1 Guile NEWS --- history of user-visible changes.
2 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3 See the end for copying conditions.
5 Please send Guile bug reports to bug-guile@gnu.org.
7 Each release reports the NEWS in the following sections:
9 * Changes to the distribution
10 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
11 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
12 * Changes to the C interface
15 Changes since the stable branch:
17 * Changes to the distribution
19 ** Guile is now licensed with the GNU Lesser General Public License.
21 ** Guile now requires GNU MP (http://swox.com/gmp).
23 Guile now uses the GNU MP library for arbitrary precision arithmetic.
24 At the moment it is being used to handle Guile's bignums.
26 ** Guile now has separate private and public configuration headers.
28 Guile now has config.h and libguile/scmconfig.h. The former is not
29 installed and is private. The latter is installed and used by Guile's
30 public headers. config.h is generated by configure and autoheader,
31 and scmconfig.h is generated by a small C program, gen-scmconfig at
32 build time based in part on the contents of config.h.
34 Seen libguile/__scm.h and gen-scmconfig.c for more information.
36 Note too that nearly all public defines are now set to either 1 or 0
37 rather than being set to 1 or left undefined. See gen-scmconfig.c and
38 the GNU Coding Guidelines for the rationale. However, pre-existing
39 defines that were not renamed were not changed. i.e. GUILE_DEBUG is
40 still either 1 or undefined.
42 ** The INSTALL file is now the generic automake installed one.
44 Guile specific instructions can be found in the README.
46 ** Guile now provides and uses an "effective" version number.
48 Guile now provides scm_effective_version and effective-version
49 functions which return the "effective" version number. This is just
50 the normal full version string without the final micro-version number,
51 so the current effective-version is "1.6". The effective version
52 should remain unchanged during a stable series, and should be used for
53 items like the versioned share directory name
54 i.e. /usr/share/guile/1.6.
56 Providing an unchanging version number during a stable release for
57 things like the versioned share directory can be particularly
58 important for Guile "add-on" packages, since it provides a directory
59 that they can install to that won't be changed out from under them
60 with each micro release during a stable series.
62 ** Thread implementation has changed.
64 When you configure "--with-threads=null", you will get the usual
65 threading API (call-with-new-thread, make-mutex, etc), but you can't
66 actually create new threads. Also, "--with-threads=no" is now
67 equivalent to "--with-threads=null". This means that the thread API
68 is always present, although you might not be able to create new
71 When you configure "--with-threads=pthreads" or "--with-threads=yes",
72 you will get threads that are implemented with the portable POSIX
73 threads. These threads can run concurrently (unlike the previous
74 "coop" thread implementation), but need to cooperate for things like
75 the GC. See the manual for details. [XXX - write this.]
77 The default is "pthreads", unless your platform doesn't have pthreads,
78 in which case "null" threads are used.
80 ** New module (ice-9 serialize):
82 (serialize FORM1 ...) and (parallelize FORM1 ...) are useful when
83 you don't trust the thread safety of most of your program, but
84 where you have some section(s) of code which you consider can run
85 in parallel to other sections.
87 They "flag" (with dynamic extent) sections of code to be of
88 "serial" or "parallel" nature and have the single effect of
89 preventing a serial section from being run in parallel with any
90 serial section (including itself).
92 Both serialize and parallelize can be nested. If so, the
93 inner-most construct is in effect.
95 NOTE 1: A serial section can run in parallel with a parallel
98 NOTE 2: If a serial section S is "interrupted" by a parallel
99 section P in the following manner: S = S1 P S2, S2 is not
100 guaranteed to be resumed by the same thread that previously
103 WARNING: Spawning new threads within a serial section have
104 undefined effects. It is OK, though, to spawn threads in unflagged
105 sections of code where neither serialize or parallelize is in
108 A typical usage is when Guile is used as scripting language in some
109 application doing heavy computations. If each thread is
110 encapsulated with a serialize form, you can then put a parallelize
111 form around the code performing the heavy computations (typically a
112 C code primitive), enabling the computations to run in parallel
113 while the scripting code runs single-threadedly.
115 ** Guile now includes its own version of libltdl.
117 We now use a modified version of libltdl that allows us to make
118 improvements to it without having to rely on libtool releases.
120 * Changes to the standalone interpreter
122 ** New command line option `--no-debug'.
124 Specifying `--no-debug' on the command line will keep the debugging
125 evaluator turned off, even for interactive sessions.
127 ** User-init file ~/.guile is now loaded with the debugging evaluator.
129 Previously, the normal evaluator would have been used. Using the
130 debugging evaluator gives better error messages.
132 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
134 ** 'call-with-current-continuation' is now also available under the name
137 ** Checking for duplicate bindings in module system
139 The module system now can check for name conflicts among imported
142 The behavior can be controlled by specifying one or more duplicates
143 handlers. For example, to make Guile return an error for every name
151 The new default behavior of the module system when a name collision
152 has been detected is to
154 1. Give priority to bindings marked as a replacement.
155 2. Issue a warning (different warning if overriding core binding).
156 3. Give priority to the last encountered binding (this corresponds to
159 If you want the old behavior back without replacements or warnings you
162 (default-duplicate-binding-handler 'last)
164 to your .guile init file.
166 The syntax for the :duplicates option is:
168 :duplicates HANDLER-NAME | (HANDLER1-NAME HANDLER2-NAME ...)
170 Specifying multiple handlers is useful since some handlers (such as
171 replace) can defer conflict resolution to others. Each handler is
172 tried until a binding is selected.
174 Currently available duplicates handlers are:
176 check report an error for bindings with a common name
177 warn issue a warning for bindings with a common name
178 replace replace bindings which have an imported replacement
179 warn-override-core issue a warning for imports which override core bindings
180 and accept the override
181 first select the first encountered binding (override)
182 last select the last encountered binding (override)
184 These two are provided by the (oop goops) module:
186 merge-generics merge generic functions with a common name
187 into an <extended-generic>
188 merge-accessors merge accessors with a common name
190 The default duplicates handler is:
192 (replace warn-override-core warn last)
194 A recommended handler (which is likely to correspond to future Guile
195 behavior) can be installed with:
197 (default-duplicate-binding-handler '(replace warn-override-core check))
199 ** New define-module option: :replace
201 :replace works as :export, but, in addition, marks the binding as a
204 A typical example is `format' in (ice-9 format) which is a replacement
205 for the core binding `format'.
207 ** Adding prefixes to imported bindings in the module system
209 There is now a new :use-module option :prefix. It can be used to add
210 a prefix to all imported bindings.
213 :use-module ((bar) :prefix bar:))
215 will import all bindings exported from bar, but rename them by adding
218 ** Merging generic functions
220 It is sometimes tempting to use GOOPS accessors with short names.
221 For example, it is tempting to use the name `x' for the x-coordinate
224 Assume that we work with a graphical package which needs to use two
225 independent vector packages for 2D and 3D vectors respectively. If
226 both packages export `x' we will encounter a name collision.
228 This can now be resolved automagically with the duplicates handler
229 `merge-generics' which gives the module system license to merge all
230 generic functions sharing a common name:
232 (define-module (math 2D-vectors)
233 :use-module (oop goops)
236 (define-module (math 3D-vectors)
237 :use-module (oop goops)
240 (define-module (my-module)
241 :use-module (math 2D-vectors)
242 :use-module (math 3D-vectors)
243 :duplicates merge-generics)
245 x in (my-module) will now share methods with x in both imported
248 There will, in fact, now be three distinct generic functions named
249 `x': x in (2D-vectors), x in (3D-vectors), and x in (my-module). The
250 last function will be an <extended-generic>, extending the previous
253 Let's call the imported generic functions the "ancestor functions". x
254 in (my-module) is, in turn, a "descendant function" of the imported
255 functions, extending its ancestors.
257 For any generic function G, the applicable methods are selected from
258 the union of the methods of the descendant functions, the methods of G
259 itself and the methods of the ancestor functions.
261 This, ancestor functions share methods with their descendants and vice
262 versa. This implies that x in (math 2D-vectors) can will share the
263 methods of x in (my-module) and vice versa, while x in (math 2D-vectors)
264 doesn't share the methods of x in (math 3D-vectors), thus preserving
267 Sharing is dynamic, so that adding new methods to a descendant implies
268 adding it to the ancestor.
270 If duplicates checking is desired in the above example, the following
271 form of the :duplicates option can be used instead:
273 :duplicates (merge-generics check)
275 ** New function: effective-version
277 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
278 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
279 to the distribution" above.
281 ** Futures: future, make-future, future-ref
283 Futures are like promises, but begun immediately in a new thread. See
284 the "Futures" section in the reference manual.
286 ** New syntax: parallel FORM ...
288 Compute the results of FORM ... in parallel (in a separate thread for
289 each form) and return them as multiple values.
291 ** New syntax: letpar ((VAR EXP) ...) BODYFORM ...
293 Like 'let' but evaluates the binding expressions EXP ... in parallel.
295 ** New functions: par-map, par-for-each PROC ARGLIST ...
297 Like 'map' and 'for-each' but evaluate the procedure PROC in a
298 separate thread for each (set of) argument(s). All applications are
299 guaranteed to be completed before the procedure returns.
301 ** New functions: n-par-map, n-par-for-each N PROC ARGLIST ...
303 Like 'par-map' and 'par-for-each' but evaluate the procedure PROC in N
304 threads. This is useful when PROC uses large amounts of resources
305 and/or the argument list(s) is/are long so that one thread per (set
306 of) argument(s) would consume too much system resources. On a
307 dual-CPU system, N = 4 would often be a good choice.
309 ** New function: n-for-each-par-map N S-PROC P-PROC ARGLIST ...
311 Using N parallel processes, apply S-PROC in serial order to each
312 result of applying P-PROC to each set of arguments in the argument
315 Like a composition of 'for-each' and 'n-par-map', but allows S-PROC to
316 start processing while the results of P-PROC are being produced.
318 ** Fair mutexes and condition variables
320 Fair mutexes and condition variables have been added. The fairness
321 means that scheduling is arranged to give as equal time shares as
322 possible and that threads are awakened in a first-in-first-out
323 manner. This is not guaranteed with standard mutexes and condition
326 In addition, fair mutexes are recursive. Locking a fair mutex that
327 you have already locked will succeed. Every call to lock-mutex must
328 be matched with a call to unlock-mutex. Only the last call to
329 unlock-mutex will actually unlock the mutex.
331 A fair condition variable must be used together with a fair mutex,
332 just as a standard condition variable must be used together with a
335 ** New functions: make-fair-mutex, make-fair-condition-variable'
337 Make a new fair mutex and a new fair condition variable respectively.
339 ** New function 'try-mutex'.
341 This function will attempt to lock a mutex but will return immediately
342 instead if blocking and indicate failure.
344 ** Waiting on a condition variable can have a timeout.
346 The funtion 'wait-condition-variable' now takes a third, optional
347 argument that specifies the point in time where the waiting should be
350 ** New function 'broadcast-condition-variable'.
352 ** New functions 'all-threads' and 'current-thread'.
354 ** Signals and system asyncs work better with threads.
356 The function 'sigaction' now takes a fourth, optional, argument that
357 specifies the thread that the handler should run in. When the
358 argument is omitted, the handler will run in the thread that called
361 Likewise, 'system-async-mark' takes a second, optional, argument that
362 specifies the thread that the async should run in. When it is
363 omitted, the async will run in the thread that called
366 C code can use the new functions scm_sigaction_for_thread and
367 scm_system_async_mark_for_thread to pass the new thread argument.
369 ** The function 'system-async' is deprecated.
371 You can now pass any zero-argument procedure to 'system-async-mark'.
372 The function 'system-async' will just return its argument unchanged
375 ** New functions 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' and
376 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
378 The expression (call-with-blocked-asyncs PROC) will call PROC and will
379 block execution of system asyncs for the current thread by one level
380 while PROC runs. Likewise, call-with-unblocked-asyncs will call a
381 procedure and will unblock the execution of system asyncs by one
382 level for the current thread.
384 Only system asyncs are affected by these functions.
386 ** The functions 'mask-signals' and 'unmask-signals' are deprecated.
388 Use 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' or 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
389 instead. Those functions are easier to use correctly and can be
392 ** New function 'unsetenv'.
394 ** New macro 'define-syntax-public'.
396 It works like 'define-syntax' and also exports the defined macro (but
399 ** There is support for Infinity and NaNs.
401 Following PLT Scheme, Guile can now work with infinite numbers, and
404 There is new syntax for numbers: "+inf.0" (infinity), "-inf.0"
405 (negative infinity), "+nan.0" (not-a-number), and "-nan.0" (same as
406 "+nan.0"). These numbers are inexact and have no exact counterpart.
408 Dividing by an inexact zero returns +inf.0 or -inf.0, depending on the
409 sign of the dividend. The infinities are integers, and they answer #t
410 for both 'even?' and 'odd?'. The +nan.0 value is not an integer and is
411 not '=' to itself, but '+nan.0' is 'eqv?' to itself.
422 ERROR: Numerical overflow
424 Two new predicates 'inf?' and 'nan?' can be used to test for the
427 ** Inexact zero can have a sign.
429 Guile can now distinguish between plus and minus inexact zero, if your
430 platform supports this, too. The two zeros are equal according to
431 '=', but not according to 'eqv?'. For example
442 ** We now have uninterned symbols.
444 The new function 'make-symbol' will return a uninterned symbol. This
445 is a symbol that is unique and is guaranteed to remain unique.
446 However, uninterned symbols can not yet be read back in.
448 Use the new function 'symbol-interned?' to check whether a symbol is
451 ** pretty-print has more options.
453 The function pretty-print from the (ice-9 pretty-print) module can now
454 also be invoked with keyword arguments that control things like
455 maximum output width. See its online documentation.
457 ** Variables have no longer a special behavior for `equal?'.
459 Previously, comparing two variables with `equal?' would recursivly
460 compare their values. This is no longer done. Variables are now only
461 `equal?' if they are `eq?'.
463 ** `(begin)' is now valid.
465 You can now use an empty `begin' form. It will yield #<unspecified>
466 when evaluated and simply be ignored in a definition context.
468 ** Deprecated: procedure->macro
470 Change your code to use either procedure->memoizing-macro or, probably better,
471 to use r5rs macros. Also, be aware that macro expansion will not be done
472 during evaluation, but prior to evaluation.
474 ** Soft ports now allow a `char-ready?' procedure
476 The vector argument to `make-soft-port' can now have a length of
477 either 5 or 6. (Previously the length had to be 5.) The optional 6th
478 element is interpreted as an `input-waiting' thunk -- i.e. a thunk
479 that returns the number of characters that can be read immediately
480 without the soft port blocking.
482 ** New debugging feature: breakpoints.
484 Guile now has breakpoints. For details see the `Debugging Features'
485 chapter in the reference manual.
487 ** Deprecated: undefine
489 There is no replacement for undefine.
491 ** SRFI-1 delete equality argument order fixed.
493 In the srfi-1 module delete and delete!, the order of the arguments to
494 the "=" procedure now matches the SRFI-1 specification.
496 * Changes to the C interface
498 ** Many public #defines with generic names have been made private.
500 #defines with generic names like HAVE_FOO or SIZEOF_FOO have been made
501 private or renamed with a more suitable public name. See below for
502 the ones which have been renamed.
504 ** HAVE_STDINT_H and HAVE_INTTYPES_H have been removed from public use.
506 HAVE_STDINT_H and HAVE_INTTYPES_H removed from public use. These are
507 no longer needed since the older uses of stdint.h and inttypes.h are
508 now handled by configure.in and gen-scmconfig.c.
510 ** USE_DLL_IMPORT is no longer defined publically.
512 gen-scmconfig now uses it to decide what contents to place in the
513 public scmconfig.h header without adding the USE_DLL_IMPORT itself.
515 ** HAVE_LIMITS_H has been removed from public use.
517 gen-scmconfig now just uses HAVE_LIMITS_H to decide whether or not to
518 add a limits.h include in scmconfig.h.
520 ** time.h, sys/time.h, etc. #ifdefery has been removed from public headers.
522 gen-scmconfig now just uses the same logic to decide what time related
523 #includes to add to scmconfig.h.
525 ** HAVE_STRUCT_TIMESPEC has been removed from public use.
527 scmconfig.h now just defines scm_t_timespec.
529 ** HAVE_PTRDIFF has been removed from public use and Guile doesn't
532 Guile now publically defines scm_t_ptrdiff and
533 SCM_SIZEOF_SCM_T_PTRDIFF in scmconfig.h, and all occurrences of
534 ptrdiff_t have been replaced with scm_t_ptrdiff.
536 Guile defines its own type this rather than just relying on ptrdiff_t
537 and SCM_SIZEOF_PTRDIFF_T because Guile actually typedefs long to
538 scm_t_ptrdiff when ptrdiff_t isn't available. A public "typedef long
539 ptrdiff_t" could conflict with other headers.
541 ** HAVE_UINTPTR_T and HAVE_UINTPTR_T have been removed from public use.
543 They are replaced by public definitions of SCM_SIZEOF_UINTPTR_T and
544 SCM_SIZEOF_INTPTR_T. These are defined to 0 if the corresponding type
547 ** The public #define STDC_HEADERS has been renamed to SCM_HAVE_STDC_HEADERS.
549 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
551 ** The public #define HAVE_SYS_SELECT has been renamed to
552 SCM_HAVE_SYS_SELECT_H.
554 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
556 ** The public #define HAVE_FLOATINGPOINT_H has been renamed to
557 SCM_HAVE_FLOATINGPOINT_H.
559 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
561 ** The public #define HAVE_IEEEFP_H has been renamed to SCM_HAVE_IEEEFP_H.
563 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
565 ** The public #define HAVE_NAN_H has been renamed to SCM_HAVE_NAN_H.
567 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
569 ** The public #define HAVE_WINSOCK2_H has been renamed to SCM_HAVE_WINSOCK2_H.
571 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
573 ** The public #define HAVE_ARRAYS has been renamed to SCM_HAVE_ARRAYS.
575 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
577 ** The public #define STACK_GROWS_UP has been renamed to SCM_STACK_GROWS_UP.
579 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
581 ** The public #define USE_PTHREAD_THREADS has been renamed to
582 SCM_USE_PTHREAD_THREADS.
584 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
586 ** The public #define USE_NULL_THREADS has been renamed to
587 SCM_USE_NULL_THREADS.
589 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
591 ** The public #define USE_COOP_THREADS has been renamed to
592 SCM_USE_COOP_THREADS.
594 The previous name was too generic for the global public namespace.
596 ** SCM_C_INLINE is publically defined if possible.
598 If the platform has a way to define inline functions, SCM_C_INLINE
599 will be defined to that text. Otherwise it will be undefined. This
600 is a little bit different than autoconf's normal handling of the
601 inline define via AC_C_INLINE.
603 ** Guile now publically defines some basic type infrastructure.
608 SCM_SIZEOF_UNSIGNED_CHAR
610 SCM_SIZEOF_UNSIGNED_SHORT
612 SCM_SIZEOF_UNSIGNED_LONG
614 SCM_SIZEOF_UNSIGNED_INT
615 SCM_SIZEOF_LONG_LONG /* defined to 0 if type not available */
616 SCM_SIZEOF_UNSIGNED_LONG_LONG /* defined to 0 if type not available */
630 and when either of these are defined to 1, optionally defines
641 ** The preprocessor define USE_THREADS has been deprecated.
643 Going forward, assume that the thread API is always present.
645 ** The preprocessor define GUILE_ISELECT has been deprecated.
647 Going forward, assume that scm_internal_select is always present.
649 ** The preprocessor define READER_EXTENSIONS has been deprecated.
651 Going forward, assume that the features represented by
652 READER_EXTENSIONS are always present.
654 ** The preprocessor define DEBUG_EXTENSIONS has been deprecated.
656 Going forward, assume that the features represented by
657 DEBUG_EXTENSIONS are always present.
659 ** The preprocessor define DYNAMIC_LINKING has been deprecated.
661 Going forward, assume that the features represented by
662 DYNAMIC_LINKING are always present.
664 ** The preprocessor define STACK_DIRECTION has been deprecated.
666 There should be no need to know about the stack direction for ordinary
667 programs. (Do not use.)
669 ** New function: scm_effective_version
671 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
672 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
673 to the distribution" above.
675 ** The function scm_call_with_new_thread has a new prototype.
677 Instead of taking a list with the thunk and handler, these two
678 arguments are now passed directly:
680 SCM scm_call_with_new_thread (SCM thunk, SCM handler);
682 This is an incompatible change.
684 ** The value 'scm_mask_ints' is no longer writable.
686 Previously, you could set scm_mask_ints directly. This is no longer
687 possible. Use scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
688 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs instead.
690 ** New functions scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
691 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs
693 Like scm_call_with_blocked_asyncs etc. but for C functions.
695 ** New snarfer macro SCM_DEFINE_PUBLIC.
697 This is like SCM_DEFINE, but also calls scm_c_export for the defined
698 function in the init section.
700 ** The snarfer macro SCM_SNARF_INIT is now officially supported.
702 ** New macros SCM_VECTOR_REF and SCM_VECTOR_SET.
704 Use these in preference to SCM_VELTS.
706 ** The SCM_VELTS macros now returns a read-only vector. For writing,
707 use the new macros SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS or SCM_VECTOR_SET. The use of
708 SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS is discouraged, though.
710 ** Garbage collector rewrite.
712 The garbage collector is cleaned up a lot, and now uses lazy
713 sweeping. This is reflected in the output of (gc-stats); since cells
714 are being freed when they are allocated, the cells-allocated field
715 stays roughly constant.
717 For malloc related triggers, the behavior is changed. It uses the same
718 heuristic as the cell-triggered collections. It may be tuned with the
719 environment variables GUILE_MIN_YIELD_MALLOC. This is the percentage
720 for minimum yield of malloc related triggers. The default is 40.
721 GUILE_INIT_MALLOC_LIMIT sets the initial trigger for doing a GC. The
724 Debugging operations for the freelist have been deprecated, along with
725 the C variables that control garbage collection. The environment
726 variables GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE, GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2,
727 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1, and GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2 should be used.
729 ** The function scm_definedp has been renamed to scm_defined_p
731 The name scm_definedp is deprecated.
733 ** The struct scm_cell has been renamed to scm_t_cell
735 This is in accordance to Guile's naming scheme for types. Note that
736 the name scm_cell is now used for a function that allocates and
737 initializes a new cell (see below).
739 ** New functions for memory management
741 A new set of functions for memory management has been added since the
742 old way (scm_must_malloc, scm_must_free, etc) was error prone and
743 indeed, Guile itself contained some long standing bugs that could
744 cause aborts in long running programs.
746 The new functions are more symmetrical and do not need cooperation
747 from smob free routines, among other improvements.
749 The new functions are scm_malloc, scm_realloc, scm_calloc, scm_strdup,
750 scm_strndup, scm_gc_malloc, scm_gc_calloc, scm_gc_realloc,
751 scm_gc_free, scm_gc_register_collectable_memory, and
752 scm_gc_unregister_collectable_memory. Refer to the manual for more
753 details and for upgrading instructions.
755 The old functions for memory management have been deprecated. They
756 are: scm_must_malloc, scm_must_realloc, scm_must_free,
757 scm_must_strdup, scm_must_strndup, scm_done_malloc, scm_done_free.
759 ** New function: scm_str2string
761 This function creates a scheme string from a 0-terminated C string. The input
764 ** Declarations of exported features are marked with SCM_API.
766 Every declaration of a feature that belongs to the exported Guile API
767 has been marked by adding the macro "SCM_API" to the start of the
768 declaration. This macro can expand into different things, the most
769 common of which is just "extern" for Unix platforms. On Win32, it can
770 be used to control which symbols are exported from a DLL.
772 If you `#define SCM_IMPORT' before including <libguile.h>, SCM_API
773 will expand into "__declspec (dllimport) extern", which is needed for
774 linking to the Guile DLL in Windows.
776 There are also SCM_RL_IMPORT, QT_IMPORT, SCM_SRFI1314_IMPORT, and
777 SCM_SRFI4_IMPORT, for the corresponding libraries.
779 ** SCM_NEWCELL and SCM_NEWCELL2 have been deprecated.
781 Use the new functions scm_cell and scm_double_cell instead. The old macros
782 had problems because with them allocation and initialization was separated and
783 the GC could sometimes observe half initialized cells. Only careful coding by
784 the user of SCM_NEWCELL and SCM_NEWCELL2 could make this safe and efficient.
786 ** CHECK_ENTRY, CHECK_APPLY and CHECK_EXIT have been deprecated.
788 Use the variables scm_check_entry_p, scm_check_apply_p and scm_check_exit_p
791 ** SRCBRKP has been deprecated.
793 Use scm_c_source_property_breakpoint_p instead.
795 ** Deprecated: scm_makmacro
797 Change your code to use either scm_makmmacro or, probably better, to use r5rs
798 macros. Also, be aware that macro expansion will not be done during
799 evaluation, but prior to evaluation.
801 ** Removed from scm_root_state: def_inp, def_outp, def_errp, together
802 with corresponding macros scm_def_inp, scm_def_outp and scm_def_errp.
803 These were undocumented and unused copies of the standard ports at the
804 time that Guile was initialised. Normally the current ports should be
805 used instead, obtained from scm_current_input_port () etc. If an
806 application needs to retain earlier ports, it should save them in a
807 gc-protected location.
809 ** Removed compile time option MEMOIZE_LOCALS
811 Now, caching of local variable positions during memoization is mandatory.
812 However, the option to disable the caching has most probably not been used
815 ** Removed compile time option SCM_RECKLESS
817 Full number of arguments checking of closures is mandatory now. However, the
818 option to disable the checking has most probably not been used anyway.
820 ** Removed compile time option SCM_CAUTIOUS
822 Full number of arguments checking of closures is mandatory now. However, the
823 option to disable the checking has most probably not been used anyway.
825 ** Deprecated configure flags USE_THREADS and GUILE_ISELECT
827 Previously, when the C preprocessor macro USE_THREADS was defined,
828 libguile included a thread API. This API is now always included, even
829 when threads are not really supported. Thus, you don't need to test
832 Analogously, GUILE_ISELECT was defined when the function
833 scm_internal_select was provided by Guile. This function is now
834 always defined, and GUILE_ISELECT with it.
836 ** New function scm_c_port_for_each.
838 This function is like scm_port_for_each but takes a pointer to a C
839 function as the callback instead of a SCM value.
841 ** Deprecated definitions of error strings: scm_s_expression, scm_s_test,
842 scm_s_body, scm_s_bindings, scm_s_variable, scm_s_clauses, scm_s_formals
844 These error message strings were used to issue syntax error messages by
845 guile's evaluator. It's unlikely that they have been used by user code.
847 ** Deprecated helper macros for evaluation and application: SCM_EVALIM2,
848 SCM_EVALIM, SCM_XEVAL, SCM_XEVALCAR
850 These macros were used in the implementation of the evaluator. It's unlikely
851 that they have been used by user code.
853 ** Deprecated macros for iloc handling: SCM_ILOC00, SCM_IDINC, SCM_IDSTMSK
855 These macros were used in the implementation of the evaluator. It's unlikely
856 that they have been used by user code.
