1 Guile NEWS --- history of user-visible changes. -*- text -*-
2 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3 See the end for copying conditions.
5 Please send Guile bug reports to bug-guile@gnu.org.
7 Changes since Guile 1.4:
9 * Changes to the distribution
11 ** As per RELEASE directions, deprecated items have been removed
15 SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP SCM_ICHRP, SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR
16 SCM_SETJMPBUF SCM_NSTRINGP SCM_NRWSTRINGP SCM_NVECTORP SCM_DOUBLE_CELLP
18 *** C Functions removed
20 scm_sysmissing scm_tag scm_tc16_flo scm_tc_flo
21 scm_fseek - replaced by scm_seek.
22 gc-thunk - replaced by after-gc-hook.
23 gh_int2scmb - replaced by gh_bool2scm.
24 scm_tc_dblr - replaced by scm_tc16_real.
25 scm_tc_dblc - replaced by scm_tc16_complex.
26 scm_list_star - replaced by scm_cons_star.
28 *** scheme functions removed:
31 fseek - replaced by seek.
32 list* - replaced by cons*.
34 ** New SRFI modules have been added:
36 (srfi srfi-2) exports and-let*.
38 (srfi srfi-6) is a dummy module for now, since guile already provides
39 all of the srfi-6 procedures by default: open-input-string,
40 open-output-string, get-output-string.
42 (srfi srfi-8) exports receive.
44 (srfi srfi-9) exports define-record-type.
46 (srfi srfi-11) exports let-values and let*-values.
48 (srfi srfi-13) implements the SRFI String Library.
50 (srfi srfi-14) implements the SRFI Character-Set Library.
52 ** New scripts / "executable modules"
54 Subdirectory "scripts" contains Scheme modules that are packaged to
55 also be executable as scripts. At this time, these scripts are available:
63 See README there for more info.
65 These scripts can be invoked from the shell with the new program
66 "guile-tools", which keeps track of installation directory for you.
69 $ guile-tools display-commentary srfi/*.scm
71 guile-tools is copied to the standard $bindir on "make install".
73 ** New module (ice-9 stack-catch):
75 stack-catch is like catch, but saves the current state of the stack in
76 the fluid the-last-stack. This fluid can be useful when using the
77 debugger and when re-throwing an error.
79 ** The module (ice-9 and-let*) has been renamed to (ice-9 and-let-star)
81 This has been done to prevent problems on lesser operating systems
82 that can't tolerate `*'s in file names. The exported macro continues
83 to be named `and-let*', of course.
85 On systems that support it, there is also a compatibility module named
86 (ice-9 and-let*). It will go away in the next release.
88 ** New modules (oop goops) etc.:
93 (oop goops active-slot)
94 (oop goops composite-slot)
96 The Guile Object Oriented Programming System (GOOPS) has been
97 integrated into Guile.
101 (use-modules (oop goops))
103 access GOOPS bindings.
105 We're now ready to try some basic GOOPS functionality.
109 (define-method (+ (x <string>) (y <string>))
113 (+ "abc" "de") --> "abcde"
117 (define-class <2D-vector> ()
118 (x #:init-value 0 #:accessor x-component #:init-keyword #:x)
119 (y #:init-value 0 #:accessor y-component #:init-keyword #:y))
121 (define-method write ((obj <2D-vector>) port)
122 (display (format #f "<~S, ~S>" (x-component obj) (y-component obj))
125 (define v (make <2D-vector> #:x 3 #:y 4))
128 (define-method + ((x <2D-vector>) (y <2D-vector>))
130 #:x (+ (x-component x) (x-component y))
131 #:y (+ (y-component x) (y-component y))))
135 Asking for the type of an object
137 (class-of v) --> #<<class> <2D-vector> 40241ac0>
138 <2D-vector> --> #<<class> <2D-vector> 40241ac0>
139 (class-of 1) --> #<<class> <integer> 401b2a98>
140 <integer> --> #<<class> <integer> 401b2a98>
142 (is-a? v <2D-vector>) --> #t
144 See further in the GOOPS manual and tutorial in the `doc' directory,
145 in info (goops.info) and texinfo formats.
147 ** New module (ice-9 rdelim).
149 This exports the following procedures which were previously defined
150 in the default environment:
152 read-line read-line! read-delimited read-delimited! %read-delimited!
153 %read-line write-line
155 For backwards compatibility the definitions are still imported into the
156 default environment in this version of Guile. However you should add:
158 (use-modules (ice-9 rdelim))
160 to any program which uses the definitions, since this may change in
163 Alternatively, if guile-scsh is installed, the (scsh rdelim) module
164 can be used for similar functionality.
166 ** New module (ice-9 rw)
168 This is a subset of the (scsh rw) module from guile-scsh. Currently
169 it defines a single procedure:
171 ** New function: read-string!/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
173 Read characters from an fport or file descriptor into a string
174 STR. This procedure is scsh-compatible and can efficiently read
175 large strings. It will:
177 * attempt to fill the entire string, unless the START and/or
178 END arguments are supplied. i.e., START defaults to 0 and
179 END defaults to `(string-length str)'
181 * use the current input port if PORT_OR_FDES is not supplied.
183 * read any characters that are currently available, without
184 waiting for the rest (short reads are possible).
186 * wait for as long as it needs to for the first character to
187 become available, unless the port is in non-blocking mode
189 * return `#f' if end-of-file is encountered before reading any
190 characters, otherwise return the number of characters read.
192 * return 0 if the port is in non-blocking mode and no characters
193 are immediately available.
195 * return 0 if the request is for 0 bytes, with no end-of-file
198 ** New module (ice-9 match)
200 This module includes Andrew K. Wright's pattern matcher:
202 (use-modules (ice-9 match))
206 (('+ x y) `(add ,x ,y))
207 (('- x y) `(sub ,x ,y))) => (add 1 2)
209 See ice-9/match.scm for brief description or
210 http://www.star-lab.com/wright/code.html for complete documentation.
212 This module requires SLIB to be installed and available from Guile.
214 ** New module (ice-9 buffered-input)
216 This module provides procedures to construct an input port from an
217 underlying source of input that reads and returns its input in chunks.
218 The underlying input source is a Scheme procedure, specified by the
219 caller, which the port invokes whenever it needs more input.
221 This is useful when building an input port whose back end is Readline
222 or a UI element such as the GtkEntry widget.
226 The reference and tutorial documentation that was previously
227 distributed separately, as `guile-doc', is now included in the core
228 Guile distribution. The documentation consists of the following
231 - The Guile Tutorial (guile-tut.texi) contains a tutorial introduction
234 - The Guile Reference Manual (guile.texi) contains (or is intended to
235 contain) reference documentation on all aspects of Guile.
237 - The GOOPS Manual (goops.texi) contains both tutorial-style and
238 reference documentation for using GOOPS, Guile's Object Oriented
241 - The Revised^5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme
244 See the README file in the `doc' directory for more details.
246 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
248 ** Evaluation of "()", the empty list, is now an error.
250 Previously, you could for example write (cons 1 ()); now you need to
251 be more explicit and write (cons 1 '()).
253 ** It's now possible to create modules with controlled environments
257 (use-modules (ice-9 safe))
258 (define m (make-safe-module))
259 ;;; m will now be a module containing only a safe subset of R5RS
260 (eval '(+ 1 2) m) --> 3
261 (eval 'load m) --> ERROR: Unbound variable: load
263 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
265 ** The empty combination is no longer valid syntax.
267 Previously, the expression "()" evaluated to the empty list. This has
268 been changed to signal a "missing expression" error. The correct way
269 to write the empty list as a literal constant is to use quote: "'()".
271 ** Auto-loading of compiled-code modules is deprecated.
273 Guile used to be able to automatically find and link a shared
274 libraries to satisfy requests for a module. For example, the module
275 `(foo bar)' could be implemented by placing a shared library named
276 "foo/libbar.so" (or with a different extension) in a directory on the
279 This has been found to be too tricky, and is no longer supported.
280 What you should do instead now is to write a small Scheme file that
281 explicitly calls `dynamic-link' to load the shared library and
282 `dynamic-call' to initialize it.
284 The shared libraries themselves should be installed in the usual
285 places for shared libraries, with names like "libguile-foo-bar".
287 For example, place this into a file "foo/bar.scm"
289 (define-module (foo bar))
291 (dynamic-call "foobar_init" (dynamic-link "libguile-foo-bar"))
293 The file name passed to `dynamic-link' should not contain an
294 extension. It will be provided automatically.
296 ** The module system has been made more disciplined.
298 The function `eval' will now save and restore the current module
299 around the evaluation of the specified expression. While this
300 expression is evaluated, `(current-module)' will now return the right
301 module, which is the module specified as the second argument to
304 A consequence of this change is that `eval' is not particularily
305 useful when you want allow the evaluated code to change what module is
306 designated as the current module and have this change persist from one
307 call to `eval' to the next. The read-eval-print-loop is an example
308 where `eval' is now inadequate. To compensate, there is a new
309 function `primitive-eval' that does not take a module specifier and
310 that does not save/restore the current module. You should use this
311 function together with `set-current-module', `current-module', etc
312 when you want to have more control over the state that is carried from
313 one eval to the next.
315 Additionally, it has been made sure that forms that are evaluated at
316 the top level are always evaluated with respect to the current module.
317 Previously, subforms of top-level forms such as `begin', `case',
318 etc. did not respect changes to the current module although these
319 subforms are at the top-level as well.
321 To prevent strange behaviour, the forms `define-module',
322 `use-modules', `use-syntax', and `export' have been restricted to only
323 work on the top level. The forms `define-public' and
324 `defmacro-public' only export the new binding on the top level. They
325 behave just like `define' and `defmacro', respectively, when they are
326 used in a lexical environment.
328 ** The semantics of guardians have changed.
330 The changes are for the most part compatible. An important criterion
331 was to keep the typical usage of guardians as simple as before, but to
332 make the semantics safer and (as a result) more useful.
334 *** All objects returned from guardians are now properly alive.
336 It is now guaranteed that any object referenced by an object returned
337 from a guardian is alive. It's now impossible for a guardian to
338 return a "contained" object before its "containing" object.
340 One incompatible (but probably not very important) change resulting
341 from this is that it is no longer possible to guard objects that
342 indirectly reference themselves (i.e. are parts of cycles). If you do
343 so accidentally, you'll get a warning.
345 *** There are now two types of guardians: greedy and sharing.
347 If you call (make-guardian #t) or just (make-guardian), you'll get a
348 greedy guardian, and for (make-guardian #f) a sharing guardian.
350 Greedy guardians are the default because they are more "defensive".
351 You can only greedily guard an object once. If you guard an object
352 more than once, once in a greedy guardian and the rest of times in
353 sharing guardians, then it is guaranteed that the object won't be
354 returned from sharing guardians as long as it is greedily guarded
357 Guardians returned by calls to `make-guardian' can now take one more
358 optional parameter, which says whether to throw an error in case an
359 attempt is made to greedily guard an object that is already greedily
360 guarded. The default is true, i.e. throw an error. If the parameter
361 is false, the guardian invocation returns #t if guarding was
362 successful and #f if it wasn't.
364 Also, since greedy guarding is, in effect, a side-effecting operation
365 on objects, a new function is introduced: `destroy-guardian!'.
366 Invoking this function on a guardian renders it unoperative and, if
367 the guardian is greedy, clears the "greedily guarded" property of the
368 objects that were guarded by it, thus undoing the side effect.
370 Note that all this hair is hardly very important, since guardian
371 objects are usually permanent.
373 ** Escape procedures created by call-with-current-continuation now
374 accept any number of arguments, as required by R5RS.
376 ** New function `call-with-deprecation'
378 Call a thunk, displaying a deprecation message at the first call:
381 (call-with-deprecation "`id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead."
386 ;; `id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.
391 ** New function `make-object-property'
393 This function returns a new `procedure with setter' P that can be used
394 to attach a property to objects. When calling P as
398 where `obj' is any kind of object, it attaches `val' to `obj' in such
399 a way that it can be retrieved by calling P as
403 This function will replace procedure properties, symbol properties and
404 source properties eventually.
406 ** Module (ice-9 optargs) now uses keywords instead of `#&'.
408 Instead of #&optional, #&key, etc you should now use #:optional,
409 #:key, etc. Since #:optional is a keyword, you can write it as just
410 :optional when (read-set! keywords 'prefix) is active.
412 The old reader syntax `#&' is still supported, but deprecated. It
413 will be removed in the next release.
415 ** Backward incompatible change: eval EXP ENVIRONMENT-SPECIFIER
417 `eval' is now R5RS, that is it takes two arguments.
418 The second argument is an environment specifier, i.e. either
420 (scheme-report-environment 5)
422 (interaction-environment)
428 ** New define-module option: pure
430 Tells the module system not to include any bindings from the root
435 (define-module (totally-empty-module)
438 ** New define-module option: export NAME1 ...
440 Export names NAME1 ...
442 This option is required if you want to be able to export bindings from
443 a module which doesn't import one of `define-public' or `export'.
449 :use-module (ice-9 r5rs)
452 ;;; Note that we're pure R5RS below this point!
457 ** Deprecated: scm_make_shared_substring
459 Explicit shared substrings will disappear from Guile.
461 Instead, "normal" strings will be implemented using sharing
462 internally, combined with a copy-on-write strategy.
464 ** Deprecated: scm_read_only_string_p
466 The concept of read-only strings will disappear in next release of
469 ** Deprecated: scm_sloppy_memq, scm_sloppy_memv, scm_sloppy_member
471 Instead, use scm_c_memq or scm_memq, scm_memv, scm_member.
473 ** New function: object->string OBJ
475 Return a Scheme string obtained by printing a given object.
477 ** New function: port? X
479 Returns a boolean indicating whether X is a port. Equivalent to
480 `(or (input-port? X) (output-port? X))'.
482 ** New function: file-port?
484 Determines whether a given object is a port that is related to a file.
486 ** New function: port-for-each proc
488 Apply PROC to each port in the Guile port table in turn. The
489 return value is unspecified. More specifically, PROC is applied
490 exactly once to every port that exists in the system at the time
491 PORT-FOR-EACH is invoked. Changes to the port table while
492 PORT-FOR-EACH is running have no effect as far as PORT-FOR-EACH is
495 ** New function: dup2 oldfd newfd
497 A simple wrapper for the `dup2' system call. Copies the file
498 descriptor OLDFD to descriptor number NEWFD, replacing the
499 previous meaning of NEWFD. Both OLDFD and NEWFD must be integers.
500 Unlike for dup->fdes or primitive-move->fdes, no attempt is made
501 to move away ports which are using NEWFD. The return value is
504 ** New function: close-fdes fd
506 A simple wrapper for the `close' system call. Close file
507 descriptor FD, which must be an integer. Unlike close (*note
508 close: Ports and File Descriptors.), the file descriptor will be
509 closed even if a port is using it. The return value is
512 ** New function: crypt password salt
514 Encrypts `password' using the standard unix password encryption
517 ** New function: chroot path
519 Change the root directory of the running process to `path'.
521 ** New functions: getlogin, cuserid
523 Return the login name or the user name of the current effective user
526 ** New functions: getpriority which who, setpriority which who prio
528 Get or set the priority of the running process.
530 ** New function: getpass prompt
532 Read a password from the terminal, first displaying `prompt' and
535 ** New function: flock file operation
537 Set/remove an advisory shared or exclusive lock on `file'.
539 ** New functions: sethostname name, gethostname
541 Set or get the hostname of the machine the current process is running
544 ** New function: mkstemp! tmpl
546 mkstemp creates a new unique file in the file system and returns a
547 new buffered port open for reading and writing to the file. TMPL
548 is a string specifying where the file should be created: it must
549 end with `XXXXXX' and will be changed in place to return the name
550 of the temporary file.
552 ** New function: open-input-string string
554 Return an input string port which delivers the characters from
555 `string'. This procedure, together with `open-output-string' and
556 `get-output-string' implements SRFI-6.
558 ** New function: open-output-string
560 Return an output string port which collects all data written to it.
561 The data can then be retrieved by `get-output-string'.
563 ** New function: get-output-string
565 Return the contents of an output string port.
567 ** New function: identity
571 ** socket, connect, accept etc., now have support for IPv6. IPv6 addresses
572 are represented in Scheme as integers with normal host byte ordering.
574 ** New function: inet-pton family address
576 Convert a printable string network address into an integer. Note
577 that unlike the C version of this function, the result is an
578 integer with normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET'
580 (inet-pton AF_INET "127.0.0.1") => 2130706433
581 (inet-pton AF_INET6 "::1") => 1
583 ** New function: inet-ntop family address
585 Convert an integer network address into a printable string. Note
586 that unlike the C version of this function, the input is an
587 integer with normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET'
589 (inet-ntop AF_INET 2130706433) => "127.0.0.1"
590 (inet-ntop AF_INET6 (- (expt 2 128) 1)) =>
591 ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff
595 Use `identity' instead.
597 ** Deprecated: close-all-ports-except.
599 This was intended for closing ports in a child process after a fork,
600 but it has the undesirable side effect of flushing buffers.
601 port-for-each is more flexible.
603 ** The (ice-9 popen) module now attempts to set up file descriptors in
604 the child process from the current Scheme ports, instead of using the
605 current values of file descriptors 0, 1, and 2 in the parent process.
607 ** Removed function: builtin-weak-bindings
609 There is no such concept as a weak binding any more.
611 ** Removed constants: bignum-radix, scm-line-incrementors
613 ** define-method: New syntax mandatory.
615 The new method syntax is now mandatory:
617 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ...) BODY ...)
618 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ... . REST-ARG) BODY ...)
620 ARG-SPEC ::= ARG-NAME | (ARG-NAME TYPE)
621 REST-ARG ::= ARG-NAME
623 If you have old code using the old syntax, import
624 (oop goops old-define-method) before (oop goops) as in:
626 (use-modules (oop goops old-define-method) (oop goops))
628 * Changes to the gh_ interface
630 * Changes to the scm_ interface
632 ** New function: scm_c_read (SCM port, void *buffer, scm_sizet size)
634 Used by an application to read arbitrary number of bytes from a port.
635 Same semantics as libc read, except that scm_c_read only returns less
636 than SIZE bytes if at end-of-file.
638 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
640 ** New function: scm_c_write (SCM port, const void *ptr, scm_sizet size)
642 Used by an application to write arbitrary number of bytes to an SCM
643 port. Similar semantics as libc write. However, unlike libc
644 write, scm_c_write writes the requested number of bytes and has no
647 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
649 ** New function: scm_init_guile ()
651 In contrast to scm_boot_guile, scm_init_guile will return normally
652 after initializing Guile. It is not available on all systems, tho.
654 ** New functions: scm_str2symbol, scm_mem2symbol
656 The function scm_str2symbol takes a const char* pointing to a zero-terminated
657 field of characters and creates a scheme symbol object from that C string.
658 The function scm_mem2symbol takes a const char* and a number of characters and
659 creates a symbol from the characters in that memory area.
661 ** New functions: scm_primitive_make_property
662 scm_primitive_property_ref
663 scm_primitive_property_set_x
664 scm_primitive_property_del_x
666 These functions implement a new way to deal with object properties.
667 See libguile/properties.c for their documentation.
669 ** New function: scm_done_free (long size)
671 This function is the inverse of scm_done_malloc. Use it to report the
672 amount of smob memory you free. The previous method, which involved
673 calling scm_done_malloc with negative argument, was somewhat
674 unintuitive (and is still available, of course).
676 ** New function: scm_c_memq (SCM obj, SCM list)
678 This function provides a fast C level alternative for scm_memq for the case
679 that the list parameter is known to be a proper list. The function is a
680 replacement for scm_sloppy_memq, but is stricter in its requirements on its
681 list input parameter, since for anything else but a proper list the function's
682 behaviour is undefined - it may even crash or loop endlessly. Further, for
683 the case that the object is not found in the list, scm_c_memq returns #f which
684 is similar to scm_memq, but different from scm_sloppy_memq's behaviour.
686 ** New functions: scm_remember_upto_here_1, scm_remember_upto_here_2,
687 scm_remember_upto_here
689 These functions replace the function scm_remember.
691 ** Deprecated function: scm_remember
693 Use one of the new functions scm_remember_upto_here_1,
694 scm_remember_upto_here_2 or scm_remember_upto_here instead.
696 ** New function: scm_allocate_string
698 This function replaces the function scm_makstr.
700 ** Deprecated function: scm_makstr
702 Use the new function scm_allocate_string instead.
704 ** New global variable scm_gc_running_p introduced.
706 Use this variable to find out if garbage collection is being executed. Up to
707 now applications have used scm_gc_heap_lock to test if garbage collection was
708 running, which also works because of the fact that up to know only the garbage
709 collector has set this variable. But, this is an implementation detail that
710 may change. Further, scm_gc_heap_lock is not set throughout gc, thus the use
711 of this variable is (and has been) not fully safe anyway.
713 ** New macros: SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH
715 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
717 ** New macros: SCM_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_CCLO_LENGTH, SCM_STACK_LENGTH,
718 SCM_STRING_LENGTH, SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
719 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH.
721 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH.
723 ** New macros: SCM_SET_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH,
724 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
725 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH
727 Use these instead of SCM_SETLENGTH
729 ** New macros: SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_CCLO_BASE,
730 SCM_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_COMPLEX_MEM,
733 Use these instead of SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS or
736 ** New macros: SCM_SET_BIGNUM_BASE, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS,
737 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE,
740 Use these instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
742 ** New macro: SCM_BITVECTOR_P
744 ** New macro: SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X
746 Use instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
748 ** New macros: SCM_DIR_OPEN_P, SCM_DIR_FLAG_OPEN
750 For directory objects, use these instead of SCM_OPDIRP and SCM_OPN.
752 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_OUTOFRANGE, SCM_NALLOC, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL,
753 SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL,
754 SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD,
755 SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS, SCM_SYMBOL_SLOTS, SCM_SLOTS, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
756 SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_FREEP, SCM_NFREEP, SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS,
757 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY,
758 SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_HUGE_LENGTH,
759 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
760 SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP, SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, SCM_ROCHARS,
761 SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_GC8MARKP,
762 SCM_SETGC8MARK, SCM_CLRGC8MARK, SCM_GCTYP16, SCM_GCCDR, SCM_SUBR_DOC,
763 SCM_OPDIRP, SCM_VALIDATE_OPDIR, SCM_WTA, RETURN_SCM_WTA, SCM_CONST_LONG,
764 SCM_WNA, SCM_FUNC_NAME, SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_COPY,
765 SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_DEF_COPY, SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP, SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP,
766 SCM_SETAND_CDR, SCM_SETOR_CDR, SCM_SETAND_CAR, SCM_SETOR_CAR
768 Use SCM_ASSERT_RANGE or SCM_VALIDATE_XXX_RANGE instead of SCM_OUTOFRANGE.
769 Use scm_memory_error instead of SCM_NALLOC.
770 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP.
771 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR.
