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.
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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 1.8.2 (since 1.8.1):
34 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
36 ** set-program-arguments
41 ** Fractions were not `equal?' if stored in unreduced form.
42 (A subtle problem, since printing a value reduced it, making it work.)
43 ** srfi-60 `copy-bit' failed on 64-bit systems
44 ** "guile --use-srfi" option at the REPL can replace core functions
45 (Programs run with that option were ok, but in the interactive REPL
46 the core bindings got priority, preventing SRFI replacements or
48 ** `regexp-exec' doesn't abort() on #\nul in the input or bad flags arg
49 ** `kill' on mingw throws an error for a pid other than oneself
50 ** Procedure names are attached to procedure-with-setters
51 ** Array read syntax works with negative lower bound
52 ** `array-in-bounds?' fix if an array has different lower bounds on each index
53 ** `*' returns exact 0 for "(* inexact 0)"
54 This follows what it always did for "(* 0 inexact)".
55 ** SRFI-19: Value returned by `(current-time time-process)' was incorrect
56 ** SRFI-19: `date->julian-day' did not account for timezone offset
57 ** `ttyname' no longer crashes when passed a non-tty argument
58 ** `inet-ntop' no longer crashes on SPARC when passed an `AF_INET' address
59 ** Small memory leaks have been fixed in `make-fluid' and `add-history'
60 ** GOOPS: Fixed a bug in `method-more-specific?'
61 ** Build problems on Solaris fixed
62 ** Build problems on Mingw fixed
65 Changes in 1.8.1 (since 1.8.0):
67 * LFS functions are now used to access 64-bit files on 32-bit systems.
69 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
71 ** primitive-_exit - [Scheme] the-root-module
72 ** scm_primitive__exit - [C]
73 ** make-completion-function - [Scheme] (ice-9 readline)
74 ** scm_c_locale_stringn_to_number - [C]
75 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse [C]
76 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse_x [C]
82 * New `(ice-9 i18n)' module (see the manual for details)
86 ** Build problems have been fixed on MacOS, SunOS, and QNX.
88 ** `strftime' fix sign of %z timezone offset.
90 ** A one-dimensional array can now be 'equal?' to a vector.
92 ** Structures, records, and SRFI-9 records can now be compared with `equal?'.
94 ** SRFI-14 standard char sets are recomputed upon a successful `setlocale'.
96 ** `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' now have strict type checks.
98 Record accessor and modifier procedures now throw an error if the
99 record type of the record they're given is not the type expected.
100 (Previously accessors returned #f and modifiers silently did nothing).
102 ** It is now OK to use both autoload and use-modules on a given module.
104 ** `apply' checks the number of arguments more carefully on "0 or 1" funcs.
106 Previously there was no checking on primatives like make-vector that
107 accept "one or two" arguments. Now there is.
109 ** The srfi-1 assoc function now calls its equality predicate properly.
111 Previously srfi-1 assoc would call the equality predicate with the key
112 last. According to the SRFI, the key should be first.
114 ** A bug in n-par-for-each and n-for-each-par-map has been fixed.
116 ** The array-set! procedure no longer segfaults when given a bit vector.
118 ** Bugs in make-shared-array have been fixed.
120 ** string<? and friends now follow char<? etc order on 8-bit chars.
122 ** The format procedure now handles inf and nan values for ~f correctly.
124 ** exact->inexact should no longer overflow when given certain large fractions.
126 ** srfi-9 accessor and modifier procedures now have strict record type checks.
128 This matches the srfi-9 specification.
130 ** (ice-9 ftw) procedures won't ignore different files with same inode number.
132 Previously the (ice-9 ftw) procedures would ignore any file that had
133 the same inode number as a file they had already seen, even if that
134 file was on a different device.
137 Changes in 1.8.0 (changes since the 1.6.x series):
139 * Changes to the distribution
141 ** Guile is now licensed with the GNU Lesser General Public License.
143 ** The manual is now licensed with the GNU Free Documentation License.
145 ** Guile now requires GNU MP (http://swox.com/gmp).
147 Guile now uses the GNU MP library for arbitrary precision arithmetic.
149 ** Guile now has separate private and public configuration headers.
151 That is, things like HAVE_STRING_H no longer leak from Guile's
154 ** Guile now provides and uses an "effective" version number.
156 Guile now provides scm_effective_version and effective-version
157 functions which return the "effective" version number. This is just
158 the normal full version string without the final micro-version number,
159 so the current effective-version is "1.8". The effective version
160 should remain unchanged during a stable series, and should be used for
161 items like the versioned share directory name
162 i.e. /usr/share/guile/1.8.
164 Providing an unchanging version number during a stable release for
165 things like the versioned share directory can be particularly
166 important for Guile "add-on" packages, since it provides a directory
167 that they can install to that won't be changed out from under them
168 with each micro release during a stable series.
170 ** Thread implementation has changed.
172 When you configure "--with-threads=null", you will get the usual
173 threading API (call-with-new-thread, make-mutex, etc), but you can't
174 actually create new threads. Also, "--with-threads=no" is now
175 equivalent to "--with-threads=null". This means that the thread API
176 is always present, although you might not be able to create new
179 When you configure "--with-threads=pthreads" or "--with-threads=yes",
180 you will get threads that are implemented with the portable POSIX
181 threads. These threads can run concurrently (unlike the previous
182 "coop" thread implementation), but need to cooperate for things like
185 The default is "pthreads", unless your platform doesn't have pthreads,
186 in which case "null" threads are used.
188 See the manual for details, nodes "Initialization", "Multi-Threading",
189 "Blocking", and others.
191 ** There is the new notion of 'discouraged' features.
193 This is a milder form of deprecation.
195 Things that are discouraged should not be used in new code, but it is
196 OK to leave them in old code for now. When a discouraged feature is
197 used, no warning message is printed like there is for 'deprecated'
198 features. Also, things that are merely discouraged are nevertheless
199 implemented efficiently, while deprecated features can be very slow.
201 You can omit discouraged features from libguile by configuring it with
202 the '--disable-discouraged' option.
204 ** Deprecation warnings can be controlled at run-time.
206 (debug-enable 'warn-deprecated) switches them on and (debug-disable
207 'warn-deprecated) switches them off.
209 ** Support for SRFI 61, extended cond syntax for multiple values has
212 This SRFI is always available.
214 ** Support for require-extension, SRFI-55, has been added.
216 The SRFI-55 special form `require-extension' has been added. It is
217 available at startup, and provides a portable way to load Scheme
218 extensions. SRFI-55 only requires support for one type of extension,
219 "srfi"; so a set of SRFIs may be loaded via (require-extension (srfi 1
222 ** New module (srfi srfi-26) provides support for `cut' and `cute'.
224 The (srfi srfi-26) module is an implementation of SRFI-26 which
225 provides the `cut' and `cute' syntax. These may be used to specialize
226 parameters without currying.
228 ** New module (srfi srfi-31)
230 This is an implementation of SRFI-31 which provides a special form
231 `rec' for recursive evaluation.
233 ** The modules (srfi srfi-13), (srfi srfi-14) and (srfi srfi-4) have
234 been merged with the core, making their functionality always
237 The modules are still available, tho, and you could use them together
238 with a renaming import, for example.
240 ** Guile no longer includes its own version of libltdl.
242 The official version is good enough now.
244 ** The --enable-htmldoc option has been removed from 'configure'.
246 Support for translating the documentation into HTML is now always
247 provided. Use 'make html'.
249 ** New module (ice-9 serialize):
251 (serialize FORM1 ...) and (parallelize FORM1 ...) are useful when you
252 don't trust the thread safety of most of your program, but where you
253 have some section(s) of code which you consider can run in parallel to
254 other sections. See ice-9/serialize.scm for more information.
256 ** The configure option '--disable-arrays' has been removed.
258 Support for arrays and uniform numeric arrays is now always included
261 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
263 ** New command line option `-L'.
265 This option adds a directory to the front of the load path.
267 ** New command line option `--no-debug'.
269 Specifying `--no-debug' on the command line will keep the debugging
270 evaluator turned off, even for interactive sessions.
272 ** User-init file ~/.guile is now loaded with the debugging evaluator.
274 Previously, the normal evaluator would have been used. Using the
275 debugging evaluator gives better error messages.
277 ** The '-e' option now 'read's its argument.
279 This is to allow the new '(@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)' construct to
280 be used with '-e'. For example, you can now write a script like
283 exec guile -e '(@ (demo) main)' -s "$0" "$@"
286 (define-module (demo)
290 (format #t "Demo: ~a~%" args))
293 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
295 ** Guardians have changed back to their original semantics
297 Guardians now behave like described in the paper by Dybvig et al. In
298 particular, they no longer make guarantees about the order in which
299 they return objects, and they can no longer be greedy.
301 They no longer drop cyclic data structures.
303 The C function scm_make_guardian has been changed incompatibly and no
304 longer takes the 'greedy_p' argument.
306 ** New function hashx-remove!
308 This function completes the set of 'hashx' functions.
310 ** The concept of dynamic roots has been factored into continuation
311 barriers and dynamic states.
313 Each thread has a current dynamic state that carries the values of the
314 fluids. You can create and copy dynamic states and use them as the
315 second argument for 'eval'. See "Fluids and Dynamic States" in the
318 To restrict the influence that captured continuations can have on the
319 control flow, you can errect continuation barriers. See "Continuation
320 Barriers" in the manual.
322 The function call-with-dynamic-root now essentially temporarily
323 installs a new dynamic state and errects a continuation barrier.
325 ** The default load path no longer includes "." at the end.
327 Automatically loading modules from the current directory should not
328 happen by default. If you want to allow it in a more controlled
329 manner, set the environment variable GUILE_LOAD_PATH or the Scheme
332 ** The uniform vector and array support has been overhauled.
334 It now complies with SRFI-4 and the weird prototype based uniform
335 array creation has been deprecated. See the manual for more details.
337 Some non-compatible changes have been made:
338 - characters can no longer be stored into byte arrays.
339 - strings and bit vectors are no longer considered to be uniform numeric
341 - array-rank throws an error for non-arrays instead of returning zero.
342 - array-ref does no longer accept non-arrays when no indices are given.
344 There is the new notion of 'generalized vectors' and corresponding
345 procedures like 'generalized-vector-ref'. Generalized vectors include
346 strings, bitvectors, ordinary vectors, and uniform numeric vectors.
348 Arrays use generalized vectors as their storage, so that you still
349 have arrays of characters, bits, etc. However, uniform-array-read!
350 and uniform-array-write can no longer read/write strings and
353 ** There is now support for copy-on-write substrings, mutation-sharing
354 substrings and read-only strings.
356 Three new procedures are related to this: substring/shared,
357 substring/copy, and substring/read-only. See the manual for more
360 ** Backtraces will now highlight the value that caused the error.
362 By default, these values are enclosed in "{...}", such as in this
371 <unnamed port>:1:1: In procedure car in expression (car (quote a)):
372 <unnamed port>:1:1: Wrong type (expecting pair): a
373 ABORT: (wrong-type-arg)
375 The prefix and suffix used for highlighting can be set via the two new
376 printer options 'highlight-prefix' and 'highlight-suffix'. For
377 example, putting this into ~/.guile will output the bad value in bold
380 (print-set! highlight-prefix "\x1b[1m")
381 (print-set! highlight-suffix "\x1b[22m")
384 ** 'gettext' support for internationalization has been added.
386 See the manual for details.
388 ** New syntax '@' and '@@':
390 You can now directly refer to variables exported from a module by
393 (@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)
395 For example (@ (ice-9 pretty-print) pretty-print) will directly access
396 the pretty-print variable exported from the (ice-9 pretty-print)
397 module. You don't need to 'use' that module first. You can also use
398 '@' as a target of 'set!', as in (set! (@ mod var) val).
400 The related syntax (@@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME) works just like '@',
401 but it can also access variables that have not been exported. It is
402 intended only for kluges and temporary fixes and for debugging, not
405 ** Keyword syntax has been made more disciplined.
407 Previously, the name of a keyword was read as a 'token' but printed as
408 a symbol. Now, it is read as a general Scheme datum which must be a
419 ERROR: In expression (a b c):
423 ERROR: Unbound variable: foo
428 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): 12
432 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): (a b c)
436 ** The printing of symbols that might look like keywords can be
439 The new printer option 'quote-keywordish-symbols' controls how symbols
440 are printed that have a colon as their first or last character. The
441 default now is to only quote a symbol with #{...}# when the read
442 option 'keywords' is not '#f'. Thus:
444 guile> (define foo (string->symbol ":foo"))
445 guile> (read-set! keywords #f)
448 guile> (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
451 guile> (print-set! quote-keywordish-symbols #f)
455 ** 'while' now provides 'break' and 'continue'
457 break and continue were previously bound in a while loop, but not
458 documented, and continue didn't quite work properly. The undocumented
459 parameter to break which gave a return value for the while has been
462 ** 'call-with-current-continuation' is now also available under the name
465 ** The module system now checks for duplicate bindings.
467 The module system now can check for name conflicts among imported
470 The behavior can be controlled by specifying one or more 'duplicates'
471 handlers. For example, to make Guile return an error for every name
479 The new default behavior of the module system when a name collision
480 has been detected is to
482 1. Give priority to bindings marked as a replacement.
483 2. Issue a warning (different warning if overriding core binding).
484 3. Give priority to the last encountered binding (this corresponds to
487 If you want the old behavior back without replacements or warnings you
490 (default-duplicate-binding-handler 'last)
492 to your .guile init file.
494 ** New define-module option: :replace
496 :replace works as :export, but, in addition, marks the binding as a
499 A typical example is `format' in (ice-9 format) which is a replacement
500 for the core binding `format'.
502 ** Adding prefixes to imported bindings in the module system
504 There is now a new :use-module option :prefix. It can be used to add
505 a prefix to all imported bindings.
508 :use-module ((bar) :prefix bar:))
510 will import all bindings exported from bar, but rename them by adding
513 ** Conflicting generic functions can be automatically merged.
515 When two imported bindings conflict and they are both generic
516 functions, the two functions can now be merged automatically. This is
517 activated with the 'duplicates' handler 'merge-generics'.
519 ** New function: effective-version
521 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
522 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
523 to the distribution" above.
525 ** New threading functions: parallel, letpar, par-map, and friends
527 These are convenient ways to run calculations in parallel in new
528 threads. See "Parallel forms" in the manual for details.
530 ** New function 'try-mutex'.
532 This function will attempt to lock a mutex but will return immediately
533 instead of blocking and indicate failure.
535 ** Waiting on a condition variable can have a timeout.
537 The function 'wait-condition-variable' now takes a third, optional
538 argument that specifies the point in time where the waiting should be
541 ** New function 'broadcast-condition-variable'.
543 ** New functions 'all-threads' and 'current-thread'.
545 ** Signals and system asyncs work better with threads.
547 The function 'sigaction' now takes a fourth, optional, argument that
548 specifies the thread that the handler should run in. When the
549 argument is omitted, the handler will run in the thread that called
552 Likewise, 'system-async-mark' takes a second, optional, argument that
553 specifies the thread that the async should run in. When it is
554 omitted, the async will run in the thread that called
557 C code can use the new functions scm_sigaction_for_thread and
558 scm_system_async_mark_for_thread to pass the new thread argument.
560 When a thread blocks on a mutex, a condition variable or is waiting
561 for IO to be possible, it will still execute system asyncs. This can
562 be used to interrupt such a thread by making it execute a 'throw', for
565 ** The function 'system-async' is deprecated.
567 You can now pass any zero-argument procedure to 'system-async-mark'.
568 The function 'system-async' will just return its argument unchanged
571 ** New functions 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' and
572 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
574 The expression (call-with-blocked-asyncs PROC) will call PROC and will
575 block execution of system asyncs for the current thread by one level
576 while PROC runs. Likewise, call-with-unblocked-asyncs will call a
577 procedure and will unblock the execution of system asyncs by one
578 level for the current thread.
580 Only system asyncs are affected by these functions.
582 ** The functions 'mask-signals' and 'unmask-signals' are deprecated.
584 Use 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' or 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
585 instead. Those functions are easier to use correctly and can be
588 ** New function 'unsetenv'.
590 ** New macro 'define-syntax-public'.
592 It works like 'define-syntax' and also exports the defined macro (but
595 ** There is support for Infinity and NaNs.
597 Following PLT Scheme, Guile can now work with infinite numbers, and
600 There is new syntax for numbers: "+inf.0" (infinity), "-inf.0"
601 (negative infinity), "+nan.0" (not-a-number), and "-nan.0" (same as
602 "+nan.0"). These numbers are inexact and have no exact counterpart.
604 Dividing by an inexact zero returns +inf.0 or -inf.0, depending on the
605 sign of the dividend. The infinities are integers, and they answer #t
606 for both 'even?' and 'odd?'. The +nan.0 value is not an integer and is
607 not '=' to itself, but '+nan.0' is 'eqv?' to itself.
618 ERROR: Numerical overflow
620 Two new predicates 'inf?' and 'nan?' can be used to test for the
623 ** Inexact zero can have a sign.
625 Guile can now distinguish between plus and minus inexact zero, if your
626 platform supports this, too. The two zeros are equal according to
627 '=', but not according to 'eqv?'. For example
638 ** Guile now has exact rationals.
640 Guile can now represent fractions such as 1/3 exactly. Computing with
641 them is also done exactly, of course:
646 ** 'floor', 'ceiling', 'round' and 'truncate' now return exact numbers
649 For example: (floor 2) now returns an exact 2 where in the past it
650 returned an inexact 2.0. Likewise, (floor 5/4) returns an exact 1.
652 ** inexact->exact no longer returns only integers.
654 Without exact rationals, the closest exact number was always an
655 integer, but now inexact->exact returns the fraction that is exactly
656 equal to a floating point number. For example:
658 (inexact->exact 1.234)
659 => 694680242521899/562949953421312
661 When you want the old behavior, use 'round' explicitly:
663 (inexact->exact (round 1.234))
666 ** New function 'rationalize'.
668 This function finds a simple fraction that is close to a given real
669 number. For example (and compare with inexact->exact above):
671 (rationalize (inexact->exact 1.234) 1/2000)
674 Note that, as required by R5RS, rationalize returns only then an exact
675 result when both its arguments are exact.
677 ** 'odd?' and 'even?' work also for inexact integers.
679 Previously, (odd? 1.0) would signal an error since only exact integers
680 were recognized as integers. Now (odd? 1.0) returns #t, (odd? 2.0)
681 returns #f and (odd? 1.5) signals an error.
683 ** Guile now has uninterned symbols.
685 The new function 'make-symbol' will return an uninterned symbol. This
686 is a symbol that is unique and is guaranteed to remain unique.
687 However, uninterned symbols can not yet be read back in.
689 Use the new function 'symbol-interned?' to check whether a symbol is
692 ** pretty-print has more options.
694 The function pretty-print from the (ice-9 pretty-print) module can now
695 also be invoked with keyword arguments that control things like
696 maximum output width. See the manual for details.
698 ** Variables have no longer a special behavior for `equal?'.
700 Previously, comparing two variables with `equal?' would recursivly
701 compare their values. This is no longer done. Variables are now only
702 `equal?' if they are `eq?'.
704 ** `(begin)' is now valid.
706 You can now use an empty `begin' form. It will yield #<unspecified>
707 when evaluated and simply be ignored in a definition context.
709 ** Deprecated: procedure->macro
711 Change your code to use 'define-macro' or r5rs macros. Also, be aware
712 that macro expansion will not be done during evaluation, but prior to
715 ** Soft ports now allow a `char-ready?' procedure
717 The vector argument to `make-soft-port' can now have a length of
718 either 5 or 6. (Previously the length had to be 5.) The optional 6th
719 element is interpreted as an `input-waiting' thunk -- i.e. a thunk
720 that returns the number of characters that can be read immediately
721 without the soft port blocking.
723 ** Deprecated: undefine
725 There is no replacement for undefine.
727 ** The functions make-keyword-from-dash-symbol and keyword-dash-symbol
728 have been discouraged.
730 They are relics from a time where a keyword like #:foo was used
731 directly as a Tcl option "-foo" and thus keywords were internally
732 stored as a symbol with a starting dash. We now store a symbol
735 Use symbol->keyword and keyword->symbol instead.
737 ** The `cheap' debug option is now obsolete
739 Evaluator trap calls are now unconditionally "cheap" - in other words,
740 they pass a debug object to the trap handler rather than a full
741 continuation. The trap handler code can capture a full continuation
742 by using `call-with-current-continuation' in the usual way, if it so
745 The `cheap' option is retained for now so as not to break existing
746 code which gets or sets it, but setting it now has no effect. It will
747 be removed in the next major Guile release.
749 ** Evaluator trap calls now support `tweaking'
751 `Tweaking' means that the trap handler code can modify the Scheme
752 expression that is about to be evaluated (in the case of an
753 enter-frame trap) or the value that is being returned (in the case of
754 an exit-frame trap). The trap handler code indicates that it wants to
755 do this by returning a pair whose car is the symbol 'instead and whose
756 cdr is the modified expression or return value.
758 * Changes to the C interface
760 ** The functions scm_hash_fn_remove_x and scm_hashx_remove_x no longer
761 take a 'delete' function argument.
763 This argument makes no sense since the delete function is used to
764 remove a pair from an alist, and this must not be configurable.
766 This is an incompatible change.
768 ** The GH interface is now subject to the deprecation mechanism
770 The GH interface has been deprecated for quite some time but now it is
771 actually removed from Guile when it is configured with
772 --disable-deprecated.
774 See the manual "Transitioning away from GH" for more information.
776 ** A new family of functions for converting between C values and
777 Scheme values has been added.
779 These functions follow a common naming scheme and are designed to be
780 easier to use, thread-safe and more future-proof than the older
785 These are predicates that return a C boolean: 1 or 0. Instead of
786 SCM_NFALSEP, you can now use scm_is_true, for example.
788 - <type> scm_to_<type> (SCM val, ...)
790 These are functions that convert a Scheme value into an appropriate
791 C value. For example, you can use scm_to_int to safely convert from
794 - SCM scm_from_<type> (<type> val, ...)
796 These functions convert from a C type to a SCM value; for example,
797 scm_from_int for ints.
799 There is a huge number of these functions, for numbers, strings,
800 symbols, vectors, etc. They are documented in the reference manual in
801 the API section together with the types that they apply to.
803 ** New functions for dealing with complex numbers in C have been added.
805 The new functions are scm_c_make_rectangular, scm_c_make_polar,
806 scm_c_real_part, scm_c_imag_part, scm_c_magnitude and scm_c_angle.
807 They work like scm_make_rectangular etc but take or return doubles
810 ** The function scm_make_complex has been discouraged.
812 Use scm_c_make_rectangular instead.
814 ** The INUM macros have been deprecated.
816 A lot of code uses these macros to do general integer conversions,
817 although the macros only work correctly with fixnums. Use the
818 following alternatives.
820 SCM_INUMP -> scm_is_integer or similar
821 SCM_NINUMP -> !scm_is_integer or similar
822 SCM_MAKINUM -> scm_from_int or similar
823 SCM_INUM -> scm_to_int or similar
825 SCM_VALIDATE_INUM_* -> Do not use these; scm_to_int, etc. will
826 do the validating for you.
828 ** The scm_num2<type> and scm_<type>2num functions and scm_make_real
829 have been discouraged.
831 Use the newer scm_to_<type> and scm_from_<type> functions instead for
832 new code. The functions have been discouraged since they don't fit
835 ** The 'boolean' macros SCM_FALSEP etc have been discouraged.
837 They have strange names, especially SCM_NFALSEP, and SCM_BOOLP
838 evaluates its argument twice. Use scm_is_true, etc. instead for new
841 ** The macro SCM_EQ_P has been discouraged.
843 Use scm_is_eq for new code, which fits better into the naming
846 ** The macros SCM_CONSP, SCM_NCONSP, SCM_NULLP, and SCM_NNULLP have
849 Use the function scm_is_pair or scm_is_null instead.
851 ** The functions scm_round and scm_truncate have been deprecated and
852 are now available as scm_c_round and scm_c_truncate, respectively.
854 These functions occupy the names that scm_round_number and
855 scm_truncate_number should have.
857 ** The functions scm_c_string2str, scm_c_substring2str, and
858 scm_c_symbol2str have been deprecated.
860 Use scm_to_locale_stringbuf or similar instead, maybe together with
863 ** New functions scm_c_make_string, scm_c_string_length,
864 scm_c_string_ref, scm_c_string_set_x, scm_c_substring,
865 scm_c_substring_shared, scm_c_substring_copy.
867 These are like scm_make_string, scm_length, etc. but are slightly
868 easier to use from C.
870 ** The macros SCM_STRINGP, SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_STRING_LENGTH,
871 SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, and SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH have been deprecated.
873 They export too many assumptions about the implementation of strings
874 and symbols that are no longer true in the presence of
875 mutation-sharing substrings and when Guile switches to some form of
878 When working with strings, it is often best to use the normal string
879 functions provided by Guile, such as scm_c_string_ref,
880 scm_c_string_set_x, scm_string_append, etc. Be sure to look in the
881 manual since many more such functions are now provided than
884 When you want to convert a SCM string to a C string, use the
885 scm_to_locale_string function or similar instead. For symbols, use
886 scm_symbol_to_string and then work with that string. Because of the
887 new string representation, scm_symbol_to_string does not need to copy
888 and is thus quite efficient.
890 ** Some string, symbol and keyword functions have been discouraged.
892 They don't fit into the uniform naming scheme and are not explicit
893 about the character encoding.
895 Replace according to the following table:
897 scm_allocate_string -> scm_c_make_string
898 scm_take_str -> scm_take_locale_stringn
899 scm_take0str -> scm_take_locale_string
900 scm_mem2string -> scm_from_locale_stringn
901 scm_str2string -> scm_from_locale_string
902 scm_makfrom0str -> scm_from_locale_string
903 scm_mem2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symboln
904 scm_mem2uninterned_symbol -> scm_from_locale_stringn + scm_make_symbol
905 scm_str2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symbol
907 SCM_SYMBOL_HASH -> scm_hashq
908 SCM_SYMBOL_INTERNED_P -> scm_symbol_interned_p
910 scm_c_make_keyword -> scm_from_locale_keyword
912 ** The functions scm_keyword_to_symbol and sym_symbol_to_keyword are
913 now also available to C code.
915 ** SCM_KEYWORDP and SCM_KEYWORDSYM have been deprecated.
917 Use scm_is_keyword and scm_keyword_to_symbol instead, but note that
918 the latter returns the true name of the keyword, not the 'dash name',
919 as SCM_KEYWORDSYM used to do.
921 ** A new way to access arrays in a thread-safe and efficient way has
924 See the manual, node "Accessing Arrays From C".
926 ** The old uniform vector and bitvector implementations have been
927 unceremoniously removed.
929 This implementation exposed the details of the tagging system of
930 Guile. Use the new C API explained in the manual in node "Uniform
931 Numeric Vectors" and "Bit Vectors", respectively.
933 The following macros are gone: SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE,
934 SCM_UVECTOR_MAXLENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_UVECTOR_TAG,
935 SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVECTOR_P, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE,
936 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
937 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_BITVECTOR_TAG,
938 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVEC_REF, SCM_BITVEC_SET,
941 ** The macros dealing with vectors have been deprecated.
943 Use the new functions scm_is_vector, scm_vector_elements,
944 scm_vector_writable_elements, etc, or scm_is_simple_vector,
945 SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_REF, SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_SET, etc instead. See the
946 manual for more details.
948 Deprecated are SCM_VECTORP, SCM_VELTS, SCM_VECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
949 SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_REF, SCM_VECTOR_SET, SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS.
951 The following macros have been removed: SCM_VECTOR_BASE,
952 SCM_SET_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_MAKE_VECTOR_TAG, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH,
953 SCM_VELTS_AS_STACKITEMS, SCM_SETVELTS, SCM_GC_WRITABLE_VELTS.
955 ** Some C functions and macros related to arrays have been deprecated.
957 Migrate according to the following table:
959 scm_make_uve -> scm_make_typed_array, scm_make_u8vector etc.
960 scm_make_ra -> scm_make_array
961 scm_shap2ra -> scm_make_array
962 scm_cvref -> scm_c_generalized_vector_ref
963 scm_ra_set_contp -> do not use
964 scm_aind -> scm_array_handle_pos
965 scm_raprin1 -> scm_display or scm_write
967 SCM_ARRAYP -> scm_is_array
968 SCM_ARRAY_NDIM -> scm_c_array_rank
969 SCM_ARRAY_DIMS -> scm_array_handle_dims
970 SCM_ARRAY_CONTP -> do not use
971 SCM_ARRAY_MEM -> do not use
972 SCM_ARRAY_V -> scm_array_handle_elements or similar
973 SCM_ARRAY_BASE -> do not use
975 ** SCM_CELL_WORD_LOC has been deprecated.
977 Use the new macro SCM_CELL_OBJECT_LOC instead, which returns a pointer
978 to a SCM, as opposed to a pointer to a scm_t_bits.
980 This was done to allow the correct use of pointers into the Scheme
981 heap. Previously, the heap words were of type scm_t_bits and local
982 variables and function arguments were of type SCM, making it
983 non-standards-conformant to have a pointer that can point to both.
985 ** New macros SCM_SMOB_DATA_2, SCM_SMOB_DATA_3, etc.
987 These macros should be used instead of SCM_CELL_WORD_2/3 to access the
988 second and third words of double smobs. Likewise for
989 SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_2 and SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_3.
991 Also, there is SCM_SMOB_FLAGS and SCM_SET_SMOB_FLAGS that should be
992 used to get and set the 16 exra bits in the zeroth word of a smob.
994 And finally, there is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT and SCM_SMOB_SET_OBJECT for
995 accesing the first immediate word of a smob as a SCM value, and there
996 is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_LOC for getting a pointer to the first immediate
997 smob word. Like wise for SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_2, etc.
