can install to that won't be changed out from under them
176 with each micro release during a stable series.
178 ** Thread implementation has changed.
180 When you configure "--with-threads=null", you will get the usual
181 threading API (call-with-new-thread, make-mutex, etc), but you can't
182 actually create new threads. Also, "--with-threads=no" is now
183 equivalent to "--with-threads=null". This means that the thread API
184 is always present, although you might not be able to create new
187 When you configure "--with-threads=pthreads" or "--with-threads=yes",
188 you will get threads that are implemented with the portable POSIX
189 threads. These threads can run concurrently (unlike the previous
190 "coop" thread implementation), but need to cooperate for things like
193 The default is "pthreads", unless your platform doesn't have pthreads,
194 in which case "null" threads are used.
196 See the manual for details, nodes "Initialization", "Multi-Threading",
197 "Blocking", and others.
199 ** There is the new notion of 'discouraged' features.
201 This is a milder form of deprecation.
203 Things that are discouraged should not be used in new code, but it is
204 OK to leave them in old code for now. When a discouraged feature is
205 used, no warning message is printed like there is for 'deprecated'
206 features. Also, things that are merely discouraged are nevertheless
207 implemented efficiently, while deprecated features can be very slow.
209 You can omit discouraged features from libguile by configuring it with
210 the '--disable-discouraged' option.
212 ** Deprecation warnings can be controlled at run-time.
214 (debug-enable 'warn-deprecated) switches them on and (debug-disable
215 'warn-deprecated) switches them off.
217 ** Support for SRFI 61, extended cond syntax for multiple values has
220 This SRFI is always available.
222 ** Support for require-extension, SRFI-55, has been added.
224 The SRFI-55 special form `require-extension' has been added. It is
225 available at startup, and provides a portable way to load Scheme
226 extensions. SRFI-55 only requires support for one type of extension,
227 "srfi"; so a set of SRFIs may be loaded via (require-extension (srfi 1
230 ** New module (srfi srfi-26) provides support for `cut' and `cute'.
232 The (srfi srfi-26) module is an implementation of SRFI-26 which
233 provides the `cut' and `cute' syntax. These may be used to specialize
234 parameters without currying.
236 ** New module (srfi srfi-31)
238 This is an implementation of SRFI-31 which provides a special form
239 `rec' for recursive evaluation.
241 ** The modules (srfi srfi-13), (srfi srfi-14) and (srfi srfi-4) have
242 been merged with the core, making their functionality always
245 The modules are still available, tho, and you could use them together
246 with a renaming import, for example.
248 ** Guile no longer includes its own version of libltdl.
250 The official version is good enough now.
252 ** The --enable-htmldoc option has been removed from 'configure'.
254 Support for translating the documentation into HTML is now always
255 provided. Use 'make html'.
257 ** New module (ice-9 serialize):
259 (serialize FORM1 ...) and (parallelize FORM1 ...) are useful when you
260 don't trust the thread safety of most of your program, but where you
261 have some section(s) of code which you consider can run in parallel to
262 other sections. See ice-9/serialize.scm for more information.
264 ** The configure option '--disable-arrays' has been removed.
266 Support for arrays and uniform numeric arrays is now always included
269 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
271 ** New command line option `-L'.
273 This option adds a directory to the front of the load path.
275 ** New command line option `--no-debug'.
277 Specifying `--no-debug' on the command line will keep the debugging
278 evaluator turned off, even for interactive sessions.
280 ** User-init file ~/.guile is now loaded with the debugging evaluator.
282 Previously, the normal evaluator would have been used. Using the
283 debugging evaluator gives better error messages.
285 ** The '-e' option now 'read's its argument.
287 This is to allow the new '(@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)' construct to
288 be used with '-e'. For example, you can now write a script like
291 exec guile -e '(@ (demo) main)' -s "$0" "$@"
294 (define-module (demo)
298 (format #t "Demo: ~a~%" args))
301 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
303 ** Guardians have changed back to their original semantics
305 Guardians now behave like described in the paper by Dybvig et al. In
306 particular, they no longer make guarantees about the order in which
307 they return objects, and they can no longer be greedy.
309 They no longer drop cyclic data structures.
311 The C function scm_make_guardian has been changed incompatibly and no
312 longer takes the 'greedy_p' argument.
314 ** New function hashx-remove!
316 This function completes the set of 'hashx' functions.
318 ** The concept of dynamic roots has been factored into continuation
319 barriers and dynamic states.
321 Each thread has a current dynamic state that carries the values of the
322 fluids. You can create and copy dynamic states and use them as the
323 second argument for 'eval'. See "Fluids and Dynamic States" in the
326 To restrict the influence that captured continuations can have on the
327 control flow, you can errect continuation barriers. See "Continuation
328 Barriers" in the manual.
330 The function call-with-dynamic-root now essentially temporarily
331 installs a new dynamic state and errects a continuation barrier.
333 ** The default load path no longer includes "." at the end.
335 Automatically loading modules from the current directory should not
336 happen by default. If you want to allow it in a more controlled
337 manner, set the environment variable GUILE_LOAD_PATH or the Scheme
340 ** The uniform vector and array support has been overhauled.
342 It now complies with SRFI-4 and the weird prototype based uniform
343 array creation has been deprecated. See the manual for more details.
345 Some non-compatible changes have been made:
346 - characters can no longer be stored into byte arrays.
347 - strings and bit vectors are no longer considered to be uniform numeric
349 - array-rank throws an error for non-arrays instead of returning zero.
350 - array-ref does no longer accept non-arrays when no indices are given.
352 There is the new notion of 'generalized vectors' and corresponding
353 procedures like 'generalized-vector-ref'. Generalized vectors include
354 strings, bitvectors, ordinary vectors, and uniform numeric vectors.
356 Arrays use generalized vectors as their storage, so that you still
357 have arrays of characters, bits, etc. However, uniform-array-read!
358 and uniform-array-write can no longer read/write strings and
361 ** There is now support for copy-on-write substrings, mutation-sharing
362 substrings and read-only strings.
364 Three new procedures are related to this: substring/shared,
365 substring/copy, and substring/read-only. See the manual for more
368 ** Backtraces will now highlight the value that caused the error.
370 By default, these values are enclosed in "{...}", such as in this
379 <unnamed port>:1:1: In procedure car in expression (car (quote a)):
380 <unnamed port>:1:1: Wrong type (expecting pair): a
381 ABORT: (wrong-type-arg)
383 The prefix and suffix used for highlighting can be set via the two new
384 printer options 'highlight-prefix' and 'highlight-suffix'. For
385 example, putting this into ~/.guile will output the bad value in bold
388 (print-set! highlight-prefix "\x1b[1m")
389 (print-set! highlight-suffix "\x1b[22m")
392 ** 'gettext' support for internationalization has been added.
394 See the manual for details.
396 ** New syntax '@' and '@@':
398 You can now directly refer to variables exported from a module by
401 (@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)
403 For example (@ (ice-9 pretty-print) pretty-print) will directly access
404 the pretty-print variable exported from the (ice-9 pretty-print)
405 module. You don't need to 'use' that module first. You can also use
406 '@' as a target of 'set!', as in (set! (@ mod var) val).
408 The related syntax (@@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME) works just like '@',
409 but it can also access variables that have not been exported. It is
410 intended only for kluges and temporary fixes and for debugging, not
413 ** Keyword syntax has been made more disciplined.
415 Previously, the name of a keyword was read as a 'token' but printed as
416 a symbol. Now, it is read as a general Scheme datum which must be a
427 ERROR: In expression (a b c):
431 ERROR: Unbound variable: foo
436 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): 12
440 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): (a b c)
444 ** The printing of symbols that might look like keywords can be
447 The new printer option 'quote-keywordish-symbols' controls how symbols
448 are printed that have a colon as their first or last character. The
449 default now is to only quote a symbol with #{...}# when the read
450 option 'keywords' is not '#f'. Thus:
452 guile> (define foo (string->symbol ":foo"))
453 guile> (read-set! keywords #f)
456 guile> (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
459 guile> (print-set! quote-keywordish-symbols #f)
463 ** 'while' now provides 'break' and 'continue'
465 break and continue were previously bound in a while loop, but not
466 documented, and continue didn't quite work properly. The undocumented
467 parameter to break which gave a return value for the while has been
470 ** 'call-with-current-continuation' is now also available under the name
473 ** The module system now checks for duplicate bindings.
475 The module system now can check for name conflicts among imported
478 The behavior can be controlled by specifying one or more 'duplicates'
479 handlers. For example, to make Guile return an error for every name
487 The new default behavior of the module system when a name collision
488 has been detected is to
490 1. Give priority to bindings marked as a replacement.
491 2. Issue a warning (different warning if overriding core binding).
492 3. Give priority to the last encountered binding (this corresponds to
495 If you want the old behavior back without replacements or warnings you
498 (default-duplicate-binding-handler 'last)
500 to your .guile init file.
502 ** New define-module option: :replace
504 :replace works as :export, but, in addition, marks the binding as a
507 A typical example is `format' in (ice-9 format) which is a replacement
508 for the core binding `format'.
510 ** Adding prefixes to imported bindings in the module system
512 There is now a new :use-module option :prefix. It can be used to add
513 a prefix to all imported bindings.
516 :use-module ((bar) :prefix bar:))
518 will import all bindings exported from bar, but rename them by adding
521 ** Conflicting generic functions can be automatically merged.
523 When two imported bindings conflict and they are both generic
524 functions, the two functions can now be merged automatically. This is
525 activated with the 'duplicates' handler 'merge-generics'.
527 ** New function: effective-version
529 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
530 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
531 to the distribution" above.
533 ** New threading functions: parallel, letpar, par-map, and friends
535 These are convenient ways to run calculations in parallel in new
536 threads. See "Parallel forms" in the manual for details.
538 ** New function 'try-mutex'.
540 This function will attempt to lock a mutex but will return immediately
541 instead of blocking and indicate failure.
543 ** Waiting on a condition variable can have a timeout.
545 The function 'wait-condition-variable' now takes a third, optional
546 argument that specifies the point in time where the waiting should be
549 ** New function 'broadcast-condition-variable'.
551 ** New functions 'all-threads' and 'current-thread'.
553 ** Signals and system asyncs work better with threads.
555 The function 'sigaction' now takes a fourth, optional, argument that
556 specifies the thread that the handler should run in. When the
557 argument is omitted, the handler will run in the thread that called
560 Likewise, 'system-async-mark' takes a second, optional, argument that
561 specifies the thread that the async should run in. When it is
562 omitted, the async will run in the thread that called
565 C code can use the new functions scm_sigaction_for_thread and
566 scm_system_async_mark_for_thread to pass the new thread argument.
568 When a thread blocks on a mutex, a condition variable or is waiting
569 for IO to be possible, it will still execute system asyncs. This can
570 be used to interrupt such a thread by making it execute a 'throw', for
573 ** The function 'system-async' is deprecated.
575 You can now pass any zero-argument procedure to 'system-async-mark'.
576 The function 'system-async' will just return its argument unchanged
579 ** New functions 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' and
580 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
582 The expression (call-with-blocked-asyncs PROC) will call PROC and will
583 block execution of system asyncs for the current thread by one level
584 while PROC runs. Likewise, call-with-unblocked-asyncs will call a
585 procedure and will unblock the execution of system asyncs by one
586 level for the current thread.
588 Only system asyncs are affected by these functions.
590 ** The functions 'mask-signals' and 'unmask-signals' are deprecated.
592 Use 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' or 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
593 instead. Those functions are easier to use correctly and can be
596 ** New function 'unsetenv'.
598 ** New macro 'define-syntax-public'.
600 It works like 'define-syntax' and also exports the defined macro (but
603 ** There is support for Infinity and NaNs.
605 Following PLT Scheme, Guile can now work with infinite numbers, and
608 There is new syntax for numbers: "+inf.0" (infinity), "-inf.0"
609 (negative infinity), "+nan.0" (not-a-number), and "-nan.0" (same as
610 "+nan.0"). These numbers are inexact and have no exact counterpart.
612 Dividing by an inexact zero returns +inf.0 or -inf.0, depending on the
613 sign of the dividend. The infinities are integers, and they answer #t
614 for both 'even?' and 'odd?'. The +nan.0 value is not an integer and is
615 not '=' to itself, but '+nan.0' is 'eqv?' to itself.
626 ERROR: Numerical overflow
628 Two new predicates 'inf?' and 'nan?' can be used to test for the
631 ** Inexact zero can have a sign.
633 Guile can now distinguish between plus and minus inexact zero, if your
634 platform supports this, too. The two zeros are equal according to
635 '=', but not according to 'eqv?'. For example
646 ** Guile now has exact rationals.
648 Guile can now represent fractions such as 1/3 exactly. Computing with
649 them is also done exactly, of course:
654 ** 'floor', 'ceiling', 'round' and 'truncate' now return exact numbers
657 For example: (floor 2) now returns an exact 2 where in the past it
658 returned an inexact 2.0. Likewise, (floor 5/4) returns an exact 1.
660 ** inexact->exact no longer returns only integers.
662 Without exact rationals, the closest exact number was always an
663 integer, but now inexact->exact returns the fraction that is exactly
664 equal to a floating point number. For example:
666 (inexact->exact 1.234)
667 => 694680242521899/562949953421312
669 When you want the old behavior, use 'round' explicitly:
671 (inexact->exact (round 1.234))
674 ** New function 'rationalize'.
676 This function finds a simple fraction that is close to a given real
677 number. For example (and compare with inexact->exact above):
679 (rationalize (inexact->exact 1.234) 1/2000)
682 Note that, as required by R5RS, rationalize returns only then an exact
683 result when both its arguments are exact.
685 ** 'odd?' and 'even?' work also for inexact integers.
687 Previously, (odd? 1.0) would signal an error since only exact integers
688 were recognized as integers. Now (odd? 1.0) returns #t, (odd? 2.0)
689 returns #f and (odd? 1.5) signals an error.
691 ** Guile now has uninterned symbols.
693 The new function 'make-symbol' will return an uninterned symbol. This
694 is a symbol that is unique and is guaranteed to remain unique.
695 However, uninterned symbols can not yet be read back in.
697 Use the new function 'symbol-interned?' to check whether a symbol is
700 ** pretty-print has more options.
702 The function pretty-print from the (ice-9 pretty-print) module can now
703 also be invoked with keyword arguments that control things like
704 maximum output width. See the manual for details.
706 ** Variables have no longer a special behavior for `equal?'.
708 Previously, comparing two variables with `equal?' would recursivly
709 compare their values. This is no longer done. Variables are now only
710 `equal?' if they are `eq?'.
712 ** `(begin)' is now valid.
714 You can now use an empty `begin' form. It will yield #<unspecified>
715 when evaluated and simply be ignored in a definition context.
717 ** Deprecated: procedure->macro
719 Change your code to use 'define-macro' or r5rs macros. Also, be aware
720 that macro expansion will not be done during evaluation, but prior to
723 ** Soft ports now allow a `char-ready?' procedure
725 The vector argument to `make-soft-port' can now have a length of
726 either 5 or 6. (Previously the length had to be 5.) The optional 6th
727 element is interpreted as an `input-waiting' thunk -- i.e. a thunk
728 that returns the number of characters that can be read immediately
729 without the soft port blocking.
731 ** Deprecated: undefine
733 There is no replacement for undefine.
735 ** The functions make-keyword-from-dash-symbol and keyword-dash-symbol
736 have been discouraged.
738 They are relics from a time where a keyword like #:foo was used
739 directly as a Tcl option "-foo" and thus keywords were internally
740 stored as a symbol with a starting dash. We now store a symbol
743 Use symbol->keyword and keyword->symbol instead.
745 ** The `cheap' debug option is now obsolete
747 Evaluator trap calls are now unconditionally "cheap" - in other words,
748 they pass a debug object to the trap handler rather than a full
749 continuation. The trap handler code can capture a full continuation
750 by using `call-with-current-continuation' in the usual way, if it so
753 The `cheap' option is retained for now so as not to break existing
754 code which gets or sets it, but setting it now has no effect. It will
755 be removed in the next major Guile release.
757 ** Evaluator trap calls now support `tweaking'
759 `Tweaking' means that the trap handler code can modify the Scheme
760 expression that is about to be evaluated (in the case of an
761 enter-frame trap) or the value that is being returned (in the case of
762 an exit-frame trap). The trap handler code indicates that it wants to
763 do this by returning a pair whose car is the symbol 'instead and whose
764 cdr is the modified expression or return value.
766 * Changes to the C interface
768 ** The functions scm_hash_fn_remove_x and scm_hashx_remove_x no longer
769 take a 'delete' function argument.
771 This argument makes no sense since the delete function is used to
772 remove a pair from an alist, and this must not be configurable.
774 This is an incompatible change.
776 ** The GH interface is now subject to the deprecation mechanism
778 The GH interface has been deprecated for quite some time but now it is
779 actually removed from Guile when it is configured with
780 --disable-deprecated.
782 See the manual "Transitioning away from GH" for more information.
784 ** A new family of functions for converting between C values and
785 Scheme values has been added.
787 These functions follow a common naming scheme and are designed to be
788 easier to use, thread-safe and more future-proof than the older
793 These are predicates that return a C boolean: 1 or 0. Instead of
794 SCM_NFALSEP, you can now use scm_is_true, for example.
796 - <type> scm_to_<type> (SCM val, ...)
798 These are functions that convert a Scheme value into an appropriate
799 C value. For example, you can use scm_to_int to safely convert from
802 - SCM scm_from_<type> (<type> val, ...)
804 These functions convert from a C type to a SCM value; for example,
805 scm_from_int for ints.
807 There is a huge number of these functions, for numbers, strings,
808 symbols, vectors, etc. They are documented in the reference manual in
809 the API section together with the types that they apply to.
811 ** New functions for dealing with complex numbers in C have been added.
813 The new functions are scm_c_make_rectangular, scm_c_make_polar,
814 scm_c_real_part, scm_c_imag_part, scm_c_magnitude and scm_c_angle.
815 They work like scm_make_rectangular etc but take or return doubles
818 ** The function scm_make_complex has been discouraged.
820 Use scm_c_make_rectangular instead.
822 ** The INUM macros have been deprecated.
824 A lot of code uses these macros to do general integer conversions,
825 although the macros only work correctly with fixnums. Use the
826 following alternatives.
828 SCM_INUMP -> scm_is_integer or similar
829 SCM_NINUMP -> !scm_is_integer or similar
830 SCM_MAKINUM -> scm_from_int or similar
831 SCM_INUM -> scm_to_int or similar
833 SCM_VALIDATE_INUM_* -> Do not use these; scm_to_int, etc. will
834 do the validating for you.
836 ** The scm_num2<type> and scm_<type>2num functions and scm_make_real
837 have been discouraged.
839 Use the newer scm_to_<type> and scm_from_<type> functions instead for
840 new code. The functions have been discouraged since they don't fit
843 ** The 'boolean' macros SCM_FALSEP etc have been discouraged.
845 They have strange names, especially SCM_NFALSEP, and SCM_BOOLP
846 evaluates its argument twice. Use scm_is_true, etc. instead for new
849 ** The macro SCM_EQ_P has been discouraged.
851 Use scm_is_eq for new code, which fits better into the naming
854 ** The macros SCM_CONSP, SCM_NCONSP, SCM_NULLP, and SCM_NNULLP have
857 Use the function scm_is_pair or scm_is_null instead.
859 ** The functions scm_round and scm_truncate have been deprecated and
860 are now available as scm_c_round and scm_c_truncate, respectively.
862 These functions occupy the names that scm_round_number and
863 scm_truncate_number should have.
865 ** The functions scm_c_string2str, scm_c_substring2str, and
866 scm_c_symbol2str have been deprecated.
868 Use scm_to_locale_stringbuf or similar instead, maybe together with
871 ** New functions scm_c_make_string, scm_c_string_length,
872 scm_c_string_ref, scm_c_string_set_x, scm_c_substring,
873 scm_c_substring_shared, scm_c_substring_copy.
875 These are like scm_make_string, scm_length, etc. but are slightly
876 easier to use from C.
878 ** The macros SCM_STRINGP, SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_STRING_LENGTH,
879 SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, and SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH have been deprecated.
881 They export too many assumptions about the implementation of strings
882 and symbols that are no longer true in the presence of
883 mutation-sharing substrings and when Guile switches to some form of
886 When working with strings, it is often best to use the normal string
887 functions provided by Guile, such as scm_c_string_ref,
888 scm_c_string_set_x, scm_string_append, etc. Be sure to look in the
889 manual since many more such functions are now provided than
892 When you want to convert a SCM string to a C string, use the
893 scm_to_locale_string function or similar instead. For symbols, use
894 scm_symbol_to_string and then work with that string. Because of the
895 new string representation, scm_symbol_to_string does not need to copy
896 and is thus quite efficient.
898 ** Some string, symbol and keyword functions have been discouraged.
900 They don't fit into the uniform naming scheme and are not explicit
901 about the character encoding.
903 Replace according to the following table:
905 scm_allocate_string -> scm_c_make_string
906 scm_take_str -> scm_take_locale_stringn
907 scm_take0str -> scm_take_locale_string
908 scm_mem2string -> scm_from_locale_stringn
909 scm_str2string -> scm_from_locale_string
910 scm_makfrom0str -> scm_from_locale_string
911 scm_mem2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symboln
912 scm_mem2uninterned_symbol -> scm_from_locale_stringn + scm_make_symbol
913 scm_str2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symbol
915 SCM_SYMBOL_HASH -> scm_hashq
916 SCM_SYMBOL_INTERNED_P -> scm_symbol_interned_p
918 scm_c_make_keyword -> scm_from_locale_keyword
920 ** The functions scm_keyword_to_symbol and sym_symbol_to_keyword are
921 now also available to C code.
923 ** SCM_KEYWORDP and SCM_KEYWORDSYM have been deprecated.
925 Use scm_is_keyword and scm_keyword_to_symbol instead, but note that
926 the latter returns the true name of the keyword, not the 'dash name',
927 as SCM_KEYWORDSYM used to do.
929 ** A new way to access arrays in a thread-safe and efficient way has
932 See the manual, node "Accessing Arrays From C".
934 ** The old uniform vector and bitvector implementations have been
935 unceremoniously removed.
937 This implementation exposed the details of the tagging system of
938 Guile. Use the new C API explained in the manual in node "Uniform
939 Numeric Vectors" and "Bit Vectors", respectively.
941 The following macros are gone: SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE,
942 SCM_UVECTOR_MAXLENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_UVECTOR_TAG,
943 SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVECTOR_P, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE,
944 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
945 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_BITVECTOR_TAG,
946 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVEC_REF, SCM_BITVEC_SET,
949 ** The macros dealing with vectors have been deprecated.
951 Use the new functions scm_is_vector, scm_vector_elements,
952 scm_vector_writable_elements, etc, or scm_is_simple_vector,
953 SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_REF, SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_SET, etc instead. See the
954 manual for more details.
956 Deprecated are SCM_VECTORP, SCM_VELTS, SCM_VECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
957 SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_REF, SCM_VECTOR_SET, SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS.
959 The following macros have been removed: SCM_VECTOR_BASE,
960 SCM_SET_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_MAKE_VECTOR_TAG, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH,
961 SCM_VELTS_AS_STACKITEMS, SCM_SETVELTS, SCM_GC_WRITABLE_VELTS.
963 ** Some C functions and macros related to arrays have been deprecated.
965 Migrate according to the following table:
967 scm_make_uve -> scm_make_typed_array, scm_make_u8vector etc.
968 scm_make_ra -> scm_make_array
969 scm_shap2ra -> scm_make_array
970 scm_cvref -> scm_c_generalized_vector_ref
971 scm_ra_set_contp -> do not use
972 scm_aind -> scm_array_handle_pos
973 scm_raprin1 -> scm_display or scm_write
975 SCM_ARRAYP -> scm_is_array
976 SCM_ARRAY_NDIM -> scm_c_array_rank
977 SCM_ARRAY_DIMS -> scm_array_handle_dims
978 SCM_ARRAY_CONTP -> do not use
979 SCM_ARRAY_MEM -> do not use
980 SCM_ARRAY_V -> scm_array_handle_elements or similar
981 SCM_ARRAY_BASE -> do not use
983 ** SCM_CELL_WORD_LOC has been deprecated.
985 Use the new macro SCM_CELL_OBJECT_LOC instead, which returns a pointer
986 to a SCM, as opposed to a pointer to a scm_t_bits.
988 This was done to allow the correct use of pointers into the Scheme
989 heap. Previously, the heap words were of type scm_t_bits and local
990 variables and function arguments were of type SCM, making it
991 non-standards-conformant to have a pointer that can point to both.
993 ** New macros SCM_SMOB_DATA_2, SCM_SMOB_DATA_3, etc.
995 These macros should be used instead of SCM_CELL_WORD_2/3 to access the
996 second and third words of double smobs. Likewise for
997 SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_2 and SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_3.
999 Also, there is SCM_SMOB_FLAGS and SCM_SET_SMOB_FLAGS that should be
1000 used to get and set the 16 exra bits in the zeroth word of a smob.
1002 And finally, there is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT and SCM_SMOB_SET_OBJECT for
1003 accesing the first immediate word of a smob as a SCM value, and there
1004 is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_LOC for getting a pointer to the first immediate
1005 smob word. Like wise for SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_2, etc.
1007 ** New way to deal with non-local exits and re-entries.
1009 There is a new set of functions that essentially do what
1010 scm_internal_dynamic_wind does, but in a way that is more convenient
1011 for C code in some situations. Here is a quick example of how to
1012 prevent a potential memory leak:
1019 scm_dynwind_begin (0);
1021 mem = scm_malloc (100);
1022 scm_dynwind_unwind_handler (free, mem, SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY);
1024 /* MEM would leak if BAR throws an error.
1025 SCM_DYNWIND_UNWIND_HANDLER frees it nevertheless.
1032 /* Because of SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY, MEM will be freed by
1033 SCM_DYNWIND_END as well.
1037 For full documentation, see the node "Dynamic Wind" in the manual.
1039 ** New function scm_dynwind_free
1041 This function calls 'free' on a given pointer when a dynwind context
1042 is left. Thus the call to scm_dynwind_unwind_handler above could be
1043 replaced with simply scm_dynwind_free (mem).
1045 ** New functions scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
1046 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs
1048 Like scm_call_with_blocked_asyncs etc. but for C functions.
1050 ** New functions scm_dynwind_block_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs
1052 In addition to scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs you can now also use
1053 scm_dynwind_block_asyncs in a 'dynwind context' (see above). Likewise for
1054 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs.
1056 ** The macros SCM_DEFER_INTS, SCM_ALLOW_INTS, SCM_REDEFER_INTS,
1057 SCM_REALLOW_INTS have been deprecated.
1059 They do no longer fulfill their original role of blocking signal
1060 delivery. Depending on what you want to achieve, replace a pair of
1061 SCM_DEFER_INTS and SCM_ALLOW_INTS with a dynwind context that locks a
1062 mutex, blocks asyncs, or both. See node "Critical Sections" in the
1065 ** The value 'scm_mask_ints' is no longer writable.
1067 Previously, you could set scm_mask_ints directly. This is no longer
1068 possible. Use scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
1069 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs instead.
1071 ** New way to temporarily set the current input, output or error ports
1073 C code can now use scm_dynwind_current_<foo>_port in a 'dynwind
1074 context' (see above). <foo> is one of "input", "output" or "error".
1076 ** New way to temporarily set fluids
1078 C code can now use scm_dynwind_fluid in a 'dynwind context' (see
1079 above) to temporarily set the value of a fluid.
1081 ** New types scm_t_intmax and scm_t_uintmax.
1083 On platforms that have them, these types are identical to intmax_t and
1084 uintmax_t, respectively. On other platforms, they are identical to
1085 the largest integer types that Guile knows about.
1087 ** The functions scm_unmemocopy and scm_unmemoize have been removed.
1089 You should not have used them.
1091 ** Many public #defines with generic names have been made private.
1093 #defines with generic names like HAVE_FOO or SIZEOF_FOO have been made
1094 private or renamed with a more suitable public name.
1096 ** The macro SCM_TYP16S has been deprecated.
1098 This macro is not intended for public use.
1100 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_INEXACTP has been deprecated.
1102 Use scm_is_true (scm_inexact_p (...)) instead.
1104 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_REALP has been deprecated.
1106 Use scm_is_real instead.
1108 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_COMPLEXP has been deprecated.
1110 Use scm_is_complex instead.
1112 ** Some preprocessor defines have been deprecated.
1114 These defines indicated whether a certain feature was present in Guile
1115 or not. Going forward, assume that the features are always present.
1117 The macros are: USE_THREADS, GUILE_ISELECT, READER_EXTENSIONS,
1118 DEBUG_EXTENSIONS, DYNAMIC_LINKING.
1120 The following macros have been removed completely: MEMOIZE_LOCALS,
1121 SCM_RECKLESS, SCM_CAUTIOUS.
1123 ** The preprocessor define STACK_DIRECTION has been deprecated.
1125 There should be no need to know about the stack direction for ordinary
1128 ** New function: scm_effective_version
1130 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
1131 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
1132 to the distribution" above.
1134 ** The function scm_call_with_new_thread has a new prototype.