772 Use SCM_FREE_CELL_P instead of SCM_FREEP/SCM_NFREEP
773 Use a type specific accessor macro instead of SCM_CHARS/SCM_UCHARS.
774 Use a type specific accessor instead of SCM(_|_RO|_HUGE_)LENGTH.
775 Use SCM_VALIDATE_(SYMBOL|STRING) instead of SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING.
776 Use SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
777 Use SCM_STRINGP or SCM_SYMBOLP instead of SCM_ROSTRINGP.
778 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_RWSTRINGP.
779 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING.
780 Use SCM_STRING_CHARS instead of SCM_ROCHARS.
781 Use SCM_STRING_UCHARS instead of SCM_ROUCHARS.
782 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETLENGTH.
783 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
784 Use a type specific length macro instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
785 Use SCM_GCMARKP instead of SCM_GC8MARKP.
786 Use SCM_SETGCMARK instead of SCM_SETGC8MARK.
787 Use SCM_CLRGCMARK instead of SCM_CLRGC8MARK.
788 Use SCM_TYP16 instead of SCM_GCTYP16.
789 Use SCM_CDR instead of SCM_GCCDR.
790 Use SCM_DIR_OPEN_P instead of SCM_OPDIRP.
791 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of SCM_WTA.
792 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of RETURN_SCM_WTA.
793 Use SCM_VCELL_INIT instead of SCM_CONST_LONG.
794 Use SCM_WRONG_NUM_ARGS instead of SCM_WNA.
795 Use SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP.
796 Use !SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP.
798 ** Removed function: scm_struct_init
800 ** Removed variable: scm_symhash_dim
802 ** Renamed function: scm_make_cont has been replaced by
803 scm_make_continuation, which has a different interface.
805 ** Deprecated function: scm_call_catching_errors
807 Use scm_catch or scm_lazy_catch from throw.[ch] instead.
809 ** Deprecated function: scm_strhash
811 Use scm_string_hash instead.
813 ** Deprecated function: scm_vector_set_length_x
815 Instead, create a fresh vector of the desired size and copy the contents.
817 ** scm_gensym has changed prototype
819 scm_gensym now only takes one argument.
821 ** New function: scm_gentemp (SCM prefix, SCM obarray)
823 The builtin `gentemp' has now become a primitive.
825 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc7_ssymbol, scm_tc7_msymbol, scm_tcs_symbols,
828 There is now only a single symbol type scm_tc7_symbol.
829 The tag scm_tc7_lvector was not used anyway.
831 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe, scm_set_smob_mfpe.
833 Use scm_make_smob_type and scm_set_smob_XXX instead.
835 ** New function scm_set_smob_apply.
837 This can be used to set an apply function to a smob type.
839 ** Deprecated function: scm_strprint_obj
841 Use scm_object_to_string instead.
843 ** Deprecated function: scm_wta
845 Use scm_wrong_type_arg, or another appropriate error signalling function
849 Changes since Guile 1.3.4:
851 * Changes to the distribution
853 ** Trees from nightly snapshots and CVS now require you to run autogen.sh.
855 We've changed the way we handle generated files in the Guile source
856 repository. As a result, the procedure for building trees obtained
857 from the nightly FTP snapshots or via CVS has changed:
858 - You must have appropriate versions of autoconf, automake, and
859 libtool installed on your system. See README for info on how to
860 obtain these programs.
861 - Before configuring the tree, you must first run the script
862 `autogen.sh' at the top of the source tree.
864 The Guile repository used to contain not only source files, written by
865 humans, but also some generated files, like configure scripts and
866 Makefile.in files. Even though the contents of these files could be
867 derived mechanically from other files present, we thought it would
868 make the tree easier to build if we checked them into CVS.
870 However, this approach means that minor differences between
871 developer's installed tools and habits affected the whole team.
872 So we have removed the generated files from the repository, and
873 added the autogen.sh script, which will reconstruct them
877 ** configure now has experimental options to remove support for certain
880 --disable-arrays omit array and uniform array support
881 --disable-posix omit posix interfaces
882 --disable-networking omit networking interfaces
883 --disable-regex omit regular expression interfaces
885 These are likely to become separate modules some day.
887 ** New configure option --enable-debug-freelist
889 This enables a debugging version of SCM_NEWCELL(), and also registers
890 an extra primitive, the setter `gc-set-debug-check-freelist!'.
892 Configure with the --enable-debug-freelist option to enable
893 the gc-set-debug-check-freelist! primitive, and then use:
895 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #t) # turn on checking of the freelist
896 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #f) # turn off checking
898 Checking of the freelist forces a traversal of the freelist and
899 a garbage collection before each allocation of a cell. This can
900 slow down the interpreter dramatically, so the setter should be used to
901 turn on this extra processing only when necessary.
903 ** New configure option --enable-debug-malloc
905 Include code for debugging of calls to scm_must_malloc/realloc/free.
909 1. objects freed by scm_must_free has been mallocated by scm_must_malloc
910 2. objects reallocated by scm_must_realloc has been allocated by
912 3. reallocated objects are reallocated with the same what string
914 But, most importantly, it records the number of allocated objects of
915 each kind. This is useful when searching for memory leaks.
917 A Guile compiled with this option provides the primitive
918 `malloc-stats' which returns an alist with pairs of kind and the
919 number of objects of that kind.
921 ** All includes are now referenced relative to the root directory
923 Since some users have had problems with mixups between Guile and
924 system headers, we have decided to always refer to Guile headers via
925 their parent directories. This essentially creates a "private name
926 space" for Guile headers. This means that the compiler only is given
927 -I options for the root build and root source directory.
929 ** Header files kw.h and genio.h have been removed.
931 ** The module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) has been removed.
933 ** New module (ice-9 documentation)
935 Implements the interface to documentation strings associated with
938 ** New module (ice-9 time)
940 Provides a macro `time', which displays execution time of a given form.
942 ** New module (ice-9 history)
944 Loading this module enables value history in the repl.
946 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
948 ** New command line option --debug
950 Start Guile with debugging evaluator and backtraces enabled.
952 This is useful when debugging your .guile init file or scripts.
956 Usage: (help NAME) gives documentation about objects named NAME (a symbol)
957 (help REGEXP) ditto for objects with names matching REGEXP (a string)
958 (help ,EXPR) gives documentation for object returned by EXPR
959 (help (my module)) gives module commentary for `(my module)'
960 (help) gives this text
962 `help' searches among bindings exported from loaded modules, while
963 `apropos' searches among bindings visible from the "current" module.
965 Examples: (help help)
967 (help "output-string")
969 ** `help' and `apropos' now prints full module names
971 ** Dynamic linking now uses libltdl from the libtool package.
973 The old system dependent code for doing dynamic linking has been
974 replaced with calls to the libltdl functions which do all the hairy
977 The major improvement is that you can now directly pass libtool
978 library names like "libfoo.la" to `dynamic-link' and `dynamic-link'
979 will be able to do the best shared library job you can get, via
982 The way dynamic libraries are found has changed and is not really
983 portable across platforms, probably. It is therefore recommended to
984 use absolute filenames when possible.
986 If you pass a filename without an extension to `dynamic-link', it will
987 try a few appropriate ones. Thus, the most platform ignorant way is
988 to specify a name like "libfoo", without any directories and
991 ** Guile COOP threads are now compatible with LinuxThreads
993 Previously, COOP threading wasn't possible in applications linked with
994 Linux POSIX threads due to their use of the stack pointer to find the
995 thread context. This has now been fixed with a workaround which uses
996 the pthreads to allocate the stack.
998 ** New primitives: `pkgdata-dir', `site-dir', `library-dir'
1000 ** Positions of erring expression in scripts
1002 With version 1.3.4, the location of the erring expression in Guile
1003 scipts is no longer automatically reported. (This should have been
1004 documented before the 1.3.4 release.)
1006 You can get this information by enabling recording of positions of
1007 source expressions and running the debugging evaluator. Put this at
1008 the top of your script (or in your "site" file):
1010 (read-enable 'positions)
1011 (debug-enable 'debug)
1013 ** Backtraces in scripts
1015 It is now possible to get backtraces in scripts.
1019 (debug-enable 'debug 'backtrace)
1021 at the top of the script.
1023 (The first options enables the debugging evaluator.
1024 The second enables backtraces.)
1026 ** Part of module system symbol lookup now implemented in C
1028 The eval closure of most modules is now implemented in C. Since this
1029 was one of the bottlenecks for loading speed, Guile now loads code
1030 substantially faster than before.
1032 ** Attempting to get the value of an unbound variable now produces
1033 an exception with a key of 'unbound-variable instead of 'misc-error.
1035 ** The initial default output port is now unbuffered if it's using a
1036 tty device. Previously in this situation it was line-buffered.
1038 ** New hook: after-gc-hook
1040 after-gc-hook takes over the role of gc-thunk. This hook is run at
1041 the first SCM_TICK after a GC. (Thus, the code is run at the same
1042 point during evaluation as signal handlers.)
1044 Note that this hook should be used only for diagnostic and debugging
1045 purposes. It is not certain that it will continue to be well-defined
1046 when this hook is run in the future.
1048 C programmers: Note the new C level hooks scm_before_gc_c_hook,
1049 scm_before_sweep_c_hook, scm_after_gc_c_hook.
1051 ** Improvements to garbage collector
1053 Guile 1.4 has a new policy for triggering heap allocation and
1054 determining the sizes of heap segments. It fixes a number of problems
1057 1. The new policy can handle two separate pools of cells
1058 (2-word/4-word) better. (The old policy would run wild, allocating
1059 more and more memory for certain programs.)
1061 2. The old code would sometimes allocate far too much heap so that the
1062 Guile process became gigantic. The new code avoids this.
1064 3. The old code would sometimes allocate too little so that few cells
1065 were freed at GC so that, in turn, too much time was spent in GC.
1067 4. The old code would often trigger heap allocation several times in a
1068 row. (The new scheme predicts how large the segments needs to be
1069 in order not to need further allocation.)
1071 All in all, the new GC policy will make larger applications more
1074 The new GC scheme also is prepared for POSIX threading. Threads can
1075 allocate private pools of cells ("clusters") with just a single
1076 function call. Allocation of single cells from such a cluster can
1077 then proceed without any need of inter-thread synchronization.
1079 ** New environment variables controlling GC parameters
1081 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE Maximal segment size
1084 Allocation of 2-word cell heaps:
1086 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1 Size of initial heap segment in bytes
1089 GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1 Minimum number of freed cells at each
1090 GC in percent of total heap size
1093 Allocation of 4-word cell heaps
1094 (used for real numbers and misc other objects):
1096 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2
1098 (See entry "Way for application to customize GC parameters" under
1099 section "Changes to the scm_ interface" below.)
1101 ** Guile now implements reals using 4-word cells
1103 This speeds up computation with reals. (They were earlier allocated
1104 with `malloc'.) There is still some room for optimizations, however.
1106 ** Some further steps toward POSIX thread support have been taken
1108 *** Guile's critical sections (SCM_DEFER/ALLOW_INTS)
1109 don't have much effect any longer, and many of them will be removed in
1113 are only handled at the top of the evaluator loop, immediately after
1114 I/O, and in scm_equalp.
1116 *** The GC can allocate thread private pools of pairs.
1118 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
1120 ** close-input-port and close-output-port are now R5RS
1122 These procedures have been turned into primitives and have R5RS behaviour.
1124 ** New procedure: simple-format PORT MESSAGE ARG1 ...
1126 (ice-9 boot) makes `format' an alias for `simple-format' until possibly
1127 extended by the more sophisticated version in (ice-9 format)
1129 (simple-format port message . args)
1130 Write MESSAGE to DESTINATION, defaulting to `current-output-port'.
1131 MESSAGE can contain ~A (was %s) and ~S (was %S) escapes. When printed,
1132 the escapes are replaced with corresponding members of ARGS:
1133 ~A formats using `display' and ~S formats using `write'.
1134 If DESTINATION is #t, then use the `current-output-port',
1135 if DESTINATION is #f, then return a string containing the formatted text.
1136 Does not add a trailing newline."
1138 ** string-ref: the second argument is no longer optional.
1140 ** string, list->string: no longer accept strings in their arguments,
1141 only characters, for compatibility with R5RS.
1143 ** New procedure: port-closed? PORT
1144 Returns #t if PORT is closed or #f if it is open.
1146 ** Deprecated: list*
1148 The list* functionality is now provided by cons* (SRFI-1 compliant)
1150 ** New procedure: cons* ARG1 ARG2 ... ARGn
1152 Like `list', but the last arg provides the tail of the constructed list,
1153 returning (cons ARG1 (cons ARG2 (cons ... ARGn))).
1155 Requires at least one argument. If given one argument, that argument
1156 is returned as result.
1158 This function is called `list*' in some other Schemes and in Common LISP.
1160 ** Removed deprecated: serial-map, serial-array-copy!, serial-array-map!
1162 ** New procedure: object-documentation OBJECT
1164 Returns the documentation string associated with OBJECT. The
1165 procedure uses a caching mechanism so that subsequent lookups are
1168 Exported by (ice-9 documentation).
1170 ** module-name now returns full names of modules
1172 Previously, only the last part of the name was returned (`session' for
1173 `(ice-9 session)'). Ex: `(ice-9 session)'.
1175 * Changes to the gh_ interface
1177 ** Deprecated: gh_int2scmb
1179 Use gh_bool2scm instead.
1181 * Changes to the scm_ interface
1183 ** Guile primitives now carry docstrings!
1185 Thanks to Greg Badros!
1187 ** Guile primitives are defined in a new way: SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
1189 Now Guile primitives are defined using the SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
1190 macros and must contain a docstring that is extracted into foo.doc using a new
1191 guile-doc-snarf script (that uses guile-doc-snarf.awk).
1193 However, a major overhaul of these macros is scheduled for the next release of
1196 ** Guile primitives use a new technique for validation of arguments
1198 SCM_VALIDATE_* macros are defined to ease the redundancy and improve
1199 the readability of argument checking.
1201 ** All (nearly?) K&R prototypes for functions replaced with ANSI C equivalents.
1203 ** New macros: SCM_PACK, SCM_UNPACK
1205 Compose/decompose an SCM value.
1207 The SCM type is now treated as an abstract data type and may be defined as a
1208 long, a void* or as a struct, depending on the architecture and compile time
1209 options. This makes it easier to find several types of bugs, for example when
1210 SCM values are treated as integers without conversion. Values of the SCM type
1211 should be treated as "atomic" values. These macros are used when
1212 composing/decomposing an SCM value, either because you want to access
1213 individual bits, or because you want to treat it as an integer value.
1215 E.g., in order to set bit 7 in an SCM value x, use the expression
1217 SCM_PACK (SCM_UNPACK (x) | 0x80)
1219 ** The name property of hooks is deprecated.
1220 Thus, the use of SCM_HOOK_NAME and scm_make_hook_with_name is deprecated.
1222 You can emulate this feature by using object properties.
1224 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP, SCM_CRDY, SCM_ICHRP,
1225 SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR, SCM_SETJMPBUF, SCM_NSTRINGP, SCM_NRWSTRINGP,
1228 These macros will be removed in a future release of Guile.
1230 ** The following types, functions and macros from numbers.h are deprecated:
1231 scm_dblproc, SCM_UNEGFIXABLE, SCM_FLOBUFLEN, SCM_INEXP, SCM_CPLXP, SCM_REAL,
1232 SCM_IMAG, SCM_REALPART, scm_makdbl, SCM_SINGP, SCM_NUM2DBL, SCM_NO_BIGDIG
1234 Further, it is recommended not to rely on implementation details for guile's
1235 current implementation of bignums. It is planned to replace this
1236 implementation with gmp in the future.
1238 ** Port internals: the rw_random variable in the scm_port structure
1239 must be set to non-zero in any random access port. In recent Guile
1240 releases it was only set for bidirectional random-access ports.
1242 ** Port internals: the seek ptob procedure is now responsible for
1243 resetting the buffers if required. The change was made so that in the
1244 special case of reading the current position (i.e., seek p 0 SEEK_CUR)
1245 the fport and strport ptobs can avoid resetting the buffers,
1246 in particular to avoid discarding unread chars. An existing port
1247 type can be fixed by adding something like the following to the
1248 beginning of the ptob seek procedure:
1250 if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_READ)
1251 scm_end_input (object);
1252 else if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_WRITE)
1253 ptob->flush (object);
1255 although to actually avoid resetting the buffers and discard unread
1256 chars requires further hacking that depends on the characteristics
1259 ** Deprecated functions: scm_fseek, scm_tag
1261 These functions are no longer used and will be removed in a future version.
1263 ** The scm_sysmissing procedure is no longer used in libguile.
1264 Unless it turns out to be unexpectedly useful to somebody, it will be
1265 removed in a future version.
1267 ** The format of error message strings has changed
1269 The two C procedures: scm_display_error and scm_error, as well as the
1270 primitive `scm-error', now use scm_simple_format to do their work.
1271 This means that the message strings of all code must be updated to use
1272 ~A where %s was used before, and ~S where %S was used before.
1274 During the period when there still are a lot of old Guiles out there,
1275 you might want to support both old and new versions of Guile.
1277 There are basically two methods to achieve this. Both methods use
1280 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(scm_simple_format)
1282 in your configure.in.
1284 Method 1: Use the string concatenation features of ANSI C's
1289 #ifdef HAVE_SCM_SIMPLE_FORMAT
1295 Then represent each of your error messages using a preprocessor macro:
1297 #define E_SPIDER_ERROR "There's a spider in your " ## FMT_S ## "!!!"
1301 (define fmt-s (if (defined? 'simple-format) "~S" "%S"))
1302 (define make-message string-append)
1304 (define e-spider-error (make-message "There's a spider in your " fmt-s "!!!"))
1306 Method 2: Use the oldfmt function found in doc/oldfmt.c.
1310 scm_misc_error ("picnic", scm_c_oldfmt0 ("There's a spider in your ~S!!!"),
1315 (scm-error 'misc-error "picnic" (oldfmt "There's a spider in your ~S!!!")
1319 ** Deprecated: coop_mutex_init, coop_condition_variable_init
1321 Don't use the functions coop_mutex_init and
1322 coop_condition_variable_init. They will change.
1324 Use scm_mutex_init and scm_cond_init instead.
1326 ** New function: int scm_cond_timedwait (scm_cond_t *COND, scm_mutex_t *MUTEX, const struct timespec *ABSTIME)
1327 `scm_cond_timedwait' atomically unlocks MUTEX and waits on
1328 COND, as `scm_cond_wait' does, but it also bounds the duration
1329 of the wait. If COND has not been signaled before time ABSTIME,
1330 the mutex MUTEX is re-acquired and `scm_cond_timedwait'
1331 returns the error code `ETIMEDOUT'.
1333 The ABSTIME parameter specifies an absolute time, with the same
1334 origin as `time' and `gettimeofday': an ABSTIME of 0 corresponds
1335 to 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970.
1337 ** New function: scm_cond_broadcast (scm_cond_t *COND)
1338 `scm_cond_broadcast' restarts all the threads that are waiting
1339 on the condition variable COND. Nothing happens if no threads are
1342 ** New function: scm_key_create (scm_key_t *KEY, void (*destr_function) (void *))
1343 `scm_key_create' allocates a new TSD key. The key is stored in
1344 the location pointed to by KEY. There is no limit on the number
1345 of keys allocated at a given time. The value initially associated
1346 with the returned key is `NULL' in all currently executing threads.
1348 The DESTR_FUNCTION argument, if not `NULL', specifies a destructor
1349 function associated with the key. When a thread terminates,
1350 DESTR_FUNCTION is called on the value associated with the key in
1351 that thread. The DESTR_FUNCTION is not called if a key is deleted
1352 with `scm_key_delete' or a value is changed with
1353 `scm_setspecific'. The order in which destructor functions are
1354 called at thread termination time is unspecified.
1356 Destructors are not yet implemented.
1358 ** New function: scm_setspecific (scm_key_t KEY, const void *POINTER)
1359 `scm_setspecific' changes the value associated with KEY in the
1360 calling thread, storing the given POINTER instead.
1362 ** New function: scm_getspecific (scm_key_t KEY)
1363 `scm_getspecific' returns the value currently associated with
1364 KEY in the calling thread.
1366 ** New function: scm_key_delete (scm_key_t KEY)
1367 `scm_key_delete' deallocates a TSD key. It does not check
1368 whether non-`NULL' values are associated with that key in the
1369 currently executing threads, nor call the destructor function
1370 associated with the key.
1372 ** New function: scm_c_hook_init (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *HOOK_DATA, scm_c_hook_type_t TYPE)
1374 Initialize a C level hook HOOK with associated HOOK_DATA and type
1375 TYPE. (See scm_c_hook_run ().)
1377 ** New function: scm_c_hook_add (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA, int APPENDP)
1379 Add hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA to HOOK. If APPENDP
1380 is true, add it last, otherwise first. The same FUNC can be added
1381 multiple times if FUNC_DATA differ and vice versa.
1383 ** New function: scm_c_hook_remove (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA)
1385 Remove hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA from HOOK. A
1386 function is only removed if both FUNC and FUNC_DATA matches.
1388 ** New function: void *scm_c_hook_run (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *DATA)
1390 Run hook HOOK passing DATA to the hook functions.
1392 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_NORMAL, all hook functions are run. The value
1393 returned is undefined.
1395 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_OR, hook functions are run until a function
1396 returns a non-NULL value. This value is returned as the result of
1397 scm_c_hook_run. If all functions return NULL, NULL is returned.
1399 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_AND, hook functions are run until a function
1400 returns a NULL value, and NULL is returned. If all functions returns
1401 a non-NULL value, the last value is returned.
1403 ** New C level GC hooks
1405 Five new C level hooks has been added to the garbage collector.
1407 scm_before_gc_c_hook
1410 are run before locking and after unlocking the heap. The system is
1411 thus in a mode where evaluation can take place. (Except that
1412 scm_before_gc_c_hook must not allocate new cells.)
1414 scm_before_mark_c_hook
1415 scm_before_sweep_c_hook
1416 scm_after_sweep_c_hook
1418 are run when the heap is locked. These are intended for extension of
1419 the GC in a modular fashion. Examples are the weaks and guardians
1422 ** Way for application to customize GC parameters
1424 The application can set up other default values for the GC heap
1425 allocation parameters
1427 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_1, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1,
1428 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2,
1429 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE,
1433 scm_default_init_heap_size_1, scm_default_min_yield_1,
1434 scm_default_init_heap_size_2, scm_default_min_yield_2,
1435 scm_default_max_segment_size
1437 respectively before callong scm_boot_guile.
1439 (See entry "New environment variables ..." in section
1440 "Changes to the stand-alone interpreter" above.)
1442 ** scm_protect_object/scm_unprotect_object now nest
1444 This means that you can call scm_protect_object multiple times on an
1445 object and count on the object being protected until
1446 scm_unprotect_object has been call the same number of times.
1448 The functions also have better time complexity.
1450 Still, it is usually possible to structure the application in a way
1451 that you don't need to use these functions. For example, if you use a
1452 protected standard Guile list to keep track of live objects rather
1453 than some custom data type, objects will die a natural death when they
1454 are no longer needed.