999 ** New way to deal with non-local exits and re-entries.
1001 There is a new set of functions that essentially do what
1002 scm_internal_dynamic_wind does, but in a way that is more convenient
1003 for C code in some situations. Here is a quick example of how to
1004 prevent a potential memory leak:
1011 scm_dynwind_begin (0);
1013 mem = scm_malloc (100);
1014 scm_dynwind_unwind_handler (free, mem, SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY);
1016 /* MEM would leak if BAR throws an error.
1017 SCM_DYNWIND_UNWIND_HANDLER frees it nevertheless.
1024 /* Because of SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY, MEM will be freed by
1025 SCM_DYNWIND_END as well.
1029 For full documentation, see the node "Dynamic Wind" in the manual.
1031 ** New function scm_dynwind_free
1033 This function calls 'free' on a given pointer when a dynwind context
1034 is left. Thus the call to scm_dynwind_unwind_handler above could be
1035 replaced with simply scm_dynwind_free (mem).
1037 ** New functions scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
1038 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs
1040 Like scm_call_with_blocked_asyncs etc. but for C functions.
1042 ** New functions scm_dynwind_block_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs
1044 In addition to scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs you can now also use
1045 scm_dynwind_block_asyncs in a 'dynwind context' (see above). Likewise for
1046 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs.
1048 ** The macros SCM_DEFER_INTS, SCM_ALLOW_INTS, SCM_REDEFER_INTS,
1049 SCM_REALLOW_INTS have been deprecated.
1051 They do no longer fulfill their original role of blocking signal
1052 delivery. Depending on what you want to achieve, replace a pair of
1053 SCM_DEFER_INTS and SCM_ALLOW_INTS with a dynwind context that locks a
1054 mutex, blocks asyncs, or both. See node "Critical Sections" in the
1057 ** The value 'scm_mask_ints' is no longer writable.
1059 Previously, you could set scm_mask_ints directly. This is no longer
1060 possible. Use scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
1061 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs instead.
1063 ** New way to temporarily set the current input, output or error ports
1065 C code can now use scm_dynwind_current_<foo>_port in a 'dynwind
1066 context' (see above). <foo> is one of "input", "output" or "error".
1068 ** New way to temporarily set fluids
1070 C code can now use scm_dynwind_fluid in a 'dynwind context' (see
1071 above) to temporarily set the value of a fluid.
1073 ** New types scm_t_intmax and scm_t_uintmax.
1075 On platforms that have them, these types are identical to intmax_t and
1076 uintmax_t, respectively. On other platforms, they are identical to
1077 the largest integer types that Guile knows about.
1079 ** The functions scm_unmemocopy and scm_unmemoize have been removed.
1081 You should not have used them.
1083 ** Many public #defines with generic names have been made private.
1085 #defines with generic names like HAVE_FOO or SIZEOF_FOO have been made
1086 private or renamed with a more suitable public name.
1088 ** The macro SCM_TYP16S has been deprecated.
1090 This macro is not intended for public use.
1092 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_INEXACTP has been deprecated.
1094 Use scm_is_true (scm_inexact_p (...)) instead.
1096 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_REALP has been deprecated.
1098 Use scm_is_real instead.
1100 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_COMPLEXP has been deprecated.
1102 Use scm_is_complex instead.
1104 ** Some preprocessor defines have been deprecated.
1106 These defines indicated whether a certain feature was present in Guile
1107 or not. Going forward, assume that the features are always present.
1109 The macros are: USE_THREADS, GUILE_ISELECT, READER_EXTENSIONS,
1110 DEBUG_EXTENSIONS, DYNAMIC_LINKING.
1112 The following macros have been removed completely: MEMOIZE_LOCALS,
1113 SCM_RECKLESS, SCM_CAUTIOUS.
1115 ** The preprocessor define STACK_DIRECTION has been deprecated.
1117 There should be no need to know about the stack direction for ordinary
1120 ** New function: scm_effective_version
1122 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
1123 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
1124 to the distribution" above.
1126 ** The function scm_call_with_new_thread has a new prototype.
1128 Instead of taking a list with the thunk and handler, these two
1129 arguments are now passed directly:
1131 SCM scm_call_with_new_thread (SCM thunk, SCM handler);
1133 This is an incompatible change.
1135 ** New snarfer macro SCM_DEFINE_PUBLIC.
1137 This is like SCM_DEFINE, but also calls scm_c_export for the defined
1138 function in the init section.
1140 ** The snarfer macro SCM_SNARF_INIT is now officially supported.
1142 ** Garbage collector rewrite.
1144 The garbage collector is cleaned up a lot, and now uses lazy
1145 sweeping. This is reflected in the output of (gc-stats); since cells
1146 are being freed when they are allocated, the cells-allocated field
1147 stays roughly constant.
1149 For malloc related triggers, the behavior is changed. It uses the same
1150 heuristic as the cell-triggered collections. It may be tuned with the
1151 environment variables GUILE_MIN_YIELD_MALLOC. This is the percentage
1152 for minimum yield of malloc related triggers. The default is 40.
1153 GUILE_INIT_MALLOC_LIMIT sets the initial trigger for doing a GC. The
1156 Debugging operations for the freelist have been deprecated, along with
1157 the C variables that control garbage collection. The environment
1158 variables GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE, GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2,
1159 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1, and GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2 should be used.
1161 For understanding the memory usage of a GUILE program, the routine
1162 gc-live-object-stats returns an alist containing the number of live
1163 objects for every type.
1166 ** The function scm_definedp has been renamed to scm_defined_p
1168 The name scm_definedp is deprecated.
1170 ** The struct scm_cell type has been renamed to scm_t_cell
1172 This is in accordance to Guile's naming scheme for types. Note that
1173 the name scm_cell is now used for a function that allocates and
1174 initializes a new cell (see below).
1176 ** New functions for memory management
1178 A new set of functions for memory management has been added since the
1179 old way (scm_must_malloc, scm_must_free, etc) was error prone and
1180 indeed, Guile itself contained some long standing bugs that could
1181 cause aborts in long running programs.
1183 The new functions are more symmetrical and do not need cooperation
1184 from smob free routines, among other improvements.
1186 The new functions are scm_malloc, scm_realloc, scm_calloc, scm_strdup,
1187 scm_strndup, scm_gc_malloc, scm_gc_calloc, scm_gc_realloc,
1188 scm_gc_free, scm_gc_register_collectable_memory, and
1189 scm_gc_unregister_collectable_memory. Refer to the manual for more
1190 details and for upgrading instructions.
1192 The old functions for memory management have been deprecated. They
1193 are: scm_must_malloc, scm_must_realloc, scm_must_free,
1194 scm_must_strdup, scm_must_strndup, scm_done_malloc, scm_done_free.
1196 ** Declarations of exported features are marked with SCM_API.
1198 Every declaration of a feature that belongs to the exported Guile API
1199 has been marked by adding the macro "SCM_API" to the start of the
1200 declaration. This macro can expand into different things, the most
1201 common of which is just "extern" for Unix platforms. On Win32, it can
1202 be used to control which symbols are exported from a DLL.
1204 If you `#define SCM_IMPORT' before including <libguile.h>, SCM_API
1205 will expand into "__declspec (dllimport) extern", which is needed for
1206 linking to the Guile DLL in Windows.
1208 There are also SCM_RL_IMPORT, SCM_SRFI1314_IMPORT, and
1209 SCM_SRFI4_IMPORT, for the corresponding libraries.
1211 ** SCM_NEWCELL and SCM_NEWCELL2 have been deprecated.
1213 Use the new functions scm_cell and scm_double_cell instead. The old
1214 macros had problems because with them allocation and initialization
1215 was separated and the GC could sometimes observe half initialized
1216 cells. Only careful coding by the user of SCM_NEWCELL and
1217 SCM_NEWCELL2 could make this safe and efficient.
1219 ** CHECK_ENTRY, CHECK_APPLY and CHECK_EXIT have been deprecated.
1221 Use the variables scm_check_entry_p, scm_check_apply_p and scm_check_exit_p
1224 ** SRCBRKP has been deprecated.
1226 Use scm_c_source_property_breakpoint_p instead.
1228 ** Deprecated: scm_makmacro
1230 Change your code to use either scm_makmmacro or to define macros in
1231 Scheme, using 'define-macro'.
1233 ** New function scm_c_port_for_each.
1235 This function is like scm_port_for_each but takes a pointer to a C
1236 function as the callback instead of a SCM value.
1238 ** The names scm_internal_select, scm_thread_sleep, and
1239 scm_thread_usleep have been discouraged.
1241 Use scm_std_select, scm_std_sleep, scm_std_usleep instead.
1243 ** The GC can no longer be blocked.
1245 The global flags scm_gc_heap_lock and scm_block_gc have been removed.
1246 The GC can now run (partially) concurrently with other code and thus
1247 blocking it is not well defined.
1249 ** Many definitions have been removed that were previously deprecated.
1251 scm_lisp_nil, scm_lisp_t, s_nil_ify, scm_m_nil_ify, s_t_ify,
1252 scm_m_t_ify, s_0_cond, scm_m_0_cond, s_0_ify, scm_m_0_ify, s_1_ify,
1253 scm_m_1_ify, scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2,
1254 scm_tc16_allocated, SCM_SET_SYMBOL_HASH, SCM_IM_NIL_IFY, SCM_IM_T_IFY,
1255 SCM_IM_0_COND, SCM_IM_0_IFY, SCM_IM_1_IFY, SCM_GC_SET_ALLOCATED,
1256 scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL, SCM_INT_SIGNAL,
1257 SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL, SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL,
1258 SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD, SCM_ORD_SIG,
1259 SCM_NUM_SIGS, scm_top_level_lookup_closure_var,
1260 *top-level-lookup-closure*, scm_system_transformer, scm_eval_3,
1261 scm_eval2, root_module_lookup_closure, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
1262 SCM_RWSTRINGP, scm_read_only_string_p, scm_make_shared_substring,
1263 scm_tc7_substring, sym_huh, SCM_VARVCELL, SCM_UDVARIABLEP,
1264 SCM_DEFVARIABLEP, scm_mkbig, scm_big2inum, scm_adjbig, scm_normbig,
1265 scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl, SCM_FIXNUM_BIT,
1266 SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_SLOPPY_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET,
1267 SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_ROLENGTH,
1268 SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
1269 scm_sym2vcell, scm_intern, scm_intern0, scm_sysintern, scm_sysintern0,
1270 scm_sysintern0_no_module_lookup, scm_init_symbols_deprecated,
1271 scm_vector_set_length_x, scm_contregs, scm_debug_info,
1272 scm_debug_frame, SCM_DSIDEVAL, SCM_CONST_LONG, SCM_VCELL,
1273 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL, SCM_VCELL_INIT, SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL_INIT,
1274 SCM_HUGE_LENGTH, SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING,
1275 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY, SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY,
1276 SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, DIGITS, scm_small_istr2int, scm_istr2int,
1277 scm_istr2flo, scm_istring2number, scm_istr2int, scm_istr2flo,
1278 scm_istring2number, scm_vtable_index_vcell, scm_si_vcell, SCM_ECONSP,
1279 SCM_NECONSP, SCM_GLOC_VAR, SCM_GLOC_VAL, SCM_GLOC_SET_VAL,
1280 SCM_GLOC_VAL_LOC, scm_make_gloc, scm_gloc_p, scm_tc16_variable,
1281 SCM_CHARS, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH.
1283 * Changes to bundled modules
1287 Using the (ice-9 debug) module no longer automatically switches Guile
1288 to use the debugging evaluator. If you want to switch to the
1289 debugging evaluator (which is needed for backtrace information if you
1290 hit an error), please add an explicit "(debug-enable 'debug)" to your
1291 code just after the code to use (ice-9 debug).
1294 Changes since Guile 1.4:
1296 * Changes to the distribution
1298 ** A top-level TODO file is included.
1300 ** Guile now uses a versioning scheme similar to that of the Linux kernel.
1302 Guile now always uses three numbers to represent the version,
1303 i.e. "1.6.5". The first number, 1, is the major version number, the
1304 second number, 6, is the minor version number, and the third number,
1305 5, is the micro version number. Changes in major version number
1306 indicate major changes in Guile.
1308 Minor version numbers that are even denote stable releases, and odd
1309 minor version numbers denote development versions (which may be
1310 unstable). The micro version number indicates a minor sub-revision of
1311 a given MAJOR.MINOR release.
1313 In keeping with the new scheme, (minor-version) and scm_minor_version
1314 no longer return everything but the major version number. They now
1315 just return the minor version number. Two new functions
1316 (micro-version) and scm_micro_version have been added to report the
1317 micro version number.
1319 In addition, ./GUILE-VERSION now defines GUILE_MICRO_VERSION.
1321 ** New preprocessor definitions are available for checking versions.
1323 version.h now #defines SCM_MAJOR_VERSION, SCM_MINOR_VERSION, and
1324 SCM_MICRO_VERSION to the appropriate integer values.
1326 ** Guile now actively warns about deprecated features.
1328 The new configure option `--enable-deprecated=LEVEL' and the
1329 environment variable GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED control this mechanism.
1330 See INSTALL and README for more information.
1332 ** Guile is much more likely to work on 64-bit architectures.
1334 Guile now compiles and passes "make check" with only two UNRESOLVED GC
1335 cases on Alpha and ia64 based machines now. Thanks to John Goerzen
1336 for the use of a test machine, and thanks to Stefan Jahn for ia64
1339 ** New functions: setitimer and getitimer.
1341 These implement a fairly direct interface to the libc functions of the
1344 ** The #. reader extension is now disabled by default.
1346 For safety reasons, #. evaluation is disabled by default. To
1347 re-enable it, set the fluid read-eval? to #t. For example:
1349 (fluid-set! read-eval? #t)
1351 but make sure you realize the potential security risks involved. With
1352 read-eval? enabled, reading a data file from an untrusted source can
1355 ** New SRFI modules have been added:
1357 SRFI-0 `cond-expand' is now supported in Guile, without requiring
1360 (srfi srfi-1) is a library containing many useful pair- and list-processing
1363 (srfi srfi-2) exports and-let*.
1365 (srfi srfi-4) implements homogeneous numeric vector datatypes.
1367 (srfi srfi-6) is a dummy module for now, since guile already provides
1368 all of the srfi-6 procedures by default: open-input-string,
1369 open-output-string, get-output-string.
1371 (srfi srfi-8) exports receive.
1373 (srfi srfi-9) exports define-record-type.
1375 (srfi srfi-10) exports define-reader-ctor and implements the reader
1378 (srfi srfi-11) exports let-values and let*-values.
1380 (srfi srfi-13) implements the SRFI String Library.
1382 (srfi srfi-14) implements the SRFI Character-Set Library.
1384 (srfi srfi-17) implements setter and getter-with-setter and redefines
1385 some accessor procedures as procedures with getters. (such as car,
1386 cdr, vector-ref etc.)
1388 (srfi srfi-19) implements the SRFI Time/Date Library.
1390 ** New scripts / "executable modules"
1392 Subdirectory "scripts" contains Scheme modules that are packaged to
1393 also be executable as scripts. At this time, these scripts are available:
1402 See README there for more info.
1404 These scripts can be invoked from the shell with the new program
1405 "guile-tools", which keeps track of installation directory for you.
1408 $ guile-tools display-commentary srfi/*.scm
1410 guile-tools is copied to the standard $bindir on "make install".
1412 ** New module (ice-9 stack-catch):
1414 stack-catch is like catch, but saves the current state of the stack in
1415 the fluid the-last-stack. This fluid can be useful when using the
1416 debugger and when re-throwing an error.
1418 ** The module (ice-9 and-let*) has been renamed to (ice-9 and-let-star)
1420 This has been done to prevent problems on lesser operating systems
1421 that can't tolerate `*'s in file names. The exported macro continues
1422 to be named `and-let*', of course.
1424 On systems that support it, there is also a compatibility module named
1425 (ice-9 and-let*). It will go away in the next release.
1427 ** New modules (oop goops) etc.:
1430 (oop goops describe)
1432 (oop goops active-slot)
1433 (oop goops composite-slot)
1435 The Guile Object Oriented Programming System (GOOPS) has been
1436 integrated into Guile. For further information, consult the GOOPS
1437 manual and tutorial in the `doc' directory.
1439 ** New module (ice-9 rdelim).
1441 This exports the following procedures which were previously defined
1442 in the default environment:
1444 read-line read-line! read-delimited read-delimited! %read-delimited!
1445 %read-line write-line
1447 For backwards compatibility the definitions are still imported into the
1448 default environment in this version of Guile. However you should add:
1450 (use-modules (ice-9 rdelim))
1452 to any program which uses the definitions, since this may change in
1455 Alternatively, if guile-scsh is installed, the (scsh rdelim) module
1456 can be used for similar functionality.
1458 ** New module (ice-9 rw)
1460 This is a subset of the (scsh rw) module from guile-scsh. Currently
1461 it defines two procedures:
1463 *** New function: read-string!/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
1465 Read characters from a port or file descriptor into a string STR.
1466 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
1467 fport. This procedure is scsh-compatible and can efficiently read
1470 *** New function: write-string/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
1472 Write characters from a string STR to a port or file descriptor.
1473 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
1474 fport. This procedure is mostly compatible and can efficiently
1475 write large strings.
1477 ** New module (ice-9 match)
1479 This module includes Andrew K. Wright's pattern matcher. See
1480 ice-9/match.scm for brief description or
1482 http://www.star-lab.com/wright/code.html
1484 for complete documentation.
1486 ** New module (ice-9 buffered-input)
1488 This module provides procedures to construct an input port from an
1489 underlying source of input that reads and returns its input in chunks.
1490 The underlying input source is a Scheme procedure, specified by the
1491 caller, which the port invokes whenever it needs more input.
1493 This is useful when building an input port whose back end is Readline
1494 or a UI element such as the GtkEntry widget.
1498 The reference and tutorial documentation that was previously
1499 distributed separately, as `guile-doc', is now included in the core
1500 Guile distribution. The documentation consists of the following
1503 - The Guile Tutorial (guile-tut.texi) contains a tutorial introduction
1506 - The Guile Reference Manual (guile.texi) contains (or is intended to
1507 contain) reference documentation on all aspects of Guile.
1509 - The GOOPS Manual (goops.texi) contains both tutorial-style and
1510 reference documentation for using GOOPS, Guile's Object Oriented
1513 - The Revised^5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme
1516 See the README file in the `doc' directory for more details.
1518 ** There are a couple of examples in the examples/ directory now.
1520 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
1522 ** New command line option `--use-srfi'
1524 Using this option, SRFI modules can be loaded on startup and be
1525 available right from the beginning. This makes programming portable
1526 Scheme programs easier.
1528 The option `--use-srfi' expects a comma-separated list of numbers,
1529 each representing a SRFI number to be loaded into the interpreter
1530 before starting evaluating a script file or the REPL. Additionally,
1531 the feature identifier for the loaded SRFIs is recognized by
1532 `cond-expand' when using this option.
1535 $ guile --use-srfi=8,13
1536 guile> (receive (x z) (values 1 2) (+ 1 2))
1538 guile> (string-pad "bla" 20)
1541 ** Guile now always starts up in the `(guile-user)' module.
1543 Previously, scripts executed via the `-s' option would run in the
1544 `(guile)' module and the repl would run in the `(guile-user)' module.
1545 Now every user action takes place in the `(guile-user)' module by
1548 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
1550 ** Character classifiers work for non-ASCII characters.
1552 The predicates `char-alphabetic?', `char-numeric?',
1553 `char-whitespace?', `char-lower?', `char-upper?' and `char-is-both?'
1554 no longer check whether their arguments are ASCII characters.
1555 Previously, a character would only be considered alphabetic when it
1556 was also ASCII, for example.
1558 ** Previously deprecated Scheme functions have been removed:
1560 tag - no replacement.
1561 fseek - replaced by seek.
1562 list* - replaced by cons*.
1564 ** It's now possible to create modules with controlled environments
1568 (use-modules (ice-9 safe))
1569 (define m (make-safe-module))
1570 ;;; m will now be a module containing only a safe subset of R5RS
1571 (eval '(+ 1 2) m) --> 3
1572 (eval 'load m) --> ERROR: Unbound variable: load
1574 ** Evaluation of "()", the empty list, is now an error.
1576 Previously, the expression "()" evaluated to the empty list. This has
1577 been changed to signal a "missing expression" error. The correct way
1578 to write the empty list as a literal constant is to use quote: "'()".
1580 ** New concept of `Guile Extensions'.
1582 A Guile Extension is just a ordinary shared library that can be linked
1583 at run-time. We found it advantageous to give this simple concept a
1584 dedicated name to distinguish the issues related to shared libraries
1585 from the issues related to the module system.
1587 *** New function: load-extension
1589 Executing (load-extension lib init) is mostly equivalent to
1591 (dynamic-call init (dynamic-link lib))
1593 except when scm_register_extension has been called previously.
1594 Whenever appropriate, you should use `load-extension' instead of
1595 dynamic-link and dynamic-call.
1597 *** New C function: scm_c_register_extension
1599 This function registers a initialization function for use by
1600 `load-extension'. Use it when you don't want specific extensions to
1601 be loaded as shared libraries (for example on platforms that don't
1602 support dynamic linking).
1604 ** Auto-loading of compiled-code modules is deprecated.
1606 Guile used to be able to automatically find and link a shared
1607 library to satisfy requests for a module. For example, the module
1608 `(foo bar)' could be implemented by placing a shared library named
1609 "foo/libbar.so" (or with a different extension) in a directory on the
1612 This has been found to be too tricky, and is no longer supported. The
1613 shared libraries are now called "extensions". You should now write a
1614 small Scheme file that calls `load-extension' to load the shared
1615 library and initialize it explicitly.
1617 The shared libraries themselves should be installed in the usual
1618 places for shared libraries, with names like "libguile-foo-bar".
1620 For example, place this into a file "foo/bar.scm"
1622 (define-module (foo bar))
1624 (load-extension "libguile-foo-bar" "foobar_init")
1626 ** Backward incompatible change: eval EXP ENVIRONMENT-SPECIFIER
1628 `eval' is now R5RS, that is it takes two arguments.
1629 The second argument is an environment specifier, i.e. either
1631 (scheme-report-environment 5)
1632 (null-environment 5)
1633 (interaction-environment)
1639 ** The module system has been made more disciplined.
1641 The function `eval' will save and restore the current module around
1642 the evaluation of the specified expression. While this expression is
1643 evaluated, `(current-module)' will now return the right module, which
1644 is the module specified as the second argument to `eval'.
1646 A consequence of this change is that `eval' is not particularly
1647 useful when you want allow the evaluated code to change what module is
1648 designated as the current module and have this change persist from one
1649 call to `eval' to the next. The read-eval-print-loop is an example
1650 where `eval' is now inadequate. To compensate, there is a new
1651 function `primitive-eval' that does not take a module specifier and
1652 that does not save/restore the current module. You should use this
1653 function together with `set-current-module', `current-module', etc
1654 when you want to have more control over the state that is carried from
1655 one eval to the next.
1657 Additionally, it has been made sure that forms that are evaluated at
1658 the top level are always evaluated with respect to the current module.
1659 Previously, subforms of top-level forms such as `begin', `case',
1660 etc. did not respect changes to the current module although these
1661 subforms are at the top-level as well.
1663 To prevent strange behavior, the forms `define-module',
1664 `use-modules', `use-syntax', and `export' have been restricted to only
1665 work on the top level. The forms `define-public' and
1666 `defmacro-public' only export the new binding on the top level. They
1667 behave just like `define' and `defmacro', respectively, when they are
1668 used in a lexical environment.
1670 Also, `export' will no longer silently re-export bindings imported
1671 from a used module. It will emit a `deprecation' warning and will
1672 cease to perform any re-export in the next version. If you actually
1673 want to re-export bindings, use the new `re-export' in place of
1674 `export'. The new `re-export' will not make copies of variables when
1675 rexporting them, as `export' did wrongly.
1677 ** Module system now allows selection and renaming of imported bindings
1679 Previously, when using `use-modules' or the `#:use-module' clause in
1680 the `define-module' form, all the bindings (association of symbols to
1681 values) for imported modules were added to the "current module" on an
1682 as-is basis. This has been changed to allow finer control through two
1683 new facilities: selection and renaming.
1685 You can now select which of the imported module's bindings are to be
1686 visible in the current module by using the `:select' clause. This
1687 clause also can be used to rename individual bindings. For example:
1689 ;; import all bindings no questions asked
1690 (use-modules (ice-9 common-list))
1692 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them;
1693 ;; the current module sees: every some zonk-y zonk-n
1694 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1696 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1697 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))))
1699 You can also programmatically rename all selected bindings using the
1700 `:renamer' clause, which specifies a proc that takes a symbol and
1701 returns another symbol. Because it is common practice to use a prefix,
1702 we now provide the convenience procedure `symbol-prefix-proc'. For
1705 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
1706 ;; and all four w/ prefix "CL:";
1707 ;; the current module sees: CL:every CL:some CL:zonk-y CL:zonk-n
1708 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1710 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1711 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
1712 :renamer (symbol-prefix-proc 'CL:)))
1714 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
1715 ;; and all four by upcasing.
1716 ;; the current module sees: EVERY SOME ZONK-Y ZONK-N
1717 (define (upcase-symbol sym)
1718 (string->symbol (string-upcase (symbol->string sym))))
1720 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1722 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1723 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
1724 :renamer upcase-symbol))
1726 Note that programmatic renaming is done *after* individual renaming.
1727 Also, the above examples show `use-modules', but the same facilities are
1728 available for the `#:use-module' clause of `define-module'.
1730 See manual for more info.
1732 ** The semantics of guardians have changed.
1734 The changes are for the most part compatible. An important criterion
1735 was to keep the typical usage of guardians as simple as before, but to
1736 make the semantics safer and (as a result) more useful.
1738 *** All objects returned from guardians are now properly alive.
1740 It is now guaranteed that any object referenced by an object returned
1741 from a guardian is alive. It's now impossible for a guardian to
1742 return a "contained" object before its "containing" object.
1744 One incompatible (but probably not very important) change resulting
1745 from this is that it is no longer possible to guard objects that
1746 indirectly reference themselves (i.e. are parts of cycles). If you do
1747 so accidentally, you'll get a warning.
1749 *** There are now two types of guardians: greedy and sharing.
1751 If you call (make-guardian #t) or just (make-guardian), you'll get a
1752 greedy guardian, and for (make-guardian #f) a sharing guardian.
1754 Greedy guardians are the default because they are more "defensive".
1755 You can only greedily guard an object once. If you guard an object
1756 more than once, once in a greedy guardian and the rest of times in
1757 sharing guardians, then it is guaranteed that the object won't be
1758 returned from sharing guardians as long as it is greedily guarded
1761 Guardians returned by calls to `make-guardian' can now take one more
1762 optional parameter, which says whether to throw an error in case an
1763 attempt is made to greedily guard an object that is already greedily
1764 guarded. The default is true, i.e. throw an error. If the parameter
1765 is false, the guardian invocation returns #t if guarding was
1766 successful and #f if it wasn't.
1768 Also, since greedy guarding is, in effect, a side-effecting operation
1769 on objects, a new function is introduced: `destroy-guardian!'.
1770 Invoking this function on a guardian renders it unoperative and, if
1771 the guardian is greedy, clears the "greedily guarded" property of the
1772 objects that were guarded by it, thus undoing the side effect.
1774 Note that all this hair is hardly very important, since guardian
1775 objects are usually permanent.
1777 ** Continuations created by call-with-current-continuation now accept
1778 any number of arguments, as required by R5RS.
1780 ** New function `issue-deprecation-warning'
1782 This function is used to display the deprecation messages that are
1783 controlled by GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATION as explained in the README.
1786 (issue-deprecation-warning "`id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.")
1790 ;; `id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.
1795 ** New syntax `begin-deprecated'
1797 When deprecated features are included (as determined by the configure
1798 option --enable-deprecated), `begin-deprecated' is identical to
1799 `begin'. When deprecated features are excluded, it always evaluates
1800 to `#f', ignoring the body forms.
1802 ** New function `make-object-property'
1804 This function returns a new `procedure with setter' P that can be used
1805 to attach a property to objects. When calling P as
1809 where `obj' is any kind of object, it attaches `val' to `obj' in such
1810 a way that it can be retrieved by calling P as
1814 This function will replace procedure properties, symbol properties and
1815 source properties eventually.
1817 ** Module (ice-9 optargs) now uses keywords instead of `#&'.
1819 Instead of #&optional, #&key, etc you should now use #:optional,
1820 #:key, etc. Since #:optional is a keyword, you can write it as just
1821 :optional when (read-set! keywords 'prefix) is active.
1823 The old reader syntax `#&' is still supported, but deprecated. It
1824 will be removed in the next release.
1826 ** New define-module option: pure
1828 Tells the module system not to include any bindings from the root
1833 (define-module (totally-empty-module)
1836 ** New define-module option: export NAME1 ...
1838 Export names NAME1 ...
1840 This option is required if you want to be able to export bindings from
1841 a module which doesn't import one of `define-public' or `export'.
1845 (define-module (foo)
1847 :use-module (ice-9 r5rs)
1850 ;;; Note that we're pure R5RS below this point!
1855 ** New function: object->string OBJ
1857 Return a Scheme string obtained by printing a given object.
1859 ** New function: port? X
1861 Returns a boolean indicating whether X is a port. Equivalent to
1862 `(or (input-port? X) (output-port? X))'.
1864 ** New function: file-port?
1866 Determines whether a given object is a port that is related to a file.
1868 ** New function: port-for-each proc
1870 Apply PROC to each port in the Guile port table in turn. The return
1871 value is unspecified. More specifically, PROC is applied exactly once
1872 to every port that exists in the system at the time PORT-FOR-EACH is
1873 invoked. Changes to the port table while PORT-FOR-EACH is running
1874 have no effect as far as PORT-FOR-EACH is concerned.