858 ** Removed definitions: scm_lisp_nil, scm_lisp_t, s_nil_ify,
859 scm_m_nil_ify, s_t_ify, scm_m_t_ify, s_0_cond, scm_m_0_cond, s_0_ify,
860 scm_m_0_ify, s_1_ify, scm_m_1_ify, scm_debug_newcell,
861 scm_debug_newcell2, scm_tc16_allocated, SCM_SET_SYMBOL_HASH,
862 SCM_IM_NIL_IFY, SCM_IM_T_IFY, SCM_IM_0_COND, SCM_IM_0_IFY,
863 SCM_IM_1_IFY, SCM_GC_SET_ALLOCATED, scm_debug_newcell,
864 scm_debug_newcell2, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL, SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL,
865 SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL, SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL,
866 SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD, SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS,
867 *top-level-lookup-closure*, scm_top_level_lookup_closure_var,
868 scm_system_transformer, scm_eval_3, scm_eval2,
869 root_module_lookup_closure, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP,
870 scm_read_only_string_p, scm_make_shared_substring, scm_tc7_substring,
871 sym_huh, SCM_VARVCELL, SCM_UDVARIABLEP, SCM_DEFVARIABLEP, scm_mkbig,
872 scm_big2inum, scm_adjbig, scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big,
873 scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl, SCM_FIXNUM_BIT, SCM_SETCHARS,
874 SCM_SLOPPY_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_LENGTH_MAX,
875 SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS,
876 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR, scm_sym2vcell, scm_intern,
877 scm_intern0, scm_sysintern, scm_sysintern0,
878 scm_sysintern0_no_module_lookup, scm_init_symbols_deprecated,
879 scm_vector_set_length_x, scm_contregs, scm_debug_info,
880 scm_debug_frame, SCM_DSIDEVAL, SCM_OPDIRP, scm_fport, scm_option,
881 SCM_CONST_LONG, SCM_VCELL, SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL, SCM_VCELL_INIT,
882 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL_INIT, scm_srcprops, scm_srcprops_chunk,
883 scm_info_frame, scm_stack, scm_array, scm_array_dim,
884 SCM_ARRAY_CONTIGUOUS, SCM_HUGE_LENGTH, SCM_FUNC_NAME, SCM_WTA,
885 RETURN_SCM_WTA, SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_COPY,
886 SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_DEF_COPY, SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR,
887 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY,
888 SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY, SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING,
889 SCM_VALIDATE_OPDIR, DIGITS, scm_small_istr2int, scm_istr2int,
890 scm_istr2flo, scm_istring2number, scm_istr2int, scm_istr2flo,
891 scm_istring2number, scm_vtable_index_vcell, scm_si_vcell, SCM_ECONSP,
892 SCM_NECONSP, SCM_GLOC_VAR, SCM_GLOC_VAL, SCM_GLOC_SET_VAL,
893 SCM_GLOC_VAL_LOC, scm_make_gloc, scm_gloc_p, scm_tc16_variable
895 Changes since Guile 1.4:
897 * Changes to the distribution
899 ** A top-level TODO file is included.
901 ** Guile now uses a versioning scheme similar to that of the Linux kernel.
903 Guile now always uses three numbers to represent the version,
904 i.e. "1.6.5". The first number, 1, is the major version number, the
905 second number, 6, is the minor version number, and the third number,
906 5, is the micro version number. Changes in major version number
907 indicate major changes in Guile.
909 Minor version numbers that are even denote stable releases, and odd
910 minor version numbers denote development versions (which may be
911 unstable). The micro version number indicates a minor sub-revision of
912 a given MAJOR.MINOR release.
914 In keeping with the new scheme, (minor-version) and scm_minor_version
915 no longer return everything but the major version number. They now
916 just return the minor version number. Two new functions
917 (micro-version) and scm_micro_version have been added to report the
918 micro version number.
920 In addition, ./GUILE-VERSION now defines GUILE_MICRO_VERSION.
922 ** New preprocessor definitions are available for checking versions.
924 version.h now #defines SCM_MAJOR_VERSION, SCM_MINOR_VERSION, and
925 SCM_MICRO_VERSION to the appropriate integer values.
927 ** Guile now actively warns about deprecated features.
929 The new configure option `--enable-deprecated=LEVEL' and the
930 environment variable GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED control this mechanism.
931 See INSTALL and README for more information.
933 ** Guile is much more likely to work on 64-bit architectures.
935 Guile now compiles and passes "make check" with only two UNRESOLVED GC
936 cases on Alpha and ia64 based machines now. Thanks to John Goerzen
937 for the use of a test machine, and thanks to Stefan Jahn for ia64
940 ** New functions: setitimer and getitimer.
942 These implement a fairly direct interface to the libc functions of the
945 ** The #. reader extension is now disabled by default.
947 For safety reasons, #. evaluation is disabled by default. To
948 re-enable it, set the fluid read-eval? to #t. For example:
950 (fluid-set! read-eval? #t)
952 but make sure you realize the potential security risks involved. With
953 read-eval? enabled, reading a data file from an untrusted source can
956 ** New SRFI modules have been added:
958 SRFI-0 `cond-expand' is now supported in Guile, without requiring
961 (srfi srfi-1) is a library containing many useful pair- and list-processing
964 (srfi srfi-2) exports and-let*.
966 (srfi srfi-4) implements homogeneous numeric vector datatypes.
968 (srfi srfi-6) is a dummy module for now, since guile already provides
969 all of the srfi-6 procedures by default: open-input-string,
970 open-output-string, get-output-string.
972 (srfi srfi-8) exports receive.
974 (srfi srfi-9) exports define-record-type.
976 (srfi srfi-10) exports define-reader-ctor and implements the reader
979 (srfi srfi-11) exports let-values and let*-values.
981 (srfi srfi-13) implements the SRFI String Library.
983 (srfi srfi-14) implements the SRFI Character-Set Library.
985 (srfi srfi-17) implements setter and getter-with-setter and redefines
986 some accessor procedures as procedures with getters. (such as car,
987 cdr, vector-ref etc.)
989 (srfi srfi-19) implements the SRFI Time/Date Library.
991 ** New scripts / "executable modules"
993 Subdirectory "scripts" contains Scheme modules that are packaged to
994 also be executable as scripts. At this time, these scripts are available:
1003 See README there for more info.
1005 These scripts can be invoked from the shell with the new program
1006 "guile-tools", which keeps track of installation directory for you.
1009 $ guile-tools display-commentary srfi/*.scm
1011 guile-tools is copied to the standard $bindir on "make install".
1013 ** New module (ice-9 stack-catch):
1015 stack-catch is like catch, but saves the current state of the stack in
1016 the fluid the-last-stack. This fluid can be useful when using the
1017 debugger and when re-throwing an error.
1019 ** The module (ice-9 and-let*) has been renamed to (ice-9 and-let-star)
1021 This has been done to prevent problems on lesser operating systems
1022 that can't tolerate `*'s in file names. The exported macro continues
1023 to be named `and-let*', of course.
1025 On systems that support it, there is also a compatibility module named
1026 (ice-9 and-let*). It will go away in the next release.
1028 ** New modules (oop goops) etc.:
1031 (oop goops describe)
1033 (oop goops active-slot)
1034 (oop goops composite-slot)
1036 The Guile Object Oriented Programming System (GOOPS) has been
1037 integrated into Guile. For further information, consult the GOOPS
1038 manual and tutorial in the `doc' directory.
1040 ** New module (ice-9 rdelim).
1042 This exports the following procedures which were previously defined
1043 in the default environment:
1045 read-line read-line! read-delimited read-delimited! %read-delimited!
1046 %read-line write-line
1048 For backwards compatibility the definitions are still imported into the
1049 default environment in this version of Guile. However you should add:
1051 (use-modules (ice-9 rdelim))
1053 to any program which uses the definitions, since this may change in
1056 Alternatively, if guile-scsh is installed, the (scsh rdelim) module
1057 can be used for similar functionality.
1059 ** New module (ice-9 rw)
1061 This is a subset of the (scsh rw) module from guile-scsh. Currently
1062 it defines two procedures:
1064 *** New function: read-string!/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
1066 Read characters from a port or file descriptor into a string STR.
1067 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
1068 fport. This procedure is scsh-compatible and can efficiently read
1071 *** New function: write-string/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
1073 Write characters from a string STR to a port or file descriptor.
1074 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
1075 fport. This procedure is mostly compatible and can efficiently
1076 write large strings.
1078 ** New module (ice-9 match)
1080 This module includes Andrew K. Wright's pattern matcher. See
1081 ice-9/match.scm for brief description or
1083 http://www.star-lab.com/wright/code.html
1085 for complete documentation.
1087 ** New module (ice-9 buffered-input)
1089 This module provides procedures to construct an input port from an
1090 underlying source of input that reads and returns its input in chunks.
1091 The underlying input source is a Scheme procedure, specified by the
1092 caller, which the port invokes whenever it needs more input.
1094 This is useful when building an input port whose back end is Readline
1095 or a UI element such as the GtkEntry widget.
1099 The reference and tutorial documentation that was previously
1100 distributed separately, as `guile-doc', is now included in the core
1101 Guile distribution. The documentation consists of the following
1104 - The Guile Tutorial (guile-tut.texi) contains a tutorial introduction
1107 - The Guile Reference Manual (guile.texi) contains (or is intended to
1108 contain) reference documentation on all aspects of Guile.
1110 - The GOOPS Manual (goops.texi) contains both tutorial-style and
1111 reference documentation for using GOOPS, Guile's Object Oriented
1114 - The Revised^5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme
1117 See the README file in the `doc' directory for more details.
1119 ** There are a couple of examples in the examples/ directory now.
1121 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
1123 ** New command line option `--use-srfi'
1125 Using this option, SRFI modules can be loaded on startup and be
1126 available right from the beginning. This makes programming portable
1127 Scheme programs easier.
1129 The option `--use-srfi' expects a comma-separated list of numbers,
1130 each representing a SRFI number to be loaded into the interpreter
1131 before starting evaluating a script file or the REPL. Additionally,
1132 the feature identifier for the loaded SRFIs is recognized by
1133 `cond-expand' when using this option.
1136 $ guile --use-srfi=8,13
1137 guile> (receive (x z) (values 1 2) (+ 1 2))
1139 guile> (string-pad "bla" 20)
1142 ** Guile now always starts up in the `(guile-user)' module.
1144 Previously, scripts executed via the `-s' option would run in the
1145 `(guile)' module and the repl would run in the `(guile-user)' module.
1146 Now every user action takes place in the `(guile-user)' module by
1149 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
1151 ** Character classifiers work for non-ASCII characters.
1153 The predicates `char-alphabetic?', `char-numeric?',
1154 `char-whitespace?', `char-lower?', `char-upper?' and `char-is-both?'
1155 no longer check whether their arguments are ASCII characters.
1156 Previously, a character would only be considered alphabetic when it
1157 was also ASCII, for example.
1159 ** Previously deprecated Scheme functions have been removed:
1161 tag - no replacement.
1162 fseek - replaced by seek.
1163 list* - replaced by cons*.
1165 ** It's now possible to create modules with controlled environments
1169 (use-modules (ice-9 safe))
1170 (define m (make-safe-module))
1171 ;;; m will now be a module containing only a safe subset of R5RS
1172 (eval '(+ 1 2) m) --> 3
1173 (eval 'load m) --> ERROR: Unbound variable: load
1175 ** Evaluation of "()", the empty list, is now an error.
1177 Previously, the expression "()" evaluated to the empty list. This has
1178 been changed to signal a "missing expression" error. The correct way
1179 to write the empty list as a literal constant is to use quote: "'()".
1181 ** New concept of `Guile Extensions'.
1183 A Guile Extension is just a ordinary shared library that can be linked
1184 at run-time. We found it advantageous to give this simple concept a
1185 dedicated name to distinguish the issues related to shared libraries
1186 from the issues related to the module system.
1188 *** New function: load-extension
1190 Executing (load-extension lib init) is mostly equivalent to
1192 (dynamic-call init (dynamic-link lib))
1194 except when scm_register_extension has been called previously.
1195 Whenever appropriate, you should use `load-extension' instead of
1196 dynamic-link and dynamic-call.
1198 *** New C function: scm_c_register_extension
1200 This function registers a initialization function for use by
1201 `load-extension'. Use it when you don't want specific extensions to
1202 be loaded as shared libraries (for example on platforms that don't
1203 support dynamic linking).
1205 ** Auto-loading of compiled-code modules is deprecated.
1207 Guile used to be able to automatically find and link a shared
1208 library to satisfy requests for a module. For example, the module
1209 `(foo bar)' could be implemented by placing a shared library named
1210 "foo/libbar.so" (or with a different extension) in a directory on the
1213 This has been found to be too tricky, and is no longer supported. The
1214 shared libraries are now called "extensions". You should now write a
1215 small Scheme file that calls `load-extension' to load the shared
1216 library and initialize it explicitely.
1218 The shared libraries themselves should be installed in the usual
1219 places for shared libraries, with names like "libguile-foo-bar".
1221 For example, place this into a file "foo/bar.scm"
1223 (define-module (foo bar))
1225 (load-extension "libguile-foo-bar" "foobar_init")
1227 ** Backward incompatible change: eval EXP ENVIRONMENT-SPECIFIER
1229 `eval' is now R5RS, that is it takes two arguments.
1230 The second argument is an environment specifier, i.e. either
1232 (scheme-report-environment 5)
1233 (null-environment 5)
1234 (interaction-environment)
1240 ** The module system has been made more disciplined.
1242 The function `eval' will save and restore the current module around
1243 the evaluation of the specified expression. While this expression is
1244 evaluated, `(current-module)' will now return the right module, which
1245 is the module specified as the second argument to `eval'.
1247 A consequence of this change is that `eval' is not particularly
1248 useful when you want allow the evaluated code to change what module is
1249 designated as the current module and have this change persist from one
1250 call to `eval' to the next. The read-eval-print-loop is an example
1251 where `eval' is now inadequate. To compensate, there is a new
1252 function `primitive-eval' that does not take a module specifier and
1253 that does not save/restore the current module. You should use this
1254 function together with `set-current-module', `current-module', etc
1255 when you want to have more control over the state that is carried from
1256 one eval to the next.
1258 Additionally, it has been made sure that forms that are evaluated at
1259 the top level are always evaluated with respect to the current module.
1260 Previously, subforms of top-level forms such as `begin', `case',
1261 etc. did not respect changes to the current module although these
1262 subforms are at the top-level as well.
1264 To prevent strange behavior, the forms `define-module',
1265 `use-modules', `use-syntax', and `export' have been restricted to only
1266 work on the top level. The forms `define-public' and
1267 `defmacro-public' only export the new binding on the top level. They
1268 behave just like `define' and `defmacro', respectively, when they are
1269 used in a lexical environment.
1271 Also, `export' will no longer silently re-export bindings imported
1272 from a used module. It will emit a `deprecation' warning and will
1273 cease to perform any re-export in the next version. If you actually
1274 want to re-export bindings, use the new `re-export' in place of
1275 `export'. The new `re-export' will not make copies of variables when
1276 rexporting them, as `export' did wrongly.
1278 ** Module system now allows selection and renaming of imported bindings
1280 Previously, when using `use-modules' or the `#:use-module' clause in
1281 the `define-module' form, all the bindings (association of symbols to
1282 values) for imported modules were added to the "current module" on an
1283 as-is basis. This has been changed to allow finer control through two
1284 new facilities: selection and renaming.
1286 You can now select which of the imported module's bindings are to be
1287 visible in the current module by using the `:select' clause. This
1288 clause also can be used to rename individual bindings. For example:
1290 ;; import all bindings no questions asked
1291 (use-modules (ice-9 common-list))
1293 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them;
1294 ;; the current module sees: every some zonk-y zonk-n
1295 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1297 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1298 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))))
1300 You can also programmatically rename all selected bindings using the
1301 `:renamer' clause, which specifies a proc that takes a symbol and
1302 returns another symbol. Because it is common practice to use a prefix,
1303 we now provide the convenience procedure `symbol-prefix-proc'. For
1306 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
1307 ;; and all four w/ prefix "CL:";
1308 ;; the current module sees: CL:every CL:some CL:zonk-y CL:zonk-n
1309 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1311 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1312 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
1313 :renamer (symbol-prefix-proc 'CL:)))
1315 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
1316 ;; and all four by upcasing.
1317 ;; the current module sees: EVERY SOME ZONK-Y ZONK-N
1318 (define (upcase-symbol sym)
1319 (string->symbol (string-upcase (symbol->string sym))))
1321 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
1323 (remove-if . zonk-y)
1324 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
1325 :renamer upcase-symbol))
1327 Note that programmatic renaming is done *after* individual renaming.
1328 Also, the above examples show `use-modules', but the same facilities are
1329 available for the `#:use-module' clause of `define-module'.
1331 See manual for more info.
1333 ** The semantics of guardians have changed.
1335 The changes are for the most part compatible. An important criterion
1336 was to keep the typical usage of guardians as simple as before, but to
1337 make the semantics safer and (as a result) more useful.
1339 *** All objects returned from guardians are now properly alive.
1341 It is now guaranteed that any object referenced by an object returned
1342 from a guardian is alive. It's now impossible for a guardian to
1343 return a "contained" object before its "containing" object.
1345 One incompatible (but probably not very important) change resulting
1346 from this is that it is no longer possible to guard objects that
1347 indirectly reference themselves (i.e. are parts of cycles). If you do
1348 so accidentally, you'll get a warning.
1350 *** There are now two types of guardians: greedy and sharing.
1352 If you call (make-guardian #t) or just (make-guardian), you'll get a
1353 greedy guardian, and for (make-guardian #f) a sharing guardian.
1355 Greedy guardians are the default because they are more "defensive".
1356 You can only greedily guard an object once. If you guard an object
1357 more than once, once in a greedy guardian and the rest of times in
1358 sharing guardians, then it is guaranteed that the object won't be
1359 returned from sharing guardians as long as it is greedily guarded
1362 Guardians returned by calls to `make-guardian' can now take one more
1363 optional parameter, which says whether to throw an error in case an
1364 attempt is made to greedily guard an object that is already greedily
1365 guarded. The default is true, i.e. throw an error. If the parameter
1366 is false, the guardian invocation returns #t if guarding was
1367 successful and #f if it wasn't.
1369 Also, since greedy guarding is, in effect, a side-effecting operation
1370 on objects, a new function is introduced: `destroy-guardian!'.
1371 Invoking this function on a guardian renders it unoperative and, if
1372 the guardian is greedy, clears the "greedily guarded" property of the
1373 objects that were guarded by it, thus undoing the side effect.
1375 Note that all this hair is hardly very important, since guardian
1376 objects are usually permanent.
1378 ** Continuations created by call-with-current-continuation now accept
1379 any number of arguments, as required by R5RS.
1381 ** New function `issue-deprecation-warning'
1383 This function is used to display the deprecation messages that are
1384 controlled by GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATION as explained in the README.
1387 (issue-deprecation-warning "`id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.")
1391 ;; `id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.
1396 ** New syntax `begin-deprecated'
1398 When deprecated features are included (as determined by the configure
1399 option --enable-deprecated), `begin-deprecated' is identical to
1400 `begin'. When deprecated features are excluded, it always evaluates
1401 to `#f', ignoring the body forms.
1403 ** New function `make-object-property'
1405 This function returns a new `procedure with setter' P that can be used
1406 to attach a property to objects. When calling P as
1410 where `obj' is any kind of object, it attaches `val' to `obj' in such
1411 a way that it can be retrieved by calling P as
1415 This function will replace procedure properties, symbol properties and
1416 source properties eventually.
1418 ** Module (ice-9 optargs) now uses keywords instead of `#&'.
1420 Instead of #&optional, #&key, etc you should now use #:optional,
1421 #:key, etc. Since #:optional is a keyword, you can write it as just
1422 :optional when (read-set! keywords 'prefix) is active.
1424 The old reader syntax `#&' is still supported, but deprecated. It
1425 will be removed in the next release.
1427 ** New define-module option: pure
1429 Tells the module system not to include any bindings from the root
1434 (define-module (totally-empty-module)
1437 ** New define-module option: export NAME1 ...
1439 Export names NAME1 ...
1441 This option is required if you want to be able to export bindings from
1442 a module which doesn't import one of `define-public' or `export'.
1446 (define-module (foo)
1448 :use-module (ice-9 r5rs)
1451 ;;; Note that we're pure R5RS below this point!
1456 ** New function: object->string OBJ
1458 Return a Scheme string obtained by printing a given object.
1460 ** New function: port? X
1462 Returns a boolean indicating whether X is a port. Equivalent to
1463 `(or (input-port? X) (output-port? X))'.
1465 ** New function: file-port?
1467 Determines whether a given object is a port that is related to a file.
1469 ** New function: port-for-each proc
1471 Apply PROC to each port in the Guile port table in turn. The return
1472 value is unspecified. More specifically, PROC is applied exactly once
1473 to every port that exists in the system at the time PORT-FOR-EACH is
1474 invoked. Changes to the port table while PORT-FOR-EACH is running
1475 have no effect as far as PORT-FOR-EACH is concerned.
1477 ** New function: dup2 oldfd newfd
1479 A simple wrapper for the `dup2' system call. Copies the file
1480 descriptor OLDFD to descriptor number NEWFD, replacing the
1481 previous meaning of NEWFD. Both OLDFD and NEWFD must be integers.
1482 Unlike for dup->fdes or primitive-move->fdes, no attempt is made
1483 to move away ports which are using NEWFD. The return value is
1486 ** New function: close-fdes fd
1488 A simple wrapper for the `close' system call. Close file
1489 descriptor FD, which must be an integer. Unlike close (*note
1490 close: Ports and File Descriptors.), the file descriptor will be
1491 closed even if a port is using it. The return value is
1494 ** New function: crypt password salt
1496 Encrypts `password' using the standard unix password encryption
1499 ** New function: chroot path
1501 Change the root directory of the running process to `path'.
1503 ** New functions: getlogin, cuserid
1505 Return the login name or the user name of the current effective user
1508 ** New functions: getpriority which who, setpriority which who prio
1510 Get or set the priority of the running process.
1512 ** New function: getpass prompt
1514 Read a password from the terminal, first displaying `prompt' and
1517 ** New function: flock file operation
1519 Set/remove an advisory shared or exclusive lock on `file'.
1521 ** New functions: sethostname name, gethostname
1523 Set or get the hostname of the machine the current process is running
1526 ** New function: mkstemp! tmpl
1528 mkstemp creates a new unique file in the file system and returns a
1529 new buffered port open for reading and writing to the file. TMPL
1530 is a string specifying where the file should be created: it must
1531 end with `XXXXXX' and will be changed in place to return the name
1532 of the temporary file.
1534 ** New function: open-input-string string
1536 Return an input string port which delivers the characters from
1537 `string'. This procedure, together with `open-output-string' and
1538 `get-output-string' implements SRFI-6.
1540 ** New function: open-output-string
1542 Return an output string port which collects all data written to it.
1543 The data can then be retrieved by `get-output-string'.
1545 ** New function: get-output-string
1547 Return the contents of an output string port.
1549 ** New function: identity
1551 Return the argument.
1553 ** socket, connect, accept etc., now have support for IPv6. IPv6 addresses
1554 are represented in Scheme as integers with normal host byte ordering.
1556 ** New function: inet-pton family address
1558 Convert a printable string network address into an integer. Note that
1559 unlike the C version of this function, the result is an integer with
1560 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
1563 (inet-pton AF_INET "127.0.0.1") => 2130706433
1564 (inet-pton AF_INET6 "::1") => 1
1566 ** New function: inet-ntop family address
1568 Convert an integer network address into a printable string. Note that
1569 unlike the C version of this function, the input is an integer with
1570 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
1573 (inet-ntop AF_INET 2130706433) => "127.0.0.1"
1574 (inet-ntop AF_INET6 (- (expt 2 128) 1)) =>
1575 ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff
1579 Use `identity' instead.
1585 ** Deprecated: return-it
1589 ** Deprecated: string-character-length
1591 Use `string-length' instead.
1593 ** Deprecated: flags
1595 Use `logior' instead.
1597 ** Deprecated: close-all-ports-except.
1599 This was intended for closing ports in a child process after a fork,
1600 but it has the undesirable side effect of flushing buffers.
1601 port-for-each is more flexible.
1603 ** The (ice-9 popen) module now attempts to set up file descriptors in
1604 the child process from the current Scheme ports, instead of using the
1605 current values of file descriptors 0, 1, and 2 in the parent process.
1607 ** Removed function: builtin-weak-bindings
1609 There is no such concept as a weak binding any more.
1611 ** Removed constants: bignum-radix, scm-line-incrementors
1613 ** define-method: New syntax mandatory.
1615 The new method syntax is now mandatory:
1617 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ...) BODY ...)
1618 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ... . REST-ARG) BODY ...)
1620 ARG-SPEC ::= ARG-NAME | (ARG-NAME TYPE)
1621 REST-ARG ::= ARG-NAME
1623 If you have old code using the old syntax, import
1624 (oop goops old-define-method) before (oop goops) as in:
1626 (use-modules (oop goops old-define-method) (oop goops))
1628 ** Deprecated function: builtin-variable
1629 Removed function: builtin-bindings
1631 There is no longer a distinction between builtin or other variables.
1632 Use module system operations for all variables.
1634 ** Lazy-catch handlers are no longer allowed to return.
1636 That is, a call to `throw', `error', etc is now guaranteed to not
1639 ** Bugfixes for (ice-9 getopt-long)
1641 This module is now tested using test-suite/tests/getopt-long.test.
1642 The following bugs have been fixed:
1644 *** Parsing for options that are specified to have `optional' args now checks
1645 if the next element is an option instead of unconditionally taking it as the
1648 *** An error is now thrown for `--opt=val' when the option description
1649 does not specify `(value #t)' or `(value optional)'. This condition used to
1650 be accepted w/o error, contrary to the documentation.
1652 *** The error message for unrecognized options is now more informative.
1653 It used to be "not a record", an artifact of the implementation.
1655 *** The error message for `--opt' terminating the arg list (no value), when
1656 `(value #t)' is specified, is now more informative. It used to be "not enough
1659 *** "Clumped" single-char args now preserve trailing string, use it as arg.
1660 The expansion used to be like so:
1662 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "--xyz")
1664 Note that the "5d" is dropped. Now it is like so:
1666 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "5d" "--xyz")
1668 This enables single-char options to have adjoining arguments as long as their
1669 constituent characters are not potential single-char options.
1671 ** (ice-9 session) procedure `arity' now works with (ice-9 optargs) `lambda*'
1673 The `lambda*' and derivative forms in (ice-9 optargs) now set a procedure
1674 property `arglist', which can be retrieved by `arity'. The result is that
1675 `arity' can give more detailed information than before:
1679 guile> (use-modules (ice-9 optargs))
1680 guile> (define* (foo #:optional a b c) a)
1682 0 or more arguments in `lambda*:G0'.
1687 3 optional arguments: `a', `b' and `c'.
1688 guile> (define* (bar a b #:key c d #:allow-other-keys) a)
1690 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 2 keyword arguments: `c'
1691 and `d', other keywords allowed.
1692 guile> (define* (baz a b #:optional c #:rest r) a)
1694 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 1 optional argument: `c',
1697 * Changes to the C interface
1699 ** Types have been renamed from scm_*_t to scm_t_*.
1701 This has been done for POSIX sake. It reserves identifiers ending
1702 with "_t". What a concept.
1704 The old names are still available with status `deprecated'.
1706 ** scm_t_bits (former scm_bits_t) is now a unsigned type.
1708 ** Deprecated features have been removed.
1712 SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP SCM_ICHRP, SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR
1713 SCM_SETJMPBUF SCM_NSTRINGP SCM_NRWSTRINGP SCM_NVECTORP SCM_DOUBLE_CELLP
1715 *** C Functions removed
1717 scm_sysmissing scm_tag scm_tc16_flo scm_tc_flo
1718 scm_fseek - replaced by scm_seek.