1136 Instead of taking a list with the thunk and handler, these two
1137 arguments are now passed directly:
1139 SCM scm_call_with_new_thread (SCM thunk, SCM handler);
1141 This is an incompatible change.
1143 ** New snarfer macro SCM_DEFINE_PUBLIC.
1145 This is like SCM_DEFINE, but also calls scm_c_export for the defined
1146 function in the init section.
1148 ** The snarfer macro SCM_SNARF_INIT is now officially supported.
1150 ** Garbage collector rewrite.
1152 The garbage collector is cleaned up a lot, and now uses lazy
1153 sweeping. This is reflected in the output of (gc-stats); since cells
1154 are being freed when they are allocated, the cells-allocated field
1155 stays roughly constant.
1157 For malloc related triggers, the behavior is changed. It uses the same
1158 heuristic as the cell-triggered collections. It may be tuned with the
1159 environment variables GUILE_MIN_YIELD_MALLOC. This is the percentage
1160 for minimum yield of malloc related triggers. The default is 40.
1161 GUILE_INIT_MALLOC_LIMIT sets the initial trigger for doing a GC. The
1164 Debugging operations for the freelist have been deprecated, along with
1165 the C variables that control garbage collection. The environment
1166 variables GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE, GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2,
1167 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1, and GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2 should be used.
1169 For understanding the memory usage of a GUILE program, the routine
1170 gc-live-object-stats returns an alist containing the number of live
1171 objects for every type.
1174 ** The function scm_definedp has been renamed to scm_defined_p
1176 The name scm_definedp is deprecated.
1178 ** The struct scm_cell type has been renamed to scm_t_cell
1180 This is in accordance to Guile's naming scheme for types. Note that
1181 the name scm_cell is now used for a function that allocates and
1182 initializes a new cell (see below).
1184 ** New functions for memory management
1186 A new set of functions for memory management has been added since the
1187 old way (scm_must_malloc, scm_must_free, etc) was error prone and
1188 indeed, Guile itself contained some long standing bugs that could
1189 cause aborts in long running programs.
1191 The new functions are more symmetrical and do not need cooperation
1192 from smob free routines, among other improvements.
1194 The new functions are scm_malloc, scm_realloc, scm_calloc, scm_strdup,
1195 scm_strndup, scm_gc_malloc, scm_gc_calloc, scm_gc_realloc,
1196 scm_gc_free, scm_gc_register_collectable_memory, and
1197 scm_gc_unregister_collectable_memory. Refer to the manual for more
1198 details and for upgrading instructions.
1200 The old functions for memory management have been deprecated. They
1201 are: scm_must_malloc, scm_must_realloc, scm_must_free,
1202 scm_must_strdup, scm_must_strndup, scm_done_malloc, scm_done_free.
1204 ** Declarations of exported features are marked with SCM_API.
1206 Every declaration of a feature that belongs to the exported Guile API
1207 has been marked by adding the macro "SCM_API" to the start of the
1208 declaration. This macro can expand into different things, the most
1209 common of which is just "extern" for Unix platforms. On Win32, it can
1210 be used to control which symbols are exported from a DLL.
1212 If you `#define SCM_IMPORT' before including <libguile.h>, SCM_API
1213 will expand into "__declspec (dllimport) extern", which is needed for
1214 linking to the Guile DLL in Windows.
1216 There are also SCM_RL_IMPORT, SCM_SRFI1314_IMPORT, and
1217 SCM_SRFI4_IMPORT, for the corresponding libraries.
1219 ** SCM_NEWCELL and SCM_NEWCELL2 have been deprecated.
1221 Use the new functions scm_cell and scm_double_cell instead. The old
1222 macros had problems because with them allocation and initialization
1223 was separated and the GC could sometimes observe half initialized
1224 cells. Only careful coding by the user of SCM_NEWCELL and
1225 SCM_NEWCELL2 could make this safe and efficient.
1227 ** CHECK_ENTRY, CHECK_APPLY and CHECK_EXIT have been deprecated.
1229 Use the variables scm_check_entry_p, scm_check_apply_p and scm_check_exit_p
1232 ** SRCBRKP has been deprecated.
1234 Use scm_c_source_property_breakpoint_p instead.
1236 ** Deprecated: scm_makmacro
1238 Change your code to use either scm_makmmacro or to define macros in
1239 Scheme, using 'define-macro'.
1241 ** New function scm_c_port_for_each.
1243 This function is like scm_port_for_each but takes a pointer to a C
1244 function as the callback instead of a SCM value.
1246 ** The names scm_internal_select, scm_thread_sleep, and
1247 scm_thread_usleep have been discouraged.
1249 Use scm_std_select, scm_std_sleep, scm_std_usleep instead.
1251 ** The GC can no longer be blocked.
1253 The global flags scm_gc_heap_lock and scm_block_gc have been removed.
1254 The GC can now run (partially) concurrently with other code and thus
1255 blocking it is not well defined.
1257 ** Many definitions have been removed that were previously deprecated.
1259 scm_lisp_nil, scm_lisp_t, s_nil_ify, scm_m_nil_ify, s_t_ify,
1260 scm_m_t_ify, s_0_cond, scm_m_0_cond, s_0_ify, scm_m_0_ify, s_1_ify,
1261 scm_m_1_ify, scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2,
1262 scm_tc16_allocated, SCM_SET_SYMBOL_HASH, SCM_IM_NIL_IFY, SCM_IM_T_IFY,
1263 SCM_IM_0_COND, SCM_IM_0_IFY, SCM_IM_1_IFY, SCM_GC_SET_ALLOCATED,
1264 scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL, SCM_INT_SIGNAL,
1265 SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL, SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL,
1266 SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD, SCM_ORD_SIG,
1267 SCM_NUM_SIGS, scm_top_level_lookup_closure_var,
1268 *top-level-lookup-closure*, scm_system_transformer, scm_eval_3,
1269 scm_eval2, root_module_lookup_closure, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
1270 SCM_RWSTRINGP, scm_read_only_string_p, scm_make_shared_substring,
1271 scm_tc7_substring, sym_huh, SCM_VARVCELL, SCM_UDVARIABLEP,
1272 SCM_DEFVARIABLEP, scm_mkbig, scm_big2inum, scm_adjbig, scm_normbig,
1273 scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl, SCM_FIXNUM_BIT,
1274 SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_SLOPPY_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET,
1275 SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_ROLENGTH,
1276 SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
1277 scm_sym2vcell, scm_intern, scm_intern0, scm_sysintern, scm_sysintern0,
1278 scm_sysintern0_no_module_lookup, scm_init_symbols_deprecated,
1279 scm_vector_set_length_x, scm_contregs, scm_debug_info,
1280 scm_debug_frame, SCM_DSIDEVAL, SCM_CONST_LONG, SCM_VCELL,
1281 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL, SCM_VCELL_INIT, SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL_INIT,
1282 SCM_HUGE_LENGTH, SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING,
1283 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY, SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY,
1284 SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, DIGITS, scm_small_istr2int, scm_istr2int,
1285 scm_istr2flo, scm_istring2number, scm_istr2int, scm_istr2flo,
1286 scm_istring2number, scm_vtable_index_vcell, scm_si_vcell, SCM_ECONSP,
1287 SCM_NECONSP, SCM_GLOC_VAR, SCM_GLOC_VAL, SCM_GLOC_SET_VAL,
1288 SCM_GLOC_VAL_LOC, scm_make_gloc, scm_gloc_p, scm_tc16_variable,
1289 SCM_CHARS, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH.
1291 * Changes to bundled modules
1295 Using the (ice-9 debug) module no longer automatically switches Guile
1296 to use the debugging evaluator. If you want to switch to the
1297 debugging evaluator (which is needed for backtrace information if you
1298 hit an error), please add an explicit "(debug-enable 'debug)" to your
1299 code just after the code to use (ice-9 debug).
1302 Changes since Guile 1.4:
1304 * Changes to the distribution
1306 ** A top-level TODO file is included.
1308 ** Guile now uses a versioning scheme similar to that of the Linux kernel.
1310 Guile now always uses three numbers to represent the version,
1311 i.e. "1.6.5". The first number, 1, is the major version number, the
1312 second number, 6, is the minor version number, and the third number,
1313 5, is the micro version number. Changes in major version number
1314 indicate major changes in Guile.
1316 Minor version numbers that are even denote stable releases, and odd
1317 minor version numbers denote development versions (which may be
1318 unstable). The micro version number indicates a minor sub-revision of
1319 a given MAJOR.MINOR release.
1321 In keeping with the new scheme, (minor-version) and scm_minor_version
1322 no longer return everything but the major version number. They now
1323 just return the minor version number. Two new functions
1324 (micro-version) and scm_micro_version have been added to report the
1325 micro version number.
1327 In addition, ./GUILE-VERSION now defines GUILE_MICRO_VERSION.
1329 ** New preprocessor definitions are available for checking versions.
1331 version.h now #defines SCM_MAJOR_VERSION, SCM_MINOR_VERSION, and
1332 SCM_MICRO_VERSION to the appropriate integer values.
1334 ** Guile now actively warns about deprecated features.
1336 The new configure option `--enable-deprecated=LEVEL' and the
1337 environment variable GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED control this mechanism.
1338 See INSTALL and README for more information.
1340 ** Guile is much more likely to work on 64-bit architectures.
1342 Guile now compiles and passes "make check" with only two UNRESOLVED GC
1343 cases on Alpha and ia64 based machines now. Thanks to John Goerzen
1344 for the use of a test machine, and thanks to Stefan Jahn for ia64
1347 ** New functions: setitimer and getitimer.
1349 These implement a fairly direct interface to the libc functions of the
1352 ** The #. reader extension is now disabled by default.
1354 For safety reasons, #. evaluation is disabled by default. To
1355 re-enable it, set the fluid read-eval? to #t. For example:
1357 (fluid-set! read-eval? #t)
1359 but make sure you realize the potential security risks involved. With
1360 read-eval? enabled, reading a data file from an untrusted source can
1363 ** New SRFI modules have been added:
1365 SRFI-0 `cond-expand' is now supported in Guile, without requiring
1368 (srfi srfi-1) is a library containing many useful pair- and list-processing
1371 (srfi srfi-2) exports and-let*.
1373 (srfi srfi-4) implements homogeneous numeric vector datatypes.
1375 (srfi srfi-6) is a dummy module for now, since guile already provides
1376 all of the srfi-6 procedures by default: open-input-string,
1377 open-output-string, get-output-string.
1379 (srfi srfi-8) exports receive.
1381 (srfi srfi-9) exports define-record-type.
1383 (srfi srfi-10) exports define-reader-ctor and implements the reader
1386 (srfi srfi-11) exports let-values and let*-values.
1388 (srfi srfi-13) implements the SRFI String Library.
1390 (srfi srfi-14) implements the SRFI Character-Set Library.
1392 (srfi srfi-17) implements setter and getter-with-setter and redefines
1393 some accessor procedures as procedures with getters. (such as car,
1394 cdr, vector-ref etc.)
1396 (srfi srfi-19) implements the SRFI Time/Date Library.
1398 ** New scripts / "executable modules"
1400 Subdirectory "scripts" contains Scheme modules that are packaged to
1401 also be executable as scripts. At this time, these scripts are available:
1410 See README there for more info.
1412 These scripts can be invoked from the shell with the new program
1413 "guile-tools", which keeps track of installation directory for you.
1416 $ guile-tools display-commentary srfi/*.scm
1418 guile-tools is copied to the standard $bindir on "make install".
1420 ** New module (ice-9 stack-catch):
1422 stack-catch is like catch, but saves the current state of the stack in
1423 the fluid the-last-stack. This fluid can be useful when using the
1424 debugger and when re-throwing an error.
1426 ** The module (ice-9 and-let*) has been renamed to (ice-9 and-let-star)
1428 This has been done to prevent problems on lesser operating systems
1429 that can't tolerate `*'s in file names. The exported macro continues
1430 to be named `and-let*', of course.
1432 On systems that support it, there is also a compatibility module named
1433 (ice-9 and-let*). It will go away in the next release.
1435 ** New modules (oop goops) etc.:
1438 (oop goops describe)
1440 (oop goops active-slot)
1441 (oop goops composite-slot)
1443 The Guile Object Oriented Programming System (GOOPS) has been
1444 integrated into Guile. For further information, consult the GOOPS
1445 manual and tutorial in the `doc' directory.
1447 ** New module (ice-9 rdelim).
1449 This exports the following procedures which were previously defined
1450 in the default environment:
1452 read-line read-line! read-delimited read-delimited! %read-delimited!
1453 %read-line write-line
1455 For backwards compatibility the definitions are still imported into the
1456 default environment in this version of Guile. However you should add:
1458 (use-modules (ice-9 rdelim))
1460 to any program which uses the definitions, since this may change in
1463 Alternatively, if guile-scsh is installed, the (scsh rdelim) module
1464 can be used for similar functionality.
1466 ** New module (ice-9 rw)
1468 This is a subset of the (scsh rw) module from guile-scsh. Currently
1469 it defines two procedures:
1471 *** New function: read-string!/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
1473 Read characters from a port or file descriptor into a string STR.
1474 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
1475 fport. This procedure is scsh-compatible and can efficiently read
1478 *** New function: write-string/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
1480 Write characters from a string STR to a port or file descriptor.
1481 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
1482 fport. This procedure is mostly compatible and can efficiently
1483 write large strings.
1485 ** New module (ice-9 match)
1487 This module includes Andrew K. Wright's pattern matcher. See
1488 ice-9/match.scm for brief description or
1490 http://www.star-lab.com/wright/code.html
1492 for complete documentation.
1494 ** New module (ice-9 buffered-input)
1496 This module provides procedures to construct an input port from an
1497 underlying source of input that reads and returns its input in chunks.
1498 The underlying input source is a Scheme procedure, specified by the
1499 caller, which the port invokes whenever it needs more input.
1501 This is useful when building an input port whose back end is Readline
1502 or a UI element such as the GtkEntry widget.
1506 The reference and tutorial documentation that was previously
1507 distributed separately, as `guile-doc', is now included in the core
1508 Guile distribution. The documentation consists of the following
1511 - The Guile Tutorial (guile-tut.texi) contains a tutorial introduction
1514 - The Guile Reference Manual (guile.texi) contains (or is intended to
1515 contain) reference documentation on all aspects of Guile.
1517 - The GOOPS Manual (goops.texi) contains both tutorial-style and
1518 reference documentation for using GOOPS, Guile's Object Oriented
1521 - The Revised^5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme
1524 See the README file in the `doc' directory for more details.
1526 ** There are a couple of examples in the examples/ directory now.
1528 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
1530 ** New command line option `--use-srfi'
1532 Using this option, SRFI modules can be loaded on startup and be
1533 available right from the beginning. This makes programming portable
1534 Scheme programs easier.
1536 The option `--use-srfi' expects a comma-separated list of numbers,
1537 each representing a SRFI number to be loaded into the interpreter
1538 before starting evaluating a script file or the REPL. Additionally,
1539 the feature identifier for the loaded SRFIs is recognized by
1540 `cond-expand' when using this option.
1543 $ guile --use-srfi=8,13
1544 guile> (receive (x z) (values 1 2) (+ 1 2))
1546 guile> (string-pad "bla" 20)
1549 ** Guile now always starts up in the `(guile-user)' module.
1551 Previously, scripts executed via the `-s' option would run in the
1552 `(guile)' module and the repl would run in the `(guile-user)' module.
1553 Now every user action takes place in the `(guile-user)' module by
1556 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
1558 ** Character classifiers work for non-ASCII characters.
1560 The predicates `char-alphabetic?', `char-numeric?',
1561 `char-whitespace?', `char-lower?', `char-upper?' and `char-is-both?'
1562 no longer check whether their arguments are ASCII characters.
1563 Previously, a character would only be considered alphabetic when it
1564 was also ASCII, for example.
1566 ** Previously deprecated Scheme functions have been removed:
1568 tag - no replacement.
1569 fseek - replaced by seek.
1570 list* - replaced by cons*.
1572 ** It's now possible to create modules with controlled environments
1576 (use-modules (ice-9 safe))
1577 (define m (make-safe-module))
1578 ;;; m will now be a module containing only a safe subset of R5RS
1579 (eval '(+ 1 2) m) --> 3
1580 (eval 'load m) --> ERROR: Unbound variable: load
1582 ** Evaluation of "()", the empty list, is now an error.
1584 Previously, the expression "()" evaluated to the empty list. This has
1585 been changed to signal a "missing expression" error. The correct way
1586 to write the empty list as a literal constant is to use quote: "'()".
1588 ** New concept of `Guile Extensions'.
1590 A Guile Extension is just a ordinary shared library that can be linked
1591 at run-time. We found it advantageous to give this simple concept a
1592 dedicated name to distinguish the issues related to shared libraries
1593 from the issues related to the module system.
1595 *** New function: load-extension
1597 Executing (load-extension lib init) is mostly equivalent to
1599 (dynamic-call init (dynamic-link lib))
1601 except when scm_register_extension has been called previously.
1602 Whenever appropriate, you should use `load-extension' instead of
1603 dynamic-link and dynamic-call.
1605 *** New C function: scm_c_register_extension
1607 This function registers a initialization function for use by
1608 `load-extension'. Use it when you don't want specific extensions to
1609 be loaded as shared libraries (for example on platforms that don't
1610 support dynamic linking).
1612 ** Auto-loading of compiled-code modules is deprecated.
1614 Guile used to be able to automatically find and link a shared
1615 library to satisfy requests for a module. For example, the module
1616 `(foo bar)' could be implemented by placing a shared library named
1617 "foo/libbar.so" (or with a different extension) in a directory on the
1620 This has been found to be too tricky, and is no longer supported. The
1621 shared libraries are now called "extensions". You should now write a
1622 small Scheme file that calls `load-extension' to load the shared
1623 library and initialize it explicitly.
1625 The shared libraries themselves should be installed in the usual
1626 places for shared libraries, with names like "libguile-foo-bar".
1628 For example, place this into a file "foo/bar.scm"
1630 (define-module (foo bar))
1632 (load-extension "libguile-foo-bar" "foobar_init")
1634 ** Backward incompatible change: eval EXP ENVIRONMENT-SPECIFIER
1636 `eval' is now R5RS, that is it takes two arguments.
1637 The second argument is an environment specifier, i.e. either
1639 (scheme-report-environment 5)
1640 (null-environment 5)
1641 (interaction-environment)
1647 ** The module system has been made more disciplined.
1649 The function `eval' will save and restore the current module around
1650 the evaluation of the specified expression. While this expression is
1651 evaluated, `(current-module)' will now return the right module, which
1652 is the module specified as the second argument to `eval'.
1654 A consequence of this change is that `eval' is not particularly
1655 useful when you want allow the evaluated code to change what module is
1656 designated as the current module and have this change persist from one
1657 call to `eval' to the next. The read-eval-print-loop is an example
1658 where `eval' is now inadequate. To compensate, there is a new
1659 function `primitive-eval' that does not take a module specifier and
1660 that does not save/restore the current module. You should use this
1661 function together with `set-current-module', `current-module', etc
1662 when you want to have more control over the state that is carried from
1663 one eval to the next.
1665 Additionally, it has been made sure that forms that are evaluated at
1666 the top level are always evaluated with respect to the current module.
1667 Previously, subforms of top-level forms such as `begin', `case',
1668 etc. did not respect changes to the current module although these
1669 subforms are at the top-level as well.
1671 To prevent strange behavior, the forms `define-module',
1672 `use-modules', `use-syntax', and `export' have been restricted to only
1673 work on the top level. The forms `define-public' and
1674 `defmacro-public' only export the new binding on the top level. They
1675 behave just like `define' and `defmacro', respectively, when they are
1676 used in a lexical environment.
1678 Also, `export' will no longer silently re-export bindings imported
1679 from a used module. It will emit a `deprecation' warning and will
1680 cease to perform any re-export in the next version. If you actually
1681 want to re-export bindings, use the new `re-export' in place of
1682 `export'. The new `re-export' will not make copies of variables when
1683 rexporting them, as `export' did wrongly.
1685 ** Module system now allows selection and renaming of imported bindings
1687 Previously, when using `use-modules' or the `#:use-module' clause in
1688 the `define-module' form, all the bindings (association of symbols to
1689 values) for imported modules were added to the "current module" on an
1690 as-is basis. This has been changed to allow finer control through two
1691 new facilities: selection and renaming.
1693 You can now select which of the imported module's bindings are to be
1694 visible in the current module by using the `:select' clause. This
1695 clause also can be used to rename individual bindings. For example:
1697 ;; import all bindings no questions asked
1698 (use-modules (ice-9 common-list))
1700 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them;
1701 ;; the current module sees: every some zonk-y zonk-n
1702 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1704 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1705 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))))
1707 You can also programmatically rename all selected bindings using the
1708 `:renamer' clause, which specifies a proc that takes a symbol and
1709 returns another symbol. Because it is common practice to use a prefix,
1710 we now provide the convenience procedure `symbol-prefix-proc'. For
1713 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
1714 ;; and all four w/ prefix "CL:";
1715 ;; the current module sees: CL:every CL:some CL:zonk-y CL:zonk-n
1716 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1718 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1719 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
1720 :renamer (symbol-prefix-proc 'CL:)))
1722 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
1723 ;; and all four by upcasing.
1724 ;; the current module sees: EVERY SOME ZONK-Y ZONK-N
1725 (define (upcase-symbol sym)
1726 (string->symbol (string-upcase (symbol->string sym))))
1728 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1730 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1731 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
1732 :renamer upcase-symbol))
1734 Note that programmatic renaming is done *after* individual renaming.
1735 Also, the above examples show `use-modules', but the same facilities are
1736 available for the `#:use-module' clause of `define-module'.
1738 See manual for more info.
1740 ** The semantics of guardians have changed.
1742 The changes are for the most part compatible. An important criterion
1743 was to keep the typical usage of guardians as simple as before, but to
1744 make the semantics safer and (as a result) more useful.
1746 *** All objects returned from guardians are now properly alive.
1748 It is now guaranteed that any object referenced by an object returned
1749 from a guardian is alive. It's now impossible for a guardian to
1750 return a "contained" object before its "containing" object.
1752 One incompatible (but probably not very important) change resulting
1753 from this is that it is no longer possible to guard objects that
1754 indirectly reference themselves (i.e. are parts of cycles). If you do
1755 so accidentally, you'll get a warning.
1757 *** There are now two types of guardians: greedy and sharing.
1759 If you call (make-guardian #t) or just (make-guardian), you'll get a
1760 greedy guardian, and for (make-guardian #f) a sharing guardian.
1762 Greedy guardians are the default because they are more "defensive".
1763 You can only greedily guard an object once. If you guard an object
1764 more than once, once in a greedy guardian and the rest of times in
1765 sharing guardians, then it is guaranteed that the object won't be
1766 returned from sharing guardians as long as it is greedily guarded
1769 Guardians returned by calls to `make-guardian' can now take one more
1770 optional parameter, which says whether to throw an error in case an
1771 attempt is made to greedily guard an object that is already greedily
1772 guarded. The default is true, i.e. throw an error. If the parameter
1773 is false, the guardian invocation returns #t if guarding was
1774 successful and #f if it wasn't.
1776 Also, since greedy guarding is, in effect, a side-effecting operation
1777 on objects, a new function is introduced: `destroy-guardian!'.
1778 Invoking this function on a guardian renders it unoperative and, if
1779 the guardian is greedy, clears the "greedily guarded" property of the
1780 objects that were guarded by it, thus undoing the side effect.
1782 Note that all this hair is hardly very important, since guardian
1783 objects are usually permanent.
1785 ** Continuations created by call-with-current-continuation now accept
1786 any number of arguments, as required by R5RS.
1788 ** New function `issue-deprecation-warning'
1790 This function is used to display the deprecation messages that are
1791 controlled by GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATION as explained in the README.
1794 (issue-deprecation-warning "`id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.")
1798 ;; `id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.
1803 ** New syntax `begin-deprecated'
1805 When deprecated features are included (as determined by the configure
1806 option --enable-deprecated), `begin-deprecated' is identical to
1807 `begin'. When deprecated features are excluded, it always evaluates
1808 to `#f', ignoring the body forms.
1810 ** New function `make-object-property'
1812 This function returns a new `procedure with setter' P that can be used
1813 to attach a property to objects. When calling P as
1817 where `obj' is any kind of object, it attaches `val' to `obj' in such
1818 a way that it can be retrieved by calling P as
1822 This function will replace procedure properties, symbol properties and
1823 source properties eventually.
1825 ** Module (ice-9 optargs) now uses keywords instead of `#&'.
1827 Instead of #&optional, #&key, etc you should now use #:optional,
1828 #:key, etc. Since #:optional is a keyword, you can write it as just
1829 :optional when (read-set! keywords 'prefix) is active.
1831 The old reader syntax `#&' is still supported, but deprecated. It
1832 will be removed in the next release.
1834 ** New define-module option: pure
1836 Tells the module system not to include any bindings from the root
1841 (define-module (totally-empty-module)
1844 ** New define-module option: export NAME1 ...
1846 Export names NAME1 ...
1848 This option is required if you want to be able to export bindings from
1849 a module which doesn't import one of `define-public' or `export'.
1853 (define-module (foo)
1855 :use-module (ice-9 r5rs)
1858 ;;; Note that we're pure R5RS below this point!
1863 ** New function: object->string OBJ
1865 Return a Scheme string obtained by printing a given object.
1867 ** New function: port? X
1869 Returns a boolean indicating whether X is a port. Equivalent to
1870 `(or (input-port? X) (output-port? X))'.
1872 ** New function: file-port?
1874 Determines whether a given object is a port that is related to a file.
1876 ** New function: port-for-each proc
1878 Apply PROC to each port in the Guile port table in turn. The return
1879 value is unspecified. More specifically, PROC is applied exactly once
1880 to every port that exists in the system at the time PORT-FOR-EACH is
1881 invoked. Changes to the port table while PORT-FOR-EACH is running
1882 have no effect as far as PORT-FOR-EACH is concerned.
1884 ** New function: dup2 oldfd newfd
1886 A simple wrapper for the `dup2' system call. Copies the file
1887 descriptor OLDFD to descriptor number NEWFD, replacing the
1888 previous meaning of NEWFD. Both OLDFD and NEWFD must be integers.
1889 Unlike for dup->fdes or primitive-move->fdes, no attempt is made
1890 to move away ports which are using NEWFD. The return value is
1893 ** New function: close-fdes fd
1895 A simple wrapper for the `close' system call. Close file
1896 descriptor FD, which must be an integer. Unlike close (*note
1897 close: Ports and File Descriptors.), the file descriptor will be
1898 closed even if a port is using it. The return value is
1901 ** New function: crypt password salt
1903 Encrypts `password' using the standard unix password encryption
1906 ** New function: chroot path
1908 Change the root directory of the running process to `path'.
1910 ** New functions: getlogin, cuserid
1912 Return the login name or the user name of the current effective user
1915 ** New functions: getpriority which who, setpriority which who prio
1917 Get or set the priority of the running process.
1919 ** New function: getpass prompt
1921 Read a password from the terminal, first displaying `prompt' and
1924 ** New function: flock file operation
1926 Set/remove an advisory shared or exclusive lock on `file'.
1928 ** New functions: sethostname name, gethostname
1930 Set or get the hostname of the machine the current process is running
1933 ** New function: mkstemp! tmpl
1935 mkstemp creates a new unique file in the file system and returns a
1936 new buffered port open for reading and writing to the file. TMPL
1937 is a string specifying where the file should be created: it must
1938 end with `XXXXXX' and will be changed in place to return the name
1939 of the temporary file.
1941 ** New function: open-input-string string
1943 Return an input string port which delivers the characters from
1944 `string'. This procedure, together with `open-output-string' and
1945 `get-output-string' implements SRFI-6.
1947 ** New function: open-output-string
1949 Return an output string port which collects all data written to it.
1950 The data can then be retrieved by `get-output-string'.
1952 ** New function: get-output-string
1954 Return the contents of an output string port.
1956 ** New function: identity
1958 Return the argument.
1960 ** socket, connect, accept etc., now have support for IPv6. IPv6 addresses
1961 are represented in Scheme as integers with normal host byte ordering.
1963 ** New function: inet-pton family address
1965 Convert a printable string network address into an integer. Note that
1966 unlike the C version of this function, the result is an integer with
1967 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
1970 (inet-pton AF_INET "127.0.0.1") => 2130706433
1971 (inet-pton AF_INET6 "::1") => 1
1973 ** New function: inet-ntop family address
1975 Convert an integer network address into a printable string. Note that
1976 unlike the C version of this function, the input is an integer with
1977 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
1980 (inet-ntop AF_INET 2130706433) => "127.0.0.1"
1981 (inet-ntop AF_INET6 (- (expt 2 128) 1)) =>
1982 ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff
1986 Use `identity' instead.
1992 ** Deprecated: return-it
1996 ** Deprecated: string-character-length
1998 Use `string-length' instead.
2000 ** Deprecated: flags
2002 Use `logior' instead.
2004 ** Deprecated: close-all-ports-except.
2006 This was intended for closing ports in a child process after a fork,
2007 but it has the undesirable side effect of flushing buffers.
2008 port-for-each is more flexible.
2010 ** The (ice-9 popen) module now attempts to set up file descriptors in
2011 the child process from the current Scheme ports, instead of using the
2012 current values of file descriptors 0, 1, and 2 in the parent process.