1876 ** New function: dup2 oldfd newfd
1878 A simple wrapper for the `dup2' system call. Copies the file
1879 descriptor OLDFD to descriptor number NEWFD, replacing the
1880 previous meaning of NEWFD. Both OLDFD and NEWFD must be integers.
1881 Unlike for dup->fdes or primitive-move->fdes, no attempt is made
1882 to move away ports which are using NEWFD. The return value is
1885 ** New function: close-fdes fd
1887 A simple wrapper for the `close' system call. Close file
1888 descriptor FD, which must be an integer. Unlike close (*note
1889 close: Ports and File Descriptors.), the file descriptor will be
1890 closed even if a port is using it. The return value is
1893 ** New function: crypt password salt
1895 Encrypts `password' using the standard unix password encryption
1898 ** New function: chroot path
1900 Change the root directory of the running process to `path'.
1902 ** New functions: getlogin, cuserid
1904 Return the login name or the user name of the current effective user
1907 ** New functions: getpriority which who, setpriority which who prio
1909 Get or set the priority of the running process.
1911 ** New function: getpass prompt
1913 Read a password from the terminal, first displaying `prompt' and
1916 ** New function: flock file operation
1918 Set/remove an advisory shared or exclusive lock on `file'.
1920 ** New functions: sethostname name, gethostname
1922 Set or get the hostname of the machine the current process is running
1925 ** New function: mkstemp! tmpl
1927 mkstemp creates a new unique file in the file system and returns a
1928 new buffered port open for reading and writing to the file. TMPL
1929 is a string specifying where the file should be created: it must
1930 end with `XXXXXX' and will be changed in place to return the name
1931 of the temporary file.
1933 ** New function: open-input-string string
1935 Return an input string port which delivers the characters from
1936 `string'. This procedure, together with `open-output-string' and
1937 `get-output-string' implements SRFI-6.
1939 ** New function: open-output-string
1941 Return an output string port which collects all data written to it.
1942 The data can then be retrieved by `get-output-string'.
1944 ** New function: get-output-string
1946 Return the contents of an output string port.
1948 ** New function: identity
1950 Return the argument.
1952 ** socket, connect, accept etc., now have support for IPv6. IPv6 addresses
1953 are represented in Scheme as integers with normal host byte ordering.
1955 ** New function: inet-pton family address
1957 Convert a printable string network address into an integer. Note that
1958 unlike the C version of this function, the result is an integer with
1959 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
1962 (inet-pton AF_INET "127.0.0.1") => 2130706433
1963 (inet-pton AF_INET6 "::1") => 1
1965 ** New function: inet-ntop family address
1967 Convert an integer network address into a printable string. Note that
1968 unlike the C version of this function, the input is an integer with
1969 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
1972 (inet-ntop AF_INET 2130706433) => "127.0.0.1"
1973 (inet-ntop AF_INET6 (- (expt 2 128) 1)) =>
1974 ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff
1978 Use `identity' instead.
1984 ** Deprecated: return-it
1988 ** Deprecated: string-character-length
1990 Use `string-length' instead.
1992 ** Deprecated: flags
1994 Use `logior' instead.
1996 ** Deprecated: close-all-ports-except.
1998 This was intended for closing ports in a child process after a fork,
1999 but it has the undesirable side effect of flushing buffers.
2000 port-for-each is more flexible.
2002 ** The (ice-9 popen) module now attempts to set up file descriptors in
2003 the child process from the current Scheme ports, instead of using the
2004 current values of file descriptors 0, 1, and 2 in the parent process.
2006 ** Removed function: builtin-weak-bindings
2008 There is no such concept as a weak binding any more.
2010 ** Removed constants: bignum-radix, scm-line-incrementors
2012 ** define-method: New syntax mandatory.
2014 The new method syntax is now mandatory:
2016 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ...) BODY ...)
2017 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ... . REST-ARG) BODY ...)
2019 ARG-SPEC ::= ARG-NAME | (ARG-NAME TYPE)
2020 REST-ARG ::= ARG-NAME
2022 If you have old code using the old syntax, import
2023 (oop goops old-define-method) before (oop goops) as in:
2025 (use-modules (oop goops old-define-method) (oop goops))
2027 ** Deprecated function: builtin-variable
2028 Removed function: builtin-bindings
2030 There is no longer a distinction between builtin or other variables.
2031 Use module system operations for all variables.
2033 ** Lazy-catch handlers are no longer allowed to return.
2035 That is, a call to `throw', `error', etc is now guaranteed to not
2038 ** Bugfixes for (ice-9 getopt-long)
2040 This module is now tested using test-suite/tests/getopt-long.test.
2041 The following bugs have been fixed:
2043 *** Parsing for options that are specified to have `optional' args now checks
2044 if the next element is an option instead of unconditionally taking it as the
2047 *** An error is now thrown for `--opt=val' when the option description
2048 does not specify `(value #t)' or `(value optional)'. This condition used to
2049 be accepted w/o error, contrary to the documentation.
2051 *** The error message for unrecognized options is now more informative.
2052 It used to be "not a record", an artifact of the implementation.
2054 *** The error message for `--opt' terminating the arg list (no value), when
2055 `(value #t)' is specified, is now more informative. It used to be "not enough
2058 *** "Clumped" single-char args now preserve trailing string, use it as arg.
2059 The expansion used to be like so:
2061 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "--xyz")
2063 Note that the "5d" is dropped. Now it is like so:
2065 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "5d" "--xyz")
2067 This enables single-char options to have adjoining arguments as long as their
2068 constituent characters are not potential single-char options.
2070 ** (ice-9 session) procedure `arity' now works with (ice-9 optargs) `lambda*'
2072 The `lambda*' and derivative forms in (ice-9 optargs) now set a procedure
2073 property `arglist', which can be retrieved by `arity'. The result is that
2074 `arity' can give more detailed information than before:
2078 guile> (use-modules (ice-9 optargs))
2079 guile> (define* (foo #:optional a b c) a)
2081 0 or more arguments in `lambda*:G0'.
2086 3 optional arguments: `a', `b' and `c'.
2087 guile> (define* (bar a b #:key c d #:allow-other-keys) a)
2089 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 2 keyword arguments: `c'
2090 and `d', other keywords allowed.
2091 guile> (define* (baz a b #:optional c #:rest r) a)
2093 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 1 optional argument: `c',
2096 * Changes to the C interface
2098 ** Types have been renamed from scm_*_t to scm_t_*.
2100 This has been done for POSIX sake. It reserves identifiers ending
2101 with "_t". What a concept.
2103 The old names are still available with status `deprecated'.
2105 ** scm_t_bits (former scm_bits_t) is now a unsigned type.
2107 ** Deprecated features have been removed.
2111 SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP SCM_ICHRP, SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR
2112 SCM_SETJMPBUF SCM_NSTRINGP SCM_NRWSTRINGP SCM_NVECTORP SCM_DOUBLE_CELLP
2114 *** C Functions removed
2116 scm_sysmissing scm_tag scm_tc16_flo scm_tc_flo
2117 scm_fseek - replaced by scm_seek.
2118 gc-thunk - replaced by after-gc-hook.
2119 gh_int2scmb - replaced by gh_bool2scm.
2120 scm_tc_dblr - replaced by scm_tc16_real.
2121 scm_tc_dblc - replaced by scm_tc16_complex.
2122 scm_list_star - replaced by scm_cons_star.
2124 ** Deprecated: scm_makfromstr
2126 Use scm_mem2string instead.
2128 ** Deprecated: scm_make_shared_substring
2130 Explicit shared substrings will disappear from Guile.
2132 Instead, "normal" strings will be implemented using sharing
2133 internally, combined with a copy-on-write strategy.
2135 ** Deprecated: scm_read_only_string_p
2137 The concept of read-only strings will disappear in next release of
2140 ** Deprecated: scm_sloppy_memq, scm_sloppy_memv, scm_sloppy_member
2142 Instead, use scm_c_memq or scm_memq, scm_memv, scm_member.
2144 ** New functions: scm_call_0, scm_call_1, scm_call_2, scm_call_3
2146 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments. See "Fly
2147 Evaluation" in the manual.
2149 ** New functions: scm_apply_0, scm_apply_1, scm_apply_2, scm_apply_3
2151 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments and a list of
2152 further arguments. See "Fly Evaluation" in the manual.
2154 ** New functions: scm_list_1, scm_list_2, scm_list_3, scm_list_4, scm_list_5
2156 Create a list of the given number of elements. See "List
2157 Constructors" in the manual.
2159 ** Renamed function: scm_listify has been replaced by scm_list_n.
2161 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_LIST0, SCM_LIST1, SCM_LIST2, SCM_LIST3, SCM_LIST4,
2162 SCM_LIST5, SCM_LIST6, SCM_LIST7, SCM_LIST8, SCM_LIST9.
2164 Use functions scm_list_N instead.
2166 ** New function: scm_c_read (SCM port, void *buffer, scm_sizet size)
2168 Used by an application to read arbitrary number of bytes from a port.
2169 Same semantics as libc read, except that scm_c_read only returns less
2170 than SIZE bytes if at end-of-file.
2172 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
2174 ** New function: scm_c_write (SCM port, const void *ptr, scm_sizet size)
2176 Used by an application to write arbitrary number of bytes to an SCM
2177 port. Similar semantics as libc write. However, unlike libc
2178 write, scm_c_write writes the requested number of bytes and has no
2181 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
2183 ** New function: scm_init_guile ()
2185 In contrast to scm_boot_guile, scm_init_guile will return normally
2186 after initializing Guile. It is not available on all systems, tho.
2188 ** New functions: scm_str2symbol, scm_mem2symbol
2190 The function scm_str2symbol takes a const char* pointing to a zero-terminated
2191 field of characters and creates a scheme symbol object from that C string.
2192 The function scm_mem2symbol takes a const char* and a number of characters and
2193 creates a symbol from the characters in that memory area.
2195 ** New functions: scm_primitive_make_property
2196 scm_primitive_property_ref
2197 scm_primitive_property_set_x
2198 scm_primitive_property_del_x
2200 These functions implement a new way to deal with object properties.
2201 See libguile/properties.c for their documentation.
2203 ** New function: scm_done_free (long size)
2205 This function is the inverse of scm_done_malloc. Use it to report the
2206 amount of smob memory you free. The previous method, which involved
2207 calling scm_done_malloc with negative argument, was somewhat
2208 unintuitive (and is still available, of course).
2210 ** New function: scm_c_memq (SCM obj, SCM list)
2212 This function provides a fast C level alternative for scm_memq for the case
2213 that the list parameter is known to be a proper list. The function is a
2214 replacement for scm_sloppy_memq, but is stricter in its requirements on its
2215 list input parameter, since for anything else but a proper list the function's
2216 behaviour is undefined - it may even crash or loop endlessly. Further, for
2217 the case that the object is not found in the list, scm_c_memq returns #f which
2218 is similar to scm_memq, but different from scm_sloppy_memq's behaviour.
2220 ** New functions: scm_remember_upto_here_1, scm_remember_upto_here_2,
2221 scm_remember_upto_here
2223 These functions replace the function scm_remember.
2225 ** Deprecated function: scm_remember
2227 Use one of the new functions scm_remember_upto_here_1,
2228 scm_remember_upto_here_2 or scm_remember_upto_here instead.
2230 ** New function: scm_allocate_string
2232 This function replaces the function scm_makstr.
2234 ** Deprecated function: scm_makstr
2236 Use the new function scm_allocate_string instead.
2238 ** New global variable scm_gc_running_p introduced.
2240 Use this variable to find out if garbage collection is being executed. Up to
2241 now applications have used scm_gc_heap_lock to test if garbage collection was
2242 running, which also works because of the fact that up to know only the garbage
2243 collector has set this variable. But, this is an implementation detail that
2244 may change. Further, scm_gc_heap_lock is not set throughout gc, thus the use
2245 of this variable is (and has been) not fully safe anyway.
2247 ** New macros: SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH
2249 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
2251 ** New macros: SCM_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_CCLO_LENGTH, SCM_STACK_LENGTH,
2252 SCM_STRING_LENGTH, SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
2253 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH.
2255 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH.
2257 ** New macros: SCM_SET_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH,
2258 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
2259 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH
2261 Use these instead of SCM_SETLENGTH
2263 ** New macros: SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_CCLO_BASE,
2264 SCM_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_COMPLEX_MEM,
2267 Use these instead of SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS or
2270 ** New macros: SCM_SET_BIGNUM_BASE, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS,
2271 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE,
2274 Use these instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
2276 ** New macro: SCM_BITVECTOR_P
2278 ** New macro: SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X
2280 Use instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
2282 ** New macros: SCM_DIR_OPEN_P, SCM_DIR_FLAG_OPEN
2284 For directory objects, use these instead of SCM_OPDIRP and SCM_OPN.
2286 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_OUTOFRANGE, SCM_NALLOC, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL,
2287 SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL,
2288 SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD,
2289 SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS, SCM_SYMBOL_SLOTS, SCM_SLOTS, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
2290 SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_FREEP, SCM_NFREEP, SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS,
2291 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY,
2292 SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_HUGE_LENGTH,
2293 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
2294 SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP, SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, SCM_ROCHARS,
2295 SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_GC8MARKP,
2296 SCM_SETGC8MARK, SCM_CLRGC8MARK, SCM_GCTYP16, SCM_GCCDR, SCM_SUBR_DOC,
2297 SCM_OPDIRP, SCM_VALIDATE_OPDIR, SCM_WTA, RETURN_SCM_WTA, SCM_CONST_LONG,
2298 SCM_WNA, SCM_FUNC_NAME, SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_COPY,
2299 SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_DEF_COPY, SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP, SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP,
2300 SCM_SETAND_CDR, SCM_SETOR_CDR, SCM_SETAND_CAR, SCM_SETOR_CAR
2302 Use SCM_ASSERT_RANGE or SCM_VALIDATE_XXX_RANGE instead of SCM_OUTOFRANGE.
2303 Use scm_memory_error instead of SCM_NALLOC.
2304 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP.
2305 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR.
2306 Use SCM_FREE_CELL_P instead of SCM_FREEP/SCM_NFREEP
2307 Use a type specific accessor macro instead of SCM_CHARS/SCM_UCHARS.
2308 Use a type specific accessor instead of SCM(_|_RO|_HUGE_)LENGTH.
2309 Use SCM_VALIDATE_(SYMBOL|STRING) instead of SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING.
2310 Use SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
2311 Use SCM_STRINGP or SCM_SYMBOLP instead of SCM_ROSTRINGP.
2312 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_RWSTRINGP.
2313 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING.
2314 Use SCM_STRING_CHARS instead of SCM_ROCHARS.
2315 Use SCM_STRING_UCHARS instead of SCM_ROUCHARS.
2316 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETLENGTH.
2317 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
2318 Use a type specific length macro instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
2319 Use SCM_GCMARKP instead of SCM_GC8MARKP.
2320 Use SCM_SETGCMARK instead of SCM_SETGC8MARK.
2321 Use SCM_CLRGCMARK instead of SCM_CLRGC8MARK.
2322 Use SCM_TYP16 instead of SCM_GCTYP16.
2323 Use SCM_CDR instead of SCM_GCCDR.
2324 Use SCM_DIR_OPEN_P instead of SCM_OPDIRP.
2325 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of SCM_WTA.
2326 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of RETURN_SCM_WTA.
2327 Use SCM_VCELL_INIT instead of SCM_CONST_LONG.
2328 Use SCM_WRONG_NUM_ARGS instead of SCM_WNA.
2329 Use SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP.
2330 Use !SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP.
2332 ** Removed function: scm_struct_init
2334 ** Removed variable: scm_symhash_dim
2336 ** Renamed function: scm_make_cont has been replaced by
2337 scm_make_continuation, which has a different interface.
2339 ** Deprecated function: scm_call_catching_errors
2341 Use scm_catch or scm_lazy_catch from throw.[ch] instead.
2343 ** Deprecated function: scm_strhash
2345 Use scm_string_hash instead.
2347 ** Deprecated function: scm_vector_set_length_x
2349 Instead, create a fresh vector of the desired size and copy the contents.
2351 ** scm_gensym has changed prototype
2353 scm_gensym now only takes one argument.
2355 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc7_ssymbol, scm_tc7_msymbol, scm_tcs_symbols,
2358 There is now only a single symbol type scm_tc7_symbol.
2359 The tag scm_tc7_lvector was not used anyway.
2361 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe, scm_set_smob_mfpe.
2363 Use scm_make_smob_type and scm_set_smob_XXX instead.
2365 ** New function scm_set_smob_apply.
2367 This can be used to set an apply function to a smob type.
2369 ** Deprecated function: scm_strprint_obj
2371 Use scm_object_to_string instead.
2373 ** Deprecated function: scm_wta
2375 Use scm_wrong_type_arg, or another appropriate error signalling function
2378 ** Explicit support for obarrays has been deprecated.
2380 Use `scm_str2symbol' and the generic hashtable functions instead.
2382 ** The concept of `vcells' has been deprecated.
2384 The data type `variable' is now used exclusively. `Vcells' have been
2385 a low-level concept so you are likely not affected by this change.
2387 *** Deprecated functions: scm_sym2vcell, scm_sysintern,
2388 scm_sysintern0, scm_symbol_value0, scm_intern, scm_intern0.
2390 Use scm_c_define or scm_c_lookup instead, as appropriate.
2392 *** New functions: scm_c_module_lookup, scm_c_lookup,
2393 scm_c_module_define, scm_c_define, scm_module_lookup, scm_lookup,
2394 scm_module_define, scm_define.
2396 These functions work with variables instead of with vcells.
2398 ** New functions for creating and defining `subr's and `gsubr's.
2400 The new functions more clearly distinguish between creating a subr (or
2401 gsubr) object and adding it to the current module.
2403 These new functions are available: scm_c_make_subr, scm_c_define_subr,
2404 scm_c_make_subr_with_generic, scm_c_define_subr_with_generic,
2405 scm_c_make_gsubr, scm_c_define_gsubr, scm_c_make_gsubr_with_generic,
2406 scm_c_define_gsubr_with_generic.
2408 ** Deprecated functions: scm_make_subr, scm_make_subr_opt,
2409 scm_make_subr_with_generic, scm_make_gsubr,
2410 scm_make_gsubr_with_generic.
2412 Use the new ones from above instead.
2414 ** C interface to the module system has changed.
2416 While we suggest that you avoid as many explicit module system
2417 operations from C as possible for the time being, the C interface has
2418 been made more similar to the high-level Scheme module system.
2420 *** New functions: scm_c_define_module, scm_c_use_module,
2421 scm_c_export, scm_c_resolve_module.
2423 They mostly work like their Scheme namesakes. scm_c_define_module
2424 takes a function that is called a context where the new module is
2427 *** Deprecated functions: scm_the_root_module, scm_make_module,
2428 scm_ensure_user_module, scm_load_scheme_module.
2430 Use the new functions instead.
2432 ** Renamed function: scm_internal_with_fluids becomes
2435 scm_internal_with_fluids is available as a deprecated function.
2437 ** New function: scm_c_with_fluid.
2439 Just like scm_c_with_fluids, but takes one fluid and one value instead
2442 ** Deprecated typedefs: long_long, ulong_long.
2444 They are of questionable utility and they pollute the global
2447 ** Deprecated typedef: scm_sizet
2449 It is of questionable utility now that Guile requires ANSI C, and is
2452 ** Deprecated typedefs: scm_port_rw_active, scm_port,
2453 scm_ptob_descriptor, scm_debug_info, scm_debug_frame, scm_fport,
2454 scm_option, scm_rstate, scm_rng, scm_array, scm_array_dim.
2456 Made more compliant with the naming policy by adding a _t at the end.
2458 ** Deprecated functions: scm_mkbig, scm_big2num, scm_adjbig,
2459 scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl
2461 With the exception of the mysterious scm_2ulong2big, they are still
2462 available under new names (scm_i_mkbig etc). These functions are not
2463 intended to be used in user code. You should avoid dealing with
2464 bignums directly, and should deal with numbers in general (which can
2467 ** Change in behavior: scm_num2long, scm_num2ulong
2469 The scm_num2[u]long functions don't any longer accept an inexact
2470 argument. This change in behavior is motivated by concordance with
2471 R5RS: It is more common that a primitive doesn't want to accept an
2472 inexact for an exact.
2474 ** New functions: scm_short2num, scm_ushort2num, scm_int2num,
2475 scm_uint2num, scm_size2num, scm_ptrdiff2num, scm_num2short,
2476 scm_num2ushort, scm_num2int, scm_num2uint, scm_num2ptrdiff,
2479 These are conversion functions between the various ANSI C integral
2480 types and Scheme numbers. NOTE: The scm_num2xxx functions don't
2481 accept an inexact argument.
2483 ** New functions: scm_float2num, scm_double2num,
2484 scm_num2float, scm_num2double.
2486 These are conversion functions between the two ANSI C float types and
2489 ** New number validation macros:
2490 SCM_NUM2{SIZE,PTRDIFF,SHORT,USHORT,INT,UINT}[_DEF]
2494 ** New functions: scm_gc_protect_object, scm_gc_unprotect_object
2496 These are just nicer-named old scm_protect_object and
2497 scm_unprotect_object.
2499 ** Deprecated functions: scm_protect_object, scm_unprotect_object
2501 ** New functions: scm_gc_[un]register_root, scm_gc_[un]register_roots
2503 These functions can be used to register pointers to locations that
2506 ** Deprecated function: scm_create_hook.
2508 Its sins are: misleading name, non-modularity and lack of general
2512 Changes since Guile 1.3.4:
2514 * Changes to the distribution
2516 ** Trees from nightly snapshots and CVS now require you to run autogen.sh.
2518 We've changed the way we handle generated files in the Guile source
2519 repository. As a result, the procedure for building trees obtained
2520 from the nightly FTP snapshots or via CVS has changed:
2521 - You must have appropriate versions of autoconf, automake, and
2522 libtool installed on your system. See README for info on how to
2523 obtain these programs.
2524 - Before configuring the tree, you must first run the script
2525 `autogen.sh' at the top of the source tree.
2527 The Guile repository used to contain not only source files, written by
2528 humans, but also some generated files, like configure scripts and
2529 Makefile.in files. Even though the contents of these files could be
2530 derived mechanically from other files present, we thought it would
2531 make the tree easier to build if we checked them into CVS.
2533 However, this approach means that minor differences between
2534 developer's installed tools and habits affected the whole team.
2535 So we have removed the generated files from the repository, and
2536 added the autogen.sh script, which will reconstruct them
2540 ** configure now has experimental options to remove support for certain
2543 --disable-arrays omit array and uniform array support
2544 --disable-posix omit posix interfaces
2545 --disable-networking omit networking interfaces
2546 --disable-regex omit regular expression interfaces
2548 These are likely to become separate modules some day.
2550 ** New configure option --enable-debug-freelist
2552 This enables a debugging version of SCM_NEWCELL(), and also registers
2553 an extra primitive, the setter `gc-set-debug-check-freelist!'.
2555 Configure with the --enable-debug-freelist option to enable
2556 the gc-set-debug-check-freelist! primitive, and then use:
2558 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #t) # turn on checking of the freelist
2559 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #f) # turn off checking
2561 Checking of the freelist forces a traversal of the freelist and
2562 a garbage collection before each allocation of a cell. This can
2563 slow down the interpreter dramatically, so the setter should be used to
2564 turn on this extra processing only when necessary.
2566 ** New configure option --enable-debug-malloc
2568 Include code for debugging of calls to scm_must_malloc/realloc/free.
2572 1. objects freed by scm_must_free has been mallocated by scm_must_malloc
2573 2. objects reallocated by scm_must_realloc has been allocated by
2575 3. reallocated objects are reallocated with the same what string
2577 But, most importantly, it records the number of allocated objects of
2578 each kind. This is useful when searching for memory leaks.
2580 A Guile compiled with this option provides the primitive
2581 `malloc-stats' which returns an alist with pairs of kind and the
2582 number of objects of that kind.
2584 ** All includes are now referenced relative to the root directory
2586 Since some users have had problems with mixups between Guile and
2587 system headers, we have decided to always refer to Guile headers via
2588 their parent directories. This essentially creates a "private name
2589 space" for Guile headers. This means that the compiler only is given
2590 -I options for the root build and root source directory.
2592 ** Header files kw.h and genio.h have been removed.
2594 ** The module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) has been removed.
2596 ** New module (ice-9 documentation)
2598 Implements the interface to documentation strings associated with
2601 ** New module (ice-9 time)
2603 Provides a macro `time', which displays execution time of a given form.
2605 ** New module (ice-9 history)
2607 Loading this module enables value history in the repl.
2609 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
2611 ** New command line option --debug
2613 Start Guile with debugging evaluator and backtraces enabled.
2615 This is useful when debugging your .guile init file or scripts.
2617 ** New help facility
2619 Usage: (help NAME) gives documentation about objects named NAME (a symbol)
2620 (help REGEXP) ditto for objects with names matching REGEXP (a string)
2621 (help 'NAME) gives documentation for NAME, even if it is not an object
2622 (help ,EXPR) gives documentation for object returned by EXPR
2623 (help (my module)) gives module commentary for `(my module)'
2624 (help) gives this text
2626 `help' searches among bindings exported from loaded modules, while
2627 `apropos' searches among bindings visible from the "current" module.
2629 Examples: (help help)
2631 (help "output-string")
2633 ** `help' and `apropos' now prints full module names
2635 ** Dynamic linking now uses libltdl from the libtool package.
2637 The old system dependent code for doing dynamic linking has been
2638 replaced with calls to the libltdl functions which do all the hairy
2641 The major improvement is that you can now directly pass libtool
2642 library names like "libfoo.la" to `dynamic-link' and `dynamic-link'
2643 will be able to do the best shared library job you can get, via
2646 The way dynamic libraries are found has changed and is not really
2647 portable across platforms, probably. It is therefore recommended to
2648 use absolute filenames when possible.
2650 If you pass a filename without an extension to `dynamic-link', it will
2651 try a few appropriate ones. Thus, the most platform ignorant way is
2652 to specify a name like "libfoo", without any directories and
2655 ** Guile COOP threads are now compatible with LinuxThreads
2657 Previously, COOP threading wasn't possible in applications linked with
2658 Linux POSIX threads due to their use of the stack pointer to find the
2659 thread context. This has now been fixed with a workaround which uses
2660 the pthreads to allocate the stack.
2662 ** New primitives: `pkgdata-dir', `site-dir', `library-dir'
2664 ** Positions of erring expression in scripts
2666 With version 1.3.4, the location of the erring expression in Guile
2667 scipts is no longer automatically reported. (This should have been
2668 documented before the 1.3.4 release.)
2670 You can get this information by enabling recording of positions of
2671 source expressions and running the debugging evaluator. Put this at
2672 the top of your script (or in your "site" file):
2674 (read-enable 'positions)
2675 (debug-enable 'debug)
2677 ** Backtraces in scripts
2679 It is now possible to get backtraces in scripts.
2683 (debug-enable 'debug 'backtrace)
2685 at the top of the script.
2687 (The first options enables the debugging evaluator.
2688 The second enables backtraces.)
2690 ** Part of module system symbol lookup now implemented in C
2692 The eval closure of most modules is now implemented in C. Since this
2693 was one of the bottlenecks for loading speed, Guile now loads code
2694 substantially faster than before.
2696 ** Attempting to get the value of an unbound variable now produces
2697 an exception with a key of 'unbound-variable instead of 'misc-error.
2699 ** The initial default output port is now unbuffered if it's using a
2700 tty device. Previously in this situation it was line-buffered.
2702 ** New hook: after-gc-hook
2704 after-gc-hook takes over the role of gc-thunk. This hook is run at
2705 the first SCM_TICK after a GC. (Thus, the code is run at the same
2706 point during evaluation as signal handlers.)
2708 Note that this hook should be used only for diagnostic and debugging
2709 purposes. It is not certain that it will continue to be well-defined
2710 when this hook is run in the future.
2712 C programmers: Note the new C level hooks scm_before_gc_c_hook,
2713 scm_before_sweep_c_hook, scm_after_gc_c_hook.
2715 ** Improvements to garbage collector
2717 Guile 1.4 has a new policy for triggering heap allocation and
2718 determining the sizes of heap segments. It fixes a number of problems
2721 1. The new policy can handle two separate pools of cells
2722 (2-word/4-word) better. (The old policy would run wild, allocating
2723 more and more memory for certain programs.)
2725 2. The old code would sometimes allocate far too much heap so that the
2726 Guile process became gigantic. The new code avoids this.
2728 3. The old code would sometimes allocate too little so that few cells
2729 were freed at GC so that, in turn, too much time was spent in GC.
2731 4. The old code would often trigger heap allocation several times in a
2732 row. (The new scheme predicts how large the segments needs to be
2733 in order not to need further allocation.)
2735 All in all, the new GC policy will make larger applications more
2738 The new GC scheme also is prepared for POSIX threading. Threads can
2739 allocate private pools of cells ("clusters") with just a single
2740 function call. Allocation of single cells from such a cluster can
2741 then proceed without any need of inter-thread synchronization.
2743 ** New environment variables controlling GC parameters
2745 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE Maximal segment size
2748 Allocation of 2-word cell heaps:
2750 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1 Size of initial heap segment in bytes
2753 GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1 Minimum number of freed cells at each
2754 GC in percent of total heap size
2757 Allocation of 4-word cell heaps
2758 (used for real numbers and misc other objects):
2760 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2
2762 (See entry "Way for application to customize GC parameters" under
2763 section "Changes to the scm_ interface" below.)
2765 ** Guile now implements reals using 4-word cells
2767 This speeds up computation with reals. (They were earlier allocated
2768 with `malloc'.) There is still some room for optimizations, however.