1456 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc16_flo, scm_tc_flo, scm_tc_dblr, scm_tc_dblc
1458 Guile does not provide the float representation for inexact real numbers any
1459 more. Now, only doubles are used to represent inexact real numbers. Further,
1460 the tag names scm_tc_dblr and scm_tc_dblc have been changed to scm_tc16_real
1461 and scm_tc16_complex, respectively.
1463 ** Removed deprecated type scm_smobfuns
1465 ** Removed deprecated function scm_newsmob
1467 ** Warning: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe might become deprecated in a future release
1469 There is an ongoing discussion among the developers whether to
1470 deprecate `scm_make_smob_type_mfpe' or not. Please use the current
1471 standard interface (scm_make_smob_type, scm_set_smob_XXX) in new code
1472 until this issue has been settled.
1474 ** Removed deprecated type tag scm_tc16_kw
1476 ** Added type tag scm_tc16_keyword
1478 (This was introduced already in release 1.3.4 but was not documented
1481 ** gdb_print now prints "*** Guile not initialized ***" until Guile initialized
1483 * Changes to system call interfaces:
1485 ** The "select" procedure now tests port buffers for the ability to
1486 provide input or accept output. Previously only the underlying file
1487 descriptors were checked.
1489 ** New variable PIPE_BUF: the maximum number of bytes that can be
1490 atomically written to a pipe.
1492 ** If a facility is not available on the system when Guile is
1493 compiled, the corresponding primitive procedure will not be defined.
1494 Previously it would have been defined but would throw a system-error
1495 exception if called. Exception handlers which catch this case may
1496 need minor modification: an error will be thrown with key
1497 'unbound-variable instead of 'system-error. Alternatively it's
1498 now possible to use `defined?' to check whether the facility is
1501 ** Procedures which depend on the timezone should now give the correct
1502 result on systems which cache the TZ environment variable, even if TZ
1503 is changed without calling tzset.
1505 * Changes to the networking interfaces:
1507 ** New functions: htons, ntohs, htonl, ntohl: for converting short and
1508 long integers between network and host format. For now, it's not
1509 particularly convenient to do this kind of thing, but consider:
1511 (define write-network-long
1512 (lambda (value port)
1513 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
1514 (uniform-vector-set! v 0 (htonl value))
1515 (uniform-vector-write v port))))
1517 (define read-network-long
1519 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
1520 (uniform-vector-read! v port)
1521 (ntohl (uniform-vector-ref v 0)))))
1523 ** If inet-aton fails, it now throws an error with key 'misc-error
1524 instead of 'system-error, since errno is not relevant.
1526 ** Certain gethostbyname/gethostbyaddr failures now throw errors with
1527 specific keys instead of 'system-error. The latter is inappropriate
1528 since errno will not have been set. The keys are:
1529 'host-not-found, 'try-again, 'no-recovery and 'no-data.
1531 ** sethostent, setnetent, setprotoent, setservent: now take an
1532 optional argument STAYOPEN, which specifies whether the database
1533 remains open after a database entry is accessed randomly (e.g., using
1534 gethostbyname for the hosts database.) The default is #f. Previously
1538 Changes since Guile 1.3.2:
1540 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
1544 An initial version of the Guile debugger written by Chris Hanson has
1545 been added. The debugger is still under development but is included
1546 in the distribution anyway since it is already quite useful.
1552 after an error to enter the debugger. Type `help' inside the debugger
1553 for a description of available commands.
1555 If you prefer to have stack frames numbered and printed in
1556 anti-chronological order and prefer up in the stack to be down on the
1557 screen as is the case in gdb, you can put
1559 (debug-enable 'backwards)
1561 in your .guile startup file. (However, this means that Guile can't
1562 use indentation to indicate stack level.)
1564 The debugger is autoloaded into Guile at the first use.
1566 ** Further enhancements to backtraces
1568 There is a new debug option `width' which controls the maximum width
1569 on the screen of printed stack frames. Fancy printing parameters
1570 ("level" and "length" as in Common LISP) are adaptively adjusted for
1571 each stack frame to give maximum information while still fitting
1572 within the bounds. If the stack frame can't be made to fit by
1573 adjusting parameters, it is simply cut off at the end. This is marked
1576 ** Some modules are now only loaded when the repl is started
1578 The modules (ice-9 debug), (ice-9 session), (ice-9 threads) and (ice-9
1579 regex) are now loaded into (guile-user) only if the repl has been
1580 started. The effect is that the startup time for scripts has been
1581 reduced to 30% of what it was previously.
1583 Correctly written scripts load the modules they require at the top of
1584 the file and should not be affected by this change.
1586 ** Hooks are now represented as smobs
1588 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
1590 ** Readline support has changed again.
1592 The old (readline-activator) module is gone. Use (ice-9 readline)
1593 instead, which now contains all readline functionality. So the code
1594 to activate readline is now
1596 (use-modules (ice-9 readline))
1599 This should work at any time, including from the guile prompt.
1601 To avoid confusion about the terms of Guile's license, please only
1602 enable readline for your personal use; please don't make it the
1603 default for others. Here is why we make this rather odd-sounding
1606 Guile is normally licensed under a weakened form of the GNU General
1607 Public License, which allows you to link code with Guile without
1608 placing that code under the GPL. This exception is important to some
1611 However, since readline is distributed under the GNU General Public
1612 License, when you link Guile with readline, either statically or
1613 dynamically, you effectively change Guile's license to the strict GPL.
1614 Whenever you link any strictly GPL'd code into Guile, uses of Guile
1615 which are normally permitted become forbidden. This is a rather
1616 non-obvious consequence of the licensing terms.
1618 So, to make sure things remain clear, please let people choose for
1619 themselves whether to link GPL'd libraries like readline with Guile.
1621 ** regexp-substitute/global has changed slightly, but incompatibly.
1623 If you include a function in the item list, the string of the match
1624 object it receives is the same string passed to
1625 regexp-substitute/global, not some suffix of that string.
1626 Correspondingly, the match's positions are relative to the entire
1627 string, not the suffix.
1629 If the regexp can match the empty string, the way matches are chosen
1630 from the string has changed. regexp-substitute/global recognizes the
1631 same set of matches that list-matches does; see below.
1633 ** New function: list-matches REGEXP STRING [FLAGS]
1635 Return a list of match objects, one for every non-overlapping, maximal
1636 match of REGEXP in STRING. The matches appear in left-to-right order.
1637 list-matches only reports matches of the empty string if there are no
1638 other matches which begin on, end at, or include the empty match's
1641 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
1643 ** New function: fold-matches REGEXP STRING INIT PROC [FLAGS]
1645 For each match of REGEXP in STRING, apply PROC to the match object,
1646 and the last value PROC returned, or INIT for the first call. Return
1647 the last value returned by PROC. We apply PROC to the matches as they
1648 appear from left to right.
1650 This function recognizes matches according to the same criteria as
1653 Thus, you could define list-matches like this:
1655 (define (list-matches regexp string . flags)
1656 (reverse! (apply fold-matches regexp string '() cons flags)))
1658 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
1662 *** New function: hook? OBJ
1664 Return #t if OBJ is a hook, otherwise #f.
1666 *** New function: make-hook-with-name NAME [ARITY]
1668 Return a hook with name NAME and arity ARITY. The default value for
1669 ARITY is 0. The only effect of NAME is that it will appear when the
1670 hook object is printed to ease debugging.
1672 *** New function: hook-empty? HOOK
1674 Return #t if HOOK doesn't contain any procedures, otherwise #f.
1676 *** New function: hook->list HOOK
1678 Return a list of the procedures that are called when run-hook is
1681 ** `map' signals an error if its argument lists are not all the same length.
1683 This is the behavior required by R5RS, so this change is really a bug
1684 fix. But it seems to affect a lot of people's code, so we're
1685 mentioning it here anyway.
1687 ** Print-state handling has been made more transparent
1689 Under certain circumstances, ports are represented as a port with an
1690 associated print state. Earlier, this pair was represented as a pair
1691 (see "Some magic has been added to the printer" below). It is now
1692 indistinguishable (almost; see `get-print-state') from a port on the
1695 *** New function: port-with-print-state OUTPUT-PORT PRINT-STATE
1697 Return a new port with the associated print state PRINT-STATE.
1699 *** New function: get-print-state OUTPUT-PORT
1701 Return the print state associated with this port if it exists,
1702 otherwise return #f.
1704 *** New function: directory-stream? OBJECT
1706 Returns true iff OBJECT is a directory stream --- the sort of object
1707 returned by `opendir'.
1709 ** New function: using-readline?
1711 Return #t if readline is in use in the current repl.
1713 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
1715 Structs will be replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into Guile
1716 and use GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
1718 * Changes to the scm_ interface
1720 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
1722 The entire current struct interface (struct.c, struct.h) will be
1723 replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into libguile and use
1724 GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
1726 ** The internal representation of subr's has changed
1728 Instead of giving a hint to the subr name, the CAR field of the subr
1729 now contains an index to a subr entry in scm_subr_table.
1731 *** New variable: scm_subr_table
1733 An array of subr entries. A subr entry contains the name, properties
1734 and documentation associated with the subr. The properties and
1735 documentation slots are not yet used.
1737 ** A new scheme for "forwarding" calls to a builtin to a generic function
1739 It is now possible to extend the functionality of some Guile
1740 primitives by letting them defer a call to a GOOPS generic function on
1741 argument mismatch. This means that there is no loss of efficiency in
1746 (use-modules (oop goops)) ; Must be GOOPS version 0.2.
1747 (define-method + ((x <string>) (y <string>))
1748 (string-append x y))
1750 + will still be as efficient as usual in numerical calculations, but
1751 can also be used for concatenating strings.
1753 Who will be the first one to extend Guile's numerical tower to
1754 rationals? :) [OK, there a few other things to fix before this can
1755 be made in a clean way.]
1757 *** New snarf macros for defining primitives: SCM_GPROC, SCM_GPROC1
1759 New macro: SCM_GPROC (CNAME, SNAME, REQ, OPT, VAR, CFUNC, GENERIC)
1761 New macro: SCM_GPROC1 (CNAME, SNAME, TYPE, CFUNC, GENERIC)
1763 These do the same job as SCM_PROC and SCM_PROC1, but they also define
1764 a variable GENERIC which can be used by the dispatch macros below.
1766 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
1768 *** New macros for forwarding control to a generic on arg type error
1770 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1 (GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
1772 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
1774 These correspond to the scm_wta function call, and have the same
1775 behaviour until the user has called the GOOPS primitive
1776 `enable-primitive-generic!'. After that, these macros will apply the
1777 generic function GENERIC to the argument(s) instead of calling
1780 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
1782 *** New macros for argument testing with generic dispatch
1784 New macro: SCM_GASSERT1 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
1786 New macro: SCM_GASSERT2 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
1788 These correspond to the SCM_ASSERT macro, but will defer control to
1789 GENERIC on error after `enable-primitive-generic!' has been called.
1791 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
1793 ** New function: SCM scm_eval_body (SCM body, SCM env)
1795 Evaluates the body of a special form.
1797 ** The internal representation of struct's has changed
1799 Previously, four slots were allocated for the procedure(s) of entities
1800 and operators. The motivation for this representation had to do with
1801 the structure of the evaluator, the wish to support tail-recursive
1802 generic functions, and efficiency. Since the generic function
1803 dispatch mechanism has changed, there is no longer a need for such an
1804 expensive representation, and the representation has been simplified.
1806 This should not make any difference for most users.
1808 ** GOOPS support has been cleaned up.
1810 Some code has been moved from eval.c to objects.c and code in both of
1811 these compilation units has been cleaned up and better structured.
1813 *** New functions for applying generic functions
1815 New function: SCM scm_apply_generic (GENERIC, ARGS)
1816 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_0 (GENERIC)
1817 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_1 (GENERIC, ARG1)
1818 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2)
1819 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_3 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, ARG3)
1821 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_named_hook
1823 It is now replaced by:
1825 ** New function: SCM scm_create_hook (const char *name, int arity)
1827 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
1828 binds a variable named NAME to it.
1830 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
1832 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module.
1833 This might change when we get the new module system.
1835 [The behaviour is identical to scm_make_named_hook.]
1839 Changes since Guile 1.3:
1841 * Changes to mailing lists
1843 ** Some of the Guile mailing lists have moved to sourceware.cygnus.com.
1845 See the README file to find current addresses for all the Guile
1848 * Changes to the distribution
1850 ** Readline support is no longer included with Guile by default.
1852 Based on the different license terms of Guile and Readline, we
1853 concluded that Guile should not *by default* cause the linking of
1854 Readline into an application program. Readline support is now offered
1855 as a separate module, which is linked into an application only when
1856 you explicitly specify it.
1858 Although Guile is GNU software, its distribution terms add a special
1859 exception to the usual GNU General Public License (GPL). Guile's
1860 license includes a clause that allows you to link Guile with non-free
1861 programs. We add this exception so as not to put Guile at a
1862 disadvantage vis-a-vis other extensibility packages that support other
1865 In contrast, the GNU Readline library is distributed under the GNU
1866 General Public License pure and simple. This means that you may not
1867 link Readline, even dynamically, into an application unless it is
1868 distributed under a free software license that is compatible the GPL.
1870 Because of this difference in distribution terms, an application that
1871 can use Guile may not be able to use Readline. Now users will be
1872 explicitly offered two independent decisions about the use of these
1875 You can activate the readline support by issuing
1877 (use-modules (readline-activator))
1880 from your ".guile" file, for example.
1882 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
1884 ** All builtins now print as primitives.
1885 Previously builtin procedures not belonging to the fundamental subr
1886 types printed as #<compiled closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>.
1887 Now, they print as #<primitive-procedure NAME>.
1889 ** Backtraces slightly more intelligible.
1890 gsubr-apply and macro transformer application frames no longer appear
1893 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
1895 ** Guile now correctly handles internal defines by rewriting them into
1896 their equivalent letrec. Previously, internal defines would
1897 incrementally add to the innermost environment, without checking
1898 whether the restrictions specified in RnRS were met. This lead to the
1899 correct behaviour when these restriction actually were met, but didn't
1900 catch all illegal uses. Such an illegal use could lead to crashes of
1901 the Guile interpreter or or other unwanted results. An example of
1902 incorrect internal defines that made Guile behave erratically:
1914 The problem with this example is that the definition of `c' uses the
1915 value of `b' directly. This confuses the meoization machine of Guile
1916 so that the second call of `b' (this time in a larger environment that
1917 also contains bindings for `c' and `d') refers to the binding of `c'
1918 instead of `a'. You could also make Guile crash with a variation on
1923 (define (b flag) (if flag a 1))
1924 (define c (1+ (b flag)))
1932 From now on, Guile will issue an `Unbound variable: b' error message
1937 A hook contains a list of functions which should be called on
1938 particular occasions in an existing program. Hooks are used for
1941 A window manager might have a hook before-window-map-hook. The window
1942 manager uses the function run-hooks to call all functions stored in
1943 before-window-map-hook each time a window is mapped. The user can
1944 store functions in the hook using add-hook!.
1946 In Guile, hooks are first class objects.
1948 *** New function: make-hook [N_ARGS]
1950 Return a hook for hook functions which can take N_ARGS arguments.
1951 The default value for N_ARGS is 0.
1953 (See also scm_make_named_hook below.)
1955 *** New function: add-hook! HOOK PROC [APPEND_P]
1957 Put PROC at the beginning of the list of functions stored in HOOK.
1958 If APPEND_P is supplied, and non-false, put PROC at the end instead.
1960 PROC must be able to take the number of arguments specified when the
1963 If PROC already exists in HOOK, then remove it first.
1965 *** New function: remove-hook! HOOK PROC
1967 Remove PROC from the list of functions in HOOK.
1969 *** New function: reset-hook! HOOK
1971 Clear the list of hook functions stored in HOOK.
1973 *** New function: run-hook HOOK ARG1 ...
1975 Run all hook functions stored in HOOK with arguments ARG1 ... .
1976 The number of arguments supplied must correspond to the number given
1977 when the hook was created.
1979 ** The function `dynamic-link' now takes optional keyword arguments.
1980 The only keyword argument that is currently defined is `:global
1981 BOOL'. With it, you can control whether the shared library will be
1982 linked in global mode or not. In global mode, the symbols from the
1983 linked library can be used to resolve references from other
1984 dynamically linked libraries. In non-global mode, the linked
1985 library is essentially invisible and can only be accessed via
1986 `dynamic-func', etc. The default is now to link in global mode.
1987 Previously, the default has been non-global mode.
1989 The `#:global' keyword is only effective on platforms that support
1990 the dlopen family of functions.
1992 ** New function `provided?'
1994 - Function: provided? FEATURE
1995 Return true iff FEATURE is supported by this installation of
1996 Guile. FEATURE must be a symbol naming a feature; the global
1997 variable `*features*' is a list of available features.
1999 ** Changes to the module (ice-9 expect):
2001 *** The expect-strings macro now matches `$' in a regular expression
2002 only at a line-break or end-of-file by default. Previously it would
2003 match the end of the string accumulated so far. The old behaviour
2004 can be obtained by setting the variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
2007 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
2008 for the regexp-exec flags. If `regexp/noteol' is included, then `$'
2009 in a regular expression will still match before a line-break or
2010 end-of-file. The default is `regexp/noteol'.
2012 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable
2013 `expect-strings-compile-flags' for the flags to be supplied to
2014 `make-regexp'. The default is `regexp/newline', which was previously
2017 *** The expect macro now supplies two arguments to a match procedure:
2018 the current accumulated string and a flag to indicate whether
2019 end-of-file has been reached. Previously only the string was supplied.
2020 If end-of-file is reached, the match procedure will be called an
2021 additional time with the same accumulated string as the previous call
2022 but with the flag set.
2024 ** New module (ice-9 format), implementing the Common Lisp `format' function.
2026 This code, and the documentation for it that appears here, was
2027 borrowed from SLIB, with minor adaptations for Guile.
2029 - Function: format DESTINATION FORMAT-STRING . ARGUMENTS
2030 An almost complete implementation of Common LISP format description
2031 according to the CL reference book `Common LISP' from Guy L.
2032 Steele, Digital Press. Backward compatible to most of the
2033 available Scheme format implementations.
2035 Returns `#t', `#f' or a string; has side effect of printing
2036 according to FORMAT-STRING. If DESTINATION is `#t', the output is
2037 to the current output port and `#t' is returned. If DESTINATION
2038 is `#f', a formatted string is returned as the result of the call.
2039 NEW: If DESTINATION is a string, DESTINATION is regarded as the
2040 format string; FORMAT-STRING is then the first argument and the
2041 output is returned as a string. If DESTINATION is a number, the
2042 output is to the current error port if available by the
2043 implementation. Otherwise DESTINATION must be an output port and
2046 FORMAT-STRING must be a string. In case of a formatting error
2047 format returns `#f' and prints a message on the current output or
2048 error port. Characters are output as if the string were output by
2049 the `display' function with the exception of those prefixed by a
2050 tilde (~). For a detailed description of the FORMAT-STRING syntax
2051 please consult a Common LISP format reference manual. For a test
2052 suite to verify this format implementation load `formatst.scm'.
2053 Please send bug reports to `lutzeb@cs.tu-berlin.de'.
2055 Note: `format' is not reentrant, i.e. only one `format'-call may
2056 be executed at a time.
2059 *** Format Specification (Format version 3.0)
2061 Please consult a Common LISP format reference manual for a detailed
2062 description of the format string syntax. For a demonstration of the
2063 implemented directives see `formatst.scm'.
2065 This implementation supports directive parameters and modifiers (`:'
2066 and `@' characters). Multiple parameters must be separated by a comma
2067 (`,'). Parameters can be numerical parameters (positive or negative),
2068 character parameters (prefixed by a quote character (`''), variable
2069 parameters (`v'), number of rest arguments parameter (`#'), empty and
2070 default parameters. Directive characters are case independent. The
2071 general form of a directive is:
2073 DIRECTIVE ::= ~{DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER,}[:][@]DIRECTIVE-CHARACTER
2075 DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER ::= [ [-|+]{0-9}+ | 'CHARACTER | v | # ]
2077 *** Implemented CL Format Control Directives
2079 Documentation syntax: Uppercase characters represent the
2080 corresponding control directive characters. Lowercase characters
2081 represent control directive parameter descriptions.
2084 Any (print as `display' does).
2088 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARA'
2092 S-expression (print as `write' does).
2096 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARS'
2102 print number sign always.
2105 print comma separated.
2107 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARD'
2113 print number sign always.
2116 print comma separated.
2118 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARX'
2124 print number sign always.
2127 print comma separated.
2129 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARO'
2135 print number sign always.
2138 print comma separated.
2140 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARB'
2145 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARR'
2149 print a number as a Roman numeral.
2152 print a number as an "old fashioned" Roman numeral.
2155 print a number as an ordinal English number.
2158 print a number as a cardinal English number.
2163 prints `y' and `ies'.
2166 as `~P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
2169 as `~@P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
2174 prints a character as the reader can understand it (i.e. `#\'
2178 prints a character as emacs does (eg. `^C' for ASCII 03).
2181 Fixed-format floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN).
2182 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHARF'
2184 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
2187 Exponential floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN`E'EE).
2188 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARE'
2190 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
2193 General floating-point (prints a flonum either fixed or
2195 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARG'
2197 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
2200 Dollars floating-point (prints a flonum in fixed with signs
2202 `~DIGITS,SCALE,WIDTH,PADCHAR$'
2204 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
2207 A sign is always printed and appears before the padding.
2210 The sign appears before the padding.
2218 print newline if not at the beginning of the output line.
2220 prints `~&' and then N-1 newlines.
2225 print N page separators.
2235 newline is ignored, white space left.
2238 newline is left, white space ignored.
2243 relative tabulation.
2249 Indirection (expects indirect arguments as a list).
2251 extracts indirect arguments from format arguments.
2254 Case conversion (converts by `string-downcase').
2256 converts by `string-capitalize'.
2259 converts by `string-capitalize-first'.
2262 converts by `string-upcase'.
2265 Argument Jumping (jumps 1 argument forward).
2267 jumps N arguments forward.
2270 jumps 1 argument backward.
2273 jumps N arguments backward.
2276 jumps to the 0th argument.
2279 jumps to the Nth argument (beginning from 0)
2281 `~[STR0~;STR1~;...~;STRN~]'
2282 Conditional Expression (numerical clause conditional).
2284 take argument from N.
2287 true test conditional.
2290 if-else-then conditional.
2296 default clause follows.
2299 Iteration (args come from the next argument (a list)).
2301 at most N iterations.
2304 args from next arg (a list of lists).
2307 args from the rest of arguments.
2310 args from the rest args (lists).