2014 ** Removed function: builtin-weak-bindings
2016 There is no such concept as a weak binding any more.
2018 ** Removed constants: bignum-radix, scm-line-incrementors
2020 ** define-method: New syntax mandatory.
2022 The new method syntax is now mandatory:
2024 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ...) BODY ...)
2025 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ... . REST-ARG) BODY ...)
2027 ARG-SPEC ::= ARG-NAME | (ARG-NAME TYPE)
2028 REST-ARG ::= ARG-NAME
2030 If you have old code using the old syntax, import
2031 (oop goops old-define-method) before (oop goops) as in:
2033 (use-modules (oop goops old-define-method) (oop goops))
2035 ** Deprecated function: builtin-variable
2036 Removed function: builtin-bindings
2038 There is no longer a distinction between builtin or other variables.
2039 Use module system operations for all variables.
2041 ** Lazy-catch handlers are no longer allowed to return.
2043 That is, a call to `throw', `error', etc is now guaranteed to not
2046 ** Bugfixes for (ice-9 getopt-long)
2048 This module is now tested using test-suite/tests/getopt-long.test.
2049 The following bugs have been fixed:
2051 *** Parsing for options that are specified to have `optional' args now checks
2052 if the next element is an option instead of unconditionally taking it as the
2055 *** An error is now thrown for `--opt=val' when the option description
2056 does not specify `(value #t)' or `(value optional)'. This condition used to
2057 be accepted w/o error, contrary to the documentation.
2059 *** The error message for unrecognized options is now more informative.
2060 It used to be "not a record", an artifact of the implementation.
2062 *** The error message for `--opt' terminating the arg list (no value), when
2063 `(value #t)' is specified, is now more informative. It used to be "not enough
2066 *** "Clumped" single-char args now preserve trailing string, use it as arg.
2067 The expansion used to be like so:
2069 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "--xyz")
2071 Note that the "5d" is dropped. Now it is like so:
2073 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "5d" "--xyz")
2075 This enables single-char options to have adjoining arguments as long as their
2076 constituent characters are not potential single-char options.
2078 ** (ice-9 session) procedure `arity' now works with (ice-9 optargs) `lambda*'
2080 The `lambda*' and derivative forms in (ice-9 optargs) now set a procedure
2081 property `arglist', which can be retrieved by `arity'. The result is that
2082 `arity' can give more detailed information than before:
2086 guile> (use-modules (ice-9 optargs))
2087 guile> (define* (foo #:optional a b c) a)
2089 0 or more arguments in `lambda*:G0'.
2094 3 optional arguments: `a', `b' and `c'.
2095 guile> (define* (bar a b #:key c d #:allow-other-keys) a)
2097 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 2 keyword arguments: `c'
2098 and `d', other keywords allowed.
2099 guile> (define* (baz a b #:optional c #:rest r) a)
2101 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 1 optional argument: `c',
2104 * Changes to the C interface
2106 ** Types have been renamed from scm_*_t to scm_t_*.
2108 This has been done for POSIX sake. It reserves identifiers ending
2109 with "_t". What a concept.
2111 The old names are still available with status `deprecated'.
2113 ** scm_t_bits (former scm_bits_t) is now a unsigned type.
2115 ** Deprecated features have been removed.
2119 SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP SCM_ICHRP, SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR
2120 SCM_SETJMPBUF SCM_NSTRINGP SCM_NRWSTRINGP SCM_NVECTORP SCM_DOUBLE_CELLP
2122 *** C Functions removed
2124 scm_sysmissing scm_tag scm_tc16_flo scm_tc_flo
2125 scm_fseek - replaced by scm_seek.
2126 gc-thunk - replaced by after-gc-hook.
2127 gh_int2scmb - replaced by gh_bool2scm.
2128 scm_tc_dblr - replaced by scm_tc16_real.
2129 scm_tc_dblc - replaced by scm_tc16_complex.
2130 scm_list_star - replaced by scm_cons_star.
2132 ** Deprecated: scm_makfromstr
2134 Use scm_mem2string instead.
2136 ** Deprecated: scm_make_shared_substring
2138 Explicit shared substrings will disappear from Guile.
2140 Instead, "normal" strings will be implemented using sharing
2141 internally, combined with a copy-on-write strategy.
2143 ** Deprecated: scm_read_only_string_p
2145 The concept of read-only strings will disappear in next release of
2148 ** Deprecated: scm_sloppy_memq, scm_sloppy_memv, scm_sloppy_member
2150 Instead, use scm_c_memq or scm_memq, scm_memv, scm_member.
2152 ** New functions: scm_call_0, scm_call_1, scm_call_2, scm_call_3
2154 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments. See "Fly
2155 Evaluation" in the manual.
2157 ** New functions: scm_apply_0, scm_apply_1, scm_apply_2, scm_apply_3
2159 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments and a list of
2160 further arguments. See "Fly Evaluation" in the manual.
2162 ** New functions: scm_list_1, scm_list_2, scm_list_3, scm_list_4, scm_list_5
2164 Create a list of the given number of elements. See "List
2165 Constructors" in the manual.
2167 ** Renamed function: scm_listify has been replaced by scm_list_n.
2169 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_LIST0, SCM_LIST1, SCM_LIST2, SCM_LIST3, SCM_LIST4,
2170 SCM_LIST5, SCM_LIST6, SCM_LIST7, SCM_LIST8, SCM_LIST9.
2172 Use functions scm_list_N instead.
2174 ** New function: scm_c_read (SCM port, void *buffer, scm_sizet size)
2176 Used by an application to read arbitrary number of bytes from a port.
2177 Same semantics as libc read, except that scm_c_read only returns less
2178 than SIZE bytes if at end-of-file.
2180 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
2182 ** New function: scm_c_write (SCM port, const void *ptr, scm_sizet size)
2184 Used by an application to write arbitrary number of bytes to an SCM
2185 port. Similar semantics as libc write. However, unlike libc
2186 write, scm_c_write writes the requested number of bytes and has no
2189 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
2191 ** New function: scm_init_guile ()
2193 In contrast to scm_boot_guile, scm_init_guile will return normally
2194 after initializing Guile. It is not available on all systems, tho.
2196 ** New functions: scm_str2symbol, scm_mem2symbol
2198 The function scm_str2symbol takes a const char* pointing to a zero-terminated
2199 field of characters and creates a scheme symbol object from that C string.
2200 The function scm_mem2symbol takes a const char* and a number of characters and
2201 creates a symbol from the characters in that memory area.
2203 ** New functions: scm_primitive_make_property
2204 scm_primitive_property_ref
2205 scm_primitive_property_set_x
2206 scm_primitive_property_del_x
2208 These functions implement a new way to deal with object properties.
2209 See libguile/properties.c for their documentation.
2211 ** New function: scm_done_free (long size)
2213 This function is the inverse of scm_done_malloc. Use it to report the
2214 amount of smob memory you free. The previous method, which involved
2215 calling scm_done_malloc with negative argument, was somewhat
2216 unintuitive (and is still available, of course).
2218 ** New function: scm_c_memq (SCM obj, SCM list)
2220 This function provides a fast C level alternative for scm_memq for the case
2221 that the list parameter is known to be a proper list. The function is a
2222 replacement for scm_sloppy_memq, but is stricter in its requirements on its
2223 list input parameter, since for anything else but a proper list the function's
2224 behaviour is undefined - it may even crash or loop endlessly. Further, for
2225 the case that the object is not found in the list, scm_c_memq returns #f which
2226 is similar to scm_memq, but different from scm_sloppy_memq's behaviour.
2228 ** New functions: scm_remember_upto_here_1, scm_remember_upto_here_2,
2229 scm_remember_upto_here
2231 These functions replace the function scm_remember.
2233 ** Deprecated function: scm_remember
2235 Use one of the new functions scm_remember_upto_here_1,
2236 scm_remember_upto_here_2 or scm_remember_upto_here instead.
2238 ** New function: scm_allocate_string
2240 This function replaces the function scm_makstr.
2242 ** Deprecated function: scm_makstr
2244 Use the new function scm_allocate_string instead.
2246 ** New global variable scm_gc_running_p introduced.
2248 Use this variable to find out if garbage collection is being executed. Up to
2249 now applications have used scm_gc_heap_lock to test if garbage collection was
2250 running, which also works because of the fact that up to know only the garbage
2251 collector has set this variable. But, this is an implementation detail that
2252 may change. Further, scm_gc_heap_lock is not set throughout gc, thus the use
2253 of this variable is (and has been) not fully safe anyway.
2255 ** New macros: SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH
2257 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
2259 ** New macros: SCM_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_CCLO_LENGTH, SCM_STACK_LENGTH,
2260 SCM_STRING_LENGTH, SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
2261 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH.
2263 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH.
2265 ** New macros: SCM_SET_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH,
2266 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
2267 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH
2269 Use these instead of SCM_SETLENGTH
2271 ** New macros: SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_CCLO_BASE,
2272 SCM_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_COMPLEX_MEM,
2275 Use these instead of SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS or
2278 ** New macros: SCM_SET_BIGNUM_BASE, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS,
2279 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE,
2282 Use these instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
2284 ** New macro: SCM_BITVECTOR_P
2286 ** New macro: SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X
2288 Use instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
2290 ** New macros: SCM_DIR_OPEN_P, SCM_DIR_FLAG_OPEN
2292 For directory objects, use these instead of SCM_OPDIRP and SCM_OPN.
2294 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_OUTOFRANGE, SCM_NALLOC, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL,
2295 SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL,
2296 SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD,
2297 SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS, SCM_SYMBOL_SLOTS, SCM_SLOTS, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
2298 SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_FREEP, SCM_NFREEP, SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS,
2299 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY,
2300 SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_HUGE_LENGTH,
2301 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
2302 SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP, SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, SCM_ROCHARS,
2303 SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_GC8MARKP,
2304 SCM_SETGC8MARK, SCM_CLRGC8MARK, SCM_GCTYP16, SCM_GCCDR, SCM_SUBR_DOC,
2305 SCM_OPDIRP, SCM_VALIDATE_OPDIR, SCM_WTA, RETURN_SCM_WTA, SCM_CONST_LONG,
2306 SCM_WNA, SCM_FUNC_NAME, SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_COPY,
2307 SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_DEF_COPY, SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP, SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP,
2308 SCM_SETAND_CDR, SCM_SETOR_CDR, SCM_SETAND_CAR, SCM_SETOR_CAR
2310 Use SCM_ASSERT_RANGE or SCM_VALIDATE_XXX_RANGE instead of SCM_OUTOFRANGE.
2311 Use scm_memory_error instead of SCM_NALLOC.
2312 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP.
2313 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR.
2314 Use SCM_FREE_CELL_P instead of SCM_FREEP/SCM_NFREEP
2315 Use a type specific accessor macro instead of SCM_CHARS/SCM_UCHARS.
2316 Use a type specific accessor instead of SCM(_|_RO|_HUGE_)LENGTH.
2317 Use SCM_VALIDATE_(SYMBOL|STRING) instead of SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING.
2318 Use SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
2319 Use SCM_STRINGP or SCM_SYMBOLP instead of SCM_ROSTRINGP.
2320 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_RWSTRINGP.
2321 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING.
2322 Use SCM_STRING_CHARS instead of SCM_ROCHARS.
2323 Use SCM_STRING_UCHARS instead of SCM_ROUCHARS.
2324 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETLENGTH.
2325 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
2326 Use a type specific length macro instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
2327 Use SCM_GCMARKP instead of SCM_GC8MARKP.
2328 Use SCM_SETGCMARK instead of SCM_SETGC8MARK.
2329 Use SCM_CLRGCMARK instead of SCM_CLRGC8MARK.
2330 Use SCM_TYP16 instead of SCM_GCTYP16.
2331 Use SCM_CDR instead of SCM_GCCDR.
2332 Use SCM_DIR_OPEN_P instead of SCM_OPDIRP.
2333 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of SCM_WTA.
2334 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of RETURN_SCM_WTA.
2335 Use SCM_VCELL_INIT instead of SCM_CONST_LONG.
2336 Use SCM_WRONG_NUM_ARGS instead of SCM_WNA.
2337 Use SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP.
2338 Use !SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP.
2340 ** Removed function: scm_struct_init
2342 ** Removed variable: scm_symhash_dim
2344 ** Renamed function: scm_make_cont has been replaced by
2345 scm_make_continuation, which has a different interface.
2347 ** Deprecated function: scm_call_catching_errors
2349 Use scm_catch or scm_lazy_catch from throw.[ch] instead.
2351 ** Deprecated function: scm_strhash
2353 Use scm_string_hash instead.
2355 ** Deprecated function: scm_vector_set_length_x
2357 Instead, create a fresh vector of the desired size and copy the contents.
2359 ** scm_gensym has changed prototype
2361 scm_gensym now only takes one argument.
2363 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc7_ssymbol, scm_tc7_msymbol, scm_tcs_symbols,
2366 There is now only a single symbol type scm_tc7_symbol.
2367 The tag scm_tc7_lvector was not used anyway.
2369 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe, scm_set_smob_mfpe.
2371 Use scm_make_smob_type and scm_set_smob_XXX instead.
2373 ** New function scm_set_smob_apply.
2375 This can be used to set an apply function to a smob type.
2377 ** Deprecated function: scm_strprint_obj
2379 Use scm_object_to_string instead.
2381 ** Deprecated function: scm_wta
2383 Use scm_wrong_type_arg, or another appropriate error signalling function
2386 ** Explicit support for obarrays has been deprecated.
2388 Use `scm_str2symbol' and the generic hashtable functions instead.
2390 ** The concept of `vcells' has been deprecated.
2392 The data type `variable' is now used exclusively. `Vcells' have been
2393 a low-level concept so you are likely not affected by this change.
2395 *** Deprecated functions: scm_sym2vcell, scm_sysintern,
2396 scm_sysintern0, scm_symbol_value0, scm_intern, scm_intern0.
2398 Use scm_c_define or scm_c_lookup instead, as appropriate.
2400 *** New functions: scm_c_module_lookup, scm_c_lookup,
2401 scm_c_module_define, scm_c_define, scm_module_lookup, scm_lookup,
2402 scm_module_define, scm_define.
2404 These functions work with variables instead of with vcells.
2406 ** New functions for creating and defining `subr's and `gsubr's.
2408 The new functions more clearly distinguish between creating a subr (or
2409 gsubr) object and adding it to the current module.
2411 These new functions are available: scm_c_make_subr, scm_c_define_subr,
2412 scm_c_make_subr_with_generic, scm_c_define_subr_with_generic,
2413 scm_c_make_gsubr, scm_c_define_gsubr, scm_c_make_gsubr_with_generic,
2414 scm_c_define_gsubr_with_generic.
2416 ** Deprecated functions: scm_make_subr, scm_make_subr_opt,
2417 scm_make_subr_with_generic, scm_make_gsubr,
2418 scm_make_gsubr_with_generic.
2420 Use the new ones from above instead.
2422 ** C interface to the module system has changed.
2424 While we suggest that you avoid as many explicit module system
2425 operations from C as possible for the time being, the C interface has
2426 been made more similar to the high-level Scheme module system.
2428 *** New functions: scm_c_define_module, scm_c_use_module,
2429 scm_c_export, scm_c_resolve_module.
2431 They mostly work like their Scheme namesakes. scm_c_define_module
2432 takes a function that is called a context where the new module is
2435 *** Deprecated functions: scm_the_root_module, scm_make_module,
2436 scm_ensure_user_module, scm_load_scheme_module.
2438 Use the new functions instead.
2440 ** Renamed function: scm_internal_with_fluids becomes
2443 scm_internal_with_fluids is available as a deprecated function.
2445 ** New function: scm_c_with_fluid.
2447 Just like scm_c_with_fluids, but takes one fluid and one value instead
2450 ** Deprecated typedefs: long_long, ulong_long.
2452 They are of questionable utility and they pollute the global
2455 ** Deprecated typedef: scm_sizet
2457 It is of questionable utility now that Guile requires ANSI C, and is
2460 ** Deprecated typedefs: scm_port_rw_active, scm_port,
2461 scm_ptob_descriptor, scm_debug_info, scm_debug_frame, scm_fport,
2462 scm_option, scm_rstate, scm_rng, scm_array, scm_array_dim.
2464 Made more compliant with the naming policy by adding a _t at the end.
2466 ** Deprecated functions: scm_mkbig, scm_big2num, scm_adjbig,
2467 scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl
2469 With the exception of the mysterious scm_2ulong2big, they are still
2470 available under new names (scm_i_mkbig etc). These functions are not
2471 intended to be used in user code. You should avoid dealing with
2472 bignums directly, and should deal with numbers in general (which can
2475 ** Change in behavior: scm_num2long, scm_num2ulong
2477 The scm_num2[u]long functions don't any longer accept an inexact
2478 argument. This change in behavior is motivated by concordance with
2479 R5RS: It is more common that a primitive doesn't want to accept an
2480 inexact for an exact.
2482 ** New functions: scm_short2num, scm_ushort2num, scm_int2num,
2483 scm_uint2num, scm_size2num, scm_ptrdiff2num, scm_num2short,
2484 scm_num2ushort, scm_num2int, scm_num2uint, scm_num2ptrdiff,
2487 These are conversion functions between the various ANSI C integral
2488 types and Scheme numbers. NOTE: The scm_num2xxx functions don't
2489 accept an inexact argument.
2491 ** New functions: scm_float2num, scm_double2num,
2492 scm_num2float, scm_num2double.
2494 These are conversion functions between the two ANSI C float types and
2497 ** New number validation macros:
2498 SCM_NUM2{SIZE,PTRDIFF,SHORT,USHORT,INT,UINT}[_DEF]
2502 ** New functions: scm_gc_protect_object, scm_gc_unprotect_object
2504 These are just nicer-named old scm_protect_object and
2505 scm_unprotect_object.
2507 ** Deprecated functions: scm_protect_object, scm_unprotect_object
2509 ** New functions: scm_gc_[un]register_root, scm_gc_[un]register_roots
2511 These functions can be used to register pointers to locations that
2514 ** Deprecated function: scm_create_hook.
2516 Its sins are: misleading name, non-modularity and lack of general
2520 Changes since Guile 1.3.4:
2522 * Changes to the distribution
2524 ** Trees from nightly snapshots and CVS now require you to run autogen.sh.
2526 We've changed the way we handle generated files in the Guile source
2527 repository. As a result, the procedure for building trees obtained
2528 from the nightly FTP snapshots or via CVS has changed:
2529 - You must have appropriate versions of autoconf, automake, and
2530 libtool installed on your system. See README for info on how to
2531 obtain these programs.
2532 - Before configuring the tree, you must first run the script
2533 `autogen.sh' at the top of the source tree.
2535 The Guile repository used to contain not only source files, written by
2536 humans, but also some generated files, like configure scripts and
2537 Makefile.in files. Even though the contents of these files could be
2538 derived mechanically from other files present, we thought it would
2539 make the tree easier to build if we checked them into CVS.
2541 However, this approach means that minor differences between
2542 developer's installed tools and habits affected the whole team.
2543 So we have removed the generated files from the repository, and
2544 added the autogen.sh script, which will reconstruct them
2548 ** configure now has experimental options to remove support for certain
2551 --disable-arrays omit array and uniform array support
2552 --disable-posix omit posix interfaces
2553 --disable-networking omit networking interfaces
2554 --disable-regex omit regular expression interfaces
2556 These are likely to become separate modules some day.
2558 ** New configure option --enable-debug-freelist
2560 This enables a debugging version of SCM_NEWCELL(), and also registers
2561 an extra primitive, the setter `gc-set-debug-check-freelist!'.
2563 Configure with the --enable-debug-freelist option to enable
2564 the gc-set-debug-check-freelist! primitive, and then use:
2566 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #t) # turn on checking of the freelist
2567 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #f) # turn off checking
2569 Checking of the freelist forces a traversal of the freelist and
2570 a garbage collection before each allocation of a cell. This can
2571 slow down the interpreter dramatically, so the setter should be used to
2572 turn on this extra processing only when necessary.
2574 ** New configure option --enable-debug-malloc
2576 Include code for debugging of calls to scm_must_malloc/realloc/free.
2580 1. objects freed by scm_must_free has been mallocated by scm_must_malloc
2581 2. objects reallocated by scm_must_realloc has been allocated by
2583 3. reallocated objects are reallocated with the same what string
2585 But, most importantly, it records the number of allocated objects of
2586 each kind. This is useful when searching for memory leaks.
2588 A Guile compiled with this option provides the primitive
2589 `malloc-stats' which returns an alist with pairs of kind and the
2590 number of objects of that kind.
2592 ** All includes are now referenced relative to the root directory
2594 Since some users have had problems with mixups between Guile and
2595 system headers, we have decided to always refer to Guile headers via
2596 their parent directories. This essentially creates a "private name
2597 space" for Guile headers. This means that the compiler only is given
2598 -I options for the root build and root source directory.
2600 ** Header files kw.h and genio.h have been removed.
2602 ** The module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) has been removed.
2604 ** New module (ice-9 documentation)
2606 Implements the interface to documentation strings associated with
2609 ** New module (ice-9 time)
2611 Provides a macro `time', which displays execution time of a given form.
2613 ** New module (ice-9 history)
2615 Loading this module enables value history in the repl.
2617 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
2619 ** New command line option --debug
2621 Start Guile with debugging evaluator and backtraces enabled.
2623 This is useful when debugging your .guile init file or scripts.
2625 ** New help facility
2627 Usage: (help NAME) gives documentation about objects named NAME (a symbol)
2628 (help REGEXP) ditto for objects with names matching REGEXP (a string)
2629 (help 'NAME) gives documentation for NAME, even if it is not an object
2630 (help ,EXPR) gives documentation for object returned by EXPR
2631 (help (my module)) gives module commentary for `(my module)'
2632 (help) gives this text
2634 `help' searches among bindings exported from loaded modules, while
2635 `apropos' searches among bindings visible from the "current" module.
2637 Examples: (help help)
2639 (help "output-string")
2641 ** `help' and `apropos' now prints full module names
2643 ** Dynamic linking now uses libltdl from the libtool package.
2645 The old system dependent code for doing dynamic linking has been
2646 replaced with calls to the libltdl functions which do all the hairy
2649 The major improvement is that you can now directly pass libtool
2650 library names like "libfoo.la" to `dynamic-link' and `dynamic-link'
2651 will be able to do the best shared library job you can get, via
2654 The way dynamic libraries are found has changed and is not really
2655 portable across platforms, probably. It is therefore recommended to
2656 use absolute filenames when possible.
2658 If you pass a filename without an extension to `dynamic-link', it will
2659 try a few appropriate ones. Thus, the most platform ignorant way is
2660 to specify a name like "libfoo", without any directories and
2663 ** Guile COOP threads are now compatible with LinuxThreads
2665 Previously, COOP threading wasn't possible in applications linked with
2666 Linux POSIX threads due to their use of the stack pointer to find the
2667 thread context. This has now been fixed with a workaround which uses
2668 the pthreads to allocate the stack.
2670 ** New primitives: `pkgdata-dir', `site-dir', `library-dir'
2672 ** Positions of erring expression in scripts
2674 With version 1.3.4, the location of the erring expression in Guile
2675 scipts is no longer automatically reported. (This should have been
2676 documented before the 1.3.4 release.)
2678 You can get this information by enabling recording of positions of
2679 source expressions and running the debugging evaluator. Put this at
2680 the top of your script (or in your "site" file):
2682 (read-enable 'positions)
2683 (debug-enable 'debug)
2685 ** Backtraces in scripts
2687 It is now possible to get backtraces in scripts.
2691 (debug-enable 'debug 'backtrace)
2693 at the top of the script.
2695 (The first options enables the debugging evaluator.
2696 The second enables backtraces.)
2698 ** Part of module system symbol lookup now implemented in C
2700 The eval closure of most modules is now implemented in C. Since this
2701 was one of the bottlenecks for loading speed, Guile now loads code
2702 substantially faster than before.
2704 ** Attempting to get the value of an unbound variable now produces
2705 an exception with a key of 'unbound-variable instead of 'misc-error.
2707 ** The initial default output port is now unbuffered if it's using a
2708 tty device. Previously in this situation it was line-buffered.
2710 ** New hook: after-gc-hook
2712 after-gc-hook takes over the role of gc-thunk. This hook is run at
2713 the first SCM_TICK after a GC. (Thus, the code is run at the same
2714 point during evaluation as signal handlers.)
2716 Note that this hook should be used only for diagnostic and debugging
2717 purposes. It is not certain that it will continue to be well-defined
2718 when this hook is run in the future.
2720 C programmers: Note the new C level hooks scm_before_gc_c_hook,
2721 scm_before_sweep_c_hook, scm_after_gc_c_hook.
2723 ** Improvements to garbage collector
2725 Guile 1.4 has a new policy for triggering heap allocation and
2726 determining the sizes of heap segments. It fixes a number of problems
2729 1. The new policy can handle two separate pools of cells
2730 (2-word/4-word) better. (The old policy would run wild, allocating
2731 more and more memory for certain programs.)
2733 2. The old code would sometimes allocate far too much heap so that the
2734 Guile process became gigantic. The new code avoids this.
2736 3. The old code would sometimes allocate too little so that few cells
2737 were freed at GC so that, in turn, too much time was spent in GC.
2739 4. The old code would often trigger heap allocation several times in a
2740 row. (The new scheme predicts how large the segments needs to be
2741 in order not to need further allocation.)
2743 All in all, the new GC policy will make larger applications more
2746 The new GC scheme also is prepared for POSIX threading. Threads can
2747 allocate private pools of cells ("clusters") with just a single
2748 function call. Allocation of single cells from such a cluster can
2749 then proceed without any need of inter-thread synchronization.
2751 ** New environment variables controlling GC parameters
2753 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE Maximal segment size
2756 Allocation of 2-word cell heaps:
2758 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1 Size of initial heap segment in bytes
2761 GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1 Minimum number of freed cells at each
2762 GC in percent of total heap size
2765 Allocation of 4-word cell heaps
2766 (used for real numbers and misc other objects):
2768 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2
2770 (See entry "Way for application to customize GC parameters" under
2771 section "Changes to the scm_ interface" below.)
2773 ** Guile now implements reals using 4-word cells
2775 This speeds up computation with reals. (They were earlier allocated
2776 with `malloc'.) There is still some room for optimizations, however.
2778 ** Some further steps toward POSIX thread support have been taken
2780 *** Guile's critical sections (SCM_DEFER/ALLOW_INTS)
2781 don't have much effect any longer, and many of them will be removed in
2785 are only handled at the top of the evaluator loop, immediately after
2786 I/O, and in scm_equalp.
2788 *** The GC can allocate thread private pools of pairs.
2790 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
2792 ** close-input-port and close-output-port are now R5RS
2794 These procedures have been turned into primitives and have R5RS behaviour.
2796 ** New procedure: simple-format PORT MESSAGE ARG1 ...
2798 (ice-9 boot) makes `format' an alias for `simple-format' until possibly
2799 extended by the more sophisticated version in (ice-9 format)
2801 (simple-format port message . args)
2802 Write MESSAGE to DESTINATION, defaulting to `current-output-port'.
2803 MESSAGE can contain ~A (was %s) and ~S (was %S) escapes. When printed,
2804 the escapes are replaced with corresponding members of ARGS:
2805 ~A formats using `display' and ~S formats using `write'.
2806 If DESTINATION is #t, then use the `current-output-port',
2807 if DESTINATION is #f, then return a string containing the formatted text.
2808 Does not add a trailing newline."
2810 ** string-ref: the second argument is no longer optional.
2812 ** string, list->string: no longer accept strings in their arguments,
2813 only characters, for compatibility with R5RS.
2815 ** New procedure: port-closed? PORT
2816 Returns #t if PORT is closed or #f if it is open.
2818 ** Deprecated: list*
2820 The list* functionality is now provided by cons* (SRFI-1 compliant)
2822 ** New procedure: cons* ARG1 ARG2 ... ARGn
2824 Like `list', but the last arg provides the tail of the constructed list,
2825 returning (cons ARG1 (cons ARG2 (cons ... ARGn))).
2827 Requires at least one argument. If given one argument, that argument
2828 is returned as result.
2830 This function is called `list*' in some other Schemes and in Common LISP.
2832 ** Removed deprecated: serial-map, serial-array-copy!, serial-array-map!
2834 ** New procedure: object-documentation OBJECT
2836 Returns the documentation string associated with OBJECT. The
2837 procedure uses a caching mechanism so that subsequent lookups are
2840 Exported by (ice-9 documentation).
2842 ** module-name now returns full names of modules
2844 Previously, only the last part of the name was returned (`session' for
2845 `(ice-9 session)'). Ex: `(ice-9 session)'.
2847 * Changes to the gh_ interface
2849 ** Deprecated: gh_int2scmb
2851 Use gh_bool2scm instead.
2853 * Changes to the scm_ interface
2855 ** Guile primitives now carry docstrings!
2857 Thanks to Greg Badros!
2859 ** Guile primitives are defined in a new way: SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
2861 Now Guile primitives are defined using the SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
2862 macros and must contain a docstring that is extracted into foo.doc using a new
2863 guile-doc-snarf script (that uses guile-doc-snarf.awk).
2865 However, a major overhaul of these macros is scheduled for the next release of
2868 ** Guile primitives use a new technique for validation of arguments
2870 SCM_VALIDATE_* macros are defined to ease the redundancy and improve
2871 the readability of argument checking.