2770 ** Some further steps toward POSIX thread support have been taken
2772 *** Guile's critical sections (SCM_DEFER/ALLOW_INTS)
2773 don't have much effect any longer, and many of them will be removed in
2777 are only handled at the top of the evaluator loop, immediately after
2778 I/O, and in scm_equalp.
2780 *** The GC can allocate thread private pools of pairs.
2782 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
2784 ** close-input-port and close-output-port are now R5RS
2786 These procedures have been turned into primitives and have R5RS behaviour.
2788 ** New procedure: simple-format PORT MESSAGE ARG1 ...
2790 (ice-9 boot) makes `format' an alias for `simple-format' until possibly
2791 extended by the more sophisticated version in (ice-9 format)
2793 (simple-format port message . args)
2794 Write MESSAGE to DESTINATION, defaulting to `current-output-port'.
2795 MESSAGE can contain ~A (was %s) and ~S (was %S) escapes. When printed,
2796 the escapes are replaced with corresponding members of ARGS:
2797 ~A formats using `display' and ~S formats using `write'.
2798 If DESTINATION is #t, then use the `current-output-port',
2799 if DESTINATION is #f, then return a string containing the formatted text.
2800 Does not add a trailing newline."
2802 ** string-ref: the second argument is no longer optional.
2804 ** string, list->string: no longer accept strings in their arguments,
2805 only characters, for compatibility with R5RS.
2807 ** New procedure: port-closed? PORT
2808 Returns #t if PORT is closed or #f if it is open.
2810 ** Deprecated: list*
2812 The list* functionality is now provided by cons* (SRFI-1 compliant)
2814 ** New procedure: cons* ARG1 ARG2 ... ARGn
2816 Like `list', but the last arg provides the tail of the constructed list,
2817 returning (cons ARG1 (cons ARG2 (cons ... ARGn))).
2819 Requires at least one argument. If given one argument, that argument
2820 is returned as result.
2822 This function is called `list*' in some other Schemes and in Common LISP.
2824 ** Removed deprecated: serial-map, serial-array-copy!, serial-array-map!
2826 ** New procedure: object-documentation OBJECT
2828 Returns the documentation string associated with OBJECT. The
2829 procedure uses a caching mechanism so that subsequent lookups are
2832 Exported by (ice-9 documentation).
2834 ** module-name now returns full names of modules
2836 Previously, only the last part of the name was returned (`session' for
2837 `(ice-9 session)'). Ex: `(ice-9 session)'.
2839 * Changes to the gh_ interface
2841 ** Deprecated: gh_int2scmb
2843 Use gh_bool2scm instead.
2845 * Changes to the scm_ interface
2847 ** Guile primitives now carry docstrings!
2849 Thanks to Greg Badros!
2851 ** Guile primitives are defined in a new way: SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
2853 Now Guile primitives are defined using the SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
2854 macros and must contain a docstring that is extracted into foo.doc using a new
2855 guile-doc-snarf script (that uses guile-doc-snarf.awk).
2857 However, a major overhaul of these macros is scheduled for the next release of
2860 ** Guile primitives use a new technique for validation of arguments
2862 SCM_VALIDATE_* macros are defined to ease the redundancy and improve
2863 the readability of argument checking.
2865 ** All (nearly?) K&R prototypes for functions replaced with ANSI C equivalents.
2867 ** New macros: SCM_PACK, SCM_UNPACK
2869 Compose/decompose an SCM value.
2871 The SCM type is now treated as an abstract data type and may be defined as a
2872 long, a void* or as a struct, depending on the architecture and compile time
2873 options. This makes it easier to find several types of bugs, for example when
2874 SCM values are treated as integers without conversion. Values of the SCM type
2875 should be treated as "atomic" values. These macros are used when
2876 composing/decomposing an SCM value, either because you want to access
2877 individual bits, or because you want to treat it as an integer value.
2879 E.g., in order to set bit 7 in an SCM value x, use the expression
2881 SCM_PACK (SCM_UNPACK (x) | 0x80)
2883 ** The name property of hooks is deprecated.
2884 Thus, the use of SCM_HOOK_NAME and scm_make_hook_with_name is deprecated.
2886 You can emulate this feature by using object properties.
2888 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP, SCM_CRDY, SCM_ICHRP,
2889 SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR, SCM_SETJMPBUF, SCM_NSTRINGP, SCM_NRWSTRINGP,
2892 These macros will be removed in a future release of Guile.
2894 ** The following types, functions and macros from numbers.h are deprecated:
2895 scm_dblproc, SCM_UNEGFIXABLE, SCM_FLOBUFLEN, SCM_INEXP, SCM_CPLXP, SCM_REAL,
2896 SCM_IMAG, SCM_REALPART, scm_makdbl, SCM_SINGP, SCM_NUM2DBL, SCM_NO_BIGDIG
2898 ** Port internals: the rw_random variable in the scm_port structure
2899 must be set to non-zero in any random access port. In recent Guile
2900 releases it was only set for bidirectional random-access ports.
2902 ** Port internals: the seek ptob procedure is now responsible for
2903 resetting the buffers if required. The change was made so that in the
2904 special case of reading the current position (i.e., seek p 0 SEEK_CUR)
2905 the fport and strport ptobs can avoid resetting the buffers,
2906 in particular to avoid discarding unread chars. An existing port
2907 type can be fixed by adding something like the following to the
2908 beginning of the ptob seek procedure:
2910 if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_READ)
2911 scm_end_input (object);
2912 else if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_WRITE)
2913 ptob->flush (object);
2915 although to actually avoid resetting the buffers and discard unread
2916 chars requires further hacking that depends on the characteristics
2919 ** Deprecated functions: scm_fseek, scm_tag
2921 These functions are no longer used and will be removed in a future version.
2923 ** The scm_sysmissing procedure is no longer used in libguile.
2924 Unless it turns out to be unexpectedly useful to somebody, it will be
2925 removed in a future version.
2927 ** The format of error message strings has changed
2929 The two C procedures: scm_display_error and scm_error, as well as the
2930 primitive `scm-error', now use scm_simple_format to do their work.
2931 This means that the message strings of all code must be updated to use
2932 ~A where %s was used before, and ~S where %S was used before.
2934 During the period when there still are a lot of old Guiles out there,
2935 you might want to support both old and new versions of Guile.
2937 There are basically two methods to achieve this. Both methods use
2940 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(scm_simple_format)
2942 in your configure.in.
2944 Method 1: Use the string concatenation features of ANSI C's
2949 #ifdef HAVE_SCM_SIMPLE_FORMAT
2955 Then represent each of your error messages using a preprocessor macro:
2957 #define E_SPIDER_ERROR "There's a spider in your " ## FMT_S ## "!!!"
2961 (define fmt-s (if (defined? 'simple-format) "~S" "%S"))
2962 (define make-message string-append)
2964 (define e-spider-error (make-message "There's a spider in your " fmt-s "!!!"))
2966 Method 2: Use the oldfmt function found in doc/oldfmt.c.
2970 scm_misc_error ("picnic", scm_c_oldfmt0 ("There's a spider in your ~S!!!"),
2975 (scm-error 'misc-error "picnic" (oldfmt "There's a spider in your ~S!!!")
2979 ** Deprecated: coop_mutex_init, coop_condition_variable_init
2981 Don't use the functions coop_mutex_init and
2982 coop_condition_variable_init. They will change.
2984 Use scm_mutex_init and scm_cond_init instead.
2986 ** New function: int scm_cond_timedwait (scm_cond_t *COND, scm_mutex_t *MUTEX, const struct timespec *ABSTIME)
2987 `scm_cond_timedwait' atomically unlocks MUTEX and waits on
2988 COND, as `scm_cond_wait' does, but it also bounds the duration
2989 of the wait. If COND has not been signaled before time ABSTIME,
2990 the mutex MUTEX is re-acquired and `scm_cond_timedwait'
2991 returns the error code `ETIMEDOUT'.
2993 The ABSTIME parameter specifies an absolute time, with the same
2994 origin as `time' and `gettimeofday': an ABSTIME of 0 corresponds
2995 to 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970.
2997 ** New function: scm_cond_broadcast (scm_cond_t *COND)
2998 `scm_cond_broadcast' restarts all the threads that are waiting
2999 on the condition variable COND. Nothing happens if no threads are
3002 ** New function: scm_key_create (scm_key_t *KEY, void (*destr_function) (void *))
3003 `scm_key_create' allocates a new TSD key. The key is stored in
3004 the location pointed to by KEY. There is no limit on the number
3005 of keys allocated at a given time. The value initially associated
3006 with the returned key is `NULL' in all currently executing threads.
3008 The DESTR_FUNCTION argument, if not `NULL', specifies a destructor
3009 function associated with the key. When a thread terminates,
3010 DESTR_FUNCTION is called on the value associated with the key in
3011 that thread. The DESTR_FUNCTION is not called if a key is deleted
3012 with `scm_key_delete' or a value is changed with
3013 `scm_setspecific'. The order in which destructor functions are
3014 called at thread termination time is unspecified.
3016 Destructors are not yet implemented.
3018 ** New function: scm_setspecific (scm_key_t KEY, const void *POINTER)
3019 `scm_setspecific' changes the value associated with KEY in the
3020 calling thread, storing the given POINTER instead.
3022 ** New function: scm_getspecific (scm_key_t KEY)
3023 `scm_getspecific' returns the value currently associated with
3024 KEY in the calling thread.
3026 ** New function: scm_key_delete (scm_key_t KEY)
3027 `scm_key_delete' deallocates a TSD key. It does not check
3028 whether non-`NULL' values are associated with that key in the
3029 currently executing threads, nor call the destructor function
3030 associated with the key.
3032 ** New function: scm_c_hook_init (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *HOOK_DATA, scm_c_hook_type_t TYPE)
3034 Initialize a C level hook HOOK with associated HOOK_DATA and type
3035 TYPE. (See scm_c_hook_run ().)
3037 ** New function: scm_c_hook_add (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA, int APPENDP)
3039 Add hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA to HOOK. If APPENDP
3040 is true, add it last, otherwise first. The same FUNC can be added
3041 multiple times if FUNC_DATA differ and vice versa.
3043 ** New function: scm_c_hook_remove (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA)
3045 Remove hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA from HOOK. A
3046 function is only removed if both FUNC and FUNC_DATA matches.
3048 ** New function: void *scm_c_hook_run (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *DATA)
3050 Run hook HOOK passing DATA to the hook functions.
3052 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_NORMAL, all hook functions are run. The value
3053 returned is undefined.
3055 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_OR, hook functions are run until a function
3056 returns a non-NULL value. This value is returned as the result of
3057 scm_c_hook_run. If all functions return NULL, NULL is returned.
3059 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_AND, hook functions are run until a function
3060 returns a NULL value, and NULL is returned. If all functions returns
3061 a non-NULL value, the last value is returned.
3063 ** New C level GC hooks
3065 Five new C level hooks has been added to the garbage collector.
3067 scm_before_gc_c_hook
3070 are run before locking and after unlocking the heap. The system is
3071 thus in a mode where evaluation can take place. (Except that
3072 scm_before_gc_c_hook must not allocate new cells.)
3074 scm_before_mark_c_hook
3075 scm_before_sweep_c_hook
3076 scm_after_sweep_c_hook
3078 are run when the heap is locked. These are intended for extension of
3079 the GC in a modular fashion. Examples are the weaks and guardians
3082 ** Way for application to customize GC parameters
3084 The application can set up other default values for the GC heap
3085 allocation parameters
3087 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_1, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1,
3088 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2,
3089 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE,
3093 scm_default_init_heap_size_1, scm_default_min_yield_1,
3094 scm_default_init_heap_size_2, scm_default_min_yield_2,
3095 scm_default_max_segment_size
3097 respectively before callong scm_boot_guile.
3099 (See entry "New environment variables ..." in section
3100 "Changes to the stand-alone interpreter" above.)
3102 ** scm_protect_object/scm_unprotect_object now nest
3104 This means that you can call scm_protect_object multiple times on an
3105 object and count on the object being protected until
3106 scm_unprotect_object has been call the same number of times.
3108 The functions also have better time complexity.
3110 Still, it is usually possible to structure the application in a way
3111 that you don't need to use these functions. For example, if you use a
3112 protected standard Guile list to keep track of live objects rather
3113 than some custom data type, objects will die a natural death when they
3114 are no longer needed.
3116 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc16_flo, scm_tc_flo, scm_tc_dblr, scm_tc_dblc
3118 Guile does not provide the float representation for inexact real numbers any
3119 more. Now, only doubles are used to represent inexact real numbers. Further,
3120 the tag names scm_tc_dblr and scm_tc_dblc have been changed to scm_tc16_real
3121 and scm_tc16_complex, respectively.
3123 ** Removed deprecated type scm_smobfuns
3125 ** Removed deprecated function scm_newsmob
3127 ** Warning: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe might become deprecated in a future release
3129 There is an ongoing discussion among the developers whether to
3130 deprecate `scm_make_smob_type_mfpe' or not. Please use the current
3131 standard interface (scm_make_smob_type, scm_set_smob_XXX) in new code
3132 until this issue has been settled.
3134 ** Removed deprecated type tag scm_tc16_kw
3136 ** Added type tag scm_tc16_keyword
3138 (This was introduced already in release 1.3.4 but was not documented
3141 ** gdb_print now prints "*** Guile not initialized ***" until Guile initialized
3143 * Changes to system call interfaces:
3145 ** The "select" procedure now tests port buffers for the ability to
3146 provide input or accept output. Previously only the underlying file
3147 descriptors were checked.
3149 ** New variable PIPE_BUF: the maximum number of bytes that can be
3150 atomically written to a pipe.
3152 ** If a facility is not available on the system when Guile is
3153 compiled, the corresponding primitive procedure will not be defined.
3154 Previously it would have been defined but would throw a system-error
3155 exception if called. Exception handlers which catch this case may
3156 need minor modification: an error will be thrown with key
3157 'unbound-variable instead of 'system-error. Alternatively it's
3158 now possible to use `defined?' to check whether the facility is
3161 ** Procedures which depend on the timezone should now give the correct
3162 result on systems which cache the TZ environment variable, even if TZ
3163 is changed without calling tzset.
3165 * Changes to the networking interfaces:
3167 ** New functions: htons, ntohs, htonl, ntohl: for converting short and
3168 long integers between network and host format. For now, it's not
3169 particularly convenient to do this kind of thing, but consider:
3171 (define write-network-long
3172 (lambda (value port)
3173 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
3174 (uniform-vector-set! v 0 (htonl value))
3175 (uniform-vector-write v port))))
3177 (define read-network-long
3179 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
3180 (uniform-vector-read! v port)
3181 (ntohl (uniform-vector-ref v 0)))))
3183 ** If inet-aton fails, it now throws an error with key 'misc-error
3184 instead of 'system-error, since errno is not relevant.
3186 ** Certain gethostbyname/gethostbyaddr failures now throw errors with
3187 specific keys instead of 'system-error. The latter is inappropriate
3188 since errno will not have been set. The keys are:
3189 'host-not-found, 'try-again, 'no-recovery and 'no-data.
3191 ** sethostent, setnetent, setprotoent, setservent: now take an
3192 optional argument STAYOPEN, which specifies whether the database
3193 remains open after a database entry is accessed randomly (e.g., using
3194 gethostbyname for the hosts database.) The default is #f. Previously
3198 Changes since Guile 1.3.2:
3200 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3204 An initial version of the Guile debugger written by Chris Hanson has
3205 been added. The debugger is still under development but is included
3206 in the distribution anyway since it is already quite useful.
3212 after an error to enter the debugger. Type `help' inside the debugger
3213 for a description of available commands.
3215 If you prefer to have stack frames numbered and printed in
3216 anti-chronological order and prefer up in the stack to be down on the
3217 screen as is the case in gdb, you can put
3219 (debug-enable 'backwards)
3221 in your .guile startup file. (However, this means that Guile can't
3222 use indentation to indicate stack level.)
3224 The debugger is autoloaded into Guile at the first use.
3226 ** Further enhancements to backtraces
3228 There is a new debug option `width' which controls the maximum width
3229 on the screen of printed stack frames. Fancy printing parameters
3230 ("level" and "length" as in Common LISP) are adaptively adjusted for
3231 each stack frame to give maximum information while still fitting
3232 within the bounds. If the stack frame can't be made to fit by
3233 adjusting parameters, it is simply cut off at the end. This is marked
3236 ** Some modules are now only loaded when the repl is started
3238 The modules (ice-9 debug), (ice-9 session), (ice-9 threads) and (ice-9
3239 regex) are now loaded into (guile-user) only if the repl has been
3240 started. The effect is that the startup time for scripts has been
3241 reduced to 30% of what it was previously.
3243 Correctly written scripts load the modules they require at the top of
3244 the file and should not be affected by this change.
3246 ** Hooks are now represented as smobs
3248 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3250 ** Readline support has changed again.
3252 The old (readline-activator) module is gone. Use (ice-9 readline)
3253 instead, which now contains all readline functionality. So the code
3254 to activate readline is now
3256 (use-modules (ice-9 readline))
3259 This should work at any time, including from the guile prompt.
3261 To avoid confusion about the terms of Guile's license, please only
3262 enable readline for your personal use; please don't make it the
3263 default for others. Here is why we make this rather odd-sounding
3266 Guile is normally licensed under a weakened form of the GNU General
3267 Public License, which allows you to link code with Guile without
3268 placing that code under the GPL. This exception is important to some
3271 However, since readline is distributed under the GNU General Public
3272 License, when you link Guile with readline, either statically or
3273 dynamically, you effectively change Guile's license to the strict GPL.
3274 Whenever you link any strictly GPL'd code into Guile, uses of Guile
3275 which are normally permitted become forbidden. This is a rather
3276 non-obvious consequence of the licensing terms.
3278 So, to make sure things remain clear, please let people choose for
3279 themselves whether to link GPL'd libraries like readline with Guile.
3281 ** regexp-substitute/global has changed slightly, but incompatibly.
3283 If you include a function in the item list, the string of the match
3284 object it receives is the same string passed to
3285 regexp-substitute/global, not some suffix of that string.
3286 Correspondingly, the match's positions are relative to the entire
3287 string, not the suffix.
3289 If the regexp can match the empty string, the way matches are chosen
3290 from the string has changed. regexp-substitute/global recognizes the
3291 same set of matches that list-matches does; see below.
3293 ** New function: list-matches REGEXP STRING [FLAGS]
3295 Return a list of match objects, one for every non-overlapping, maximal
3296 match of REGEXP in STRING. The matches appear in left-to-right order.
3297 list-matches only reports matches of the empty string if there are no
3298 other matches which begin on, end at, or include the empty match's
3301 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
3303 ** New function: fold-matches REGEXP STRING INIT PROC [FLAGS]
3305 For each match of REGEXP in STRING, apply PROC to the match object,
3306 and the last value PROC returned, or INIT for the first call. Return
3307 the last value returned by PROC. We apply PROC to the matches as they
3308 appear from left to right.
3310 This function recognizes matches according to the same criteria as
3313 Thus, you could define list-matches like this:
3315 (define (list-matches regexp string . flags)
3316 (reverse! (apply fold-matches regexp string '() cons flags)))
3318 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
3322 *** New function: hook? OBJ
3324 Return #t if OBJ is a hook, otherwise #f.
3326 *** New function: make-hook-with-name NAME [ARITY]
3328 Return a hook with name NAME and arity ARITY. The default value for
3329 ARITY is 0. The only effect of NAME is that it will appear when the
3330 hook object is printed to ease debugging.
3332 *** New function: hook-empty? HOOK
3334 Return #t if HOOK doesn't contain any procedures, otherwise #f.
3336 *** New function: hook->list HOOK
3338 Return a list of the procedures that are called when run-hook is
3341 ** `map' signals an error if its argument lists are not all the same length.
3343 This is the behavior required by R5RS, so this change is really a bug
3344 fix. But it seems to affect a lot of people's code, so we're
3345 mentioning it here anyway.
3347 ** Print-state handling has been made more transparent
3349 Under certain circumstances, ports are represented as a port with an
3350 associated print state. Earlier, this pair was represented as a pair
3351 (see "Some magic has been added to the printer" below). It is now
3352 indistinguishable (almost; see `get-print-state') from a port on the
3355 *** New function: port-with-print-state OUTPUT-PORT PRINT-STATE
3357 Return a new port with the associated print state PRINT-STATE.
3359 *** New function: get-print-state OUTPUT-PORT
3361 Return the print state associated with this port if it exists,
3362 otherwise return #f.
3364 *** New function: directory-stream? OBJECT
3366 Returns true iff OBJECT is a directory stream --- the sort of object
3367 returned by `opendir'.
3369 ** New function: using-readline?
3371 Return #t if readline is in use in the current repl.
3373 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
3375 Structs will be replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into Guile
3376 and use GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
3378 * Changes to the scm_ interface
3380 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
3382 The entire current struct interface (struct.c, struct.h) will be
3383 replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into libguile and use
3384 GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
3386 ** The internal representation of subr's has changed
3388 Instead of giving a hint to the subr name, the CAR field of the subr
3389 now contains an index to a subr entry in scm_subr_table.
3391 *** New variable: scm_subr_table
3393 An array of subr entries. A subr entry contains the name, properties
3394 and documentation associated with the subr. The properties and
3395 documentation slots are not yet used.
3397 ** A new scheme for "forwarding" calls to a builtin to a generic function
3399 It is now possible to extend the functionality of some Guile
3400 primitives by letting them defer a call to a GOOPS generic function on
3401 argument mismatch. This means that there is no loss of efficiency in
3406 (use-modules (oop goops)) ; Must be GOOPS version 0.2.
3407 (define-method + ((x <string>) (y <string>))
3408 (string-append x y))
3410 + will still be as efficient as usual in numerical calculations, but
3411 can also be used for concatenating strings.
3413 Who will be the first one to extend Guile's numerical tower to
3414 rationals? :) [OK, there a few other things to fix before this can
3415 be made in a clean way.]
3417 *** New snarf macros for defining primitives: SCM_GPROC, SCM_GPROC1
3419 New macro: SCM_GPROC (CNAME, SNAME, REQ, OPT, VAR, CFUNC, GENERIC)
3421 New macro: SCM_GPROC1 (CNAME, SNAME, TYPE, CFUNC, GENERIC)
3423 These do the same job as SCM_PROC and SCM_PROC1, but they also define
3424 a variable GENERIC which can be used by the dispatch macros below.
3426 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3428 *** New macros for forwarding control to a generic on arg type error
3430 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1 (GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
3432 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
3434 These correspond to the scm_wta function call, and have the same
3435 behaviour until the user has called the GOOPS primitive
3436 `enable-primitive-generic!'. After that, these macros will apply the
3437 generic function GENERIC to the argument(s) instead of calling
3440 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3442 *** New macros for argument testing with generic dispatch
3444 New macro: SCM_GASSERT1 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
3446 New macro: SCM_GASSERT2 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
3448 These correspond to the SCM_ASSERT macro, but will defer control to
3449 GENERIC on error after `enable-primitive-generic!' has been called.
3451 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3453 ** New function: SCM scm_eval_body (SCM body, SCM env)
3455 Evaluates the body of a special form.
3457 ** The internal representation of struct's has changed
3459 Previously, four slots were allocated for the procedure(s) of entities
3460 and operators. The motivation for this representation had to do with
3461 the structure of the evaluator, the wish to support tail-recursive
3462 generic functions, and efficiency. Since the generic function
3463 dispatch mechanism has changed, there is no longer a need for such an
3464 expensive representation, and the representation has been simplified.
3466 This should not make any difference for most users.
3468 ** GOOPS support has been cleaned up.
3470 Some code has been moved from eval.c to objects.c and code in both of
3471 these compilation units has been cleaned up and better structured.
3473 *** New functions for applying generic functions
3475 New function: SCM scm_apply_generic (GENERIC, ARGS)
3476 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_0 (GENERIC)
3477 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_1 (GENERIC, ARG1)
3478 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2)
3479 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_3 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, ARG3)
3481 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_named_hook
3483 It is now replaced by:
3485 ** New function: SCM scm_create_hook (const char *name, int arity)
3487 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
3488 binds a variable named NAME to it.
3490 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
3492 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module.
3493 This might change when we get the new module system.
3495 [The behaviour is identical to scm_make_named_hook.]
3499 Changes since Guile 1.3:
3501 * Changes to mailing lists
3503 ** Some of the Guile mailing lists have moved to sourceware.cygnus.com.
3505 See the README file to find current addresses for all the Guile
3508 * Changes to the distribution
3510 ** Readline support is no longer included with Guile by default.
3512 Based on the different license terms of Guile and Readline, we
3513 concluded that Guile should not *by default* cause the linking of
3514 Readline into an application program. Readline support is now offered
3515 as a separate module, which is linked into an application only when
3516 you explicitly specify it.
3518 Although Guile is GNU software, its distribution terms add a special
3519 exception to the usual GNU General Public License (GPL). Guile's
3520 license includes a clause that allows you to link Guile with non-free
3521 programs. We add this exception so as not to put Guile at a
3522 disadvantage vis-a-vis other extensibility packages that support other
3525 In contrast, the GNU Readline library is distributed under the GNU
3526 General Public License pure and simple. This means that you may not
3527 link Readline, even dynamically, into an application unless it is
3528 distributed under a free software license that is compatible the GPL.
3530 Because of this difference in distribution terms, an application that
3531 can use Guile may not be able to use Readline. Now users will be
3532 explicitly offered two independent decisions about the use of these
3535 You can activate the readline support by issuing
3537 (use-modules (readline-activator))
3540 from your ".guile" file, for example.
3542 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3544 ** All builtins now print as primitives.
3545 Previously builtin procedures not belonging to the fundamental subr
3546 types printed as #<compiled closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>.
3547 Now, they print as #<primitive-procedure NAME>.
3549 ** Backtraces slightly more intelligible.
3550 gsubr-apply and macro transformer application frames no longer appear
3553 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3555 ** Guile now correctly handles internal defines by rewriting them into
3556 their equivalent letrec. Previously, internal defines would
3557 incrementally add to the innermost environment, without checking
3558 whether the restrictions specified in RnRS were met. This lead to the
3559 correct behaviour when these restriction actually were met, but didn't
3560 catch all illegal uses. Such an illegal use could lead to crashes of
3561 the Guile interpreter or or other unwanted results. An example of
3562 incorrect internal defines that made Guile behave erratically:
3574 The problem with this example is that the definition of `c' uses the
3575 value of `b' directly. This confuses the meoization machine of Guile
3576 so that the second call of `b' (this time in a larger environment that
3577 also contains bindings for `c' and `d') refers to the binding of `c'
3578 instead of `a'. You could also make Guile crash with a variation on
3583 (define (b flag) (if flag a 1))
3584 (define c (1+ (b flag)))
3592 From now on, Guile will issue an `Unbound variable: b' error message
3597 A hook contains a list of functions which should be called on
3598 particular occasions in an existing program. Hooks are used for
3601 A window manager might have a hook before-window-map-hook. The window
3602 manager uses the function run-hooks to call all functions stored in
3603 before-window-map-hook each time a window is mapped. The user can
3604 store functions in the hook using add-hook!.
3606 In Guile, hooks are first class objects.
3608 *** New function: make-hook [N_ARGS]
3610 Return a hook for hook functions which can take N_ARGS arguments.
3611 The default value for N_ARGS is 0.
3613 (See also scm_make_named_hook below.)
3615 *** New function: add-hook! HOOK PROC [APPEND_P]
3617 Put PROC at the beginning of the list of functions stored in HOOK.
3618 If APPEND_P is supplied, and non-false, put PROC at the end instead.
3620 PROC must be able to take the number of arguments specified when the
3623 If PROC already exists in HOOK, then remove it first.
3625 *** New function: remove-hook! HOOK PROC
3627 Remove PROC from the list of functions in HOOK.
3629 *** New function: reset-hook! HOOK
3631 Clear the list of hook functions stored in HOOK.
3633 *** New function: run-hook HOOK ARG1 ...
3635 Run all hook functions stored in HOOK with arguments ARG1 ... .
3636 The number of arguments supplied must correspond to the number given
3637 when the hook was created.
3639 ** The function `dynamic-link' now takes optional keyword arguments.
3640 The only keyword argument that is currently defined is `:global
3641 BOOL'. With it, you can control whether the shared library will be
3642 linked in global mode or not. In global mode, the symbols from the
3643 linked library can be used to resolve references from other
3644 dynamically linked libraries. In non-global mode, the linked
3645 library is essentially invisible and can only be accessed via
3646 `dynamic-func', etc. The default is now to link in global mode.
3647 Previously, the default has been non-global mode.
3649 The `#:global' keyword is only effective on platforms that support
3650 the dlopen family of functions.
3652 ** New function `provided?'
3654 - Function: provided? FEATURE
3655 Return true iff FEATURE is supported by this installation of
3656 Guile. FEATURE must be a symbol naming a feature; the global
3657 variable `*features*' is a list of available features.
3659 ** Changes to the module (ice-9 expect):
3661 *** The expect-strings macro now matches `$' in a regular expression
3662 only at a line-break or end-of-file by default. Previously it would
3663 match the end of the string accumulated so far. The old behaviour
3664 can be obtained by setting the variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
3667 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
3668 for the regexp-exec flags. If `regexp/noteol' is included, then `$'
3669 in a regular expression will still match before a line-break or
3670 end-of-file. The default is `regexp/noteol'.
3672 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable
3673 `expect-strings-compile-flags' for the flags to be supplied to
3674 `make-regexp'. The default is `regexp/newline', which was previously
3677 *** The expect macro now supplies two arguments to a match procedure:
3678 the current accumulated string and a flag to indicate whether
3679 end-of-file has been reached. Previously only the string was supplied.
3680 If end-of-file is reached, the match procedure will be called an
3681 additional time with the same accumulated string as the previous call
3682 but with the flag set.
3684 ** New module (ice-9 format), implementing the Common Lisp `format' function.
3686 This code, and the documentation for it that appears here, was
3687 borrowed from SLIB, with minor adaptations for Guile.