2321 aborts if N <= M <= K
2323 *** Not Implemented CL Format Control Directives
2326 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
2329 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
2335 (sorry I don't understand its semantics completely)
2337 *** Extended, Replaced and Additional Control Directives
2339 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHD'
2340 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHX'
2341 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHO'
2342 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHB'
2343 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHR'
2344 COMMAWIDTH is the number of characters between two comma
2348 print a R4RS complex number as `~F~@Fi' with passed parameters for
2352 Pretty print formatting of an argument for scheme code lists.
2358 Flushes the output if format DESTINATION is a port.
2361 Print a `#\space' character
2363 print N `#\space' characters.
2366 Print a `#\tab' character
2368 print N `#\tab' characters.
2371 Takes N as an integer representation for a character. No arguments
2372 are consumed. N is converted to a character by `integer->char'. N
2373 must be a positive decimal number.
2376 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
2377 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
2378 be processed by `read'.
2381 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
2382 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
2383 be processed by `read'.
2386 Prints information and a copyright notice on the format
2389 prints format version.
2392 may also print number strings, i.e. passing a number as a string
2393 and format it accordingly.
2395 *** Configuration Variables
2397 The format module exports some configuration variables to suit the
2398 systems and users needs. There should be no modification necessary for
2399 the configuration that comes with Guile. Format detects automatically
2400 if the running scheme system implements floating point numbers and
2403 format:symbol-case-conv
2404 Symbols are converted by `symbol->string' so the case type of the
2405 printed symbols is implementation dependent.
2406 `format:symbol-case-conv' is a one arg closure which is either
2407 `#f' (no conversion), `string-upcase', `string-downcase' or
2408 `string-capitalize'. (default `#f')
2410 format:iobj-case-conv
2411 As FORMAT:SYMBOL-CASE-CONV but applies for the representation of
2412 implementation internal objects. (default `#f')
2415 The character prefixing the exponent value in `~E' printing.
2418 *** Compatibility With Other Format Implementations
2424 Downward compatible except for padding support and `~A', `~S',
2425 `~P', `~X' uppercase printing. SLIB format 1.4 uses C-style
2426 `printf' padding support which is completely replaced by the CL
2427 `format' padding style.
2430 Downward compatible except for `~', which is not documented
2431 (ignores all characters inside the format string up to a newline
2432 character). (7.1 implements `~a', `~s', ~NEWLINE, `~~', `~%',
2433 numerical and variable parameters and `:/@' modifiers in the CL
2437 Downward compatible except for `~A' and `~S' which print in
2438 uppercase. (Elk implements `~a', `~s', `~~', and `~%' (no
2439 directive parameters or modifiers)).
2442 Downward compatible except for an optional destination parameter:
2443 S2C accepts a format call without a destination which returns a
2444 formatted string. This is equivalent to a #f destination in S2C.
2445 (S2C implements `~a', `~s', `~c', `~%', and `~~' (no directive
2446 parameters or modifiers)).
2449 ** Changes to string-handling functions.
2451 These functions were added to support the (ice-9 format) module, above.
2453 *** New function: string-upcase STRING
2454 *** New function: string-downcase STRING
2456 These are non-destructive versions of the existing string-upcase! and
2457 string-downcase! functions.
2459 *** New function: string-capitalize! STRING
2460 *** New function: string-capitalize STRING
2462 These functions convert the first letter of each word in the string to
2465 (string-capitalize "howdy there")
2468 As with the other functions, string-capitalize! modifies the string in
2469 place, while string-capitalize returns a modified copy of its argument.
2471 *** New function: string-ci->symbol STRING
2473 Return a symbol whose name is STRING, but having the same case as if
2474 the symbol had be read by `read'.
2476 Guile can be configured to be sensitive or insensitive to case
2477 differences in Scheme identifiers. If Guile is case-insensitive, all
2478 symbols are converted to lower case on input. The `string-ci->symbol'
2479 function returns a symbol whose name in STRING, transformed as Guile
2480 would if STRING were input.
2482 *** New function: substring-move! STRING1 START END STRING2 START
2484 Copy the substring of STRING1 from START (inclusive) to END
2485 (exclusive) to STRING2 at START. STRING1 and STRING2 may be the same
2486 string, and the source and destination areas may overlap; in all
2487 cases, the function behaves as if all the characters were copied
2490 *** Extended functions: substring-move-left! substring-move-right!
2492 These functions now correctly copy arbitrarily overlapping substrings;
2493 they are both synonyms for substring-move!.
2496 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-long), with the function `getopt-long'.
2498 getopt-long is a function for parsing command-line arguments in a
2499 manner consistent with other GNU programs.
2501 (getopt-long ARGS GRAMMAR)
2502 Parse the arguments ARGS according to the argument list grammar GRAMMAR.
2504 ARGS should be a list of strings. Its first element should be the
2505 name of the program; subsequent elements should be the arguments
2506 that were passed to the program on the command line. The
2507 `program-arguments' procedure returns a list of this form.
2509 GRAMMAR is a list of the form:
2510 ((OPTION (PROPERTY VALUE) ...) ...)
2512 Each OPTION should be a symbol. `getopt-long' will accept a
2513 command-line option named `--OPTION'.
2514 Each option can have the following (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs:
2516 (single-char CHAR) --- Accept `-CHAR' as a single-character
2517 equivalent to `--OPTION'. This is how to specify traditional
2519 (required? BOOL) --- If BOOL is true, the option is required.
2520 getopt-long will raise an error if it is not found in ARGS.
2521 (value BOOL) --- If BOOL is #t, the option accepts a value; if
2522 it is #f, it does not; and if it is the symbol
2523 `optional', the option may appear in ARGS with or
2525 (predicate FUNC) --- If the option accepts a value (i.e. you
2526 specified `(value #t)' for this option), then getopt
2527 will apply FUNC to the value, and throw an exception
2528 if it returns #f. FUNC should be a procedure which
2529 accepts a string and returns a boolean value; you may
2530 need to use quasiquotes to get it into GRAMMAR.
2532 The (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs may occur in any order, but each
2533 property may occur only once. By default, options do not have
2534 single-character equivalents, are not required, and do not take
2537 In ARGS, single-character options may be combined, in the usual
2538 Unix fashion: ("-x" "-y") is equivalent to ("-xy"). If an option
2539 accepts values, then it must be the last option in the
2540 combination; the value is the next argument. So, for example, using
2541 the following grammar:
2542 ((apples (single-char #\a))
2543 (blimps (single-char #\b) (value #t))
2544 (catalexis (single-char #\c) (value #t)))
2545 the following argument lists would be acceptable:
2546 ("-a" "-b" "bang" "-c" "couth") ("bang" and "couth" are the values
2547 for "blimps" and "catalexis")
2548 ("-ab" "bang" "-c" "couth") (same)
2549 ("-ac" "couth" "-b" "bang") (same)
2550 ("-abc" "couth" "bang") (an error, since `-b' is not the
2551 last option in its combination)
2553 If an option's value is optional, then `getopt-long' decides
2554 whether it has a value by looking at what follows it in ARGS. If
2555 the next element is a string, and it does not appear to be an
2556 option itself, then that string is the option's value.
2558 The value of a long option can appear as the next element in ARGS,
2559 or it can follow the option name, separated by an `=' character.
2560 Thus, using the same grammar as above, the following argument lists
2562 ("--apples" "Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
2563 ("--apples=Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
2564 ("--blimps" "Goodyear" "--apples=Braeburn")
2566 If the option "--" appears in ARGS, argument parsing stops there;
2567 subsequent arguments are returned as ordinary arguments, even if
2568 they resemble options. So, in the argument list:
2569 ("--apples" "Granny Smith" "--" "--blimp" "Goodyear")
2570 `getopt-long' will recognize the `apples' option as having the
2571 value "Granny Smith", but it will not recognize the `blimp'
2572 option; it will return the strings "--blimp" and "Goodyear" as
2573 ordinary argument strings.
2575 The `getopt-long' function returns the parsed argument list as an
2576 assocation list, mapping option names --- the symbols from GRAMMAR
2577 --- onto their values, or #t if the option does not accept a value.
2578 Unused options do not appear in the alist.
2580 All arguments that are not the value of any option are returned
2581 as a list, associated with the empty list.
2583 `getopt-long' throws an exception if:
2584 - it finds an unrecognized option in ARGS
2585 - a required option is omitted
2586 - an option that requires an argument doesn't get one
2587 - an option that doesn't accept an argument does get one (this can
2588 only happen using the long option `--opt=value' syntax)
2589 - an option predicate fails
2594 `((lockfile-dir (required? #t)
2597 (predicate ,file-is-directory?))
2598 (verbose (required? #f)
2601 (x-includes (single-char #\x))
2602 (rnet-server (single-char #\y)
2603 (predicate ,string?))))
2605 (getopt-long '("my-prog" "-vk" "/tmp" "foo1" "--x-includes=/usr/include"
2606 "--rnet-server=lamprod" "--" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
2608 => ((() "foo1" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
2609 (rnet-server . "lamprod")
2610 (x-includes . "/usr/include")
2611 (lockfile-dir . "/tmp")
2614 ** The (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) module is obsolete; use (ice-9 getopt-long).
2616 It will be removed in a few releases.
2618 ** New syntax: lambda*
2619 ** New syntax: define*
2620 ** New syntax: define*-public
2621 ** New syntax: defmacro*
2622 ** New syntax: defmacro*-public
2623 Guile now supports optional arguments.
2625 `lambda*', `define*', `define*-public', `defmacro*' and
2626 `defmacro*-public' are identical to the non-* versions except that
2627 they use an extended type of parameter list that has the following BNF
2628 syntax (parentheses are literal, square brackets indicate grouping,
2629 and `*', `+' and `?' have the usual meaning):
2631 ext-param-list ::= ( [identifier]* [#&optional [ext-var-decl]+]?
2632 [#&key [ext-var-decl]+ [#&allow-other-keys]?]?
2633 [[#&rest identifier]|[. identifier]]? ) | [identifier]
2635 ext-var-decl ::= identifier | ( identifier expression )
2637 The semantics are best illustrated with the following documentation
2638 and examples for `lambda*':
2641 lambda extended for optional and keyword arguments
2643 lambda* creates a procedure that takes optional arguments. These
2644 are specified by putting them inside brackets at the end of the
2645 paramater list, but before any dotted rest argument. For example,
2646 (lambda* (a b #&optional c d . e) '())
2647 creates a procedure with fixed arguments a and b, optional arguments c
2648 and d, and rest argument e. If the optional arguments are omitted
2649 in a call, the variables for them are unbound in the procedure. This
2650 can be checked with the bound? macro.
2652 lambda* can also take keyword arguments. For example, a procedure
2654 (lambda* (#&key xyzzy larch) '())
2655 can be called with any of the argument lists (#:xyzzy 11)
2656 (#:larch 13) (#:larch 42 #:xyzzy 19) (). Whichever arguments
2657 are given as keywords are bound to values.
2659 Optional and keyword arguments can also be given default values
2660 which they take on when they are not present in a call, by giving a
2661 two-item list in place of an optional argument, for example in:
2662 (lambda* (foo #&optional (bar 42) #&key (baz 73)) (list foo bar baz))
2663 foo is a fixed argument, bar is an optional argument with default
2664 value 42, and baz is a keyword argument with default value 73.
2665 Default value expressions are not evaluated unless they are needed
2666 and until the procedure is called.
2668 lambda* now supports two more special parameter list keywords.
2670 lambda*-defined procedures now throw an error by default if a
2671 keyword other than one of those specified is found in the actual
2672 passed arguments. However, specifying #&allow-other-keys
2673 immediately after the kyword argument declarations restores the
2674 previous behavior of ignoring unknown keywords. lambda* also now
2675 guarantees that if the same keyword is passed more than once, the
2676 last one passed is the one that takes effect. For example,
2677 ((lambda* (#&key (heads 0) (tails 0)) (display (list heads tails)))
2678 #:heads 37 #:tails 42 #:heads 99)
2679 would result in (99 47) being displayed.
2681 #&rest is also now provided as a synonym for the dotted syntax rest
2682 argument. The argument lists (a . b) and (a #&rest b) are equivalent in
2683 all respects to lambda*. This is provided for more similarity to DSSSL,
2684 MIT-Scheme and Kawa among others, as well as for refugees from other
2687 Further documentation may be found in the optargs.scm file itself.
2689 The optional argument module also exports the macros `let-optional',
2690 `let-optional*', `let-keywords', `let-keywords*' and `bound?'. These
2691 are not documented here because they may be removed in the future, but
2692 full documentation is still available in optargs.scm.
2694 ** New syntax: and-let*
2695 Guile now supports the `and-let*' form, described in the draft SRFI-2.
2697 Syntax: (land* (<clause> ...) <body> ...)
2698 Each <clause> should have one of the following forms:
2699 (<variable> <expression>)
2702 Each <variable> or <bound-variable> should be an identifier. Each
2703 <expression> should be a valid expression. The <body> should be a
2704 possibly empty sequence of expressions, like the <body> of a
2707 Semantics: A LAND* expression is evaluated by evaluating the
2708 <expression> or <bound-variable> of each of the <clause>s from
2709 left to right. The value of the first <expression> or
2710 <bound-variable> that evaluates to a false value is returned; the
2711 remaining <expression>s and <bound-variable>s are not evaluated.
2712 The <body> forms are evaluated iff all the <expression>s and
2713 <bound-variable>s evaluate to true values.
2715 The <expression>s and the <body> are evaluated in an environment
2716 binding each <variable> of the preceding (<variable> <expression>)
2717 clauses to the value of the <expression>. Later bindings
2718 shadow earlier bindings.
2720 Guile's and-let* macro was contributed by Michael Livshin.
2722 ** New sorting functions
2724 *** New function: sorted? SEQUENCE LESS?
2725 Returns `#t' when the sequence argument is in non-decreasing order
2726 according to LESS? (that is, there is no adjacent pair `... x y
2727 ...' for which `(less? y x)').
2729 Returns `#f' when the sequence contains at least one out-of-order
2730 pair. It is an error if the sequence is neither a list nor a
2733 *** New function: merge LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
2734 LIST1 and LIST2 are sorted lists.
2735 Returns the sorted list of all elements in LIST1 and LIST2.
2737 Assume that the elements a and b1 in LIST1 and b2 in LIST2 are "equal"
2738 in the sense that (LESS? x y) --> #f for x, y in {a, b1, b2},
2739 and that a < b1 in LIST1. Then a < b1 < b2 in the result.
2740 (Here "<" should read "comes before".)
2742 *** New procedure: merge! LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
2743 Merges two lists, re-using the pairs of LIST1 and LIST2 to build
2744 the result. If the code is compiled, and LESS? constructs no new
2745 pairs, no pairs at all will be allocated. The first pair of the
2746 result will be either the first pair of LIST1 or the first pair of
2749 *** New function: sort SEQUENCE LESS?
2750 Accepts either a list or a vector, and returns a new sequence
2751 which is sorted. The new sequence is the same type as the input.
2752 Always `(sorted? (sort sequence less?) less?)'. The original
2753 sequence is not altered in any way. The new sequence shares its
2754 elements with the old one; no elements are copied.
2756 *** New procedure: sort! SEQUENCE LESS
2757 Returns its sorted result in the original boxes. No new storage is
2758 allocated at all. Proper usage: (set! slist (sort! slist <))
2760 *** New function: stable-sort SEQUENCE LESS?
2761 Similar to `sort' but stable. That is, if "equal" elements are
2762 ordered a < b in the original sequence, they will have the same order
2765 *** New function: stable-sort! SEQUENCE LESS?
2766 Similar to `sort!' but stable.
2767 Uses temporary storage when sorting vectors.
2769 *** New functions: sort-list, sort-list!
2770 Added for compatibility with scsh.
2772 ** New built-in random number support
2774 *** New function: random N [STATE]
2775 Accepts a positive integer or real N and returns a number of the
2776 same type between zero (inclusive) and N (exclusive). The values
2777 returned have a uniform distribution.
2779 The optional argument STATE must be of the type produced by
2780 `copy-random-state' or `seed->random-state'. It defaults to the value
2781 of the variable `*random-state*'. This object is used to maintain the
2782 state of the pseudo-random-number generator and is altered as a side
2783 effect of the `random' operation.
2785 *** New variable: *random-state*
2786 Holds a data structure that encodes the internal state of the
2787 random-number generator that `random' uses by default. The nature
2788 of this data structure is implementation-dependent. It may be
2789 printed out and successfully read back in, but may or may not
2790 function correctly as a random-number state object in another
2793 *** New function: copy-random-state [STATE]
2794 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
2795 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
2796 If argument STATE is given, a copy of it is returned. Otherwise a
2797 copy of `*random-state*' is returned.
2799 *** New function: seed->random-state SEED
2800 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
2801 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
2802 SEED is a string or a number. A new state is generated and
2803 initialized using SEED.
2805 *** New function: random:uniform [STATE]
2806 Returns an uniformly distributed inexact real random number in the
2807 range between 0 and 1.
2809 *** New procedure: random:solid-sphere! VECT [STATE]
2810 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose
2811 squares is less than 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in
2812 space of dimension N = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are
2813 uniformly distributed within the unit N-shere. The sum of the
2814 squares of the numbers is returned. VECT can be either a vector
2815 or a uniform vector of doubles.
2817 *** New procedure: random:hollow-sphere! VECT [STATE]
2818 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose squares
2819 is equal to 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in space of
2820 dimension n = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are uniformly
2821 distributed over the surface of the unit n-shere. VECT can be either
2822 a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
2824 *** New function: random:normal [STATE]
2825 Returns an inexact real in a normal distribution with mean 0 and
2826 standard deviation 1. For a normal distribution with mean M and
2827 standard deviation D use `(+ M (* D (random:normal)))'.
2829 *** New procedure: random:normal-vector! VECT [STATE]
2830 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers which are independent and
2831 standard normally distributed (i.e., with mean 0 and variance 1).
2832 VECT can be either a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
2834 *** New function: random:exp STATE
2835 Returns an inexact real in an exponential distribution with mean 1.
2836 For an exponential distribution with mean U use (* U (random:exp)).
2838 ** The range of logand, logior, logxor, logtest, and logbit? have changed.
2840 These functions now operate on numbers in the range of a C unsigned
2843 These functions used to operate on numbers in the range of a C signed
2844 long; however, this seems inappropriate, because Guile integers don't
2847 ** New function: make-guardian
2848 This is an implementation of guardians as described in
2849 R. Kent Dybvig, Carl Bruggeman, and David Eby (1993) "Guardians in a
2850 Generation-Based Garbage Collector" ACM SIGPLAN Conference on
2851 Programming Language Design and Implementation, June 1993
2852 ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/scheme-repository/doc/pubs/guardians.ps.gz
2854 ** New functions: delq1!, delv1!, delete1!
2855 These procedures behave similar to delq! and friends but delete only
2856 one object if at all.
2858 ** New function: unread-string STRING PORT
2859 Unread STRING to PORT, that is, push it back onto the port so that
2860 next read operation will work on the pushed back characters.
2862 ** unread-char can now be called multiple times
2863 If unread-char is called multiple times, the unread characters will be
2864 read again in last-in first-out order.
2866 ** the procedures uniform-array-read! and uniform-array-write! now
2867 work on any kind of port, not just ports which are open on a file.
2869 ** Now 'l' in a port mode requests line buffering.
2871 ** The procedure truncate-file now works on string ports as well
2872 as file ports. If the size argument is omitted, the current
2873 file position is used.
2875 ** new procedure: seek PORT/FDES OFFSET WHENCE
2876 The arguments are the same as for the old fseek procedure, but it
2877 works on string ports as well as random-access file ports.
2879 ** the fseek procedure now works on string ports, since it has been
2880 redefined using seek.
2882 ** the setvbuf procedure now uses a default size if mode is _IOFBF and
2883 size is not supplied.
2885 ** the newline procedure no longer flushes the port if it's not
2886 line-buffered: previously it did if it was the current output port.
2888 ** open-pipe and close-pipe are no longer primitive procedures, but
2889 an emulation can be obtained using `(use-modules (ice-9 popen))'.
2891 ** the freopen procedure has been removed.
2893 ** new procedure: drain-input PORT
2894 Drains PORT's read buffers (including any pushed-back characters)
2895 and returns the contents as a single string.
2897 ** New function: map-in-order PROC LIST1 LIST2 ...
2898 Version of `map' which guarantees that the procedure is applied to the
2899 lists in serial order.
2901 ** Renamed `serial-array-copy!' and `serial-array-map!' to
2902 `array-copy-in-order!' and `array-map-in-order!'. The old names are
2903 now obsolete and will go away in release 1.5.
2905 ** New syntax: collect BODY1 ...
2906 Version of `begin' which returns a list of the results of the body
2907 forms instead of the result of the last body form. In contrast to
2908 `begin', `collect' allows an empty body.
2910 ** New functions: read-history FILENAME, write-history FILENAME
2911 Read/write command line history from/to file. Returns #t on success
2912 and #f if an error occured.
2914 ** `ls' and `lls' in module (ice-9 ls) now handle no arguments.
2916 These procedures return a list of definitions available in the specified
2917 argument, a relative module reference. In the case of no argument,
2918 `(current-module)' is now consulted for definitions to return, instead
2919 of simply returning #f, the former behavior.
2921 ** The #/ syntax for lists is no longer supported.
2923 Earlier versions of Scheme accepted this syntax, but printed a
2926 ** Guile no longer consults the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable.
2928 Instead, you should set GUILE_LOAD_PATH to tell Guile where to find
2931 * Changes to the gh_ interface
2935 Now takes a second argument which is the result array. If this
2936 pointer is NULL, a new array is malloced (the old behaviour).
2938 ** gh_chars2byvect, gh_shorts2svect, gh_floats2fvect, gh_scm2chars,
2939 gh_scm2shorts, gh_scm2longs, gh_scm2floats
2943 * Changes to the scm_ interface
2945 ** Function: scm_make_named_hook (char* name, int n_args)
2947 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
2948 binds a variable named NAME to it.
2950 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
2952 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module. This
2953 might change when we get the new module system.
2955 ** The smob interface
2957 The interface for creating smobs has changed. For documentation, see
2958 data-rep.info (made from guile-core/doc/data-rep.texi).
2960 *** Deprecated function: SCM scm_newsmob (scm_smobfuns *)
2962 >>> This function will be removed in 1.3.4. <<<
2966 *** Function: SCM scm_make_smob_type (const char *name, scm_sizet size)
2967 This function adds a new smob type, named NAME, with instance size
2968 SIZE to the system. The return value is a tag that is used in
2969 creating instances of the type. If SIZE is 0, then no memory will
2970 be allocated when instances of the smob are created, and nothing
2971 will be freed by the default free function.
2973 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_mark (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
2974 This function sets the smob marking procedure for the smob type
2975 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
2976 `scm_make_smob_type'.
2978 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_free (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
2979 This function sets the smob freeing procedure for the smob type
2980 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
2981 `scm_make_smob_type'.
2983 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_print (tc, print)
2985 - Function: void scm_set_smob_print (long tc,
2986 scm_sizet (*print) (SCM,
2990 This function sets the smob printing procedure for the smob type
2991 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
2992 `scm_make_smob_type'.
2994 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_equalp (long tc, SCM (*equalp) (SCM, SCM))
2995 This function sets the smob equality-testing predicate for the
2996 smob type specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
2997 `scm_make_smob_type'.