1719 gc-thunk - replaced by after-gc-hook.
1720 gh_int2scmb - replaced by gh_bool2scm.
1721 scm_tc_dblr - replaced by scm_tc16_real.
1722 scm_tc_dblc - replaced by scm_tc16_complex.
1723 scm_list_star - replaced by scm_cons_star.
1725 ** Deprecated: scm_makfromstr
1727 Use scm_mem2string instead.
1729 ** Deprecated: scm_make_shared_substring
1731 Explicit shared substrings will disappear from Guile.
1733 Instead, "normal" strings will be implemented using sharing
1734 internally, combined with a copy-on-write strategy.
1736 ** Deprecated: scm_read_only_string_p
1738 The concept of read-only strings will disappear in next release of
1741 ** Deprecated: scm_sloppy_memq, scm_sloppy_memv, scm_sloppy_member
1743 Instead, use scm_c_memq or scm_memq, scm_memv, scm_member.
1745 ** New functions: scm_call_0, scm_call_1, scm_call_2, scm_call_3
1747 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments.
1751 scm_call_1 (proc, arg1);
1753 ** New functions: scm_apply_0, scm_apply_1, scm_apply_2, scm_apply_3
1755 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments and a list
1760 scm_apply_1 (proc, arg1, args);
1762 ** New functions: scm_list_1, scm_list_2, scm_list_3, scm_list_4, scm_list_5
1764 Create a list of the given number of elements.
1766 ** Renamed function: scm_listify has been replaced by scm_list_n.
1768 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_LIST0, SCM_LIST1, SCM_LIST2, SCM_LIST3, SCM_LIST4,
1769 SCM_LIST5, SCM_LIST6, SCM_LIST7, SCM_LIST8, SCM_LIST9.
1771 Use functions scm_list_N instead.
1773 ** New function: scm_c_read (SCM port, void *buffer, scm_sizet size)
1775 Used by an application to read arbitrary number of bytes from a port.
1776 Same semantics as libc read, except that scm_c_read only returns less
1777 than SIZE bytes if at end-of-file.
1779 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
1781 ** New function: scm_c_write (SCM port, const void *ptr, scm_sizet size)
1783 Used by an application to write arbitrary number of bytes to an SCM
1784 port. Similar semantics as libc write. However, unlike libc
1785 write, scm_c_write writes the requested number of bytes and has no
1788 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
1790 ** New function: scm_init_guile ()
1792 In contrast to scm_boot_guile, scm_init_guile will return normally
1793 after initializing Guile. It is not available on all systems, tho.
1795 ** New functions: scm_str2symbol, scm_mem2symbol
1797 The function scm_str2symbol takes a const char* pointing to a zero-terminated
1798 field of characters and creates a scheme symbol object from that C string.
1799 The function scm_mem2symbol takes a const char* and a number of characters and
1800 creates a symbol from the characters in that memory area.
1802 ** New functions: scm_primitive_make_property
1803 scm_primitive_property_ref
1804 scm_primitive_property_set_x
1805 scm_primitive_property_del_x
1807 These functions implement a new way to deal with object properties.
1808 See libguile/properties.c for their documentation.
1810 ** New function: scm_done_free (long size)
1812 This function is the inverse of scm_done_malloc. Use it to report the
1813 amount of smob memory you free. The previous method, which involved
1814 calling scm_done_malloc with negative argument, was somewhat
1815 unintuitive (and is still available, of course).
1817 ** New function: scm_c_memq (SCM obj, SCM list)
1819 This function provides a fast C level alternative for scm_memq for the case
1820 that the list parameter is known to be a proper list. The function is a
1821 replacement for scm_sloppy_memq, but is stricter in its requirements on its
1822 list input parameter, since for anything else but a proper list the function's
1823 behaviour is undefined - it may even crash or loop endlessly. Further, for
1824 the case that the object is not found in the list, scm_c_memq returns #f which
1825 is similar to scm_memq, but different from scm_sloppy_memq's behaviour.
1827 ** New functions: scm_remember_upto_here_1, scm_remember_upto_here_2,
1828 scm_remember_upto_here
1830 These functions replace the function scm_remember.
1832 ** Deprecated function: scm_remember
1834 Use one of the new functions scm_remember_upto_here_1,
1835 scm_remember_upto_here_2 or scm_remember_upto_here instead.
1837 ** New function: scm_allocate_string
1839 This function replaces the function scm_makstr.
1841 ** Deprecated function: scm_makstr
1843 Use the new function scm_allocate_string instead.
1845 ** New global variable scm_gc_running_p introduced.
1847 Use this variable to find out if garbage collection is being executed. Up to
1848 now applications have used scm_gc_heap_lock to test if garbage collection was
1849 running, which also works because of the fact that up to know only the garbage
1850 collector has set this variable. But, this is an implementation detail that
1851 may change. Further, scm_gc_heap_lock is not set throughout gc, thus the use
1852 of this variable is (and has been) not fully safe anyway.
1854 ** New macros: SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH
1856 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
1858 ** New macros: SCM_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_CCLO_LENGTH, SCM_STACK_LENGTH,
1859 SCM_STRING_LENGTH, SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
1860 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH.
1862 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH.
1864 ** New macros: SCM_SET_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH,
1865 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
1866 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH
1868 Use these instead of SCM_SETLENGTH
1870 ** New macros: SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_CCLO_BASE,
1871 SCM_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_COMPLEX_MEM,
1874 Use these instead of SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS or
1877 ** New macros: SCM_SET_BIGNUM_BASE, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS,
1878 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE,
1881 Use these instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
1883 ** New macro: SCM_BITVECTOR_P
1885 ** New macro: SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X
1887 Use instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
1889 ** New macros: SCM_DIR_OPEN_P, SCM_DIR_FLAG_OPEN
1891 For directory objects, use these instead of SCM_OPDIRP and SCM_OPN.
1893 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_OUTOFRANGE, SCM_NALLOC, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL,
1894 SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL,
1895 SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD,
1896 SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS, SCM_SYMBOL_SLOTS, SCM_SLOTS, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
1897 SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_FREEP, SCM_NFREEP, SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS,
1898 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY,
1899 SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_HUGE_LENGTH,
1900 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
1901 SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP, SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, SCM_ROCHARS,
1902 SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_GC8MARKP,
1903 SCM_SETGC8MARK, SCM_CLRGC8MARK, SCM_GCTYP16, SCM_GCCDR, SCM_SUBR_DOC,
1904 SCM_OPDIRP, SCM_VALIDATE_OPDIR, SCM_WTA, RETURN_SCM_WTA, SCM_CONST_LONG,
1905 SCM_WNA, SCM_FUNC_NAME, SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_COPY,
1906 SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_DEF_COPY, SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP, SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP,
1907 SCM_SETAND_CDR, SCM_SETOR_CDR, SCM_SETAND_CAR, SCM_SETOR_CAR
1909 Use SCM_ASSERT_RANGE or SCM_VALIDATE_XXX_RANGE instead of SCM_OUTOFRANGE.
1910 Use scm_memory_error instead of SCM_NALLOC.
1911 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP.
1912 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR.
1913 Use SCM_FREE_CELL_P instead of SCM_FREEP/SCM_NFREEP
1914 Use a type specific accessor macro instead of SCM_CHARS/SCM_UCHARS.
1915 Use a type specific accessor instead of SCM(_|_RO|_HUGE_)LENGTH.
1916 Use SCM_VALIDATE_(SYMBOL|STRING) instead of SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING.
1917 Use SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
1918 Use SCM_STRINGP or SCM_SYMBOLP instead of SCM_ROSTRINGP.
1919 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_RWSTRINGP.
1920 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING.
1921 Use SCM_STRING_CHARS instead of SCM_ROCHARS.
1922 Use SCM_STRING_UCHARS instead of SCM_ROUCHARS.
1923 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETLENGTH.
1924 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
1925 Use a type specific length macro instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
1926 Use SCM_GCMARKP instead of SCM_GC8MARKP.
1927 Use SCM_SETGCMARK instead of SCM_SETGC8MARK.
1928 Use SCM_CLRGCMARK instead of SCM_CLRGC8MARK.
1929 Use SCM_TYP16 instead of SCM_GCTYP16.
1930 Use SCM_CDR instead of SCM_GCCDR.
1931 Use SCM_DIR_OPEN_P instead of SCM_OPDIRP.
1932 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of SCM_WTA.
1933 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of RETURN_SCM_WTA.
1934 Use SCM_VCELL_INIT instead of SCM_CONST_LONG.
1935 Use SCM_WRONG_NUM_ARGS instead of SCM_WNA.
1936 Use SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP.
1937 Use !SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP.
1939 ** Removed function: scm_struct_init
1941 ** Removed variable: scm_symhash_dim
1943 ** Renamed function: scm_make_cont has been replaced by
1944 scm_make_continuation, which has a different interface.
1946 ** Deprecated function: scm_call_catching_errors
1948 Use scm_catch or scm_lazy_catch from throw.[ch] instead.
1950 ** Deprecated function: scm_strhash
1952 Use scm_string_hash instead.
1954 ** Deprecated function: scm_vector_set_length_x
1956 Instead, create a fresh vector of the desired size and copy the contents.
1958 ** scm_gensym has changed prototype
1960 scm_gensym now only takes one argument.
1962 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc7_ssymbol, scm_tc7_msymbol, scm_tcs_symbols,
1965 There is now only a single symbol type scm_tc7_symbol.
1966 The tag scm_tc7_lvector was not used anyway.
1968 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe, scm_set_smob_mfpe.
1970 Use scm_make_smob_type and scm_set_smob_XXX instead.
1972 ** New function scm_set_smob_apply.
1974 This can be used to set an apply function to a smob type.
1976 ** Deprecated function: scm_strprint_obj
1978 Use scm_object_to_string instead.
1980 ** Deprecated function: scm_wta
1982 Use scm_wrong_type_arg, or another appropriate error signalling function
1985 ** Explicit support for obarrays has been deprecated.
1987 Use `scm_str2symbol' and the generic hashtable functions instead.
1989 ** The concept of `vcells' has been deprecated.
1991 The data type `variable' is now used exclusively. `Vcells' have been
1992 a low-level concept so you are likely not affected by this change.
1994 *** Deprecated functions: scm_sym2vcell, scm_sysintern,
1995 scm_sysintern0, scm_symbol_value0, scm_intern, scm_intern0.
1997 Use scm_c_define or scm_c_lookup instead, as appropriate.
1999 *** New functions: scm_c_module_lookup, scm_c_lookup,
2000 scm_c_module_define, scm_c_define, scm_module_lookup, scm_lookup,
2001 scm_module_define, scm_define.
2003 These functions work with variables instead of with vcells.
2005 ** New functions for creating and defining `subr's and `gsubr's.
2007 The new functions more clearly distinguish between creating a subr (or
2008 gsubr) object and adding it to the current module.
2010 These new functions are available: scm_c_make_subr, scm_c_define_subr,
2011 scm_c_make_subr_with_generic, scm_c_define_subr_with_generic,
2012 scm_c_make_gsubr, scm_c_define_gsubr, scm_c_make_gsubr_with_generic,
2013 scm_c_define_gsubr_with_generic.
2015 ** Deprecated functions: scm_make_subr, scm_make_subr_opt,
2016 scm_make_subr_with_generic, scm_make_gsubr,
2017 scm_make_gsubr_with_generic.
2019 Use the new ones from above instead.
2021 ** C interface to the module system has changed.
2023 While we suggest that you avoid as many explicit module system
2024 operations from C as possible for the time being, the C interface has
2025 been made more similar to the high-level Scheme module system.
2027 *** New functions: scm_c_define_module, scm_c_use_module,
2028 scm_c_export, scm_c_resolve_module.
2030 They mostly work like their Scheme namesakes. scm_c_define_module
2031 takes a function that is called a context where the new module is
2034 *** Deprecated functions: scm_the_root_module, scm_make_module,
2035 scm_ensure_user_module, scm_load_scheme_module.
2037 Use the new functions instead.
2039 ** Renamed function: scm_internal_with_fluids becomes
2042 scm_internal_with_fluids is available as a deprecated function.
2044 ** New function: scm_c_with_fluid.
2046 Just like scm_c_with_fluids, but takes one fluid and one value instead
2049 ** Deprecated typedefs: long_long, ulong_long.
2051 They are of questionable utility and they pollute the global
2054 ** Deprecated typedef: scm_sizet
2056 It is of questionable utility now that Guile requires ANSI C, and is
2059 ** Deprecated typedefs: scm_port_rw_active, scm_port,
2060 scm_ptob_descriptor, scm_debug_info, scm_debug_frame, scm_fport,
2061 scm_option, scm_rstate, scm_rng, scm_array, scm_array_dim.
2063 Made more compliant with the naming policy by adding a _t at the end.
2065 ** Deprecated functions: scm_mkbig, scm_big2num, scm_adjbig,
2066 scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl
2068 With the exception of the mysterious scm_2ulong2big, they are still
2069 available under new names (scm_i_mkbig etc). These functions are not
2070 intended to be used in user code. You should avoid dealing with
2071 bignums directly, and should deal with numbers in general (which can
2074 ** Change in behavior: scm_num2long, scm_num2ulong
2076 The scm_num2[u]long functions don't any longer accept an inexact
2077 argument. This change in behavior is motivated by concordance with
2078 R5RS: It is more common that a primitive doesn't want to accept an
2079 inexact for an exact.
2081 ** New functions: scm_short2num, scm_ushort2num, scm_int2num,
2082 scm_uint2num, scm_size2num, scm_ptrdiff2num, scm_num2short,
2083 scm_num2ushort, scm_num2int, scm_num2uint, scm_num2ptrdiff,
2086 These are conversion functions between the various ANSI C integral
2087 types and Scheme numbers. NOTE: The scm_num2xxx functions don't
2088 accept an inexact argument.
2090 ** New functions: scm_float2num, scm_double2num,
2091 scm_num2float, scm_num2double.
2093 These are conversion functions between the two ANSI C float types and
2096 ** New number validation macros:
2097 SCM_NUM2{SIZE,PTRDIFF,SHORT,USHORT,INT,UINT}[_DEF]
2101 ** New functions: scm_gc_protect_object, scm_gc_unprotect_object
2103 These are just nicer-named old scm_protect_object and
2104 scm_unprotect_object.
2106 ** Deprecated functions: scm_protect_object, scm_unprotect_object
2108 ** New functions: scm_gc_[un]register_root, scm_gc_[un]register_roots
2110 These functions can be used to register pointers to locations that
2113 ** Deprecated function: scm_create_hook.
2115 Its sins are: misleading name, non-modularity and lack of general
2119 Changes since Guile 1.3.4:
2121 * Changes to the distribution
2123 ** Trees from nightly snapshots and CVS now require you to run autogen.sh.
2125 We've changed the way we handle generated files in the Guile source
2126 repository. As a result, the procedure for building trees obtained
2127 from the nightly FTP snapshots or via CVS has changed:
2128 - You must have appropriate versions of autoconf, automake, and
2129 libtool installed on your system. See README for info on how to
2130 obtain these programs.
2131 - Before configuring the tree, you must first run the script
2132 `autogen.sh' at the top of the source tree.
2134 The Guile repository used to contain not only source files, written by
2135 humans, but also some generated files, like configure scripts and
2136 Makefile.in files. Even though the contents of these files could be
2137 derived mechanically from other files present, we thought it would
2138 make the tree easier to build if we checked them into CVS.
2140 However, this approach means that minor differences between
2141 developer's installed tools and habits affected the whole team.
2142 So we have removed the generated files from the repository, and
2143 added the autogen.sh script, which will reconstruct them
2147 ** configure now has experimental options to remove support for certain
2150 --disable-arrays omit array and uniform array support
2151 --disable-posix omit posix interfaces
2152 --disable-networking omit networking interfaces
2153 --disable-regex omit regular expression interfaces
2155 These are likely to become separate modules some day.
2157 ** New configure option --enable-debug-freelist
2159 This enables a debugging version of SCM_NEWCELL(), and also registers
2160 an extra primitive, the setter `gc-set-debug-check-freelist!'.
2162 Configure with the --enable-debug-freelist option to enable
2163 the gc-set-debug-check-freelist! primitive, and then use:
2165 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #t) # turn on checking of the freelist
2166 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #f) # turn off checking
2168 Checking of the freelist forces a traversal of the freelist and
2169 a garbage collection before each allocation of a cell. This can
2170 slow down the interpreter dramatically, so the setter should be used to
2171 turn on this extra processing only when necessary.
2173 ** New configure option --enable-debug-malloc
2175 Include code for debugging of calls to scm_must_malloc/realloc/free.
2179 1. objects freed by scm_must_free has been mallocated by scm_must_malloc
2180 2. objects reallocated by scm_must_realloc has been allocated by
2182 3. reallocated objects are reallocated with the same what string
2184 But, most importantly, it records the number of allocated objects of
2185 each kind. This is useful when searching for memory leaks.
2187 A Guile compiled with this option provides the primitive
2188 `malloc-stats' which returns an alist with pairs of kind and the
2189 number of objects of that kind.
2191 ** All includes are now referenced relative to the root directory
2193 Since some users have had problems with mixups between Guile and
2194 system headers, we have decided to always refer to Guile headers via
2195 their parent directories. This essentially creates a "private name
2196 space" for Guile headers. This means that the compiler only is given
2197 -I options for the root build and root source directory.
2199 ** Header files kw.h and genio.h have been removed.
2201 ** The module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) has been removed.
2203 ** New module (ice-9 documentation)
2205 Implements the interface to documentation strings associated with
2208 ** New module (ice-9 time)
2210 Provides a macro `time', which displays execution time of a given form.
2212 ** New module (ice-9 history)
2214 Loading this module enables value history in the repl.
2216 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
2218 ** New command line option --debug
2220 Start Guile with debugging evaluator and backtraces enabled.
2222 This is useful when debugging your .guile init file or scripts.
2224 ** New help facility
2226 Usage: (help NAME) gives documentation about objects named NAME (a symbol)
2227 (help REGEXP) ditto for objects with names matching REGEXP (a string)
2228 (help 'NAME) gives documentation for NAME, even if it is not an object
2229 (help ,EXPR) gives documentation for object returned by EXPR
2230 (help (my module)) gives module commentary for `(my module)'
2231 (help) gives this text
2233 `help' searches among bindings exported from loaded modules, while
2234 `apropos' searches among bindings visible from the "current" module.
2236 Examples: (help help)
2238 (help "output-string")
2240 ** `help' and `apropos' now prints full module names
2242 ** Dynamic linking now uses libltdl from the libtool package.
2244 The old system dependent code for doing dynamic linking has been
2245 replaced with calls to the libltdl functions which do all the hairy
2248 The major improvement is that you can now directly pass libtool
2249 library names like "libfoo.la" to `dynamic-link' and `dynamic-link'
2250 will be able to do the best shared library job you can get, via
2253 The way dynamic libraries are found has changed and is not really
2254 portable across platforms, probably. It is therefore recommended to
2255 use absolute filenames when possible.
2257 If you pass a filename without an extension to `dynamic-link', it will
2258 try a few appropriate ones. Thus, the most platform ignorant way is
2259 to specify a name like "libfoo", without any directories and
2262 ** Guile COOP threads are now compatible with LinuxThreads
2264 Previously, COOP threading wasn't possible in applications linked with
2265 Linux POSIX threads due to their use of the stack pointer to find the
2266 thread context. This has now been fixed with a workaround which uses
2267 the pthreads to allocate the stack.
2269 ** New primitives: `pkgdata-dir', `site-dir', `library-dir'
2271 ** Positions of erring expression in scripts
2273 With version 1.3.4, the location of the erring expression in Guile
2274 scipts is no longer automatically reported. (This should have been
2275 documented before the 1.3.4 release.)
2277 You can get this information by enabling recording of positions of
2278 source expressions and running the debugging evaluator. Put this at
2279 the top of your script (or in your "site" file):
2281 (read-enable 'positions)
2282 (debug-enable 'debug)
2284 ** Backtraces in scripts
2286 It is now possible to get backtraces in scripts.
2290 (debug-enable 'debug 'backtrace)
2292 at the top of the script.
2294 (The first options enables the debugging evaluator.
2295 The second enables backtraces.)
2297 ** Part of module system symbol lookup now implemented in C
2299 The eval closure of most modules is now implemented in C. Since this
2300 was one of the bottlenecks for loading speed, Guile now loads code
2301 substantially faster than before.
2303 ** Attempting to get the value of an unbound variable now produces
2304 an exception with a key of 'unbound-variable instead of 'misc-error.
2306 ** The initial default output port is now unbuffered if it's using a
2307 tty device. Previously in this situation it was line-buffered.
2309 ** New hook: after-gc-hook
2311 after-gc-hook takes over the role of gc-thunk. This hook is run at
2312 the first SCM_TICK after a GC. (Thus, the code is run at the same
2313 point during evaluation as signal handlers.)
2315 Note that this hook should be used only for diagnostic and debugging
2316 purposes. It is not certain that it will continue to be well-defined
2317 when this hook is run in the future.
2319 C programmers: Note the new C level hooks scm_before_gc_c_hook,
2320 scm_before_sweep_c_hook, scm_after_gc_c_hook.
2322 ** Improvements to garbage collector
2324 Guile 1.4 has a new policy for triggering heap allocation and
2325 determining the sizes of heap segments. It fixes a number of problems
2328 1. The new policy can handle two separate pools of cells
2329 (2-word/4-word) better. (The old policy would run wild, allocating
2330 more and more memory for certain programs.)
2332 2. The old code would sometimes allocate far too much heap so that the
2333 Guile process became gigantic. The new code avoids this.
2335 3. The old code would sometimes allocate too little so that few cells
2336 were freed at GC so that, in turn, too much time was spent in GC.
2338 4. The old code would often trigger heap allocation several times in a
2339 row. (The new scheme predicts how large the segments needs to be
2340 in order not to need further allocation.)
2342 All in all, the new GC policy will make larger applications more
2345 The new GC scheme also is prepared for POSIX threading. Threads can
2346 allocate private pools of cells ("clusters") with just a single
2347 function call. Allocation of single cells from such a cluster can
2348 then proceed without any need of inter-thread synchronization.
2350 ** New environment variables controlling GC parameters
2352 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE Maximal segment size
2355 Allocation of 2-word cell heaps:
2357 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1 Size of initial heap segment in bytes
2360 GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1 Minimum number of freed cells at each
2361 GC in percent of total heap size
2364 Allocation of 4-word cell heaps
2365 (used for real numbers and misc other objects):
2367 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2
2369 (See entry "Way for application to customize GC parameters" under
2370 section "Changes to the scm_ interface" below.)
2372 ** Guile now implements reals using 4-word cells
2374 This speeds up computation with reals. (They were earlier allocated
2375 with `malloc'.) There is still some room for optimizations, however.
2377 ** Some further steps toward POSIX thread support have been taken
2379 *** Guile's critical sections (SCM_DEFER/ALLOW_INTS)
2380 don't have much effect any longer, and many of them will be removed in
2384 are only handled at the top of the evaluator loop, immediately after
2385 I/O, and in scm_equalp.
2387 *** The GC can allocate thread private pools of pairs.
2389 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
2391 ** close-input-port and close-output-port are now R5RS
2393 These procedures have been turned into primitives and have R5RS behaviour.
2395 ** New procedure: simple-format PORT MESSAGE ARG1 ...
2397 (ice-9 boot) makes `format' an alias for `simple-format' until possibly
2398 extended by the more sophisticated version in (ice-9 format)
2400 (simple-format port message . args)
2401 Write MESSAGE to DESTINATION, defaulting to `current-output-port'.
2402 MESSAGE can contain ~A (was %s) and ~S (was %S) escapes. When printed,
2403 the escapes are replaced with corresponding members of ARGS:
2404 ~A formats using `display' and ~S formats using `write'.
2405 If DESTINATION is #t, then use the `current-output-port',
2406 if DESTINATION is #f, then return a string containing the formatted text.
2407 Does not add a trailing newline."
2409 ** string-ref: the second argument is no longer optional.
2411 ** string, list->string: no longer accept strings in their arguments,
2412 only characters, for compatibility with R5RS.
2414 ** New procedure: port-closed? PORT
2415 Returns #t if PORT is closed or #f if it is open.
2417 ** Deprecated: list*
2419 The list* functionality is now provided by cons* (SRFI-1 compliant)
2421 ** New procedure: cons* ARG1 ARG2 ... ARGn
2423 Like `list', but the last arg provides the tail of the constructed list,
2424 returning (cons ARG1 (cons ARG2 (cons ... ARGn))).
2426 Requires at least one argument. If given one argument, that argument
2427 is returned as result.
2429 This function is called `list*' in some other Schemes and in Common LISP.
2431 ** Removed deprecated: serial-map, serial-array-copy!, serial-array-map!
2433 ** New procedure: object-documentation OBJECT
2435 Returns the documentation string associated with OBJECT. The
2436 procedure uses a caching mechanism so that subsequent lookups are
2439 Exported by (ice-9 documentation).
2441 ** module-name now returns full names of modules
2443 Previously, only the last part of the name was returned (`session' for
2444 `(ice-9 session)'). Ex: `(ice-9 session)'.
2446 * Changes to the gh_ interface
2448 ** Deprecated: gh_int2scmb
2450 Use gh_bool2scm instead.
2452 * Changes to the scm_ interface
2454 ** Guile primitives now carry docstrings!
2456 Thanks to Greg Badros!
2458 ** Guile primitives are defined in a new way: SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
2460 Now Guile primitives are defined using the SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
2461 macros and must contain a docstring that is extracted into foo.doc using a new
2462 guile-doc-snarf script (that uses guile-doc-snarf.awk).
2464 However, a major overhaul of these macros is scheduled for the next release of
2467 ** Guile primitives use a new technique for validation of arguments
2469 SCM_VALIDATE_* macros are defined to ease the redundancy and improve
2470 the readability of argument checking.
2472 ** All (nearly?) K&R prototypes for functions replaced with ANSI C equivalents.
2474 ** New macros: SCM_PACK, SCM_UNPACK
2476 Compose/decompose an SCM value.
2478 The SCM type is now treated as an abstract data type and may be defined as a
2479 long, a void* or as a struct, depending on the architecture and compile time
2480 options. This makes it easier to find several types of bugs, for example when
2481 SCM values are treated as integers without conversion. Values of the SCM type
2482 should be treated as "atomic" values. These macros are used when
2483 composing/decomposing an SCM value, either because you want to access
2484 individual bits, or because you want to treat it as an integer value.
2486 E.g., in order to set bit 7 in an SCM value x, use the expression
2488 SCM_PACK (SCM_UNPACK (x) | 0x80)
2490 ** The name property of hooks is deprecated.
2491 Thus, the use of SCM_HOOK_NAME and scm_make_hook_with_name is deprecated.
2493 You can emulate this feature by using object properties.
2495 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP, SCM_CRDY, SCM_ICHRP,
2496 SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR, SCM_SETJMPBUF, SCM_NSTRINGP, SCM_NRWSTRINGP,
2499 These macros will be removed in a future release of Guile.
2501 ** The following types, functions and macros from numbers.h are deprecated:
2502 scm_dblproc, SCM_UNEGFIXABLE, SCM_FLOBUFLEN, SCM_INEXP, SCM_CPLXP, SCM_REAL,
2503 SCM_IMAG, SCM_REALPART, scm_makdbl, SCM_SINGP, SCM_NUM2DBL, SCM_NO_BIGDIG
2505 ** Port internals: the rw_random variable in the scm_port structure
2506 must be set to non-zero in any random access port. In recent Guile
2507 releases it was only set for bidirectional random-access ports.