3689 - Function: format DESTINATION FORMAT-STRING . ARGUMENTS
3690 An almost complete implementation of Common LISP format description
3691 according to the CL reference book `Common LISP' from Guy L.
3692 Steele, Digital Press. Backward compatible to most of the
3693 available Scheme format implementations.
3695 Returns `#t', `#f' or a string; has side effect of printing
3696 according to FORMAT-STRING. If DESTINATION is `#t', the output is
3697 to the current output port and `#t' is returned. If DESTINATION
3698 is `#f', a formatted string is returned as the result of the call.
3699 NEW: If DESTINATION is a string, DESTINATION is regarded as the
3700 format string; FORMAT-STRING is then the first argument and the
3701 output is returned as a string. If DESTINATION is a number, the
3702 output is to the current error port if available by the
3703 implementation. Otherwise DESTINATION must be an output port and
3706 FORMAT-STRING must be a string. In case of a formatting error
3707 format returns `#f' and prints a message on the current output or
3708 error port. Characters are output as if the string were output by
3709 the `display' function with the exception of those prefixed by a
3710 tilde (~). For a detailed description of the FORMAT-STRING syntax
3711 please consult a Common LISP format reference manual. For a test
3712 suite to verify this format implementation load `formatst.scm'.
3713 Please send bug reports to `lutzeb@cs.tu-berlin.de'.
3715 Note: `format' is not reentrant, i.e. only one `format'-call may
3716 be executed at a time.
3719 *** Format Specification (Format version 3.0)
3721 Please consult a Common LISP format reference manual for a detailed
3722 description of the format string syntax. For a demonstration of the
3723 implemented directives see `formatst.scm'.
3725 This implementation supports directive parameters and modifiers (`:'
3726 and `@' characters). Multiple parameters must be separated by a comma
3727 (`,'). Parameters can be numerical parameters (positive or negative),
3728 character parameters (prefixed by a quote character (`''), variable
3729 parameters (`v'), number of rest arguments parameter (`#'), empty and
3730 default parameters. Directive characters are case independent. The
3731 general form of a directive is:
3733 DIRECTIVE ::= ~{DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER,}[:][@]DIRECTIVE-CHARACTER
3735 DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER ::= [ [-|+]{0-9}+ | 'CHARACTER | v | # ]
3737 *** Implemented CL Format Control Directives
3739 Documentation syntax: Uppercase characters represent the
3740 corresponding control directive characters. Lowercase characters
3741 represent control directive parameter descriptions.
3744 Any (print as `display' does).
3748 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARA'
3752 S-expression (print as `write' does).
3756 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARS'
3762 print number sign always.
3765 print comma separated.
3767 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARD'
3773 print number sign always.
3776 print comma separated.
3778 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARX'
3784 print number sign always.
3787 print comma separated.
3789 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARO'
3795 print number sign always.
3798 print comma separated.
3800 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARB'
3805 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARR'
3809 print a number as a Roman numeral.
3812 print a number as an "old fashioned" Roman numeral.
3815 print a number as an ordinal English number.
3818 print a number as a cardinal English number.
3823 prints `y' and `ies'.
3826 as `~P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
3829 as `~@P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
3834 prints a character as the reader can understand it (i.e. `#\'
3838 prints a character as emacs does (eg. `^C' for ASCII 03).
3841 Fixed-format floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN).
3842 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHARF'
3844 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3847 Exponential floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN`E'EE).
3848 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARE'
3850 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3853 General floating-point (prints a flonum either fixed or
3855 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARG'
3857 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3860 Dollars floating-point (prints a flonum in fixed with signs
3862 `~DIGITS,SCALE,WIDTH,PADCHAR$'
3864 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3867 A sign is always printed and appears before the padding.
3870 The sign appears before the padding.
3878 print newline if not at the beginning of the output line.
3880 prints `~&' and then N-1 newlines.
3885 print N page separators.
3895 newline is ignored, white space left.
3898 newline is left, white space ignored.
3903 relative tabulation.
3909 Indirection (expects indirect arguments as a list).
3911 extracts indirect arguments from format arguments.
3914 Case conversion (converts by `string-downcase').
3916 converts by `string-capitalize'.
3919 converts by `string-capitalize-first'.
3922 converts by `string-upcase'.
3925 Argument Jumping (jumps 1 argument forward).
3927 jumps N arguments forward.
3930 jumps 1 argument backward.
3933 jumps N arguments backward.
3936 jumps to the 0th argument.
3939 jumps to the Nth argument (beginning from 0)
3941 `~[STR0~;STR1~;...~;STRN~]'
3942 Conditional Expression (numerical clause conditional).
3944 take argument from N.
3947 true test conditional.
3950 if-else-then conditional.
3956 default clause follows.
3959 Iteration (args come from the next argument (a list)).
3961 at most N iterations.
3964 args from next arg (a list of lists).
3967 args from the rest of arguments.
3970 args from the rest args (lists).
3981 aborts if N <= M <= K
3983 *** Not Implemented CL Format Control Directives
3986 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
3989 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
3995 (sorry I don't understand its semantics completely)
3997 *** Extended, Replaced and Additional Control Directives
3999 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHD'
4000 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHX'
4001 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHO'
4002 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHB'
4003 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHR'
4004 COMMAWIDTH is the number of characters between two comma
4008 print a R4RS complex number as `~F~@Fi' with passed parameters for
4012 Pretty print formatting of an argument for scheme code lists.
4018 Flushes the output if format DESTINATION is a port.
4021 Print a `#\space' character
4023 print N `#\space' characters.
4026 Print a `#\tab' character
4028 print N `#\tab' characters.
4031 Takes N as an integer representation for a character. No arguments
4032 are consumed. N is converted to a character by `integer->char'. N
4033 must be a positive decimal number.
4036 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
4037 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
4038 be processed by `read'.
4041 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
4042 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
4043 be processed by `read'.
4046 Prints information and a copyright notice on the format
4049 prints format version.
4052 may also print number strings, i.e. passing a number as a string
4053 and format it accordingly.
4055 *** Configuration Variables
4057 The format module exports some configuration variables to suit the
4058 systems and users needs. There should be no modification necessary for
4059 the configuration that comes with Guile. Format detects automatically
4060 if the running scheme system implements floating point numbers and
4063 format:symbol-case-conv
4064 Symbols are converted by `symbol->string' so the case type of the
4065 printed symbols is implementation dependent.
4066 `format:symbol-case-conv' is a one arg closure which is either
4067 `#f' (no conversion), `string-upcase', `string-downcase' or
4068 `string-capitalize'. (default `#f')
4070 format:iobj-case-conv
4071 As FORMAT:SYMBOL-CASE-CONV but applies for the representation of
4072 implementation internal objects. (default `#f')
4075 The character prefixing the exponent value in `~E' printing.
4078 *** Compatibility With Other Format Implementations
4084 Downward compatible except for padding support and `~A', `~S',
4085 `~P', `~X' uppercase printing. SLIB format 1.4 uses C-style
4086 `printf' padding support which is completely replaced by the CL
4087 `format' padding style.
4090 Downward compatible except for `~', which is not documented
4091 (ignores all characters inside the format string up to a newline
4092 character). (7.1 implements `~a', `~s', ~NEWLINE, `~~', `~%',
4093 numerical and variable parameters and `:/@' modifiers in the CL
4097 Downward compatible except for `~A' and `~S' which print in
4098 uppercase. (Elk implements `~a', `~s', `~~', and `~%' (no
4099 directive parameters or modifiers)).
4102 Downward compatible except for an optional destination parameter:
4103 S2C accepts a format call without a destination which returns a
4104 formatted string. This is equivalent to a #f destination in S2C.
4105 (S2C implements `~a', `~s', `~c', `~%', and `~~' (no directive
4106 parameters or modifiers)).
4109 ** Changes to string-handling functions.
4111 These functions were added to support the (ice-9 format) module, above.
4113 *** New function: string-upcase STRING
4114 *** New function: string-downcase STRING
4116 These are non-destructive versions of the existing string-upcase! and
4117 string-downcase! functions.
4119 *** New function: string-capitalize! STRING
4120 *** New function: string-capitalize STRING
4122 These functions convert the first letter of each word in the string to
4125 (string-capitalize "howdy there")
4128 As with the other functions, string-capitalize! modifies the string in
4129 place, while string-capitalize returns a modified copy of its argument.
4131 *** New function: string-ci->symbol STRING
4133 Return a symbol whose name is STRING, but having the same case as if
4134 the symbol had be read by `read'.
4136 Guile can be configured to be sensitive or insensitive to case
4137 differences in Scheme identifiers. If Guile is case-insensitive, all
4138 symbols are converted to lower case on input. The `string-ci->symbol'
4139 function returns a symbol whose name in STRING, transformed as Guile
4140 would if STRING were input.
4142 *** New function: substring-move! STRING1 START END STRING2 START
4144 Copy the substring of STRING1 from START (inclusive) to END
4145 (exclusive) to STRING2 at START. STRING1 and STRING2 may be the same
4146 string, and the source and destination areas may overlap; in all
4147 cases, the function behaves as if all the characters were copied
4150 *** Extended functions: substring-move-left! substring-move-right!
4152 These functions now correctly copy arbitrarily overlapping substrings;
4153 they are both synonyms for substring-move!.
4156 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-long), with the function `getopt-long'.
4158 getopt-long is a function for parsing command-line arguments in a
4159 manner consistent with other GNU programs.
4161 (getopt-long ARGS GRAMMAR)
4162 Parse the arguments ARGS according to the argument list grammar GRAMMAR.
4164 ARGS should be a list of strings. Its first element should be the
4165 name of the program; subsequent elements should be the arguments
4166 that were passed to the program on the command line. The
4167 `program-arguments' procedure returns a list of this form.
4169 GRAMMAR is a list of the form:
4170 ((OPTION (PROPERTY VALUE) ...) ...)
4172 Each OPTION should be a symbol. `getopt-long' will accept a
4173 command-line option named `--OPTION'.
4174 Each option can have the following (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs:
4176 (single-char CHAR) --- Accept `-CHAR' as a single-character
4177 equivalent to `--OPTION'. This is how to specify traditional
4179 (required? BOOL) --- If BOOL is true, the option is required.
4180 getopt-long will raise an error if it is not found in ARGS.
4181 (value BOOL) --- If BOOL is #t, the option accepts a value; if
4182 it is #f, it does not; and if it is the symbol
4183 `optional', the option may appear in ARGS with or
4185 (predicate FUNC) --- If the option accepts a value (i.e. you
4186 specified `(value #t)' for this option), then getopt
4187 will apply FUNC to the value, and throw an exception
4188 if it returns #f. FUNC should be a procedure which
4189 accepts a string and returns a boolean value; you may
4190 need to use quasiquotes to get it into GRAMMAR.
4192 The (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs may occur in any order, but each
4193 property may occur only once. By default, options do not have
4194 single-character equivalents, are not required, and do not take
4197 In ARGS, single-character options may be combined, in the usual
4198 Unix fashion: ("-x" "-y") is equivalent to ("-xy"). If an option
4199 accepts values, then it must be the last option in the
4200 combination; the value is the next argument. So, for example, using
4201 the following grammar:
4202 ((apples (single-char #\a))
4203 (blimps (single-char #\b) (value #t))
4204 (catalexis (single-char #\c) (value #t)))
4205 the following argument lists would be acceptable:
4206 ("-a" "-b" "bang" "-c" "couth") ("bang" and "couth" are the values
4207 for "blimps" and "catalexis")
4208 ("-ab" "bang" "-c" "couth") (same)
4209 ("-ac" "couth" "-b" "bang") (same)
4210 ("-abc" "couth" "bang") (an error, since `-b' is not the
4211 last option in its combination)
4213 If an option's value is optional, then `getopt-long' decides
4214 whether it has a value by looking at what follows it in ARGS. If
4215 the next element is a string, and it does not appear to be an
4216 option itself, then that string is the option's value.
4218 The value of a long option can appear as the next element in ARGS,
4219 or it can follow the option name, separated by an `=' character.
4220 Thus, using the same grammar as above, the following argument lists
4222 ("--apples" "Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
4223 ("--apples=Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
4224 ("--blimps" "Goodyear" "--apples=Braeburn")
4226 If the option "--" appears in ARGS, argument parsing stops there;
4227 subsequent arguments are returned as ordinary arguments, even if
4228 they resemble options. So, in the argument list:
4229 ("--apples" "Granny Smith" "--" "--blimp" "Goodyear")
4230 `getopt-long' will recognize the `apples' option as having the
4231 value "Granny Smith", but it will not recognize the `blimp'
4232 option; it will return the strings "--blimp" and "Goodyear" as
4233 ordinary argument strings.
4235 The `getopt-long' function returns the parsed argument list as an
4236 assocation list, mapping option names --- the symbols from GRAMMAR
4237 --- onto their values, or #t if the option does not accept a value.
4238 Unused options do not appear in the alist.
4240 All arguments that are not the value of any option are returned
4241 as a list, associated with the empty list.
4243 `getopt-long' throws an exception if:
4244 - it finds an unrecognized option in ARGS
4245 - a required option is omitted
4246 - an option that requires an argument doesn't get one
4247 - an option that doesn't accept an argument does get one (this can
4248 only happen using the long option `--opt=value' syntax)
4249 - an option predicate fails
4254 `((lockfile-dir (required? #t)
4257 (predicate ,file-is-directory?))
4258 (verbose (required? #f)
4261 (x-includes (single-char #\x))
4262 (rnet-server (single-char #\y)
4263 (predicate ,string?))))
4265 (getopt-long '("my-prog" "-vk" "/tmp" "foo1" "--x-includes=/usr/include"
4266 "--rnet-server=lamprod" "--" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
4268 => ((() "foo1" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
4269 (rnet-server . "lamprod")
4270 (x-includes . "/usr/include")
4271 (lockfile-dir . "/tmp")
4274 ** The (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) module is obsolete; use (ice-9 getopt-long).
4276 It will be removed in a few releases.
4278 ** New syntax: lambda*
4279 ** New syntax: define*
4280 ** New syntax: define*-public
4281 ** New syntax: defmacro*
4282 ** New syntax: defmacro*-public
4283 Guile now supports optional arguments.
4285 `lambda*', `define*', `define*-public', `defmacro*' and
4286 `defmacro*-public' are identical to the non-* versions except that
4287 they use an extended type of parameter list that has the following BNF
4288 syntax (parentheses are literal, square brackets indicate grouping,
4289 and `*', `+' and `?' have the usual meaning):
4291 ext-param-list ::= ( [identifier]* [#&optional [ext-var-decl]+]?
4292 [#&key [ext-var-decl]+ [#&allow-other-keys]?]?
4293 [[#&rest identifier]|[. identifier]]? ) | [identifier]
4295 ext-var-decl ::= identifier | ( identifier expression )
4297 The semantics are best illustrated with the following documentation
4298 and examples for `lambda*':
4301 lambda extended for optional and keyword arguments
4303 lambda* creates a procedure that takes optional arguments. These
4304 are specified by putting them inside brackets at the end of the
4305 paramater list, but before any dotted rest argument. For example,
4306 (lambda* (a b #&optional c d . e) '())
4307 creates a procedure with fixed arguments a and b, optional arguments c
4308 and d, and rest argument e. If the optional arguments are omitted
4309 in a call, the variables for them are unbound in the procedure. This
4310 can be checked with the bound? macro.
4312 lambda* can also take keyword arguments. For example, a procedure
4314 (lambda* (#&key xyzzy larch) '())
4315 can be called with any of the argument lists (#:xyzzy 11)
4316 (#:larch 13) (#:larch 42 #:xyzzy 19) (). Whichever arguments
4317 are given as keywords are bound to values.
4319 Optional and keyword arguments can also be given default values
4320 which they take on when they are not present in a call, by giving a
4321 two-item list in place of an optional argument, for example in:
4322 (lambda* (foo #&optional (bar 42) #&key (baz 73)) (list foo bar baz))
4323 foo is a fixed argument, bar is an optional argument with default
4324 value 42, and baz is a keyword argument with default value 73.
4325 Default value expressions are not evaluated unless they are needed
4326 and until the procedure is called.
4328 lambda* now supports two more special parameter list keywords.
4330 lambda*-defined procedures now throw an error by default if a
4331 keyword other than one of those specified is found in the actual
4332 passed arguments. However, specifying #&allow-other-keys
4333 immediately after the kyword argument declarations restores the
4334 previous behavior of ignoring unknown keywords. lambda* also now
4335 guarantees that if the same keyword is passed more than once, the
4336 last one passed is the one that takes effect. For example,
4337 ((lambda* (#&key (heads 0) (tails 0)) (display (list heads tails)))
4338 #:heads 37 #:tails 42 #:heads 99)
4339 would result in (99 47) being displayed.
4341 #&rest is also now provided as a synonym for the dotted syntax rest
4342 argument. The argument lists (a . b) and (a #&rest b) are equivalent in
4343 all respects to lambda*. This is provided for more similarity to DSSSL,
4344 MIT-Scheme and Kawa among others, as well as for refugees from other
4347 Further documentation may be found in the optargs.scm file itself.
4349 The optional argument module also exports the macros `let-optional',
4350 `let-optional*', `let-keywords', `let-keywords*' and `bound?'. These
4351 are not documented here because they may be removed in the future, but
4352 full documentation is still available in optargs.scm.
4354 ** New syntax: and-let*
4355 Guile now supports the `and-let*' form, described in the draft SRFI-2.
4357 Syntax: (land* (<clause> ...) <body> ...)
4358 Each <clause> should have one of the following forms:
4359 (<variable> <expression>)
4362 Each <variable> or <bound-variable> should be an identifier. Each
4363 <expression> should be a valid expression. The <body> should be a
4364 possibly empty sequence of expressions, like the <body> of a
4367 Semantics: A LAND* expression is evaluated by evaluating the
4368 <expression> or <bound-variable> of each of the <clause>s from
4369 left to right. The value of the first <expression> or
4370 <bound-variable> that evaluates to a false value is returned; the
4371 remaining <expression>s and <bound-variable>s are not evaluated.
4372 The <body> forms are evaluated iff all the <expression>s and
4373 <bound-variable>s evaluate to true values.
4375 The <expression>s and the <body> are evaluated in an environment
4376 binding each <variable> of the preceding (<variable> <expression>)
4377 clauses to the value of the <expression>. Later bindings
4378 shadow earlier bindings.
4380 Guile's and-let* macro was contributed by Michael Livshin.
4382 ** New sorting functions
4384 *** New function: sorted? SEQUENCE LESS?
4385 Returns `#t' when the sequence argument is in non-decreasing order
4386 according to LESS? (that is, there is no adjacent pair `... x y
4387 ...' for which `(less? y x)').
4389 Returns `#f' when the sequence contains at least one out-of-order
4390 pair. It is an error if the sequence is neither a list nor a
4393 *** New function: merge LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
4394 LIST1 and LIST2 are sorted lists.
4395 Returns the sorted list of all elements in LIST1 and LIST2.
4397 Assume that the elements a and b1 in LIST1 and b2 in LIST2 are "equal"
4398 in the sense that (LESS? x y) --> #f for x, y in {a, b1, b2},
4399 and that a < b1 in LIST1. Then a < b1 < b2 in the result.
4400 (Here "<" should read "comes before".)
4402 *** New procedure: merge! LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
4403 Merges two lists, re-using the pairs of LIST1 and LIST2 to build
4404 the result. If the code is compiled, and LESS? constructs no new
4405 pairs, no pairs at all will be allocated. The first pair of the
4406 result will be either the first pair of LIST1 or the first pair of
4409 *** New function: sort SEQUENCE LESS?
4410 Accepts either a list or a vector, and returns a new sequence
4411 which is sorted. The new sequence is the same type as the input.
4412 Always `(sorted? (sort sequence less?) less?)'. The original
4413 sequence is not altered in any way. The new sequence shares its
4414 elements with the old one; no elements are copied.
4416 *** New procedure: sort! SEQUENCE LESS
4417 Returns its sorted result in the original boxes. No new storage is
4418 allocated at all. Proper usage: (set! slist (sort! slist <))
4420 *** New function: stable-sort SEQUENCE LESS?
4421 Similar to `sort' but stable. That is, if "equal" elements are
4422 ordered a < b in the original sequence, they will have the same order
4425 *** New function: stable-sort! SEQUENCE LESS?
4426 Similar to `sort!' but stable.
4427 Uses temporary storage when sorting vectors.
4429 *** New functions: sort-list, sort-list!
4430 Added for compatibility with scsh.
4432 ** New built-in random number support
4434 *** New function: random N [STATE]
4435 Accepts a positive integer or real N and returns a number of the
4436 same type between zero (inclusive) and N (exclusive). The values
4437 returned have a uniform distribution.
4439 The optional argument STATE must be of the type produced by
4440 `copy-random-state' or `seed->random-state'. It defaults to the value
4441 of the variable `*random-state*'. This object is used to maintain the
4442 state of the pseudo-random-number generator and is altered as a side
4443 effect of the `random' operation.
4445 *** New variable: *random-state*
4446 Holds a data structure that encodes the internal state of the
4447 random-number generator that `random' uses by default. The nature
4448 of this data structure is implementation-dependent. It may be
4449 printed out and successfully read back in, but may or may not
4450 function correctly as a random-number state object in another
4453 *** New function: copy-random-state [STATE]
4454 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
4455 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
4456 If argument STATE is given, a copy of it is returned. Otherwise a
4457 copy of `*random-state*' is returned.
4459 *** New function: seed->random-state SEED
4460 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
4461 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
4462 SEED is a string or a number. A new state is generated and
4463 initialized using SEED.
4465 *** New function: random:uniform [STATE]
4466 Returns an uniformly distributed inexact real random number in the
4467 range between 0 and 1.
4469 *** New procedure: random:solid-sphere! VECT [STATE]
4470 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose
4471 squares is less than 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in
4472 space of dimension N = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are
4473 uniformly distributed within the unit N-shere. The sum of the
4474 squares of the numbers is returned. VECT can be either a vector
4475 or a uniform vector of doubles.
4477 *** New procedure: random:hollow-sphere! VECT [STATE]
4478 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose squares
4479 is equal to 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in space of
4480 dimension n = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are uniformly
4481 distributed over the surface of the unit n-shere. VECT can be either
4482 a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
4484 *** New function: random:normal [STATE]
4485 Returns an inexact real in a normal distribution with mean 0 and
4486 standard deviation 1. For a normal distribution with mean M and
4487 standard deviation D use `(+ M (* D (random:normal)))'.
4489 *** New procedure: random:normal-vector! VECT [STATE]
4490 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers which are independent and
4491 standard normally distributed (i.e., with mean 0 and variance 1).
4492 VECT can be either a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
4494 *** New function: random:exp STATE
4495 Returns an inexact real in an exponential distribution with mean 1.
4496 For an exponential distribution with mean U use (* U (random:exp)).
4498 ** The range of logand, logior, logxor, logtest, and logbit? have changed.
4500 These functions now operate on numbers in the range of a C unsigned
4503 These functions used to operate on numbers in the range of a C signed
4504 long; however, this seems inappropriate, because Guile integers don't
4507 ** New function: make-guardian
4508 This is an implementation of guardians as described in
4509 R. Kent Dybvig, Carl Bruggeman, and David Eby (1993) "Guardians in a
4510 Generation-Based Garbage Collector" ACM SIGPLAN Conference on
4511 Programming Language Design and Implementation, June 1993
4512 ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/scheme-repository/doc/pubs/guardians.ps.gz
4514 ** New functions: delq1!, delv1!, delete1!
4515 These procedures behave similar to delq! and friends but delete only
4516 one object if at all.
4518 ** New function: unread-string STRING PORT
4519 Unread STRING to PORT, that is, push it back onto the port so that
4520 next read operation will work on the pushed back characters.
4522 ** unread-char can now be called multiple times
4523 If unread-char is called multiple times, the unread characters will be
4524 read again in last-in first-out order.
4526 ** the procedures uniform-array-read! and uniform-array-write! now
4527 work on any kind of port, not just ports which are open on a file.
4529 ** Now 'l' in a port mode requests line buffering.
4531 ** The procedure truncate-file now works on string ports as well
4532 as file ports. If the size argument is omitted, the current
4533 file position is used.
4535 ** new procedure: seek PORT/FDES OFFSET WHENCE
4536 The arguments are the same as for the old fseek procedure, but it
4537 works on string ports as well as random-access file ports.
4539 ** the fseek procedure now works on string ports, since it has been
4540 redefined using seek.
4542 ** the setvbuf procedure now uses a default size if mode is _IOFBF and
4543 size is not supplied.
4545 ** the newline procedure no longer flushes the port if it's not
4546 line-buffered: previously it did if it was the current output port.
4548 ** open-pipe and close-pipe are no longer primitive procedures, but
4549 an emulation can be obtained using `(use-modules (ice-9 popen))'.
4551 ** the freopen procedure has been removed.
4553 ** new procedure: drain-input PORT
4554 Drains PORT's read buffers (including any pushed-back characters)
4555 and returns the contents as a single string.
4557 ** New function: map-in-order PROC LIST1 LIST2 ...
4558 Version of `map' which guarantees that the procedure is applied to the
4559 lists in serial order.
4561 ** Renamed `serial-array-copy!' and `serial-array-map!' to
4562 `array-copy-in-order!' and `array-map-in-order!'. The old names are
4563 now obsolete and will go away in release 1.5.
4565 ** New syntax: collect BODY1 ...
4566 Version of `begin' which returns a list of the results of the body
4567 forms instead of the result of the last body form. In contrast to
4568 `begin', `collect' allows an empty body.
4570 ** New functions: read-history FILENAME, write-history FILENAME
4571 Read/write command line history from/to file. Returns #t on success
4572 and #f if an error occured.
4574 ** `ls' and `lls' in module (ice-9 ls) now handle no arguments.
4576 These procedures return a list of definitions available in the specified
4577 argument, a relative module reference. In the case of no argument,
4578 `(current-module)' is now consulted for definitions to return, instead
4579 of simply returning #f, the former behavior.
4581 ** The #/ syntax for lists is no longer supported.
4583 Earlier versions of Scheme accepted this syntax, but printed a
4586 ** Guile no longer consults the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable.
4588 Instead, you should set GUILE_LOAD_PATH to tell Guile where to find
4591 * Changes to the gh_ interface
4595 Now takes a second argument which is the result array. If this
4596 pointer is NULL, a new array is malloced (the old behaviour).
4598 ** gh_chars2byvect, gh_shorts2svect, gh_floats2fvect, gh_scm2chars,
4599 gh_scm2shorts, gh_scm2longs, gh_scm2floats
4603 * Changes to the scm_ interface
4605 ** Function: scm_make_named_hook (char* name, int n_args)
4607 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
4608 binds a variable named NAME to it.
4610 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
4612 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module. This
4613 might change when we get the new module system.
4615 ** The smob interface
4617 The interface for creating smobs has changed. For documentation, see
4618 data-rep.info (made from guile-core/doc/data-rep.texi).
4620 *** Deprecated function: SCM scm_newsmob (scm_smobfuns *)
4622 >>> This function will be removed in 1.3.4. <<<
4626 *** Function: SCM scm_make_smob_type (const char *name, scm_sizet size)
4627 This function adds a new smob type, named NAME, with instance size
4628 SIZE to the system. The return value is a tag that is used in
4629 creating instances of the type. If SIZE is 0, then no memory will
4630 be allocated when instances of the smob are created, and nothing
4631 will be freed by the default free function.
4633 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_mark (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
4634 This function sets the smob marking procedure for the smob type
4635 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4636 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4638 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_free (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
4639 This function sets the smob freeing procedure for the smob type
4640 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4641 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4643 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_print (tc, print)
4645 - Function: void scm_set_smob_print (long tc,
4646 scm_sizet (*print) (SCM,
4650 This function sets the smob printing procedure for the smob type
4651 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4652 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4654 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_equalp (long tc, SCM (*equalp) (SCM, SCM))
4655 This function sets the smob equality-testing predicate for the
4656 smob type specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4657 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4659 *** Macro: void SCM_NEWSMOB (SCM var, long tc, void *data)
4660 Make VALUE contain a smob instance of the type with type code TC and
4661 smob data DATA. VALUE must be previously declared as C type `SCM'.
4663 *** Macro: fn_returns SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB (long tc, void *data)
4664 This macro expands to a block of code that creates a smob instance
4665 of the type with type code TC and smob data DATA, and returns that
4666 `SCM' value. It should be the last piece of code in a block.
4668 ** The interfaces for using I/O ports and implementing port types
4669 (ptobs) have changed significantly. The new interface is based on
4670 shared access to buffers and a new set of ptob procedures.
4672 *** scm_newptob has been removed
4676 *** Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (type_name, fill_buffer, write_flush)
4678 - Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (char *type_name,
4679 int (*fill_buffer) (SCM port),
4680 void (*write_flush) (SCM port));
4682 Similarly to the new smob interface, there is a set of function
4683 setters by which the user can customize the behaviour of his port
4684 type. See ports.h (scm_set_port_XXX).
4686 ** scm_strport_to_string: New function: creates a new string from
4687 a string port's buffer.
4689 ** Plug in interface for random number generators
4690 The variable `scm_the_rng' in random.c contains a value and three
4691 function pointers which together define the current random number
4692 generator being used by the Scheme level interface and the random
4693 number library functions.
4695 The user is free to replace the default generator with the generator
4698 *** Variable: size_t scm_the_rng.rstate_size
4699 The size of the random state type used by the current RNG
4702 *** Function: unsigned long scm_the_rng.random_bits (scm_rstate *STATE)
4703 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
4705 *** Function: void scm_the_rng.init_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE, chars *S, int N)
4706 Seed random state STATE using string S of length N.
4708 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_the_rng.copy_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE)
4709 Given random state STATE, return a malloced copy.
4712 The default RNG is the MWC (Multiply With Carry) random number
4713 generator described by George Marsaglia at the Department of
4714 Statistics and Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, The
4715 Florida State University (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo).
4717 It uses 64 bits, has a period of 4578426017172946943 (4.6e18), and
4718 passes all tests in the DIEHARD test suite
4719 (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo/diehard.html). The generation of 32 bits
4720 costs one multiply and one add on platforms which either supports long
4721 longs (gcc does this on most systems) or have 64 bit longs. The cost
4722 is four multiply on other systems but this can be optimized by writing
4723 scm_i_uniform32 in assembler.