2999 *** Macro: void SCM_NEWSMOB (SCM var, long tc, void *data)
3000 Make VALUE contain a smob instance of the type with type code TC and
3001 smob data DATA. VALUE must be previously declared as C type `SCM'.
3003 *** Macro: fn_returns SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB (long tc, void *data)
3004 This macro expands to a block of code that creates a smob instance
3005 of the type with type code TC and smob data DATA, and returns that
3006 `SCM' value. It should be the last piece of code in a block.
3008 ** The interfaces for using I/O ports and implementing port types
3009 (ptobs) have changed significantly. The new interface is based on
3010 shared access to buffers and a new set of ptob procedures.
3012 *** scm_newptob has been removed
3016 *** Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (type_name, fill_buffer, write_flush)
3018 - Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (char *type_name,
3019 int (*fill_buffer) (SCM port),
3020 void (*write_flush) (SCM port));
3022 Similarly to the new smob interface, there is a set of function
3023 setters by which the user can customize the behaviour of his port
3024 type. See ports.h (scm_set_port_XXX).
3026 ** scm_strport_to_string: New function: creates a new string from
3027 a string port's buffer.
3029 ** Plug in interface for random number generators
3030 The variable `scm_the_rng' in random.c contains a value and three
3031 function pointers which together define the current random number
3032 generator being used by the Scheme level interface and the random
3033 number library functions.
3035 The user is free to replace the default generator with the generator
3038 *** Variable: size_t scm_the_rng.rstate_size
3039 The size of the random state type used by the current RNG
3042 *** Function: unsigned long scm_the_rng.random_bits (scm_rstate *STATE)
3043 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
3045 *** Function: void scm_the_rng.init_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE, chars *S, int N)
3046 Seed random state STATE using string S of length N.
3048 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_the_rng.copy_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE)
3049 Given random state STATE, return a malloced copy.
3052 The default RNG is the MWC (Multiply With Carry) random number
3053 generator described by George Marsaglia at the Department of
3054 Statistics and Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, The
3055 Florida State University (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo).
3057 It uses 64 bits, has a period of 4578426017172946943 (4.6e18), and
3058 passes all tests in the DIEHARD test suite
3059 (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo/diehard.html). The generation of 32 bits
3060 costs one multiply and one add on platforms which either supports long
3061 longs (gcc does this on most systems) or have 64 bit longs. The cost
3062 is four multiply on other systems but this can be optimized by writing
3063 scm_i_uniform32 in assembler.
3065 These functions are provided through the scm_the_rng interface for use
3066 by libguile and the application.
3068 *** Function: unsigned long scm_i_uniform32 (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
3069 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
3070 Don't use this function directly. Instead go through the plugin
3071 interface (see "Plug in interface" above).
3073 *** Function: void scm_i_init_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE, char *SEED, int N)
3074 Initialize STATE using SEED of length N.
3076 *** Function: scm_i_rstate *scm_i_copy_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
3077 Return a malloc:ed copy of STATE. This function can easily be re-used
3078 in the interfaces to other RNGs.
3080 ** Random number library functions
3081 These functions use the current RNG through the scm_the_rng interface.
3082 It might be a good idea to use these functions from your C code so
3083 that only one random generator is used by all code in your program.
3085 The default random state is stored in:
3087 *** Variable: SCM scm_var_random_state
3088 Contains the vcell of the Scheme variable "*random-state*" which is
3089 used as default state by all random number functions in the Scheme
3094 double x = scm_c_uniform01 (SCM_RSTATE (SCM_CDR (scm_var_random_state)));
3096 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_default_rstate (void)
3097 This is a convenience function which returns the value of
3098 scm_var_random_state. An error message is generated if this value
3099 isn't a random state.
3101 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_make_rstate (char *SEED, int LENGTH)
3102 Make a new random state from the string SEED of length LENGTH.
3104 It is generally not a good idea to use multiple random states in a
3105 program. While subsequent random numbers generated from one random
3106 state are guaranteed to be reasonably independent, there is no such
3107 guarantee for numbers generated from different random states.
3109 *** Macro: unsigned long scm_c_uniform32 (scm_rstate *STATE)
3110 Return 32 random bits.
3112 *** Function: double scm_c_uniform01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
3113 Return a sample from the uniform(0,1) distribution.
3115 *** Function: double scm_c_normal01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
3116 Return a sample from the normal(0,1) distribution.
3118 *** Function: double scm_c_exp1 (scm_rstate *STATE)
3119 Return a sample from the exp(1) distribution.
3121 *** Function: unsigned long scm_c_random (scm_rstate *STATE, unsigned long M)
3122 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
3124 *** Function: SCM scm_c_random_bignum (scm_rstate *STATE, SCM M)
3125 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
3126 M must be a bignum object. The returned value may be an INUM.
3130 Changes in Guile 1.3 (released Monday, October 19, 1998):
3132 * Changes to the distribution
3134 ** We renamed the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable to GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
3135 To avoid conflicts, programs should name environment variables after
3136 themselves, except when there's a common practice establishing some
3139 For now, Guile supports both GUILE_LOAD_PATH and SCHEME_LOAD_PATH,
3140 giving the former precedence, and printing a warning message if the
3141 latter is set. Guile 1.4 will not recognize SCHEME_LOAD_PATH at all.
3143 ** The header files related to multi-byte characters have been removed.
3144 They were: libguile/extchrs.h and libguile/mbstrings.h. Any C code
3145 which referred to these explicitly will probably need to be rewritten,
3146 since the support for the variant string types has been removed; see
3149 ** The header files append.h and sequences.h have been removed. These
3150 files implemented non-R4RS operations which would encourage
3151 non-portable programming style and less easy-to-read code.
3153 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3155 ** New procedures have been added to implement a "batch mode":
3157 *** Function: batch-mode?
3159 Returns a boolean indicating whether the interpreter is in batch
3162 *** Function: set-batch-mode?! ARG
3164 If ARG is true, switches the interpreter to batch mode. The `#f'
3165 case has not been implemented.
3167 ** Guile now provides full command-line editing, when run interactively.
3168 To use this feature, you must have the readline library installed.
3169 The Guile build process will notice it, and automatically include
3172 The readline library is available via anonymous FTP from any GNU
3173 mirror site; the canonical location is "ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu".
3175 ** the-last-stack is now a fluid.
3177 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
3179 ** You can now use the `guile-config' utility to build programs that use Guile.
3181 Guile now includes a command-line utility called `guile-config', which
3182 can provide information about how to compile and link programs that
3185 *** `guile-config compile' prints any C compiler flags needed to use Guile.
3186 You should include this command's output on the command line you use
3187 to compile C or C++ code that #includes the Guile header files. It's
3188 usually just a `-I' flag to help the compiler find the Guile headers.
3191 *** `guile-config link' prints any linker flags necessary to link with Guile.
3193 This command writes to its standard output a list of flags which you
3194 must pass to the linker to link your code against the Guile library.
3195 The flags include '-lguile' itself, any other libraries the Guile
3196 library depends upon, and any `-L' flags needed to help the linker
3197 find those libraries.
3199 For example, here is a Makefile rule that builds a program named 'foo'
3200 from the object files ${FOO_OBJECTS}, and links them against Guile:
3203 ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${FOO_OBJECTS} `guile-config link` -o foo
3205 Previous Guile releases recommended that you use autoconf to detect
3206 which of a predefined set of libraries were present on your system.
3207 It is more robust to use `guile-config', since it records exactly which
3208 libraries the installed Guile library requires.
3210 This was originally called `build-guile', but was renamed to
3211 `guile-config' before Guile 1.3 was released, to be consistent with
3212 the analogous script for the GTK+ GUI toolkit, which is called
3216 ** Use the GUILE_FLAGS macro in your configure.in file to find Guile.
3218 If you are using the GNU autoconf package to configure your program,
3219 you can use the GUILE_FLAGS autoconf macro to call `guile-config'
3220 (described above) and gather the necessary values for use in your
3223 The GUILE_FLAGS macro expands to configure script code which runs the
3224 `guile-config' script, to find out where Guile's header files and
3225 libraries are installed. It sets two variables, marked for
3226 substitution, as by AC_SUBST.
3228 GUILE_CFLAGS --- flags to pass to a C or C++ compiler to build
3229 code that uses Guile header files. This is almost always just a
3232 GUILE_LDFLAGS --- flags to pass to the linker to link a
3233 program against Guile. This includes `-lguile' for the Guile
3234 library itself, any libraries that Guile itself requires (like
3235 -lqthreads), and so on. It may also include a -L flag to tell the
3236 compiler where to find the libraries.
3238 GUILE_FLAGS is defined in the file guile.m4, in the top-level
3239 directory of the Guile distribution. You can copy it into your
3240 package's aclocal.m4 file, and then use it in your configure.in file.
3242 If you are using the `aclocal' program, distributed with GNU automake,
3243 to maintain your aclocal.m4 file, the Guile installation process
3244 installs guile.m4 where aclocal will find it. All you need to do is
3245 use GUILE_FLAGS in your configure.in file, and then run `aclocal';
3246 this will copy the definition of GUILE_FLAGS into your aclocal.m4
3250 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3252 ** Multi-byte strings have been removed, as have multi-byte and wide
3253 ports. We felt that these were the wrong approach to
3254 internationalization support.
3256 ** New function: readline [PROMPT]
3257 Read a line from the terminal, and allow the user to edit it,
3258 prompting with PROMPT. READLINE provides a large set of Emacs-like
3259 editing commands, lets the user recall previously typed lines, and
3260 works on almost every kind of terminal, including dumb terminals.
3262 READLINE assumes that the cursor is at the beginning of the line when
3263 it is invoked. Thus, you can't print a prompt yourself, and then call
3264 READLINE; you need to package up your prompt as a string, pass it to
3265 the function, and let READLINE print the prompt itself. This is
3266 because READLINE needs to know the prompt's screen width.
3268 For Guile to provide this function, you must have the readline
3269 library, version 2.1 or later, installed on your system. Readline is
3270 available via anonymous FTP from prep.ai.mit.edu in pub/gnu, or from
3271 any GNU mirror site.
3273 See also ADD-HISTORY function.
3275 ** New function: add-history STRING
3276 Add STRING as the most recent line in the history used by the READLINE
3277 command. READLINE does not add lines to the history itself; you must
3278 call ADD-HISTORY to make previous input available to the user.
3280 ** The behavior of the read-line function has changed.
3282 This function now uses standard C library functions to read the line,
3283 for speed. This means that it doesn not respect the value of
3284 scm-line-incrementors; it assumes that lines are delimited with
3287 (Note that this is read-line, the function that reads a line of text
3288 from a port, not readline, the function that reads a line from a
3289 terminal, providing full editing capabilities.)
3291 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style): Parse command-line arguments.
3293 This module provides some simple argument parsing. It exports one
3296 Function: getopt-gnu-style ARG-LS
3297 Parse a list of program arguments into an alist of option
3300 Each item in the list of program arguments is examined to see if
3301 it meets the syntax of a GNU long-named option. An argument like
3302 `--MUMBLE' produces an element of the form (MUMBLE . #t) in the
3303 returned alist, where MUMBLE is a keyword object with the same
3304 name as the argument. An argument like `--MUMBLE=FROB' produces
3305 an element of the form (MUMBLE . FROB), where FROB is a string.
3307 As a special case, the returned alist also contains a pair whose
3308 car is the symbol `rest'. The cdr of this pair is a list
3309 containing all the items in the argument list that are not options
3310 of the form mentioned above.
3312 The argument `--' is treated specially: all items in the argument
3313 list appearing after such an argument are not examined, and are
3314 returned in the special `rest' list.
3316 This function does not parse normal single-character switches.
3317 You will need to parse them out of the `rest' list yourself.
3319 ** The read syntax for byte vectors and short vectors has changed.
3321 Instead of #bytes(...), write #y(...).
3323 Instead of #short(...), write #h(...).
3325 This may seem nutty, but, like the other uniform vectors, byte vectors
3326 and short vectors want to have the same print and read syntax (and,
3327 more basic, want to have read syntax!). Changing the read syntax to
3328 use multiple characters after the hash sign breaks with the
3329 conventions used in R5RS and the conventions used for the other
3330 uniform vectors. It also introduces complexity in the current reader,
3331 both on the C and Scheme levels. (The Right solution is probably to
3332 change the syntax and prototypes for uniform vectors entirely.)
3335 ** The new module (ice-9 session) provides useful interactive functions.
3337 *** New procedure: (apropos REGEXP OPTION ...)
3339 Display a list of top-level variables whose names match REGEXP, and
3340 the modules they are imported from. Each OPTION should be one of the
3343 value --- Show the value of each matching variable.
3344 shadow --- Show bindings shadowed by subsequently imported modules.
3345 full --- Same as both `shadow' and `value'.
3349 guile> (apropos "trace" 'full)
3350 debug: trace #<procedure trace args>
3351 debug: untrace #<procedure untrace args>
3352 the-scm-module: display-backtrace #<compiled-closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>
3353 the-scm-module: before-backtrace-hook ()
3354 the-scm-module: backtrace #<primitive-procedure backtrace>
3355 the-scm-module: after-backtrace-hook ()
3356 the-scm-module: has-shown-backtrace-hint? #f
3359 ** There are new functions and syntax for working with macros.
3361 Guile implements macros as a special object type. Any variable whose
3362 top-level binding is a macro object acts as a macro. The macro object
3363 specifies how the expression should be transformed before evaluation.
3365 *** Macro objects now print in a reasonable way, resembling procedures.
3367 *** New function: (macro? OBJ)
3368 True iff OBJ is a macro object.
3370 *** New function: (primitive-macro? OBJ)
3371 Like (macro? OBJ), but true only if OBJ is one of the Guile primitive
3372 macro transformers, implemented in eval.c rather than Scheme code.
3374 Why do we have this function?
3375 - For symmetry with procedure? and primitive-procedure?,
3376 - to allow custom print procedures to tell whether a macro is
3377 primitive, and display it differently, and
3378 - to allow compilers and user-written evaluators to distinguish
3379 builtin special forms from user-defined ones, which could be
3382 *** New function: (macro-type OBJ)
3383 Return a value indicating what kind of macro OBJ is. Possible return
3386 The symbol `syntax' --- a macro created by procedure->syntax.
3387 The symbol `macro' --- a macro created by procedure->macro.
3388 The symbol `macro!' --- a macro created by procedure->memoizing-macro.
3389 The boolean #f --- if OBJ is not a macro object.
3391 *** New function: (macro-name MACRO)
3392 Return the name of the macro object MACRO's procedure, as returned by
3395 *** New function: (macro-transformer MACRO)
3396 Return the transformer procedure for MACRO.
3398 *** New syntax: (use-syntax MODULE ... TRANSFORMER)
3400 Specify a new macro expander to use in the current module. Each
3401 MODULE is a module name, with the same meaning as in the `use-modules'
3402 form; each named module's exported bindings are added to the current
3403 top-level environment. TRANSFORMER is an expression evaluated in the
3404 resulting environment which must yield a procedure to use as the
3405 module's eval transformer: every expression evaluated in this module
3406 is passed to this function, and the result passed to the Guile
3409 *** macro-eval! is removed. Use local-eval instead.
3411 ** Some magic has been added to the printer to better handle user
3412 written printing routines (like record printers, closure printers).
3414 The problem is that these user written routines must have access to
3415 the current `print-state' to be able to handle fancy things like
3416 detection of circular references. These print-states have to be
3417 passed to the builtin printing routines (display, write, etc) to
3418 properly continue the print chain.
3420 We didn't want to change all existing print code so that it
3421 explicitly passes thru a print state in addition to a port. Instead,
3422 we extented the possible values that the builtin printing routines
3423 accept as a `port'. In addition to a normal port, they now also take
3424 a pair of a normal port and a print-state. Printing will go to the
3425 port and the print-state will be used to control the detection of
3426 circular references, etc. If the builtin function does not care for a
3427 print-state, it is simply ignored.
3429 User written callbacks are now called with such a pair as their
3430 `port', but because every function now accepts this pair as a PORT
3431 argument, you don't have to worry about that. In fact, it is probably
3432 safest to not check for these pairs.
3434 However, it is sometimes necessary to continue a print chain on a
3435 different port, for example to get a intermediate string
3436 representation of the printed value, mangle that string somehow, and
3437 then to finally print the mangled string. Use the new function
3439 inherit-print-state OLD-PORT NEW-PORT
3441 for this. It constructs a new `port' that prints to NEW-PORT but
3442 inherits the print-state of OLD-PORT.
3444 ** struct-vtable-offset renamed to vtable-offset-user
3446 ** New constants: vtable-index-layout, vtable-index-vtable, vtable-index-printer
3448 ** There is now a third optional argument to make-vtable-vtable
3449 (and fourth to make-struct) when constructing new types (vtables).
3450 This argument initializes field vtable-index-printer of the vtable.
3452 ** The detection of circular references has been extended to structs.
3453 That is, a structure that -- in the process of being printed -- prints
3454 itself does not lead to infinite recursion.
3456 ** There is now some basic support for fluids. Please read
3457 "libguile/fluid.h" to find out more. It is accessible from Scheme with
3458 the following functions and macros:
3460 Function: make-fluid
3462 Create a new fluid object. Fluids are not special variables or
3463 some other extension to the semantics of Scheme, but rather
3464 ordinary Scheme objects. You can store them into variables (that
3465 are still lexically scoped, of course) or into any other place you
3466 like. Every fluid has a initial value of `#f'.
3468 Function: fluid? OBJ
3470 Test whether OBJ is a fluid.
3472 Function: fluid-ref FLUID
3473 Function: fluid-set! FLUID VAL
3475 Access/modify the fluid FLUID. Modifications are only visible
3476 within the current dynamic root (that includes threads).
3478 Function: with-fluids* FLUIDS VALUES THUNK
3480 FLUIDS is a list of fluids and VALUES a corresponding list of
3481 values for these fluids. Before THUNK gets called the values are
3482 installed in the fluids and the old values of the fluids are
3483 saved in the VALUES list. When the flow of control leaves THUNK
3484 or reenters it, the values get swapped again. You might think of
3485 this as a `safe-fluid-excursion'. Note that the VALUES list is
3486 modified by `with-fluids*'.
3488 Macro: with-fluids ((FLUID VALUE) ...) FORM ...
3490 The same as `with-fluids*' but with a different syntax. It looks
3491 just like `let', but both FLUID and VALUE are evaluated. Remember,
3492 fluids are not special variables but ordinary objects. FLUID
3493 should evaluate to a fluid.
3495 ** Changes to system call interfaces:
3497 *** close-port, close-input-port and close-output-port now return a
3498 boolean instead of an `unspecified' object. #t means that the port
3499 was successfully closed, while #f means it was already closed. It is
3500 also now possible for these procedures to raise an exception if an
3501 error occurs (some errors from write can be delayed until close.)
3503 *** the first argument to chmod, fcntl, ftell and fseek can now be a
3506 *** the third argument to fcntl is now optional.
3508 *** the first argument to chown can now be a file descriptor or a port.
3510 *** the argument to stat can now be a port.
3512 *** The following new procedures have been added (most use scsh
3515 *** procedure: close PORT/FD
3516 Similar to close-port (*note close-port: Closing Ports.), but also
3517 works on file descriptors. A side effect of closing a file
3518 descriptor is that any ports using that file descriptor are moved
3519 to a different file descriptor and have their revealed counts set
3522 *** procedure: port->fdes PORT
3523 Returns the integer file descriptor underlying PORT. As a side
3524 effect the revealed count of PORT is incremented.
3526 *** procedure: fdes->ports FDES
3527 Returns a list of existing ports which have FDES as an underlying
3528 file descriptor, without changing their revealed counts.
3530 *** procedure: fdes->inport FDES
3531 Returns an existing input port which has FDES as its underlying
3532 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
3533 Otherwise, returns a new input port with a revealed count of 1.
3535 *** procedure: fdes->outport FDES
3536 Returns an existing output port which has FDES as its underlying
3537 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
3538 Otherwise, returns a new output port with a revealed count of 1.
3540 The next group of procedures perform a `dup2' system call, if NEWFD
3541 (an integer) is supplied, otherwise a `dup'. The file descriptor to be
3542 duplicated can be supplied as an integer or contained in a port. The
3543 type of value returned varies depending on which procedure is used.
3545 All procedures also have the side effect when performing `dup2' that
3546 any ports using NEWFD are moved to a different file descriptor and have
3547 their revealed counts set to zero.
3549 *** procedure: dup->fdes PORT/FD [NEWFD]
3550 Returns an integer file descriptor.
3552 *** procedure: dup->inport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
3553 Returns a new input port using the new file descriptor.
3555 *** procedure: dup->outport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
3556 Returns a new output port using the new file descriptor.
3558 *** procedure: dup PORT/FD [NEWFD]
3559 Returns a new port if PORT/FD is a port, with the same mode as the
3560 supplied port, otherwise returns an integer file descriptor.
3562 *** procedure: dup->port PORT/FD MODE [NEWFD]
3563 Returns a new port using the new file descriptor. MODE supplies a
3564 mode string for the port (*note open-file: File Ports.).
3566 *** procedure: setenv NAME VALUE
3567 Modifies the environment of the current process, which is also the
3568 default environment inherited by child processes.
3570 If VALUE is `#f', then NAME is removed from the environment.
3571 Otherwise, the string NAME=VALUE is added to the environment,
3572 replacing any existing string with name matching NAME.
3574 The return value is unspecified.
3576 *** procedure: truncate-file OBJ SIZE
3577 Truncates the file referred to by OBJ to at most SIZE bytes. OBJ
3578 can be a string containing a file name or an integer file
3579 descriptor or port open for output on the file. The underlying
3580 system calls are `truncate' and `ftruncate'.
3582 The return value is unspecified.
3584 *** procedure: setvbuf PORT MODE [SIZE]
3585 Set the buffering mode for PORT. MODE can be:
3593 block buffered, using a newly allocated buffer of SIZE bytes.
3594 However if SIZE is zero or unspecified, the port will be made
3597 This procedure should not be used after I/O has been performed with
3600 Ports are usually block buffered by default, with a default buffer
3601 size. Procedures e.g., *Note open-file: File Ports, which accept a
3602 mode string allow `0' to be added to request an unbuffered port.
3604 *** procedure: fsync PORT/FD
3605 Copies any unwritten data for the specified output file descriptor
3606 to disk. If PORT/FD is a port, its buffer is flushed before the
3607 underlying file descriptor is fsync'd. The return value is
3610 *** procedure: open-fdes PATH FLAGS [MODES]
3611 Similar to `open' but returns a file descriptor instead of a port.
3613 *** procedure: execle PATH ENV [ARG] ...
3614 Similar to `execl', but the environment of the new process is
3615 specified by ENV, which must be a list of strings as returned by
3616 the `environ' procedure.