2873 ** All (nearly?) K&R prototypes for functions replaced with ANSI C equivalents.
2875 ** New macros: SCM_PACK, SCM_UNPACK
2877 Compose/decompose an SCM value.
2879 The SCM type is now treated as an abstract data type and may be defined as a
2880 long, a void* or as a struct, depending on the architecture and compile time
2881 options. This makes it easier to find several types of bugs, for example when
2882 SCM values are treated as integers without conversion. Values of the SCM type
2883 should be treated as "atomic" values. These macros are used when
2884 composing/decomposing an SCM value, either because you want to access
2885 individual bits, or because you want to treat it as an integer value.
2887 E.g., in order to set bit 7 in an SCM value x, use the expression
2889 SCM_PACK (SCM_UNPACK (x) | 0x80)
2891 ** The name property of hooks is deprecated.
2892 Thus, the use of SCM_HOOK_NAME and scm_make_hook_with_name is deprecated.
2894 You can emulate this feature by using object properties.
2896 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP, SCM_CRDY, SCM_ICHRP,
2897 SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR, SCM_SETJMPBUF, SCM_NSTRINGP, SCM_NRWSTRINGP,
2900 These macros will be removed in a future release of Guile.
2902 ** The following types, functions and macros from numbers.h are deprecated:
2903 scm_dblproc, SCM_UNEGFIXABLE, SCM_FLOBUFLEN, SCM_INEXP, SCM_CPLXP, SCM_REAL,
2904 SCM_IMAG, SCM_REALPART, scm_makdbl, SCM_SINGP, SCM_NUM2DBL, SCM_NO_BIGDIG
2906 ** Port internals: the rw_random variable in the scm_port structure
2907 must be set to non-zero in any random access port. In recent Guile
2908 releases it was only set for bidirectional random-access ports.
2910 ** Port internals: the seek ptob procedure is now responsible for
2911 resetting the buffers if required. The change was made so that in the
2912 special case of reading the current position (i.e., seek p 0 SEEK_CUR)
2913 the fport and strport ptobs can avoid resetting the buffers,
2914 in particular to avoid discarding unread chars. An existing port
2915 type can be fixed by adding something like the following to the
2916 beginning of the ptob seek procedure:
2918 if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_READ)
2919 scm_end_input (object);
2920 else if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_WRITE)
2921 ptob->flush (object);
2923 although to actually avoid resetting the buffers and discard unread
2924 chars requires further hacking that depends on the characteristics
2927 ** Deprecated functions: scm_fseek, scm_tag
2929 These functions are no longer used and will be removed in a future version.
2931 ** The scm_sysmissing procedure is no longer used in libguile.
2932 Unless it turns out to be unexpectedly useful to somebody, it will be
2933 removed in a future version.
2935 ** The format of error message strings has changed
2937 The two C procedures: scm_display_error and scm_error, as well as the
2938 primitive `scm-error', now use scm_simple_format to do their work.
2939 This means that the message strings of all code must be updated to use
2940 ~A where %s was used before, and ~S where %S was used before.
2942 During the period when there still are a lot of old Guiles out there,
2943 you might want to support both old and new versions of Guile.
2945 There are basically two methods to achieve this. Both methods use
2948 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(scm_simple_format)
2950 in your configure.in.
2952 Method 1: Use the string concatenation features of ANSI C's
2957 #ifdef HAVE_SCM_SIMPLE_FORMAT
2963 Then represent each of your error messages using a preprocessor macro:
2965 #define E_SPIDER_ERROR "There's a spider in your " ## FMT_S ## "!!!"
2969 (define fmt-s (if (defined? 'simple-format) "~S" "%S"))
2970 (define make-message string-append)
2972 (define e-spider-error (make-message "There's a spider in your " fmt-s "!!!"))
2974 Method 2: Use the oldfmt function found in doc/oldfmt.c.
2978 scm_misc_error ("picnic", scm_c_oldfmt0 ("There's a spider in your ~S!!!"),
2983 (scm-error 'misc-error "picnic" (oldfmt "There's a spider in your ~S!!!")
2987 ** Deprecated: coop_mutex_init, coop_condition_variable_init
2989 Don't use the functions coop_mutex_init and
2990 coop_condition_variable_init. They will change.
2992 Use scm_mutex_init and scm_cond_init instead.
2994 ** New function: int scm_cond_timedwait (scm_cond_t *COND, scm_mutex_t *MUTEX, const struct timespec *ABSTIME)
2995 `scm_cond_timedwait' atomically unlocks MUTEX and waits on
2996 COND, as `scm_cond_wait' does, but it also bounds the duration
2997 of the wait. If COND has not been signaled before time ABSTIME,
2998 the mutex MUTEX is re-acquired and `scm_cond_timedwait'
2999 returns the error code `ETIMEDOUT'.
3001 The ABSTIME parameter specifies an absolute time, with the same
3002 origin as `time' and `gettimeofday': an ABSTIME of 0 corresponds
3003 to 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970.
3005 ** New function: scm_cond_broadcast (scm_cond_t *COND)
3006 `scm_cond_broadcast' restarts all the threads that are waiting
3007 on the condition variable COND. Nothing happens if no threads are
3010 ** New function: scm_key_create (scm_key_t *KEY, void (*destr_function) (void *))
3011 `scm_key_create' allocates a new TSD key. The key is stored in
3012 the location pointed to by KEY. There is no limit on the number
3013 of keys allocated at a given time. The value initially associated
3014 with the returned key is `NULL' in all currently executing threads.
3016 The DESTR_FUNCTION argument, if not `NULL', specifies a destructor
3017 function associated with the key. When a thread terminates,
3018 DESTR_FUNCTION is called on the value associated with the key in
3019 that thread. The DESTR_FUNCTION is not called if a key is deleted
3020 with `scm_key_delete' or a value is changed with
3021 `scm_setspecific'. The order in which destructor functions are
3022 called at thread termination time is unspecified.
3024 Destructors are not yet implemented.
3026 ** New function: scm_setspecific (scm_key_t KEY, const void *POINTER)
3027 `scm_setspecific' changes the value associated with KEY in the
3028 calling thread, storing the given POINTER instead.
3030 ** New function: scm_getspecific (scm_key_t KEY)
3031 `scm_getspecific' returns the value currently associated with
3032 KEY in the calling thread.
3034 ** New function: scm_key_delete (scm_key_t KEY)
3035 `scm_key_delete' deallocates a TSD key. It does not check
3036 whether non-`NULL' values are associated with that key in the
3037 currently executing threads, nor call the destructor function
3038 associated with the key.
3040 ** New function: scm_c_hook_init (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *HOOK_DATA, scm_c_hook_type_t TYPE)
3042 Initialize a C level hook HOOK with associated HOOK_DATA and type
3043 TYPE. (See scm_c_hook_run ().)
3045 ** New function: scm_c_hook_add (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA, int APPENDP)
3047 Add hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA to HOOK. If APPENDP
3048 is true, add it last, otherwise first. The same FUNC can be added
3049 multiple times if FUNC_DATA differ and vice versa.
3051 ** New function: scm_c_hook_remove (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA)
3053 Remove hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA from HOOK. A
3054 function is only removed if both FUNC and FUNC_DATA matches.
3056 ** New function: void *scm_c_hook_run (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *DATA)
3058 Run hook HOOK passing DATA to the hook functions.
3060 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_NORMAL, all hook functions are run. The value
3061 returned is undefined.
3063 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_OR, hook functions are run until a function
3064 returns a non-NULL value. This value is returned as the result of
3065 scm_c_hook_run. If all functions return NULL, NULL is returned.
3067 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_AND, hook functions are run until a function
3068 returns a NULL value, and NULL is returned. If all functions returns
3069 a non-NULL value, the last value is returned.
3071 ** New C level GC hooks
3073 Five new C level hooks has been added to the garbage collector.
3075 scm_before_gc_c_hook
3078 are run before locking and after unlocking the heap. The system is
3079 thus in a mode where evaluation can take place. (Except that
3080 scm_before_gc_c_hook must not allocate new cells.)
3082 scm_before_mark_c_hook
3083 scm_before_sweep_c_hook
3084 scm_after_sweep_c_hook
3086 are run when the heap is locked. These are intended for extension of
3087 the GC in a modular fashion. Examples are the weaks and guardians
3090 ** Way for application to customize GC parameters
3092 The application can set up other default values for the GC heap
3093 allocation parameters
3095 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_1, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1,
3096 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2,
3097 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE,
3101 scm_default_init_heap_size_1, scm_default_min_yield_1,
3102 scm_default_init_heap_size_2, scm_default_min_yield_2,
3103 scm_default_max_segment_size
3105 respectively before callong scm_boot_guile.
3107 (See entry "New environment variables ..." in section
3108 "Changes to the stand-alone interpreter" above.)
3110 ** scm_protect_object/scm_unprotect_object now nest
3112 This means that you can call scm_protect_object multiple times on an
3113 object and count on the object being protected until
3114 scm_unprotect_object has been call the same number of times.
3116 The functions also have better time complexity.
3118 Still, it is usually possible to structure the application in a way
3119 that you don't need to use these functions. For example, if you use a
3120 protected standard Guile list to keep track of live objects rather
3121 than some custom data type, objects will die a natural death when they
3122 are no longer needed.
3124 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc16_flo, scm_tc_flo, scm_tc_dblr, scm_tc_dblc
3126 Guile does not provide the float representation for inexact real numbers any
3127 more. Now, only doubles are used to represent inexact real numbers. Further,
3128 the tag names scm_tc_dblr and scm_tc_dblc have been changed to scm_tc16_real
3129 and scm_tc16_complex, respectively.
3131 ** Removed deprecated type scm_smobfuns
3133 ** Removed deprecated function scm_newsmob
3135 ** Warning: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe might become deprecated in a future release
3137 There is an ongoing discussion among the developers whether to
3138 deprecate `scm_make_smob_type_mfpe' or not. Please use the current
3139 standard interface (scm_make_smob_type, scm_set_smob_XXX) in new code
3140 until this issue has been settled.
3142 ** Removed deprecated type tag scm_tc16_kw
3144 ** Added type tag scm_tc16_keyword
3146 (This was introduced already in release 1.3.4 but was not documented
3149 ** gdb_print now prints "*** Guile not initialized ***" until Guile initialized
3151 * Changes to system call interfaces:
3153 ** The "select" procedure now tests port buffers for the ability to
3154 provide input or accept output. Previously only the underlying file
3155 descriptors were checked.
3157 ** New variable PIPE_BUF: the maximum number of bytes that can be
3158 atomically written to a pipe.
3160 ** If a facility is not available on the system when Guile is
3161 compiled, the corresponding primitive procedure will not be defined.
3162 Previously it would have been defined but would throw a system-error
3163 exception if called. Exception handlers which catch this case may
3164 need minor modification: an error will be thrown with key
3165 'unbound-variable instead of 'system-error. Alternatively it's
3166 now possible to use `defined?' to check whether the facility is
3169 ** Procedures which depend on the timezone should now give the correct
3170 result on systems which cache the TZ environment variable, even if TZ
3171 is changed without calling tzset.
3173 * Changes to the networking interfaces:
3175 ** New functions: htons, ntohs, htonl, ntohl: for converting short and
3176 long integers between network and host format. For now, it's not
3177 particularly convenient to do this kind of thing, but consider:
3179 (define write-network-long
3180 (lambda (value port)
3181 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
3182 (uniform-vector-set! v 0 (htonl value))
3183 (uniform-vector-write v port))))
3185 (define read-network-long
3187 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
3188 (uniform-vector-read! v port)
3189 (ntohl (uniform-vector-ref v 0)))))
3191 ** If inet-aton fails, it now throws an error with key 'misc-error
3192 instead of 'system-error, since errno is not relevant.
3194 ** Certain gethostbyname/gethostbyaddr failures now throw errors with
3195 specific keys instead of 'system-error. The latter is inappropriate
3196 since errno will not have been set. The keys are:
3197 'host-not-found, 'try-again, 'no-recovery and 'no-data.
3199 ** sethostent, setnetent, setprotoent, setservent: now take an
3200 optional argument STAYOPEN, which specifies whether the database
3201 remains open after a database entry is accessed randomly (e.g., using
3202 gethostbyname for the hosts database.) The default is #f. Previously
3206 Changes since Guile 1.3.2:
3208 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3212 An initial version of the Guile debugger written by Chris Hanson has
3213 been added. The debugger is still under development but is included
3214 in the distribution anyway since it is already quite useful.
3220 after an error to enter the debugger. Type `help' inside the debugger
3221 for a description of available commands.
3223 If you prefer to have stack frames numbered and printed in
3224 anti-chronological order and prefer up in the stack to be down on the
3225 screen as is the case in gdb, you can put
3227 (debug-enable 'backwards)
3229 in your .guile startup file. (However, this means that Guile can't
3230 use indentation to indicate stack level.)
3232 The debugger is autoloaded into Guile at the first use.
3234 ** Further enhancements to backtraces
3236 There is a new debug option `width' which controls the maximum width
3237 on the screen of printed stack frames. Fancy printing parameters
3238 ("level" and "length" as in Common LISP) are adaptively adjusted for
3239 each stack frame to give maximum information while still fitting
3240 within the bounds. If the stack frame can't be made to fit by
3241 adjusting parameters, it is simply cut off at the end. This is marked
3244 ** Some modules are now only loaded when the repl is started
3246 The modules (ice-9 debug), (ice-9 session), (ice-9 threads) and (ice-9
3247 regex) are now loaded into (guile-user) only if the repl has been
3248 started. The effect is that the startup time for scripts has been
3249 reduced to 30% of what it was previously.
3251 Correctly written scripts load the modules they require at the top of
3252 the file and should not be affected by this change.
3254 ** Hooks are now represented as smobs
3256 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3258 ** Readline support has changed again.
3260 The old (readline-activator) module is gone. Use (ice-9 readline)
3261 instead, which now contains all readline functionality. So the code
3262 to activate readline is now
3264 (use-modules (ice-9 readline))
3267 This should work at any time, including from the guile prompt.
3269 To avoid confusion about the terms of Guile's license, please only
3270 enable readline for your personal use; please don't make it the
3271 default for others. Here is why we make this rather odd-sounding
3274 Guile is normally licensed under a weakened form of the GNU General
3275 Public License, which allows you to link code with Guile without
3276 placing that code under the GPL. This exception is important to some
3279 However, since readline is distributed under the GNU General Public
3280 License, when you link Guile with readline, either statically or
3281 dynamically, you effectively change Guile's license to the strict GPL.
3282 Whenever you link any strictly GPL'd code into Guile, uses of Guile
3283 which are normally permitted become forbidden. This is a rather
3284 non-obvious consequence of the licensing terms.
3286 So, to make sure things remain clear, please let people choose for
3287 themselves whether to link GPL'd libraries like readline with Guile.
3289 ** regexp-substitute/global has changed slightly, but incompatibly.
3291 If you include a function in the item list, the string of the match
3292 object it receives is the same string passed to
3293 regexp-substitute/global, not some suffix of that string.
3294 Correspondingly, the match's positions are relative to the entire
3295 string, not the suffix.
3297 If the regexp can match the empty string, the way matches are chosen
3298 from the string has changed. regexp-substitute/global recognizes the
3299 same set of matches that list-matches does; see below.
3301 ** New function: list-matches REGEXP STRING [FLAGS]
3303 Return a list of match objects, one for every non-overlapping, maximal
3304 match of REGEXP in STRING. The matches appear in left-to-right order.
3305 list-matches only reports matches of the empty string if there are no
3306 other matches which begin on, end at, or include the empty match's
3309 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
3311 ** New function: fold-matches REGEXP STRING INIT PROC [FLAGS]
3313 For each match of REGEXP in STRING, apply PROC to the match object,
3314 and the last value PROC returned, or INIT for the first call. Return
3315 the last value returned by PROC. We apply PROC to the matches as they
3316 appear from left to right.
3318 This function recognizes matches according to the same criteria as
3321 Thus, you could define list-matches like this:
3323 (define (list-matches regexp string . flags)
3324 (reverse! (apply fold-matches regexp string '() cons flags)))
3326 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
3330 *** New function: hook? OBJ
3332 Return #t if OBJ is a hook, otherwise #f.
3334 *** New function: make-hook-with-name NAME [ARITY]
3336 Return a hook with name NAME and arity ARITY. The default value for
3337 ARITY is 0. The only effect of NAME is that it will appear when the
3338 hook object is printed to ease debugging.
3340 *** New function: hook-empty? HOOK
3342 Return #t if HOOK doesn't contain any procedures, otherwise #f.
3344 *** New function: hook->list HOOK
3346 Return a list of the procedures that are called when run-hook is
3349 ** `map' signals an error if its argument lists are not all the same length.
3351 This is the behavior required by R5RS, so this change is really a bug
3352 fix. But it seems to affect a lot of people's code, so we're
3353 mentioning it here anyway.
3355 ** Print-state handling has been made more transparent
3357 Under certain circumstances, ports are represented as a port with an
3358 associated print state. Earlier, this pair was represented as a pair
3359 (see "Some magic has been added to the printer" below). It is now
3360 indistinguishable (almost; see `get-print-state') from a port on the
3363 *** New function: port-with-print-state OUTPUT-PORT PRINT-STATE
3365 Return a new port with the associated print state PRINT-STATE.
3367 *** New function: get-print-state OUTPUT-PORT
3369 Return the print state associated with this port if it exists,
3370 otherwise return #f.
3372 *** New function: directory-stream? OBJECT
3374 Returns true iff OBJECT is a directory stream --- the sort of object
3375 returned by `opendir'.
3377 ** New function: using-readline?
3379 Return #t if readline is in use in the current repl.
3381 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
3383 Structs will be replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into Guile
3384 and use GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
3386 * Changes to the scm_ interface
3388 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
3390 The entire current struct interface (struct.c, struct.h) will be
3391 replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into libguile and use
3392 GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
3394 ** The internal representation of subr's has changed
3396 Instead of giving a hint to the subr name, the CAR field of the subr
3397 now contains an index to a subr entry in scm_subr_table.
3399 *** New variable: scm_subr_table
3401 An array of subr entries. A subr entry contains the name, properties
3402 and documentation associated with the subr. The properties and
3403 documentation slots are not yet used.
3405 ** A new scheme for "forwarding" calls to a builtin to a generic function
3407 It is now possible to extend the functionality of some Guile
3408 primitives by letting them defer a call to a GOOPS generic function on
3409 argument mismatch. This means that there is no loss of efficiency in
3414 (use-modules (oop goops)) ; Must be GOOPS version 0.2.
3415 (define-method + ((x <string>) (y <string>))
3416 (string-append x y))
3418 + will still be as efficient as usual in numerical calculations, but
3419 can also be used for concatenating strings.
3421 Who will be the first one to extend Guile's numerical tower to
3422 rationals? :) [OK, there a few other things to fix before this can
3423 be made in a clean way.]
3425 *** New snarf macros for defining primitives: SCM_GPROC, SCM_GPROC1
3427 New macro: SCM_GPROC (CNAME, SNAME, REQ, OPT, VAR, CFUNC, GENERIC)
3429 New macro: SCM_GPROC1 (CNAME, SNAME, TYPE, CFUNC, GENERIC)
3431 These do the same job as SCM_PROC and SCM_PROC1, but they also define
3432 a variable GENERIC which can be used by the dispatch macros below.
3434 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3436 *** New macros for forwarding control to a generic on arg type error
3438 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1 (GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
3440 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
3442 These correspond to the scm_wta function call, and have the same
3443 behaviour until the user has called the GOOPS primitive
3444 `enable-primitive-generic!'. After that, these macros will apply the
3445 generic function GENERIC to the argument(s) instead of calling
3448 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3450 *** New macros for argument testing with generic dispatch
3452 New macro: SCM_GASSERT1 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
3454 New macro: SCM_GASSERT2 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
3456 These correspond to the SCM_ASSERT macro, but will defer control to
3457 GENERIC on error after `enable-primitive-generic!' has been called.
3459 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3461 ** New function: SCM scm_eval_body (SCM body, SCM env)
3463 Evaluates the body of a special form.
3465 ** The internal representation of struct's has changed
3467 Previously, four slots were allocated for the procedure(s) of entities
3468 and operators. The motivation for this representation had to do with
3469 the structure of the evaluator, the wish to support tail-recursive
3470 generic functions, and efficiency. Since the generic function
3471 dispatch mechanism has changed, there is no longer a need for such an
3472 expensive representation, and the representation has been simplified.
3474 This should not make any difference for most users.
3476 ** GOOPS support has been cleaned up.
3478 Some code has been moved from eval.c to objects.c and code in both of
3479 these compilation units has been cleaned up and better structured.
3481 *** New functions for applying generic functions
3483 New function: SCM scm_apply_generic (GENERIC, ARGS)
3484 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_0 (GENERIC)
3485 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_1 (GENERIC, ARG1)
3486 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2)
3487 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_3 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, ARG3)
3489 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_named_hook
3491 It is now replaced by:
3493 ** New function: SCM scm_create_hook (const char *name, int arity)
3495 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
3496 binds a variable named NAME to it.
3498 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
3500 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module.
3501 This might change when we get the new module system.
3503 [The behaviour is identical to scm_make_named_hook.]
3507 Changes since Guile 1.3:
3509 * Changes to mailing lists
3511 ** Some of the Guile mailing lists have moved to sourceware.cygnus.com.
3513 See the README file to find current addresses for all the Guile
3516 * Changes to the distribution
3518 ** Readline support is no longer included with Guile by default.
3520 Based on the different license terms of Guile and Readline, we
3521 concluded that Guile should not *by default* cause the linking of
3522 Readline into an application program. Readline support is now offered
3523 as a separate module, which is linked into an application only when
3524 you explicitly specify it.
3526 Although Guile is GNU software, its distribution terms add a special
3527 exception to the usual GNU General Public License (GPL). Guile's
3528 license includes a clause that allows you to link Guile with non-free
3529 programs. We add this exception so as not to put Guile at a
3530 disadvantage vis-a-vis other extensibility packages that support other
3533 In contrast, the GNU Readline library is distributed under the GNU
3534 General Public License pure and simple. This means that you may not
3535 link Readline, even dynamically, into an application unless it is
3536 distributed under a free software license that is compatible the GPL.
3538 Because of this difference in distribution terms, an application that
3539 can use Guile may not be able to use Readline. Now users will be
3540 explicitly offered two independent decisions about the use of these
3543 You can activate the readline support by issuing
3545 (use-modules (readline-activator))
3548 from your ".guile" file, for example.
3550 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3552 ** All builtins now print as primitives.
3553 Previously builtin procedures not belonging to the fundamental subr
3554 types printed as #<compiled closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>.
3555 Now, they print as #<primitive-procedure NAME>.
3557 ** Backtraces slightly more intelligible.
3558 gsubr-apply and macro transformer application frames no longer appear
3561 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3563 ** Guile now correctly handles internal defines by rewriting them into
3564 their equivalent letrec. Previously, internal defines would
3565 incrementally add to the innermost environment, without checking
3566 whether the restrictions specified in RnRS were met. This lead to the
3567 correct behaviour when these restriction actually were met, but didn't
3568 catch all illegal uses. Such an illegal use could lead to crashes of
3569 the Guile interpreter or or other unwanted results. An example of
3570 incorrect internal defines that made Guile behave erratically:
3582 The problem with this example is that the definition of `c' uses the
3583 value of `b' directly. This confuses the meoization machine of Guile
3584 so that the second call of `b' (this time in a larger environment that
3585 also contains bindings for `c' and `d') refers to the binding of `c'
3586 instead of `a'. You could also make Guile crash with a variation on
3591 (define (b flag) (if flag a 1))
3592 (define c (1+ (b flag)))
3600 From now on, Guile will issue an `Unbound variable: b' error message
3605 A hook contains a list of functions which should be called on
3606 particular occasions in an existing program. Hooks are used for
3609 A window manager might have a hook before-window-map-hook. The window
3610 manager uses the function run-hooks to call all functions stored in
3611 before-window-map-hook each time a window is mapped. The user can
3612 store functions in the hook using add-hook!.
3614 In Guile, hooks are first class objects.
3616 *** New function: make-hook [N_ARGS]
3618 Return a hook for hook functions which can take N_ARGS arguments.
3619 The default value for N_ARGS is 0.
3621 (See also scm_make_named_hook below.)
3623 *** New function: add-hook! HOOK PROC [APPEND_P]
3625 Put PROC at the beginning of the list of functions stored in HOOK.
3626 If APPEND_P is supplied, and non-false, put PROC at the end instead.
3628 PROC must be able to take the number of arguments specified when the
3631 If PROC already exists in HOOK, then remove it first.
3633 *** New function: remove-hook! HOOK PROC
3635 Remove PROC from the list of functions in HOOK.
3637 *** New function: reset-hook! HOOK
3639 Clear the list of hook functions stored in HOOK.
3641 *** New function: run-hook HOOK ARG1 ...
3643 Run all hook functions stored in HOOK with arguments ARG1 ... .
3644 The number of arguments supplied must correspond to the number given
3645 when the hook was created.
3647 ** The function `dynamic-link' now takes optional keyword arguments.
3648 The only keyword argument that is currently defined is `:global
3649 BOOL'. With it, you can control whether the shared library will be
3650 linked in global mode or not. In global mode, the symbols from the
3651 linked library can be used to resolve references from other
3652 dynamically linked libraries. In non-global mode, the linked
3653 library is essentially invisible and can only be accessed via
3654 `dynamic-func', etc. The default is now to link in global mode.
3655 Previously, the default has been non-global mode.
3657 The `#:global' keyword is only effective on platforms that support
3658 the dlopen family of functions.
3660 ** New function `provided?'
3662 - Function: provided? FEATURE
3663 Return true iff FEATURE is supported by this installation of
3664 Guile. FEATURE must be a symbol naming a feature; the global
3665 variable `*features*' is a list of available features.
3667 ** Changes to the module (ice-9 expect):
3669 *** The expect-strings macro now matches `$' in a regular expression
3670 only at a line-break or end-of-file by default. Previously it would
3671 match the end of the string accumulated so far. The old behaviour
3672 can be obtained by setting the variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
3675 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
3676 for the regexp-exec flags. If `regexp/noteol' is included, then `$'
3677 in a regular expression will still match before a line-break or
3678 end-of-file. The default is `regexp/noteol'.
3680 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable
3681 `expect-strings-compile-flags' for the flags to be supplied to
3682 `make-regexp'. The default is `regexp/newline', which was previously
3685 *** The expect macro now supplies two arguments to a match procedure:
3686 the current accumulated string and a flag to indicate whether
3687 end-of-file has been reached. Previously only the string was supplied.
3688 If end-of-file is reached, the match procedure will be called an
3689 additional time with the same accumulated string as the previous call
3690 but with the flag set.
3692 ** New module (ice-9 format), implementing the Common Lisp `format' function.
3694 This code, and the documentation for it that appears here, was
3695 borrowed from SLIB, with minor adaptations for Guile.
3697 - Function: format DESTINATION FORMAT-STRING . ARGUMENTS
3698 An almost complete implementation of Common LISP format description
3699 according to the CL reference book `Common LISP' from Guy L.
3700 Steele, Digital Press. Backward compatible to most of the
3701 available Scheme format implementations.
3703 Returns `#t', `#f' or a string; has side effect of printing
3704 according to FORMAT-STRING. If DESTINATION is `#t', the output is
3705 to the current output port and `#t' is returned. If DESTINATION
3706 is `#f', a formatted string is returned as the result of the call.
3707 NEW: If DESTINATION is a string, DESTINATION is regarded as the
3708 format string; FORMAT-STRING is then the first argument and the
3709 output is returned as a string. If DESTINATION is a number, the
3710 output is to the current error port if available by the
3711 implementation. Otherwise DESTINATION must be an output port and
3714 FORMAT-STRING must be a string. In case of a formatting error
3715 format returns `#f' and prints a message on the current output or
3716 error port. Characters are output as if the string were output by
3717 the `display' function with the exception of those prefixed by a
3718 tilde (~). For a detailed description of the FORMAT-STRING syntax
3719 please consult a Common LISP format reference manual. For a test
3720 suite to verify this format implementation load `formatst.scm'.
3721 Please send bug reports to `lutzeb@cs.tu-berlin.de'.
3723 Note: `format' is not reentrant, i.e. only one `format'-call may
3724 be executed at a time.
3727 *** Format Specification (Format version 3.0)
3729 Please consult a Common LISP format reference manual for a detailed
3730 description of the format string syntax. For a demonstration of the
3731 implemented directives see `formatst.scm'.
3733 This implementation supports directive parameters and modifiers (`:'
3734 and `@' characters). Multiple parameters must be separated by a comma
3735 (`,'). Parameters can be numerical parameters (positive or negative),
3736 character parameters (prefixed by a quote character (`''), variable
3737 parameters (`v'), number of rest arguments parameter (`#'), empty and
3738 default parameters. Directive characters are case independent. The
3739 general form of a directive is:
3741 DIRECTIVE ::= ~{DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER,}[:][@]DIRECTIVE-CHARACTER
3743 DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER ::= [ [-|+]{0-9}+ | 'CHARACTER | v | # ]
3745 *** Implemented CL Format Control Directives
3747 Documentation syntax: Uppercase characters represent the
3748 corresponding control directive characters. Lowercase characters
3749 represent control directive parameter descriptions.