2509 ** Port internals: the seek ptob procedure is now responsible for
2510 resetting the buffers if required. The change was made so that in the
2511 special case of reading the current position (i.e., seek p 0 SEEK_CUR)
2512 the fport and strport ptobs can avoid resetting the buffers,
2513 in particular to avoid discarding unread chars. An existing port
2514 type can be fixed by adding something like the following to the
2515 beginning of the ptob seek procedure:
2517 if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_READ)
2518 scm_end_input (object);
2519 else if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_WRITE)
2520 ptob->flush (object);
2522 although to actually avoid resetting the buffers and discard unread
2523 chars requires further hacking that depends on the characteristics
2526 ** Deprecated functions: scm_fseek, scm_tag
2528 These functions are no longer used and will be removed in a future version.
2530 ** The scm_sysmissing procedure is no longer used in libguile.
2531 Unless it turns out to be unexpectedly useful to somebody, it will be
2532 removed in a future version.
2534 ** The format of error message strings has changed
2536 The two C procedures: scm_display_error and scm_error, as well as the
2537 primitive `scm-error', now use scm_simple_format to do their work.
2538 This means that the message strings of all code must be updated to use
2539 ~A where %s was used before, and ~S where %S was used before.
2541 During the period when there still are a lot of old Guiles out there,
2542 you might want to support both old and new versions of Guile.
2544 There are basically two methods to achieve this. Both methods use
2547 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(scm_simple_format)
2549 in your configure.in.
2551 Method 1: Use the string concatenation features of ANSI C's
2556 #ifdef HAVE_SCM_SIMPLE_FORMAT
2562 Then represent each of your error messages using a preprocessor macro:
2564 #define E_SPIDER_ERROR "There's a spider in your " ## FMT_S ## "!!!"
2568 (define fmt-s (if (defined? 'simple-format) "~S" "%S"))
2569 (define make-message string-append)
2571 (define e-spider-error (make-message "There's a spider in your " fmt-s "!!!"))
2573 Method 2: Use the oldfmt function found in doc/oldfmt.c.
2577 scm_misc_error ("picnic", scm_c_oldfmt0 ("There's a spider in your ~S!!!"),
2582 (scm-error 'misc-error "picnic" (oldfmt "There's a spider in your ~S!!!")
2586 ** Deprecated: coop_mutex_init, coop_condition_variable_init
2588 Don't use the functions coop_mutex_init and
2589 coop_condition_variable_init. They will change.
2591 Use scm_mutex_init and scm_cond_init instead.
2593 ** New function: int scm_cond_timedwait (scm_cond_t *COND, scm_mutex_t *MUTEX, const struct timespec *ABSTIME)
2594 `scm_cond_timedwait' atomically unlocks MUTEX and waits on
2595 COND, as `scm_cond_wait' does, but it also bounds the duration
2596 of the wait. If COND has not been signaled before time ABSTIME,
2597 the mutex MUTEX is re-acquired and `scm_cond_timedwait'
2598 returns the error code `ETIMEDOUT'.
2600 The ABSTIME parameter specifies an absolute time, with the same
2601 origin as `time' and `gettimeofday': an ABSTIME of 0 corresponds
2602 to 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970.
2604 ** New function: scm_cond_broadcast (scm_cond_t *COND)
2605 `scm_cond_broadcast' restarts all the threads that are waiting
2606 on the condition variable COND. Nothing happens if no threads are
2609 ** New function: scm_key_create (scm_key_t *KEY, void (*destr_function) (void *))
2610 `scm_key_create' allocates a new TSD key. The key is stored in
2611 the location pointed to by KEY. There is no limit on the number
2612 of keys allocated at a given time. The value initially associated
2613 with the returned key is `NULL' in all currently executing threads.
2615 The DESTR_FUNCTION argument, if not `NULL', specifies a destructor
2616 function associated with the key. When a thread terminates,
2617 DESTR_FUNCTION is called on the value associated with the key in
2618 that thread. The DESTR_FUNCTION is not called if a key is deleted
2619 with `scm_key_delete' or a value is changed with
2620 `scm_setspecific'. The order in which destructor functions are
2621 called at thread termination time is unspecified.
2623 Destructors are not yet implemented.
2625 ** New function: scm_setspecific (scm_key_t KEY, const void *POINTER)
2626 `scm_setspecific' changes the value associated with KEY in the
2627 calling thread, storing the given POINTER instead.
2629 ** New function: scm_getspecific (scm_key_t KEY)
2630 `scm_getspecific' returns the value currently associated with
2631 KEY in the calling thread.
2633 ** New function: scm_key_delete (scm_key_t KEY)
2634 `scm_key_delete' deallocates a TSD key. It does not check
2635 whether non-`NULL' values are associated with that key in the
2636 currently executing threads, nor call the destructor function
2637 associated with the key.
2639 ** New function: scm_c_hook_init (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *HOOK_DATA, scm_c_hook_type_t TYPE)
2641 Initialize a C level hook HOOK with associated HOOK_DATA and type
2642 TYPE. (See scm_c_hook_run ().)
2644 ** New function: scm_c_hook_add (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA, int APPENDP)
2646 Add hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA to HOOK. If APPENDP
2647 is true, add it last, otherwise first. The same FUNC can be added
2648 multiple times if FUNC_DATA differ and vice versa.
2650 ** New function: scm_c_hook_remove (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA)
2652 Remove hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA from HOOK. A
2653 function is only removed if both FUNC and FUNC_DATA matches.
2655 ** New function: void *scm_c_hook_run (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *DATA)
2657 Run hook HOOK passing DATA to the hook functions.
2659 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_NORMAL, all hook functions are run. The value
2660 returned is undefined.
2662 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_OR, hook functions are run until a function
2663 returns a non-NULL value. This value is returned as the result of
2664 scm_c_hook_run. If all functions return NULL, NULL is returned.
2666 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_AND, hook functions are run until a function
2667 returns a NULL value, and NULL is returned. If all functions returns
2668 a non-NULL value, the last value is returned.
2670 ** New C level GC hooks
2672 Five new C level hooks has been added to the garbage collector.
2674 scm_before_gc_c_hook
2677 are run before locking and after unlocking the heap. The system is
2678 thus in a mode where evaluation can take place. (Except that
2679 scm_before_gc_c_hook must not allocate new cells.)
2681 scm_before_mark_c_hook
2682 scm_before_sweep_c_hook
2683 scm_after_sweep_c_hook
2685 are run when the heap is locked. These are intended for extension of
2686 the GC in a modular fashion. Examples are the weaks and guardians
2689 ** Way for application to customize GC parameters
2691 The application can set up other default values for the GC heap
2692 allocation parameters
2694 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_1, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1,
2695 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2,
2696 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE,
2700 scm_default_init_heap_size_1, scm_default_min_yield_1,
2701 scm_default_init_heap_size_2, scm_default_min_yield_2,
2702 scm_default_max_segment_size
2704 respectively before callong scm_boot_guile.
2706 (See entry "New environment variables ..." in section
2707 "Changes to the stand-alone interpreter" above.)
2709 ** scm_protect_object/scm_unprotect_object now nest
2711 This means that you can call scm_protect_object multiple times on an
2712 object and count on the object being protected until
2713 scm_unprotect_object has been call the same number of times.
2715 The functions also have better time complexity.
2717 Still, it is usually possible to structure the application in a way
2718 that you don't need to use these functions. For example, if you use a
2719 protected standard Guile list to keep track of live objects rather
2720 than some custom data type, objects will die a natural death when they
2721 are no longer needed.
2723 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc16_flo, scm_tc_flo, scm_tc_dblr, scm_tc_dblc
2725 Guile does not provide the float representation for inexact real numbers any
2726 more. Now, only doubles are used to represent inexact real numbers. Further,
2727 the tag names scm_tc_dblr and scm_tc_dblc have been changed to scm_tc16_real
2728 and scm_tc16_complex, respectively.
2730 ** Removed deprecated type scm_smobfuns
2732 ** Removed deprecated function scm_newsmob
2734 ** Warning: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe might become deprecated in a future release
2736 There is an ongoing discussion among the developers whether to
2737 deprecate `scm_make_smob_type_mfpe' or not. Please use the current
2738 standard interface (scm_make_smob_type, scm_set_smob_XXX) in new code
2739 until this issue has been settled.
2741 ** Removed deprecated type tag scm_tc16_kw
2743 ** Added type tag scm_tc16_keyword
2745 (This was introduced already in release 1.3.4 but was not documented
2748 ** gdb_print now prints "*** Guile not initialized ***" until Guile initialized
2750 * Changes to system call interfaces:
2752 ** The "select" procedure now tests port buffers for the ability to
2753 provide input or accept output. Previously only the underlying file
2754 descriptors were checked.
2756 ** New variable PIPE_BUF: the maximum number of bytes that can be
2757 atomically written to a pipe.
2759 ** If a facility is not available on the system when Guile is
2760 compiled, the corresponding primitive procedure will not be defined.
2761 Previously it would have been defined but would throw a system-error
2762 exception if called. Exception handlers which catch this case may
2763 need minor modification: an error will be thrown with key
2764 'unbound-variable instead of 'system-error. Alternatively it's
2765 now possible to use `defined?' to check whether the facility is
2768 ** Procedures which depend on the timezone should now give the correct
2769 result on systems which cache the TZ environment variable, even if TZ
2770 is changed without calling tzset.
2772 * Changes to the networking interfaces:
2774 ** New functions: htons, ntohs, htonl, ntohl: for converting short and
2775 long integers between network and host format. For now, it's not
2776 particularly convenient to do this kind of thing, but consider:
2778 (define write-network-long
2779 (lambda (value port)
2780 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
2781 (uniform-vector-set! v 0 (htonl value))
2782 (uniform-vector-write v port))))
2784 (define read-network-long
2786 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
2787 (uniform-vector-read! v port)
2788 (ntohl (uniform-vector-ref v 0)))))
2790 ** If inet-aton fails, it now throws an error with key 'misc-error
2791 instead of 'system-error, since errno is not relevant.
2793 ** Certain gethostbyname/gethostbyaddr failures now throw errors with
2794 specific keys instead of 'system-error. The latter is inappropriate
2795 since errno will not have been set. The keys are:
2796 'host-not-found, 'try-again, 'no-recovery and 'no-data.
2798 ** sethostent, setnetent, setprotoent, setservent: now take an
2799 optional argument STAYOPEN, which specifies whether the database
2800 remains open after a database entry is accessed randomly (e.g., using
2801 gethostbyname for the hosts database.) The default is #f. Previously
2805 Changes since Guile 1.3.2:
2807 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
2811 An initial version of the Guile debugger written by Chris Hanson has
2812 been added. The debugger is still under development but is included
2813 in the distribution anyway since it is already quite useful.
2819 after an error to enter the debugger. Type `help' inside the debugger
2820 for a description of available commands.
2822 If you prefer to have stack frames numbered and printed in
2823 anti-chronological order and prefer up in the stack to be down on the
2824 screen as is the case in gdb, you can put
2826 (debug-enable 'backwards)
2828 in your .guile startup file. (However, this means that Guile can't
2829 use indentation to indicate stack level.)
2831 The debugger is autoloaded into Guile at the first use.
2833 ** Further enhancements to backtraces
2835 There is a new debug option `width' which controls the maximum width
2836 on the screen of printed stack frames. Fancy printing parameters
2837 ("level" and "length" as in Common LISP) are adaptively adjusted for
2838 each stack frame to give maximum information while still fitting
2839 within the bounds. If the stack frame can't be made to fit by
2840 adjusting parameters, it is simply cut off at the end. This is marked
2843 ** Some modules are now only loaded when the repl is started
2845 The modules (ice-9 debug), (ice-9 session), (ice-9 threads) and (ice-9
2846 regex) are now loaded into (guile-user) only if the repl has been
2847 started. The effect is that the startup time for scripts has been
2848 reduced to 30% of what it was previously.
2850 Correctly written scripts load the modules they require at the top of
2851 the file and should not be affected by this change.
2853 ** Hooks are now represented as smobs
2855 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
2857 ** Readline support has changed again.
2859 The old (readline-activator) module is gone. Use (ice-9 readline)
2860 instead, which now contains all readline functionality. So the code
2861 to activate readline is now
2863 (use-modules (ice-9 readline))
2866 This should work at any time, including from the guile prompt.
2868 To avoid confusion about the terms of Guile's license, please only
2869 enable readline for your personal use; please don't make it the
2870 default for others. Here is why we make this rather odd-sounding
2873 Guile is normally licensed under a weakened form of the GNU General
2874 Public License, which allows you to link code with Guile without
2875 placing that code under the GPL. This exception is important to some
2878 However, since readline is distributed under the GNU General Public
2879 License, when you link Guile with readline, either statically or
2880 dynamically, you effectively change Guile's license to the strict GPL.
2881 Whenever you link any strictly GPL'd code into Guile, uses of Guile
2882 which are normally permitted become forbidden. This is a rather
2883 non-obvious consequence of the licensing terms.
2885 So, to make sure things remain clear, please let people choose for
2886 themselves whether to link GPL'd libraries like readline with Guile.
2888 ** regexp-substitute/global has changed slightly, but incompatibly.
2890 If you include a function in the item list, the string of the match
2891 object it receives is the same string passed to
2892 regexp-substitute/global, not some suffix of that string.
2893 Correspondingly, the match's positions are relative to the entire
2894 string, not the suffix.
2896 If the regexp can match the empty string, the way matches are chosen
2897 from the string has changed. regexp-substitute/global recognizes the
2898 same set of matches that list-matches does; see below.
2900 ** New function: list-matches REGEXP STRING [FLAGS]
2902 Return a list of match objects, one for every non-overlapping, maximal
2903 match of REGEXP in STRING. The matches appear in left-to-right order.
2904 list-matches only reports matches of the empty string if there are no
2905 other matches which begin on, end at, or include the empty match's
2908 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
2910 ** New function: fold-matches REGEXP STRING INIT PROC [FLAGS]
2912 For each match of REGEXP in STRING, apply PROC to the match object,
2913 and the last value PROC returned, or INIT for the first call. Return
2914 the last value returned by PROC. We apply PROC to the matches as they
2915 appear from left to right.
2917 This function recognizes matches according to the same criteria as
2920 Thus, you could define list-matches like this:
2922 (define (list-matches regexp string . flags)
2923 (reverse! (apply fold-matches regexp string '() cons flags)))
2925 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
2929 *** New function: hook? OBJ
2931 Return #t if OBJ is a hook, otherwise #f.
2933 *** New function: make-hook-with-name NAME [ARITY]
2935 Return a hook with name NAME and arity ARITY. The default value for
2936 ARITY is 0. The only effect of NAME is that it will appear when the
2937 hook object is printed to ease debugging.
2939 *** New function: hook-empty? HOOK
2941 Return #t if HOOK doesn't contain any procedures, otherwise #f.
2943 *** New function: hook->list HOOK
2945 Return a list of the procedures that are called when run-hook is
2948 ** `map' signals an error if its argument lists are not all the same length.
2950 This is the behavior required by R5RS, so this change is really a bug
2951 fix. But it seems to affect a lot of people's code, so we're
2952 mentioning it here anyway.
2954 ** Print-state handling has been made more transparent
2956 Under certain circumstances, ports are represented as a port with an
2957 associated print state. Earlier, this pair was represented as a pair
2958 (see "Some magic has been added to the printer" below). It is now
2959 indistinguishable (almost; see `get-print-state') from a port on the
2962 *** New function: port-with-print-state OUTPUT-PORT PRINT-STATE
2964 Return a new port with the associated print state PRINT-STATE.
2966 *** New function: get-print-state OUTPUT-PORT
2968 Return the print state associated with this port if it exists,
2969 otherwise return #f.
2971 *** New function: directory-stream? OBJECT
2973 Returns true iff OBJECT is a directory stream --- the sort of object
2974 returned by `opendir'.
2976 ** New function: using-readline?
2978 Return #t if readline is in use in the current repl.
2980 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
2982 Structs will be replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into Guile
2983 and use GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
2985 * Changes to the scm_ interface
2987 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
2989 The entire current struct interface (struct.c, struct.h) will be
2990 replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into libguile and use
2991 GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
2993 ** The internal representation of subr's has changed
2995 Instead of giving a hint to the subr name, the CAR field of the subr
2996 now contains an index to a subr entry in scm_subr_table.
2998 *** New variable: scm_subr_table
3000 An array of subr entries. A subr entry contains the name, properties
3001 and documentation associated with the subr. The properties and
3002 documentation slots are not yet used.
3004 ** A new scheme for "forwarding" calls to a builtin to a generic function
3006 It is now possible to extend the functionality of some Guile
3007 primitives by letting them defer a call to a GOOPS generic function on
3008 argument mismatch. This means that there is no loss of efficiency in
3013 (use-modules (oop goops)) ; Must be GOOPS version 0.2.
3014 (define-method + ((x <string>) (y <string>))
3015 (string-append x y))
3017 + will still be as efficient as usual in numerical calculations, but
3018 can also be used for concatenating strings.
3020 Who will be the first one to extend Guile's numerical tower to
3021 rationals? :) [OK, there a few other things to fix before this can
3022 be made in a clean way.]
3024 *** New snarf macros for defining primitives: SCM_GPROC, SCM_GPROC1
3026 New macro: SCM_GPROC (CNAME, SNAME, REQ, OPT, VAR, CFUNC, GENERIC)
3028 New macro: SCM_GPROC1 (CNAME, SNAME, TYPE, CFUNC, GENERIC)
3030 These do the same job as SCM_PROC and SCM_PROC1, but they also define
3031 a variable GENERIC which can be used by the dispatch macros below.
3033 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3035 *** New macros for forwarding control to a generic on arg type error
3037 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1 (GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
3039 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
3041 These correspond to the scm_wta function call, and have the same
3042 behaviour until the user has called the GOOPS primitive
3043 `enable-primitive-generic!'. After that, these macros will apply the
3044 generic function GENERIC to the argument(s) instead of calling
3047 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3049 *** New macros for argument testing with generic dispatch
3051 New macro: SCM_GASSERT1 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
3053 New macro: SCM_GASSERT2 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
3055 These correspond to the SCM_ASSERT macro, but will defer control to
3056 GENERIC on error after `enable-primitive-generic!' has been called.
3058 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
3060 ** New function: SCM scm_eval_body (SCM body, SCM env)
3062 Evaluates the body of a special form.
3064 ** The internal representation of struct's has changed
3066 Previously, four slots were allocated for the procedure(s) of entities
3067 and operators. The motivation for this representation had to do with
3068 the structure of the evaluator, the wish to support tail-recursive
3069 generic functions, and efficiency. Since the generic function
3070 dispatch mechanism has changed, there is no longer a need for such an
3071 expensive representation, and the representation has been simplified.
3073 This should not make any difference for most users.
3075 ** GOOPS support has been cleaned up.
3077 Some code has been moved from eval.c to objects.c and code in both of
3078 these compilation units has been cleaned up and better structured.
3080 *** New functions for applying generic functions
3082 New function: SCM scm_apply_generic (GENERIC, ARGS)
3083 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_0 (GENERIC)
3084 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_1 (GENERIC, ARG1)
3085 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2)
3086 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_3 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, ARG3)
3088 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_named_hook
3090 It is now replaced by:
3092 ** New function: SCM scm_create_hook (const char *name, int arity)
3094 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
3095 binds a variable named NAME to it.
3097 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
3099 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module.
3100 This might change when we get the new module system.
3102 [The behaviour is identical to scm_make_named_hook.]
3106 Changes since Guile 1.3:
3108 * Changes to mailing lists
3110 ** Some of the Guile mailing lists have moved to sourceware.cygnus.com.
3112 See the README file to find current addresses for all the Guile
3115 * Changes to the distribution
3117 ** Readline support is no longer included with Guile by default.
3119 Based on the different license terms of Guile and Readline, we
3120 concluded that Guile should not *by default* cause the linking of
3121 Readline into an application program. Readline support is now offered
3122 as a separate module, which is linked into an application only when
3123 you explicitly specify it.
3125 Although Guile is GNU software, its distribution terms add a special
3126 exception to the usual GNU General Public License (GPL). Guile's
3127 license includes a clause that allows you to link Guile with non-free
3128 programs. We add this exception so as not to put Guile at a
3129 disadvantage vis-a-vis other extensibility packages that support other
3132 In contrast, the GNU Readline library is distributed under the GNU
3133 General Public License pure and simple. This means that you may not
3134 link Readline, even dynamically, into an application unless it is
3135 distributed under a free software license that is compatible the GPL.
3137 Because of this difference in distribution terms, an application that
3138 can use Guile may not be able to use Readline. Now users will be
3139 explicitly offered two independent decisions about the use of these
3142 You can activate the readline support by issuing
3144 (use-modules (readline-activator))
3147 from your ".guile" file, for example.
3149 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
3151 ** All builtins now print as primitives.
3152 Previously builtin procedures not belonging to the fundamental subr
3153 types printed as #<compiled closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>.
3154 Now, they print as #<primitive-procedure NAME>.
3156 ** Backtraces slightly more intelligible.
3157 gsubr-apply and macro transformer application frames no longer appear
3160 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
3162 ** Guile now correctly handles internal defines by rewriting them into
3163 their equivalent letrec. Previously, internal defines would
3164 incrementally add to the innermost environment, without checking
3165 whether the restrictions specified in RnRS were met. This lead to the
3166 correct behaviour when these restriction actually were met, but didn't
3167 catch all illegal uses. Such an illegal use could lead to crashes of
3168 the Guile interpreter or or other unwanted results. An example of
3169 incorrect internal defines that made Guile behave erratically:
3181 The problem with this example is that the definition of `c' uses the
3182 value of `b' directly. This confuses the meoization machine of Guile
3183 so that the second call of `b' (this time in a larger environment that
3184 also contains bindings for `c' and `d') refers to the binding of `c'
3185 instead of `a'. You could also make Guile crash with a variation on
3190 (define (b flag) (if flag a 1))
3191 (define c (1+ (b flag)))
3199 From now on, Guile will issue an `Unbound variable: b' error message
3204 A hook contains a list of functions which should be called on
3205 particular occasions in an existing program. Hooks are used for
3208 A window manager might have a hook before-window-map-hook. The window
3209 manager uses the function run-hooks to call all functions stored in
3210 before-window-map-hook each time a window is mapped. The user can
3211 store functions in the hook using add-hook!.
3213 In Guile, hooks are first class objects.
3215 *** New function: make-hook [N_ARGS]
3217 Return a hook for hook functions which can take N_ARGS arguments.
3218 The default value for N_ARGS is 0.
3220 (See also scm_make_named_hook below.)
3222 *** New function: add-hook! HOOK PROC [APPEND_P]
3224 Put PROC at the beginning of the list of functions stored in HOOK.
3225 If APPEND_P is supplied, and non-false, put PROC at the end instead.
3227 PROC must be able to take the number of arguments specified when the
3230 If PROC already exists in HOOK, then remove it first.
3232 *** New function: remove-hook! HOOK PROC
3234 Remove PROC from the list of functions in HOOK.
3236 *** New function: reset-hook! HOOK
3238 Clear the list of hook functions stored in HOOK.
3240 *** New function: run-hook HOOK ARG1 ...
3242 Run all hook functions stored in HOOK with arguments ARG1 ... .
3243 The number of arguments supplied must correspond to the number given
3244 when the hook was created.
3246 ** The function `dynamic-link' now takes optional keyword arguments.
3247 The only keyword argument that is currently defined is `:global
3248 BOOL'. With it, you can control whether the shared library will be
3249 linked in global mode or not. In global mode, the symbols from the
3250 linked library can be used to resolve references from other
3251 dynamically linked libraries. In non-global mode, the linked
3252 library is essentially invisible and can only be accessed via
3253 `dynamic-func', etc. The default is now to link in global mode.
3254 Previously, the default has been non-global mode.
3256 The `#:global' keyword is only effective on platforms that support
3257 the dlopen family of functions.
3259 ** New function `provided?'
3261 - Function: provided? FEATURE
3262 Return true iff FEATURE is supported by this installation of
3263 Guile. FEATURE must be a symbol naming a feature; the global
3264 variable `*features*' is a list of available features.
3266 ** Changes to the module (ice-9 expect):
3268 *** The expect-strings macro now matches `$' in a regular expression
3269 only at a line-break or end-of-file by default. Previously it would
3270 match the end of the string accumulated so far. The old behaviour
3271 can be obtained by setting the variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
3274 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
3275 for the regexp-exec flags. If `regexp/noteol' is included, then `$'
3276 in a regular expression will still match before a line-break or
3277 end-of-file. The default is `regexp/noteol'.
3279 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable
3280 `expect-strings-compile-flags' for the flags to be supplied to
3281 `make-regexp'. The default is `regexp/newline', which was previously
3284 *** The expect macro now supplies two arguments to a match procedure:
3285 the current accumulated string and a flag to indicate whether
3286 end-of-file has been reached. Previously only the string was supplied.
3287 If end-of-file is reached, the match procedure will be called an
3288 additional time with the same accumulated string as the previous call
3289 but with the flag set.
3291 ** New module (ice-9 format), implementing the Common Lisp `format' function.
3293 This code, and the documentation for it that appears here, was
3294 borrowed from SLIB, with minor adaptations for Guile.
3296 - Function: format DESTINATION FORMAT-STRING . ARGUMENTS
3297 An almost complete implementation of Common LISP format description
3298 according to the CL reference book `Common LISP' from Guy L.
3299 Steele, Digital Press. Backward compatible to most of the
3300 available Scheme format implementations.
3302 Returns `#t', `#f' or a string; has side effect of printing
3303 according to FORMAT-STRING. If DESTINATION is `#t', the output is
3304 to the current output port and `#t' is returned. If DESTINATION
3305 is `#f', a formatted string is returned as the result of the call.
3306 NEW: If DESTINATION is a string, DESTINATION is regarded as the
3307 format string; FORMAT-STRING is then the first argument and the
3308 output is returned as a string. If DESTINATION is a number, the
3309 output is to the current error port if available by the
3310 implementation. Otherwise DESTINATION must be an output port and
3313 FORMAT-STRING must be a string. In case of a formatting error
3314 format returns `#f' and prints a message on the current output or
3315 error port. Characters are output as if the string were output by
3316 the `display' function with the exception of those prefixed by a
3317 tilde (~). For a detailed description of the FORMAT-STRING syntax
3318 please consult a Common LISP format reference manual. For a test
3319 suite to verify this format implementation load `formatst.scm'.
3320 Please send bug reports to `lutzeb@cs.tu-berlin.de'.
3322 Note: `format' is not reentrant, i.e. only one `format'-call may
3323 be executed at a time.
3326 *** Format Specification (Format version 3.0)
3328 Please consult a Common LISP format reference manual for a detailed
3329 description of the format string syntax. For a demonstration of the
3330 implemented directives see `formatst.scm'.
3332 This implementation supports directive parameters and modifiers (`:'
3333 and `@' characters). Multiple parameters must be separated by a comma
3334 (`,'). Parameters can be numerical parameters (positive or negative),
3335 character parameters (prefixed by a quote character (`''), variable
3336 parameters (`v'), number of rest arguments parameter (`#'), empty and
3337 default parameters. Directive characters are case independent. The
3338 general form of a directive is:
3340 DIRECTIVE ::= ~{DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER,}[:][@]DIRECTIVE-CHARACTER
3342 DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER ::= [ [-|+]{0-9}+ | 'CHARACTER | v | # ]
3344 *** Implemented CL Format Control Directives
3346 Documentation syntax: Uppercase characters represent the
3347 corresponding control directive characters. Lowercase characters
3348 represent control directive parameter descriptions.