3618 This procedure is currently implemented using the `execve' system
3619 call, but we call it `execle' because of its Scheme calling
3622 *** procedure: strerror ERRNO
3623 Returns the Unix error message corresponding to ERRNO, an integer.
3625 *** procedure: primitive-exit [STATUS]
3626 Terminate the current process without unwinding the Scheme stack.
3627 This is would typically be useful after a fork. The exit status
3628 is STATUS if supplied, otherwise zero.
3630 *** procedure: times
3631 Returns an object with information about real and processor time.
3632 The following procedures accept such an object as an argument and
3633 return a selected component:
3636 The current real time, expressed as time units relative to an
3640 The CPU time units used by the calling process.
3643 The CPU time units used by the system on behalf of the
3647 The CPU time units used by terminated child processes of the
3648 calling process, whose status has been collected (e.g., using
3652 Similarly, the CPU times units used by the system on behalf of
3653 terminated child processes.
3655 ** Removed: list-length
3656 ** Removed: list-append, list-append!
3657 ** Removed: list-reverse, list-reverse!
3659 ** array-map renamed to array-map!
3661 ** serial-array-map renamed to serial-array-map!
3663 ** catch doesn't take #f as first argument any longer
3665 Previously, it was possible to pass #f instead of a key to `catch'.
3666 That would cause `catch' to pass a jump buffer object to the procedure
3667 passed as second argument. The procedure could then use this jump
3668 buffer objekt as an argument to throw.
3670 This mechanism has been removed since its utility doesn't motivate the
3671 extra complexity it introduces.
3673 ** The `#/' notation for lists now provokes a warning message from Guile.
3674 This syntax will be removed from Guile in the near future.
3676 To disable the warning message, set the GUILE_HUSH environment
3677 variable to any non-empty value.
3679 ** The newline character now prints as `#\newline', following the
3680 normal Scheme notation, not `#\nl'.
3682 * Changes to the gh_ interface
3684 ** The gh_enter function now takes care of loading the Guile startup files.
3685 gh_enter works by calling scm_boot_guile; see the remarks below.
3687 ** Function: void gh_write (SCM x)
3689 Write the printed representation of the scheme object x to the current
3690 output port. Corresponds to the scheme level `write'.
3692 ** gh_list_length renamed to gh_length.
3694 ** vector handling routines
3696 Several major changes. In particular, gh_vector() now resembles
3697 (vector ...) (with a caveat -- see manual), and gh_make_vector() now
3698 exists and behaves like (make-vector ...). gh_vset() and gh_vref()
3699 have been renamed gh_vector_set_x() and gh_vector_ref(). Some missing
3700 vector-related gh_ functions have been implemented.
3702 ** pair and list routines
3704 Implemented several of the R4RS pair and list functions that were
3707 ** gh_scm2doubles, gh_doubles2scm, gh_doubles2dvect
3709 New function. Converts double arrays back and forth between Scheme
3712 * Changes to the scm_ interface
3714 ** The function scm_boot_guile now takes care of loading the startup files.
3716 Guile's primary initialization function, scm_boot_guile, now takes
3717 care of loading `boot-9.scm', in the `ice-9' module, to initialize
3718 Guile, define the module system, and put together some standard
3719 bindings. It also loads `init.scm', which is intended to hold
3720 site-specific initialization code.
3722 Since Guile cannot operate properly until boot-9.scm is loaded, there
3723 is no reason to separate loading boot-9.scm from Guile's other
3724 initialization processes.
3726 This job used to be done by scm_compile_shell_switches, which didn't
3727 make much sense; in particular, it meant that people using Guile for
3728 non-shell-like applications had to jump through hoops to get Guile
3729 initialized properly.
3731 ** The function scm_compile_shell_switches no longer loads the startup files.
3732 Now, Guile always loads the startup files, whenever it is initialized;
3733 see the notes above for scm_boot_guile and scm_load_startup_files.
3735 ** Function: scm_load_startup_files
3736 This new function takes care of loading Guile's initialization file
3737 (`boot-9.scm'), and the site initialization file, `init.scm'. Since
3738 this is always called by the Guile initialization process, it's
3739 probably not too useful to call this yourself, but it's there anyway.
3741 ** The semantics of smob marking have changed slightly.
3743 The smob marking function (the `mark' member of the scm_smobfuns
3744 structure) is no longer responsible for setting the mark bit on the
3745 smob. The generic smob handling code in the garbage collector will
3746 set this bit. The mark function need only ensure that any other
3747 objects the smob refers to get marked.
3749 Note that this change means that the smob's GC8MARK bit is typically
3750 already set upon entry to the mark function. Thus, marking functions
3751 which look like this:
3754 if (SCM_GC8MARKP (ptr))
3756 SCM_SETGC8MARK (ptr);
3757 ... mark objects to which the smob refers ...
3760 are now incorrect, since they will return early, and fail to mark any
3761 other objects the smob refers to. Some code in the Guile library used
3764 ** The semantics of the I/O port functions in scm_ptobfuns have changed.
3766 If you have implemented your own I/O port type, by writing the
3767 functions required by the scm_ptobfuns and then calling scm_newptob,
3768 you will need to change your functions slightly.
3770 The functions in a scm_ptobfuns structure now expect the port itself
3771 as their argument; they used to expect the `stream' member of the
3772 port's scm_port_table structure. This allows functions in an
3773 scm_ptobfuns structure to easily access the port's cell (and any flags
3774 it its CAR), and the port's scm_port_table structure.
3776 Guile now passes the I/O port itself as the `port' argument in the
3777 following scm_ptobfuns functions:
3779 int (*free) (SCM port);
3780 int (*fputc) (int, SCM port);
3781 int (*fputs) (char *, SCM port);
3782 scm_sizet (*fwrite) SCM_P ((char *ptr,
3786 int (*fflush) (SCM port);
3787 int (*fgetc) (SCM port);
3788 int (*fclose) (SCM port);
3790 The interfaces to the `mark', `print', `equalp', and `fgets' methods
3793 If you have existing code which defines its own port types, it is easy
3794 to convert your code to the new interface; simply apply SCM_STREAM to
3795 the port argument to yield the value you code used to expect.
3797 Note that since both the port and the stream have the same type in the
3798 C code --- they are both SCM values --- the C compiler will not remind
3799 you if you forget to update your scm_ptobfuns functions.
3802 ** Function: int scm_internal_select (int fds,
3806 struct timeval *timeout);
3808 This is a replacement for the `select' function provided by the OS.
3809 It enables I/O blocking and sleeping to happen for one cooperative
3810 thread without blocking other threads. It also avoids busy-loops in
3811 these situations. It is intended that all I/O blocking and sleeping
3812 will finally go through this function. Currently, this function is
3813 only available on systems providing `gettimeofday' and `select'.
3815 ** Function: SCM scm_internal_stack_catch (SCM tag,
3816 scm_catch_body_t body,
3818 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
3821 A new sibling to the other two C level `catch' functions
3822 scm_internal_catch and scm_internal_lazy_catch. Use it if you want
3823 the stack to be saved automatically into the variable `the-last-stack'
3824 (scm_the_last_stack_var) on error. This is necessary if you want to
3825 use advanced error reporting, such as calling scm_display_error and
3826 scm_display_backtrace. (They both take a stack object as argument.)
3828 ** Function: SCM scm_spawn_thread (scm_catch_body_t body,
3830 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
3833 Spawns a new thread. It does a job similar to
3834 scm_call_with_new_thread but takes arguments more suitable when
3835 spawning threads from application C code.
3837 ** The hook scm_error_callback has been removed. It was originally
3838 intended as a way for the user to install his own error handler. But
3839 that method works badly since it intervenes between throw and catch,
3840 thereby changing the semantics of expressions like (catch #t ...).
3841 The correct way to do it is to use one of the C level catch functions
3842 in throw.c: scm_internal_catch/lazy_catch/stack_catch.
3844 ** Removed functions:
3846 scm_obj_length, scm_list_length, scm_list_append, scm_list_append_x,
3847 scm_list_reverse, scm_list_reverse_x
3849 ** New macros: SCM_LISTn where n is one of the integers 0-9.
3851 These can be used for pretty list creation from C. The idea is taken
3852 from Erick Gallesio's STk.
3854 ** scm_array_map renamed to scm_array_map_x
3856 ** mbstrings are now removed
3858 This means that the type codes scm_tc7_mb_string and
3859 scm_tc7_mb_substring has been removed.
3861 ** scm_gen_putc, scm_gen_puts, scm_gen_write, and scm_gen_getc have changed.
3863 Since we no longer support multi-byte strings, these I/O functions
3864 have been simplified, and renamed. Here are their old names, and
3865 their new names and arguments:
3867 scm_gen_putc -> void scm_putc (int c, SCM port);
3868 scm_gen_puts -> void scm_puts (char *s, SCM port);
3869 scm_gen_write -> void scm_lfwrite (char *ptr, scm_sizet size, SCM port);
3870 scm_gen_getc -> void scm_getc (SCM port);
3873 ** The macros SCM_TYP7D and SCM_TYP7SD has been removed.
3875 ** The macro SCM_TYP7S has taken the role of the old SCM_TYP7D
3877 SCM_TYP7S now masks away the bit which distinguishes substrings from
3880 ** scm_catch_body_t: Backward incompatible change!
3882 Body functions to scm_internal_catch and friends do not any longer
3883 take a second argument. This is because it is no longer possible to
3884 pass a #f arg to catch.
3886 ** Calls to scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect now nest properly.
3888 The function scm_protect_object protects its argument from being freed
3889 by the garbage collector. scm_unprotect_object removes that
3892 These functions now nest properly. That is, for every object O, there
3893 is a counter which scm_protect_object(O) increments and
3894 scm_unprotect_object(O) decrements, if the counter is greater than
3895 zero. Every object's counter is zero when it is first created. If an
3896 object's counter is greater than zero, the garbage collector will not
3897 reclaim its storage.
3899 This allows you to use scm_protect_object in your code without
3900 worrying that some other function you call will call
3901 scm_unprotect_object, and allow it to be freed. Assuming that the
3902 functions you call are well-behaved, and unprotect only those objects
3903 they protect, you can follow the same rule and have confidence that
3904 objects will be freed only at appropriate times.
3907 Changes in Guile 1.2 (released Tuesday, June 24 1997):
3909 * Changes to the distribution
3911 ** Nightly snapshots are now available from ftp.red-bean.com.
3912 The old server, ftp.cyclic.com, has been relinquished to its rightful
3915 Nightly snapshots of the Guile development sources are now available via
3916 anonymous FTP from ftp.red-bean.com, as /pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz.
3918 Via the web, that's: ftp://ftp.red-bean.com/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
3919 For getit, that's: ftp.red-bean.com:/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
3921 ** To run Guile without installing it, the procedure has changed a bit.
3923 If you used a separate build directory to compile Guile, you'll need
3924 to include the build directory in SCHEME_LOAD_PATH, as well as the
3925 source directory. See the `INSTALL' file for examples.
3927 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
3929 ** The standard Guile load path for Scheme code now includes
3930 $(datadir)/guile (usually /usr/local/share/guile). This means that
3931 you can install your own Scheme files there, and Guile will find them.
3932 (Previous versions of Guile only checked a directory whose name
3933 contained the Guile version number, so you had to re-install or move
3934 your Scheme sources each time you installed a fresh version of Guile.)
3936 The load path also includes $(datadir)/guile/site; we recommend
3937 putting individual Scheme files there. If you want to install a
3938 package with multiple source files, create a directory for them under
3941 ** Guile 1.2 will now use the Rx regular expression library, if it is
3942 installed on your system. When you are linking libguile into your own
3943 programs, this means you will have to link against -lguile, -lqt (if
3944 you configured Guile with thread support), and -lrx.
3946 If you are using autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your
3947 application, the following lines should suffice to add the appropriate
3948 libraries to your link command:
3950 ### Find Rx, quickthreads and libguile.
3951 AC_CHECK_LIB(rx, main)
3952 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
3953 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
3955 The Guile 1.2 distribution does not contain sources for the Rx
3956 library, as Guile 1.0 did. If you want to use Rx, you'll need to
3957 retrieve it from a GNU FTP site and install it separately.
3959 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3961 ** The dynamic linking features of Guile are now enabled by default.
3962 You can disable them by giving the `--disable-dynamic-linking' option
3965 (dynamic-link FILENAME)
3967 Find the object file denoted by FILENAME (a string) and link it
3968 into the running Guile application. When everything works out,
3969 return a Scheme object suitable for representing the linked object
3970 file. Otherwise an error is thrown. How object files are
3971 searched is system dependent.
3973 (dynamic-object? VAL)
3975 Determine whether VAL represents a dynamically linked object file.
3977 (dynamic-unlink DYNOBJ)
3979 Unlink the indicated object file from the application. DYNOBJ
3980 should be one of the values returned by `dynamic-link'.
3982 (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
3984 Search the C function indicated by FUNCTION (a string or symbol)
3985 in DYNOBJ and return some Scheme object that can later be used
3986 with `dynamic-call' to actually call this function. Right now,
3987 these Scheme objects are formed by casting the address of the
3988 function to `long' and converting this number to its Scheme
3991 (dynamic-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
3993 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ. The
3994 function is passed no arguments and its return value is ignored.
3995 When FUNCTION is something returned by `dynamic-func', call that
3996 function and ignore DYNOBJ. When FUNCTION is a string (or symbol,
3997 etc.), look it up in DYNOBJ; this is equivalent to
3999 (dynamic-call (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ) #f)
4001 Interrupts are deferred while the C function is executing (with
4002 SCM_DEFER_INTS/SCM_ALLOW_INTS).
4004 (dynamic-args-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ ARGS)
4006 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ, but pass it
4007 some arguments and return its return value. The C function is
4008 expected to take two arguments and return an `int', just like
4011 int c_func (int argc, char **argv);
4013 ARGS must be a list of strings and is converted into an array of
4014 `char *'. The array is passed in ARGV and its size in ARGC. The
4015 return value is converted to a Scheme number and returned from the
4016 call to `dynamic-args-call'.
4018 When dynamic linking is disabled or not supported on your system,
4019 the above functions throw errors, but they are still available.
4021 Here is a small example that works on GNU/Linux:
4023 (define libc-obj (dynamic-link "libc.so"))
4024 (dynamic-args-call 'rand libc-obj '())
4026 See the file `libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING' for additional comments.
4028 ** The #/ syntax for module names is depreciated, and will be removed
4029 in a future version of Guile. Instead of
4037 The latter syntax is more consistent with existing Lisp practice.
4039 ** Guile now does fancier printing of structures. Structures are the
4040 underlying implementation for records, which in turn are used to
4041 implement modules, so all of these object now print differently and in
4042 a more informative way.
4044 The Scheme printer will examine the builtin variable *struct-printer*
4045 whenever it needs to print a structure object. When this variable is
4046 not `#f' it is deemed to be a procedure and will be applied to the
4047 structure object and the output port. When *struct-printer* is `#f'
4048 or the procedure return `#f' the structure object will be printed in
4049 the boring #<struct 80458270> form.
4051 This hook is used by some routines in ice-9/boot-9.scm to implement
4052 type specific printing routines. Please read the comments there about
4055 One of the more specific uses of structs are records. The printing
4056 procedure that could be passed to MAKE-RECORD-TYPE is now actually
4057 called. It should behave like a *struct-printer* procedure (described
4060 ** Guile now supports a new R4RS-compliant syntax for keywords. A
4061 token of the form #:NAME, where NAME has the same syntax as a Scheme
4062 symbol, is the external representation of the keyword named NAME.
4063 Keyword objects print using this syntax as well, so values containing
4064 keyword objects can be read back into Guile. When used in an
4065 expression, keywords are self-quoting objects.
4067 Guile suports this read syntax, and uses this print syntax, regardless
4068 of the current setting of the `keyword' read option. The `keyword'
4069 read option only controls whether Guile recognizes the `:NAME' syntax,
4070 which is incompatible with R4RS. (R4RS says such token represent
4073 ** Guile has regular expression support again. Guile 1.0 included
4074 functions for matching regular expressions, based on the Rx library.
4075 In Guile 1.1, the Guile/Rx interface was removed to simplify the
4076 distribution, and thus Guile had no regular expression support. Guile
4077 1.2 again supports the most commonly used functions, and supports all
4078 of SCSH's regular expression functions.
4080 If your system does not include a POSIX regular expression library,
4081 and you have not linked Guile with a third-party regexp library such as
4082 Rx, these functions will not be available. You can tell whether your
4083 Guile installation includes regular expression support by checking
4084 whether the `*features*' list includes the `regex' symbol.
4086 *** regexp functions
4088 By default, Guile supports POSIX extended regular expressions. That
4089 means that the characters `(', `)', `+' and `?' are special, and must
4090 be escaped if you wish to match the literal characters.
4092 This regular expression interface was modeled after that implemented
4093 by SCSH, the Scheme Shell. It is intended to be upwardly compatible
4094 with SCSH regular expressions.
4096 **** Function: string-match PATTERN STR [START]
4097 Compile the string PATTERN into a regular expression and compare
4098 it with STR. The optional numeric argument START specifies the
4099 position of STR at which to begin matching.
4101 `string-match' returns a "match structure" which describes what,
4102 if anything, was matched by the regular expression. *Note Match
4103 Structures::. If STR does not match PATTERN at all,
4104 `string-match' returns `#f'.
4106 Each time `string-match' is called, it must compile its PATTERN
4107 argument into a regular expression structure. This operation is
4108 expensive, which makes `string-match' inefficient if the same regular
4109 expression is used several times (for example, in a loop). For better
4110 performance, you can compile a regular expression in advance and then
4111 match strings against the compiled regexp.
4113 **** Function: make-regexp STR [FLAGS]
4114 Compile the regular expression described by STR, and return the
4115 compiled regexp structure. If STR does not describe a legal
4116 regular expression, `make-regexp' throws a
4117 `regular-expression-syntax' error.
4119 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
4121 **** Constant: regexp/extended
4122 Use POSIX Extended Regular Expression syntax when interpreting
4123 STR. If not set, POSIX Basic Regular Expression syntax is used.
4124 If the FLAGS argument is omitted, we assume regexp/extended.
4126 **** Constant: regexp/icase
4127 Do not differentiate case. Subsequent searches using the
4128 returned regular expression will be case insensitive.
4130 **** Constant: regexp/newline
4131 Match-any-character operators don't match a newline.
4133 A non-matching list ([^...]) not containing a newline matches a
4136 Match-beginning-of-line operator (^) matches the empty string
4137 immediately after a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
4138 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/notbol.
4140 Match-end-of-line operator ($) matches the empty string
4141 immediately before a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
4142 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/noteol.
4144 **** Function: regexp-exec REGEXP STR [START [FLAGS]]
4145 Match the compiled regular expression REGEXP against `str'. If
4146 the optional integer START argument is provided, begin matching
4147 from that position in the string. Return a match structure
4148 describing the results of the match, or `#f' if no match could be
4151 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
4153 **** Constant: regexp/notbol
4154 The match-beginning-of-line operator always fails to match (but
4155 see the compilation flag regexp/newline above) This flag may be
4156 used when different portions of a string are passed to
4157 regexp-exec and the beginning of the string should not be
4158 interpreted as the beginning of the line.
4160 **** Constant: regexp/noteol
4161 The match-end-of-line operator always fails to match (but see the
4162 compilation flag regexp/newline above)
4164 **** Function: regexp? OBJ
4165 Return `#t' if OBJ is a compiled regular expression, or `#f'
4168 Regular expressions are commonly used to find patterns in one string
4169 and replace them with the contents of another string.
4171 **** Function: regexp-substitute PORT MATCH [ITEM...]
4172 Write to the output port PORT selected contents of the match
4173 structure MATCH. Each ITEM specifies what should be written, and
4174 may be one of the following arguments:
4176 * A string. String arguments are written out verbatim.
4178 * An integer. The submatch with that number is written.
4180 * The symbol `pre'. The portion of the matched string preceding
4181 the regexp match is written.
4183 * The symbol `post'. The portion of the matched string
4184 following the regexp match is written.
4186 PORT may be `#f', in which case nothing is written; instead,
4187 `regexp-substitute' constructs a string from the specified ITEMs
4190 **** Function: regexp-substitute/global PORT REGEXP TARGET [ITEM...]
4191 Similar to `regexp-substitute', but can be used to perform global
4192 substitutions on STR. Instead of taking a match structure as an
4193 argument, `regexp-substitute/global' takes two string arguments: a
4194 REGEXP string describing a regular expression, and a TARGET string
4195 which should be matched against this regular expression.
4197 Each ITEM behaves as in REGEXP-SUBSTITUTE, with the following
4200 * A function may be supplied. When this function is called, it
4201 will be passed one argument: a match structure for a given
4202 regular expression match. It should return a string to be
4203 written out to PORT.
4205 * The `post' symbol causes `regexp-substitute/global' to recurse
4206 on the unmatched portion of STR. This *must* be supplied in
4207 order to perform global search-and-replace on STR; if it is
4208 not present among the ITEMs, then `regexp-substitute/global'
4209 will return after processing a single match.
4211 *** Match Structures
4213 A "match structure" is the object returned by `string-match' and
4214 `regexp-exec'. It describes which portion of a string, if any, matched
4215 the given regular expression. Match structures include: a reference to
4216 the string that was checked for matches; the starting and ending
4217 positions of the regexp match; and, if the regexp included any
4218 parenthesized subexpressions, the starting and ending positions of each
4221 In each of the regexp match functions described below, the `match'
4222 argument must be a match structure returned by a previous call to
4223 `string-match' or `regexp-exec'. Most of these functions return some
4224 information about the original target string that was matched against a
4225 regular expression; we will call that string TARGET for easy reference.
4227 **** Function: regexp-match? OBJ
4228 Return `#t' if OBJ is a match structure returned by a previous
4229 call to `regexp-exec', or `#f' otherwise.
4231 **** Function: match:substring MATCH [N]
4232 Return the portion of TARGET matched by subexpression number N.
4233 Submatch 0 (the default) represents the entire regexp match. If
4234 the regular expression as a whole matched, but the subexpression
4235 number N did not match, return `#f'.
4237 **** Function: match:start MATCH [N]
4238 Return the starting position of submatch number N.
4240 **** Function: match:end MATCH [N]
4241 Return the ending position of submatch number N.
4243 **** Function: match:prefix MATCH
4244 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET preceding the regexp match.
4246 **** Function: match:suffix MATCH
4247 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET following the regexp match.
4249 **** Function: match:count MATCH
4250 Return the number of parenthesized subexpressions from MATCH.
4251 Note that the entire regular expression match itself counts as a
4252 subexpression, and failed submatches are included in the count.
4254 **** Function: match:string MATCH
4255 Return the original TARGET string.
4257 *** Backslash Escapes
4259 Sometimes you will want a regexp to match characters like `*' or `$'
4260 exactly. For example, to check whether a particular string represents
4261 a menu entry from an Info node, it would be useful to match it against
4262 a regexp like `^* [^:]*::'. However, this won't work; because the
4263 asterisk is a metacharacter, it won't match the `*' at the beginning of
4264 the string. In this case, we want to make the first asterisk un-magic.