3752 Any (print as `display' does).
3756 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARA'
3760 S-expression (print as `write' does).
3764 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARS'
3770 print number sign always.
3773 print comma separated.
3775 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARD'
3781 print number sign always.
3784 print comma separated.
3786 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARX'
3792 print number sign always.
3795 print comma separated.
3797 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARO'
3803 print number sign always.
3806 print comma separated.
3808 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARB'
3813 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARR'
3817 print a number as a Roman numeral.
3820 print a number as an "old fashioned" Roman numeral.
3823 print a number as an ordinal English number.
3826 print a number as a cardinal English number.
3831 prints `y' and `ies'.
3834 as `~P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
3837 as `~@P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
3842 prints a character as the reader can understand it (i.e. `#\'
3846 prints a character as emacs does (eg. `^C' for ASCII 03).
3849 Fixed-format floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN).
3850 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHARF'
3852 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3855 Exponential floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN`E'EE).
3856 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARE'
3858 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3861 General floating-point (prints a flonum either fixed or
3863 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARG'
3865 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3868 Dollars floating-point (prints a flonum in fixed with signs
3870 `~DIGITS,SCALE,WIDTH,PADCHAR$'
3872 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3875 A sign is always printed and appears before the padding.
3878 The sign appears before the padding.
3886 print newline if not at the beginning of the output line.
3888 prints `~&' and then N-1 newlines.
3893 print N page separators.
3903 newline is ignored, white space left.
3906 newline is left, white space ignored.
3911 relative tabulation.
3917 Indirection (expects indirect arguments as a list).
3919 extracts indirect arguments from format arguments.
3922 Case conversion (converts by `string-downcase').
3924 converts by `string-capitalize'.
3927 converts by `string-capitalize-first'.
3930 converts by `string-upcase'.
3933 Argument Jumping (jumps 1 argument forward).
3935 jumps N arguments forward.
3938 jumps 1 argument backward.
3941 jumps N arguments backward.
3944 jumps to the 0th argument.
3947 jumps to the Nth argument (beginning from 0)
3949 `~[STR0~;STR1~;...~;STRN~]'
3950 Conditional Expression (numerical clause conditional).
3952 take argument from N.
3955 true test conditional.
3958 if-else-then conditional.
3964 default clause follows.
3967 Iteration (args come from the next argument (a list)).
3969 at most N iterations.
3972 args from next arg (a list of lists).
3975 args from the rest of arguments.
3978 args from the rest args (lists).
3989 aborts if N <= M <= K
3991 *** Not Implemented CL Format Control Directives
3994 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
3997 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
4003 (sorry I don't understand its semantics completely)
4005 *** Extended, Replaced and Additional Control Directives
4007 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHD'
4008 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHX'
4009 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHO'
4010 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHB'
4011 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHR'
4012 COMMAWIDTH is the number of characters between two comma
4016 print a R4RS complex number as `~F~@Fi' with passed parameters for
4020 Pretty print formatting of an argument for scheme code lists.
4026 Flushes the output if format DESTINATION is a port.
4029 Print a `#\space' character
4031 print N `#\space' characters.
4034 Print a `#\tab' character
4036 print N `#\tab' characters.
4039 Takes N as an integer representation for a character. No arguments
4040 are consumed. N is converted to a character by `integer->char'. N
4041 must be a positive decimal number.
4044 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
4045 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
4046 be processed by `read'.
4049 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
4050 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
4051 be processed by `read'.
4054 Prints information and a copyright notice on the format
4057 prints format version.
4060 may also print number strings, i.e. passing a number as a string
4061 and format it accordingly.
4063 *** Configuration Variables
4065 The format module exports some configuration variables to suit the
4066 systems and users needs. There should be no modification necessary for
4067 the configuration that comes with Guile. Format detects automatically
4068 if the running scheme system implements floating point numbers and
4071 format:symbol-case-conv
4072 Symbols are converted by `symbol->string' so the case type of the
4073 printed symbols is implementation dependent.
4074 `format:symbol-case-conv' is a one arg closure which is either
4075 `#f' (no conversion), `string-upcase', `string-downcase' or
4076 `string-capitalize'. (default `#f')
4078 format:iobj-case-conv
4079 As FORMAT:SYMBOL-CASE-CONV but applies for the representation of
4080 implementation internal objects. (default `#f')
4083 The character prefixing the exponent value in `~E' printing.
4086 *** Compatibility With Other Format Implementations
4092 Downward compatible except for padding support and `~A', `~S',
4093 `~P', `~X' uppercase printing. SLIB format 1.4 uses C-style
4094 `printf' padding support which is completely replaced by the CL
4095 `format' padding style.
4098 Downward compatible except for `~', which is not documented
4099 (ignores all characters inside the format string up to a newline
4100 character). (7.1 implements `~a', `~s', ~NEWLINE, `~~', `~%',
4101 numerical and variable parameters and `:/@' modifiers in the CL
4105 Downward compatible except for `~A' and `~S' which print in
4106 uppercase. (Elk implements `~a', `~s', `~~', and `~%' (no
4107 directive parameters or modifiers)).
4110 Downward compatible except for an optional destination parameter:
4111 S2C accepts a format call without a destination which returns a
4112 formatted string. This is equivalent to a #f destination in S2C.
4113 (S2C implements `~a', `~s', `~c', `~%', and `~~' (no directive
4114 parameters or modifiers)).
4117 ** Changes to string-handling functions.
4119 These functions were added to support the (ice-9 format) module, above.
4121 *** New function: string-upcase STRING
4122 *** New function: string-downcase STRING
4124 These are non-destructive versions of the existing string-upcase! and
4125 string-downcase! functions.
4127 *** New function: string-capitalize! STRING
4128 *** New function: string-capitalize STRING
4130 These functions convert the first letter of each word in the string to
4133 (string-capitalize "howdy there")
4136 As with the other functions, string-capitalize! modifies the string in
4137 place, while string-capitalize returns a modified copy of its argument.
4139 *** New function: string-ci->symbol STRING
4141 Return a symbol whose name is STRING, but having the same case as if
4142 the symbol had be read by `read'.
4144 Guile can be configured to be sensitive or insensitive to case
4145 differences in Scheme identifiers. If Guile is case-insensitive, all
4146 symbols are converted to lower case on input. The `string-ci->symbol'
4147 function returns a symbol whose name in STRING, transformed as Guile
4148 would if STRING were input.
4150 *** New function: substring-move! STRING1 START END STRING2 START
4152 Copy the substring of STRING1 from START (inclusive) to END
4153 (exclusive) to STRING2 at START. STRING1 and STRING2 may be the same
4154 string, and the source and destination areas may overlap; in all
4155 cases, the function behaves as if all the characters were copied
4158 *** Extended functions: substring-move-left! substring-move-right!
4160 These functions now correctly copy arbitrarily overlapping substrings;
4161 they are both synonyms for substring-move!.
4164 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-long), with the function `getopt-long'.
4166 getopt-long is a function for parsing command-line arguments in a
4167 manner consistent with other GNU programs.
4169 (getopt-long ARGS GRAMMAR)
4170 Parse the arguments ARGS according to the argument list grammar GRAMMAR.
4172 ARGS should be a list of strings. Its first element should be the
4173 name of the program; subsequent elements should be the arguments
4174 that were passed to the program on the command line. The
4175 `program-arguments' procedure returns a list of this form.
4177 GRAMMAR is a list of the form:
4178 ((OPTION (PROPERTY VALUE) ...) ...)
4180 Each OPTION should be a symbol. `getopt-long' will accept a
4181 command-line option named `--OPTION'.
4182 Each option can have the following (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs:
4184 (single-char CHAR) --- Accept `-CHAR' as a single-character
4185 equivalent to `--OPTION'. This is how to specify traditional
4187 (required? BOOL) --- If BOOL is true, the option is required.
4188 getopt-long will raise an error if it is not found in ARGS.
4189 (value BOOL) --- If BOOL is #t, the option accepts a value; if
4190 it is #f, it does not; and if it is the symbol
4191 `optional', the option may appear in ARGS with or
4193 (predicate FUNC) --- If the option accepts a value (i.e. you
4194 specified `(value #t)' for this option), then getopt
4195 will apply FUNC to the value, and throw an exception
4196 if it returns #f. FUNC should be a procedure which
4197 accepts a string and returns a boolean value; you may
4198 need to use quasiquotes to get it into GRAMMAR.
4200 The (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs may occur in any order, but each
4201 property may occur only once. By default, options do not have
4202 single-character equivalents, are not required, and do not take
4205 In ARGS, single-character options may be combined, in the usual
4206 Unix fashion: ("-x" "-y") is equivalent to ("-xy"). If an option
4207 accepts values, then it must be the last option in the
4208 combination; the value is the next argument. So, for example, using
4209 the following grammar:
4210 ((apples (single-char #\a))
4211 (blimps (single-char #\b) (value #t))
4212 (catalexis (single-char #\c) (value #t)))
4213 the following argument lists would be acceptable:
4214 ("-a" "-b" "bang" "-c" "couth") ("bang" and "couth" are the values
4215 for "blimps" and "catalexis")
4216 ("-ab" "bang" "-c" "couth") (same)
4217 ("-ac" "couth" "-b" "bang") (same)
4218 ("-abc" "couth" "bang") (an error, since `-b' is not the
4219 last option in its combination)
4221 If an option's value is optional, then `getopt-long' decides
4222 whether it has a value by looking at what follows it in ARGS. If
4223 the next element is a string, and it does not appear to be an
4224 option itself, then that string is the option's value.
4226 The value of a long option can appear as the next element in ARGS,
4227 or it can follow the option name, separated by an `=' character.
4228 Thus, using the same grammar as above, the following argument lists
4230 ("--apples" "Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
4231 ("--apples=Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
4232 ("--blimps" "Goodyear" "--apples=Braeburn")
4234 If the option "--" appears in ARGS, argument parsing stops there;
4235 subsequent arguments are returned as ordinary arguments, even if
4236 they resemble options. So, in the argument list:
4237 ("--apples" "Granny Smith" "--" "--blimp" "Goodyear")
4238 `getopt-long' will recognize the `apples' option as having the
4239 value "Granny Smith", but it will not recognize the `blimp'
4240 option; it will return the strings "--blimp" and "Goodyear" as
4241 ordinary argument strings.
4243 The `getopt-long' function returns the parsed argument list as an
4244 assocation list, mapping option names --- the symbols from GRAMMAR
4245 --- onto their values, or #t if the option does not accept a value.
4246 Unused options do not appear in the alist.
4248 All arguments that are not the value of any option are returned
4249 as a list, associated with the empty list.
4251 `getopt-long' throws an exception if:
4252 - it finds an unrecognized option in ARGS
4253 - a required option is omitted
4254 - an option that requires an argument doesn't get one
4255 - an option that doesn't accept an argument does get one (this can
4256 only happen using the long option `--opt=value' syntax)
4257 - an option predicate fails
4262 `((lockfile-dir (required? #t)
4265 (predicate ,file-is-directory?))
4266 (verbose (required? #f)
4269 (x-includes (single-char #\x))
4270 (rnet-server (single-char #\y)
4271 (predicate ,string?))))
4273 (getopt-long '("my-prog" "-vk" "/tmp" "foo1" "--x-includes=/usr/include"
4274 "--rnet-server=lamprod" "--" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
4276 => ((() "foo1" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
4277 (rnet-server . "lamprod")
4278 (x-includes . "/usr/include")
4279 (lockfile-dir . "/tmp")
4282 ** The (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) module is obsolete; use (ice-9 getopt-long).
4284 It will be removed in a few releases.
4286 ** New syntax: lambda*
4287 ** New syntax: define*
4288 ** New syntax: define*-public
4289 ** New syntax: defmacro*
4290 ** New syntax: defmacro*-public
4291 Guile now supports optional arguments.
4293 `lambda*', `define*', `define*-public', `defmacro*' and
4294 `defmacro*-public' are identical to the non-* versions except that
4295 they use an extended type of parameter list that has the following BNF
4296 syntax (parentheses are literal, square brackets indicate grouping,
4297 and `*', `+' and `?' have the usual meaning):
4299 ext-param-list ::= ( [identifier]* [#&optional [ext-var-decl]+]?
4300 [#&key [ext-var-decl]+ [#&allow-other-keys]?]?
4301 [[#&rest identifier]|[. identifier]]? ) | [identifier]
4303 ext-var-decl ::= identifier | ( identifier expression )
4305 The semantics are best illustrated with the following documentation
4306 and examples for `lambda*':
4309 lambda extended for optional and keyword arguments
4311 lambda* creates a procedure that takes optional arguments. These
4312 are specified by putting them inside brackets at the end of the
4313 paramater list, but before any dotted rest argument. For example,
4314 (lambda* (a b #&optional c d . e) '())
4315 creates a procedure with fixed arguments a and b, optional arguments c
4316 and d, and rest argument e. If the optional arguments are omitted
4317 in a call, the variables for them are unbound in the procedure. This
4318 can be checked with the bound? macro.
4320 lambda* can also take keyword arguments. For example, a procedure
4322 (lambda* (#&key xyzzy larch) '())
4323 can be called with any of the argument lists (#:xyzzy 11)
4324 (#:larch 13) (#:larch 42 #:xyzzy 19) (). Whichever arguments
4325 are given as keywords are bound to values.
4327 Optional and keyword arguments can also be given default values
4328 which they take on when they are not present in a call, by giving a
4329 two-item list in place of an optional argument, for example in:
4330 (lambda* (foo #&optional (bar 42) #&key (baz 73)) (list foo bar baz))
4331 foo is a fixed argument, bar is an optional argument with default
4332 value 42, and baz is a keyword argument with default value 73.
4333 Default value expressions are not evaluated unless they are needed
4334 and until the procedure is called.
4336 lambda* now supports two more special parameter list keywords.
4338 lambda*-defined procedures now throw an error by default if a
4339 keyword other than one of those specified is found in the actual
4340 passed arguments. However, specifying #&allow-other-keys
4341 immediately after the kyword argument declarations restores the
4342 previous behavior of ignoring unknown keywords. lambda* also now
4343 guarantees that if the same keyword is passed more than once, the
4344 last one passed is the one that takes effect. For example,
4345 ((lambda* (#&key (heads 0) (tails 0)) (display (list heads tails)))
4346 #:heads 37 #:tails 42 #:heads 99)
4347 would result in (99 47) being displayed.
4349 #&rest is also now provided as a synonym for the dotted syntax rest
4350 argument. The argument lists (a . b) and (a #&rest b) are equivalent in
4351 all respects to lambda*. This is provided for more similarity to DSSSL,
4352 MIT-Scheme and Kawa among others, as well as for refugees from other
4355 Further documentation may be found in the optargs.scm file itself.
4357 The optional argument module also exports the macros `let-optional',
4358 `let-optional*', `let-keywords', `let-keywords*' and `bound?'. These
4359 are not documented here because they may be removed in the future, but
4360 full documentation is still available in optargs.scm.
4362 ** New syntax: and-let*
4363 Guile now supports the `and-let*' form, described in the draft SRFI-2.
4365 Syntax: (land* (<clause> ...) <body> ...)
4366 Each <clause> should have one of the following forms:
4367 (<variable> <expression>)
4370 Each <variable> or <bound-variable> should be an identifier. Each
4371 <expression> should be a valid expression. The <body> should be a
4372 possibly empty sequence of expressions, like the <body> of a
4375 Semantics: A LAND* expression is evaluated by evaluating the
4376 <expression> or <bound-variable> of each of the <clause>s from
4377 left to right. The value of the first <expression> or
4378 <bound-variable> that evaluates to a false value is returned; the
4379 remaining <expression>s and <bound-variable>s are not evaluated.
4380 The <body> forms are evaluated iff all the <expression>s and
4381 <bound-variable>s evaluate to true values.
4383 The <expression>s and the <body> are evaluated in an environment
4384 binding each <variable> of the preceding (<variable> <expression>)
4385 clauses to the value of the <expression>. Later bindings
4386 shadow earlier bindings.
4388 Guile's and-let* macro was contributed by Michael Livshin.
4390 ** New sorting functions
4392 *** New function: sorted? SEQUENCE LESS?
4393 Returns `#t' when the sequence argument is in non-decreasing order
4394 according to LESS? (that is, there is no adjacent pair `... x y
4395 ...' for which `(less? y x)').
4397 Returns `#f' when the sequence contains at least one out-of-order
4398 pair. It is an error if the sequence is neither a list nor a
4401 *** New function: merge LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
4402 LIST1 and LIST2 are sorted lists.
4403 Returns the sorted list of all elements in LIST1 and LIST2.
4405 Assume that the elements a and b1 in LIST1 and b2 in LIST2 are "equal"
4406 in the sense that (LESS? x y) --> #f for x, y in {a, b1, b2},
4407 and that a < b1 in LIST1. Then a < b1 < b2 in the result.
4408 (Here "<" should read "comes before".)
4410 *** New procedure: merge! LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
4411 Merges two lists, re-using the pairs of LIST1 and LIST2 to build
4412 the result. If the code is compiled, and LESS? constructs no new
4413 pairs, no pairs at all will be allocated. The first pair of the
4414 result will be either the first pair of LIST1 or the first pair of
4417 *** New function: sort SEQUENCE LESS?
4418 Accepts either a list or a vector, and returns a new sequence
4419 which is sorted. The new sequence is the same type as the input.
4420 Always `(sorted? (sort sequence less?) less?)'. The original
4421 sequence is not altered in any way. The new sequence shares its
4422 elements with the old one; no elements are copied.
4424 *** New procedure: sort! SEQUENCE LESS
4425 Returns its sorted result in the original boxes. No new storage is
4426 allocated at all. Proper usage: (set! slist (sort! slist <))
4428 *** New function: stable-sort SEQUENCE LESS?
4429 Similar to `sort' but stable. That is, if "equal" elements are
4430 ordered a < b in the original sequence, they will have the same order
4433 *** New function: stable-sort! SEQUENCE LESS?
4434 Similar to `sort!' but stable.
4435 Uses temporary storage when sorting vectors.
4437 *** New functions: sort-list, sort-list!
4438 Added for compatibility with scsh.
4440 ** New built-in random number support
4442 *** New function: random N [STATE]
4443 Accepts a positive integer or real N and returns a number of the
4444 same type between zero (inclusive) and N (exclusive). The values
4445 returned have a uniform distribution.
4447 The optional argument STATE must be of the type produced by
4448 `copy-random-state' or `seed->random-state'. It defaults to the value
4449 of the variable `*random-state*'. This object is used to maintain the
4450 state of the pseudo-random-number generator and is altered as a side
4451 effect of the `random' operation.
4453 *** New variable: *random-state*
4454 Holds a data structure that encodes the internal state of the
4455 random-number generator that `random' uses by default. The nature
4456 of this data structure is implementation-dependent. It may be
4457 printed out and successfully read back in, but may or may not
4458 function correctly as a random-number state object in another
4461 *** New function: copy-random-state [STATE]
4462 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
4463 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
4464 If argument STATE is given, a copy of it is returned. Otherwise a
4465 copy of `*random-state*' is returned.
4467 *** New function: seed->random-state SEED
4468 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
4469 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
4470 SEED is a string or a number. A new state is generated and
4471 initialized using SEED.
4473 *** New function: random:uniform [STATE]
4474 Returns an uniformly distributed inexact real random number in the
4475 range between 0 and 1.
4477 *** New procedure: random:solid-sphere! VECT [STATE]
4478 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose
4479 squares is less than 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in
4480 space of dimension N = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are
4481 uniformly distributed within the unit N-shere. The sum of the
4482 squares of the numbers is returned. VECT can be either a vector
4483 or a uniform vector of doubles.
4485 *** New procedure: random:hollow-sphere! VECT [STATE]
4486 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose squares
4487 is equal to 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in space of
4488 dimension n = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are uniformly
4489 distributed over the surface of the unit n-shere. VECT can be either
4490 a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
4492 *** New function: random:normal [STATE]
4493 Returns an inexact real in a normal distribution with mean 0 and
4494 standard deviation 1. For a normal distribution with mean M and
4495 standard deviation D use `(+ M (* D (random:normal)))'.
4497 *** New procedure: random:normal-vector! VECT [STATE]
4498 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers which are independent and
4499 standard normally distributed (i.e., with mean 0 and variance 1).
4500 VECT can be either a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
4502 *** New function: random:exp STATE
4503 Returns an inexact real in an exponential distribution with mean 1.
4504 For an exponential distribution with mean U use (* U (random:exp)).
4506 ** The range of logand, logior, logxor, logtest, and logbit? have changed.
4508 These functions now operate on numbers in the range of a C unsigned
4511 These functions used to operate on numbers in the range of a C signed
4512 long; however, this seems inappropriate, because Guile integers don't
4515 ** New function: make-guardian
4516 This is an implementation of guardians as described in
4517 R. Kent Dybvig, Carl Bruggeman, and David Eby (1993) "Guardians in a
4518 Generation-Based Garbage Collector" ACM SIGPLAN Conference on
4519 Programming Language Design and Implementation, June 1993
4520 ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/scheme-repository/doc/pubs/guardians.ps.gz
4522 ** New functions: delq1!, delv1!, delete1!
4523 These procedures behave similar to delq! and friends but delete only
4524 one object if at all.
4526 ** New function: unread-string STRING PORT
4527 Unread STRING to PORT, that is, push it back onto the port so that
4528 next read operation will work on the pushed back characters.
4530 ** unread-char can now be called multiple times
4531 If unread-char is called multiple times, the unread characters will be
4532 read again in last-in first-out order.
4534 ** the procedures uniform-array-read! and uniform-array-write! now
4535 work on any kind of port, not just ports which are open on a file.
4537 ** Now 'l' in a port mode requests line buffering.
4539 ** The procedure truncate-file now works on string ports as well
4540 as file ports. If the size argument is omitted, the current
4541 file position is used.
4543 ** new procedure: seek PORT/FDES OFFSET WHENCE
4544 The arguments are the same as for the old fseek procedure, but it
4545 works on string ports as well as random-access file ports.
4547 ** the fseek procedure now works on string ports, since it has been
4548 redefined using seek.
4550 ** the setvbuf procedure now uses a default size if mode is _IOFBF and
4551 size is not supplied.
4553 ** the newline procedure no longer flushes the port if it's not
4554 line-buffered: previously it did if it was the current output port.
4556 ** open-pipe and close-pipe are no longer primitive procedures, but
4557 an emulation can be obtained using `(use-modules (ice-9 popen))'.
4559 ** the freopen procedure has been removed.
4561 ** new procedure: drain-input PORT
4562 Drains PORT's read buffers (including any pushed-back characters)
4563 and returns the contents as a single string.
4565 ** New function: map-in-order PROC LIST1 LIST2 ...
4566 Version of `map' which guarantees that the procedure is applied to the
4567 lists in serial order.
4569 ** Renamed `serial-array-copy!' and `serial-array-map!' to
4570 `array-copy-in-order!' and `array-map-in-order!'. The old names are
4571 now obsolete and will go away in release 1.5.
4573 ** New syntax: collect BODY1 ...
4574 Version of `begin' which returns a list of the results of the body
4575 forms instead of the result of the last body form. In contrast to
4576 `begin', `collect' allows an empty body.
4578 ** New functions: read-history FILENAME, write-history FILENAME
4579 Read/write command line history from/to file. Returns #t on success
4580 and #f if an error occured.
4582 ** `ls' and `lls' in module (ice-9 ls) now handle no arguments.
4584 These procedures return a list of definitions available in the specified
4585 argument, a relative module reference. In the case of no argument,
4586 `(current-module)' is now consulted for definitions to return, instead
4587 of simply returning #f, the former behavior.
4589 ** The #/ syntax for lists is no longer supported.
4591 Earlier versions of Scheme accepted this syntax, but printed a
4594 ** Guile no longer consults the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable.
4596 Instead, you should set GUILE_LOAD_PATH to tell Guile where to find
4599 * Changes to the gh_ interface
4603 Now takes a second argument which is the result array. If this
4604 pointer is NULL, a new array is malloced (the old behaviour).
4606 ** gh_chars2byvect, gh_shorts2svect, gh_floats2fvect, gh_scm2chars,
4607 gh_scm2shorts, gh_scm2longs, gh_scm2floats
4611 * Changes to the scm_ interface
4613 ** Function: scm_make_named_hook (char* name, int n_args)
4615 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
4616 binds a variable named NAME to it.
4618 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
4620 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module. This
4621 might change when we get the new module system.
4623 ** The smob interface
4625 The interface for creating smobs has changed. For documentation, see
4626 data-rep.info (made from guile-core/doc/data-rep.texi).
4628 *** Deprecated function: SCM scm_newsmob (scm_smobfuns *)
4630 >>> This function will be removed in 1.3.4. <<<
4634 *** Function: SCM scm_make_smob_type (const char *name, scm_sizet size)
4635 This function adds a new smob type, named NAME, with instance size
4636 SIZE to the system. The return value is a tag that is used in
4637 creating instances of the type. If SIZE is 0, then no memory will
4638 be allocated when instances of the smob are created, and nothing
4639 will be freed by the default free function.
4641 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_mark (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
4642 This function sets the smob marking procedure for the smob type
4643 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4644 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4646 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_free (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
4647 This function sets the smob freeing procedure for the smob type
4648 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4649 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4651 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_print (tc, print)
4653 - Function: void scm_set_smob_print (long tc,
4654 scm_sizet (*print) (SCM,
4658 This function sets the smob printing procedure for the smob type
4659 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4660 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4662 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_equalp (long tc, SCM (*equalp) (SCM, SCM))
4663 This function sets the smob equality-testing predicate for the
4664 smob type specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4665 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4667 *** Macro: void SCM_NEWSMOB (SCM var, long tc, void *data)
4668 Make VALUE contain a smob instance of the type with type code TC and
4669 smob data DATA. VALUE must be previously declared as C type `SCM'.
4671 *** Macro: fn_returns SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB (long tc, void *data)
4672 This macro expands to a block of code that creates a smob instance
4673 of the type with type code TC and smob data DATA, and returns that
4674 `SCM' value. It should be the last piece of code in a block.
4676 ** The interfaces for using I/O ports and implementing port types
4677 (ptobs) have changed significantly. The new interface is based on
4678 shared access to buffers and a new set of ptob procedures.
4680 *** scm_newptob has been removed
4684 *** Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (type_name, fill_buffer, write_flush)
4686 - Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (char *type_name,
4687 int (*fill_buffer) (SCM port),
4688 void (*write_flush) (SCM port));
4690 Similarly to the new smob interface, there is a set of function
4691 setters by which the user can customize the behaviour of his port
4692 type. See ports.h (scm_set_port_XXX).
4694 ** scm_strport_to_string: New function: creates a new string from
4695 a string port's buffer.
4697 ** Plug in interface for random number generators
4698 The variable `scm_the_rng' in random.c contains a value and three
4699 function pointers which together define the current random number
4700 generator being used by the Scheme level interface and the random
4701 number library functions.
4703 The user is free to replace the default generator with the generator
4706 *** Variable: size_t scm_the_rng.rstate_size
4707 The size of the random state type used by the current RNG
4710 *** Function: unsigned long scm_the_rng.random_bits (scm_rstate *STATE)
4711 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
4713 *** Function: void scm_the_rng.init_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE, chars *S, int N)
4714 Seed random state STATE using string S of length N.
4716 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_the_rng.copy_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE)
4717 Given random state STATE, return a malloced copy.
4720 The default RNG is the MWC (Multiply With Carry) random number
4721 generator described by George Marsaglia at the Department of
4722 Statistics and Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, The
4723 Florida State University (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo).
4725 It uses 64 bits, has a period of 4578426017172946943 (4.6e18), and
4726 passes all tests in the DIEHARD test suite
4727 (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo/diehard.html). The generation of 32 bits
4728 costs one multiply and one add on platforms which either supports long
4729 longs (gcc does this on most systems) or have 64 bit longs. The cost
4730 is four multiply on other systems but this can be optimized by writing
4731 scm_i_uniform32 in assembler.
4733 These functions are provided through the scm_the_rng interface for use
4734 by libguile and the application.
4736 *** Function: unsigned long scm_i_uniform32 (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
4737 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
4738 Don't use this function directly. Instead go through the plugin
4739 interface (see "Plug in interface" above).
4741 *** Function: void scm_i_init_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE, char *SEED, int N)
4742 Initialize STATE using SEED of length N.
4744 *** Function: scm_i_rstate *scm_i_copy_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
4745 Return a malloc:ed copy of STATE. This function can easily be re-used
4746 in the interfaces to other RNGs.
4748 ** Random number library functions
4749 These functions use the current RNG through the scm_the_rng interface.
4750 It might be a good idea to use these functions from your C code so
4751 that only one random generator is used by all code in your program.
4753 The default random state is stored in:
4755 *** Variable: SCM scm_var_random_state
4756 Contains the vcell of the Scheme variable "*random-state*" which is
4757 used as default state by all random number functions in the Scheme
4762 double x = scm_c_uniform01 (SCM_RSTATE (SCM_CDR (scm_var_random_state)));
4764 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_default_rstate (void)
4765 This is a convenience function which returns the value of
4766 scm_var_random_state. An error message is generated if this value
4767 isn't a random state.