3351 Any (print as `display' does).
3355 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARA'
3359 S-expression (print as `write' does).
3363 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARS'
3369 print number sign always.
3372 print comma separated.
3374 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARD'
3380 print number sign always.
3383 print comma separated.
3385 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARX'
3391 print number sign always.
3394 print comma separated.
3396 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARO'
3402 print number sign always.
3405 print comma separated.
3407 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARB'
3412 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARR'
3416 print a number as a Roman numeral.
3419 print a number as an "old fashioned" Roman numeral.
3422 print a number as an ordinal English number.
3425 print a number as a cardinal English number.
3430 prints `y' and `ies'.
3433 as `~P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
3436 as `~@P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
3441 prints a character as the reader can understand it (i.e. `#\'
3445 prints a character as emacs does (eg. `^C' for ASCII 03).
3448 Fixed-format floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN).
3449 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHARF'
3451 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3454 Exponential floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN`E'EE).
3455 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARE'
3457 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3460 General floating-point (prints a flonum either fixed or
3462 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARG'
3464 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3467 Dollars floating-point (prints a flonum in fixed with signs
3469 `~DIGITS,SCALE,WIDTH,PADCHAR$'
3471 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
3474 A sign is always printed and appears before the padding.
3477 The sign appears before the padding.
3485 print newline if not at the beginning of the output line.
3487 prints `~&' and then N-1 newlines.
3492 print N page separators.
3502 newline is ignored, white space left.
3505 newline is left, white space ignored.
3510 relative tabulation.
3516 Indirection (expects indirect arguments as a list).
3518 extracts indirect arguments from format arguments.
3521 Case conversion (converts by `string-downcase').
3523 converts by `string-capitalize'.
3526 converts by `string-capitalize-first'.
3529 converts by `string-upcase'.
3532 Argument Jumping (jumps 1 argument forward).
3534 jumps N arguments forward.
3537 jumps 1 argument backward.
3540 jumps N arguments backward.
3543 jumps to the 0th argument.
3546 jumps to the Nth argument (beginning from 0)
3548 `~[STR0~;STR1~;...~;STRN~]'
3549 Conditional Expression (numerical clause conditional).
3551 take argument from N.
3554 true test conditional.
3557 if-else-then conditional.
3563 default clause follows.
3566 Iteration (args come from the next argument (a list)).
3568 at most N iterations.
3571 args from next arg (a list of lists).
3574 args from the rest of arguments.
3577 args from the rest args (lists).
3588 aborts if N <= M <= K
3590 *** Not Implemented CL Format Control Directives
3593 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
3596 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
3602 (sorry I don't understand its semantics completely)
3604 *** Extended, Replaced and Additional Control Directives
3606 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHD'
3607 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHX'
3608 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHO'
3609 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHB'
3610 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHR'
3611 COMMAWIDTH is the number of characters between two comma
3615 print a R4RS complex number as `~F~@Fi' with passed parameters for
3619 Pretty print formatting of an argument for scheme code lists.
3625 Flushes the output if format DESTINATION is a port.
3628 Print a `#\space' character
3630 print N `#\space' characters.
3633 Print a `#\tab' character
3635 print N `#\tab' characters.
3638 Takes N as an integer representation for a character. No arguments
3639 are consumed. N is converted to a character by `integer->char'. N
3640 must be a positive decimal number.
3643 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
3644 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
3645 be processed by `read'.
3648 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
3649 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
3650 be processed by `read'.
3653 Prints information and a copyright notice on the format
3656 prints format version.
3659 may also print number strings, i.e. passing a number as a string
3660 and format it accordingly.
3662 *** Configuration Variables
3664 The format module exports some configuration variables to suit the
3665 systems and users needs. There should be no modification necessary for
3666 the configuration that comes with Guile. Format detects automatically
3667 if the running scheme system implements floating point numbers and
3670 format:symbol-case-conv
3671 Symbols are converted by `symbol->string' so the case type of the
3672 printed symbols is implementation dependent.
3673 `format:symbol-case-conv' is a one arg closure which is either
3674 `#f' (no conversion), `string-upcase', `string-downcase' or
3675 `string-capitalize'. (default `#f')
3677 format:iobj-case-conv
3678 As FORMAT:SYMBOL-CASE-CONV but applies for the representation of
3679 implementation internal objects. (default `#f')
3682 The character prefixing the exponent value in `~E' printing.
3685 *** Compatibility With Other Format Implementations
3691 Downward compatible except for padding support and `~A', `~S',
3692 `~P', `~X' uppercase printing. SLIB format 1.4 uses C-style
3693 `printf' padding support which is completely replaced by the CL
3694 `format' padding style.
3697 Downward compatible except for `~', which is not documented
3698 (ignores all characters inside the format string up to a newline
3699 character). (7.1 implements `~a', `~s', ~NEWLINE, `~~', `~%',
3700 numerical and variable parameters and `:/@' modifiers in the CL
3704 Downward compatible except for `~A' and `~S' which print in
3705 uppercase. (Elk implements `~a', `~s', `~~', and `~%' (no
3706 directive parameters or modifiers)).
3709 Downward compatible except for an optional destination parameter:
3710 S2C accepts a format call without a destination which returns a
3711 formatted string. This is equivalent to a #f destination in S2C.
3712 (S2C implements `~a', `~s', `~c', `~%', and `~~' (no directive
3713 parameters or modifiers)).
3716 ** Changes to string-handling functions.
3718 These functions were added to support the (ice-9 format) module, above.
3720 *** New function: string-upcase STRING
3721 *** New function: string-downcase STRING
3723 These are non-destructive versions of the existing string-upcase! and
3724 string-downcase! functions.
3726 *** New function: string-capitalize! STRING
3727 *** New function: string-capitalize STRING
3729 These functions convert the first letter of each word in the string to
3732 (string-capitalize "howdy there")
3735 As with the other functions, string-capitalize! modifies the string in
3736 place, while string-capitalize returns a modified copy of its argument.
3738 *** New function: string-ci->symbol STRING
3740 Return a symbol whose name is STRING, but having the same case as if
3741 the symbol had be read by `read'.
3743 Guile can be configured to be sensitive or insensitive to case
3744 differences in Scheme identifiers. If Guile is case-insensitive, all
3745 symbols are converted to lower case on input. The `string-ci->symbol'
3746 function returns a symbol whose name in STRING, transformed as Guile
3747 would if STRING were input.
3749 *** New function: substring-move! STRING1 START END STRING2 START
3751 Copy the substring of STRING1 from START (inclusive) to END
3752 (exclusive) to STRING2 at START. STRING1 and STRING2 may be the same
3753 string, and the source and destination areas may overlap; in all
3754 cases, the function behaves as if all the characters were copied
3757 *** Extended functions: substring-move-left! substring-move-right!
3759 These functions now correctly copy arbitrarily overlapping substrings;
3760 they are both synonyms for substring-move!.
3763 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-long), with the function `getopt-long'.
3765 getopt-long is a function for parsing command-line arguments in a
3766 manner consistent with other GNU programs.
3768 (getopt-long ARGS GRAMMAR)
3769 Parse the arguments ARGS according to the argument list grammar GRAMMAR.
3771 ARGS should be a list of strings. Its first element should be the
3772 name of the program; subsequent elements should be the arguments
3773 that were passed to the program on the command line. The
3774 `program-arguments' procedure returns a list of this form.
3776 GRAMMAR is a list of the form:
3777 ((OPTION (PROPERTY VALUE) ...) ...)
3779 Each OPTION should be a symbol. `getopt-long' will accept a
3780 command-line option named `--OPTION'.
3781 Each option can have the following (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs:
3783 (single-char CHAR) --- Accept `-CHAR' as a single-character
3784 equivalent to `--OPTION'. This is how to specify traditional
3786 (required? BOOL) --- If BOOL is true, the option is required.
3787 getopt-long will raise an error if it is not found in ARGS.
3788 (value BOOL) --- If BOOL is #t, the option accepts a value; if
3789 it is #f, it does not; and if it is the symbol
3790 `optional', the option may appear in ARGS with or
3792 (predicate FUNC) --- If the option accepts a value (i.e. you
3793 specified `(value #t)' for this option), then getopt
3794 will apply FUNC to the value, and throw an exception
3795 if it returns #f. FUNC should be a procedure which
3796 accepts a string and returns a boolean value; you may
3797 need to use quasiquotes to get it into GRAMMAR.
3799 The (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs may occur in any order, but each
3800 property may occur only once. By default, options do not have
3801 single-character equivalents, are not required, and do not take
3804 In ARGS, single-character options may be combined, in the usual
3805 Unix fashion: ("-x" "-y") is equivalent to ("-xy"). If an option
3806 accepts values, then it must be the last option in the
3807 combination; the value is the next argument. So, for example, using
3808 the following grammar:
3809 ((apples (single-char #\a))
3810 (blimps (single-char #\b) (value #t))
3811 (catalexis (single-char #\c) (value #t)))
3812 the following argument lists would be acceptable:
3813 ("-a" "-b" "bang" "-c" "couth") ("bang" and "couth" are the values
3814 for "blimps" and "catalexis")
3815 ("-ab" "bang" "-c" "couth") (same)
3816 ("-ac" "couth" "-b" "bang") (same)
3817 ("-abc" "couth" "bang") (an error, since `-b' is not the
3818 last option in its combination)
3820 If an option's value is optional, then `getopt-long' decides
3821 whether it has a value by looking at what follows it in ARGS. If
3822 the next element is a string, and it does not appear to be an
3823 option itself, then that string is the option's value.
3825 The value of a long option can appear as the next element in ARGS,
3826 or it can follow the option name, separated by an `=' character.
3827 Thus, using the same grammar as above, the following argument lists
3829 ("--apples" "Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
3830 ("--apples=Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
3831 ("--blimps" "Goodyear" "--apples=Braeburn")
3833 If the option "--" appears in ARGS, argument parsing stops there;
3834 subsequent arguments are returned as ordinary arguments, even if
3835 they resemble options. So, in the argument list:
3836 ("--apples" "Granny Smith" "--" "--blimp" "Goodyear")
3837 `getopt-long' will recognize the `apples' option as having the
3838 value "Granny Smith", but it will not recognize the `blimp'
3839 option; it will return the strings "--blimp" and "Goodyear" as
3840 ordinary argument strings.
3842 The `getopt-long' function returns the parsed argument list as an
3843 assocation list, mapping option names --- the symbols from GRAMMAR
3844 --- onto their values, or #t if the option does not accept a value.
3845 Unused options do not appear in the alist.
3847 All arguments that are not the value of any option are returned
3848 as a list, associated with the empty list.
3850 `getopt-long' throws an exception if:
3851 - it finds an unrecognized option in ARGS
3852 - a required option is omitted
3853 - an option that requires an argument doesn't get one
3854 - an option that doesn't accept an argument does get one (this can
3855 only happen using the long option `--opt=value' syntax)
3856 - an option predicate fails
3861 `((lockfile-dir (required? #t)
3864 (predicate ,file-is-directory?))
3865 (verbose (required? #f)
3868 (x-includes (single-char #\x))
3869 (rnet-server (single-char #\y)
3870 (predicate ,string?))))
3872 (getopt-long '("my-prog" "-vk" "/tmp" "foo1" "--x-includes=/usr/include"
3873 "--rnet-server=lamprod" "--" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
3875 => ((() "foo1" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
3876 (rnet-server . "lamprod")
3877 (x-includes . "/usr/include")
3878 (lockfile-dir . "/tmp")
3881 ** The (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) module is obsolete; use (ice-9 getopt-long).
3883 It will be removed in a few releases.
3885 ** New syntax: lambda*
3886 ** New syntax: define*
3887 ** New syntax: define*-public
3888 ** New syntax: defmacro*
3889 ** New syntax: defmacro*-public
3890 Guile now supports optional arguments.
3892 `lambda*', `define*', `define*-public', `defmacro*' and
3893 `defmacro*-public' are identical to the non-* versions except that
3894 they use an extended type of parameter list that has the following BNF
3895 syntax (parentheses are literal, square brackets indicate grouping,
3896 and `*', `+' and `?' have the usual meaning):
3898 ext-param-list ::= ( [identifier]* [#&optional [ext-var-decl]+]?
3899 [#&key [ext-var-decl]+ [#&allow-other-keys]?]?
3900 [[#&rest identifier]|[. identifier]]? ) | [identifier]
3902 ext-var-decl ::= identifier | ( identifier expression )
3904 The semantics are best illustrated with the following documentation
3905 and examples for `lambda*':
3908 lambda extended for optional and keyword arguments
3910 lambda* creates a procedure that takes optional arguments. These
3911 are specified by putting them inside brackets at the end of the
3912 paramater list, but before any dotted rest argument. For example,
3913 (lambda* (a b #&optional c d . e) '())
3914 creates a procedure with fixed arguments a and b, optional arguments c
3915 and d, and rest argument e. If the optional arguments are omitted
3916 in a call, the variables for them are unbound in the procedure. This
3917 can be checked with the bound? macro.
3919 lambda* can also take keyword arguments. For example, a procedure
3921 (lambda* (#&key xyzzy larch) '())
3922 can be called with any of the argument lists (#:xyzzy 11)
3923 (#:larch 13) (#:larch 42 #:xyzzy 19) (). Whichever arguments
3924 are given as keywords are bound to values.
3926 Optional and keyword arguments can also be given default values
3927 which they take on when they are not present in a call, by giving a
3928 two-item list in place of an optional argument, for example in:
3929 (lambda* (foo #&optional (bar 42) #&key (baz 73)) (list foo bar baz))
3930 foo is a fixed argument, bar is an optional argument with default
3931 value 42, and baz is a keyword argument with default value 73.
3932 Default value expressions are not evaluated unless they are needed
3933 and until the procedure is called.
3935 lambda* now supports two more special parameter list keywords.
3937 lambda*-defined procedures now throw an error by default if a
3938 keyword other than one of those specified is found in the actual
3939 passed arguments. However, specifying #&allow-other-keys
3940 immediately after the kyword argument declarations restores the
3941 previous behavior of ignoring unknown keywords. lambda* also now
3942 guarantees that if the same keyword is passed more than once, the
3943 last one passed is the one that takes effect. For example,
3944 ((lambda* (#&key (heads 0) (tails 0)) (display (list heads tails)))
3945 #:heads 37 #:tails 42 #:heads 99)
3946 would result in (99 47) being displayed.
3948 #&rest is also now provided as a synonym for the dotted syntax rest
3949 argument. The argument lists (a . b) and (a #&rest b) are equivalent in
3950 all respects to lambda*. This is provided for more similarity to DSSSL,
3951 MIT-Scheme and Kawa among others, as well as for refugees from other
3954 Further documentation may be found in the optargs.scm file itself.
3956 The optional argument module also exports the macros `let-optional',
3957 `let-optional*', `let-keywords', `let-keywords*' and `bound?'. These
3958 are not documented here because they may be removed in the future, but
3959 full documentation is still available in optargs.scm.
3961 ** New syntax: and-let*
3962 Guile now supports the `and-let*' form, described in the draft SRFI-2.
3964 Syntax: (land* (<clause> ...) <body> ...)
3965 Each <clause> should have one of the following forms:
3966 (<variable> <expression>)
3969 Each <variable> or <bound-variable> should be an identifier. Each
3970 <expression> should be a valid expression. The <body> should be a
3971 possibly empty sequence of expressions, like the <body> of a
3974 Semantics: A LAND* expression is evaluated by evaluating the
3975 <expression> or <bound-variable> of each of the <clause>s from
3976 left to right. The value of the first <expression> or
3977 <bound-variable> that evaluates to a false value is returned; the
3978 remaining <expression>s and <bound-variable>s are not evaluated.
3979 The <body> forms are evaluated iff all the <expression>s and
3980 <bound-variable>s evaluate to true values.
3982 The <expression>s and the <body> are evaluated in an environment
3983 binding each <variable> of the preceding (<variable> <expression>)
3984 clauses to the value of the <expression>. Later bindings
3985 shadow earlier bindings.
3987 Guile's and-let* macro was contributed by Michael Livshin.
3989 ** New sorting functions
3991 *** New function: sorted? SEQUENCE LESS?
3992 Returns `#t' when the sequence argument is in non-decreasing order
3993 according to LESS? (that is, there is no adjacent pair `... x y
3994 ...' for which `(less? y x)').
3996 Returns `#f' when the sequence contains at least one out-of-order
3997 pair. It is an error if the sequence is neither a list nor a
4000 *** New function: merge LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
4001 LIST1 and LIST2 are sorted lists.
4002 Returns the sorted list of all elements in LIST1 and LIST2.
4004 Assume that the elements a and b1 in LIST1 and b2 in LIST2 are "equal"
4005 in the sense that (LESS? x y) --> #f for x, y in {a, b1, b2},
4006 and that a < b1 in LIST1. Then a < b1 < b2 in the result.
4007 (Here "<" should read "comes before".)
4009 *** New procedure: merge! LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
4010 Merges two lists, re-using the pairs of LIST1 and LIST2 to build
4011 the result. If the code is compiled, and LESS? constructs no new
4012 pairs, no pairs at all will be allocated. The first pair of the
4013 result will be either the first pair of LIST1 or the first pair of
4016 *** New function: sort SEQUENCE LESS?
4017 Accepts either a list or a vector, and returns a new sequence
4018 which is sorted. The new sequence is the same type as the input.
4019 Always `(sorted? (sort sequence less?) less?)'. The original
4020 sequence is not altered in any way. The new sequence shares its
4021 elements with the old one; no elements are copied.
4023 *** New procedure: sort! SEQUENCE LESS
4024 Returns its sorted result in the original boxes. No new storage is
4025 allocated at all. Proper usage: (set! slist (sort! slist <))
4027 *** New function: stable-sort SEQUENCE LESS?
4028 Similar to `sort' but stable. That is, if "equal" elements are
4029 ordered a < b in the original sequence, they will have the same order
4032 *** New function: stable-sort! SEQUENCE LESS?
4033 Similar to `sort!' but stable.
4034 Uses temporary storage when sorting vectors.
4036 *** New functions: sort-list, sort-list!
4037 Added for compatibility with scsh.
4039 ** New built-in random number support
4041 *** New function: random N [STATE]
4042 Accepts a positive integer or real N and returns a number of the
4043 same type between zero (inclusive) and N (exclusive). The values
4044 returned have a uniform distribution.
4046 The optional argument STATE must be of the type produced by
4047 `copy-random-state' or `seed->random-state'. It defaults to the value
4048 of the variable `*random-state*'. This object is used to maintain the
4049 state of the pseudo-random-number generator and is altered as a side
4050 effect of the `random' operation.
4052 *** New variable: *random-state*
4053 Holds a data structure that encodes the internal state of the
4054 random-number generator that `random' uses by default. The nature
4055 of this data structure is implementation-dependent. It may be
4056 printed out and successfully read back in, but may or may not
4057 function correctly as a random-number state object in another
4060 *** New function: copy-random-state [STATE]
4061 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
4062 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
4063 If argument STATE is given, a copy of it is returned. Otherwise a
4064 copy of `*random-state*' is returned.
4066 *** New function: seed->random-state SEED
4067 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
4068 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
4069 SEED is a string or a number. A new state is generated and
4070 initialized using SEED.
4072 *** New function: random:uniform [STATE]
4073 Returns an uniformly distributed inexact real random number in the
4074 range between 0 and 1.
4076 *** New procedure: random:solid-sphere! VECT [STATE]
4077 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose
4078 squares is less than 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in
4079 space of dimension N = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are
4080 uniformly distributed within the unit N-shere. The sum of the
4081 squares of the numbers is returned. VECT can be either a vector
4082 or a uniform vector of doubles.
4084 *** New procedure: random:hollow-sphere! VECT [STATE]
4085 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose squares
4086 is equal to 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in space of
4087 dimension n = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are uniformly
4088 distributed over the surface of the unit n-shere. VECT can be either
4089 a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
4091 *** New function: random:normal [STATE]
4092 Returns an inexact real in a normal distribution with mean 0 and
4093 standard deviation 1. For a normal distribution with mean M and
4094 standard deviation D use `(+ M (* D (random:normal)))'.
4096 *** New procedure: random:normal-vector! VECT [STATE]
4097 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers which are independent and
4098 standard normally distributed (i.e., with mean 0 and variance 1).
4099 VECT can be either a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
4101 *** New function: random:exp STATE
4102 Returns an inexact real in an exponential distribution with mean 1.
4103 For an exponential distribution with mean U use (* U (random:exp)).
4105 ** The range of logand, logior, logxor, logtest, and logbit? have changed.
4107 These functions now operate on numbers in the range of a C unsigned
4110 These functions used to operate on numbers in the range of a C signed
4111 long; however, this seems inappropriate, because Guile integers don't
4114 ** New function: make-guardian
4115 This is an implementation of guardians as described in
4116 R. Kent Dybvig, Carl Bruggeman, and David Eby (1993) "Guardians in a
4117 Generation-Based Garbage Collector" ACM SIGPLAN Conference on
4118 Programming Language Design and Implementation, June 1993
4119 ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/scheme-repository/doc/pubs/guardians.ps.gz
4121 ** New functions: delq1!, delv1!, delete1!
4122 These procedures behave similar to delq! and friends but delete only
4123 one object if at all.
4125 ** New function: unread-string STRING PORT
4126 Unread STRING to PORT, that is, push it back onto the port so that
4127 next read operation will work on the pushed back characters.
4129 ** unread-char can now be called multiple times
4130 If unread-char is called multiple times, the unread characters will be
4131 read again in last-in first-out order.
4133 ** the procedures uniform-array-read! and uniform-array-write! now
4134 work on any kind of port, not just ports which are open on a file.
4136 ** Now 'l' in a port mode requests line buffering.
4138 ** The procedure truncate-file now works on string ports as well
4139 as file ports. If the size argument is omitted, the current
4140 file position is used.
4142 ** new procedure: seek PORT/FDES OFFSET WHENCE
4143 The arguments are the same as for the old fseek procedure, but it
4144 works on string ports as well as random-access file ports.
4146 ** the fseek procedure now works on string ports, since it has been
4147 redefined using seek.
4149 ** the setvbuf procedure now uses a default size if mode is _IOFBF and
4150 size is not supplied.
4152 ** the newline procedure no longer flushes the port if it's not
4153 line-buffered: previously it did if it was the current output port.
4155 ** open-pipe and close-pipe are no longer primitive procedures, but
4156 an emulation can be obtained using `(use-modules (ice-9 popen))'.
4158 ** the freopen procedure has been removed.
4160 ** new procedure: drain-input PORT
4161 Drains PORT's read buffers (including any pushed-back characters)
4162 and returns the contents as a single string.
4164 ** New function: map-in-order PROC LIST1 LIST2 ...
4165 Version of `map' which guarantees that the procedure is applied to the
4166 lists in serial order.
4168 ** Renamed `serial-array-copy!' and `serial-array-map!' to
4169 `array-copy-in-order!' and `array-map-in-order!'. The old names are
4170 now obsolete and will go away in release 1.5.
4172 ** New syntax: collect BODY1 ...
4173 Version of `begin' which returns a list of the results of the body
4174 forms instead of the result of the last body form. In contrast to
4175 `begin', `collect' allows an empty body.
4177 ** New functions: read-history FILENAME, write-history FILENAME
4178 Read/write command line history from/to file. Returns #t on success
4179 and #f if an error occured.
4181 ** `ls' and `lls' in module (ice-9 ls) now handle no arguments.
4183 These procedures return a list of definitions available in the specified
4184 argument, a relative module reference. In the case of no argument,
4185 `(current-module)' is now consulted for definitions to return, instead
4186 of simply returning #f, the former behavior.
4188 ** The #/ syntax for lists is no longer supported.
4190 Earlier versions of Scheme accepted this syntax, but printed a
4193 ** Guile no longer consults the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable.
4195 Instead, you should set GUILE_LOAD_PATH to tell Guile where to find
4198 * Changes to the gh_ interface
4202 Now takes a second argument which is the result array. If this
4203 pointer is NULL, a new array is malloced (the old behaviour).
4205 ** gh_chars2byvect, gh_shorts2svect, gh_floats2fvect, gh_scm2chars,
4206 gh_scm2shorts, gh_scm2longs, gh_scm2floats
4210 * Changes to the scm_ interface
4212 ** Function: scm_make_named_hook (char* name, int n_args)
4214 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
4215 binds a variable named NAME to it.
4217 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
4219 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module. This
4220 might change when we get the new module system.
4222 ** The smob interface
4224 The interface for creating smobs has changed. For documentation, see
4225 data-rep.info (made from guile-core/doc/data-rep.texi).
4227 *** Deprecated function: SCM scm_newsmob (scm_smobfuns *)
4229 >>> This function will be removed in 1.3.4. <<<
4233 *** Function: SCM scm_make_smob_type (const char *name, scm_sizet size)
4234 This function adds a new smob type, named NAME, with instance size
4235 SIZE to the system. The return value is a tag that is used in
4236 creating instances of the type. If SIZE is 0, then no memory will
4237 be allocated when instances of the smob are created, and nothing
4238 will be freed by the default free function.
4240 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_mark (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
4241 This function sets the smob marking procedure for the smob type
4242 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4243 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4245 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_free (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
4246 This function sets the smob freeing procedure for the smob type
4247 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4248 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4250 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_print (tc, print)
4252 - Function: void scm_set_smob_print (long tc,
4253 scm_sizet (*print) (SCM,
4257 This function sets the smob printing procedure for the smob type
4258 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4259 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4261 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_equalp (long tc, SCM (*equalp) (SCM, SCM))
4262 This function sets the smob equality-testing predicate for the
4263 smob type specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
4264 `scm_make_smob_type'.
4266 *** Macro: void SCM_NEWSMOB (SCM var, long tc, void *data)
4267 Make VALUE contain a smob instance of the type with type code TC and
4268 smob data DATA. VALUE must be previously declared as C type `SCM'.
4270 *** Macro: fn_returns SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB (long tc, void *data)
4271 This macro expands to a block of code that creates a smob instance
4272 of the type with type code TC and smob data DATA, and returns that
4273 `SCM' value. It should be the last piece of code in a block.
4275 ** The interfaces for using I/O ports and implementing port types
4276 (ptobs) have changed significantly. The new interface is based on
4277 shared access to buffers and a new set of ptob procedures.
4279 *** scm_newptob has been removed
4283 *** Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (type_name, fill_buffer, write_flush)
4285 - Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (char *type_name,
4286 int (*fill_buffer) (SCM port),
4287 void (*write_flush) (SCM port));
4289 Similarly to the new smob interface, there is a set of function
4290 setters by which the user can customize the behaviour of his port
4291 type. See ports.h (scm_set_port_XXX).
4293 ** scm_strport_to_string: New function: creates a new string from
4294 a string port's buffer.
4296 ** Plug in interface for random number generators
4297 The variable `scm_the_rng' in random.c contains a value and three
4298 function pointers which together define the current random number
4299 generator being used by the Scheme level interface and the random
4300 number library functions.