4266 You can do this by preceding the metacharacter with a backslash
4267 character `\'. (This is also called "quoting" the metacharacter, and
4268 is known as a "backslash escape".) When Guile sees a backslash in a
4269 regular expression, it considers the following glyph to be an ordinary
4270 character, no matter what special meaning it would ordinarily have.
4271 Therefore, we can make the above example work by changing the regexp to
4272 `^\* [^:]*::'. The `\*' sequence tells the regular expression engine
4273 to match only a single asterisk in the target string.
4275 Since the backslash is itself a metacharacter, you may force a
4276 regexp to match a backslash in the target string by preceding the
4277 backslash with itself. For example, to find variable references in a
4278 TeX program, you might want to find occurrences of the string `\let\'
4279 followed by any number of alphabetic characters. The regular expression
4280 `\\let\\[A-Za-z]*' would do this: the double backslashes in the regexp
4281 each match a single backslash in the target string.
4283 **** Function: regexp-quote STR
4284 Quote each special character found in STR with a backslash, and
4285 return the resulting string.
4287 *Very important:* Using backslash escapes in Guile source code (as
4288 in Emacs Lisp or C) can be tricky, because the backslash character has
4289 special meaning for the Guile reader. For example, if Guile encounters
4290 the character sequence `\n' in the middle of a string while processing
4291 Scheme code, it replaces those characters with a newline character.
4292 Similarly, the character sequence `\t' is replaced by a horizontal tab.
4293 Several of these "escape sequences" are processed by the Guile reader
4294 before your code is executed. Unrecognized escape sequences are
4295 ignored: if the characters `\*' appear in a string, they will be
4296 translated to the single character `*'.
4298 This translation is obviously undesirable for regular expressions,
4299 since we want to be able to include backslashes in a string in order to
4300 escape regexp metacharacters. Therefore, to make sure that a backslash
4301 is preserved in a string in your Guile program, you must use *two*
4302 consecutive backslashes:
4304 (define Info-menu-entry-pattern (make-regexp "^\\* [^:]*"))
4306 The string in this example is preprocessed by the Guile reader before
4307 any code is executed. The resulting argument to `make-regexp' is the
4308 string `^\* [^:]*', which is what we really want.
4310 This also means that in order to write a regular expression that
4311 matches a single backslash character, the regular expression string in
4312 the source code must include *four* backslashes. Each consecutive pair
4313 of backslashes gets translated by the Guile reader to a single
4314 backslash, and the resulting double-backslash is interpreted by the
4315 regexp engine as matching a single backslash character. Hence:
4317 (define tex-variable-pattern (make-regexp "\\\\let\\\\=[A-Za-z]*"))
4319 The reason for the unwieldiness of this syntax is historical. Both
4320 regular expression pattern matchers and Unix string processing systems
4321 have traditionally used backslashes with the special meanings described
4322 above. The POSIX regular expression specification and ANSI C standard
4323 both require these semantics. Attempting to abandon either convention
4324 would cause other kinds of compatibility problems, possibly more severe
4325 ones. Therefore, without extending the Scheme reader to support
4326 strings with different quoting conventions (an ungainly and confusing
4327 extension when implemented in other languages), we must adhere to this
4328 cumbersome escape syntax.
4330 * Changes to the gh_ interface
4332 * Changes to the scm_ interface
4334 * Changes to system call interfaces:
4336 ** The value returned by `raise' is now unspecified. It throws an exception
4339 *** A new procedure `sigaction' can be used to install signal handlers
4341 (sigaction signum [action] [flags])
4343 signum is the signal number, which can be specified using the value
4346 If action is omitted, sigaction returns a pair: the CAR is the current
4347 signal hander, which will be either an integer with the value SIG_DFL
4348 (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or the Scheme procedure which
4349 handles the signal, or #f if a non-Scheme procedure handles the
4350 signal. The CDR contains the current sigaction flags for the handler.
4352 If action is provided, it is installed as the new handler for signum.
4353 action can be a Scheme procedure taking one argument, or the value of
4354 SIG_DFL (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or #f to restore
4355 whatever signal handler was installed before sigaction was first used.
4356 Flags can optionally be specified for the new handler (SA_RESTART is
4357 always used if the system provides it, so need not be specified.) The
4358 return value is a pair with information about the old handler as
4361 This interface does not provide access to the "signal blocking"
4362 facility. Maybe this is not needed, since the thread support may
4363 provide solutions to the problem of consistent access to data
4366 *** A new procedure `flush-all-ports' is equivalent to running
4367 `force-output' on every port open for output.
4369 ** Guile now provides information on how it was built, via the new
4370 global variable, %guile-build-info. This variable records the values
4371 of the standard GNU makefile directory variables as an assocation
4372 list, mapping variable names (symbols) onto directory paths (strings).
4373 For example, to find out where the Guile link libraries were
4374 installed, you can say:
4376 guile -c "(display (assq-ref %guile-build-info 'libdir)) (newline)"
4379 * Changes to the scm_ interface
4381 ** The new function scm_handle_by_message_noexit is just like the
4382 existing scm_handle_by_message function, except that it doesn't call
4383 exit to terminate the process. Instead, it prints a message and just
4384 returns #f. This might be a more appropriate catch-all handler for
4385 new dynamic roots and threads.
4388 Changes in Guile 1.1 (released Friday, May 16 1997):
4390 * Changes to the distribution.
4392 The Guile 1.0 distribution has been split up into several smaller
4394 guile-core --- the Guile interpreter itself.
4395 guile-tcltk --- the interface between the Guile interpreter and
4396 Tcl/Tk; Tcl is an interpreter for a stringy language, and Tk
4397 is a toolkit for building graphical user interfaces.
4398 guile-rgx-ctax --- the interface between Guile and the Rx regular
4399 expression matcher, and the translator for the Ctax
4400 programming language. These are packaged together because the
4401 Ctax translator uses Rx to parse Ctax source code.
4403 This NEWS file describes the changes made to guile-core since the 1.0
4406 We no longer distribute the documentation, since it was either out of
4407 date, or incomplete. As soon as we have current documentation, we
4412 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
4414 ** guile now accepts command-line arguments compatible with SCSH, Olin
4415 Shivers' Scheme Shell.
4417 In general, arguments are evaluated from left to right, but there are
4418 exceptions. The following switches stop argument processing, and
4419 stash all remaining command-line arguments as the value returned by
4420 the (command-line) function.
4421 -s SCRIPT load Scheme source code from FILE, and exit
4422 -c EXPR evalute Scheme expression EXPR, and exit
4423 -- stop scanning arguments; run interactively
4425 The switches below are processed as they are encountered.
4426 -l FILE load Scheme source code from FILE
4427 -e FUNCTION after reading script, apply FUNCTION to
4428 command line arguments
4429 -ds do -s script at this point
4430 --emacs enable Emacs protocol (experimental)
4431 -h, --help display this help and exit
4432 -v, --version display version information and exit
4433 \ read arguments from following script lines
4435 So, for example, here is a Guile script named `ekko' (thanks, Olin)
4436 which re-implements the traditional "echo" command:
4438 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
4441 (map (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
4445 (main (command-line))
4447 Suppose we invoke this script as follows:
4449 ekko a speckled gecko
4451 Through the magic of Unix script processing (triggered by the `#!'
4452 token at the top of the file), /usr/local/bin/guile receives the
4453 following list of command-line arguments:
4455 ("-s" "./ekko" "a" "speckled" "gecko")
4457 Unix inserts the name of the script after the argument specified on
4458 the first line of the file (in this case, "-s"), and then follows that
4459 with the arguments given to the script. Guile loads the script, which
4460 defines the `main' function, and then applies it to the list of
4461 remaining command-line arguments, ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
4463 In Unix, the first line of a script file must take the following form:
4465 #!INTERPRETER ARGUMENT
4467 where INTERPRETER is the absolute filename of the interpreter
4468 executable, and ARGUMENT is a single command-line argument to pass to
4471 You may only pass one argument to the interpreter, and its length is
4472 limited. These restrictions can be annoying to work around, so Guile
4473 provides a general mechanism (borrowed from, and compatible with,
4474 SCSH) for circumventing them.
4476 If the ARGUMENT in a Guile script is a single backslash character,
4477 `\', Guile will open the script file, parse arguments from its second
4478 and subsequent lines, and replace the `\' with them. So, for example,
4479 here is another implementation of the `ekko' script:
4481 #!/usr/local/bin/guile \
4485 (for-each (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
4489 If the user invokes this script as follows:
4491 ekko a speckled gecko
4493 Unix expands this into
4495 /usr/local/bin/guile \ ekko a speckled gecko
4497 When Guile sees the `\' argument, it replaces it with the arguments
4498 read from the second line of the script, producing:
4500 /usr/local/bin/guile -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
4502 This tells Guile to load the `ekko' script, and apply the function
4503 `main' to the argument list ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
4505 Here is how Guile parses the command-line arguments:
4506 - Each space character terminates an argument. This means that two
4507 spaces in a row introduce an empty-string argument.
4508 - The tab character is not permitted (unless you quote it with the
4509 backslash character, as described below), to avoid confusion.
4510 - The newline character terminates the sequence of arguments, and will
4511 also terminate a final non-empty argument. (However, a newline
4512 following a space will not introduce a final empty-string argument;
4513 it only terminates the argument list.)
4514 - The backslash character is the escape character. It escapes
4515 backslash, space, tab, and newline. The ANSI C escape sequences
4516 like \n and \t are also supported. These produce argument
4517 constituents; the two-character combination \n doesn't act like a
4518 terminating newline. The escape sequence \NNN for exactly three
4519 octal digits reads as the character whose ASCII code is NNN. As
4520 above, characters produced this way are argument constituents.
4521 Backslash followed by other characters is not allowed.
4523 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
4525 ** Guile now builds and installs a shared guile library, if your
4526 system support shared libraries. (It still builds a static library on
4527 all systems.) Guile automatically detects whether your system
4528 supports shared libraries. To prevent Guile from buildisg shared
4529 libraries, pass the `--disable-shared' flag to the configure script.
4531 Guile takes longer to compile when it builds shared libraries, because
4532 it must compile every file twice --- once to produce position-
4533 independent object code, and once to produce normal object code.
4535 ** The libthreads library has been merged into libguile.
4537 To link a program against Guile, you now need only link against
4538 -lguile and -lqt; -lthreads is no longer needed. If you are using
4539 autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your application, the
4540 following lines should suffice to add the appropriate libraries to
4543 ### Find quickthreads and libguile.
4544 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
4545 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
4547 * Changes to Scheme functions
4549 ** Guile Scheme's special syntax for keyword objects is now optional,
4550 and disabled by default.
4552 The syntax variation from R4RS made it difficult to port some
4553 interesting packages to Guile. The routines which accepted keyword
4554 arguments (mostly in the module system) have been modified to also
4555 accept symbols whose names begin with `:'.
4557 To change the keyword syntax, you must first import the (ice-9 debug)
4559 (use-modules (ice-9 debug))
4561 Then you can enable the keyword syntax as follows:
4562 (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
4564 To disable keyword syntax, do this:
4565 (read-set! keywords #f)
4567 ** Many more primitive functions accept shared substrings as
4568 arguments. In the past, these functions required normal, mutable
4569 strings as arguments, although they never made use of this
4572 ** The uniform array functions now operate on byte vectors. These
4573 functions are `array-fill!', `serial-array-copy!', `array-copy!',
4574 `serial-array-map', `array-map', `array-for-each', and
4577 ** The new functions `trace' and `untrace' implement simple debugging
4578 support for Scheme functions.
4580 The `trace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
4581 and tells the Guile interpreter to display each procedure's name and
4582 arguments each time the procedure is invoked. When invoked with no
4583 arguments, `trace' returns the list of procedures currently being
4586 The `untrace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
4587 and tells the Guile interpreter not to trace them any more. When
4588 invoked with no arguments, `untrace' untraces all curretly traced
4591 The tracing in Guile has an advantage over most other systems: we
4592 don't create new procedure objects, but mark the procedure objects
4593 themselves. This means that anonymous and internal procedures can be
4596 ** The function `assert-repl-prompt' has been renamed to
4597 `set-repl-prompt!'. It takes one argument, PROMPT.
4598 - If PROMPT is #f, the Guile read-eval-print loop will not prompt.
4599 - If PROMPT is a string, we use it as a prompt.
4600 - If PROMPT is a procedure accepting no arguments, we call it, and
4601 display the result as a prompt.
4602 - Otherwise, we display "> ".
4604 ** The new function `eval-string' reads Scheme expressions from a
4605 string and evaluates them, returning the value of the last expression
4606 in the string. If the string contains no expressions, it returns an
4609 ** The new function `thunk?' returns true iff its argument is a
4610 procedure of zero arguments.
4612 ** `defined?' is now a builtin function, instead of syntax. This
4613 means that its argument should be quoted. It returns #t iff its
4614 argument is bound in the current module.
4616 ** The new syntax `use-modules' allows you to add new modules to your
4617 environment without re-typing a complete `define-module' form. It
4618 accepts any number of module names as arguments, and imports their
4619 public bindings into the current module.
4621 ** The new function (module-defined? NAME MODULE) returns true iff
4622 NAME, a symbol, is defined in MODULE, a module object.
4624 ** The new function `builtin-bindings' creates and returns a hash
4625 table containing copies of all the root module's bindings.
4627 ** The new function `builtin-weak-bindings' does the same as
4628 `builtin-bindings', but creates a doubly-weak hash table.
4630 ** The `equal?' function now considers variable objects to be
4631 equivalent if they have the same name and the same value.
4633 ** The new function `command-line' returns the command-line arguments
4634 given to Guile, as a list of strings.
4636 When using guile as a script interpreter, `command-line' returns the
4637 script's arguments; those processed by the interpreter (like `-s' or
4638 `-c') are omitted. (In other words, you get the normal, expected
4639 behavior.) Any application that uses scm_shell to process its
4640 command-line arguments gets this behavior as well.
4642 ** The new function `load-user-init' looks for a file called `.guile'
4643 in the user's home directory, and loads it if it exists. This is
4644 mostly for use by the code generated by scm_compile_shell_switches,
4645 but we thought it might also be useful in other circumstances.
4647 ** The new function `log10' returns the base-10 logarithm of its
4650 ** Changes to I/O functions
4652 *** The functions `read', `primitive-load', `read-and-eval!', and
4653 `primitive-load-path' no longer take optional arguments controlling
4654 case insensitivity and a `#' parser.
4656 Case sensitivity is now controlled by a read option called
4657 `case-insensitive'. The user can add new `#' syntaxes with the
4658 `read-hash-extend' function (see below).
4660 *** The new function `read-hash-extend' allows the user to change the
4661 syntax of Guile Scheme in a somewhat controlled way.
4663 (read-hash-extend CHAR PROC)
4664 When parsing S-expressions, if we read a `#' character followed by
4665 the character CHAR, use PROC to parse an object from the stream.
4666 If PROC is #f, remove any parsing procedure registered for CHAR.
4668 The reader applies PROC to two arguments: CHAR and an input port.
4670 *** The new functions read-delimited and read-delimited! provide a
4671 general mechanism for doing delimited input on streams.
4673 (read-delimited DELIMS [PORT HANDLE-DELIM])
4674 Read until we encounter one of the characters in DELIMS (a string),
4675 or end-of-file. PORT is the input port to read from; it defaults to
4676 the current input port. The HANDLE-DELIM parameter determines how
4677 the terminating character is handled; it should be one of the
4680 'trim omit delimiter from result
4681 'peek leave delimiter character in input stream
4682 'concat append delimiter character to returned value
4683 'split return a pair: (RESULT . TERMINATOR)
4685 HANDLE-DELIM defaults to 'peek.
4687 (read-delimited! DELIMS BUF [PORT HANDLE-DELIM START END])
4688 A side-effecting variant of `read-delimited'.
4690 The data is written into the string BUF at the indices in the
4691 half-open interval [START, END); the default interval is the whole
4692 string: START = 0 and END = (string-length BUF). The values of
4693 START and END must specify a well-defined interval in BUF, i.e.
4694 0 <= START <= END <= (string-length BUF).
4696 It returns NBYTES, the number of bytes read. If the buffer filled
4697 up without a delimiter character being found, it returns #f. If the
4698 port is at EOF when the read starts, it returns the EOF object.
4700 If an integer is returned (i.e., the read is successfully terminated
4701 by reading a delimiter character), then the HANDLE-DELIM parameter
4702 determines how to handle the terminating character. It is described
4703 above, and defaults to 'peek.
4705 (The descriptions of these functions were borrowed from the SCSH
4706 manual, by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
4708 *** The `%read-delimited!' function is the primitive used to implement
4709 `read-delimited' and `read-delimited!'.
4711 (%read-delimited! DELIMS BUF GOBBLE? [PORT START END])
4713 This returns a pair of values: (TERMINATOR . NUM-READ).
4714 - TERMINATOR describes why the read was terminated. If it is a
4715 character or the eof object, then that is the value that terminated
4716 the read. If it is #f, the function filled the buffer without finding
4717 a delimiting character.
4718 - NUM-READ is the number of characters read into BUF.
4720 If the read is successfully terminated by reading a delimiter
4721 character, then the gobble? parameter determines what to do with the
4722 terminating character. If true, the character is removed from the
4723 input stream; if false, the character is left in the input stream
4724 where a subsequent read operation will retrieve it. In either case,
4725 the character is also the first value returned by the procedure call.
4727 (The descriptions of this function was borrowed from the SCSH manual,
4728 by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
4730 *** The `read-line' and `read-line!' functions have changed; they now
4731 trim the terminator by default; previously they appended it to the
4732 returned string. For the old behavior, use (read-line PORT 'concat).
4734 *** The functions `uniform-array-read!' and `uniform-array-write!' now
4735 take new optional START and END arguments, specifying the region of
4736 the array to read and write.
4738 *** The `ungetc-char-ready?' function has been removed. We feel it's
4739 inappropriate for an interface to expose implementation details this
4742 ** Changes to the Unix library and system call interface
4744 *** The new fcntl function provides access to the Unix `fcntl' system
4747 (fcntl PORT COMMAND VALUE)
4748 Apply COMMAND to PORT's file descriptor, with VALUE as an argument.
4749 Values for COMMAND are:
4751 F_DUPFD duplicate a file descriptor
4752 F_GETFD read the descriptor's close-on-exec flag
4753 F_SETFD set the descriptor's close-on-exec flag to VALUE
4754 F_GETFL read the descriptor's flags, as set on open
4755 F_SETFL set the descriptor's flags, as set on open to VALUE
4756 F_GETOWN return the process ID of a socket's owner, for SIGIO
4757 F_SETOWN set the process that owns a socket to VALUE, for SIGIO
4758 FD_CLOEXEC not sure what this is
4760 For details, see the documentation for the fcntl system call.
4762 *** The arguments to `select' have changed, for compatibility with
4763 SCSH. The TIMEOUT parameter may now be non-integral, yielding the
4764 expected behavior. The MILLISECONDS parameter has been changed to
4765 MICROSECONDS, to more closely resemble the underlying system call.
4766 The RVEC, WVEC, and EVEC arguments can now be vectors; the type of the
4767 corresponding return set will be the same.
4769 *** The arguments to the `mknod' system call have changed. They are
4772 (mknod PATH TYPE PERMS DEV)
4773 Create a new file (`node') in the file system. PATH is the name of
4774 the file to create. TYPE is the kind of file to create; it should
4775 be 'fifo, 'block-special, or 'char-special. PERMS specifies the
4776 permission bits to give the newly created file. If TYPE is
4777 'block-special or 'char-special, DEV specifies which device the
4778 special file refers to; its interpretation depends on the kind of
4779 special file being created.
4781 *** The `fork' function has been renamed to `primitive-fork', to avoid
4782 clashing with various SCSH forks.
4784 *** The `recv' and `recvfrom' functions have been renamed to `recv!'
4785 and `recvfrom!'. They no longer accept a size for a second argument;
4786 you must pass a string to hold the received value. They no longer
4787 return the buffer. Instead, `recv' returns the length of the message
4788 received, and `recvfrom' returns a pair containing the packet's length
4789 and originating address.
4791 *** The file descriptor datatype has been removed, as have the
4792 `read-fd', `write-fd', `close', `lseek', and `dup' functions.
4793 We plan to replace these functions with a SCSH-compatible interface.
4795 *** The `create' function has been removed; it's just a special case
4798 *** There are new functions to break down process termination status
4799 values. In the descriptions below, STATUS is a value returned by
4802 (status:exit-val STATUS)
4803 If the child process exited normally, this function returns the exit
4804 code for the child process (i.e., the value passed to exit, or
4805 returned from main). If the child process did not exit normally,
4806 this function returns #f.
4808 (status:stop-sig STATUS)
4809 If the child process was suspended by a signal, this function
4810 returns the signal that suspended the child. Otherwise, it returns
4813 (status:term-sig STATUS)
4814 If the child process terminated abnormally, this function returns
4815 the signal that terminated the child. Otherwise, this function
4818 POSIX promises that exactly one of these functions will return true on
4819 a valid STATUS value.
4821 These functions are compatible with SCSH.
4823 *** There are new accessors and setters for the broken-out time vectors
4824 returned by `localtime', `gmtime', and that ilk. They are:
4826 Component Accessor Setter
4827 ========================= ============ ============
4828 seconds tm:sec set-tm:sec
4829 minutes tm:min set-tm:min
4830 hours tm:hour set-tm:hour
4831 day of the month tm:mday set-tm:mday
4832 month tm:mon set-tm:mon
4833 year tm:year set-tm:year
4834 day of the week tm:wday set-tm:wday
4835 day in the year tm:yday set-tm:yday
4836 daylight saving time tm:isdst set-tm:isdst
4837 GMT offset, seconds tm:gmtoff set-tm:gmtoff
4838 name of time zone tm:zone set-tm:zone
4840 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `uname',
4841 describing the host system:
4844 ============================================== ================
4845 name of the operating system implementation utsname:sysname
4846 network name of this machine utsname:nodename
4847 release level of the operating system utsname:release
4848 version level of the operating system utsname:version
4849 machine hardware platform utsname:machine
4851 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getpw',
4852 `getpwnam', `getpwuid', and `getpwent', describing entries from the
4853 system's user database:
4856 ====================== =================
4857 user name passwd:name
4858 user password passwd:passwd
4861 real name passwd:gecos
4862 home directory passwd:dir
4863 shell program passwd:shell
4865 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getgr',
4866 `getgrnam', `getgrgid', and `getgrent', describing entries from the
4867 system's group database:
4870 ======================= ============
4871 group name group:name
4872 group password group:passwd
4874 group members group:mem
4876 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `gethost',
4877 `gethostbyaddr', `gethostbyname', and `gethostent', describing
4881 ========================= ===============
4882 official name of host hostent:name
4883 alias list hostent:aliases
4884 host address type hostent:addrtype
4885 length of address hostent:length
4886 list of addresses hostent:addr-list
4888 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getnet',
4889 `getnetbyaddr', `getnetbyname', and `getnetent', describing internet
4893 ========================= ===============
4894 official name of net netent:name
4895 alias list netent:aliases
4896 net number type netent:addrtype
4897 net number netent:net
4899 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getproto',
4900 `getprotobyname', `getprotobynumber', and `getprotoent', describing
4904 ========================= ===============
4905 official protocol name protoent:name
4906 alias list protoent:aliases
4907 protocol number protoent:proto
4909 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getserv',
4910 `getservbyname', `getservbyport', and `getservent', describing
4914 ========================= ===============
4915 official service name servent:name
4916 alias list servent:aliases
4917 port number servent:port
4918 protocol to use servent:proto
4920 *** There are new accessors for the sockaddr structures returned by
4921 `accept', `getsockname', `getpeername', `recvfrom!':
4924 ======================================== ===============
4925 address format (`family') sockaddr:fam
4926 path, for file domain addresses sockaddr:path
4927 address, for internet domain addresses sockaddr:addr
4928 TCP or UDP port, for internet sockaddr:port
4930 *** The `getpwent', `getgrent', `gethostent', `getnetent',
4931 `getprotoent', and `getservent' functions now return #f at the end of
4932 the user database. (They used to throw an exception.)