4769 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_make_rstate (char *SEED, int LENGTH)
4770 Make a new random state from the string SEED of length LENGTH.
4772 It is generally not a good idea to use multiple random states in a
4773 program. While subsequent random numbers generated from one random
4774 state are guaranteed to be reasonably independent, there is no such
4775 guarantee for numbers generated from different random states.
4777 *** Macro: unsigned long scm_c_uniform32 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4778 Return 32 random bits.
4780 *** Function: double scm_c_uniform01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4781 Return a sample from the uniform(0,1) distribution.
4783 *** Function: double scm_c_normal01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4784 Return a sample from the normal(0,1) distribution.
4786 *** Function: double scm_c_exp1 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4787 Return a sample from the exp(1) distribution.
4789 *** Function: unsigned long scm_c_random (scm_rstate *STATE, unsigned long M)
4790 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
4792 *** Function: SCM scm_c_random_bignum (scm_rstate *STATE, SCM M)
4793 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
4794 M must be a bignum object. The returned value may be an INUM.
4798 Changes in Guile 1.3 (released Monday, October 19, 1998):
4800 * Changes to the distribution
4802 ** We renamed the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable to GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
4803 To avoid conflicts, programs should name environment variables after
4804 themselves, except when there's a common practice establishing some
4807 For now, Guile supports both GUILE_LOAD_PATH and SCHEME_LOAD_PATH,
4808 giving the former precedence, and printing a warning message if the
4809 latter is set. Guile 1.4 will not recognize SCHEME_LOAD_PATH at all.
4811 ** The header files related to multi-byte characters have been removed.
4812 They were: libguile/extchrs.h and libguile/mbstrings.h. Any C code
4813 which referred to these explicitly will probably need to be rewritten,
4814 since the support for the variant string types has been removed; see
4817 ** The header files append.h and sequences.h have been removed. These
4818 files implemented non-R4RS operations which would encourage
4819 non-portable programming style and less easy-to-read code.
4821 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
4823 ** New procedures have been added to implement a "batch mode":
4825 *** Function: batch-mode?
4827 Returns a boolean indicating whether the interpreter is in batch
4830 *** Function: set-batch-mode?! ARG
4832 If ARG is true, switches the interpreter to batch mode. The `#f'
4833 case has not been implemented.
4835 ** Guile now provides full command-line editing, when run interactively.
4836 To use this feature, you must have the readline library installed.
4837 The Guile build process will notice it, and automatically include
4840 The readline library is available via anonymous FTP from any GNU
4841 mirror site; the canonical location is "ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu".
4843 ** the-last-stack is now a fluid.
4845 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
4847 ** You can now use the `guile-config' utility to build programs that use Guile.
4849 Guile now includes a command-line utility called `guile-config', which
4850 can provide information about how to compile and link programs that
4853 *** `guile-config compile' prints any C compiler flags needed to use Guile.
4854 You should include this command's output on the command line you use
4855 to compile C or C++ code that #includes the Guile header files. It's
4856 usually just a `-I' flag to help the compiler find the Guile headers.
4859 *** `guile-config link' prints any linker flags necessary to link with Guile.
4861 This command writes to its standard output a list of flags which you
4862 must pass to the linker to link your code against the Guile library.
4863 The flags include '-lguile' itself, any other libraries the Guile
4864 library depends upon, and any `-L' flags needed to help the linker
4865 find those libraries.
4867 For example, here is a Makefile rule that builds a program named 'foo'
4868 from the object files ${FOO_OBJECTS}, and links them against Guile:
4871 ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${FOO_OBJECTS} `guile-config link` -o foo
4873 Previous Guile releases recommended that you use autoconf to detect
4874 which of a predefined set of libraries were present on your system.
4875 It is more robust to use `guile-config', since it records exactly which
4876 libraries the installed Guile library requires.
4878 This was originally called `build-guile', but was renamed to
4879 `guile-config' before Guile 1.3 was released, to be consistent with
4880 the analogous script for the GTK+ GUI toolkit, which is called
4884 ** Use the GUILE_FLAGS macro in your configure.in file to find Guile.
4886 If you are using the GNU autoconf package to configure your program,
4887 you can use the GUILE_FLAGS autoconf macro to call `guile-config'
4888 (described above) and gather the necessary values for use in your
4891 The GUILE_FLAGS macro expands to configure script code which runs the
4892 `guile-config' script, to find out where Guile's header files and
4893 libraries are installed. It sets two variables, marked for
4894 substitution, as by AC_SUBST.
4896 GUILE_CFLAGS --- flags to pass to a C or C++ compiler to build
4897 code that uses Guile header files. This is almost always just a
4900 GUILE_LDFLAGS --- flags to pass to the linker to link a
4901 program against Guile. This includes `-lguile' for the Guile
4902 library itself, any libraries that Guile itself requires (like
4903 -lqthreads), and so on. It may also include a -L flag to tell the
4904 compiler where to find the libraries.
4906 GUILE_FLAGS is defined in the file guile.m4, in the top-level
4907 directory of the Guile distribution. You can copy it into your
4908 package's aclocal.m4 file, and then use it in your configure.in file.
4910 If you are using the `aclocal' program, distributed with GNU automake,
4911 to maintain your aclocal.m4 file, the Guile installation process
4912 installs guile.m4 where aclocal will find it. All you need to do is
4913 use GUILE_FLAGS in your configure.in file, and then run `aclocal';
4914 this will copy the definition of GUILE_FLAGS into your aclocal.m4
4918 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
4920 ** Multi-byte strings have been removed, as have multi-byte and wide
4921 ports. We felt that these were the wrong approach to
4922 internationalization support.
4924 ** New function: readline [PROMPT]
4925 Read a line from the terminal, and allow the user to edit it,
4926 prompting with PROMPT. READLINE provides a large set of Emacs-like
4927 editing commands, lets the user recall previously typed lines, and
4928 works on almost every kind of terminal, including dumb terminals.
4930 READLINE assumes that the cursor is at the beginning of the line when
4931 it is invoked. Thus, you can't print a prompt yourself, and then call
4932 READLINE; you need to package up your prompt as a string, pass it to
4933 the function, and let READLINE print the prompt itself. This is
4934 because READLINE needs to know the prompt's screen width.
4936 For Guile to provide this function, you must have the readline
4937 library, version 2.1 or later, installed on your system. Readline is
4938 available via anonymous FTP from prep.ai.mit.edu in pub/gnu, or from
4939 any GNU mirror site.
4941 See also ADD-HISTORY function.
4943 ** New function: add-history STRING
4944 Add STRING as the most recent line in the history used by the READLINE
4945 command. READLINE does not add lines to the history itself; you must
4946 call ADD-HISTORY to make previous input available to the user.
4948 ** The behavior of the read-line function has changed.
4950 This function now uses standard C library functions to read the line,
4951 for speed. This means that it doesn not respect the value of
4952 scm-line-incrementors; it assumes that lines are delimited with
4955 (Note that this is read-line, the function that reads a line of text
4956 from a port, not readline, the function that reads a line from a
4957 terminal, providing full editing capabilities.)
4959 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style): Parse command-line arguments.
4961 This module provides some simple argument parsing. It exports one
4964 Function: getopt-gnu-style ARG-LS
4965 Parse a list of program arguments into an alist of option
4968 Each item in the list of program arguments is examined to see if
4969 it meets the syntax of a GNU long-named option. An argument like
4970 `--MUMBLE' produces an element of the form (MUMBLE . #t) in the
4971 returned alist, where MUMBLE is a keyword object with the same
4972 name as the argument. An argument like `--MUMBLE=FROB' produces
4973 an element of the form (MUMBLE . FROB), where FROB is a string.
4975 As a special case, the returned alist also contains a pair whose
4976 car is the symbol `rest'. The cdr of this pair is a list
4977 containing all the items in the argument list that are not options
4978 of the form mentioned above.
4980 The argument `--' is treated specially: all items in the argument
4981 list appearing after such an argument are not examined, and are
4982 returned in the special `rest' list.
4984 This function does not parse normal single-character switches.
4985 You will need to parse them out of the `rest' list yourself.
4987 ** The read syntax for byte vectors and short vectors has changed.
4989 Instead of #bytes(...), write #y(...).
4991 Instead of #short(...), write #h(...).
4993 This may seem nutty, but, like the other uniform vectors, byte vectors
4994 and short vectors want to have the same print and read syntax (and,
4995 more basic, want to have read syntax!). Changing the read syntax to
4996 use multiple characters after the hash sign breaks with the
4997 conventions used in R5RS and the conventions used for the other
4998 uniform vectors. It also introduces complexity in the current reader,
4999 both on the C and Scheme levels. (The Right solution is probably to
5000 change the syntax and prototypes for uniform vectors entirely.)
5003 ** The new module (ice-9 session) provides useful interactive functions.
5005 *** New procedure: (apropos REGEXP OPTION ...)
5007 Display a list of top-level variables whose names match REGEXP, and
5008 the modules they are imported from. Each OPTION should be one of the
5011 value --- Show the value of each matching variable.
5012 shadow --- Show bindings shadowed by subsequently imported modules.
5013 full --- Same as both `shadow' and `value'.
5017 guile> (apropos "trace" 'full)
5018 debug: trace #<procedure trace args>
5019 debug: untrace #<procedure untrace args>
5020 the-scm-module: display-backtrace #<compiled-closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>
5021 the-scm-module: before-backtrace-hook ()
5022 the-scm-module: backtrace #<primitive-procedure backtrace>
5023 the-scm-module: after-backtrace-hook ()
5024 the-scm-module: has-shown-backtrace-hint? #f
5027 ** There are new functions and syntax for working with macros.
5029 Guile implements macros as a special object type. Any variable whose
5030 top-level binding is a macro object acts as a macro. The macro object
5031 specifies how the expression should be transformed before evaluation.
5033 *** Macro objects now print in a reasonable way, resembling procedures.
5035 *** New function: (macro? OBJ)
5036 True iff OBJ is a macro object.
5038 *** New function: (primitive-macro? OBJ)
5039 Like (macro? OBJ), but true only if OBJ is one of the Guile primitive
5040 macro transformers, implemented in eval.c rather than Scheme code.
5042 Why do we have this function?
5043 - For symmetry with procedure? and primitive-procedure?,
5044 - to allow custom print procedures to tell whether a macro is
5045 primitive, and display it differently, and
5046 - to allow compilers and user-written evaluators to distinguish
5047 builtin special forms from user-defined ones, which could be
5050 *** New function: (macro-type OBJ)
5051 Return a value indicating what kind of macro OBJ is. Possible return
5054 The symbol `syntax' --- a macro created by procedure->syntax.
5055 The symbol `macro' --- a macro created by procedure->macro.
5056 The symbol `macro!' --- a macro created by procedure->memoizing-macro.
5057 The boolean #f --- if OBJ is not a macro object.
5059 *** New function: (macro-name MACRO)
5060 Return the name of the macro object MACRO's procedure, as returned by
5063 *** New function: (macro-transformer MACRO)
5064 Return the transformer procedure for MACRO.
5066 *** New syntax: (use-syntax MODULE ... TRANSFORMER)
5068 Specify a new macro expander to use in the current module. Each
5069 MODULE is a module name, with the same meaning as in the `use-modules'
5070 form; each named module's exported bindings are added to the current
5071 top-level environment. TRANSFORMER is an expression evaluated in the
5072 resulting environment which must yield a procedure to use as the
5073 module's eval transformer: every expression evaluated in this module
5074 is passed to this function, and the result passed to the Guile
5077 *** macro-eval! is removed. Use local-eval instead.
5079 ** Some magic has been added to the printer to better handle user
5080 written printing routines (like record printers, closure printers).
5082 The problem is that these user written routines must have access to
5083 the current `print-state' to be able to handle fancy things like
5084 detection of circular references. These print-states have to be
5085 passed to the builtin printing routines (display, write, etc) to
5086 properly continue the print chain.
5088 We didn't want to change all existing print code so that it
5089 explicitly passes thru a print state in addition to a port. Instead,
5090 we extented the possible values that the builtin printing routines
5091 accept as a `port'. In addition to a normal port, they now also take
5092 a pair of a normal port and a print-state. Printing will go to the
5093 port and the print-state will be used to control the detection of
5094 circular references, etc. If the builtin function does not care for a
5095 print-state, it is simply ignored.
5097 User written callbacks are now called with such a pair as their
5098 `port', but because every function now accepts this pair as a PORT
5099 argument, you don't have to worry about that. In fact, it is probably
5100 safest to not check for these pairs.
5102 However, it is sometimes necessary to continue a print chain on a
5103 different port, for example to get a intermediate string
5104 representation of the printed value, mangle that string somehow, and
5105 then to finally print the mangled string. Use the new function
5107 inherit-print-state OLD-PORT NEW-PORT
5109 for this. It constructs a new `port' that prints to NEW-PORT but
5110 inherits the print-state of OLD-PORT.
5112 ** struct-vtable-offset renamed to vtable-offset-user
5114 ** New constants: vtable-index-layout, vtable-index-vtable, vtable-index-printer
5116 ** There is now a third optional argument to make-vtable-vtable
5117 (and fourth to make-struct) when constructing new types (vtables).
5118 This argument initializes field vtable-index-printer of the vtable.
5120 ** The detection of circular references has been extended to structs.
5121 That is, a structure that -- in the process of being printed -- prints
5122 itself does not lead to infinite recursion.
5124 ** There is now some basic support for fluids. Please read
5125 "libguile/fluid.h" to find out more. It is accessible from Scheme with
5126 the following functions and macros:
5128 Function: make-fluid
5130 Create a new fluid object. Fluids are not special variables or
5131 some other extension to the semantics of Scheme, but rather
5132 ordinary Scheme objects. You can store them into variables (that
5133 are still lexically scoped, of course) or into any other place you
5134 like. Every fluid has a initial value of `#f'.
5136 Function: fluid? OBJ
5138 Test whether OBJ is a fluid.
5140 Function: fluid-ref FLUID
5141 Function: fluid-set! FLUID VAL
5143 Access/modify the fluid FLUID. Modifications are only visible
5144 within the current dynamic root (that includes threads).
5146 Function: with-fluids* FLUIDS VALUES THUNK
5148 FLUIDS is a list of fluids and VALUES a corresponding list of
5149 values for these fluids. Before THUNK gets called the values are
5150 installed in the fluids and the old values of the fluids are
5151 saved in the VALUES list. When the flow of control leaves THUNK
5152 or reenters it, the values get swapped again. You might think of
5153 this as a `safe-fluid-excursion'. Note that the VALUES list is
5154 modified by `with-fluids*'.
5156 Macro: with-fluids ((FLUID VALUE) ...) FORM ...
5158 The same as `with-fluids*' but with a different syntax. It looks
5159 just like `let', but both FLUID and VALUE are evaluated. Remember,
5160 fluids are not special variables but ordinary objects. FLUID
5161 should evaluate to a fluid.
5163 ** Changes to system call interfaces:
5165 *** close-port, close-input-port and close-output-port now return a
5166 boolean instead of an `unspecified' object. #t means that the port
5167 was successfully closed, while #f means it was already closed. It is
5168 also now possible for these procedures to raise an exception if an
5169 error occurs (some errors from write can be delayed until close.)
5171 *** the first argument to chmod, fcntl, ftell and fseek can now be a
5174 *** the third argument to fcntl is now optional.
5176 *** the first argument to chown can now be a file descriptor or a port.
5178 *** the argument to stat can now be a port.
5180 *** The following new procedures have been added (most use scsh
5183 *** procedure: close PORT/FD
5184 Similar to close-port (*note close-port: Closing Ports.), but also
5185 works on file descriptors. A side effect of closing a file
5186 descriptor is that any ports using that file descriptor are moved
5187 to a different file descriptor and have their revealed counts set
5190 *** procedure: port->fdes PORT
5191 Returns the integer file descriptor underlying PORT. As a side
5192 effect the revealed count of PORT is incremented.
5194 *** procedure: fdes->ports FDES
5195 Returns a list of existing ports which have FDES as an underlying
5196 file descriptor, without changing their revealed counts.
5198 *** procedure: fdes->inport FDES
5199 Returns an existing input port which has FDES as its underlying
5200 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
5201 Otherwise, returns a new input port with a revealed count of 1.
5203 *** procedure: fdes->outport FDES
5204 Returns an existing output port which has FDES as its underlying
5205 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
5206 Otherwise, returns a new output port with a revealed count of 1.
5208 The next group of procedures perform a `dup2' system call, if NEWFD
5209 (an integer) is supplied, otherwise a `dup'. The file descriptor to be
5210 duplicated can be supplied as an integer or contained in a port. The
5211 type of value returned varies depending on which procedure is used.
5213 All procedures also have the side effect when performing `dup2' that
5214 any ports using NEWFD are moved to a different file descriptor and have
5215 their revealed counts set to zero.
5217 *** procedure: dup->fdes PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5218 Returns an integer file descriptor.
5220 *** procedure: dup->inport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5221 Returns a new input port using the new file descriptor.
5223 *** procedure: dup->outport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5224 Returns a new output port using the new file descriptor.
5226 *** procedure: dup PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5227 Returns a new port if PORT/FD is a port, with the same mode as the
5228 supplied port, otherwise returns an integer file descriptor.
5230 *** procedure: dup->port PORT/FD MODE [NEWFD]
5231 Returns a new port using the new file descriptor. MODE supplies a
5232 mode string for the port (*note open-file: File Ports.).
5234 *** procedure: setenv NAME VALUE
5235 Modifies the environment of the current process, which is also the
5236 default environment inherited by child processes.
5238 If VALUE is `#f', then NAME is removed from the environment.
5239 Otherwise, the string NAME=VALUE is added to the environment,
5240 replacing any existing string with name matching NAME.
5242 The return value is unspecified.
5244 *** procedure: truncate-file OBJ SIZE
5245 Truncates the file referred to by OBJ to at most SIZE bytes. OBJ
5246 can be a string containing a file name or an integer file
5247 descriptor or port open for output on the file. The underlying
5248 system calls are `truncate' and `ftruncate'.
5250 The return value is unspecified.
5252 *** procedure: setvbuf PORT MODE [SIZE]
5253 Set the buffering mode for PORT. MODE can be:
5261 block buffered, using a newly allocated buffer of SIZE bytes.
5262 However if SIZE is zero or unspecified, the port will be made
5265 This procedure should not be used after I/O has been performed with
5268 Ports are usually block buffered by default, with a default buffer
5269 size. Procedures e.g., *Note open-file: File Ports, which accept a
5270 mode string allow `0' to be added to request an unbuffered port.
5272 *** procedure: fsync PORT/FD
5273 Copies any unwritten data for the specified output file descriptor
5274 to disk. If PORT/FD is a port, its buffer is flushed before the
5275 underlying file descriptor is fsync'd. The return value is
5278 *** procedure: open-fdes PATH FLAGS [MODES]
5279 Similar to `open' but returns a file descriptor instead of a port.
5281 *** procedure: execle PATH ENV [ARG] ...
5282 Similar to `execl', but the environment of the new process is
5283 specified by ENV, which must be a list of strings as returned by
5284 the `environ' procedure.
5286 This procedure is currently implemented using the `execve' system
5287 call, but we call it `execle' because of its Scheme calling
5290 *** procedure: strerror ERRNO
5291 Returns the Unix error message corresponding to ERRNO, an integer.
5293 *** procedure: primitive-exit [STATUS]
5294 Terminate the current process without unwinding the Scheme stack.
5295 This is would typically be useful after a fork. The exit status
5296 is STATUS if supplied, otherwise zero.
5298 *** procedure: times
5299 Returns an object with information about real and processor time.
5300 The following procedures accept such an object as an argument and
5301 return a selected component:
5304 The current real time, expressed as time units relative to an
5308 The CPU time units used by the calling process.
5311 The CPU time units used by the system on behalf of the
5315 The CPU time units used by terminated child processes of the
5316 calling process, whose status has been collected (e.g., using
5320 Similarly, the CPU times units used by the system on behalf of
5321 terminated child processes.
5323 ** Removed: list-length
5324 ** Removed: list-append, list-append!
5325 ** Removed: list-reverse, list-reverse!
5327 ** array-map renamed to array-map!
5329 ** serial-array-map renamed to serial-array-map!
5331 ** catch doesn't take #f as first argument any longer
5333 Previously, it was possible to pass #f instead of a key to `catch'.
5334 That would cause `catch' to pass a jump buffer object to the procedure
5335 passed as second argument. The procedure could then use this jump
5336 buffer objekt as an argument to throw.
5338 This mechanism has been removed since its utility doesn't motivate the
5339 extra complexity it introduces.
5341 ** The `#/' notation for lists now provokes a warning message from Guile.
5342 This syntax will be removed from Guile in the near future.
5344 To disable the warning message, set the GUILE_HUSH environment
5345 variable to any non-empty value.
5347 ** The newline character now prints as `#\newline', following the
5348 normal Scheme notation, not `#\nl'.
5350 * Changes to the gh_ interface
5352 ** The gh_enter function now takes care of loading the Guile startup files.
5353 gh_enter works by calling scm_boot_guile; see the remarks below.
5355 ** Function: void gh_write (SCM x)
5357 Write the printed representation of the scheme object x to the current
5358 output port. Corresponds to the scheme level `write'.
5360 ** gh_list_length renamed to gh_length.
5362 ** vector handling routines
5364 Several major changes. In particular, gh_vector() now resembles
5365 (vector ...) (with a caveat -- see manual), and gh_make_vector() now
5366 exists and behaves like (make-vector ...). gh_vset() and gh_vref()
5367 have been renamed gh_vector_set_x() and gh_vector_ref(). Some missing
5368 vector-related gh_ functions have been implemented.
5370 ** pair and list routines
5372 Implemented several of the R4RS pair and list functions that were
5375 ** gh_scm2doubles, gh_doubles2scm, gh_doubles2dvect
5377 New function. Converts double arrays back and forth between Scheme
5380 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5382 ** The function scm_boot_guile now takes care of loading the startup files.
5384 Guile's primary initialization function, scm_boot_guile, now takes
5385 care of loading `boot-9.scm', in the `ice-9' module, to initialize
5386 Guile, define the module system, and put together some standard
5387 bindings. It also loads `init.scm', which is intended to hold
5388 site-specific initialization code.
5390 Since Guile cannot operate properly until boot-9.scm is loaded, there
5391 is no reason to separate loading boot-9.scm from Guile's other
5392 initialization processes.
5394 This job used to be done by scm_compile_shell_switches, which didn't
5395 make much sense; in particular, it meant that people using Guile for
5396 non-shell-like applications had to jump through hoops to get Guile
5397 initialized properly.
5399 ** The function scm_compile_shell_switches no longer loads the startup files.
5400 Now, Guile always loads the startup files, whenever it is initialized;
5401 see the notes above for scm_boot_guile and scm_load_startup_files.
5403 ** Function: scm_load_startup_files
5404 This new function takes care of loading Guile's initialization file
5405 (`boot-9.scm'), and the site initialization file, `init.scm'. Since
5406 this is always called by the Guile initialization process, it's
5407 probably not too useful to call this yourself, but it's there anyway.
5409 ** The semantics of smob marking have changed slightly.
5411 The smob marking function (the `mark' member of the scm_smobfuns
5412 structure) is no longer responsible for setting the mark bit on the
5413 smob. The generic smob handling code in the garbage collector will
5414 set this bit. The mark function need only ensure that any other
5415 objects the smob refers to get marked.
5417 Note that this change means that the smob's GC8MARK bit is typically
5418 already set upon entry to the mark function. Thus, marking functions
5419 which look like this:
5422 if (SCM_GC8MARKP (ptr))
5424 SCM_SETGC8MARK (ptr);
5425 ... mark objects to which the smob refers ...
5428 are now incorrect, since they will return early, and fail to mark any
5429 other objects the smob refers to. Some code in the Guile library used
5432 ** The semantics of the I/O port functions in scm_ptobfuns have changed.
5434 If you have implemented your own I/O port type, by writing the
5435 functions required by the scm_ptobfuns and then calling scm_newptob,
5436 you will need to change your functions slightly.
5438 The functions in a scm_ptobfuns structure now expect the port itself
5439 as their argument; they used to expect the `stream' member of the
5440 port's scm_port_table structure. This allows functions in an
5441 scm_ptobfuns structure to easily access the port's cell (and any flags
5442 it its CAR), and the port's scm_port_table structure.
5444 Guile now passes the I/O port itself as the `port' argument in the
5445 following scm_ptobfuns functions:
5447 int (*free) (SCM port);
5448 int (*fputc) (int, SCM port);
5449 int (*fputs) (char *, SCM port);
5450 scm_sizet (*fwrite) SCM_P ((char *ptr,
5454 int (*fflush) (SCM port);
5455 int (*fgetc) (SCM port);
5456 int (*fclose) (SCM port);
5458 The interfaces to the `mark', `print', `equalp', and `fgets' methods
5461 If you have existing code which defines its own port types, it is easy
5462 to convert your code to the new interface; simply apply SCM_STREAM to
5463 the port argument to yield the value you code used to expect.
5465 Note that since both the port and the stream have the same type in the
5466 C code --- they are both SCM values --- the C compiler will not remind
5467 you if you forget to update your scm_ptobfuns functions.
5470 ** Function: int scm_internal_select (int fds,
5474 struct timeval *timeout);
5476 This is a replacement for the `select' function provided by the OS.
5477 It enables I/O blocking and sleeping to happen for one cooperative
5478 thread without blocking other threads. It also avoids busy-loops in
5479 these situations. It is intended that all I/O blocking and sleeping
5480 will finally go through this function. Currently, this function is
5481 only available on systems providing `gettimeofday' and `select'.
5483 ** Function: SCM scm_internal_stack_catch (SCM tag,
5484 scm_catch_body_t body,
5486 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
5489 A new sibling to the other two C level `catch' functions
5490 scm_internal_catch and scm_internal_lazy_catch. Use it if you want
5491 the stack to be saved automatically into the variable `the-last-stack'
5492 (scm_the_last_stack_var) on error. This is necessary if you want to
5493 use advanced error reporting, such as calling scm_display_error and
5494 scm_display_backtrace. (They both take a stack object as argument.)
5496 ** Function: SCM scm_spawn_thread (scm_catch_body_t body,
5498 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
5501 Spawns a new thread. It does a job similar to
5502 scm_call_with_new_thread but takes arguments more suitable when
5503 spawning threads from application C code.
5505 ** The hook scm_error_callback has been removed. It was originally
5506 intended as a way for the user to install his own error handler. But
5507 that method works badly since it intervenes between throw and catch,
5508 thereby changing the semantics of expressions like (catch #t ...).
5509 The correct way to do it is to use one of the C level catch functions
5510 in throw.c: scm_internal_catch/lazy_catch/stack_catch.
5512 ** Removed functions:
5514 scm_obj_length, scm_list_length, scm_list_append, scm_list_append_x,
5515 scm_list_reverse, scm_list_reverse_x
5517 ** New macros: SCM_LISTn where n is one of the integers 0-9.
5519 These can be used for pretty list creation from C. The idea is taken
5520 from Erick Gallesio's STk.
5522 ** scm_array_map renamed to scm_array_map_x
5524 ** mbstrings are now removed
5526 This means that the type codes scm_tc7_mb_string and
5527 scm_tc7_mb_substring has been removed.
5529 ** scm_gen_putc, scm_gen_puts, scm_gen_write, and scm_gen_getc have changed.
5531 Since we no longer support multi-byte strings, these I/O functions
5532 have been simplified, and renamed. Here are their old names, and
5533 their new names and arguments:
5535 scm_gen_putc -> void scm_putc (int c, SCM port);
5536 scm_gen_puts -> void scm_puts (char *s, SCM port);
5537 scm_gen_write -> void scm_lfwrite (char *ptr, scm_sizet size, SCM port);
5538 scm_gen_getc -> void scm_getc (SCM port);
5541 ** The macros SCM_TYP7D and SCM_TYP7SD has been removed.
5543 ** The macro SCM_TYP7S has taken the role of the old SCM_TYP7D
5545 SCM_TYP7S now masks away the bit which distinguishes substrings from
5548 ** scm_catch_body_t: Backward incompatible change!
5550 Body functions to scm_internal_catch and friends do not any longer
5551 take a second argument. This is because it is no longer possible to
5552 pass a #f arg to catch.
5554 ** Calls to scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect now nest properly.
5556 The function scm_protect_object protects its argument from being freed
5557 by the garbage collector. scm_unprotect_object removes that
5560 These functions now nest properly. That is, for every object O, there
5561 is a counter which scm_protect_object(O) increments and
5562 scm_unprotect_object(O) decrements, if the counter is greater than
5563 zero. Every object's counter is zero when it is first created. If an
5564 object's counter is greater than zero, the garbage collector will not
5565 reclaim its storage.
5567 This allows you to use scm_protect_object in your code without
5568 worrying that some other function you call will call
5569 scm_unprotect_object, and allow it to be freed. Assuming that the
5570 functions you call are well-behaved, and unprotect only those objects
5571 they protect, you can follow the same rule and have confidence that
5572 objects will be freed only at appropriate times.
5575 Changes in Guile 1.2 (released Tuesday, June 24 1997):
5577 * Changes to the distribution
5579 ** Nightly snapshots are now available from ftp.red-bean.com.