4725 These functions are provided through the scm_the_rng interface for use
4726 by libguile and the application.
4728 *** Function: unsigned long scm_i_uniform32 (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
4729 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
4730 Don't use this function directly. Instead go through the plugin
4731 interface (see "Plug in interface" above).
4733 *** Function: void scm_i_init_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE, char *SEED, int N)
4734 Initialize STATE using SEED of length N.
4736 *** Function: scm_i_rstate *scm_i_copy_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
4737 Return a malloc:ed copy of STATE. This function can easily be re-used
4738 in the interfaces to other RNGs.
4740 ** Random number library functions
4741 These functions use the current RNG through the scm_the_rng interface.
4742 It might be a good idea to use these functions from your C code so
4743 that only one random generator is used by all code in your program.
4745 The default random state is stored in:
4747 *** Variable: SCM scm_var_random_state
4748 Contains the vcell of the Scheme variable "*random-state*" which is
4749 used as default state by all random number functions in the Scheme
4754 double x = scm_c_uniform01 (SCM_RSTATE (SCM_CDR (scm_var_random_state)));
4756 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_default_rstate (void)
4757 This is a convenience function which returns the value of
4758 scm_var_random_state. An error message is generated if this value
4759 isn't a random state.
4761 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_make_rstate (char *SEED, int LENGTH)
4762 Make a new random state from the string SEED of length LENGTH.
4764 It is generally not a good idea to use multiple random states in a
4765 program. While subsequent random numbers generated from one random
4766 state are guaranteed to be reasonably independent, there is no such
4767 guarantee for numbers generated from different random states.
4769 *** Macro: unsigned long scm_c_uniform32 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4770 Return 32 random bits.
4772 *** Function: double scm_c_uniform01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4773 Return a sample from the uniform(0,1) distribution.
4775 *** Function: double scm_c_normal01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4776 Return a sample from the normal(0,1) distribution.
4778 *** Function: double scm_c_exp1 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4779 Return a sample from the exp(1) distribution.
4781 *** Function: unsigned long scm_c_random (scm_rstate *STATE, unsigned long M)
4782 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
4784 *** Function: SCM scm_c_random_bignum (scm_rstate *STATE, SCM M)
4785 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
4786 M must be a bignum object. The returned value may be an INUM.
4790 Changes in Guile 1.3 (released Monday, October 19, 1998):
4792 * Changes to the distribution
4794 ** We renamed the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable to GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
4795 To avoid conflicts, programs should name environment variables after
4796 themselves, except when there's a common practice establishing some
4799 For now, Guile supports both GUILE_LOAD_PATH and SCHEME_LOAD_PATH,
4800 giving the former precedence, and printing a warning message if the
4801 latter is set. Guile 1.4 will not recognize SCHEME_LOAD_PATH at all.
4803 ** The header files related to multi-byte characters have been removed.
4804 They were: libguile/extchrs.h and libguile/mbstrings.h. Any C code
4805 which referred to these explicitly will probably need to be rewritten,
4806 since the support for the variant string types has been removed; see
4809 ** The header files append.h and sequences.h have been removed. These
4810 files implemented non-R4RS operations which would encourage
4811 non-portable programming style and less easy-to-read code.
4813 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
4815 ** New procedures have been added to implement a "batch mode":
4817 *** Function: batch-mode?
4819 Returns a boolean indicating whether the interpreter is in batch
4822 *** Function: set-batch-mode?! ARG
4824 If ARG is true, switches the interpreter to batch mode. The `#f'
4825 case has not been implemented.
4827 ** Guile now provides full command-line editing, when run interactively.
4828 To use this feature, you must have the readline library installed.
4829 The Guile build process will notice it, and automatically include
4832 The readline library is available via anonymous FTP from any GNU
4833 mirror site; the canonical location is "ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu".
4835 ** the-last-stack is now a fluid.
4837 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
4839 ** You can now use the `guile-config' utility to build programs that use Guile.
4841 Guile now includes a command-line utility called `guile-config', which
4842 can provide information about how to compile and link programs that
4845 *** `guile-config compile' prints any C compiler flags needed to use Guile.
4846 You should include this command's output on the command line you use
4847 to compile C or C++ code that #includes the Guile header files. It's
4848 usually just a `-I' flag to help the compiler find the Guile headers.
4851 *** `guile-config link' prints any linker flags necessary to link with Guile.
4853 This command writes to its standard output a list of flags which you
4854 must pass to the linker to link your code against the Guile library.
4855 The flags include '-lguile' itself, any other libraries the Guile
4856 library depends upon, and any `-L' flags needed to help the linker
4857 find those libraries.
4859 For example, here is a Makefile rule that builds a program named 'foo'
4860 from the object files ${FOO_OBJECTS}, and links them against Guile:
4863 ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${FOO_OBJECTS} `guile-config link` -o foo
4865 Previous Guile releases recommended that you use autoconf to detect
4866 which of a predefined set of libraries were present on your system.
4867 It is more robust to use `guile-config', since it records exactly which
4868 libraries the installed Guile library requires.
4870 This was originally called `build-guile', but was renamed to
4871 `guile-config' before Guile 1.3 was released, to be consistent with
4872 the analogous script for the GTK+ GUI toolkit, which is called
4876 ** Use the GUILE_FLAGS macro in your configure.in file to find Guile.
4878 If you are using the GNU autoconf package to configure your program,
4879 you can use the GUILE_FLAGS autoconf macro to call `guile-config'
4880 (described above) and gather the necessary values for use in your
4883 The GUILE_FLAGS macro expands to configure script code which runs the
4884 `guile-config' script, to find out where Guile's header files and
4885 libraries are installed. It sets two variables, marked for
4886 substitution, as by AC_SUBST.
4888 GUILE_CFLAGS --- flags to pass to a C or C++ compiler to build
4889 code that uses Guile header files. This is almost always just a
4892 GUILE_LDFLAGS --- flags to pass to the linker to link a
4893 program against Guile. This includes `-lguile' for the Guile
4894 library itself, any libraries that Guile itself requires (like
4895 -lqthreads), and so on. It may also include a -L flag to tell the
4896 compiler where to find the libraries.
4898 GUILE_FLAGS is defined in the file guile.m4, in the top-level
4899 directory of the Guile distribution. You can copy it into your
4900 package's aclocal.m4 file, and then use it in your configure.in file.
4902 If you are using the `aclocal' program, distributed with GNU automake,
4903 to maintain your aclocal.m4 file, the Guile installation process
4904 installs guile.m4 where aclocal will find it. All you need to do is
4905 use GUILE_FLAGS in your configure.in file, and then run `aclocal';
4906 this will copy the definition of GUILE_FLAGS into your aclocal.m4
4910 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
4912 ** Multi-byte strings have been removed, as have multi-byte and wide
4913 ports. We felt that these were the wrong approach to
4914 internationalization support.
4916 ** New function: readline [PROMPT]
4917 Read a line from the terminal, and allow the user to edit it,
4918 prompting with PROMPT. READLINE provides a large set of Emacs-like
4919 editing commands, lets the user recall previously typed lines, and
4920 works on almost every kind of terminal, including dumb terminals.
4922 READLINE assumes that the cursor is at the beginning of the line when
4923 it is invoked. Thus, you can't print a prompt yourself, and then call
4924 READLINE; you need to package up your prompt as a string, pass it to
4925 the function, and let READLINE print the prompt itself. This is
4926 because READLINE needs to know the prompt's screen width.
4928 For Guile to provide this function, you must have the readline
4929 library, version 2.1 or later, installed on your system. Readline is
4930 available via anonymous FTP from prep.ai.mit.edu in pub/gnu, or from
4931 any GNU mirror site.
4933 See also ADD-HISTORY function.
4935 ** New function: add-history STRING
4936 Add STRING as the most recent line in the history used by the READLINE
4937 command. READLINE does not add lines to the history itself; you must
4938 call ADD-HISTORY to make previous input available to the user.
4940 ** The behavior of the read-line function has changed.
4942 This function now uses standard C library functions to read the line,
4943 for speed. This means that it doesn not respect the value of
4944 scm-line-incrementors; it assumes that lines are delimited with
4947 (Note that this is read-line, the function that reads a line of text
4948 from a port, not readline, the function that reads a line from a
4949 terminal, providing full editing capabilities.)
4951 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style): Parse command-line arguments.
4953 This module provides some simple argument parsing. It exports one
4956 Function: getopt-gnu-style ARG-LS
4957 Parse a list of program arguments into an alist of option
4960 Each item in the list of program arguments is examined to see if
4961 it meets the syntax of a GNU long-named option. An argument like
4962 `--MUMBLE' produces an element of the form (MUMBLE . #t) in the
4963 returned alist, where MUMBLE is a keyword object with the same
4964 name as the argument. An argument like `--MUMBLE=FROB' produces
4965 an element of the form (MUMBLE . FROB), where FROB is a string.
4967 As a special case, the returned alist also contains a pair whose
4968 car is the symbol `rest'. The cdr of this pair is a list
4969 containing all the items in the argument list that are not options
4970 of the form mentioned above.
4972 The argument `--' is treated specially: all items in the argument
4973 list appearing after such an argument are not examined, and are
4974 returned in the special `rest' list.
4976 This function does not parse normal single-character switches.
4977 You will need to parse them out of the `rest' list yourself.
4979 ** The read syntax for byte vectors and short vectors has changed.
4981 Instead of #bytes(...), write #y(...).
4983 Instead of #short(...), write #h(...).
4985 This may seem nutty, but, like the other uniform vectors, byte vectors
4986 and short vectors want to have the same print and read syntax (and,
4987 more basic, want to have read syntax!). Changing the read syntax to
4988 use multiple characters after the hash sign breaks with the
4989 conventions used in R5RS and the conventions used for the other
4990 uniform vectors. It also introduces complexity in the current reader,
4991 both on the C and Scheme levels. (The Right solution is probably to
4992 change the syntax and prototypes for uniform vectors entirely.)
4995 ** The new module (ice-9 session) provides useful interactive functions.
4997 *** New procedure: (apropos REGEXP OPTION ...)
4999 Display a list of top-level variables whose names match REGEXP, and
5000 the modules they are imported from. Each OPTION should be one of the
5003 value --- Show the value of each matching variable.
5004 shadow --- Show bindings shadowed by subsequently imported modules.
5005 full --- Same as both `shadow' and `value'.
5009 guile> (apropos "trace" 'full)
5010 debug: trace #<procedure trace args>
5011 debug: untrace #<procedure untrace args>
5012 the-scm-module: display-backtrace #<compiled-closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>
5013 the-scm-module: before-backtrace-hook ()
5014 the-scm-module: backtrace #<primitive-procedure backtrace>
5015 the-scm-module: after-backtrace-hook ()
5016 the-scm-module: has-shown-backtrace-hint? #f
5019 ** There are new functions and syntax for working with macros.
5021 Guile implements macros as a special object type. Any variable whose
5022 top-level binding is a macro object acts as a macro. The macro object
5023 specifies how the expression should be transformed before evaluation.
5025 *** Macro objects now print in a reasonable way, resembling procedures.
5027 *** New function: (macro? OBJ)
5028 True iff OBJ is a macro object.
5030 *** New function: (primitive-macro? OBJ)
5031 Like (macro? OBJ), but true only if OBJ is one of the Guile primitive
5032 macro transformers, implemented in eval.c rather than Scheme code.
5034 Why do we have this function?
5035 - For symmetry with procedure? and primitive-procedure?,
5036 - to allow custom print procedures to tell whether a macro is
5037 primitive, and display it differently, and
5038 - to allow compilers and user-written evaluators to distinguish
5039 builtin special forms from user-defined ones, which could be
5042 *** New function: (macro-type OBJ)
5043 Return a value indicating what kind of macro OBJ is. Possible return
5046 The symbol `syntax' --- a macro created by procedure->syntax.
5047 The symbol `macro' --- a macro created by procedure->macro.
5048 The symbol `macro!' --- a macro created by procedure->memoizing-macro.
5049 The boolean #f --- if OBJ is not a macro object.
5051 *** New function: (macro-name MACRO)
5052 Return the name of the macro object MACRO's procedure, as returned by
5055 *** New function: (macro-transformer MACRO)
5056 Return the transformer procedure for MACRO.
5058 *** New syntax: (use-syntax MODULE ... TRANSFORMER)
5060 Specify a new macro expander to use in the current module. Each
5061 MODULE is a module name, with the same meaning as in the `use-modules'
5062 form; each named module's exported bindings are added to the current
5063 top-level environment. TRANSFORMER is an expression evaluated in the
5064 resulting environment which must yield a procedure to use as the
5065 module's eval transformer: every expression evaluated in this module
5066 is passed to this function, and the result passed to the Guile
5069 *** macro-eval! is removed. Use local-eval instead.
5071 ** Some magic has been added to the printer to better handle user
5072 written printing routines (like record printers, closure printers).
5074 The problem is that these user written routines must have access to
5075 the current `print-state' to be able to handle fancy things like
5076 detection of circular references. These print-states have to be
5077 passed to the builtin printing routines (display, write, etc) to
5078 properly continue the print chain.
5080 We didn't want to change all existing print code so that it
5081 explicitly passes thru a print state in addition to a port. Instead,
5082 we extented the possible values that the builtin printing routines
5083 accept as a `port'. In addition to a normal port, they now also take
5084 a pair of a normal port and a print-state. Printing will go to the
5085 port and the print-state will be used to control the detection of
5086 circular references, etc. If the builtin function does not care for a
5087 print-state, it is simply ignored.
5089 User written callbacks are now called with such a pair as their
5090 `port', but because every function now accepts this pair as a PORT
5091 argument, you don't have to worry about that. In fact, it is probably
5092 safest to not check for these pairs.
5094 However, it is sometimes necessary to continue a print chain on a
5095 different port, for example to get a intermediate string
5096 representation of the printed value, mangle that string somehow, and
5097 then to finally print the mangled string. Use the new function
5099 inherit-print-state OLD-PORT NEW-PORT
5101 for this. It constructs a new `port' that prints to NEW-PORT but
5102 inherits the print-state of OLD-PORT.
5104 ** struct-vtable-offset renamed to vtable-offset-user
5106 ** New constants: vtable-index-layout, vtable-index-vtable, vtable-index-printer
5108 ** There is now a third optional argument to make-vtable-vtable
5109 (and fourth to make-struct) when constructing new types (vtables).
5110 This argument initializes field vtable-index-printer of the vtable.
5112 ** The detection of circular references has been extended to structs.
5113 That is, a structure that -- in the process of being printed -- prints
5114 itself does not lead to infinite recursion.
5116 ** There is now some basic support for fluids. Please read
5117 "libguile/fluid.h" to find out more. It is accessible from Scheme with
5118 the following functions and macros:
5120 Function: make-fluid
5122 Create a new fluid object. Fluids are not special variables or
5123 some other extension to the semantics of Scheme, but rather
5124 ordinary Scheme objects. You can store them into variables (that
5125 are still lexically scoped, of course) or into any other place you
5126 like. Every fluid has a initial value of `#f'.
5128 Function: fluid? OBJ
5130 Test whether OBJ is a fluid.
5132 Function: fluid-ref FLUID
5133 Function: fluid-set! FLUID VAL
5135 Access/modify the fluid FLUID. Modifications are only visible
5136 within the current dynamic root (that includes threads).
5138 Function: with-fluids* FLUIDS VALUES THUNK
5140 FLUIDS is a list of fluids and VALUES a corresponding list of
5141 values for these fluids. Before THUNK gets called the values are
5142 installed in the fluids and the old values of the fluids are
5143 saved in the VALUES list. When the flow of control leaves THUNK
5144 or reenters it, the values get swapped again. You might think of
5145 this as a `safe-fluid-excursion'. Note that the VALUES list is
5146 modified by `with-fluids*'.
5148 Macro: with-fluids ((FLUID VALUE) ...) FORM ...
5150 The same as `with-fluids*' but with a different syntax. It looks
5151 just like `let', but both FLUID and VALUE are evaluated. Remember,
5152 fluids are not special variables but ordinary objects. FLUID
5153 should evaluate to a fluid.
5155 ** Changes to system call interfaces:
5157 *** close-port, close-input-port and close-output-port now return a
5158 boolean instead of an `unspecified' object. #t means that the port
5159 was successfully closed, while #f means it was already closed. It is
5160 also now possible for these procedures to raise an exception if an
5161 error occurs (some errors from write can be delayed until close.)
5163 *** the first argument to chmod, fcntl, ftell and fseek can now be a
5166 *** the third argument to fcntl is now optional.
5168 *** the first argument to chown can now be a file descriptor or a port.
5170 *** the argument to stat can now be a port.
5172 *** The following new procedures have been added (most use scsh
5175 *** procedure: close PORT/FD
5176 Similar to close-port (*note close-port: Closing Ports.), but also
5177 works on file descriptors. A side effect of closing a file
5178 descriptor is that any ports using that file descriptor are moved
5179 to a different file descriptor and have their revealed counts set
5182 *** procedure: port->fdes PORT
5183 Returns the integer file descriptor underlying PORT. As a side
5184 effect the revealed count of PORT is incremented.
5186 *** procedure: fdes->ports FDES
5187 Returns a list of existing ports which have FDES as an underlying
5188 file descriptor, without changing their revealed counts.
5190 *** procedure: fdes->inport FDES
5191 Returns an existing input port which has FDES as its underlying
5192 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
5193 Otherwise, returns a new input port with a revealed count of 1.
5195 *** procedure: fdes->outport FDES
5196 Returns an existing output port which has FDES as its underlying
5197 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
5198 Otherwise, returns a new output port with a revealed count of 1.
5200 The next group of procedures perform a `dup2' system call, if NEWFD
5201 (an integer) is supplied, otherwise a `dup'. The file descriptor to be
5202 duplicated can be supplied as an integer or contained in a port. The
5203 type of value returned varies depending on which procedure is used.
5205 All procedures also have the side effect when performing `dup2' that
5206 any ports using NEWFD are moved to a different file descriptor and have
5207 their revealed counts set to zero.
5209 *** procedure: dup->fdes PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5210 Returns an integer file descriptor.
5212 *** procedure: dup->inport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5213 Returns a new input port using the new file descriptor.
5215 *** procedure: dup->outport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5216 Returns a new output port using the new file descriptor.
5218 *** procedure: dup PORT/FD [NEWFD]
5219 Returns a new port if PORT/FD is a port, with the same mode as the
5220 supplied port, otherwise returns an integer file descriptor.
5222 *** procedure: dup->port PORT/FD MODE [NEWFD]
5223 Returns a new port using the new file descriptor. MODE supplies a
5224 mode string for the port (*note open-file: File Ports.).
5226 *** procedure: setenv NAME VALUE
5227 Modifies the environment of the current process, which is also the
5228 default environment inherited by child processes.
5230 If VALUE is `#f', then NAME is removed from the environment.
5231 Otherwise, the string NAME=VALUE is added to the environment,
5232 replacing any existing string with name matching NAME.
5234 The return value is unspecified.
5236 *** procedure: truncate-file OBJ SIZE
5237 Truncates the file referred to by OBJ to at most SIZE bytes. OBJ
5238 can be a string containing a file name or an integer file
5239 descriptor or port open for output on the file. The underlying
5240 system calls are `truncate' and `ftruncate'.
5242 The return value is unspecified.
5244 *** procedure: setvbuf PORT MODE [SIZE]
5245 Set the buffering mode for PORT. MODE can be:
5253 block buffered, using a newly allocated buffer of SIZE bytes.
5254 However if SIZE is zero or unspecified, the port will be made
5257 This procedure should not be used after I/O has been performed with
5260 Ports are usually block buffered by default, with a default buffer
5261 size. Procedures e.g., *Note open-file: File Ports, which accept a
5262 mode string allow `0' to be added to request an unbuffered port.
5264 *** procedure: fsync PORT/FD
5265 Copies any unwritten data for the specified output file descriptor
5266 to disk. If PORT/FD is a port, its buffer is flushed before the
5267 underlying file descriptor is fsync'd. The return value is
5270 *** procedure: open-fdes PATH FLAGS [MODES]
5271 Similar to `open' but returns a file descriptor instead of a port.
5273 *** procedure: execle PATH ENV [ARG] ...
5274 Similar to `execl', but the environment of the new process is
5275 specified by ENV, which must be a list of strings as returned by
5276 the `environ' procedure.
5278 This procedure is currently implemented using the `execve' system
5279 call, but we call it `execle' because of its Scheme calling
5282 *** procedure: strerror ERRNO
5283 Returns the Unix error message corresponding to ERRNO, an integer.
5285 *** procedure: primitive-exit [STATUS]
5286 Terminate the current process without unwinding the Scheme stack.
5287 This is would typically be useful after a fork. The exit status
5288 is STATUS if supplied, otherwise zero.
5290 *** procedure: times
5291 Returns an object with information about real and processor time.
5292 The following procedures accept such an object as an argument and
5293 return a selected component:
5296 The current real time, expressed as time units relative to an
5300 The CPU time units used by the calling process.
5303 The CPU time units used by the system on behalf of the
5307 The CPU time units used by terminated child processes of the
5308 calling process, whose status has been collected (e.g., using
5312 Similarly, the CPU times units used by the system on behalf of
5313 terminated child processes.
5315 ** Removed: list-length
5316 ** Removed: list-append, list-append!
5317 ** Removed: list-reverse, list-reverse!
5319 ** array-map renamed to array-map!
5321 ** serial-array-map renamed to serial-array-map!
5323 ** catch doesn't take #f as first argument any longer
5325 Previously, it was possible to pass #f instead of a key to `catch'.
5326 That would cause `catch' to pass a jump buffer object to the procedure
5327 passed as second argument. The procedure could then use this jump
5328 buffer objekt as an argument to throw.
5330 This mechanism has been removed since its utility doesn't motivate the
5331 extra complexity it introduces.
5333 ** The `#/' notation for lists now provokes a warning message from Guile.
5334 This syntax will be removed from Guile in the near future.
5336 To disable the warning message, set the GUILE_HUSH environment
5337 variable to any non-empty value.
5339 ** The newline character now prints as `#\newline', following the
5340 normal Scheme notation, not `#\nl'.
5342 * Changes to the gh_ interface
5344 ** The gh_enter function now takes care of loading the Guile startup files.
5345 gh_enter works by calling scm_boot_guile; see the remarks below.
5347 ** Function: void gh_write (SCM x)
5349 Write the printed representation of the scheme object x to the current
5350 output port. Corresponds to the scheme level `write'.
5352 ** gh_list_length renamed to gh_length.
5354 ** vector handling routines
5356 Several major changes. In particular, gh_vector() now resembles
5357 (vector ...) (with a caveat -- see manual), and gh_make_vector() now
5358 exists and behaves like (make-vector ...). gh_vset() and gh_vref()
5359 have been renamed gh_vector_set_x() and gh_vector_ref(). Some missing
5360 vector-related gh_ functions have been implemented.
5362 ** pair and list routines
5364 Implemented several of the R4RS pair and list functions that were
5367 ** gh_scm2doubles, gh_doubles2scm, gh_doubles2dvect
5369 New function. Converts double arrays back and forth between Scheme
5372 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5374 ** The function scm_boot_guile now takes care of loading the startup files.
5376 Guile's primary initialization function, scm_boot_guile, now takes
5377 care of loading `boot-9.scm', in the `ice-9' module, to initialize
5378 Guile, define the module system, and put together some standard
5379 bindings. It also loads `init.scm', which is intended to hold
5380 site-specific initialization code.
5382 Since Guile cannot operate properly until boot-9.scm is loaded, there
5383 is no reason to separate loading boot-9.scm from Guile's other
5384 initialization processes.
5386 This job used to be done by scm_compile_shell_switches, which didn't
5387 make much sense; in particular, it meant that people using Guile for
5388 non-shell-like applications had to jump through hoops to get Guile
5389 initialized properly.
5391 ** The function scm_compile_shell_switches no longer loads the startup files.
5392 Now, Guile always loads the startup files, whenever it is initialized;
5393 see the notes above for scm_boot_guile and scm_load_startup_files.
5395 ** Function: scm_load_startup_files
5396 This new function takes care of loading Guile's initialization file
5397 (`boot-9.scm'), and the site initialization file, `init.scm'. Since
5398 this is always called by the Guile initialization process, it's
5399 probably not too useful to call this yourself, but it's there anyway.
5401 ** The semantics of smob marking have changed slightly.
5403 The smob marking function (the `mark' member of the scm_smobfuns
5404 structure) is no longer responsible for setting the mark bit on the
5405 smob. The generic smob handling code in the garbage collector will
5406 set this bit. The mark function need only ensure that any other
5407 objects the smob refers to get marked.
5409 Note that this change means that the smob's GC8MARK bit is typically
5410 already set upon entry to the mark function. Thus, marking functions
5411 which look like this:
5414 if (SCM_GC8MARKP (ptr))
5416 SCM_SETGC8MARK (ptr);
5417 ... mark objects to which the smob refers ...
5420 are now incorrect, since they will return early, and fail to mark any
5421 other objects the smob refers to. Some code in the Guile library used
5424 ** The semantics of the I/O port functions in scm_ptobfuns have changed.
5426 If you have implemented your own I/O port type, by writing the
5427 functions required by the scm_ptobfuns and then calling scm_newptob,
5428 you will need to change your functions slightly.
5430 The functions in a scm_ptobfuns structure now expect the port itself
5431 as their argument; they used to expect the `stream' member of the
5432 port's scm_port_table structure. This allows functions in an
5433 scm_ptobfuns structure to easily access the port's cell (and any flags
5434 it its CAR), and the port's scm_port_table structure.
5436 Guile now passes the I/O port itself as the `port' argument in the
5437 following scm_ptobfuns functions:
5439 int (*free) (SCM port);
5440 int (*fputc) (int, SCM port);
5441 int (*fputs) (char *, SCM port);
5442 scm_sizet (*fwrite) SCM_P ((char *ptr,
5446 int (*fflush) (SCM port);
5447 int (*fgetc) (SCM port);
5448 int (*fclose) (SCM port);
5450 The interfaces to the `mark', `print', `equalp', and `fgets' methods
5453 If you have existing code which defines its own port types, it is easy
5454 to convert your code to the new interface; simply apply SCM_STREAM to
5455 the port argument to yield the value you code used to expect.
5457 Note that since both the port and the stream have the same type in the
5458 C code --- they are both SCM values --- the C compiler will not remind
5459 you if you forget to update your scm_ptobfuns functions.
5462 ** Function: int scm_internal_select (int fds,
5466 struct timeval *timeout);
5468 This is a replacement for the `select' function provided by the OS.
5469 It enables I/O blocking and sleeping to happen for one cooperative
5470 thread without blocking other threads. It also avoids busy-loops in
5471 these situations. It is intended that all I/O blocking and sleeping
5472 will finally go through this function. Currently, this function is
5473 only available on systems providing `gettimeofday' and `select'.
5475 ** Function: SCM scm_internal_stack_catch (SCM tag,
5476 scm_catch_body_t body,
5478 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
5481 A new sibling to the other two C level `catch' functions
5482 scm_internal_catch and scm_internal_lazy_catch. Use it if you want
5483 the stack to be saved automatically into the variable `the-last-stack'
5484 (scm_the_last_stack_var) on error. This is necessary if you want to
5485 use advanced error reporting, such as calling scm_display_error and
5486 scm_display_backtrace. (They both take a stack object as argument.)
5488 ** Function: SCM scm_spawn_thread (scm_catch_body_t body,
5490 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
5493 Spawns a new thread. It does a job similar to
5494 scm_call_with_new_thread but takes arguments more suitable when
5495 spawning threads from application C code.
5497 ** The hook scm_error_callback has been removed. It was originally
5498 intended as a way for the user to install his own error handler. But
5499 that method works badly since it intervenes between throw and catch,
5500 thereby changing the semantics of expressions like (catch #t ...).
5501 The correct way to do it is to use one of the C level catch functions
5502 in throw.c: scm_internal_catch/lazy_catch/stack_catch.
5504 ** Removed functions:
5506 scm_obj_length, scm_list_length, scm_list_append, scm_list_append_x,
5507 scm_list_reverse, scm_list_reverse_x
5509 ** New macros: SCM_LISTn where n is one of the integers 0-9.
5511 These can be used for pretty list creation from C. The idea is taken
5512 from Erick Gallesio's STk.
5514 ** scm_array_map renamed to scm_array_map_x
5516 ** mbstrings are now removed
5518 This means that the type codes scm_tc7_mb_string and
5519 scm_tc7_mb_substring has been removed.
5521 ** scm_gen_putc, scm_gen_puts, scm_gen_write, and scm_gen_getc have changed.
5523 Since we no longer support multi-byte strings, these I/O functions
5524 have been simplified, and renamed. Here are their old names, and
5525 their new names and arguments:
5527 scm_gen_putc -> void scm_putc (int c, SCM port);
5528 scm_gen_puts -> void scm_puts (char *s, SCM port);
5529 scm_gen_write -> void scm_lfwrite (char *ptr, scm_sizet size, SCM port);
5530 scm_gen_getc -> void scm_getc (SCM port);
5533 ** The macros SCM_TYP7D and SCM_TYP7SD has been removed.
5535 ** The macro SCM_TYP7S has taken the role of the old SCM_TYP7D
5537 SCM_TYP7S now masks away the bit which distinguishes substrings from
5540 ** scm_catch_body_t: Backward incompatible change!