4934 Note that calling MUMBLEent function is equivalent to calling the
4935 corresponding MUMBLE function with no arguments.
4937 *** The `setpwent', `setgrent', `sethostent', `setnetent',
4938 `setprotoent', and `setservent' routines now take no arguments.
4940 *** The `gethost', `getproto', `getnet', and `getserv' functions now
4941 provide more useful information when they throw an exception.
4943 *** The `lnaof' function has been renamed to `inet-lnaof'.
4945 *** Guile now claims to have the `current-time' feature.
4947 *** The `mktime' function now takes an optional second argument ZONE,
4948 giving the time zone to use for the conversion. ZONE should be a
4949 string, in the same format as expected for the "TZ" environment variable.
4951 *** The `strptime' function now returns a pair (TIME . COUNT), where
4952 TIME is the parsed time as a vector, and COUNT is the number of
4953 characters from the string left unparsed. This function used to
4954 return the remaining characters as a string.
4956 *** The `gettimeofday' function has replaced the old `time+ticks' function.
4957 The return value is now (SECONDS . MICROSECONDS); the fractional
4958 component is no longer expressed in "ticks".
4960 *** The `ticks/sec' constant has been removed, in light of the above change.
4962 * Changes to the gh_ interface
4964 ** gh_eval_str() now returns an SCM object which is the result of the
4967 ** gh_scm2str() now copies the Scheme data to a caller-provided C
4970 ** gh_scm2newstr() now makes a C array, copies the Scheme data to it,
4971 and returns the array
4973 ** gh_scm2str0() is gone: there is no need to distinguish
4974 null-terminated from non-null-terminated, since gh_scm2newstr() allows
4975 the user to interpret the data both ways.
4977 * Changes to the scm_ interface
4979 ** The new function scm_symbol_value0 provides an easy way to get a
4980 symbol's value from C code:
4982 SCM scm_symbol_value0 (char *NAME)
4983 Return the value of the symbol named by the null-terminated string
4984 NAME in the current module. If the symbol named NAME is unbound in
4985 the current module, return SCM_UNDEFINED.
4987 ** The new function scm_sysintern0 creates new top-level variables,
4988 without assigning them a value.
4990 SCM scm_sysintern0 (char *NAME)
4991 Create a new Scheme top-level variable named NAME. NAME is a
4992 null-terminated string. Return the variable's value cell.
4994 ** The function scm_internal_catch is the guts of catch. It handles
4995 all the mechanics of setting up a catch target, invoking the catch
4996 body, and perhaps invoking the handler if the body does a throw.
4998 The function is designed to be usable from C code, but is general
4999 enough to implement all the semantics Guile Scheme expects from throw.
5001 TAG is the catch tag. Typically, this is a symbol, but this function
5002 doesn't actually care about that.
5004 BODY is a pointer to a C function which runs the body of the catch;
5005 this is the code you can throw from. We call it like this:
5006 BODY (BODY_DATA, JMPBUF)
5008 BODY_DATA is just the BODY_DATA argument we received; we pass it
5009 through to BODY as its first argument. The caller can make
5010 BODY_DATA point to anything useful that BODY might need.
5011 JMPBUF is the Scheme jmpbuf object corresponding to this catch,
5012 which we have just created and initialized.
5014 HANDLER is a pointer to a C function to deal with a throw to TAG,
5015 should one occur. We call it like this:
5016 HANDLER (HANDLER_DATA, THROWN_TAG, THROW_ARGS)
5018 HANDLER_DATA is the HANDLER_DATA argument we recevied; it's the
5019 same idea as BODY_DATA above.
5020 THROWN_TAG is the tag that the user threw to; usually this is
5021 TAG, but it could be something else if TAG was #t (i.e., a
5022 catch-all), or the user threw to a jmpbuf.
5023 THROW_ARGS is the list of arguments the user passed to the THROW
5026 BODY_DATA is just a pointer we pass through to BODY. HANDLER_DATA
5027 is just a pointer we pass through to HANDLER. We don't actually
5028 use either of those pointers otherwise ourselves. The idea is
5029 that, if our caller wants to communicate something to BODY or
5030 HANDLER, it can pass a pointer to it as MUMBLE_DATA, which BODY and
5031 HANDLER can then use. Think of it as a way to make BODY and
5032 HANDLER closures, not just functions; MUMBLE_DATA points to the
5035 Of course, it's up to the caller to make sure that any data a
5036 MUMBLE_DATA needs is protected from GC. A common way to do this is
5037 to make MUMBLE_DATA a pointer to data stored in an automatic
5038 structure variable; since the collector must scan the stack for
5039 references anyway, this assures that any references in MUMBLE_DATA
5042 ** The new function scm_internal_lazy_catch is exactly like
5043 scm_internal_catch, except:
5045 - It does not unwind the stack (this is the major difference).
5046 - If handler returns, its value is returned from the throw.
5047 - BODY always receives #f as its JMPBUF argument (since there's no
5048 jmpbuf associated with a lazy catch, because we don't unwind the
5051 ** scm_body_thunk is a new body function you can pass to
5052 scm_internal_catch if you want the body to be like Scheme's `catch'
5053 --- a thunk, or a function of one argument if the tag is #f.
5055 BODY_DATA is a pointer to a scm_body_thunk_data structure, which
5056 contains the Scheme procedure to invoke as the body, and the tag
5057 we're catching. If the tag is #f, then we pass JMPBUF (created by
5058 scm_internal_catch) to the body procedure; otherwise, the body gets
5061 ** scm_handle_by_proc is a new handler function you can pass to
5062 scm_internal_catch if you want the handler to act like Scheme's catch
5063 --- call a procedure with the tag and the throw arguments.
5065 If the user does a throw to this catch, this function runs a handler
5066 procedure written in Scheme. HANDLER_DATA is a pointer to an SCM
5067 variable holding the Scheme procedure object to invoke. It ought to
5068 be a pointer to an automatic variable (i.e., one living on the stack),
5069 or the procedure object should be otherwise protected from GC.
5071 ** scm_handle_by_message is a new handler function to use with
5072 `scm_internal_catch' if you want Guile to print a message and die.
5073 It's useful for dealing with throws to uncaught keys at the top level.
5075 HANDLER_DATA, if non-zero, is assumed to be a char * pointing to a
5076 message header to print; if zero, we use "guile" instead. That
5077 text is followed by a colon, then the message described by ARGS.
5079 ** The return type of scm_boot_guile is now void; the function does
5080 not return a value, and indeed, never returns at all.
5082 ** The new function scm_shell makes it easy for user applications to
5083 process command-line arguments in a way that is compatible with the
5084 stand-alone guile interpreter (which is in turn compatible with SCSH,
5087 To use the scm_shell function, first initialize any guile modules
5088 linked into your application, and then call scm_shell with the values
5089 of ARGC and ARGV your `main' function received. scm_shell will add
5090 any SCSH-style meta-arguments from the top of the script file to the
5091 argument vector, and then process the command-line arguments. This
5092 generally means loading a script file or starting up an interactive
5093 command interpreter. For details, see "Changes to the stand-alone
5096 ** The new functions scm_get_meta_args and scm_count_argv help you
5097 implement the SCSH-style meta-argument, `\'.
5099 char **scm_get_meta_args (int ARGC, char **ARGV)
5100 If the second element of ARGV is a string consisting of a single
5101 backslash character (i.e. "\\" in Scheme notation), open the file
5102 named by the following argument, parse arguments from it, and return
5103 the spliced command line. The returned array is terminated by a
5106 For details of argument parsing, see above, under "guile now accepts
5107 command-line arguments compatible with SCSH..."
5109 int scm_count_argv (char **ARGV)
5110 Count the arguments in ARGV, assuming it is terminated by a null
5113 For an example of how these functions might be used, see the source
5114 code for the function scm_shell in libguile/script.c.
5116 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
5119 ** The new function scm_compile_shell_switches turns an array of
5120 command-line arguments into Scheme code to carry out the actions they
5121 describe. Given ARGC and ARGV, it returns a Scheme expression to
5122 evaluate, and calls scm_set_program_arguments to make any remaining
5123 command-line arguments available to the Scheme code. For example,
5124 given the following arguments:
5126 -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
5128 scm_set_program_arguments will return the following expression:
5130 (begin (load "ekko") (main (command-line)) (quit))
5132 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
5135 ** The function scm_shell_usage prints a usage message appropriate for
5136 an interpreter that uses scm_compile_shell_switches to handle its
5137 command-line arguments.
5139 void scm_shell_usage (int FATAL, char *MESSAGE)
5140 Print a usage message to the standard error output. If MESSAGE is
5141 non-zero, write it before the usage message, followed by a newline.
5142 If FATAL is non-zero, exit the process, using FATAL as the
5143 termination status. (If you want to be compatible with Guile,
5144 always use 1 as the exit status when terminating due to command-line
5147 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
5150 ** scm_eval_0str now returns SCM_UNSPECIFIED if the string contains no
5151 expressions. It used to return SCM_EOL. Earth-shattering.
5153 ** The macros for declaring scheme objects in C code have been
5154 rearranged slightly. They are now:
5156 SCM_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
5157 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
5158 point to the Scheme symbol whose name is SCHEME_NAME. C_NAME should
5159 be a C identifier, and SCHEME_NAME should be a C string.
5161 SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
5162 Just like SCM_SYMBOL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
5164 SCM_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
5165 Create a global variable at the Scheme level named SCHEME_NAME.
5166 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
5167 point to the Scheme variable's value cell.
5169 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
5170 Just like SCM_VCELL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
5172 The `guile-snarf' script writes initialization code for these macros
5173 to its standard output, given C source code as input.
5175 The SCM_GLOBAL macro is gone.
5177 ** The scm_read_line and scm_read_line_x functions have been replaced
5178 by Scheme code based on the %read-delimited! procedure (known to C
5179 code as scm_read_delimited_x). See its description above for more
5182 ** The function scm_sys_open has been renamed to scm_open. It now
5183 returns a port instead of an FD object.
5185 * The dynamic linking support has changed. For more information, see
5186 libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING.
5191 User-visible changes from Thursday, September 5, 1996 until Guile 1.0
5194 * Changes to the 'guile' program:
5196 ** Guile now loads some new files when it starts up. Guile first
5197 searches the load path for init.scm, and loads it if found. Then, if
5198 Guile is not being used to execute a script, and the user's home
5199 directory contains a file named `.guile', Guile loads that.
5201 ** You can now use Guile as a shell script interpreter.
5203 To paraphrase the SCSH manual:
5205 When Unix tries to execute an executable file whose first two
5206 characters are the `#!', it treats the file not as machine code to
5207 be directly executed by the native processor, but as source code
5208 to be executed by some interpreter. The interpreter to use is
5209 specified immediately after the #! sequence on the first line of
5210 the source file. The kernel reads in the name of the interpreter,
5211 and executes that instead. It passes the interpreter the source
5212 filename as its first argument, with the original arguments
5213 following. Consult the Unix man page for the `exec' system call
5214 for more information.
5216 Now you can use Guile as an interpreter, using a mechanism which is a
5217 compatible subset of that provided by SCSH.
5219 Guile now recognizes a '-s' command line switch, whose argument is the
5220 name of a file of Scheme code to load. It also treats the two
5221 characters `#!' as the start of a comment, terminated by `!#'. Thus,
5222 to make a file of Scheme code directly executable by Unix, insert the
5223 following two lines at the top of the file:
5225 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
5228 Guile treats the argument of the `-s' command-line switch as the name
5229 of a file of Scheme code to load, and treats the sequence `#!' as the
5230 start of a block comment, terminated by `!#'.
5232 For example, here's a version of 'echo' written in Scheme:
5234 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
5236 (let loop ((args (cdr (program-arguments))))
5239 (display (car args))
5240 (if (pair? (cdr args))
5242 (loop (cdr args)))))
5245 Why does `#!' start a block comment terminated by `!#', instead of the
5246 end of the line? That is the notation SCSH uses, and although we
5247 don't yet support the other SCSH features that motivate that choice,
5248 we would like to be backward-compatible with any existing Guile
5249 scripts once we do. Furthermore, if the path to Guile on your system
5250 is too long for your kernel, you can start the script with this
5254 exec /really/long/path/to/guile -s "$0" ${1+"$@"}
5257 Note that some very old Unix systems don't support the `#!' syntax.
5260 ** You can now run Guile without installing it.
5262 Previous versions of the interactive Guile interpreter (`guile')
5263 couldn't start up unless Guile's Scheme library had been installed;
5264 they used the value of the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH'
5265 later on in the startup process, but not to find the startup code
5266 itself. Now Guile uses `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' in all searches for Scheme
5269 To run Guile without installing it, build it in the normal way, and
5270 then set the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' to a
5271 colon-separated list of directories, including the top-level directory
5272 of the Guile sources. For example, if you unpacked Guile so that the
5273 full filename of this NEWS file is /home/jimb/guile-1.0b3/NEWS, then
5276 export SCHEME_LOAD_PATH=/home/jimb/my-scheme:/home/jimb/guile-1.0b3
5279 ** Guile's read-eval-print loop no longer prints #<unspecified>
5280 results. If the user wants to see this, she can evaluate the
5281 expression (assert-repl-print-unspecified #t), perhaps in her startup
5284 ** Guile no longer shows backtraces by default when an error occurs;
5285 however, it does display a message saying how to get one, and how to
5286 request that they be displayed by default. After an error, evaluate
5288 to see a backtrace, and
5289 (debug-enable 'backtrace)
5290 to see them by default.
5294 * Changes to Guile Scheme:
5296 ** Guile now distinguishes between #f and the empty list.
5298 This is for compatibility with the IEEE standard, the (possibly)
5299 upcoming Revised^5 Report on Scheme, and many extant Scheme
5302 Guile used to have #f and '() denote the same object, to make Scheme's
5303 type system more compatible with Emacs Lisp's. However, the change
5304 caused too much trouble for Scheme programmers, and we found another
5305 way to reconcile Emacs Lisp with Scheme that didn't require this.
5308 ** Guile's delq, delv, delete functions, and their destructive
5309 counterparts, delq!, delv!, and delete!, now remove all matching
5310 elements from the list, not just the first. This matches the behavior
5311 of the corresponding Emacs Lisp functions, and (I believe) the Maclisp
5312 functions which inspired them.
5314 I recognize that this change may break code in subtle ways, but it
5315 seems best to make the change before the FSF's first Guile release,
5319 ** The compiled-library-path function has been deleted from libguile.
5321 ** The facilities for loading Scheme source files have changed.
5323 *** The variable %load-path now tells Guile which directories to search
5324 for Scheme code. Its value is a list of strings, each of which names
5327 *** The variable %load-extensions now tells Guile which extensions to
5328 try appending to a filename when searching the load path. Its value
5329 is a list of strings. Its default value is ("" ".scm").
5331 *** (%search-load-path FILENAME) searches the directories listed in the
5332 value of the %load-path variable for a Scheme file named FILENAME,
5333 with all the extensions listed in %load-extensions. If it finds a
5334 match, then it returns its full filename. If FILENAME is absolute, it
5335 returns it unchanged. Otherwise, it returns #f.
5337 %search-load-path will not return matches that refer to directories.
5339 *** (primitive-load FILENAME :optional CASE-INSENSITIVE-P SHARP)
5340 uses %seach-load-path to find a file named FILENAME, and loads it if
5341 it finds it. If it can't read FILENAME for any reason, it throws an
5344 The arguments CASE-INSENSITIVE-P and SHARP are interpreted as by the
5347 *** load uses the same searching semantics as primitive-load.
5349 *** The functions %try-load, try-load-with-path, %load, load-with-path,
5350 basic-try-load-with-path, basic-load-with-path, try-load-module-with-
5351 path, and load-module-with-path have been deleted. The functions
5352 above should serve their purposes.
5354 *** If the value of the variable %load-hook is a procedure,
5355 `primitive-load' applies its value to the name of the file being
5356 loaded (without the load path directory name prepended). If its value
5357 is #f, it is ignored. Otherwise, an error occurs.
5359 This is mostly useful for printing load notification messages.
5362 ** The function `eval!' is no longer accessible from the scheme level.
5363 We can't allow operations which introduce glocs into the scheme level,
5364 because Guile's type system can't handle these as data. Use `eval' or
5365 `read-and-eval!' (see below) as replacement.
5367 ** The new function read-and-eval! reads an expression from PORT,
5368 evaluates it, and returns the result. This is more efficient than
5369 simply calling `read' and `eval', since it is not necessary to make a
5370 copy of the expression for the evaluator to munge.
5372 Its optional arguments CASE_INSENSITIVE_P and SHARP are interpreted as
5373 for the `read' function.
5376 ** The function `int?' has been removed; its definition was identical
5377 to that of `integer?'.
5379 ** The functions `<?', `<?', `<=?', `=?', `>?', and `>=?'. Code should
5380 use the R4RS names for these functions.
5382 ** The function object-properties no longer returns the hash handle;
5383 it simply returns the object's property list.
5385 ** Many functions have been changed to throw errors, instead of
5386 returning #f on failure. The point of providing exception handling in
5387 the language is to simplify the logic of user code, but this is less
5388 useful if Guile's primitives don't throw exceptions.
5390 ** The function `fileno' has been renamed from `%fileno'.
5392 ** The function primitive-mode->fdes returns #t or #f now, not 1 or 0.
5395 * Changes to Guile's C interface:
5397 ** The library's initialization procedure has been simplified.
5398 scm_boot_guile now has the prototype:
5400 void scm_boot_guile (int ARGC,
5402 void (*main_func) (),
5405 scm_boot_guile calls MAIN_FUNC, passing it CLOSURE, ARGC, and ARGV.
5406 MAIN_FUNC should do all the work of the program (initializing other
5407 packages, reading user input, etc.) before returning. When MAIN_FUNC
5408 returns, call exit (0); this function never returns. If you want some
5409 other exit value, MAIN_FUNC may call exit itself.
5411 scm_boot_guile arranges for program-arguments to return the strings
5412 given by ARGC and ARGV. If MAIN_FUNC modifies ARGC/ARGV, should call
5413 scm_set_program_arguments with the final list, so Scheme code will
5414 know which arguments have been processed.
5416 scm_boot_guile establishes a catch-all catch handler which prints an
5417 error message and exits the process. This means that Guile exits in a
5418 coherent way when system errors occur and the user isn't prepared to
5419 handle it. If the user doesn't like this behavior, they can establish
5420 their own universal catcher in MAIN_FUNC to shadow this one.
5422 Why must the caller do all the real work from MAIN_FUNC? The garbage
5423 collector assumes that all local variables of type SCM will be above
5424 scm_boot_guile's stack frame on the stack. If you try to manipulate
5425 SCM values after this function returns, it's the luck of the draw
5426 whether the GC will be able to find the objects you allocate. So,
5427 scm_boot_guile function exits, rather than returning, to discourage
5428 people from making that mistake.
5430 The IN, OUT, and ERR arguments were removed; there are other
5431 convenient ways to override these when desired.
5433 The RESULT argument was deleted; this function should never return.
5435 The BOOT_CMD argument was deleted; the MAIN_FUNC argument is more
5439 ** Guile's header files should no longer conflict with your system's
5442 In order to compile code which #included <libguile.h>, previous
5443 versions of Guile required you to add a directory containing all the
5444 Guile header files to your #include path. This was a problem, since
5445 Guile's header files have names which conflict with many systems'
5448 Now only <libguile.h> need appear in your #include path; you must
5449 refer to all Guile's other header files as <libguile/mumble.h>.
5450 Guile's installation procedure puts libguile.h in $(includedir), and
5451 the rest in $(includedir)/libguile.
5454 ** Two new C functions, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object,
5455 have been added to the Guile library.
5457 scm_protect_object (OBJ) protects OBJ from the garbage collector.
5458 OBJ will not be freed, even if all other references are dropped,
5459 until someone does scm_unprotect_object (OBJ). Both functions
5462 Note that calls to scm_protect_object do not nest. You can call
5463 scm_protect_object any number of times on a given object, and the
5464 next call to scm_unprotect_object will unprotect it completely.
5466 Basically, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object just
5467 maintain a list of references to things. Since the GC knows about
5468 this list, all objects it mentions stay alive. scm_protect_object
5469 adds its argument to the list; scm_unprotect_object remove its
5470 argument from the list.
5473 ** scm_eval_0str now returns the value of the last expression
5476 ** The new function scm_read_0str reads an s-expression from a
5477 null-terminated string, and returns it.
5479 ** The new function `scm_stdio_to_port' converts a STDIO file pointer
5480 to a Scheme port object.
5482 ** The new function `scm_set_program_arguments' allows C code to set
5483 the value returned by the Scheme `program-arguments' function.
5488 * Guile no longer includes sophisticated Tcl/Tk support.
5490 The old Tcl/Tk support was unsatisfying to us, because it required the
5491 user to link against the Tcl library, as well as Tk and Guile. The
5492 interface was also un-lispy, in that it preserved Tcl/Tk's practice of
5493 referring to widgets by names, rather than exporting widgets to Scheme
5494 code as a special datatype.
5496 In the Usenix Tk Developer's Workshop held in July 1996, the Tcl/Tk
5497 maintainers described some very interesting changes in progress to the
5498 Tcl/Tk internals, which would facilitate clean interfaces between lone
5499 Tk and other interpreters --- even for garbage-collected languages
5500 like Scheme. They expected the new Tk to be publicly available in the
5503 Since it seems that Guile might soon have a new, cleaner interface to
5504 lone Tk, and that the old Guile/Tk glue code would probably need to be
5505 completely rewritten, we (Jim Blandy and Richard Stallman) have
5506 decided not to support the old code. We'll spend the time instead on
5507 a good interface to the newer Tk, as soon as it is available.
5509 Until then, gtcltk-lib provides trivial, low-maintenance functionality.
5512 Copyright information:
5514 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
5516 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
5517 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
5518 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
5519 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
5521 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
5522 of this document, or of portions of it,
5523 under the above conditions, provided also that they
5524 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
5529 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"