5580 The old server, ftp.cyclic.com, has been relinquished to its rightful
5583 Nightly snapshots of the Guile development sources are now available via
5584 anonymous FTP from ftp.red-bean.com, as /pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz.
5586 Via the web, that's: ftp://ftp.red-bean.com/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
5587 For getit, that's: ftp.red-bean.com:/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
5589 ** To run Guile without installing it, the procedure has changed a bit.
5591 If you used a separate build directory to compile Guile, you'll need
5592 to include the build directory in SCHEME_LOAD_PATH, as well as the
5593 source directory. See the `INSTALL' file for examples.
5595 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
5597 ** The standard Guile load path for Scheme code now includes
5598 $(datadir)/guile (usually /usr/local/share/guile). This means that
5599 you can install your own Scheme files there, and Guile will find them.
5600 (Previous versions of Guile only checked a directory whose name
5601 contained the Guile version number, so you had to re-install or move
5602 your Scheme sources each time you installed a fresh version of Guile.)
5604 The load path also includes $(datadir)/guile/site; we recommend
5605 putting individual Scheme files there. If you want to install a
5606 package with multiple source files, create a directory for them under
5609 ** Guile 1.2 will now use the Rx regular expression library, if it is
5610 installed on your system. When you are linking libguile into your own
5611 programs, this means you will have to link against -lguile, -lqt (if
5612 you configured Guile with thread support), and -lrx.
5614 If you are using autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your
5615 application, the following lines should suffice to add the appropriate
5616 libraries to your link command:
5618 ### Find Rx, quickthreads and libguile.
5619 AC_CHECK_LIB(rx, main)
5620 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
5621 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
5623 The Guile 1.2 distribution does not contain sources for the Rx
5624 library, as Guile 1.0 did. If you want to use Rx, you'll need to
5625 retrieve it from a GNU FTP site and install it separately.
5627 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5629 ** The dynamic linking features of Guile are now enabled by default.
5630 You can disable them by giving the `--disable-dynamic-linking' option
5633 (dynamic-link FILENAME)
5635 Find the object file denoted by FILENAME (a string) and link it
5636 into the running Guile application. When everything works out,
5637 return a Scheme object suitable for representing the linked object
5638 file. Otherwise an error is thrown. How object files are
5639 searched is system dependent.
5641 (dynamic-object? VAL)
5643 Determine whether VAL represents a dynamically linked object file.
5645 (dynamic-unlink DYNOBJ)
5647 Unlink the indicated object file from the application. DYNOBJ
5648 should be one of the values returned by `dynamic-link'.
5650 (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
5652 Search the C function indicated by FUNCTION (a string or symbol)
5653 in DYNOBJ and return some Scheme object that can later be used
5654 with `dynamic-call' to actually call this function. Right now,
5655 these Scheme objects are formed by casting the address of the
5656 function to `long' and converting this number to its Scheme
5659 (dynamic-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
5661 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ. The
5662 function is passed no arguments and its return value is ignored.
5663 When FUNCTION is something returned by `dynamic-func', call that
5664 function and ignore DYNOBJ. When FUNCTION is a string (or symbol,
5665 etc.), look it up in DYNOBJ; this is equivalent to
5667 (dynamic-call (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ) #f)
5669 Interrupts are deferred while the C function is executing (with
5670 SCM_DEFER_INTS/SCM_ALLOW_INTS).
5672 (dynamic-args-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ ARGS)
5674 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ, but pass it
5675 some arguments and return its return value. The C function is
5676 expected to take two arguments and return an `int', just like
5679 int c_func (int argc, char **argv);
5681 ARGS must be a list of strings and is converted into an array of
5682 `char *'. The array is passed in ARGV and its size in ARGC. The
5683 return value is converted to a Scheme number and returned from the
5684 call to `dynamic-args-call'.
5686 When dynamic linking is disabled or not supported on your system,
5687 the above functions throw errors, but they are still available.
5689 Here is a small example that works on GNU/Linux:
5691 (define libc-obj (dynamic-link "libc.so"))
5692 (dynamic-args-call 'rand libc-obj '())
5694 See the file `libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING' for additional comments.
5696 ** The #/ syntax for module names is depreciated, and will be removed
5697 in a future version of Guile. Instead of
5705 The latter syntax is more consistent with existing Lisp practice.
5707 ** Guile now does fancier printing of structures. Structures are the
5708 underlying implementation for records, which in turn are used to
5709 implement modules, so all of these object now print differently and in
5710 a more informative way.
5712 The Scheme printer will examine the builtin variable *struct-printer*
5713 whenever it needs to print a structure object. When this variable is
5714 not `#f' it is deemed to be a procedure and will be applied to the
5715 structure object and the output port. When *struct-printer* is `#f'
5716 or the procedure return `#f' the structure object will be printed in
5717 the boring #<struct 80458270> form.
5719 This hook is used by some routines in ice-9/boot-9.scm to implement
5720 type specific printing routines. Please read the comments there about
5723 One of the more specific uses of structs are records. The printing
5724 procedure that could be passed to MAKE-RECORD-TYPE is now actually
5725 called. It should behave like a *struct-printer* procedure (described
5728 ** Guile now supports a new R4RS-compliant syntax for keywords. A
5729 token of the form #:NAME, where NAME has the same syntax as a Scheme
5730 symbol, is the external representation of the keyword named NAME.
5731 Keyword objects print using this syntax as well, so values containing
5732 keyword objects can be read back into Guile. When used in an
5733 expression, keywords are self-quoting objects.
5735 Guile suports this read syntax, and uses this print syntax, regardless
5736 of the current setting of the `keyword' read option. The `keyword'
5737 read option only controls whether Guile recognizes the `:NAME' syntax,
5738 which is incompatible with R4RS. (R4RS says such token represent
5741 ** Guile has regular expression support again. Guile 1.0 included
5742 functions for matching regular expressions, based on the Rx library.
5743 In Guile 1.1, the Guile/Rx interface was removed to simplify the
5744 distribution, and thus Guile had no regular expression support. Guile
5745 1.2 again supports the most commonly used functions, and supports all
5746 of SCSH's regular expression functions.
5748 If your system does not include a POSIX regular expression library,
5749 and you have not linked Guile with a third-party regexp library such as
5750 Rx, these functions will not be available. You can tell whether your
5751 Guile installation includes regular expression support by checking
5752 whether the `*features*' list includes the `regex' symbol.
5754 *** regexp functions
5756 By default, Guile supports POSIX extended regular expressions. That
5757 means that the characters `(', `)', `+' and `?' are special, and must
5758 be escaped if you wish to match the literal characters.
5760 This regular expression interface was modeled after that implemented
5761 by SCSH, the Scheme Shell. It is intended to be upwardly compatible
5762 with SCSH regular expressions.
5764 **** Function: string-match PATTERN STR [START]
5765 Compile the string PATTERN into a regular expression and compare
5766 it with STR. The optional numeric argument START specifies the
5767 position of STR at which to begin matching.
5769 `string-match' returns a "match structure" which describes what,
5770 if anything, was matched by the regular expression. *Note Match
5771 Structures::. If STR does not match PATTERN at all,
5772 `string-match' returns `#f'.
5774 Each time `string-match' is called, it must compile its PATTERN
5775 argument into a regular expression structure. This operation is
5776 expensive, which makes `string-match' inefficient if the same regular
5777 expression is used several times (for example, in a loop). For better
5778 performance, you can compile a regular expression in advance and then
5779 match strings against the compiled regexp.
5781 **** Function: make-regexp STR [FLAGS]
5782 Compile the regular expression described by STR, and return the
5783 compiled regexp structure. If STR does not describe a legal
5784 regular expression, `make-regexp' throws a
5785 `regular-expression-syntax' error.
5787 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
5789 **** Constant: regexp/extended
5790 Use POSIX Extended Regular Expression syntax when interpreting
5791 STR. If not set, POSIX Basic Regular Expression syntax is used.
5792 If the FLAGS argument is omitted, we assume regexp/extended.
5794 **** Constant: regexp/icase
5795 Do not differentiate case. Subsequent searches using the
5796 returned regular expression will be case insensitive.
5798 **** Constant: regexp/newline
5799 Match-any-character operators don't match a newline.
5801 A non-matching list ([^...]) not containing a newline matches a
5804 Match-beginning-of-line operator (^) matches the empty string
5805 immediately after a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
5806 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/notbol.
5808 Match-end-of-line operator ($) matches the empty string
5809 immediately before a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
5810 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/noteol.
5812 **** Function: regexp-exec REGEXP STR [START [FLAGS]]
5813 Match the compiled regular expression REGEXP against `str'. If
5814 the optional integer START argument is provided, begin matching
5815 from that position in the string. Return a match structure
5816 describing the results of the match, or `#f' if no match could be
5819 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
5821 **** Constant: regexp/notbol
5822 The match-beginning-of-line operator always fails to match (but
5823 see the compilation flag regexp/newline above) This flag may be
5824 used when different portions of a string are passed to
5825 regexp-exec and the beginning of the string should not be
5826 interpreted as the beginning of the line.
5828 **** Constant: regexp/noteol
5829 The match-end-of-line operator always fails to match (but see the
5830 compilation flag regexp/newline above)
5832 **** Function: regexp? OBJ
5833 Return `#t' if OBJ is a compiled regular expression, or `#f'
5836 Regular expressions are commonly used to find patterns in one string
5837 and replace them with the contents of another string.
5839 **** Function: regexp-substitute PORT MATCH [ITEM...]
5840 Write to the output port PORT selected contents of the match
5841 structure MATCH. Each ITEM specifies what should be written, and
5842 may be one of the following arguments:
5844 * A string. String arguments are written out verbatim.
5846 * An integer. The submatch with that number is written.
5848 * The symbol `pre'. The portion of the matched string preceding
5849 the regexp match is written.
5851 * The symbol `post'. The portion of the matched string
5852 following the regexp match is written.
5854 PORT may be `#f', in which case nothing is written; instead,
5855 `regexp-substitute' constructs a string from the specified ITEMs
5858 **** Function: regexp-substitute/global PORT REGEXP TARGET [ITEM...]
5859 Similar to `regexp-substitute', but can be used to perform global
5860 substitutions on STR. Instead of taking a match structure as an
5861 argument, `regexp-substitute/global' takes two string arguments: a
5862 REGEXP string describing a regular expression, and a TARGET string
5863 which should be matched against this regular expression.
5865 Each ITEM behaves as in REGEXP-SUBSTITUTE, with the following
5868 * A function may be supplied. When this function is called, it
5869 will be passed one argument: a match structure for a given
5870 regular expression match. It should return a string to be
5871 written out to PORT.
5873 * The `post' symbol causes `regexp-substitute/global' to recurse
5874 on the unmatched portion of STR. This *must* be supplied in
5875 order to perform global search-and-replace on STR; if it is
5876 not present among the ITEMs, then `regexp-substitute/global'
5877 will return after processing a single match.
5879 *** Match Structures
5881 A "match structure" is the object returned by `string-match' and
5882 `regexp-exec'. It describes which portion of a string, if any, matched
5883 the given regular expression. Match structures include: a reference to
5884 the string that was checked for matches; the starting and ending
5885 positions of the regexp match; and, if the regexp included any
5886 parenthesized subexpressions, the starting and ending positions of each
5889 In each of the regexp match functions described below, the `match'
5890 argument must be a match structure returned by a previous call to
5891 `string-match' or `regexp-exec'. Most of these functions return some
5892 information about the original target string that was matched against a
5893 regular expression; we will call that string TARGET for easy reference.
5895 **** Function: regexp-match? OBJ
5896 Return `#t' if OBJ is a match structure returned by a previous
5897 call to `regexp-exec', or `#f' otherwise.
5899 **** Function: match:substring MATCH [N]
5900 Return the portion of TARGET matched by subexpression number N.
5901 Submatch 0 (the default) represents the entire regexp match. If
5902 the regular expression as a whole matched, but the subexpression
5903 number N did not match, return `#f'.
5905 **** Function: match:start MATCH [N]
5906 Return the starting position of submatch number N.
5908 **** Function: match:end MATCH [N]
5909 Return the ending position of submatch number N.
5911 **** Function: match:prefix MATCH
5912 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET preceding the regexp match.
5914 **** Function: match:suffix MATCH
5915 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET following the regexp match.
5917 **** Function: match:count MATCH
5918 Return the number of parenthesized subexpressions from MATCH.
5919 Note that the entire regular expression match itself counts as a
5920 subexpression, and failed submatches are included in the count.
5922 **** Function: match:string MATCH
5923 Return the original TARGET string.
5925 *** Backslash Escapes
5927 Sometimes you will want a regexp to match characters like `*' or `$'
5928 exactly. For example, to check whether a particular string represents
5929 a menu entry from an Info node, it would be useful to match it against
5930 a regexp like `^* [^:]*::'. However, this won't work; because the
5931 asterisk is a metacharacter, it won't match the `*' at the beginning of
5932 the string. In this case, we want to make the first asterisk un-magic.
5934 You can do this by preceding the metacharacter with a backslash
5935 character `\'. (This is also called "quoting" the metacharacter, and
5936 is known as a "backslash escape".) When Guile sees a backslash in a
5937 regular expression, it considers the following glyph to be an ordinary
5938 character, no matter what special meaning it would ordinarily have.
5939 Therefore, we can make the above example work by changing the regexp to
5940 `^\* [^:]*::'. The `\*' sequence tells the regular expression engine
5941 to match only a single asterisk in the target string.
5943 Since the backslash is itself a metacharacter, you may force a
5944 regexp to match a backslash in the target string by preceding the
5945 backslash with itself. For example, to find variable references in a
5946 TeX program, you might want to find occurrences of the string `\let\'
5947 followed by any number of alphabetic characters. The regular expression
5948 `\\let\\[A-Za-z]*' would do this: the double backslashes in the regexp
5949 each match a single backslash in the target string.
5951 **** Function: regexp-quote STR
5952 Quote each special character found in STR with a backslash, and
5953 return the resulting string.
5955 *Very important:* Using backslash escapes in Guile source code (as
5956 in Emacs Lisp or C) can be tricky, because the backslash character has
5957 special meaning for the Guile reader. For example, if Guile encounters
5958 the character sequence `\n' in the middle of a string while processing
5959 Scheme code, it replaces those characters with a newline character.
5960 Similarly, the character sequence `\t' is replaced by a horizontal tab.
5961 Several of these "escape sequences" are processed by the Guile reader
5962 before your code is executed. Unrecognized escape sequences are
5963 ignored: if the characters `\*' appear in a string, they will be
5964 translated to the single character `*'.
5966 This translation is obviously undesirable for regular expressions,
5967 since we want to be able to include backslashes in a string in order to
5968 escape regexp metacharacters. Therefore, to make sure that a backslash
5969 is preserved in a string in your Guile program, you must use *two*
5970 consecutive backslashes:
5972 (define Info-menu-entry-pattern (make-regexp "^\\* [^:]*"))
5974 The string in this example is preprocessed by the Guile reader before
5975 any code is executed. The resulting argument to `make-regexp' is the
5976 string `^\* [^:]*', which is what we really want.
5978 This also means that in order to write a regular expression that
5979 matches a single backslash character, the regular expression string in
5980 the source code must include *four* backslashes. Each consecutive pair
5981 of backslashes gets translated by the Guile reader to a single
5982 backslash, and the resulting double-backslash is interpreted by the
5983 regexp engine as matching a single backslash character. Hence:
5985 (define tex-variable-pattern (make-regexp "\\\\let\\\\=[A-Za-z]*"))
5987 The reason for the unwieldiness of this syntax is historical. Both
5988 regular expression pattern matchers and Unix string processing systems
5989 have traditionally used backslashes with the special meanings described
5990 above. The POSIX regular expression specification and ANSI C standard
5991 both require these semantics. Attempting to abandon either convention
5992 would cause other kinds of compatibility problems, possibly more severe
5993 ones. Therefore, without extending the Scheme reader to support
5994 strings with different quoting conventions (an ungainly and confusing
5995 extension when implemented in other languages), we must adhere to this
5996 cumbersome escape syntax.
5998 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6000 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6002 * Changes to system call interfaces:
6004 ** The value returned by `raise' is now unspecified. It throws an exception
6007 *** A new procedure `sigaction' can be used to install signal handlers
6009 (sigaction signum [action] [flags])
6011 signum is the signal number, which can be specified using the value
6014 If action is omitted, sigaction returns a pair: the CAR is the current
6015 signal hander, which will be either an integer with the value SIG_DFL
6016 (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or the Scheme procedure which
6017 handles the signal, or #f if a non-Scheme procedure handles the
6018 signal. The CDR contains the current sigaction flags for the handler.
6020 If action is provided, it is installed as the new handler for signum.
6021 action can be a Scheme procedure taking one argument, or the value of
6022 SIG_DFL (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or #f to restore
6023 whatever signal handler was installed before sigaction was first used.
6024 Flags can optionally be specified for the new handler (SA_RESTART is
6025 always used if the system provides it, so need not be specified.) The
6026 return value is a pair with information about the old handler as
6029 This interface does not provide access to the "signal blocking"
6030 facility. Maybe this is not needed, since the thread support may
6031 provide solutions to the problem of consistent access to data
6034 *** A new procedure `flush-all-ports' is equivalent to running
6035 `force-output' on every port open for output.
6037 ** Guile now provides information on how it was built, via the new
6038 global variable, %guile-build-info. This variable records the values
6039 of the standard GNU makefile directory variables as an assocation
6040 list, mapping variable names (symbols) onto directory paths (strings).
6041 For example, to find out where the Guile link libraries were
6042 installed, you can say:
6044 guile -c "(display (assq-ref %guile-build-info 'libdir)) (newline)"
6047 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6049 ** The new function scm_handle_by_message_noexit is just like the
6050 existing scm_handle_by_message function, except that it doesn't call
6051 exit to terminate the process. Instead, it prints a message and just
6052 returns #f. This might be a more appropriate catch-all handler for
6053 new dynamic roots and threads.
6056 Changes in Guile 1.1 (released Friday, May 16 1997):
6058 * Changes to the distribution.
6060 The Guile 1.0 distribution has been split up into several smaller
6062 guile-core --- the Guile interpreter itself.
6063 guile-tcltk --- the interface between the Guile interpreter and
6064 Tcl/Tk; Tcl is an interpreter for a stringy language, and Tk
6065 is a toolkit for building graphical user interfaces.
6066 guile-rgx-ctax --- the interface between Guile and the Rx regular
6067 expression matcher, and the translator for the Ctax
6068 programming language. These are packaged together because the
6069 Ctax translator uses Rx to parse Ctax source code.
6071 This NEWS file describes the changes made to guile-core since the 1.0
6074 We no longer distribute the documentation, since it was either out of
6075 date, or incomplete. As soon as we have current documentation, we
6080 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
6082 ** guile now accepts command-line arguments compatible with SCSH, Olin
6083 Shivers' Scheme Shell.
6085 In general, arguments are evaluated from left to right, but there are
6086 exceptions. The following switches stop argument processing, and
6087 stash all remaining command-line arguments as the value returned by
6088 the (command-line) function.
6089 -s SCRIPT load Scheme source code from FILE, and exit
6090 -c EXPR evalute Scheme expression EXPR, and exit
6091 -- stop scanning arguments; run interactively
6093 The switches below are processed as they are encountered.
6094 -l FILE load Scheme source code from FILE
6095 -e FUNCTION after reading script, apply FUNCTION to
6096 command line arguments
6097 -ds do -s script at this point
6098 --emacs enable Emacs protocol (experimental)
6099 -h, --help display this help and exit
6100 -v, --version display version information and exit
6101 \ read arguments from following script lines
6103 So, for example, here is a Guile script named `ekko' (thanks, Olin)
6104 which re-implements the traditional "echo" command:
6106 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
6109 (map (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
6113 (main (command-line))
6115 Suppose we invoke this script as follows:
6117 ekko a speckled gecko
6119 Through the magic of Unix script processing (triggered by the `#!'
6120 token at the top of the file), /usr/local/bin/guile receives the
6121 following list of command-line arguments:
6123 ("-s" "./ekko" "a" "speckled" "gecko")
6125 Unix inserts the name of the script after the argument specified on
6126 the first line of the file (in this case, "-s"), and then follows that
6127 with the arguments given to the script. Guile loads the script, which
6128 defines the `main' function, and then applies it to the list of
6129 remaining command-line arguments, ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
6131 In Unix, the first line of a script file must take the following form:
6133 #!INTERPRETER ARGUMENT
6135 where INTERPRETER is the absolute filename of the interpreter
6136 executable, and ARGUMENT is a single command-line argument to pass to
6139 You may only pass one argument to the interpreter, and its length is
6140 limited. These restrictions can be annoying to work around, so Guile
6141 provides a general mechanism (borrowed from, and compatible with,
6142 SCSH) for circumventing them.
6144 If the ARGUMENT in a Guile script is a single backslash character,
6145 `\', Guile will open the script file, parse arguments from its second
6146 and subsequent lines, and replace the `\' with them. So, for example,
6147 here is another implementation of the `ekko' script:
6149 #!/usr/local/bin/guile \
6153 (for-each (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
6157 If the user invokes this script as follows:
6159 ekko a speckled gecko
6161 Unix expands this into
6163 /usr/local/bin/guile \ ekko a speckled gecko
6165 When Guile sees the `\' argument, it replaces it with the arguments
6166 read from the second line of the script, producing:
6168 /usr/local/bin/guile -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
6170 This tells Guile to load the `ekko' script, and apply the function
6171 `main' to the argument list ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
6173 Here is how Guile parses the command-line arguments:
6174 - Each space character terminates an argument. This means that two
6175 spaces in a row introduce an empty-string argument.
6176 - The tab character is not permitted (unless you quote it with the
6177 backslash character, as described below), to avoid confusion.
6178 - The newline character terminates the sequence of arguments, and will
6179 also terminate a final non-empty argument. (However, a newline
6180 following a space will not introduce a final empty-string argument;
6181 it only terminates the argument list.)
6182 - The backslash character is the escape character. It escapes
6183 backslash, space, tab, and newline. The ANSI C escape sequences
6184 like \n and \t are also supported. These produce argument
6185 constituents; the two-character combination \n doesn't act like a
6186 terminating newline. The escape sequence \NNN for exactly three
6187 octal digits reads as the character whose ASCII code is NNN. As
6188 above, characters produced this way are argument constituents.
6189 Backslash followed by other characters is not allowed.
6191 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
6193 ** Guile now builds and installs a shared guile library, if your
6194 system support shared libraries. (It still builds a static library on
6195 all systems.) Guile automatically detects whether your system
6196 supports shared libraries. To prevent Guile from buildisg shared
6197 libraries, pass the `--disable-shared' flag to the configure script.
6199 Guile takes longer to compile when it builds shared libraries, because
6200 it must compile every file twice --- once to produce position-
6201 independent object code, and once to produce normal object code.
6203 ** The libthreads library has been merged into libguile.
6205 To link a program against Guile, you now need only link against
6206 -lguile and -lqt; -lthreads is no longer needed. If you are using
6207 autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your application, the
6208 following lines should suffice to add the appropriate libraries to
6211 ### Find quickthreads and libguile.
6212 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
6213 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
6215 * Changes to Scheme functions
6217 ** Guile Scheme's special syntax for keyword objects is now optional,
6218 and disabled by default.
6220 The syntax variation from R4RS made it difficult to port some
6221 interesting packages to Guile. The routines which accepted keyword
6222 arguments (mostly in the module system) have been modified to also
6223 accept symbols whose names begin with `:'.
6225 To change the keyword syntax, you must first import the (ice-9 debug)
6227 (use-modules (ice-9 debug))
6229 Then you can enable the keyword syntax as follows:
6230 (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
6232 To disable keyword syntax, do this:
6233 (read-set! keywords #f)
6235 ** Many more primitive functions accept shared substrings as
6236 arguments. In the past, these functions required normal, mutable
6237 strings as arguments, although they never made use of this
6240 ** The uniform array functions now operate on byte vectors. These
6241 functions are `array-fill!', `serial-array-copy!', `array-copy!',
6242 `serial-array-map', `array-map', `array-for-each', and
6245 ** The new functions `trace' and `untrace' implement simple debugging
6246 support for Scheme functions.
6248 The `trace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
6249 and tells the Guile interpreter to display each procedure's name and
6250 arguments each time the procedure is invoked. When invoked with no
6251 arguments, `trace' returns the list of procedures currently being
6254 The `untrace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
6255 and tells the Guile interpreter not to trace them any more. When
6256 invoked with no arguments, `untrace' untraces all curretly traced
6259 The tracing in Guile has an advantage over most other systems: we
6260 don't create new procedure objects, but mark the procedure objects
6261 themselves. This means that anonymous and internal procedures can be
6264 ** The function `assert-repl-prompt' has been renamed to
6265 `set-repl-prompt!'. It takes one argument, PROMPT.
6266 - If PROMPT is #f, the Guile read-eval-print loop will not prompt.
6267 - If PROMPT is a string, we use it as a prompt.
6268 - If PROMPT is a procedure accepting no arguments, we call it, and
6269 display the result as a prompt.
6270 - Otherwise, we display "> ".
6272 ** The new function `eval-string' reads Scheme expressions from a
6273 string and evaluates them, returning the value of the last expression
6274 in the string. If the string contains no expressions, it returns an
6277 ** The new function `thunk?' returns true iff its argument is a
6278 procedure of zero arguments.
6280 ** `defined?' is now a builtin function, instead of syntax. This
6281 means that its argument should be quoted. It returns #t iff its
6282 argument is bound in the current module.
6284 ** The new syntax `use-modules' allows you to add new modules to your
6285 environment without re-typing a complete `define-module' form. It
6286 accepts any number of module names as arguments, and imports their
6287 public bindings into the current module.
6289 ** The new function (module-defined? NAME MODULE) returns true iff
6290 NAME, a symbol, is defined in MODULE, a module object.
6292 ** The new function `builtin-bindings' creates and returns a hash
6293 table containing copies of all the root module's bindings.
6295 ** The new function `builtin-weak-bindings' does the same as
6296 `builtin-bindings', but creates a doubly-weak hash table.
6298 ** The `equal?' function now considers variable objects to be
6299 equivalent if they have the same name and the same value.
6301 ** The new function `command-line' returns the command-line arguments
6302 given to Guile, as a list of strings.
6304 When using guile as a script interpreter, `command-line' returns the
6305 script's arguments; those processed by the interpreter (like `-s' or
6306 `-c') are omitted. (In other words, you get the normal, expected
6307 behavior.) Any application that uses scm_shell to process its
6308 command-line arguments gets this behavior as well.
6310 ** The new function `load-user-init' looks for a file called `.guile'
6311 in the user's home directory, and loads it if it exists. This is
6312 mostly for use by the code generated by scm_compile_shell_switches,
6313 but we thought it might also be useful in other circumstances.
6315 ** The new function `log10' returns the base-10 logarithm of its
6318 ** Changes to I/O functions
6320 *** The functions `read', `primitive-load', `read-and-eval!', and
6321 `primitive-load-path' no longer take optional arguments controlling
6322 case insensitivity and a `#' parser.
6324 Case sensitivity is now controlled by a read option called
6325 `case-insensitive'. The user can add new `#' syntaxes with the
6326 `read-hash-extend' function (see below).
6328 *** The new function `read-hash-extend' allows the user to change the
6329 syntax of Guile Scheme in a somewhat controlled way.
6331 (read-hash-extend CHAR PROC)
6332 When parsing S-expressions, if we read a `#' character followed by
6333 the character CHAR, use PROC to parse an object from the stream.
6334 If PROC is #f, remove any parsing procedure registered for CHAR.
6336 The reader applies PROC to two arguments: CHAR and an input port.
6338 *** The new functions read-delimited and read-delimited! provide a
6339 general mechanism for doing delimited input on streams.
6341 (read-delimited DELIMS [PORT HANDLE-DELIM])
6342 Read until we encounter one of the characters in DELIMS (a string),
6343 or end-of-file. PORT is the input port to read from; it defaults to
6344 the current input port. The HANDLE-DELIM parameter determines how
6345 the terminating character is handled; it should be one of the
6348 'trim omit delimiter from result
6349 'peek leave delimiter character in input stream
6350 'concat append delimiter character to returned value
6351 'split return a pair: (RESULT . TERMINATOR)
6353 HANDLE-DELIM defaults to 'peek.
6355 (read-delimited! DELIMS BUF [PORT HANDLE-DELIM START END])
6356 A side-effecting variant of `read-delimited'.
6358 The data is written into the string BUF at the indices in the
6359 half-open interval [START, END); the default interval is the whole
6360 string: START = 0 and END = (string-length BUF). The values of
6361 START and END must specify a well-defined interval in BUF, i.e.
6362 0 <= START <= END <= (string-length BUF).
6364 It returns NBYTES, the number of bytes read. If the buffer filled
6365 up without a delimiter character being found, it returns #f. If the
6366 port is at EOF when the read starts, it returns the EOF object.
6368 If an integer is returned (i.e., the read is successfully terminated
6369 by reading a delimiter character), then the HANDLE-DELIM parameter
6370 determines how to handle the terminating character. It is described
6371 above, and defaults to 'peek.
6373 (The descriptions of these functions were borrowed from the SCSH
6374 manual, by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
6376 *** The `%read-delimited!' function is the primitive used to implement
6377 `read-delimited' and `read-delimited!'.