4302 The user is free to replace the default generator with the generator
4305 *** Variable: size_t scm_the_rng.rstate_size
4306 The size of the random state type used by the current RNG
4309 *** Function: unsigned long scm_the_rng.random_bits (scm_rstate *STATE)
4310 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
4312 *** Function: void scm_the_rng.init_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE, chars *S, int N)
4313 Seed random state STATE using string S of length N.
4315 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_the_rng.copy_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE)
4316 Given random state STATE, return a malloced copy.
4319 The default RNG is the MWC (Multiply With Carry) random number
4320 generator described by George Marsaglia at the Department of
4321 Statistics and Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, The
4322 Florida State University (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo).
4324 It uses 64 bits, has a period of 4578426017172946943 (4.6e18), and
4325 passes all tests in the DIEHARD test suite
4326 (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo/diehard.html). The generation of 32 bits
4327 costs one multiply and one add on platforms which either supports long
4328 longs (gcc does this on most systems) or have 64 bit longs. The cost
4329 is four multiply on other systems but this can be optimized by writing
4330 scm_i_uniform32 in assembler.
4332 These functions are provided through the scm_the_rng interface for use
4333 by libguile and the application.
4335 *** Function: unsigned long scm_i_uniform32 (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
4336 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
4337 Don't use this function directly. Instead go through the plugin
4338 interface (see "Plug in interface" above).
4340 *** Function: void scm_i_init_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE, char *SEED, int N)
4341 Initialize STATE using SEED of length N.
4343 *** Function: scm_i_rstate *scm_i_copy_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
4344 Return a malloc:ed copy of STATE. This function can easily be re-used
4345 in the interfaces to other RNGs.
4347 ** Random number library functions
4348 These functions use the current RNG through the scm_the_rng interface.
4349 It might be a good idea to use these functions from your C code so
4350 that only one random generator is used by all code in your program.
4352 The default random state is stored in:
4354 *** Variable: SCM scm_var_random_state
4355 Contains the vcell of the Scheme variable "*random-state*" which is
4356 used as default state by all random number functions in the Scheme
4361 double x = scm_c_uniform01 (SCM_RSTATE (SCM_CDR (scm_var_random_state)));
4363 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_default_rstate (void)
4364 This is a convenience function which returns the value of
4365 scm_var_random_state. An error message is generated if this value
4366 isn't a random state.
4368 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_make_rstate (char *SEED, int LENGTH)
4369 Make a new random state from the string SEED of length LENGTH.
4371 It is generally not a good idea to use multiple random states in a
4372 program. While subsequent random numbers generated from one random
4373 state are guaranteed to be reasonably independent, there is no such
4374 guarantee for numbers generated from different random states.
4376 *** Macro: unsigned long scm_c_uniform32 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4377 Return 32 random bits.
4379 *** Function: double scm_c_uniform01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4380 Return a sample from the uniform(0,1) distribution.
4382 *** Function: double scm_c_normal01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4383 Return a sample from the normal(0,1) distribution.
4385 *** Function: double scm_c_exp1 (scm_rstate *STATE)
4386 Return a sample from the exp(1) distribution.
4388 *** Function: unsigned long scm_c_random (scm_rstate *STATE, unsigned long M)
4389 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
4391 *** Function: SCM scm_c_random_bignum (scm_rstate *STATE, SCM M)
4392 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
4393 M must be a bignum object. The returned value may be an INUM.
4397 Changes in Guile 1.3 (released Monday, October 19, 1998):
4399 * Changes to the distribution
4401 ** We renamed the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable to GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
4402 To avoid conflicts, programs should name environment variables after
4403 themselves, except when there's a common practice establishing some
4406 For now, Guile supports both GUILE_LOAD_PATH and SCHEME_LOAD_PATH,
4407 giving the former precedence, and printing a warning message if the
4408 latter is set. Guile 1.4 will not recognize SCHEME_LOAD_PATH at all.
4410 ** The header files related to multi-byte characters have been removed.
4411 They were: libguile/extchrs.h and libguile/mbstrings.h. Any C code
4412 which referred to these explicitly will probably need to be rewritten,
4413 since the support for the variant string types has been removed; see
4416 ** The header files append.h and sequences.h have been removed. These
4417 files implemented non-R4RS operations which would encourage
4418 non-portable programming style and less easy-to-read code.
4420 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
4422 ** New procedures have been added to implement a "batch mode":
4424 *** Function: batch-mode?
4426 Returns a boolean indicating whether the interpreter is in batch
4429 *** Function: set-batch-mode?! ARG
4431 If ARG is true, switches the interpreter to batch mode. The `#f'
4432 case has not been implemented.
4434 ** Guile now provides full command-line editing, when run interactively.
4435 To use this feature, you must have the readline library installed.
4436 The Guile build process will notice it, and automatically include
4439 The readline library is available via anonymous FTP from any GNU
4440 mirror site; the canonical location is "ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu".
4442 ** the-last-stack is now a fluid.
4444 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
4446 ** You can now use the `guile-config' utility to build programs that use Guile.
4448 Guile now includes a command-line utility called `guile-config', which
4449 can provide information about how to compile and link programs that
4452 *** `guile-config compile' prints any C compiler flags needed to use Guile.
4453 You should include this command's output on the command line you use
4454 to compile C or C++ code that #includes the Guile header files. It's
4455 usually just a `-I' flag to help the compiler find the Guile headers.
4458 *** `guile-config link' prints any linker flags necessary to link with Guile.
4460 This command writes to its standard output a list of flags which you
4461 must pass to the linker to link your code against the Guile library.
4462 The flags include '-lguile' itself, any other libraries the Guile
4463 library depends upon, and any `-L' flags needed to help the linker
4464 find those libraries.
4466 For example, here is a Makefile rule that builds a program named 'foo'
4467 from the object files ${FOO_OBJECTS}, and links them against Guile:
4470 ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${FOO_OBJECTS} `guile-config link` -o foo
4472 Previous Guile releases recommended that you use autoconf to detect
4473 which of a predefined set of libraries were present on your system.
4474 It is more robust to use `guile-config', since it records exactly which
4475 libraries the installed Guile library requires.
4477 This was originally called `build-guile', but was renamed to
4478 `guile-config' before Guile 1.3 was released, to be consistent with
4479 the analogous script for the GTK+ GUI toolkit, which is called
4483 ** Use the GUILE_FLAGS macro in your configure.in file to find Guile.
4485 If you are using the GNU autoconf package to configure your program,
4486 you can use the GUILE_FLAGS autoconf macro to call `guile-config'
4487 (described above) and gather the necessary values for use in your
4490 The GUILE_FLAGS macro expands to configure script code which runs the
4491 `guile-config' script, to find out where Guile's header files and
4492 libraries are installed. It sets two variables, marked for
4493 substitution, as by AC_SUBST.
4495 GUILE_CFLAGS --- flags to pass to a C or C++ compiler to build
4496 code that uses Guile header files. This is almost always just a
4499 GUILE_LDFLAGS --- flags to pass to the linker to link a
4500 program against Guile. This includes `-lguile' for the Guile
4501 library itself, any libraries that Guile itself requires (like
4502 -lqthreads), and so on. It may also include a -L flag to tell the
4503 compiler where to find the libraries.
4505 GUILE_FLAGS is defined in the file guile.m4, in the top-level
4506 directory of the Guile distribution. You can copy it into your
4507 package's aclocal.m4 file, and then use it in your configure.in file.
4509 If you are using the `aclocal' program, distributed with GNU automake,
4510 to maintain your aclocal.m4 file, the Guile installation process
4511 installs guile.m4 where aclocal will find it. All you need to do is
4512 use GUILE_FLAGS in your configure.in file, and then run `aclocal';
4513 this will copy the definition of GUILE_FLAGS into your aclocal.m4
4517 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
4519 ** Multi-byte strings have been removed, as have multi-byte and wide
4520 ports. We felt that these were the wrong approach to
4521 internationalization support.
4523 ** New function: readline [PROMPT]
4524 Read a line from the terminal, and allow the user to edit it,
4525 prompting with PROMPT. READLINE provides a large set of Emacs-like
4526 editing commands, lets the user recall previously typed lines, and
4527 works on almost every kind of terminal, including dumb terminals.
4529 READLINE assumes that the cursor is at the beginning of the line when
4530 it is invoked. Thus, you can't print a prompt yourself, and then call
4531 READLINE; you need to package up your prompt as a string, pass it to
4532 the function, and let READLINE print the prompt itself. This is
4533 because READLINE needs to know the prompt's screen width.
4535 For Guile to provide this function, you must have the readline
4536 library, version 2.1 or later, installed on your system. Readline is
4537 available via anonymous FTP from prep.ai.mit.edu in pub/gnu, or from
4538 any GNU mirror site.
4540 See also ADD-HISTORY function.
4542 ** New function: add-history STRING
4543 Add STRING as the most recent line in the history used by the READLINE
4544 command. READLINE does not add lines to the history itself; you must
4545 call ADD-HISTORY to make previous input available to the user.
4547 ** The behavior of the read-line function has changed.
4549 This function now uses standard C library functions to read the line,
4550 for speed. This means that it doesn not respect the value of
4551 scm-line-incrementors; it assumes that lines are delimited with
4554 (Note that this is read-line, the function that reads a line of text
4555 from a port, not readline, the function that reads a line from a
4556 terminal, providing full editing capabilities.)
4558 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style): Parse command-line arguments.
4560 This module provides some simple argument parsing. It exports one
4563 Function: getopt-gnu-style ARG-LS
4564 Parse a list of program arguments into an alist of option
4567 Each item in the list of program arguments is examined to see if
4568 it meets the syntax of a GNU long-named option. An argument like
4569 `--MUMBLE' produces an element of the form (MUMBLE . #t) in the
4570 returned alist, where MUMBLE is a keyword object with the same
4571 name as the argument. An argument like `--MUMBLE=FROB' produces
4572 an element of the form (MUMBLE . FROB), where FROB is a string.
4574 As a special case, the returned alist also contains a pair whose
4575 car is the symbol `rest'. The cdr of this pair is a list
4576 containing all the items in the argument list that are not options
4577 of the form mentioned above.
4579 The argument `--' is treated specially: all items in the argument
4580 list appearing after such an argument are not examined, and are
4581 returned in the special `rest' list.
4583 This function does not parse normal single-character switches.
4584 You will need to parse them out of the `rest' list yourself.
4586 ** The read syntax for byte vectors and short vectors has changed.
4588 Instead of #bytes(...), write #y(...).
4590 Instead of #short(...), write #h(...).
4592 This may seem nutty, but, like the other uniform vectors, byte vectors
4593 and short vectors want to have the same print and read syntax (and,
4594 more basic, want to have read syntax!). Changing the read syntax to
4595 use multiple characters after the hash sign breaks with the
4596 conventions used in R5RS and the conventions used for the other
4597 uniform vectors. It also introduces complexity in the current reader,
4598 both on the C and Scheme levels. (The Right solution is probably to
4599 change the syntax and prototypes for uniform vectors entirely.)
4602 ** The new module (ice-9 session) provides useful interactive functions.
4604 *** New procedure: (apropos REGEXP OPTION ...)
4606 Display a list of top-level variables whose names match REGEXP, and
4607 the modules they are imported from. Each OPTION should be one of the
4610 value --- Show the value of each matching variable.
4611 shadow --- Show bindings shadowed by subsequently imported modules.
4612 full --- Same as both `shadow' and `value'.
4616 guile> (apropos "trace" 'full)
4617 debug: trace #<procedure trace args>
4618 debug: untrace #<procedure untrace args>
4619 the-scm-module: display-backtrace #<compiled-closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>
4620 the-scm-module: before-backtrace-hook ()
4621 the-scm-module: backtrace #<primitive-procedure backtrace>
4622 the-scm-module: after-backtrace-hook ()
4623 the-scm-module: has-shown-backtrace-hint? #f
4626 ** There are new functions and syntax for working with macros.
4628 Guile implements macros as a special object type. Any variable whose
4629 top-level binding is a macro object acts as a macro. The macro object
4630 specifies how the expression should be transformed before evaluation.
4632 *** Macro objects now print in a reasonable way, resembling procedures.
4634 *** New function: (macro? OBJ)
4635 True iff OBJ is a macro object.
4637 *** New function: (primitive-macro? OBJ)
4638 Like (macro? OBJ), but true only if OBJ is one of the Guile primitive
4639 macro transformers, implemented in eval.c rather than Scheme code.
4641 Why do we have this function?
4642 - For symmetry with procedure? and primitive-procedure?,
4643 - to allow custom print procedures to tell whether a macro is
4644 primitive, and display it differently, and
4645 - to allow compilers and user-written evaluators to distinguish
4646 builtin special forms from user-defined ones, which could be
4649 *** New function: (macro-type OBJ)
4650 Return a value indicating what kind of macro OBJ is. Possible return
4653 The symbol `syntax' --- a macro created by procedure->syntax.
4654 The symbol `macro' --- a macro created by procedure->macro.
4655 The symbol `macro!' --- a macro created by procedure->memoizing-macro.
4656 The boolean #f --- if OBJ is not a macro object.
4658 *** New function: (macro-name MACRO)
4659 Return the name of the macro object MACRO's procedure, as returned by
4662 *** New function: (macro-transformer MACRO)
4663 Return the transformer procedure for MACRO.
4665 *** New syntax: (use-syntax MODULE ... TRANSFORMER)
4667 Specify a new macro expander to use in the current module. Each
4668 MODULE is a module name, with the same meaning as in the `use-modules'
4669 form; each named module's exported bindings are added to the current
4670 top-level environment. TRANSFORMER is an expression evaluated in the
4671 resulting environment which must yield a procedure to use as the
4672 module's eval transformer: every expression evaluated in this module
4673 is passed to this function, and the result passed to the Guile
4676 *** macro-eval! is removed. Use local-eval instead.
4678 ** Some magic has been added to the printer to better handle user
4679 written printing routines (like record printers, closure printers).
4681 The problem is that these user written routines must have access to
4682 the current `print-state' to be able to handle fancy things like
4683 detection of circular references. These print-states have to be
4684 passed to the builtin printing routines (display, write, etc) to
4685 properly continue the print chain.
4687 We didn't want to change all existing print code so that it
4688 explicitly passes thru a print state in addition to a port. Instead,
4689 we extented the possible values that the builtin printing routines
4690 accept as a `port'. In addition to a normal port, they now also take
4691 a pair of a normal port and a print-state. Printing will go to the
4692 port and the print-state will be used to control the detection of
4693 circular references, etc. If the builtin function does not care for a
4694 print-state, it is simply ignored.
4696 User written callbacks are now called with such a pair as their
4697 `port', but because every function now accepts this pair as a PORT
4698 argument, you don't have to worry about that. In fact, it is probably
4699 safest to not check for these pairs.
4701 However, it is sometimes necessary to continue a print chain on a
4702 different port, for example to get a intermediate string
4703 representation of the printed value, mangle that string somehow, and
4704 then to finally print the mangled string. Use the new function
4706 inherit-print-state OLD-PORT NEW-PORT
4708 for this. It constructs a new `port' that prints to NEW-PORT but
4709 inherits the print-state of OLD-PORT.
4711 ** struct-vtable-offset renamed to vtable-offset-user
4713 ** New constants: vtable-index-layout, vtable-index-vtable, vtable-index-printer
4715 ** There is now a third optional argument to make-vtable-vtable
4716 (and fourth to make-struct) when constructing new types (vtables).
4717 This argument initializes field vtable-index-printer of the vtable.
4719 ** The detection of circular references has been extended to structs.
4720 That is, a structure that -- in the process of being printed -- prints
4721 itself does not lead to infinite recursion.
4723 ** There is now some basic support for fluids. Please read
4724 "libguile/fluid.h" to find out more. It is accessible from Scheme with
4725 the following functions and macros:
4727 Function: make-fluid
4729 Create a new fluid object. Fluids are not special variables or
4730 some other extension to the semantics of Scheme, but rather
4731 ordinary Scheme objects. You can store them into variables (that
4732 are still lexically scoped, of course) or into any other place you
4733 like. Every fluid has a initial value of `#f'.
4735 Function: fluid? OBJ
4737 Test whether OBJ is a fluid.
4739 Function: fluid-ref FLUID
4740 Function: fluid-set! FLUID VAL
4742 Access/modify the fluid FLUID. Modifications are only visible
4743 within the current dynamic root (that includes threads).
4745 Function: with-fluids* FLUIDS VALUES THUNK
4747 FLUIDS is a list of fluids and VALUES a corresponding list of
4748 values for these fluids. Before THUNK gets called the values are
4749 installed in the fluids and the old values of the fluids are
4750 saved in the VALUES list. When the flow of control leaves THUNK
4751 or reenters it, the values get swapped again. You might think of
4752 this as a `safe-fluid-excursion'. Note that the VALUES list is
4753 modified by `with-fluids*'.
4755 Macro: with-fluids ((FLUID VALUE) ...) FORM ...
4757 The same as `with-fluids*' but with a different syntax. It looks
4758 just like `let', but both FLUID and VALUE are evaluated. Remember,
4759 fluids are not special variables but ordinary objects. FLUID
4760 should evaluate to a fluid.
4762 ** Changes to system call interfaces:
4764 *** close-port, close-input-port and close-output-port now return a
4765 boolean instead of an `unspecified' object. #t means that the port
4766 was successfully closed, while #f means it was already closed. It is
4767 also now possible for these procedures to raise an exception if an
4768 error occurs (some errors from write can be delayed until close.)
4770 *** the first argument to chmod, fcntl, ftell and fseek can now be a
4773 *** the third argument to fcntl is now optional.
4775 *** the first argument to chown can now be a file descriptor or a port.
4777 *** the argument to stat can now be a port.
4779 *** The following new procedures have been added (most use scsh
4782 *** procedure: close PORT/FD
4783 Similar to close-port (*note close-port: Closing Ports.), but also
4784 works on file descriptors. A side effect of closing a file
4785 descriptor is that any ports using that file descriptor are moved
4786 to a different file descriptor and have their revealed counts set
4789 *** procedure: port->fdes PORT
4790 Returns the integer file descriptor underlying PORT. As a side
4791 effect the revealed count of PORT is incremented.
4793 *** procedure: fdes->ports FDES
4794 Returns a list of existing ports which have FDES as an underlying
4795 file descriptor, without changing their revealed counts.
4797 *** procedure: fdes->inport FDES
4798 Returns an existing input port which has FDES as its underlying
4799 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
4800 Otherwise, returns a new input port with a revealed count of 1.
4802 *** procedure: fdes->outport FDES
4803 Returns an existing output port which has FDES as its underlying
4804 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
4805 Otherwise, returns a new output port with a revealed count of 1.
4807 The next group of procedures perform a `dup2' system call, if NEWFD
4808 (an integer) is supplied, otherwise a `dup'. The file descriptor to be
4809 duplicated can be supplied as an integer or contained in a port. The
4810 type of value returned varies depending on which procedure is used.
4812 All procedures also have the side effect when performing `dup2' that
4813 any ports using NEWFD are moved to a different file descriptor and have
4814 their revealed counts set to zero.
4816 *** procedure: dup->fdes PORT/FD [NEWFD]
4817 Returns an integer file descriptor.
4819 *** procedure: dup->inport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
4820 Returns a new input port using the new file descriptor.
4822 *** procedure: dup->outport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
4823 Returns a new output port using the new file descriptor.
4825 *** procedure: dup PORT/FD [NEWFD]
4826 Returns a new port if PORT/FD is a port, with the same mode as the
4827 supplied port, otherwise returns an integer file descriptor.
4829 *** procedure: dup->port PORT/FD MODE [NEWFD]
4830 Returns a new port using the new file descriptor. MODE supplies a
4831 mode string for the port (*note open-file: File Ports.).
4833 *** procedure: setenv NAME VALUE
4834 Modifies the environment of the current process, which is also the
4835 default environment inherited by child processes.
4837 If VALUE is `#f', then NAME is removed from the environment.
4838 Otherwise, the string NAME=VALUE is added to the environment,
4839 replacing any existing string with name matching NAME.
4841 The return value is unspecified.
4843 *** procedure: truncate-file OBJ SIZE
4844 Truncates the file referred to by OBJ to at most SIZE bytes. OBJ
4845 can be a string containing a file name or an integer file
4846 descriptor or port open for output on the file. The underlying
4847 system calls are `truncate' and `ftruncate'.
4849 The return value is unspecified.
4851 *** procedure: setvbuf PORT MODE [SIZE]
4852 Set the buffering mode for PORT. MODE can be:
4860 block buffered, using a newly allocated buffer of SIZE bytes.
4861 However if SIZE is zero or unspecified, the port will be made
4864 This procedure should not be used after I/O has been performed with
4867 Ports are usually block buffered by default, with a default buffer
4868 size. Procedures e.g., *Note open-file: File Ports, which accept a
4869 mode string allow `0' to be added to request an unbuffered port.
4871 *** procedure: fsync PORT/FD
4872 Copies any unwritten data for the specified output file descriptor
4873 to disk. If PORT/FD is a port, its buffer is flushed before the
4874 underlying file descriptor is fsync'd. The return value is
4877 *** procedure: open-fdes PATH FLAGS [MODES]
4878 Similar to `open' but returns a file descriptor instead of a port.
4880 *** procedure: execle PATH ENV [ARG] ...
4881 Similar to `execl', but the environment of the new process is
4882 specified by ENV, which must be a list of strings as returned by
4883 the `environ' procedure.
4885 This procedure is currently implemented using the `execve' system
4886 call, but we call it `execle' because of its Scheme calling
4889 *** procedure: strerror ERRNO
4890 Returns the Unix error message corresponding to ERRNO, an integer.
4892 *** procedure: primitive-exit [STATUS]
4893 Terminate the current process without unwinding the Scheme stack.
4894 This is would typically be useful after a fork. The exit status
4895 is STATUS if supplied, otherwise zero.
4897 *** procedure: times
4898 Returns an object with information about real and processor time.
4899 The following procedures accept such an object as an argument and
4900 return a selected component:
4903 The current real time, expressed as time units relative to an
4907 The CPU time units used by the calling process.
4910 The CPU time units used by the system on behalf of the
4914 The CPU time units used by terminated child processes of the
4915 calling process, whose status has been collected (e.g., using
4919 Similarly, the CPU times units used by the system on behalf of
4920 terminated child processes.
4922 ** Removed: list-length
4923 ** Removed: list-append, list-append!
4924 ** Removed: list-reverse, list-reverse!
4926 ** array-map renamed to array-map!
4928 ** serial-array-map renamed to serial-array-map!
4930 ** catch doesn't take #f as first argument any longer
4932 Previously, it was possible to pass #f instead of a key to `catch'.
4933 That would cause `catch' to pass a jump buffer object to the procedure
4934 passed as second argument. The procedure could then use this jump
4935 buffer objekt as an argument to throw.
4937 This mechanism has been removed since its utility doesn't motivate the
4938 extra complexity it introduces.
4940 ** The `#/' notation for lists now provokes a warning message from Guile.
4941 This syntax will be removed from Guile in the near future.
4943 To disable the warning message, set the GUILE_HUSH environment
4944 variable to any non-empty value.
4946 ** The newline character now prints as `#\newline', following the
4947 normal Scheme notation, not `#\nl'.
4949 * Changes to the gh_ interface
4951 ** The gh_enter function now takes care of loading the Guile startup files.
4952 gh_enter works by calling scm_boot_guile; see the remarks below.
4954 ** Function: void gh_write (SCM x)
4956 Write the printed representation of the scheme object x to the current
4957 output port. Corresponds to the scheme level `write'.
4959 ** gh_list_length renamed to gh_length.
4961 ** vector handling routines
4963 Several major changes. In particular, gh_vector() now resembles
4964 (vector ...) (with a caveat -- see manual), and gh_make_vector() now
4965 exists and behaves like (make-vector ...). gh_vset() and gh_vref()
4966 have been renamed gh_vector_set_x() and gh_vector_ref(). Some missing
4967 vector-related gh_ functions have been implemented.
4969 ** pair and list routines
4971 Implemented several of the R4RS pair and list functions that were
4974 ** gh_scm2doubles, gh_doubles2scm, gh_doubles2dvect
4976 New function. Converts double arrays back and forth between Scheme
4979 * Changes to the scm_ interface
4981 ** The function scm_boot_guile now takes care of loading the startup files.
4983 Guile's primary initialization function, scm_boot_guile, now takes
4984 care of loading `boot-9.scm', in the `ice-9' module, to initialize
4985 Guile, define the module system, and put together some standard
4986 bindings. It also loads `init.scm', which is intended to hold
4987 site-specific initialization code.
4989 Since Guile cannot operate properly until boot-9.scm is loaded, there
4990 is no reason to separate loading boot-9.scm from Guile's other
4991 initialization processes.
4993 This job used to be done by scm_compile_shell_switches, which didn't
4994 make much sense; in particular, it meant that people using Guile for
4995 non-shell-like applications had to jump through hoops to get Guile
4996 initialized properly.
4998 ** The function scm_compile_shell_switches no longer loads the startup files.
4999 Now, Guile always loads the startup files, whenever it is initialized;
5000 see the notes above for scm_boot_guile and scm_load_startup_files.
5002 ** Function: scm_load_startup_files
5003 This new function takes care of loading Guile's initialization file
5004 (`boot-9.scm'), and the site initialization file, `init.scm'. Since
5005 this is always called by the Guile initialization process, it's
5006 probably not too useful to call this yourself, but it's there anyway.
5008 ** The semantics of smob marking have changed slightly.
5010 The smob marking function (the `mark' member of the scm_smobfuns
5011 structure) is no longer responsible for setting the mark bit on the
5012 smob. The generic smob handling code in the garbage collector will
5013 set this bit. The mark function need only ensure that any other
5014 objects the smob refers to get marked.
5016 Note that this change means that the smob's GC8MARK bit is typically
5017 already set upon entry to the mark function. Thus, marking functions
5018 which look like this:
5021 if (SCM_GC8MARKP (ptr))
5023 SCM_SETGC8MARK (ptr);
5024 ... mark objects to which the smob refers ...
5027 are now incorrect, since they will return early, and fail to mark any
5028 other objects the smob refers to. Some code in the Guile library used
5031 ** The semantics of the I/O port functions in scm_ptobfuns have changed.
5033 If you have implemented your own I/O port type, by writing the
5034 functions required by the scm_ptobfuns and then calling scm_newptob,
5035 you will need to change your functions slightly.
5037 The functions in a scm_ptobfuns structure now expect the port itself
5038 as their argument; they used to expect the `stream' member of the
5039 port's scm_port_table structure. This allows functions in an
5040 scm_ptobfuns structure to easily access the port's cell (and any flags
5041 it its CAR), and the port's scm_port_table structure.
5043 Guile now passes the I/O port itself as the `port' argument in the
5044 following scm_ptobfuns functions:
5046 int (*free) (SCM port);
5047 int (*fputc) (int, SCM port);
5048 int (*fputs) (char *, SCM port);
5049 scm_sizet (*fwrite) SCM_P ((char *ptr,
5053 int (*fflush) (SCM port);
5054 int (*fgetc) (SCM port);
5055 int (*fclose) (SCM port);
5057 The interfaces to the `mark', `print', `equalp', and `fgets' methods
5060 If you have existing code which defines its own port types, it is easy
5061 to convert your code to the new interface; simply apply SCM_STREAM to
5062 the port argument to yield the value you code used to expect.
5064 Note that since both the port and the stream have the same type in the
5065 C code --- they are both SCM values --- the C compiler will not remind
5066 you if you forget to update your scm_ptobfuns functions.
5069 ** Function: int scm_internal_select (int fds,
5073 struct timeval *timeout);
5075 This is a replacement for the `select' function provided by the OS.
5076 It enables I/O blocking and sleeping to happen for one cooperative
5077 thread without blocking other threads. It also avoids busy-loops in
5078 these situations. It is intended that all I/O blocking and sleeping
5079 will finally go through this function. Currently, this function is
5080 only available on systems providing `gettimeofday' and `select'.