5542 Body functions to scm_internal_catch and friends do not any longer
5543 take a second argument. This is because it is no longer possible to
5544 pass a #f arg to catch.
5546 ** Calls to scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect now nest properly.
5548 The function scm_protect_object protects its argument from being freed
5549 by the garbage collector. scm_unprotect_object removes that
5552 These functions now nest properly. That is, for every object O, there
5553 is a counter which scm_protect_object(O) increments and
5554 scm_unprotect_object(O) decrements, if the counter is greater than
5555 zero. Every object's counter is zero when it is first created. If an
5556 object's counter is greater than zero, the garbage collector will not
5557 reclaim its storage.
5559 This allows you to use scm_protect_object in your code without
5560 worrying that some other function you call will call
5561 scm_unprotect_object, and allow it to be freed. Assuming that the
5562 functions you call are well-behaved, and unprotect only those objects
5563 they protect, you can follow the same rule and have confidence that
5564 objects will be freed only at appropriate times.
5567 Changes in Guile 1.2 (released Tuesday, June 24 1997):
5569 * Changes to the distribution
5571 ** Nightly snapshots are now available from ftp.red-bean.com.
5572 The old server, ftp.cyclic.com, has been relinquished to its rightful
5575 Nightly snapshots of the Guile development sources are now available via
5576 anonymous FTP from ftp.red-bean.com, as /pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz.
5578 Via the web, that's: ftp://ftp.red-bean.com/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
5579 For getit, that's: ftp.red-bean.com:/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
5581 ** To run Guile without installing it, the procedure has changed a bit.
5583 If you used a separate build directory to compile Guile, you'll need
5584 to include the build directory in SCHEME_LOAD_PATH, as well as the
5585 source directory. See the `INSTALL' file for examples.
5587 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
5589 ** The standard Guile load path for Scheme code now includes
5590 $(datadir)/guile (usually /usr/local/share/guile). This means that
5591 you can install your own Scheme files there, and Guile will find them.
5592 (Previous versions of Guile only checked a directory whose name
5593 contained the Guile version number, so you had to re-install or move
5594 your Scheme sources each time you installed a fresh version of Guile.)
5596 The load path also includes $(datadir)/guile/site; we recommend
5597 putting individual Scheme files there. If you want to install a
5598 package with multiple source files, create a directory for them under
5601 ** Guile 1.2 will now use the Rx regular expression library, if it is
5602 installed on your system. When you are linking libguile into your own
5603 programs, this means you will have to link against -lguile, -lqt (if
5604 you configured Guile with thread support), and -lrx.
5606 If you are using autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your
5607 application, the following lines should suffice to add the appropriate
5608 libraries to your link command:
5610 ### Find Rx, quickthreads and libguile.
5611 AC_CHECK_LIB(rx, main)
5612 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
5613 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
5615 The Guile 1.2 distribution does not contain sources for the Rx
5616 library, as Guile 1.0 did. If you want to use Rx, you'll need to
5617 retrieve it from a GNU FTP site and install it separately.
5619 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5621 ** The dynamic linking features of Guile are now enabled by default.
5622 You can disable them by giving the `--disable-dynamic-linking' option
5625 (dynamic-link FILENAME)
5627 Find the object file denoted by FILENAME (a string) and link it
5628 into the running Guile application. When everything works out,
5629 return a Scheme object suitable for representing the linked object
5630 file. Otherwise an error is thrown. How object files are
5631 searched is system dependent.
5633 (dynamic-object? VAL)
5635 Determine whether VAL represents a dynamically linked object file.
5637 (dynamic-unlink DYNOBJ)
5639 Unlink the indicated object file from the application. DYNOBJ
5640 should be one of the values returned by `dynamic-link'.
5642 (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
5644 Search the C function indicated by FUNCTION (a string or symbol)
5645 in DYNOBJ and return some Scheme object that can later be used
5646 with `dynamic-call' to actually call this function. Right now,
5647 these Scheme objects are formed by casting the address of the
5648 function to `long' and converting this number to its Scheme
5651 (dynamic-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
5653 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ. The
5654 function is passed no arguments and its return value is ignored.
5655 When FUNCTION is something returned by `dynamic-func', call that
5656 function and ignore DYNOBJ. When FUNCTION is a string (or symbol,
5657 etc.), look it up in DYNOBJ; this is equivalent to
5659 (dynamic-call (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ) #f)
5661 Interrupts are deferred while the C function is executing (with
5662 SCM_DEFER_INTS/SCM_ALLOW_INTS).
5664 (dynamic-args-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ ARGS)
5666 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ, but pass it
5667 some arguments and return its return value. The C function is
5668 expected to take two arguments and return an `int', just like
5671 int c_func (int argc, char **argv);
5673 ARGS must be a list of strings and is converted into an array of
5674 `char *'. The array is passed in ARGV and its size in ARGC. The
5675 return value is converted to a Scheme number and returned from the
5676 call to `dynamic-args-call'.
5678 When dynamic linking is disabled or not supported on your system,
5679 the above functions throw errors, but they are still available.
5681 Here is a small example that works on GNU/Linux:
5683 (define libc-obj (dynamic-link "libc.so"))
5684 (dynamic-args-call 'rand libc-obj '())
5686 See the file `libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING' for additional comments.
5688 ** The #/ syntax for module names is depreciated, and will be removed
5689 in a future version of Guile. Instead of
5697 The latter syntax is more consistent with existing Lisp practice.
5699 ** Guile now does fancier printing of structures. Structures are the
5700 underlying implementation for records, which in turn are used to
5701 implement modules, so all of these object now print differently and in
5702 a more informative way.
5704 The Scheme printer will examine the builtin variable *struct-printer*
5705 whenever it needs to print a structure object. When this variable is
5706 not `#f' it is deemed to be a procedure and will be applied to the
5707 structure object and the output port. When *struct-printer* is `#f'
5708 or the procedure return `#f' the structure object will be printed in
5709 the boring #<struct 80458270> form.
5711 This hook is used by some routines in ice-9/boot-9.scm to implement
5712 type specific printing routines. Please read the comments there about
5715 One of the more specific uses of structs are records. The printing
5716 procedure that could be passed to MAKE-RECORD-TYPE is now actually
5717 called. It should behave like a *struct-printer* procedure (described
5720 ** Guile now supports a new R4RS-compliant syntax for keywords. A
5721 token of the form #:NAME, where NAME has the same syntax as a Scheme
5722 symbol, is the external representation of the keyword named NAME.
5723 Keyword objects print using this syntax as well, so values containing
5724 keyword objects can be read back into Guile. When used in an
5725 expression, keywords are self-quoting objects.
5727 Guile suports this read syntax, and uses this print syntax, regardless
5728 of the current setting of the `keyword' read option. The `keyword'
5729 read option only controls whether Guile recognizes the `:NAME' syntax,
5730 which is incompatible with R4RS. (R4RS says such token represent
5733 ** Guile has regular expression support again. Guile 1.0 included
5734 functions for matching regular expressions, based on the Rx library.
5735 In Guile 1.1, the Guile/Rx interface was removed to simplify the
5736 distribution, and thus Guile had no regular expression support. Guile
5737 1.2 again supports the most commonly used functions, and supports all
5738 of SCSH's regular expression functions.
5740 If your system does not include a POSIX regular expression library,
5741 and you have not linked Guile with a third-party regexp library such as
5742 Rx, these functions will not be available. You can tell whether your
5743 Guile installation includes regular expression support by checking
5744 whether the `*features*' list includes the `regex' symbol.
5746 *** regexp functions
5748 By default, Guile supports POSIX extended regular expressions. That
5749 means that the characters `(', `)', `+' and `?' are special, and must
5750 be escaped if you wish to match the literal characters.
5752 This regular expression interface was modeled after that implemented
5753 by SCSH, the Scheme Shell. It is intended to be upwardly compatible
5754 with SCSH regular expressions.
5756 **** Function: string-match PATTERN STR [START]
5757 Compile the string PATTERN into a regular expression and compare
5758 it with STR. The optional numeric argument START specifies the
5759 position of STR at which to begin matching.
5761 `string-match' returns a "match structure" which describes what,
5762 if anything, was matched by the regular expression. *Note Match
5763 Structures::. If STR does not match PATTERN at all,
5764 `string-match' returns `#f'.
5766 Each time `string-match' is called, it must compile its PATTERN
5767 argument into a regular expression structure. This operation is
5768 expensive, which makes `string-match' inefficient if the same regular
5769 expression is used several times (for example, in a loop). For better
5770 performance, you can compile a regular expression in advance and then
5771 match strings against the compiled regexp.
5773 **** Function: make-regexp STR [FLAGS]
5774 Compile the regular expression described by STR, and return the
5775 compiled regexp structure. If STR does not describe a legal
5776 regular expression, `make-regexp' throws a
5777 `regular-expression-syntax' error.
5779 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
5781 **** Constant: regexp/extended
5782 Use POSIX Extended Regular Expression syntax when interpreting
5783 STR. If not set, POSIX Basic Regular Expression syntax is used.
5784 If the FLAGS argument is omitted, we assume regexp/extended.
5786 **** Constant: regexp/icase
5787 Do not differentiate case. Subsequent searches using the
5788 returned regular expression will be case insensitive.
5790 **** Constant: regexp/newline
5791 Match-any-character operators don't match a newline.
5793 A non-matching list ([^...]) not containing a newline matches a
5796 Match-beginning-of-line operator (^) matches the empty string
5797 immediately after a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
5798 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/notbol.
5800 Match-end-of-line operator ($) matches the empty string
5801 immediately before a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
5802 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/noteol.
5804 **** Function: regexp-exec REGEXP STR [START [FLAGS]]
5805 Match the compiled regular expression REGEXP against `str'. If
5806 the optional integer START argument is provided, begin matching
5807 from that position in the string. Return a match structure
5808 describing the results of the match, or `#f' if no match could be
5811 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
5813 **** Constant: regexp/notbol
5814 The match-beginning-of-line operator always fails to match (but
5815 see the compilation flag regexp/newline above) This flag may be
5816 used when different portions of a string are passed to
5817 regexp-exec and the beginning of the string should not be
5818 interpreted as the beginning of the line.
5820 **** Constant: regexp/noteol
5821 The match-end-of-line operator always fails to match (but see the
5822 compilation flag regexp/newline above)
5824 **** Function: regexp? OBJ
5825 Return `#t' if OBJ is a compiled regular expression, or `#f'
5828 Regular expressions are commonly used to find patterns in one string
5829 and replace them with the contents of another string.
5831 **** Function: regexp-substitute PORT MATCH [ITEM...]
5832 Write to the output port PORT selected contents of the match
5833 structure MATCH. Each ITEM specifies what should be written, and
5834 may be one of the following arguments:
5836 * A string. String arguments are written out verbatim.
5838 * An integer. The submatch with that number is written.
5840 * The symbol `pre'. The portion of the matched string preceding
5841 the regexp match is written.
5843 * The symbol `post'. The portion of the matched string
5844 following the regexp match is written.
5846 PORT may be `#f', in which case nothing is written; instead,
5847 `regexp-substitute' constructs a string from the specified ITEMs
5850 **** Function: regexp-substitute/global PORT REGEXP TARGET [ITEM...]
5851 Similar to `regexp-substitute', but can be used to perform global
5852 substitutions on STR. Instead of taking a match structure as an
5853 argument, `regexp-substitute/global' takes two string arguments: a
5854 REGEXP string describing a regular expression, and a TARGET string
5855 which should be matched against this regular expression.
5857 Each ITEM behaves as in REGEXP-SUBSTITUTE, with the following
5860 * A function may be supplied. When this function is called, it
5861 will be passed one argument: a match structure for a given
5862 regular expression match. It should return a string to be
5863 written out to PORT.
5865 * The `post' symbol causes `regexp-substitute/global' to recurse
5866 on the unmatched portion of STR. This *must* be supplied in
5867 order to perform global search-and-replace on STR; if it is
5868 not present among the ITEMs, then `regexp-substitute/global'
5869 will return after processing a single match.
5871 *** Match Structures
5873 A "match structure" is the object returned by `string-match' and
5874 `regexp-exec'. It describes which portion of a string, if any, matched
5875 the given regular expression. Match structures include: a reference to
5876 the string that was checked for matches; the starting and ending
5877 positions of the regexp match; and, if the regexp included any
5878 parenthesized subexpressions, the starting and ending positions of each
5881 In each of the regexp match functions described below, the `match'
5882 argument must be a match structure returned by a previous call to
5883 `string-match' or `regexp-exec'. Most of these functions return some
5884 information about the original target string that was matched against a
5885 regular expression; we will call that string TARGET for easy reference.
5887 **** Function: regexp-match? OBJ
5888 Return `#t' if OBJ is a match structure returned by a previous
5889 call to `regexp-exec', or `#f' otherwise.
5891 **** Function: match:substring MATCH [N]
5892 Return the portion of TARGET matched by subexpression number N.
5893 Submatch 0 (the default) represents the entire regexp match. If
5894 the regular expression as a whole matched, but the subexpression
5895 number N did not match, return `#f'.
5897 **** Function: match:start MATCH [N]
5898 Return the starting position of submatch number N.
5900 **** Function: match:end MATCH [N]
5901 Return the ending position of submatch number N.
5903 **** Function: match:prefix MATCH
5904 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET preceding the regexp match.
5906 **** Function: match:suffix MATCH
5907 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET following the regexp match.
5909 **** Function: match:count MATCH
5910 Return the number of parenthesized subexpressions from MATCH.
5911 Note that the entire regular expression match itself counts as a
5912 subexpression, and failed submatches are included in the count.
5914 **** Function: match:string MATCH
5915 Return the original TARGET string.
5917 *** Backslash Escapes
5919 Sometimes you will want a regexp to match characters like `*' or `$'
5920 exactly. For example, to check whether a particular string represents
5921 a menu entry from an Info node, it would be useful to match it against
5922 a regexp like `^* [^:]*::'. However, this won't work; because the
5923 asterisk is a metacharacter, it won't match the `*' at the beginning of
5924 the string. In this case, we want to make the first asterisk un-magic.
5926 You can do this by preceding the metacharacter with a backslash
5927 character `\'. (This is also called "quoting" the metacharacter, and
5928 is known as a "backslash escape".) When Guile sees a backslash in a
5929 regular expression, it considers the following glyph to be an ordinary
5930 character, no matter what special meaning it would ordinarily have.
5931 Therefore, we can make the above example work by changing the regexp to
5932 `^\* [^:]*::'. The `\*' sequence tells the regular expression engine
5933 to match only a single asterisk in the target string.
5935 Since the backslash is itself a metacharacter, you may force a
5936 regexp to match a backslash in the target string by preceding the
5937 backslash with itself. For example, to find variable references in a
5938 TeX program, you might want to find occurrences of the string `\let\'
5939 followed by any number of alphabetic characters. The regular expression
5940 `\\let\\[A-Za-z]*' would do this: the double backslashes in the regexp
5941 each match a single backslash in the target string.
5943 **** Function: regexp-quote STR
5944 Quote each special character found in STR with a backslash, and
5945 return the resulting string.
5947 *Very important:* Using backslash escapes in Guile source code (as
5948 in Emacs Lisp or C) can be tricky, because the backslash character has
5949 special meaning for the Guile reader. For example, if Guile encounters
5950 the character sequence `\n' in the middle of a string while processing
5951 Scheme code, it replaces those characters with a newline character.
5952 Similarly, the character sequence `\t' is replaced by a horizontal tab.
5953 Several of these "escape sequences" are processed by the Guile reader
5954 before your code is executed. Unrecognized escape sequences are
5955 ignored: if the characters `\*' appear in a string, they will be
5956 translated to the single character `*'.
5958 This translation is obviously undesirable for regular expressions,
5959 since we want to be able to include backslashes in a string in order to
5960 escape regexp metacharacters. Therefore, to make sure that a backslash
5961 is preserved in a string in your Guile program, you must use *two*
5962 consecutive backslashes:
5964 (define Info-menu-entry-pattern (make-regexp "^\\* [^:]*"))
5966 The string in this example is preprocessed by the Guile reader before
5967 any code is executed. The resulting argument to `make-regexp' is the
5968 string `^\* [^:]*', which is what we really want.
5970 This also means that in order to write a regular expression that
5971 matches a single backslash character, the regular expression string in
5972 the source code must include *four* backslashes. Each consecutive pair
5973 of backslashes gets translated by the Guile reader to a single
5974 backslash, and the resulting double-backslash is interpreted by the
5975 regexp engine as matching a single backslash character. Hence:
5977 (define tex-variable-pattern (make-regexp "\\\\let\\\\=[A-Za-z]*"))
5979 The reason for the unwieldiness of this syntax is historical. Both
5980 regular expression pattern matchers and Unix string processing systems
5981 have traditionally used backslashes with the special meanings described
5982 above. The POSIX regular expression specification and ANSI C standard
5983 both require these semantics. Attempting to abandon either convention
5984 would cause other kinds of compatibility problems, possibly more severe
5985 ones. Therefore, without extending the Scheme reader to support
5986 strings with different quoting conventions (an ungainly and confusing
5987 extension when implemented in other languages), we must adhere to this
5988 cumbersome escape syntax.
5990 * Changes to the gh_ interface
5992 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5994 * Changes to system call interfaces:
5996 ** The value returned by `raise' is now unspecified. It throws an exception
5999 *** A new procedure `sigaction' can be used to install signal handlers
6001 (sigaction signum [action] [flags])
6003 signum is the signal number, which can be specified using the value
6006 If action is omitted, sigaction returns a pair: the CAR is the current
6007 signal hander, which will be either an integer with the value SIG_DFL
6008 (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or the Scheme procedure which
6009 handles the signal, or #f if a non-Scheme procedure handles the
6010 signal. The CDR contains the current sigaction flags for the handler.
6012 If action is provided, it is installed as the new handler for signum.
6013 action can be a Scheme procedure taking one argument, or the value of
6014 SIG_DFL (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or #f to restore
6015 whatever signal handler was installed before sigaction was first used.
6016 Flags can optionally be specified for the new handler (SA_RESTART is
6017 always used if the system provides it, so need not be specified.) The
6018 return value is a pair with information about the old handler as
6021 This interface does not provide access to the "signal blocking"
6022 facility. Maybe this is not needed, since the thread support may
6023 provide solutions to the problem of consistent access to data
6026 *** A new procedure `flush-all-ports' is equivalent to running
6027 `force-output' on every port open for output.
6029 ** Guile now provides information on how it was built, via the new
6030 global variable, %guile-build-info. This variable records the values
6031 of the standard GNU makefile directory variables as an assocation
6032 list, mapping variable names (symbols) onto directory paths (strings).
6033 For example, to find out where the Guile link libraries were
6034 installed, you can say:
6036 guile -c "(display (assq-ref %guile-build-info 'libdir)) (newline)"
6039 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6041 ** The new function scm_handle_by_message_noexit is just like the
6042 existing scm_handle_by_message function, except that it doesn't call
6043 exit to terminate the process. Instead, it prints a message and just
6044 returns #f. This might be a more appropriate catch-all handler for
6045 new dynamic roots and threads.
6048 Changes in Guile 1.1 (released Friday, May 16 1997):
6050 * Changes to the distribution.
6052 The Guile 1.0 distribution has been split up into several smaller
6054 guile-core --- the Guile interpreter itself.
6055 guile-tcltk --- the interface between the Guile interpreter and
6056 Tcl/Tk; Tcl is an interpreter for a stringy language, and Tk
6057 is a toolkit for building graphical user interfaces.
6058 guile-rgx-ctax --- the interface between Guile and the Rx regular
6059 expression matcher, and the translator for the Ctax
6060 programming language. These are packaged together because the
6061 Ctax translator uses Rx to parse Ctax source code.
6063 This NEWS file describes the changes made to guile-core since the 1.0
6066 We no longer distribute the documentation, since it was either out of
6067 date, or incomplete. As soon as we have current documentation, we
6072 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
6074 ** guile now accepts command-line arguments compatible with SCSH, Olin
6075 Shivers' Scheme Shell.
6077 In general, arguments are evaluated from left to right, but there are
6078 exceptions. The following switches stop argument processing, and
6079 stash all remaining command-line arguments as the value returned by
6080 the (command-line) function.
6081 -s SCRIPT load Scheme source code from FILE, and exit
6082 -c EXPR evalute Scheme expression EXPR, and exit
6083 -- stop scanning arguments; run interactively
6085 The switches below are processed as they are encountered.
6086 -l FILE load Scheme source code from FILE
6087 -e FUNCTION after reading script, apply FUNCTION to
6088 command line arguments
6089 -ds do -s script at this point
6090 --emacs enable Emacs protocol (experimental)
6091 -h, --help display this help and exit
6092 -v, --version display version information and exit
6093 \ read arguments from following script lines
6095 So, for example, here is a Guile script named `ekko' (thanks, Olin)
6096 which re-implements the traditional "echo" command:
6098 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
6101 (map (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
6105 (main (command-line))
6107 Suppose we invoke this script as follows:
6109 ekko a speckled gecko
6111 Through the magic of Unix script processing (triggered by the `#!'
6112 token at the top of the file), /usr/local/bin/guile receives the
6113 following list of command-line arguments:
6115 ("-s" "./ekko" "a" "speckled" "gecko")
6117 Unix inserts the name of the script after the argument specified on
6118 the first line of the file (in this case, "-s"), and then follows that
6119 with the arguments given to the script. Guile loads the script, which
6120 defines the `main' function, and then applies it to the list of
6121 remaining command-line arguments, ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
6123 In Unix, the first line of a script file must take the following form:
6125 #!INTERPRETER ARGUMENT
6127 where INTERPRETER is the absolute filename of the interpreter
6128 executable, and ARGUMENT is a single command-line argument to pass to
6131 You may only pass one argument to the interpreter, and its length is
6132 limited. These restrictions can be annoying to work around, so Guile
6133 provides a general mechanism (borrowed from, and compatible with,
6134 SCSH) for circumventing them.
6136 If the ARGUMENT in a Guile script is a single backslash character,
6137 `\', Guile will open the script file, parse arguments from its second
6138 and subsequent lines, and replace the `\' with them. So, for example,
6139 here is another implementation of the `ekko' script:
6141 #!/usr/local/bin/guile \
6145 (for-each (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
6149 If the user invokes this script as follows:
6151 ekko a speckled gecko
6153 Unix expands this into
6155 /usr/local/bin/guile \ ekko a speckled gecko
6157 When Guile sees the `\' argument, it replaces it with the arguments
6158 read from the second line of the script, producing:
6160 /usr/local/bin/guile -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
6162 This tells Guile to load the `ekko' script, and apply the function
6163 `main' to the argument list ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
6165 Here is how Guile parses the command-line arguments:
6166 - Each space character terminates an argument. This means that two
6167 spaces in a row introduce an empty-string argument.
6168 - The tab character is not permitted (unless you quote it with the
6169 backslash character, as described below), to avoid confusion.
6170 - The newline character terminates the sequence of arguments, and will
6171 also terminate a final non-empty argument. (However, a newline
6172 following a space will not introduce a final empty-string argument;
6173 it only terminates the argument list.)
6174 - The backslash character is the escape character. It escapes
6175 backslash, space, tab, and newline. The ANSI C escape sequences
6176 like \n and \t are also supported. These produce argument
6177 constituents; the two-character combination \n doesn't act like a
6178 terminating newline. The escape sequence \NNN for exactly three
6179 octal digits reads as the character whose ASCII code is NNN. As
6180 above, characters produced this way are argument constituents.
6181 Backslash followed by other characters is not allowed.
6183 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
6185 ** Guile now builds and installs a shared guile library, if your
6186 system support shared libraries. (It still builds a static library on
6187 all systems.) Guile automatically detects whether your system
6188 supports shared libraries. To prevent Guile from buildisg shared
6189 libraries, pass the `--disable-shared' flag to the configure script.
6191 Guile takes longer to compile when it builds shared libraries, because
6192 it must compile every file twice --- once to produce position-
6193 independent object code, and once to produce normal object code.
6195 ** The libthreads library has been merged into libguile.
6197 To link a program against Guile, you now need only link against
6198 -lguile and -lqt; -lthreads is no longer needed. If you are using
6199 autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your application, the
6200 following lines should suffice to add the appropriate libraries to
6203 ### Find quickthreads and libguile.
6204 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
6205 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
6207 * Changes to Scheme functions
6209 ** Guile Scheme's special syntax for keyword objects is now optional,
6210 and disabled by default.
6212 The syntax variation from R4RS made it difficult to port some
6213 interesting packages to Guile. The routines which accepted keyword
6214 arguments (mostly in the module system) have been modified to also
6215 accept symbols whose names begin with `:'.
6217 To change the keyword syntax, you must first import the (ice-9 debug)
6219 (use-modules (ice-9 debug))
6221 Then you can enable the keyword syntax as follows:
6222 (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
6224 To disable keyword syntax, do this:
6225 (read-set! keywords #f)
6227 ** Many more primitive functions accept shared substrings as
6228 arguments. In the past, these functions required normal, mutable
6229 strings as arguments, although they never made use of this
6232 ** The uniform array functions now operate on byte vectors. These
6233 functions are `array-fill!', `serial-array-copy!', `array-copy!',
6234 `serial-array-map', `array-map', `array-for-each', and
6237 ** The new functions `trace' and `untrace' implement simple debugging
6238 support for Scheme functions.
6240 The `trace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
6241 and tells the Guile interpreter to display each procedure's name and
6242 arguments each time the procedure is invoked. When invoked with no
6243 arguments, `trace' returns the list of procedures currently being
6246 The `untrace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
6247 and tells the Guile interpreter not to trace them any more. When
6248 invoked with no arguments, `untrace' untraces all curretly traced
6251 The tracing in Guile has an advantage over most other systems: we
6252 don't create new procedure objects, but mark the procedure objects
6253 themselves. This means that anonymous and internal procedures can be
6256 ** The function `assert-repl-prompt' has been renamed to
6257 `set-repl-prompt!'. It takes one argument, PROMPT.
6258 - If PROMPT is #f, the Guile read-eval-print loop will not prompt.
6259 - If PROMPT is a string, we use it as a prompt.
6260 - If PROMPT is a procedure accepting no arguments, we call it, and
6261 display the result as a prompt.
6262 - Otherwise, we display "> ".
6264 ** The new function `eval-string' reads Scheme expressions from a
6265 string and evaluates them, returning the value of the last expression
6266 in the string. If the string contains no expressions, it returns an
6269 ** The new function `thunk?' returns true iff its argument is a
6270 procedure of zero arguments.
6272 ** `defined?' is now a builtin function, instead of syntax. This
6273 means that its argument should be quoted. It returns #t iff its
6274 argument is bound in the current module.
6276 ** The new syntax `use-modules' allows you to add new modules to your
6277 environment without re-typing a complete `define-module' form. It
6278 accepts any number of module names as arguments, and imports their
6279 public bindings into the current module.
6281 ** The new function (module-defined? NAME MODULE) returns true iff
6282 NAME, a symbol, is defined in MODULE, a module object.
6284 ** The new function `builtin-bindings' creates and returns a hash
6285 table containing copies of all the root module's bindings.
6287 ** The new function `builtin-weak-bindings' does the same as
6288 `builtin-bindings', but creates a doubly-weak hash table.
6290 ** The `equal?' function now considers variable objects to be
6291 equivalent if they have the same name and the same value.
6293 ** The new function `command-line' returns the command-line arguments
6294 given to Guile, as a list of strings.
6296 When using guile as a script interpreter, `command-line' returns the
6297 script's arguments; those processed by the interpreter (like `-s' or
6298 `-c') are omitted. (In other words, you get the normal, expected
6299 behavior.) Any application that uses scm_shell to process its
6300 command-line arguments gets this behavior as well.
6302 ** The new function `load-user-init' looks for a file called `.guile'
6303 in the user's home directory, and loads it if it exists. This is
6304 mostly for use by the code generated by scm_compile_shell_switches,
6305 but we thought it might also be useful in other circumstances.
6307 ** The new function `log10' returns the base-10 logarithm of its
6310 ** Changes to I/O functions
6312 *** The functions `read', `primitive-load', `read-and-eval!', and
6313 `primitive-load-path' no longer take optional arguments controlling
6314 case insensitivity and a `#' parser.
6316 Case sensitivity is now controlled by a read option called
6317 `case-insensitive'. The user can add new `#' syntaxes with the
6318 `read-hash-extend' function (see below).
6320 *** The new function `read-hash-extend' allows the user to change the
6321 syntax of Guile Scheme in a somewhat controlled way.
6323 (read-hash-extend CHAR PROC)
6324 When parsing S-expressions, if we read a `#' character followed by
6325 the character CHAR, use PROC to parse an object from the stream.
6326 If PROC is #f, remove any parsing procedure registered for CHAR.
6328 The reader applies PROC to two arguments: CHAR and an input port.
6330 *** The new functions read-delimited and read-delimited! provide a
6331 general mechanism for doing delimited input on streams.
6333 (read-delimited DELIMS [PORT HANDLE-DELIM])
6334 Read until we encounter one of the characters in DELIMS (a string),
6335 or end-of-file. PORT is the input port to read from; it defaults to
6336 the current input port. The HANDLE-DELIM parameter determines how
6337 the terminating character is handled; it should be one of the
6340 'trim omit delimiter from result
6341 'peek leave delimiter character in input stream
6342 'concat append delimiter character to returned value
6343 'split return a pair: (RESULT . TERMINATOR)
6345 HANDLE-DELIM defaults to 'peek.
6347 (read-delimited! DELIMS BUF [PORT HANDLE-DELIM START END])
6348 A side-effecting variant of `read-delimited'.
6350 The data is written into the string BUF at the indices in the
6351 half-open interval [START, END); the default interval is the whole
6352 string: START = 0 and END = (string-length BUF). The values of
6353 START and END must specify a well-defined interval in BUF, i.e.
6354 0 <= START <= END <= (string-length BUF).