6379 (%read-delimited! DELIMS BUF GOBBLE? [PORT START END])
6381 This returns a pair of values: (TERMINATOR . NUM-READ).
6382 - TERMINATOR describes why the read was terminated. If it is a
6383 character or the eof object, then that is the value that terminated
6384 the read. If it is #f, the function filled the buffer without finding
6385 a delimiting character.
6386 - NUM-READ is the number of characters read into BUF.
6388 If the read is successfully terminated by reading a delimiter
6389 character, then the gobble? parameter determines what to do with the
6390 terminating character. If true, the character is removed from the
6391 input stream; if false, the character is left in the input stream
6392 where a subsequent read operation will retrieve it. In either case,
6393 the character is also the first value returned by the procedure call.
6395 (The descriptions of this function was borrowed from the SCSH manual,
6396 by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
6398 *** The `read-line' and `read-line!' functions have changed; they now
6399 trim the terminator by default; previously they appended it to the
6400 returned string. For the old behavior, use (read-line PORT 'concat).
6402 *** The functions `uniform-array-read!' and `uniform-array-write!' now
6403 take new optional START and END arguments, specifying the region of
6404 the array to read and write.
6406 *** The `ungetc-char-ready?' function has been removed. We feel it's
6407 inappropriate for an interface to expose implementation details this
6410 ** Changes to the Unix library and system call interface
6412 *** The new fcntl function provides access to the Unix `fcntl' system
6415 (fcntl PORT COMMAND VALUE)
6416 Apply COMMAND to PORT's file descriptor, with VALUE as an argument.
6417 Values for COMMAND are:
6419 F_DUPFD duplicate a file descriptor
6420 F_GETFD read the descriptor's close-on-exec flag
6421 F_SETFD set the descriptor's close-on-exec flag to VALUE
6422 F_GETFL read the descriptor's flags, as set on open
6423 F_SETFL set the descriptor's flags, as set on open to VALUE
6424 F_GETOWN return the process ID of a socket's owner, for SIGIO
6425 F_SETOWN set the process that owns a socket to VALUE, for SIGIO
6426 FD_CLOEXEC not sure what this is
6428 For details, see the documentation for the fcntl system call.
6430 *** The arguments to `select' have changed, for compatibility with
6431 SCSH. The TIMEOUT parameter may now be non-integral, yielding the
6432 expected behavior. The MILLISECONDS parameter has been changed to
6433 MICROSECONDS, to more closely resemble the underlying system call.
6434 The RVEC, WVEC, and EVEC arguments can now be vectors; the type of the
6435 corresponding return set will be the same.
6437 *** The arguments to the `mknod' system call have changed. They are
6440 (mknod PATH TYPE PERMS DEV)
6441 Create a new file (`node') in the file system. PATH is the name of
6442 the file to create. TYPE is the kind of file to create; it should
6443 be 'fifo, 'block-special, or 'char-special. PERMS specifies the
6444 permission bits to give the newly created file. If TYPE is
6445 'block-special or 'char-special, DEV specifies which device the
6446 special file refers to; its interpretation depends on the kind of
6447 special file being created.
6449 *** The `fork' function has been renamed to `primitive-fork', to avoid
6450 clashing with various SCSH forks.
6452 *** The `recv' and `recvfrom' functions have been renamed to `recv!'
6453 and `recvfrom!'. They no longer accept a size for a second argument;
6454 you must pass a string to hold the received value. They no longer
6455 return the buffer. Instead, `recv' returns the length of the message
6456 received, and `recvfrom' returns a pair containing the packet's length
6457 and originating address.
6459 *** The file descriptor datatype has been removed, as have the
6460 `read-fd', `write-fd', `close', `lseek', and `dup' functions.
6461 We plan to replace these functions with a SCSH-compatible interface.
6463 *** The `create' function has been removed; it's just a special case
6466 *** There are new functions to break down process termination status
6467 values. In the descriptions below, STATUS is a value returned by
6470 (status:exit-val STATUS)
6471 If the child process exited normally, this function returns the exit
6472 code for the child process (i.e., the value passed to exit, or
6473 returned from main). If the child process did not exit normally,
6474 this function returns #f.
6476 (status:stop-sig STATUS)
6477 If the child process was suspended by a signal, this function
6478 returns the signal that suspended the child. Otherwise, it returns
6481 (status:term-sig STATUS)
6482 If the child process terminated abnormally, this function returns
6483 the signal that terminated the child. Otherwise, this function
6486 POSIX promises that exactly one of these functions will return true on
6487 a valid STATUS value.
6489 These functions are compatible with SCSH.
6491 *** There are new accessors and setters for the broken-out time vectors
6492 returned by `localtime', `gmtime', and that ilk. They are:
6494 Component Accessor Setter
6495 ========================= ============ ============
6496 seconds tm:sec set-tm:sec
6497 minutes tm:min set-tm:min
6498 hours tm:hour set-tm:hour
6499 day of the month tm:mday set-tm:mday
6500 month tm:mon set-tm:mon
6501 year tm:year set-tm:year
6502 day of the week tm:wday set-tm:wday
6503 day in the year tm:yday set-tm:yday
6504 daylight saving time tm:isdst set-tm:isdst
6505 GMT offset, seconds tm:gmtoff set-tm:gmtoff
6506 name of time zone tm:zone set-tm:zone
6508 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `uname',
6509 describing the host system:
6512 ============================================== ================
6513 name of the operating system implementation utsname:sysname
6514 network name of this machine utsname:nodename
6515 release level of the operating system utsname:release
6516 version level of the operating system utsname:version
6517 machine hardware platform utsname:machine
6519 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getpw',
6520 `getpwnam', `getpwuid', and `getpwent', describing entries from the
6521 system's user database:
6524 ====================== =================
6525 user name passwd:name
6526 user password passwd:passwd
6529 real name passwd:gecos
6530 home directory passwd:dir
6531 shell program passwd:shell
6533 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getgr',
6534 `getgrnam', `getgrgid', and `getgrent', describing entries from the
6535 system's group database:
6538 ======================= ============
6539 group name group:name
6540 group password group:passwd
6542 group members group:mem
6544 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `gethost',
6545 `gethostbyaddr', `gethostbyname', and `gethostent', describing
6549 ========================= ===============
6550 official name of host hostent:name
6551 alias list hostent:aliases
6552 host address type hostent:addrtype
6553 length of address hostent:length
6554 list of addresses hostent:addr-list
6556 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getnet',
6557 `getnetbyaddr', `getnetbyname', and `getnetent', describing internet
6561 ========================= ===============
6562 official name of net netent:name
6563 alias list netent:aliases
6564 net number type netent:addrtype
6565 net number netent:net
6567 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getproto',
6568 `getprotobyname', `getprotobynumber', and `getprotoent', describing
6572 ========================= ===============
6573 official protocol name protoent:name
6574 alias list protoent:aliases
6575 protocol number protoent:proto
6577 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getserv',
6578 `getservbyname', `getservbyport', and `getservent', describing
6582 ========================= ===============
6583 official service name servent:name
6584 alias list servent:aliases
6585 port number servent:port
6586 protocol to use servent:proto
6588 *** There are new accessors for the sockaddr structures returned by
6589 `accept', `getsockname', `getpeername', `recvfrom!':
6592 ======================================== ===============
6593 address format (`family') sockaddr:fam
6594 path, for file domain addresses sockaddr:path
6595 address, for internet domain addresses sockaddr:addr
6596 TCP or UDP port, for internet sockaddr:port
6598 *** The `getpwent', `getgrent', `gethostent', `getnetent',
6599 `getprotoent', and `getservent' functions now return #f at the end of
6600 the user database. (They used to throw an exception.)
6602 Note that calling MUMBLEent function is equivalent to calling the
6603 corresponding MUMBLE function with no arguments.
6605 *** The `setpwent', `setgrent', `sethostent', `setnetent',
6606 `setprotoent', and `setservent' routines now take no arguments.
6608 *** The `gethost', `getproto', `getnet', and `getserv' functions now
6609 provide more useful information when they throw an exception.
6611 *** The `lnaof' function has been renamed to `inet-lnaof'.
6613 *** Guile now claims to have the `current-time' feature.
6615 *** The `mktime' function now takes an optional second argument ZONE,
6616 giving the time zone to use for the conversion. ZONE should be a
6617 string, in the same format as expected for the "TZ" environment variable.
6619 *** The `strptime' function now returns a pair (TIME . COUNT), where
6620 TIME is the parsed time as a vector, and COUNT is the number of
6621 characters from the string left unparsed. This function used to
6622 return the remaining characters as a string.
6624 *** The `gettimeofday' function has replaced the old `time+ticks' function.
6625 The return value is now (SECONDS . MICROSECONDS); the fractional
6626 component is no longer expressed in "ticks".
6628 *** The `ticks/sec' constant has been removed, in light of the above change.
6630 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6632 ** gh_eval_str() now returns an SCM object which is the result of the
6635 ** gh_scm2str() now copies the Scheme data to a caller-provided C
6638 ** gh_scm2newstr() now makes a C array, copies the Scheme data to it,
6639 and returns the array
6641 ** gh_scm2str0() is gone: there is no need to distinguish
6642 null-terminated from non-null-terminated, since gh_scm2newstr() allows
6643 the user to interpret the data both ways.
6645 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6647 ** The new function scm_symbol_value0 provides an easy way to get a
6648 symbol's value from C code:
6650 SCM scm_symbol_value0 (char *NAME)
6651 Return the value of the symbol named by the null-terminated string
6652 NAME in the current module. If the symbol named NAME is unbound in
6653 the current module, return SCM_UNDEFINED.
6655 ** The new function scm_sysintern0 creates new top-level variables,
6656 without assigning them a value.
6658 SCM scm_sysintern0 (char *NAME)
6659 Create a new Scheme top-level variable named NAME. NAME is a
6660 null-terminated string. Return the variable's value cell.
6662 ** The function scm_internal_catch is the guts of catch. It handles
6663 all the mechanics of setting up a catch target, invoking the catch
6664 body, and perhaps invoking the handler if the body does a throw.
6666 The function is designed to be usable from C code, but is general
6667 enough to implement all the semantics Guile Scheme expects from throw.
6669 TAG is the catch tag. Typically, this is a symbol, but this function
6670 doesn't actually care about that.
6672 BODY is a pointer to a C function which runs the body of the catch;
6673 this is the code you can throw from. We call it like this:
6674 BODY (BODY_DATA, JMPBUF)
6676 BODY_DATA is just the BODY_DATA argument we received; we pass it
6677 through to BODY as its first argument. The caller can make
6678 BODY_DATA point to anything useful that BODY might need.
6679 JMPBUF is the Scheme jmpbuf object corresponding to this catch,
6680 which we have just created and initialized.
6682 HANDLER is a pointer to a C function to deal with a throw to TAG,
6683 should one occur. We call it like this:
6684 HANDLER (HANDLER_DATA, THROWN_TAG, THROW_ARGS)
6686 HANDLER_DATA is the HANDLER_DATA argument we recevied; it's the
6687 same idea as BODY_DATA above.
6688 THROWN_TAG is the tag that the user threw to; usually this is
6689 TAG, but it could be something else if TAG was #t (i.e., a
6690 catch-all), or the user threw to a jmpbuf.
6691 THROW_ARGS is the list of arguments the user passed to the THROW
6694 BODY_DATA is just a pointer we pass through to BODY. HANDLER_DATA
6695 is just a pointer we pass through to HANDLER. We don't actually
6696 use either of those pointers otherwise ourselves. The idea is
6697 that, if our caller wants to communicate something to BODY or
6698 HANDLER, it can pass a pointer to it as MUMBLE_DATA, which BODY and
6699 HANDLER can then use. Think of it as a way to make BODY and
6700 HANDLER closures, not just functions; MUMBLE_DATA points to the
6703 Of course, it's up to the caller to make sure that any data a
6704 MUMBLE_DATA needs is protected from GC. A common way to do this is
6705 to make MUMBLE_DATA a pointer to data stored in an automatic
6706 structure variable; since the collector must scan the stack for
6707 references anyway, this assures that any references in MUMBLE_DATA
6710 ** The new function scm_internal_lazy_catch is exactly like
6711 scm_internal_catch, except:
6713 - It does not unwind the stack (this is the major difference).
6714 - If handler returns, its value is returned from the throw.
6715 - BODY always receives #f as its JMPBUF argument (since there's no
6716 jmpbuf associated with a lazy catch, because we don't unwind the
6719 ** scm_body_thunk is a new body function you can pass to
6720 scm_internal_catch if you want the body to be like Scheme's `catch'
6721 --- a thunk, or a function of one argument if the tag is #f.
6723 BODY_DATA is a pointer to a scm_body_thunk_data structure, which
6724 contains the Scheme procedure to invoke as the body, and the tag
6725 we're catching. If the tag is #f, then we pass JMPBUF (created by
6726 scm_internal_catch) to the body procedure; otherwise, the body gets
6729 ** scm_handle_by_proc is a new handler function you can pass to
6730 scm_internal_catch if you want the handler to act like Scheme's catch
6731 --- call a procedure with the tag and the throw arguments.
6733 If the user does a throw to this catch, this function runs a handler
6734 procedure written in Scheme. HANDLER_DATA is a pointer to an SCM
6735 variable holding the Scheme procedure object to invoke. It ought to
6736 be a pointer to an automatic variable (i.e., one living on the stack),
6737 or the procedure object should be otherwise protected from GC.
6739 ** scm_handle_by_message is a new handler function to use with
6740 `scm_internal_catch' if you want Guile to print a message and die.
6741 It's useful for dealing with throws to uncaught keys at the top level.
6743 HANDLER_DATA, if non-zero, is assumed to be a char * pointing to a
6744 message header to print; if zero, we use "guile" instead. That
6745 text is followed by a colon, then the message described by ARGS.
6747 ** The return type of scm_boot_guile is now void; the function does
6748 not return a value, and indeed, never returns at all.
6750 ** The new function scm_shell makes it easy for user applications to
6751 process command-line arguments in a way that is compatible with the
6752 stand-alone guile interpreter (which is in turn compatible with SCSH,
6755 To use the scm_shell function, first initialize any guile modules
6756 linked into your application, and then call scm_shell with the values
6757 of ARGC and ARGV your `main' function received. scm_shell will add
6758 any SCSH-style meta-arguments from the top of the script file to the
6759 argument vector, and then process the command-line arguments. This
6760 generally means loading a script file or starting up an interactive
6761 command interpreter. For details, see "Changes to the stand-alone
6764 ** The new functions scm_get_meta_args and scm_count_argv help you
6765 implement the SCSH-style meta-argument, `\'.
6767 char **scm_get_meta_args (int ARGC, char **ARGV)
6768 If the second element of ARGV is a string consisting of a single
6769 backslash character (i.e. "\\" in Scheme notation), open the file
6770 named by the following argument, parse arguments from it, and return
6771 the spliced command line. The returned array is terminated by a
6774 For details of argument parsing, see above, under "guile now accepts
6775 command-line arguments compatible with SCSH..."
6777 int scm_count_argv (char **ARGV)
6778 Count the arguments in ARGV, assuming it is terminated by a null
6781 For an example of how these functions might be used, see the source
6782 code for the function scm_shell in libguile/script.c.
6784 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6787 ** The new function scm_compile_shell_switches turns an array of
6788 command-line arguments into Scheme code to carry out the actions they
6789 describe. Given ARGC and ARGV, it returns a Scheme expression to
6790 evaluate, and calls scm_set_program_arguments to make any remaining
6791 command-line arguments available to the Scheme code. For example,
6792 given the following arguments:
6794 -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
6796 scm_set_program_arguments will return the following expression:
6798 (begin (load "ekko") (main (command-line)) (quit))
6800 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6803 ** The function scm_shell_usage prints a usage message appropriate for
6804 an interpreter that uses scm_compile_shell_switches to handle its
6805 command-line arguments.
6807 void scm_shell_usage (int FATAL, char *MESSAGE)
6808 Print a usage message to the standard error output. If MESSAGE is
6809 non-zero, write it before the usage message, followed by a newline.
6810 If FATAL is non-zero, exit the process, using FATAL as the
6811 termination status. (If you want to be compatible with Guile,
6812 always use 1 as the exit status when terminating due to command-line
6815 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6818 ** scm_eval_0str now returns SCM_UNSPECIFIED if the string contains no
6819 expressions. It used to return SCM_EOL. Earth-shattering.
6821 ** The macros for declaring scheme objects in C code have been
6822 rearranged slightly. They are now:
6824 SCM_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6825 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
6826 point to the Scheme symbol whose name is SCHEME_NAME. C_NAME should
6827 be a C identifier, and SCHEME_NAME should be a C string.
6829 SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6830 Just like SCM_SYMBOL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
6832 SCM_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6833 Create a global variable at the Scheme level named SCHEME_NAME.
6834 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
6835 point to the Scheme variable's value cell.
6837 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6838 Just like SCM_VCELL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
6840 The `guile-snarf' script writes initialization code for these macros
6841 to its standard output, given C source code as input.
6843 The SCM_GLOBAL macro is gone.
6845 ** The scm_read_line and scm_read_line_x functions have been replaced
6846 by Scheme code based on the %read-delimited! procedure (known to C
6847 code as scm_read_delimited_x). See its description above for more
6850 ** The function scm_sys_open has been renamed to scm_open. It now
6851 returns a port instead of an FD object.
6853 * The dynamic linking support has changed. For more information, see
6854 libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING.
6859 User-visible changes from Thursday, September 5, 1996 until Guile 1.0
6862 * Changes to the 'guile' program:
6864 ** Guile now loads some new files when it starts up. Guile first
6865 searches the load path for init.scm, and loads it if found. Then, if
6866 Guile is not being used to execute a script, and the user's home
6867 directory contains a file named `.guile', Guile loads that.
6869 ** You can now use Guile as a shell script interpreter.
6871 To paraphrase the SCSH manual:
6873 When Unix tries to execute an executable file whose first two
6874 characters are the `#!', it treats the file not as machine code to
6875 be directly executed by the native processor, but as source code
6876 to be executed by some interpreter. The interpreter to use is
6877 specified immediately after the #! sequence on the first line of
6878 the source file. The kernel reads in the name of the interpreter,
6879 and executes that instead. It passes the interpreter the source
6880 filename as its first argument, with the original arguments
6881 following. Consult the Unix man page for the `exec' system call
6882 for more information.
6884 Now you can use Guile as an interpreter, using a mechanism which is a
6885 compatible subset of that provided by SCSH.
6887 Guile now recognizes a '-s' command line switch, whose argument is the
6888 name of a file of Scheme code to load. It also treats the two
6889 characters `#!' as the start of a comment, terminated by `!#'. Thus,
6890 to make a file of Scheme code directly executable by Unix, insert the
6891 following two lines at the top of the file:
6893 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
6896 Guile treats the argument of the `-s' command-line switch as the name
6897 of a file of Scheme code to load, and treats the sequence `#!' as the
6898 start of a block comment, terminated by `!#'.
6900 For example, here's a version of 'echo' written in Scheme:
6902 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
6904 (let loop ((args (cdr (program-arguments))))
6907 (display (car args))
6908 (if (pair? (cdr args))
6910 (loop (cdr args)))))
6913 Why does `#!' start a block comment terminated by `!#', instead of the
6914 end of the line? That is the notation SCSH uses, and although we
6915 don't yet support the other SCSH features that motivate that choice,
6916 we would like to be backward-compatible with any existing Guile
6917 scripts once we do. Furthermore, if the path to Guile on your system
6918 is too long for your kernel, you can start the script with this
6922 exec /really/long/path/to/guile -s "$0" ${1+"$@"}
6925 Note that some very old Unix systems don't support the `#!' syntax.
6928 ** You can now run Guile without installing it.
6930 Previous versions of the interactive Guile interpreter (`guile')
6931 couldn't start up unless Guile's Scheme library had been installed;
6932 they used the value of the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH'
6933 later on in the startup process, but not to find the startup code
6934 itself. Now Guile uses `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' in all searches for Scheme
6937 To run Guile without installing it, build it in the normal way, and
6938 then set the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' to a
6939 colon-separated list of directories, including the top-level directory
6940 of the Guile sources. For example, if you unpacked Guile so that the
6941 full filename of this NEWS file is /home/jimb/guile-1.0b3/NEWS, then
6944 export SCHEME_LOAD_PATH=/home/jimb/my-scheme:/home/jimb/guile-1.0b3
6947 ** Guile's read-eval-print loop no longer prints #<unspecified>
6948 results. If the user wants to see this, she can evaluate the
6949 expression (assert-repl-print-unspecified #t), perhaps in her startup
6952 ** Guile no longer shows backtraces by default when an error occurs;
6953 however, it does display a message saying how to get one, and how to
6954 request that they be displayed by default. After an error, evaluate
6956 to see a backtrace, and
6957 (debug-enable 'backtrace)
6958 to see them by default.
6962 * Changes to Guile Scheme:
6964 ** Guile now distinguishes between #f and the empty list.
6966 This is for compatibility with the IEEE standard, the (possibly)
6967 upcoming Revised^5 Report on Scheme, and many extant Scheme
6970 Guile used to have #f and '() denote the same object, to make Scheme's
6971 type system more compatible with Emacs Lisp's. However, the change
6972 caused too much trouble for Scheme programmers, and we found another
6973 way to reconcile Emacs Lisp with Scheme that didn't require this.
6976 ** Guile's delq, delv, delete functions, and their destructive
6977 counterparts, delq!, delv!, and delete!, now remove all matching
6978 elements from the list, not just the first. This matches the behavior
6979 of the corresponding Emacs Lisp functions, and (I believe) the Maclisp
6980 functions which inspired them.
6982 I recognize that this change may break code in subtle ways, but it
6983 seems best to make the change before the FSF's first Guile release,
6987 ** The compiled-library-path function has been deleted from libguile.
6989 ** The facilities for loading Scheme source files have changed.
6991 *** The variable %load-path now tells Guile which directories to search
6992 for Scheme code. Its value is a list of strings, each of which names
6995 *** The variable %load-extensions now tells Guile which extensions to
6996 try appending to a filename when searching the load path. Its value
6997 is a list of strings. Its default value is ("" ".scm").
6999 *** (%search-load-path FILENAME) searches the directories listed in the
7000 value of the %load-path variable for a Scheme file named FILENAME,
7001 with all the extensions listed in %load-extensions. If it finds a
7002 match, then it returns its full filename. If FILENAME is absolute, it
7003 returns it unchanged. Otherwise, it returns #f.
7005 %search-load-path will not return matches that refer to directories.
7007 *** (primitive-load FILENAME :optional CASE-INSENSITIVE-P SHARP)
7008 uses %seach-load-path to find a file named FILENAME, and loads it if
7009 it finds it. If it can't read FILENAME for any reason, it throws an
7012 The arguments CASE-INSENSITIVE-P and SHARP are interpreted as by the
7015 *** load uses the same searching semantics as primitive-load.
7017 *** The functions %try-load, try-load-with-path, %load, load-with-path,
7018 basic-try-load-with-path, basic-load-with-path, try-load-module-with-
7019 path, and load-module-with-path have been deleted. The functions
7020 above should serve their purposes.
7022 *** If the value of the variable %load-hook is a procedure,
7023 `primitive-load' applies its value to the name of the file being
7024 loaded (without the load path directory name prepended). If its value
7025 is #f, it is ignored. Otherwise, an error occurs.
7027 This is mostly useful for printing load notification messages.
7030 ** The function `eval!' is no longer accessible from the scheme level.
7031 We can't allow operations which introduce glocs into the scheme level,
7032 because Guile's type system can't handle these as data. Use `eval' or
7033 `read-and-eval!' (see below) as replacement.
7035 ** The new function read-and-eval! reads an expression from PORT,
7036 evaluates it, and returns the result. This is more efficient than
7037 simply calling `read' and `eval', since it is not necessary to make a
7038 copy of the expression for the evaluator to munge.
7040 Its optional arguments CASE_INSENSITIVE_P and SHARP are interpreted as
7041 for the `read' function.
7044 ** The function `int?' has been removed; its definition was identical
7045 to that of `integer?'.
7047 ** The functions `<?', `<?', `<=?', `=?', `>?', and `>=?'. Code should
7048 use the R4RS names for these functions.
7050 ** The function object-properties no longer returns the hash handle;
7051 it simply returns the object's property list.
7053 ** Many functions have been changed to throw errors, instead of
7054 returning #f on failure. The point of providing exception handling in
7055 the language is to simplify the logic of user code, but this is less
7056 useful if Guile's primitives don't throw exceptions.
7058 ** The function `fileno' has been renamed from `%fileno'.
7060 ** The function primitive-mode->fdes returns #t or #f now, not 1 or 0.
7063 * Changes to Guile's C interface:
7065 ** The library's initialization procedure has been simplified.
7066 scm_boot_guile now has the prototype:
7068 void scm_boot_guile (int ARGC,
7070 void (*main_func) (),
7073 scm_boot_guile calls MAIN_FUNC, passing it CLOSURE, ARGC, and ARGV.
7074 MAIN_FUNC should do all the work of the program (initializing other
7075 packages, reading user input, etc.) before returning. When MAIN_FUNC
7076 returns, call exit (0); this function never returns. If you want some
7077 other exit value, MAIN_FUNC may call exit itself.
7079 scm_boot_guile arranges for program-arguments to return the strings
7080 given by ARGC and ARGV. If MAIN_FUNC modifies ARGC/ARGV, should call
7081 scm_set_program_arguments with the final list, so Scheme code will
7082 know which arguments have been processed.
7084 scm_boot_guile establishes a catch-all catch handler which prints an
7085 error message and exits the process. This means that Guile exits in a
7086 coherent way when system errors occur and the user isn't prepared to
7087 handle it. If the user doesn't like this behavior, they can establish
7088 their own universal catcher in MAIN_FUNC to shadow this one.
7090 Why must the caller do all the real work from MAIN_FUNC? The garbage
7091 collector assumes that all local variables of type SCM will be above
7092 scm_boot_guile's stack frame on the stack. If you try to manipulate
7093 SCM values after this function returns, it's the luck of the draw
7094 whether the GC will be able to find the objects you allocate. So,
7095 scm_boot_guile function exits, rather than returning, to discourage
7096 people from making that mistake.
7098 The IN, OUT, and ERR arguments were removed; there are other
7099 convenient ways to override these when desired.
7101 The RESULT argument was deleted; this function should never return.
7103 The BOOT_CMD argument was deleted; the MAIN_FUNC argument is more
7107 ** Guile's header files should no longer conflict with your system's
7110 In order to compile code which #included <libguile.h>, previous
7111 versions of Guile required you to add a directory containing all the
7112 Guile header files to your #include path. This was a problem, since
7113 Guile's header files have names which conflict with many systems'
7116 Now only <libguile.h> need appear in your #include path; you must
7117 refer to all Guile's other header files as <libguile/mumble.h>.
7118 Guile's installation procedure puts libguile.h in $(includedir), and
7119 the rest in $(includedir)/libguile.
7122 ** Two new C functions, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object,
7123 have been added to the Guile library.
7125 scm_protect_object (OBJ) protects OBJ from the garbage collector.
7126 OBJ will not be freed, even if all other references are dropped,
7127 until someone does scm_unprotect_object (OBJ). Both functions
7130 Note that calls to scm_protect_object do not nest. You can call
7131 scm_protect_object any number of times on a given object, and the
7132 next call to scm_unprotect_object will unprotect it completely.
7134 Basically, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object just
7135 maintain a list of references to things. Since the GC knows about
7136 this list, all objects it mentions stay alive. scm_protect_object
7137 adds its argument to the list; scm_unprotect_object remove its
7138 argument from the list.
7141 ** scm_eval_0str now returns the value of the last expression
7144 ** The new function scm_read_0str reads an s-expression from a
7145 null-terminated string, and returns it.
7147 ** The new function `scm_stdio_to_port' converts a STDIO file pointer
7148 to a Scheme port object.
7150 ** The new function `scm_set_program_arguments' allows C code to set
7151 the value returned by the Scheme `program-arguments' function.
7156 * Guile no longer includes sophisticated Tcl/Tk support.
7158 The old Tcl/Tk support was unsatisfying to us, because it required the
7159 user to link against the Tcl library, as well as Tk and Guile. The
7160 interface was also un-lispy, in that it preserved Tcl/Tk's practice of
7161 referring to widgets by names, rather than exporting widgets to Scheme
7162 code as a special datatype.
7164 In the Usenix Tk Developer's Workshop held in July 1996, the Tcl/Tk
7165 maintainers described some very interesting changes in progress to the
7166 Tcl/Tk internals, which would facilitate clean interfaces between lone
7167 Tk and other interpreters --- even for garbage-collected languages
7168 like Scheme. They expected the new Tk to be publicly available in the
7171 Since it seems that Guile might soon have a new, cleaner interface to
7172 lone Tk, and that the old Guile/Tk glue code would probably need to be
7173 completely rewritten, we (Jim Blandy and Richard Stallman) have
7174 decided not to support the old code. We'll spend the time instead on
7175 a good interface to the newer Tk, as soon as it is available.
7177 Until then, gtcltk-lib provides trivial, low-maintenance functionality.
7180 Copyright information:
7182 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
7184 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
7185 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
7186 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
7187 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
7189 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
7190 of this document, or of portions of it,
7191 under the above conditions, provided also that they
7192 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
7197 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"