5082 ** Function: SCM scm_internal_stack_catch (SCM tag,
5083 scm_catch_body_t body,
5085 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
5088 A new sibling to the other two C level `catch' functions
5089 scm_internal_catch and scm_internal_lazy_catch. Use it if you want
5090 the stack to be saved automatically into the variable `the-last-stack'
5091 (scm_the_last_stack_var) on error. This is necessary if you want to
5092 use advanced error reporting, such as calling scm_display_error and
5093 scm_display_backtrace. (They both take a stack object as argument.)
5095 ** Function: SCM scm_spawn_thread (scm_catch_body_t body,
5097 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
5100 Spawns a new thread. It does a job similar to
5101 scm_call_with_new_thread but takes arguments more suitable when
5102 spawning threads from application C code.
5104 ** The hook scm_error_callback has been removed. It was originally
5105 intended as a way for the user to install his own error handler. But
5106 that method works badly since it intervenes between throw and catch,
5107 thereby changing the semantics of expressions like (catch #t ...).
5108 The correct way to do it is to use one of the C level catch functions
5109 in throw.c: scm_internal_catch/lazy_catch/stack_catch.
5111 ** Removed functions:
5113 scm_obj_length, scm_list_length, scm_list_append, scm_list_append_x,
5114 scm_list_reverse, scm_list_reverse_x
5116 ** New macros: SCM_LISTn where n is one of the integers 0-9.
5118 These can be used for pretty list creation from C. The idea is taken
5119 from Erick Gallesio's STk.
5121 ** scm_array_map renamed to scm_array_map_x
5123 ** mbstrings are now removed
5125 This means that the type codes scm_tc7_mb_string and
5126 scm_tc7_mb_substring has been removed.
5128 ** scm_gen_putc, scm_gen_puts, scm_gen_write, and scm_gen_getc have changed.
5130 Since we no longer support multi-byte strings, these I/O functions
5131 have been simplified, and renamed. Here are their old names, and
5132 their new names and arguments:
5134 scm_gen_putc -> void scm_putc (int c, SCM port);
5135 scm_gen_puts -> void scm_puts (char *s, SCM port);
5136 scm_gen_write -> void scm_lfwrite (char *ptr, scm_sizet size, SCM port);
5137 scm_gen_getc -> void scm_getc (SCM port);
5140 ** The macros SCM_TYP7D and SCM_TYP7SD has been removed.
5142 ** The macro SCM_TYP7S has taken the role of the old SCM_TYP7D
5144 SCM_TYP7S now masks away the bit which distinguishes substrings from
5147 ** scm_catch_body_t: Backward incompatible change!
5149 Body functions to scm_internal_catch and friends do not any longer
5150 take a second argument. This is because it is no longer possible to
5151 pass a #f arg to catch.
5153 ** Calls to scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect now nest properly.
5155 The function scm_protect_object protects its argument from being freed
5156 by the garbage collector. scm_unprotect_object removes that
5159 These functions now nest properly. That is, for every object O, there
5160 is a counter which scm_protect_object(O) increments and
5161 scm_unprotect_object(O) decrements, if the counter is greater than
5162 zero. Every object's counter is zero when it is first created. If an
5163 object's counter is greater than zero, the garbage collector will not
5164 reclaim its storage.
5166 This allows you to use scm_protect_object in your code without
5167 worrying that some other function you call will call
5168 scm_unprotect_object, and allow it to be freed. Assuming that the
5169 functions you call are well-behaved, and unprotect only those objects
5170 they protect, you can follow the same rule and have confidence that
5171 objects will be freed only at appropriate times.
5174 Changes in Guile 1.2 (released Tuesday, June 24 1997):
5176 * Changes to the distribution
5178 ** Nightly snapshots are now available from ftp.red-bean.com.
5179 The old server, ftp.cyclic.com, has been relinquished to its rightful
5182 Nightly snapshots of the Guile development sources are now available via
5183 anonymous FTP from ftp.red-bean.com, as /pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz.
5185 Via the web, that's: ftp://ftp.red-bean.com/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
5186 For getit, that's: ftp.red-bean.com:/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
5188 ** To run Guile without installing it, the procedure has changed a bit.
5190 If you used a separate build directory to compile Guile, you'll need
5191 to include the build directory in SCHEME_LOAD_PATH, as well as the
5192 source directory. See the `INSTALL' file for examples.
5194 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
5196 ** The standard Guile load path for Scheme code now includes
5197 $(datadir)/guile (usually /usr/local/share/guile). This means that
5198 you can install your own Scheme files there, and Guile will find them.
5199 (Previous versions of Guile only checked a directory whose name
5200 contained the Guile version number, so you had to re-install or move
5201 your Scheme sources each time you installed a fresh version of Guile.)
5203 The load path also includes $(datadir)/guile/site; we recommend
5204 putting individual Scheme files there. If you want to install a
5205 package with multiple source files, create a directory for them under
5208 ** Guile 1.2 will now use the Rx regular expression library, if it is
5209 installed on your system. When you are linking libguile into your own
5210 programs, this means you will have to link against -lguile, -lqt (if
5211 you configured Guile with thread support), and -lrx.
5213 If you are using autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your
5214 application, the following lines should suffice to add the appropriate
5215 libraries to your link command:
5217 ### Find Rx, quickthreads and libguile.
5218 AC_CHECK_LIB(rx, main)
5219 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
5220 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
5222 The Guile 1.2 distribution does not contain sources for the Rx
5223 library, as Guile 1.0 did. If you want to use Rx, you'll need to
5224 retrieve it from a GNU FTP site and install it separately.
5226 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5228 ** The dynamic linking features of Guile are now enabled by default.
5229 You can disable them by giving the `--disable-dynamic-linking' option
5232 (dynamic-link FILENAME)
5234 Find the object file denoted by FILENAME (a string) and link it
5235 into the running Guile application. When everything works out,
5236 return a Scheme object suitable for representing the linked object
5237 file. Otherwise an error is thrown. How object files are
5238 searched is system dependent.
5240 (dynamic-object? VAL)
5242 Determine whether VAL represents a dynamically linked object file.
5244 (dynamic-unlink DYNOBJ)
5246 Unlink the indicated object file from the application. DYNOBJ
5247 should be one of the values returned by `dynamic-link'.
5249 (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
5251 Search the C function indicated by FUNCTION (a string or symbol)
5252 in DYNOBJ and return some Scheme object that can later be used
5253 with `dynamic-call' to actually call this function. Right now,
5254 these Scheme objects are formed by casting the address of the
5255 function to `long' and converting this number to its Scheme
5258 (dynamic-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
5260 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ. The
5261 function is passed no arguments and its return value is ignored.
5262 When FUNCTION is something returned by `dynamic-func', call that
5263 function and ignore DYNOBJ. When FUNCTION is a string (or symbol,
5264 etc.), look it up in DYNOBJ; this is equivalent to
5266 (dynamic-call (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ) #f)
5268 Interrupts are deferred while the C function is executing (with
5269 SCM_DEFER_INTS/SCM_ALLOW_INTS).
5271 (dynamic-args-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ ARGS)
5273 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ, but pass it
5274 some arguments and return its return value. The C function is
5275 expected to take two arguments and return an `int', just like
5278 int c_func (int argc, char **argv);
5280 ARGS must be a list of strings and is converted into an array of
5281 `char *'. The array is passed in ARGV and its size in ARGC. The
5282 return value is converted to a Scheme number and returned from the
5283 call to `dynamic-args-call'.
5285 When dynamic linking is disabled or not supported on your system,
5286 the above functions throw errors, but they are still available.
5288 Here is a small example that works on GNU/Linux:
5290 (define libc-obj (dynamic-link "libc.so"))
5291 (dynamic-args-call 'rand libc-obj '())
5293 See the file `libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING' for additional comments.
5295 ** The #/ syntax for module names is depreciated, and will be removed
5296 in a future version of Guile. Instead of
5304 The latter syntax is more consistent with existing Lisp practice.
5306 ** Guile now does fancier printing of structures. Structures are the
5307 underlying implementation for records, which in turn are used to
5308 implement modules, so all of these object now print differently and in
5309 a more informative way.
5311 The Scheme printer will examine the builtin variable *struct-printer*
5312 whenever it needs to print a structure object. When this variable is
5313 not `#f' it is deemed to be a procedure and will be applied to the
5314 structure object and the output port. When *struct-printer* is `#f'
5315 or the procedure return `#f' the structure object will be printed in
5316 the boring #<struct 80458270> form.
5318 This hook is used by some routines in ice-9/boot-9.scm to implement
5319 type specific printing routines. Please read the comments there about
5322 One of the more specific uses of structs are records. The printing
5323 procedure that could be passed to MAKE-RECORD-TYPE is now actually
5324 called. It should behave like a *struct-printer* procedure (described
5327 ** Guile now supports a new R4RS-compliant syntax for keywords. A
5328 token of the form #:NAME, where NAME has the same syntax as a Scheme
5329 symbol, is the external representation of the keyword named NAME.
5330 Keyword objects print using this syntax as well, so values containing
5331 keyword objects can be read back into Guile. When used in an
5332 expression, keywords are self-quoting objects.
5334 Guile suports this read syntax, and uses this print syntax, regardless
5335 of the current setting of the `keyword' read option. The `keyword'
5336 read option only controls whether Guile recognizes the `:NAME' syntax,
5337 which is incompatible with R4RS. (R4RS says such token represent
5340 ** Guile has regular expression support again. Guile 1.0 included
5341 functions for matching regular expressions, based on the Rx library.
5342 In Guile 1.1, the Guile/Rx interface was removed to simplify the
5343 distribution, and thus Guile had no regular expression support. Guile
5344 1.2 again supports the most commonly used functions, and supports all
5345 of SCSH's regular expression functions.
5347 If your system does not include a POSIX regular expression library,
5348 and you have not linked Guile with a third-party regexp library such as
5349 Rx, these functions will not be available. You can tell whether your
5350 Guile installation includes regular expression support by checking
5351 whether the `*features*' list includes the `regex' symbol.
5353 *** regexp functions
5355 By default, Guile supports POSIX extended regular expressions. That
5356 means that the characters `(', `)', `+' and `?' are special, and must
5357 be escaped if you wish to match the literal characters.
5359 This regular expression interface was modeled after that implemented
5360 by SCSH, the Scheme Shell. It is intended to be upwardly compatible
5361 with SCSH regular expressions.
5363 **** Function: string-match PATTERN STR [START]
5364 Compile the string PATTERN into a regular expression and compare
5365 it with STR. The optional numeric argument START specifies the
5366 position of STR at which to begin matching.
5368 `string-match' returns a "match structure" which describes what,
5369 if anything, was matched by the regular expression. *Note Match
5370 Structures::. If STR does not match PATTERN at all,
5371 `string-match' returns `#f'.
5373 Each time `string-match' is called, it must compile its PATTERN
5374 argument into a regular expression structure. This operation is
5375 expensive, which makes `string-match' inefficient if the same regular
5376 expression is used several times (for example, in a loop). For better
5377 performance, you can compile a regular expression in advance and then
5378 match strings against the compiled regexp.
5380 **** Function: make-regexp STR [FLAGS]
5381 Compile the regular expression described by STR, and return the
5382 compiled regexp structure. If STR does not describe a legal
5383 regular expression, `make-regexp' throws a
5384 `regular-expression-syntax' error.
5386 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
5388 **** Constant: regexp/extended
5389 Use POSIX Extended Regular Expression syntax when interpreting
5390 STR. If not set, POSIX Basic Regular Expression syntax is used.
5391 If the FLAGS argument is omitted, we assume regexp/extended.
5393 **** Constant: regexp/icase
5394 Do not differentiate case. Subsequent searches using the
5395 returned regular expression will be case insensitive.
5397 **** Constant: regexp/newline
5398 Match-any-character operators don't match a newline.
5400 A non-matching list ([^...]) not containing a newline matches a
5403 Match-beginning-of-line operator (^) matches the empty string
5404 immediately after a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
5405 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/notbol.
5407 Match-end-of-line operator ($) matches the empty string
5408 immediately before a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
5409 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/noteol.
5411 **** Function: regexp-exec REGEXP STR [START [FLAGS]]
5412 Match the compiled regular expression REGEXP against `str'. If
5413 the optional integer START argument is provided, begin matching
5414 from that position in the string. Return a match structure
5415 describing the results of the match, or `#f' if no match could be
5418 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
5420 **** Constant: regexp/notbol
5421 The match-beginning-of-line operator always fails to match (but
5422 see the compilation flag regexp/newline above) This flag may be
5423 used when different portions of a string are passed to
5424 regexp-exec and the beginning of the string should not be
5425 interpreted as the beginning of the line.
5427 **** Constant: regexp/noteol
5428 The match-end-of-line operator always fails to match (but see the
5429 compilation flag regexp/newline above)
5431 **** Function: regexp? OBJ
5432 Return `#t' if OBJ is a compiled regular expression, or `#f'
5435 Regular expressions are commonly used to find patterns in one string
5436 and replace them with the contents of another string.
5438 **** Function: regexp-substitute PORT MATCH [ITEM...]
5439 Write to the output port PORT selected contents of the match
5440 structure MATCH. Each ITEM specifies what should be written, and
5441 may be one of the following arguments:
5443 * A string. String arguments are written out verbatim.
5445 * An integer. The submatch with that number is written.
5447 * The symbol `pre'. The portion of the matched string preceding
5448 the regexp match is written.
5450 * The symbol `post'. The portion of the matched string
5451 following the regexp match is written.
5453 PORT may be `#f', in which case nothing is written; instead,
5454 `regexp-substitute' constructs a string from the specified ITEMs
5457 **** Function: regexp-substitute/global PORT REGEXP TARGET [ITEM...]
5458 Similar to `regexp-substitute', but can be used to perform global
5459 substitutions on STR. Instead of taking a match structure as an
5460 argument, `regexp-substitute/global' takes two string arguments: a
5461 REGEXP string describing a regular expression, and a TARGET string
5462 which should be matched against this regular expression.
5464 Each ITEM behaves as in REGEXP-SUBSTITUTE, with the following
5467 * A function may be supplied. When this function is called, it
5468 will be passed one argument: a match structure for a given
5469 regular expression match. It should return a string to be
5470 written out to PORT.
5472 * The `post' symbol causes `regexp-substitute/global' to recurse
5473 on the unmatched portion of STR. This *must* be supplied in
5474 order to perform global search-and-replace on STR; if it is
5475 not present among the ITEMs, then `regexp-substitute/global'
5476 will return after processing a single match.
5478 *** Match Structures
5480 A "match structure" is the object returned by `string-match' and
5481 `regexp-exec'. It describes which portion of a string, if any, matched
5482 the given regular expression. Match structures include: a reference to
5483 the string that was checked for matches; the starting and ending
5484 positions of the regexp match; and, if the regexp included any
5485 parenthesized subexpressions, the starting and ending positions of each
5488 In each of the regexp match functions described below, the `match'
5489 argument must be a match structure returned by a previous call to
5490 `string-match' or `regexp-exec'. Most of these functions return some
5491 information about the original target string that was matched against a
5492 regular expression; we will call that string TARGET for easy reference.
5494 **** Function: regexp-match? OBJ
5495 Return `#t' if OBJ is a match structure returned by a previous
5496 call to `regexp-exec', or `#f' otherwise.
5498 **** Function: match:substring MATCH [N]
5499 Return the portion of TARGET matched by subexpression number N.
5500 Submatch 0 (the default) represents the entire regexp match. If
5501 the regular expression as a whole matched, but the subexpression
5502 number N did not match, return `#f'.
5504 **** Function: match:start MATCH [N]
5505 Return the starting position of submatch number N.
5507 **** Function: match:end MATCH [N]
5508 Return the ending position of submatch number N.
5510 **** Function: match:prefix MATCH
5511 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET preceding the regexp match.
5513 **** Function: match:suffix MATCH
5514 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET following the regexp match.
5516 **** Function: match:count MATCH
5517 Return the number of parenthesized subexpressions from MATCH.
5518 Note that the entire regular expression match itself counts as a
5519 subexpression, and failed submatches are included in the count.
5521 **** Function: match:string MATCH
5522 Return the original TARGET string.
5524 *** Backslash Escapes
5526 Sometimes you will want a regexp to match characters like `*' or `$'
5527 exactly. For example, to check whether a particular string represents
5528 a menu entry from an Info node, it would be useful to match it against
5529 a regexp like `^* [^:]*::'. However, this won't work; because the
5530 asterisk is a metacharacter, it won't match the `*' at the beginning of
5531 the string. In this case, we want to make the first asterisk un-magic.
5533 You can do this by preceding the metacharacter with a backslash
5534 character `\'. (This is also called "quoting" the metacharacter, and
5535 is known as a "backslash escape".) When Guile sees a backslash in a
5536 regular expression, it considers the following glyph to be an ordinary
5537 character, no matter what special meaning it would ordinarily have.
5538 Therefore, we can make the above example work by changing the regexp to
5539 `^\* [^:]*::'. The `\*' sequence tells the regular expression engine
5540 to match only a single asterisk in the target string.
5542 Since the backslash is itself a metacharacter, you may force a
5543 regexp to match a backslash in the target string by preceding the
5544 backslash with itself. For example, to find variable references in a
5545 TeX program, you might want to find occurrences of the string `\let\'
5546 followed by any number of alphabetic characters. The regular expression
5547 `\\let\\[A-Za-z]*' would do this: the double backslashes in the regexp
5548 each match a single backslash in the target string.
5550 **** Function: regexp-quote STR
5551 Quote each special character found in STR with a backslash, and
5552 return the resulting string.
5554 *Very important:* Using backslash escapes in Guile source code (as
5555 in Emacs Lisp or C) can be tricky, because the backslash character has
5556 special meaning for the Guile reader. For example, if Guile encounters
5557 the character sequence `\n' in the middle of a string while processing
5558 Scheme code, it replaces those characters with a newline character.
5559 Similarly, the character sequence `\t' is replaced by a horizontal tab.
5560 Several of these "escape sequences" are processed by the Guile reader
5561 before your code is executed. Unrecognized escape sequences are
5562 ignored: if the characters `\*' appear in a string, they will be
5563 translated to the single character `*'.
5565 This translation is obviously undesirable for regular expressions,
5566 since we want to be able to include backslashes in a string in order to
5567 escape regexp metacharacters. Therefore, to make sure that a backslash
5568 is preserved in a string in your Guile program, you must use *two*
5569 consecutive backslashes:
5571 (define Info-menu-entry-pattern (make-regexp "^\\* [^:]*"))
5573 The string in this example is preprocessed by the Guile reader before
5574 any code is executed. The resulting argument to `make-regexp' is the
5575 string `^\* [^:]*', which is what we really want.
5577 This also means that in order to write a regular expression that
5578 matches a single backslash character, the regular expression string in
5579 the source code must include *four* backslashes. Each consecutive pair
5580 of backslashes gets translated by the Guile reader to a single
5581 backslash, and the resulting double-backslash is interpreted by the
5582 regexp engine as matching a single backslash character. Hence:
5584 (define tex-variable-pattern (make-regexp "\\\\let\\\\=[A-Za-z]*"))
5586 The reason for the unwieldiness of this syntax is historical. Both
5587 regular expression pattern matchers and Unix string processing systems
5588 have traditionally used backslashes with the special meanings described
5589 above. The POSIX regular expression specification and ANSI C standard
5590 both require these semantics. Attempting to abandon either convention
5591 would cause other kinds of compatibility problems, possibly more severe
5592 ones. Therefore, without extending the Scheme reader to support
5593 strings with different quoting conventions (an ungainly and confusing
5594 extension when implemented in other languages), we must adhere to this
5595 cumbersome escape syntax.
5597 * Changes to the gh_ interface
5599 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5601 * Changes to system call interfaces:
5603 ** The value returned by `raise' is now unspecified. It throws an exception
5606 *** A new procedure `sigaction' can be used to install signal handlers
5608 (sigaction signum [action] [flags])
5610 signum is the signal number, which can be specified using the value
5613 If action is omitted, sigaction returns a pair: the CAR is the current
5614 signal hander, which will be either an integer with the value SIG_DFL
5615 (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or the Scheme procedure which
5616 handles the signal, or #f if a non-Scheme procedure handles the
5617 signal. The CDR contains the current sigaction flags for the handler.
5619 If action is provided, it is installed as the new handler for signum.
5620 action can be a Scheme procedure taking one argument, or the value of
5621 SIG_DFL (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or #f to restore
5622 whatever signal handler was installed before sigaction was first used.
5623 Flags can optionally be specified for the new handler (SA_RESTART is
5624 always used if the system provides it, so need not be specified.) The
5625 return value is a pair with information about the old handler as
5628 This interface does not provide access to the "signal blocking"
5629 facility. Maybe this is not needed, since the thread support may
5630 provide solutions to the problem of consistent access to data
5633 *** A new procedure `flush-all-ports' is equivalent to running
5634 `force-output' on every port open for output.
5636 ** Guile now provides information on how it was built, via the new
5637 global variable, %guile-build-info. This variable records the values
5638 of the standard GNU makefile directory variables as an assocation
5639 list, mapping variable names (symbols) onto directory paths (strings).
5640 For example, to find out where the Guile link libraries were
5641 installed, you can say:
5643 guile -c "(display (assq-ref %guile-build-info 'libdir)) (newline)"
5646 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5648 ** The new function scm_handle_by_message_noexit is just like the
5649 existing scm_handle_by_message function, except that it doesn't call
5650 exit to terminate the process. Instead, it prints a message and just
5651 returns #f. This might be a more appropriate catch-all handler for
5652 new dynamic roots and threads.
5655 Changes in Guile 1.1 (released Friday, May 16 1997):
5657 * Changes to the distribution.
5659 The Guile 1.0 distribution has been split up into several smaller
5661 guile-core --- the Guile interpreter itself.
5662 guile-tcltk --- the interface between the Guile interpreter and
5663 Tcl/Tk; Tcl is an interpreter for a stringy language, and Tk
5664 is a toolkit for building graphical user interfaces.
5665 guile-rgx-ctax --- the interface between Guile and the Rx regular
5666 expression matcher, and the translator for the Ctax
5667 programming language. These are packaged together because the
5668 Ctax translator uses Rx to parse Ctax source code.
5670 This NEWS file describes the changes made to guile-core since the 1.0
5673 We no longer distribute the documentation, since it was either out of
5674 date, or incomplete. As soon as we have current documentation, we
5679 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
5681 ** guile now accepts command-line arguments compatible with SCSH, Olin
5682 Shivers' Scheme Shell.
5684 In general, arguments are evaluated from left to right, but there are
5685 exceptions. The following switches stop argument processing, and
5686 stash all remaining command-line arguments as the value returned by
5687 the (command-line) function.
5688 -s SCRIPT load Scheme source code from FILE, and exit
5689 -c EXPR evalute Scheme expression EXPR, and exit
5690 -- stop scanning arguments; run interactively
5692 The switches below are processed as they are encountered.
5693 -l FILE load Scheme source code from FILE
5694 -e FUNCTION after reading script, apply FUNCTION to
5695 command line arguments
5696 -ds do -s script at this point
5697 --emacs enable Emacs protocol (experimental)
5698 -h, --help display this help and exit
5699 -v, --version display version information and exit
5700 \ read arguments from following script lines
5702 So, for example, here is a Guile script named `ekko' (thanks, Olin)
5703 which re-implements the traditional "echo" command:
5705 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
5708 (map (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
5712 (main (command-line))
5714 Suppose we invoke this script as follows:
5716 ekko a speckled gecko
5718 Through the magic of Unix script processing (triggered by the `#!'
5719 token at the top of the file), /usr/local/bin/guile receives the
5720 following list of command-line arguments:
5722 ("-s" "./ekko" "a" "speckled" "gecko")
5724 Unix inserts the name of the script after the argument specified on
5725 the first line of the file (in this case, "-s"), and then follows that
5726 with the arguments given to the script. Guile loads the script, which
5727 defines the `main' function, and then applies it to the list of
5728 remaining command-line arguments, ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
5730 In Unix, the first line of a script file must take the following form:
5732 #!INTERPRETER ARGUMENT
5734 where INTERPRETER is the absolute filename of the interpreter
5735 executable, and ARGUMENT is a single command-line argument to pass to
5738 You may only pass one argument to the interpreter, and its length is
5739 limited. These restrictions can be annoying to work around, so Guile
5740 provides a general mechanism (borrowed from, and compatible with,
5741 SCSH) for circumventing them.
5743 If the ARGUMENT in a Guile script is a single backslash character,
5744 `\', Guile will open the script file, parse arguments from its second
5745 and subsequent lines, and replace the `\' with them. So, for example,
5746 here is another implementation of the `ekko' script:
5748 #!/usr/local/bin/guile \
5752 (for-each (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
5756 If the user invokes this script as follows:
5758 ekko a speckled gecko
5760 Unix expands this into
5762 /usr/local/bin/guile \ ekko a speckled gecko
5764 When Guile sees the `\' argument, it replaces it with the arguments
5765 read from the second line of the script, producing:
5767 /usr/local/bin/guile -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
5769 This tells Guile to load the `ekko' script, and apply the function
5770 `main' to the argument list ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
5772 Here is how Guile parses the command-line arguments:
5773 - Each space character terminates an argument. This means that two
5774 spaces in a row introduce an empty-string argument.
5775 - The tab character is not permitted (unless you quote it with the
5776 backslash character, as described below), to avoid confusion.
5777 - The newline character terminates the sequence of arguments, and will
5778 also terminate a final non-empty argument. (However, a newline
5779 following a space will not introduce a final empty-string argument;
5780 it only terminates the argument list.)
5781 - The backslash character is the escape character. It escapes
5782 backslash, space, tab, and newline. The ANSI C escape sequences
5783 like \n and \t are also supported. These produce argument
5784 constituents; the two-character combination \n doesn't act like a
5785 terminating newline. The escape sequence \NNN for exactly three
5786 octal digits reads as the character whose ASCII code is NNN. As
5787 above, characters produced this way are argument constituents.
5788 Backslash followed by other characters is not allowed.
5790 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
5792 ** Guile now builds and installs a shared guile library, if your
5793 system support shared libraries. (It still builds a static library on
5794 all systems.) Guile automatically detects whether your system
5795 supports shared libraries. To prevent Guile from buildisg shared
5796 libraries, pass the `--disable-shared' flag to the configure script.
5798 Guile takes longer to compile when it builds shared libraries, because
5799 it must compile every file twice --- once to produce position-
5800 independent object code, and once to produce normal object code.
5802 ** The libthreads library has been merged into libguile.
5804 To link a program against Guile, you now need only link against
5805 -lguile and -lqt; -lthreads is no longer needed. If you are using
5806 autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your application, the
5807 following lines should suffice to add the appropriate libraries to
5810 ### Find quickthreads and libguile.
5811 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
5812 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
5814 * Changes to Scheme functions
5816 ** Guile Scheme's special syntax for keyword objects is now optional,
5817 and disabled by default.
5819 The syntax variation from R4RS made it difficult to port some
5820 interesting packages to Guile. The routines which accepted keyword
5821 arguments (mostly in the module system) have been modified to also
5822 accept symbols whose names begin with `:'.