6356 It returns NBYTES, the number of bytes read. If the buffer filled
6357 up without a delimiter character being found, it returns #f. If the
6358 port is at EOF when the read starts, it returns the EOF object.
6360 If an integer is returned (i.e., the read is successfully terminated
6361 by reading a delimiter character), then the HANDLE-DELIM parameter
6362 determines how to handle the terminating character. It is described
6363 above, and defaults to 'peek.
6365 (The descriptions of these functions were borrowed from the SCSH
6366 manual, by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
6368 *** The `%read-delimited!' function is the primitive used to implement
6369 `read-delimited' and `read-delimited!'.
6371 (%read-delimited! DELIMS BUF GOBBLE? [PORT START END])
6373 This returns a pair of values: (TERMINATOR . NUM-READ).
6374 - TERMINATOR describes why the read was terminated. If it is a
6375 character or the eof object, then that is the value that terminated
6376 the read. If it is #f, the function filled the buffer without finding
6377 a delimiting character.
6378 - NUM-READ is the number of characters read into BUF.
6380 If the read is successfully terminated by reading a delimiter
6381 character, then the gobble? parameter determines what to do with the
6382 terminating character. If true, the character is removed from the
6383 input stream; if false, the character is left in the input stream
6384 where a subsequent read operation will retrieve it. In either case,
6385 the character is also the first value returned by the procedure call.
6387 (The descriptions of this function was borrowed from the SCSH manual,
6388 by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
6390 *** The `read-line' and `read-line!' functions have changed; they now
6391 trim the terminator by default; previously they appended it to the
6392 returned string. For the old behavior, use (read-line PORT 'concat).
6394 *** The functions `uniform-array-read!' and `uniform-array-write!' now
6395 take new optional START and END arguments, specifying the region of
6396 the array to read and write.
6398 *** The `ungetc-char-ready?' function has been removed. We feel it's
6399 inappropriate for an interface to expose implementation details this
6402 ** Changes to the Unix library and system call interface
6404 *** The new fcntl function provides access to the Unix `fcntl' system
6407 (fcntl PORT COMMAND VALUE)
6408 Apply COMMAND to PORT's file descriptor, with VALUE as an argument.
6409 Values for COMMAND are:
6411 F_DUPFD duplicate a file descriptor
6412 F_GETFD read the descriptor's close-on-exec flag
6413 F_SETFD set the descriptor's close-on-exec flag to VALUE
6414 F_GETFL read the descriptor's flags, as set on open
6415 F_SETFL set the descriptor's flags, as set on open to VALUE
6416 F_GETOWN return the process ID of a socket's owner, for SIGIO
6417 F_SETOWN set the process that owns a socket to VALUE, for SIGIO
6418 FD_CLOEXEC not sure what this is
6420 For details, see the documentation for the fcntl system call.
6422 *** The arguments to `select' have changed, for compatibility with
6423 SCSH. The TIMEOUT parameter may now be non-integral, yielding the
6424 expected behavior. The MILLISECONDS parameter has been changed to
6425 MICROSECONDS, to more closely resemble the underlying system call.
6426 The RVEC, WVEC, and EVEC arguments can now be vectors; the type of the
6427 corresponding return set will be the same.
6429 *** The arguments to the `mknod' system call have changed. They are
6432 (mknod PATH TYPE PERMS DEV)
6433 Create a new file (`node') in the file system. PATH is the name of
6434 the file to create. TYPE is the kind of file to create; it should
6435 be 'fifo, 'block-special, or 'char-special. PERMS specifies the
6436 permission bits to give the newly created file. If TYPE is
6437 'block-special or 'char-special, DEV specifies which device the
6438 special file refers to; its interpretation depends on the kind of
6439 special file being created.
6441 *** The `fork' function has been renamed to `primitive-fork', to avoid
6442 clashing with various SCSH forks.
6444 *** The `recv' and `recvfrom' functions have been renamed to `recv!'
6445 and `recvfrom!'. They no longer accept a size for a second argument;
6446 you must pass a string to hold the received value. They no longer
6447 return the buffer. Instead, `recv' returns the length of the message
6448 received, and `recvfrom' returns a pair containing the packet's length
6449 and originating address.
6451 *** The file descriptor datatype has been removed, as have the
6452 `read-fd', `write-fd', `close', `lseek', and `dup' functions.
6453 We plan to replace these functions with a SCSH-compatible interface.
6455 *** The `create' function has been removed; it's just a special case
6458 *** There are new functions to break down process termination status
6459 values. In the descriptions below, STATUS is a value returned by
6462 (status:exit-val STATUS)
6463 If the child process exited normally, this function returns the exit
6464 code for the child process (i.e., the value passed to exit, or
6465 returned from main). If the child process did not exit normally,
6466 this function returns #f.
6468 (status:stop-sig STATUS)
6469 If the child process was suspended by a signal, this function
6470 returns the signal that suspended the child. Otherwise, it returns
6473 (status:term-sig STATUS)
6474 If the child process terminated abnormally, this function returns
6475 the signal that terminated the child. Otherwise, this function
6478 POSIX promises that exactly one of these functions will return true on
6479 a valid STATUS value.
6481 These functions are compatible with SCSH.
6483 *** There are new accessors and setters for the broken-out time vectors
6484 returned by `localtime', `gmtime', and that ilk. They are:
6486 Component Accessor Setter
6487 ========================= ============ ============
6488 seconds tm:sec set-tm:sec
6489 minutes tm:min set-tm:min
6490 hours tm:hour set-tm:hour
6491 day of the month tm:mday set-tm:mday
6492 month tm:mon set-tm:mon
6493 year tm:year set-tm:year
6494 day of the week tm:wday set-tm:wday
6495 day in the year tm:yday set-tm:yday
6496 daylight saving time tm:isdst set-tm:isdst
6497 GMT offset, seconds tm:gmtoff set-tm:gmtoff
6498 name of time zone tm:zone set-tm:zone
6500 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `uname',
6501 describing the host system:
6504 ============================================== ================
6505 name of the operating system implementation utsname:sysname
6506 network name of this machine utsname:nodename
6507 release level of the operating system utsname:release
6508 version level of the operating system utsname:version
6509 machine hardware platform utsname:machine
6511 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getpw',
6512 `getpwnam', `getpwuid', and `getpwent', describing entries from the
6513 system's user database:
6516 ====================== =================
6517 user name passwd:name
6518 user password passwd:passwd
6521 real name passwd:gecos
6522 home directory passwd:dir
6523 shell program passwd:shell
6525 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getgr',
6526 `getgrnam', `getgrgid', and `getgrent', describing entries from the
6527 system's group database:
6530 ======================= ============
6531 group name group:name
6532 group password group:passwd
6534 group members group:mem
6536 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `gethost',
6537 `gethostbyaddr', `gethostbyname', and `gethostent', describing
6541 ========================= ===============
6542 official name of host hostent:name
6543 alias list hostent:aliases
6544 host address type hostent:addrtype
6545 length of address hostent:length
6546 list of addresses hostent:addr-list
6548 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getnet',
6549 `getnetbyaddr', `getnetbyname', and `getnetent', describing internet
6553 ========================= ===============
6554 official name of net netent:name
6555 alias list netent:aliases
6556 net number type netent:addrtype
6557 net number netent:net
6559 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getproto',
6560 `getprotobyname', `getprotobynumber', and `getprotoent', describing
6564 ========================= ===============
6565 official protocol name protoent:name
6566 alias list protoent:aliases
6567 protocol number protoent:proto
6569 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getserv',
6570 `getservbyname', `getservbyport', and `getservent', describing
6574 ========================= ===============
6575 official service name servent:name
6576 alias list servent:aliases
6577 port number servent:port
6578 protocol to use servent:proto
6580 *** There are new accessors for the sockaddr structures returned by
6581 `accept', `getsockname', `getpeername', `recvfrom!':
6584 ======================================== ===============
6585 address format (`family') sockaddr:fam
6586 path, for file domain addresses sockaddr:path
6587 address, for internet domain addresses sockaddr:addr
6588 TCP or UDP port, for internet sockaddr:port
6590 *** The `getpwent', `getgrent', `gethostent', `getnetent',
6591 `getprotoent', and `getservent' functions now return #f at the end of
6592 the user database. (They used to throw an exception.)
6594 Note that calling MUMBLEent function is equivalent to calling the
6595 corresponding MUMBLE function with no arguments.
6597 *** The `setpwent', `setgrent', `sethostent', `setnetent',
6598 `setprotoent', and `setservent' routines now take no arguments.
6600 *** The `gethost', `getproto', `getnet', and `getserv' functions now
6601 provide more useful information when they throw an exception.
6603 *** The `lnaof' function has been renamed to `inet-lnaof'.
6605 *** Guile now claims to have the `current-time' feature.
6607 *** The `mktime' function now takes an optional second argument ZONE,
6608 giving the time zone to use for the conversion. ZONE should be a
6609 string, in the same format as expected for the "TZ" environment variable.
6611 *** The `strptime' function now returns a pair (TIME . COUNT), where
6612 TIME is the parsed time as a vector, and COUNT is the number of
6613 characters from the string left unparsed. This function used to
6614 return the remaining characters as a string.
6616 *** The `gettimeofday' function has replaced the old `time+ticks' function.
6617 The return value is now (SECONDS . MICROSECONDS); the fractional
6618 component is no longer expressed in "ticks".
6620 *** The `ticks/sec' constant has been removed, in light of the above change.
6622 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6624 ** gh_eval_str() now returns an SCM object which is the result of the
6627 ** gh_scm2str() now copies the Scheme data to a caller-provided C
6630 ** gh_scm2newstr() now makes a C array, copies the Scheme data to it,
6631 and returns the array
6633 ** gh_scm2str0() is gone: there is no need to distinguish
6634 null-terminated from non-null-terminated, since gh_scm2newstr() allows
6635 the user to interpret the data both ways.
6637 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6639 ** The new function scm_symbol_value0 provides an easy way to get a
6640 symbol's value from C code:
6642 SCM scm_symbol_value0 (char *NAME)
6643 Return the value of the symbol named by the null-terminated string
6644 NAME in the current module. If the symbol named NAME is unbound in
6645 the current module, return SCM_UNDEFINED.
6647 ** The new function scm_sysintern0 creates new top-level variables,
6648 without assigning them a value.
6650 SCM scm_sysintern0 (char *NAME)
6651 Create a new Scheme top-level variable named NAME. NAME is a
6652 null-terminated string. Return the variable's value cell.
6654 ** The function scm_internal_catch is the guts of catch. It handles
6655 all the mechanics of setting up a catch target, invoking the catch
6656 body, and perhaps invoking the handler if the body does a throw.
6658 The function is designed to be usable from C code, but is general
6659 enough to implement all the semantics Guile Scheme expects from throw.
6661 TAG is the catch tag. Typically, this is a symbol, but this function
6662 doesn't actually care about that.
6664 BODY is a pointer to a C function which runs the body of the catch;
6665 this is the code you can throw from. We call it like this:
6666 BODY (BODY_DATA, JMPBUF)
6668 BODY_DATA is just the BODY_DATA argument we received; we pass it
6669 through to BODY as its first argument. The caller can make
6670 BODY_DATA point to anything useful that BODY might need.
6671 JMPBUF is the Scheme jmpbuf object corresponding to this catch,
6672 which we have just created and initialized.
6674 HANDLER is a pointer to a C function to deal with a throw to TAG,
6675 should one occur. We call it like this:
6676 HANDLER (HANDLER_DATA, THROWN_TAG, THROW_ARGS)
6678 HANDLER_DATA is the HANDLER_DATA argument we recevied; it's the
6679 same idea as BODY_DATA above.
6680 THROWN_TAG is the tag that the user threw to; usually this is
6681 TAG, but it could be something else if TAG was #t (i.e., a
6682 catch-all), or the user threw to a jmpbuf.
6683 THROW_ARGS is the list of arguments the user passed to the THROW
6686 BODY_DATA is just a pointer we pass through to BODY. HANDLER_DATA
6687 is just a pointer we pass through to HANDLER. We don't actually
6688 use either of those pointers otherwise ourselves. The idea is
6689 that, if our caller wants to communicate something to BODY or
6690 HANDLER, it can pass a pointer to it as MUMBLE_DATA, which BODY and
6691 HANDLER can then use. Think of it as a way to make BODY and
6692 HANDLER closures, not just functions; MUMBLE_DATA points to the
6695 Of course, it's up to the caller to make sure that any data a
6696 MUMBLE_DATA needs is protected from GC. A common way to do this is
6697 to make MUMBLE_DATA a pointer to data stored in an automatic
6698 structure variable; since the collector must scan the stack for
6699 references anyway, this assures that any references in MUMBLE_DATA
6702 ** The new function scm_internal_lazy_catch is exactly like
6703 scm_internal_catch, except:
6705 - It does not unwind the stack (this is the major difference).
6706 - If handler returns, its value is returned from the throw.
6707 - BODY always receives #f as its JMPBUF argument (since there's no
6708 jmpbuf associated with a lazy catch, because we don't unwind the
6711 ** scm_body_thunk is a new body function you can pass to
6712 scm_internal_catch if you want the body to be like Scheme's `catch'
6713 --- a thunk, or a function of one argument if the tag is #f.
6715 BODY_DATA is a pointer to a scm_body_thunk_data structure, which
6716 contains the Scheme procedure to invoke as the body, and the tag
6717 we're catching. If the tag is #f, then we pass JMPBUF (created by
6718 scm_internal_catch) to the body procedure; otherwise, the body gets
6721 ** scm_handle_by_proc is a new handler function you can pass to
6722 scm_internal_catch if you want the handler to act like Scheme's catch
6723 --- call a procedure with the tag and the throw arguments.
6725 If the user does a throw to this catch, this function runs a handler
6726 procedure written in Scheme. HANDLER_DATA is a pointer to an SCM
6727 variable holding the Scheme procedure object to invoke. It ought to
6728 be a pointer to an automatic variable (i.e., one living on the stack),
6729 or the procedure object should be otherwise protected from GC.
6731 ** scm_handle_by_message is a new handler function to use with
6732 `scm_internal_catch' if you want Guile to print a message and die.
6733 It's useful for dealing with throws to uncaught keys at the top level.
6735 HANDLER_DATA, if non-zero, is assumed to be a char * pointing to a
6736 message header to print; if zero, we use "guile" instead. That
6737 text is followed by a colon, then the message described by ARGS.
6739 ** The return type of scm_boot_guile is now void; the function does
6740 not return a value, and indeed, never returns at all.
6742 ** The new function scm_shell makes it easy for user applications to
6743 process command-line arguments in a way that is compatible with the
6744 stand-alone guile interpreter (which is in turn compatible with SCSH,
6747 To use the scm_shell function, first initialize any guile modules
6748 linked into your application, and then call scm_shell with the values
6749 of ARGC and ARGV your `main' function received. scm_shell will add
6750 any SCSH-style meta-arguments from the top of the script file to the
6751 argument vector, and then process the command-line arguments. This
6752 generally means loading a script file or starting up an interactive
6753 command interpreter. For details, see "Changes to the stand-alone
6756 ** The new functions scm_get_meta_args and scm_count_argv help you
6757 implement the SCSH-style meta-argument, `\'.
6759 char **scm_get_meta_args (int ARGC, char **ARGV)
6760 If the second element of ARGV is a string consisting of a single
6761 backslash character (i.e. "\\" in Scheme notation), open the file
6762 named by the following argument, parse arguments from it, and return
6763 the spliced command line. The returned array is terminated by a
6766 For details of argument parsing, see above, under "guile now accepts
6767 command-line arguments compatible with SCSH..."
6769 int scm_count_argv (char **ARGV)
6770 Count the arguments in ARGV, assuming it is terminated by a null
6773 For an example of how these functions might be used, see the source
6774 code for the function scm_shell in libguile/script.c.
6776 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6779 ** The new function scm_compile_shell_switches turns an array of
6780 command-line arguments into Scheme code to carry out the actions they
6781 describe. Given ARGC and ARGV, it returns a Scheme expression to
6782 evaluate, and calls scm_set_program_arguments to make any remaining
6783 command-line arguments available to the Scheme code. For example,
6784 given the following arguments:
6786 -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
6788 scm_set_program_arguments will return the following expression:
6790 (begin (load "ekko") (main (command-line)) (quit))
6792 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6795 ** The function scm_shell_usage prints a usage message appropriate for
6796 an interpreter that uses scm_compile_shell_switches to handle its
6797 command-line arguments.
6799 void scm_shell_usage (int FATAL, char *MESSAGE)
6800 Print a usage message to the standard error output. If MESSAGE is
6801 non-zero, write it before the usage message, followed by a newline.
6802 If FATAL is non-zero, exit the process, using FATAL as the
6803 termination status. (If you want to be compatible with Guile,
6804 always use 1 as the exit status when terminating due to command-line
6807 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6810 ** scm_eval_0str now returns SCM_UNSPECIFIED if the string contains no
6811 expressions. It used to return SCM_EOL. Earth-shattering.
6813 ** The macros for declaring scheme objects in C code have been
6814 rearranged slightly. They are now:
6816 SCM_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6817 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
6818 point to the Scheme symbol whose name is SCHEME_NAME. C_NAME should
6819 be a C identifier, and SCHEME_NAME should be a C string.
6821 SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6822 Just like SCM_SYMBOL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
6824 SCM_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6825 Create a global variable at the Scheme level named SCHEME_NAME.
6826 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
6827 point to the Scheme variable's value cell.
6829 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6830 Just like SCM_VCELL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
6832 The `guile-snarf' script writes initialization code for these macros
6833 to its standard output, given C source code as input.
6835 The SCM_GLOBAL macro is gone.
6837 ** The scm_read_line and scm_read_line_x functions have been replaced
6838 by Scheme code based on the %read-delimited! procedure (known to C
6839 code as scm_read_delimited_x). See its description above for more
6842 ** The function scm_sys_open has been renamed to scm_open. It now
6843 returns a port instead of an FD object.
6845 * The dynamic linking support has changed. For more information, see
6846 libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING.
6851 User-visible changes from Thursday, September 5, 1996 until Guile 1.0
6854 * Changes to the 'guile' program:
6856 ** Guile now loads some new files when it starts up. Guile first
6857 searches the load path for init.scm, and loads it if found. Then, if
6858 Guile is not being used to execute a script, and the user's home
6859 directory contains a file named `.guile', Guile loads that.
6861 ** You can now use Guile as a shell script interpreter.
6863 To paraphrase the SCSH manual:
6865 When Unix tries to execute an executable file whose first two
6866 characters are the `#!', it treats the file not as machine code to
6867 be directly executed by the native processor, but as source code
6868 to be executed by some interpreter. The interpreter to use is
6869 specified immediately after the #! sequence on the first line of
6870 the source file. The kernel reads in the name of the interpreter,
6871 and executes that instead. It passes the interpreter the source
6872 filename as its first argument, with the original arguments
6873 following. Consult the Unix man page for the `exec' system call
6874 for more information.
6876 Now you can use Guile as an interpreter, using a mechanism which is a
6877 compatible subset of that provided by SCSH.
6879 Guile now recognizes a '-s' command line switch, whose argument is the
6880 name of a file of Scheme code to load. It also treats the two
6881 characters `#!' as the start of a comment, terminated by `!#'. Thus,
6882 to make a file of Scheme code directly executable by Unix, insert the
6883 following two lines at the top of the file:
6885 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
6888 Guile treats the argument of the `-s' command-line switch as the name
6889 of a file of Scheme code to load, and treats the sequence `#!' as the
6890 start of a block comment, terminated by `!#'.
6892 For example, here's a version of 'echo' written in Scheme:
6894 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
6896 (let loop ((args (cdr (program-arguments))))
6899 (display (car args))
6900 (if (pair? (cdr args))
6902 (loop (cdr args)))))
6905 Why does `#!' start a block comment terminated by `!#', instead of the
6906 end of the line? That is the notation SCSH uses, and although we
6907 don't yet support the other SCSH features that motivate that choice,
6908 we would like to be backward-compatible with any existing Guile
6909 scripts once we do. Furthermore, if the path to Guile on your system
6910 is too long for your kernel, you can start the script with this
6914 exec /really/long/path/to/guile -s "$0" ${1+"$@"}
6917 Note that some very old Unix systems don't support the `#!' syntax.
6920 ** You can now run Guile without installing it.
6922 Previous versions of the interactive Guile interpreter (`guile')
6923 couldn't start up unless Guile's Scheme library had been installed;
6924 they used the value of the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH'
6925 later on in the startup process, but not to find the startup code
6926 itself. Now Guile uses `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' in all searches for Scheme
6929 To run Guile without installing it, build it in the normal way, and
6930 then set the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' to a
6931 colon-separated list of directories, including the top-level directory
6932 of the Guile sources. For example, if you unpacked Guile so that the
6933 full filename of this NEWS file is /home/jimb/guile-1.0b3/NEWS, then
6936 export SCHEME_LOAD_PATH=/home/jimb/my-scheme:/home/jimb/guile-1.0b3
6939 ** Guile's read-eval-print loop no longer prints #<unspecified>
6940 results. If the user wants to see this, she can evaluate the
6941 expression (assert-repl-print-unspecified #t), perhaps in her startup
6944 ** Guile no longer shows backtraces by default when an error occurs;
6945 however, it does display a message saying how to get one, and how to
6946 request that they be displayed by default. After an error, evaluate
6948 to see a backtrace, and
6949 (debug-enable 'backtrace)
6950 to see them by default.
6954 * Changes to Guile Scheme:
6956 ** Guile now distinguishes between #f and the empty list.
6958 This is for compatibility with the IEEE standard, the (possibly)
6959 upcoming Revised^5 Report on Scheme, and many extant Scheme
6962 Guile used to have #f and '() denote the same object, to make Scheme's
6963 type system more compatible with Emacs Lisp's. However, the change
6964 caused too much trouble for Scheme programmers, and we found another
6965 way to reconcile Emacs Lisp with Scheme that didn't require this.
6968 ** Guile's delq, delv, delete functions, and their destructive
6969 counterparts, delq!, delv!, and delete!, now remove all matching
6970 elements from the list, not just the first. This matches the behavior
6971 of the corresponding Emacs Lisp functions, and (I believe) the Maclisp
6972 functions which inspired them.
6974 I recognize that this change may break code in subtle ways, but it
6975 seems best to make the change before the FSF's first Guile release,
6979 ** The compiled-library-path function has been deleted from libguile.
6981 ** The facilities for loading Scheme source files have changed.
6983 *** The variable %load-path now tells Guile which directories to search
6984 for Scheme code. Its value is a list of strings, each of which names
6987 *** The variable %load-extensions now tells Guile which extensions to
6988 try appending to a filename when searching the load path. Its value
6989 is a list of strings. Its default value is ("" ".scm").
6991 *** (%search-load-path FILENAME) searches the directories listed in the
6992 value of the %load-path variable for a Scheme file named FILENAME,
6993 with all the extensions listed in %load-extensions. If it finds a
6994 match, then it returns its full filename. If FILENAME is absolute, it
6995 returns it unchanged. Otherwise, it returns #f.
6997 %search-load-path will not return matches that refer to directories.
6999 *** (primitive-load FILENAME :optional CASE-INSENSITIVE-P SHARP)
7000 uses %seach-load-path to find a file named FILENAME, and loads it if
7001 it finds it. If it can't read FILENAME for any reason, it throws an
7004 The arguments CASE-INSENSITIVE-P and SHARP are interpreted as by the
7007 *** load uses the same searching semantics as primitive-load.
7009 *** The functions %try-load, try-load-with-path, %load, load-with-path,
7010 basic-try-load-with-path, basic-load-with-path, try-load-module-with-
7011 path, and load-module-with-path have been deleted. The functions
7012 above should serve their purposes.
7014 *** If the value of the variable %load-hook is a procedure,
7015 `primitive-load' applies its value to the name of the file being
7016 loaded (without the load path directory name prepended). If its value
7017 is #f, it is ignored. Otherwise, an error occurs.
7019 This is mostly useful for printing load notification messages.
7022 ** The function `eval!' is no longer accessible from the scheme level.
7023 We can't allow operations which introduce glocs into the scheme level,
7024 because Guile's type system can't handle these as data. Use `eval' or
7025 `read-and-eval!' (see below) as replacement.
7027 ** The new function read-and-eval! reads an expression from PORT,
7028 evaluates it, and returns the result. This is more efficient than
7029 simply calling `read' and `eval', since it is not necessary to make a
7030 copy of the expression for the evaluator to munge.
7032 Its optional arguments CASE_INSENSITIVE_P and SHARP are interpreted as
7033 for the `read' function.
7036 ** The function `int?' has been removed; its definition was identical
7037 to that of `integer?'.
7039 ** The functions `<?', `<?', `<=?', `=?', `>?', and `>=?'. Code should
7040 use the R4RS names for these functions.
7042 ** The function object-properties no longer returns the hash handle;
7043 it simply returns the object's property list.
7045 ** Many functions have been changed to throw errors, instead of
7046 returning #f on failure. The point of providing exception handling in
7047 the language is to simplify the logic of user code, but this is less
7048 useful if Guile's primitives don't throw exceptions.
7050 ** The function `fileno' has been renamed from `%fileno'.
7052 ** The function primitive-mode->fdes returns #t or #f now, not 1 or 0.
7055 * Changes to Guile's C interface:
7057 ** The library's initialization procedure has been simplified.
7058 scm_boot_guile now has the prototype:
7060 void scm_boot_guile (int ARGC,
7062 void (*main_func) (),
7065 scm_boot_guile calls MAIN_FUNC, passing it CLOSURE, ARGC, and ARGV.
7066 MAIN_FUNC should do all the work of the program (initializing other
7067 packages, reading user input, etc.) before returning. When MAIN_FUNC
7068 returns, call exit (0); this function never returns. If you want some
7069 other exit value, MAIN_FUNC may call exit itself.
7071 scm_boot_guile arranges for program-arguments to return the strings
7072 given by ARGC and ARGV. If MAIN_FUNC modifies ARGC/ARGV, should call
7073 scm_set_program_arguments with the final list, so Scheme code will
7074 know which arguments have been processed.
7076 scm_boot_guile establishes a catch-all catch handler which prints an
7077 error message and exits the process. This means that Guile exits in a
7078 coherent way when system errors occur and the user isn't prepared to
7079 handle it. If the user doesn't like this behavior, they can establish
7080 their own universal catcher in MAIN_FUNC to shadow this one.
7082 Why must the caller do all the real work from MAIN_FUNC? The garbage
7083 collector assumes that all local variables of type SCM will be above
7084 scm_boot_guile's stack frame on the stack. If you try to manipulate
7085 SCM values after this function returns, it's the luck of the draw
7086 whether the GC will be able to find the objects you allocate. So,
7087 scm_boot_guile function exits, rather than returning, to discourage
7088 people from making that mistake.
7090 The IN, OUT, and ERR arguments were removed; there are other
7091 convenient ways to override these when desired.
7093 The RESULT argument was deleted; this function should never return.
7095 The BOOT_CMD argument was deleted; the MAIN_FUNC argument is more
7099 ** Guile's header files should no longer conflict with your system's
7102 In order to compile code which #included <libguile.h>, previous
7103 versions of Guile required you to add a directory containing all the
7104 Guile header files to your #include path. This was a problem, since
7105 Guile's header files have names which conflict with many systems'
7108 Now only <libguile.h> need appear in your #include path; you must
7109 refer to all Guile's other header files as <libguile/mumble.h>.
7110 Guile's installation procedure puts libguile.h in $(includedir), and
7111 the rest in $(includedir)/libguile.
7114 ** Two new C functions, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object,
7115 have been added to the Guile library.
7117 scm_protect_object (OBJ) protects OBJ from the garbage collector.
7118 OBJ will not be freed, even if all other references are dropped,
7119 until someone does scm_unprotect_object (OBJ). Both functions
7122 Note that calls to scm_protect_object do not nest. You can call
7123 scm_protect_object any number of times on a given object, and the
7124 next call to scm_unprotect_object will unprotect it completely.
7126 Basically, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object just
7127 maintain a list of references to things. Since the GC knows about
7128 this list, all objects it mentions stay alive. scm_protect_object
7129 adds its argument to the list; scm_unprotect_object remove its
7130 argument from the list.
7133 ** scm_eval_0str now returns the value of the last expression
7136 ** The new function scm_read_0str reads an s-expression from a
7137 null-terminated string, and returns it.
7139 ** The new function `scm_stdio_to_port' converts a STDIO file pointer
7140 to a Scheme port object.
7142 ** The new function `scm_set_program_arguments' allows C code to set
7143 the value returned by the Scheme `program-arguments' function.
7148 * Guile no longer includes sophisticated Tcl/Tk support.
7150 The old Tcl/Tk support was unsatisfying to us, because it required the
7151 user to link against the Tcl library, as well as Tk and Guile. The
7152 interface was also un-lispy, in that it preserved Tcl/Tk's practice of
7153 referring to widgets by names, rather than exporting widgets to Scheme
7154 code as a special datatype.
7156 In the Usenix Tk Developer's Workshop held in July 1996, the Tcl/Tk
7157 maintainers described some very interesting changes in progress to the
7158 Tcl/Tk internals, which would facilitate clean interfaces between lone
7159 Tk and other interpreters --- even for garbage-collected languages
7160 like Scheme. They expected the new Tk to be publicly available in the
7163 Since it seems that Guile might soon have a new, cleaner interface to
7164 lone Tk, and that the old Guile/Tk glue code would probably need to be
7165 completely rewritten, we (Jim Blandy and Richard Stallman) have
7166 decided not to support the old code. We'll spend the time instead on
7167 a good interface to the newer Tk, as soon as it is available.
7169 Until then, gtcltk-lib provides trivial, low-maintenance functionality.
7172 Copyright information:
7174 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
7176 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
7177 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
7178 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
7179 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
7181 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
7182 of this document, or of portions of it,
7183 under the above conditions, provided also that they
7184 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
7189 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"