5824 To change the keyword syntax, you must first import the (ice-9 debug)
5826 (use-modules (ice-9 debug))
5828 Then you can enable the keyword syntax as follows:
5829 (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
5831 To disable keyword syntax, do this:
5832 (read-set! keywords #f)
5834 ** Many more primitive functions accept shared substrings as
5835 arguments. In the past, these functions required normal, mutable
5836 strings as arguments, although they never made use of this
5839 ** The uniform array functions now operate on byte vectors. These
5840 functions are `array-fill!', `serial-array-copy!', `array-copy!',
5841 `serial-array-map', `array-map', `array-for-each', and
5844 ** The new functions `trace' and `untrace' implement simple debugging
5845 support for Scheme functions.
5847 The `trace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
5848 and tells the Guile interpreter to display each procedure's name and
5849 arguments each time the procedure is invoked. When invoked with no
5850 arguments, `trace' returns the list of procedures currently being
5853 The `untrace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
5854 and tells the Guile interpreter not to trace them any more. When
5855 invoked with no arguments, `untrace' untraces all curretly traced
5858 The tracing in Guile has an advantage over most other systems: we
5859 don't create new procedure objects, but mark the procedure objects
5860 themselves. This means that anonymous and internal procedures can be
5863 ** The function `assert-repl-prompt' has been renamed to
5864 `set-repl-prompt!'. It takes one argument, PROMPT.
5865 - If PROMPT is #f, the Guile read-eval-print loop will not prompt.
5866 - If PROMPT is a string, we use it as a prompt.
5867 - If PROMPT is a procedure accepting no arguments, we call it, and
5868 display the result as a prompt.
5869 - Otherwise, we display "> ".
5871 ** The new function `eval-string' reads Scheme expressions from a
5872 string and evaluates them, returning the value of the last expression
5873 in the string. If the string contains no expressions, it returns an
5876 ** The new function `thunk?' returns true iff its argument is a
5877 procedure of zero arguments.
5879 ** `defined?' is now a builtin function, instead of syntax. This
5880 means that its argument should be quoted. It returns #t iff its
5881 argument is bound in the current module.
5883 ** The new syntax `use-modules' allows you to add new modules to your
5884 environment without re-typing a complete `define-module' form. It
5885 accepts any number of module names as arguments, and imports their
5886 public bindings into the current module.
5888 ** The new function (module-defined? NAME MODULE) returns true iff
5889 NAME, a symbol, is defined in MODULE, a module object.
5891 ** The new function `builtin-bindings' creates and returns a hash
5892 table containing copies of all the root module's bindings.
5894 ** The new function `builtin-weak-bindings' does the same as
5895 `builtin-bindings', but creates a doubly-weak hash table.
5897 ** The `equal?' function now considers variable objects to be
5898 equivalent if they have the same name and the same value.
5900 ** The new function `command-line' returns the command-line arguments
5901 given to Guile, as a list of strings.
5903 When using guile as a script interpreter, `command-line' returns the
5904 script's arguments; those processed by the interpreter (like `-s' or
5905 `-c') are omitted. (In other words, you get the normal, expected
5906 behavior.) Any application that uses scm_shell to process its
5907 command-line arguments gets this behavior as well.
5909 ** The new function `load-user-init' looks for a file called `.guile'
5910 in the user's home directory, and loads it if it exists. This is
5911 mostly for use by the code generated by scm_compile_shell_switches,
5912 but we thought it might also be useful in other circumstances.
5914 ** The new function `log10' returns the base-10 logarithm of its
5917 ** Changes to I/O functions
5919 *** The functions `read', `primitive-load', `read-and-eval!', and
5920 `primitive-load-path' no longer take optional arguments controlling
5921 case insensitivity and a `#' parser.
5923 Case sensitivity is now controlled by a read option called
5924 `case-insensitive'. The user can add new `#' syntaxes with the
5925 `read-hash-extend' function (see below).
5927 *** The new function `read-hash-extend' allows the user to change the
5928 syntax of Guile Scheme in a somewhat controlled way.
5930 (read-hash-extend CHAR PROC)
5931 When parsing S-expressions, if we read a `#' character followed by
5932 the character CHAR, use PROC to parse an object from the stream.
5933 If PROC is #f, remove any parsing procedure registered for CHAR.
5935 The reader applies PROC to two arguments: CHAR and an input port.
5937 *** The new functions read-delimited and read-delimited! provide a
5938 general mechanism for doing delimited input on streams.
5940 (read-delimited DELIMS [PORT HANDLE-DELIM])
5941 Read until we encounter one of the characters in DELIMS (a string),
5942 or end-of-file. PORT is the input port to read from; it defaults to
5943 the current input port. The HANDLE-DELIM parameter determines how
5944 the terminating character is handled; it should be one of the
5947 'trim omit delimiter from result
5948 'peek leave delimiter character in input stream
5949 'concat append delimiter character to returned value
5950 'split return a pair: (RESULT . TERMINATOR)
5952 HANDLE-DELIM defaults to 'peek.
5954 (read-delimited! DELIMS BUF [PORT HANDLE-DELIM START END])
5955 A side-effecting variant of `read-delimited'.
5957 The data is written into the string BUF at the indices in the
5958 half-open interval [START, END); the default interval is the whole
5959 string: START = 0 and END = (string-length BUF). The values of
5960 START and END must specify a well-defined interval in BUF, i.e.
5961 0 <= START <= END <= (string-length BUF).
5963 It returns NBYTES, the number of bytes read. If the buffer filled
5964 up without a delimiter character being found, it returns #f. If the
5965 port is at EOF when the read starts, it returns the EOF object.
5967 If an integer is returned (i.e., the read is successfully terminated
5968 by reading a delimiter character), then the HANDLE-DELIM parameter
5969 determines how to handle the terminating character. It is described
5970 above, and defaults to 'peek.
5972 (The descriptions of these functions were borrowed from the SCSH
5973 manual, by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
5975 *** The `%read-delimited!' function is the primitive used to implement
5976 `read-delimited' and `read-delimited!'.
5978 (%read-delimited! DELIMS BUF GOBBLE? [PORT START END])
5980 This returns a pair of values: (TERMINATOR . NUM-READ).
5981 - TERMINATOR describes why the read was terminated. If it is a
5982 character or the eof object, then that is the value that terminated
5983 the read. If it is #f, the function filled the buffer without finding
5984 a delimiting character.
5985 - NUM-READ is the number of characters read into BUF.
5987 If the read is successfully terminated by reading a delimiter
5988 character, then the gobble? parameter determines what to do with the
5989 terminating character. If true, the character is removed from the
5990 input stream; if false, the character is left in the input stream
5991 where a subsequent read operation will retrieve it. In either case,
5992 the character is also the first value returned by the procedure call.
5994 (The descriptions of this function was borrowed from the SCSH manual,
5995 by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
5997 *** The `read-line' and `read-line!' functions have changed; they now
5998 trim the terminator by default; previously they appended it to the
5999 returned string. For the old behavior, use (read-line PORT 'concat).
6001 *** The functions `uniform-array-read!' and `uniform-array-write!' now
6002 take new optional START and END arguments, specifying the region of
6003 the array to read and write.
6005 *** The `ungetc-char-ready?' function has been removed. We feel it's
6006 inappropriate for an interface to expose implementation details this
6009 ** Changes to the Unix library and system call interface
6011 *** The new fcntl function provides access to the Unix `fcntl' system
6014 (fcntl PORT COMMAND VALUE)
6015 Apply COMMAND to PORT's file descriptor, with VALUE as an argument.
6016 Values for COMMAND are:
6018 F_DUPFD duplicate a file descriptor
6019 F_GETFD read the descriptor's close-on-exec flag
6020 F_SETFD set the descriptor's close-on-exec flag to VALUE
6021 F_GETFL read the descriptor's flags, as set on open
6022 F_SETFL set the descriptor's flags, as set on open to VALUE
6023 F_GETOWN return the process ID of a socket's owner, for SIGIO
6024 F_SETOWN set the process that owns a socket to VALUE, for SIGIO
6025 FD_CLOEXEC not sure what this is
6027 For details, see the documentation for the fcntl system call.
6029 *** The arguments to `select' have changed, for compatibility with
6030 SCSH. The TIMEOUT parameter may now be non-integral, yielding the
6031 expected behavior. The MILLISECONDS parameter has been changed to
6032 MICROSECONDS, to more closely resemble the underlying system call.
6033 The RVEC, WVEC, and EVEC arguments can now be vectors; the type of the
6034 corresponding return set will be the same.
6036 *** The arguments to the `mknod' system call have changed. They are
6039 (mknod PATH TYPE PERMS DEV)
6040 Create a new file (`node') in the file system. PATH is the name of
6041 the file to create. TYPE is the kind of file to create; it should
6042 be 'fifo, 'block-special, or 'char-special. PERMS specifies the
6043 permission bits to give the newly created file. If TYPE is
6044 'block-special or 'char-special, DEV specifies which device the
6045 special file refers to; its interpretation depends on the kind of
6046 special file being created.
6048 *** The `fork' function has been renamed to `primitive-fork', to avoid
6049 clashing with various SCSH forks.
6051 *** The `recv' and `recvfrom' functions have been renamed to `recv!'
6052 and `recvfrom!'. They no longer accept a size for a second argument;
6053 you must pass a string to hold the received value. They no longer
6054 return the buffer. Instead, `recv' returns the length of the message
6055 received, and `recvfrom' returns a pair containing the packet's length
6056 and originating address.
6058 *** The file descriptor datatype has been removed, as have the
6059 `read-fd', `write-fd', `close', `lseek', and `dup' functions.
6060 We plan to replace these functions with a SCSH-compatible interface.
6062 *** The `create' function has been removed; it's just a special case
6065 *** There are new functions to break down process termination status
6066 values. In the descriptions below, STATUS is a value returned by
6069 (status:exit-val STATUS)
6070 If the child process exited normally, this function returns the exit
6071 code for the child process (i.e., the value passed to exit, or
6072 returned from main). If the child process did not exit normally,
6073 this function returns #f.
6075 (status:stop-sig STATUS)
6076 If the child process was suspended by a signal, this function
6077 returns the signal that suspended the child. Otherwise, it returns
6080 (status:term-sig STATUS)
6081 If the child process terminated abnormally, this function returns
6082 the signal that terminated the child. Otherwise, this function
6085 POSIX promises that exactly one of these functions will return true on
6086 a valid STATUS value.
6088 These functions are compatible with SCSH.
6090 *** There are new accessors and setters for the broken-out time vectors
6091 returned by `localtime', `gmtime', and that ilk. They are:
6093 Component Accessor Setter
6094 ========================= ============ ============
6095 seconds tm:sec set-tm:sec
6096 minutes tm:min set-tm:min
6097 hours tm:hour set-tm:hour
6098 day of the month tm:mday set-tm:mday
6099 month tm:mon set-tm:mon
6100 year tm:year set-tm:year
6101 day of the week tm:wday set-tm:wday
6102 day in the year tm:yday set-tm:yday
6103 daylight saving time tm:isdst set-tm:isdst
6104 GMT offset, seconds tm:gmtoff set-tm:gmtoff
6105 name of time zone tm:zone set-tm:zone
6107 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `uname',
6108 describing the host system:
6111 ============================================== ================
6112 name of the operating system implementation utsname:sysname
6113 network name of this machine utsname:nodename
6114 release level of the operating system utsname:release
6115 version level of the operating system utsname:version
6116 machine hardware platform utsname:machine
6118 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getpw',
6119 `getpwnam', `getpwuid', and `getpwent', describing entries from the
6120 system's user database:
6123 ====================== =================
6124 user name passwd:name
6125 user password passwd:passwd
6128 real name passwd:gecos
6129 home directory passwd:dir
6130 shell program passwd:shell
6132 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getgr',
6133 `getgrnam', `getgrgid', and `getgrent', describing entries from the
6134 system's group database:
6137 ======================= ============
6138 group name group:name
6139 group password group:passwd
6141 group members group:mem
6143 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `gethost',
6144 `gethostbyaddr', `gethostbyname', and `gethostent', describing
6148 ========================= ===============
6149 official name of host hostent:name
6150 alias list hostent:aliases
6151 host address type hostent:addrtype
6152 length of address hostent:length
6153 list of addresses hostent:addr-list
6155 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getnet',
6156 `getnetbyaddr', `getnetbyname', and `getnetent', describing internet
6160 ========================= ===============
6161 official name of net netent:name
6162 alias list netent:aliases
6163 net number type netent:addrtype
6164 net number netent:net
6166 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getproto',
6167 `getprotobyname', `getprotobynumber', and `getprotoent', describing
6171 ========================= ===============
6172 official protocol name protoent:name
6173 alias list protoent:aliases
6174 protocol number protoent:proto
6176 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getserv',
6177 `getservbyname', `getservbyport', and `getservent', describing
6181 ========================= ===============
6182 official service name servent:name
6183 alias list servent:aliases
6184 port number servent:port
6185 protocol to use servent:proto
6187 *** There are new accessors for the sockaddr structures returned by
6188 `accept', `getsockname', `getpeername', `recvfrom!':
6191 ======================================== ===============
6192 address format (`family') sockaddr:fam
6193 path, for file domain addresses sockaddr:path
6194 address, for internet domain addresses sockaddr:addr
6195 TCP or UDP port, for internet sockaddr:port
6197 *** The `getpwent', `getgrent', `gethostent', `getnetent',
6198 `getprotoent', and `getservent' functions now return #f at the end of
6199 the user database. (They used to throw an exception.)
6201 Note that calling MUMBLEent function is equivalent to calling the
6202 corresponding MUMBLE function with no arguments.
6204 *** The `setpwent', `setgrent', `sethostent', `setnetent',
6205 `setprotoent', and `setservent' routines now take no arguments.
6207 *** The `gethost', `getproto', `getnet', and `getserv' functions now
6208 provide more useful information when they throw an exception.
6210 *** The `lnaof' function has been renamed to `inet-lnaof'.
6212 *** Guile now claims to have the `current-time' feature.
6214 *** The `mktime' function now takes an optional second argument ZONE,
6215 giving the time zone to use for the conversion. ZONE should be a
6216 string, in the same format as expected for the "TZ" environment variable.
6218 *** The `strptime' function now returns a pair (TIME . COUNT), where
6219 TIME is the parsed time as a vector, and COUNT is the number of
6220 characters from the string left unparsed. This function used to
6221 return the remaining characters as a string.
6223 *** The `gettimeofday' function has replaced the old `time+ticks' function.
6224 The return value is now (SECONDS . MICROSECONDS); the fractional
6225 component is no longer expressed in "ticks".
6227 *** The `ticks/sec' constant has been removed, in light of the above change.
6229 * Changes to the gh_ interface
6231 ** gh_eval_str() now returns an SCM object which is the result of the
6234 ** gh_scm2str() now copies the Scheme data to a caller-provided C
6237 ** gh_scm2newstr() now makes a C array, copies the Scheme data to it,
6238 and returns the array
6240 ** gh_scm2str0() is gone: there is no need to distinguish
6241 null-terminated from non-null-terminated, since gh_scm2newstr() allows
6242 the user to interpret the data both ways.
6244 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6246 ** The new function scm_symbol_value0 provides an easy way to get a
6247 symbol's value from C code:
6249 SCM scm_symbol_value0 (char *NAME)
6250 Return the value of the symbol named by the null-terminated string
6251 NAME in the current module. If the symbol named NAME is unbound in
6252 the current module, return SCM_UNDEFINED.
6254 ** The new function scm_sysintern0 creates new top-level variables,
6255 without assigning them a value.
6257 SCM scm_sysintern0 (char *NAME)
6258 Create a new Scheme top-level variable named NAME. NAME is a
6259 null-terminated string. Return the variable's value cell.
6261 ** The function scm_internal_catch is the guts of catch. It handles
6262 all the mechanics of setting up a catch target, invoking the catch
6263 body, and perhaps invoking the handler if the body does a throw.
6265 The function is designed to be usable from C code, but is general
6266 enough to implement all the semantics Guile Scheme expects from throw.
6268 TAG is the catch tag. Typically, this is a symbol, but this function
6269 doesn't actually care about that.
6271 BODY is a pointer to a C function which runs the body of the catch;
6272 this is the code you can throw from. We call it like this:
6273 BODY (BODY_DATA, JMPBUF)
6275 BODY_DATA is just the BODY_DATA argument we received; we pass it
6276 through to BODY as its first argument. The caller can make
6277 BODY_DATA point to anything useful that BODY might need.
6278 JMPBUF is the Scheme jmpbuf object corresponding to this catch,
6279 which we have just created and initialized.
6281 HANDLER is a pointer to a C function to deal with a throw to TAG,
6282 should one occur. We call it like this:
6283 HANDLER (HANDLER_DATA, THROWN_TAG, THROW_ARGS)
6285 HANDLER_DATA is the HANDLER_DATA argument we recevied; it's the
6286 same idea as BODY_DATA above.
6287 THROWN_TAG is the tag that the user threw to; usually this is
6288 TAG, but it could be something else if TAG was #t (i.e., a
6289 catch-all), or the user threw to a jmpbuf.
6290 THROW_ARGS is the list of arguments the user passed to the THROW
6293 BODY_DATA is just a pointer we pass through to BODY. HANDLER_DATA
6294 is just a pointer we pass through to HANDLER. We don't actually
6295 use either of those pointers otherwise ourselves. The idea is
6296 that, if our caller wants to communicate something to BODY or
6297 HANDLER, it can pass a pointer to it as MUMBLE_DATA, which BODY and
6298 HANDLER can then use. Think of it as a way to make BODY and
6299 HANDLER closures, not just functions; MUMBLE_DATA points to the
6302 Of course, it's up to the caller to make sure that any data a
6303 MUMBLE_DATA needs is protected from GC. A common way to do this is
6304 to make MUMBLE_DATA a pointer to data stored in an automatic
6305 structure variable; since the collector must scan the stack for
6306 references anyway, this assures that any references in MUMBLE_DATA
6309 ** The new function scm_internal_lazy_catch is exactly like
6310 scm_internal_catch, except:
6312 - It does not unwind the stack (this is the major difference).
6313 - If handler returns, its value is returned from the throw.
6314 - BODY always receives #f as its JMPBUF argument (since there's no
6315 jmpbuf associated with a lazy catch, because we don't unwind the
6318 ** scm_body_thunk is a new body function you can pass to
6319 scm_internal_catch if you want the body to be like Scheme's `catch'
6320 --- a thunk, or a function of one argument if the tag is #f.
6322 BODY_DATA is a pointer to a scm_body_thunk_data structure, which
6323 contains the Scheme procedure to invoke as the body, and the tag
6324 we're catching. If the tag is #f, then we pass JMPBUF (created by
6325 scm_internal_catch) to the body procedure; otherwise, the body gets
6328 ** scm_handle_by_proc is a new handler function you can pass to
6329 scm_internal_catch if you want the handler to act like Scheme's catch
6330 --- call a procedure with the tag and the throw arguments.
6332 If the user does a throw to this catch, this function runs a handler
6333 procedure written in Scheme. HANDLER_DATA is a pointer to an SCM
6334 variable holding the Scheme procedure object to invoke. It ought to
6335 be a pointer to an automatic variable (i.e., one living on the stack),
6336 or the procedure object should be otherwise protected from GC.
6338 ** scm_handle_by_message is a new handler function to use with
6339 `scm_internal_catch' if you want Guile to print a message and die.
6340 It's useful for dealing with throws to uncaught keys at the top level.
6342 HANDLER_DATA, if non-zero, is assumed to be a char * pointing to a
6343 message header to print; if zero, we use "guile" instead. That
6344 text is followed by a colon, then the message described by ARGS.
6346 ** The return type of scm_boot_guile is now void; the function does
6347 not return a value, and indeed, never returns at all.
6349 ** The new function scm_shell makes it easy for user applications to
6350 process command-line arguments in a way that is compatible with the
6351 stand-alone guile interpreter (which is in turn compatible with SCSH,
6354 To use the scm_shell function, first initialize any guile modules
6355 linked into your application, and then call scm_shell with the values
6356 of ARGC and ARGV your `main' function received. scm_shell will add
6357 any SCSH-style meta-arguments from the top of the script file to the
6358 argument vector, and then process the command-line arguments. This
6359 generally means loading a script file or starting up an interactive
6360 command interpreter. For details, see "Changes to the stand-alone
6363 ** The new functions scm_get_meta_args and scm_count_argv help you
6364 implement the SCSH-style meta-argument, `\'.
6366 char **scm_get_meta_args (int ARGC, char **ARGV)
6367 If the second element of ARGV is a string consisting of a single
6368 backslash character (i.e. "\\" in Scheme notation), open the file
6369 named by the following argument, parse arguments from it, and return
6370 the spliced command line. The returned array is terminated by a
6373 For details of argument parsing, see above, under "guile now accepts
6374 command-line arguments compatible with SCSH..."
6376 int scm_count_argv (char **ARGV)
6377 Count the arguments in ARGV, assuming it is terminated by a null
6380 For an example of how these functions might be used, see the source
6381 code for the function scm_shell in libguile/script.c.
6383 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6386 ** The new function scm_compile_shell_switches turns an array of
6387 command-line arguments into Scheme code to carry out the actions they
6388 describe. Given ARGC and ARGV, it returns a Scheme expression to
6389 evaluate, and calls scm_set_program_arguments to make any remaining
6390 command-line arguments available to the Scheme code. For example,
6391 given the following arguments:
6393 -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
6395 scm_set_program_arguments will return the following expression:
6397 (begin (load "ekko") (main (command-line)) (quit))
6399 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6402 ** The function scm_shell_usage prints a usage message appropriate for
6403 an interpreter that uses scm_compile_shell_switches to handle its
6404 command-line arguments.
6406 void scm_shell_usage (int FATAL, char *MESSAGE)
6407 Print a usage message to the standard error output. If MESSAGE is
6408 non-zero, write it before the usage message, followed by a newline.
6409 If FATAL is non-zero, exit the process, using FATAL as the
6410 termination status. (If you want to be compatible with Guile,
6411 always use 1 as the exit status when terminating due to command-line
6414 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
6417 ** scm_eval_0str now returns SCM_UNSPECIFIED if the string contains no
6418 expressions. It used to return SCM_EOL. Earth-shattering.
6420 ** The macros for declaring scheme objects in C code have been
6421 rearranged slightly. They are now:
6423 SCM_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6424 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
6425 point to the Scheme symbol whose name is SCHEME_NAME. C_NAME should
6426 be a C identifier, and SCHEME_NAME should be a C string.
6428 SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6429 Just like SCM_SYMBOL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
6431 SCM_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6432 Create a global variable at the Scheme level named SCHEME_NAME.
6433 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
6434 point to the Scheme variable's value cell.
6436 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
6437 Just like SCM_VCELL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
6439 The `guile-snarf' script writes initialization code for these macros
6440 to its standard output, given C source code as input.
6442 The SCM_GLOBAL macro is gone.
6444 ** The scm_read_line and scm_read_line_x functions have been replaced
6445 by Scheme code based on the %read-delimited! procedure (known to C
6446 code as scm_read_delimited_x). See its description above for more
6449 ** The function scm_sys_open has been renamed to scm_open. It now
6450 returns a port instead of an FD object.
6452 * The dynamic linking support has changed. For more information, see
6453 libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING.
6458 User-visible changes from Thursday, September 5, 1996 until Guile 1.0
6461 * Changes to the 'guile' program:
6463 ** Guile now loads some new files when it starts up. Guile first
6464 searches the load path for init.scm, and loads it if found. Then, if
6465 Guile is not being used to execute a script, and the user's home
6466 directory contains a file named `.guile', Guile loads that.
6468 ** You can now use Guile as a shell script interpreter.
6470 To paraphrase the SCSH manual:
6472 When Unix tries to execute an executable file whose first two
6473 characters are the `#!', it treats the file not as machine code to
6474 be directly executed by the native processor, but as source code
6475 to be executed by some interpreter. The interpreter to use is
6476 specified immediately after the #! sequence on the first line of
6477 the source file. The kernel reads in the name of the interpreter,
6478 and executes that instead. It passes the interpreter the source
6479 filename as its first argument, with the original arguments
6480 following. Consult the Unix man page for the `exec' system call
6481 for more information.
6483 Now you can use Guile as an interpreter, using a mechanism which is a
6484 compatible subset of that provided by SCSH.
6486 Guile now recognizes a '-s' command line switch, whose argument is the
6487 name of a file of Scheme code to load. It also treats the two
6488 characters `#!' as the start of a comment, terminated by `!#'. Thus,
6489 to make a file of Scheme code directly executable by Unix, insert the
6490 following two lines at the top of the file:
6492 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
6495 Guile treats the argument of the `-s' command-line switch as the name
6496 of a file of Scheme code to load, and treats the sequence `#!' as the
6497 start of a block comment, terminated by `!#'.
6499 For example, here's a version of 'echo' written in Scheme:
6501 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
6503 (let loop ((args (cdr (program-arguments))))
6506 (display (car args))
6507 (if (pair? (cdr args))
6509 (loop (cdr args)))))
6512 Why does `#!' start a block comment terminated by `!#', instead of the
6513 end of the line? That is the notation SCSH uses, and although we
6514 don't yet support the other SCSH features that motivate that choice,
6515 we would like to be backward-compatible with any existing Guile
6516 scripts once we do. Furthermore, if the path to Guile on your system
6517 is too long for your kernel, you can start the script with this
6521 exec /really/long/path/to/guile -s "$0" ${1+"$@"}
6524 Note that some very old Unix systems don't support the `#!' syntax.
6527 ** You can now run Guile without installing it.
6529 Previous versions of the interactive Guile interpreter (`guile')
6530 couldn't start up unless Guile's Scheme library had been installed;
6531 they used the value of the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH'
6532 later on in the startup process, but not to find the startup code
6533 itself. Now Guile uses `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' in all searches for Scheme
6536 To run Guile without installing it, build it in the normal way, and
6537 then set the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' to a
6538 colon-separated list of directories, including the top-level directory
6539 of the Guile sources. For example, if you unpacked Guile so that the
6540 full filename of this NEWS file is /home/jimb/guile-1.0b3/NEWS, then
6543 export SCHEME_LOAD_PATH=/home/jimb/my-scheme:/home/jimb/guile-1.0b3
6546 ** Guile's read-eval-print loop no longer prints #<unspecified>
6547 results. If the user wants to see this, she can evaluate the
6548 expression (assert-repl-print-unspecified #t), perhaps in her startup
6551 ** Guile no longer shows backtraces by default when an error occurs;
6552 however, it does display a message saying how to get one, and how to
6553 request that they be displayed by default. After an error, evaluate
6555 to see a backtrace, and
6556 (debug-enable 'backtrace)
6557 to see them by default.
6561 * Changes to Guile Scheme:
6563 ** Guile now distinguishes between #f and the empty list.
6565 This is for compatibility with the IEEE standard, the (possibly)
6566 upcoming Revised^5 Report on Scheme, and many extant Scheme
6569 Guile used to have #f and '() denote the same object, to make Scheme's
6570 type system more compatible with Emacs Lisp's. However, the change
6571 caused too much trouble for Scheme programmers, and we found another
6572 way to reconcile Emacs Lisp with Scheme that didn't require this.
6575 ** Guile's delq, delv, delete functions, and their destructive
6576 counterparts, delq!, delv!, and delete!, now remove all matching
6577 elements from the list, not just the first. This matches the behavior
6578 of the corresponding Emacs Lisp functions, and (I believe) the Maclisp
6579 functions which inspired them.
6581 I recognize that this change may break code in subtle ways, but it
6582 seems best to make the change before the FSF's first Guile release,
6586 ** The compiled-library-path function has been deleted from libguile.
6588 ** The facilities for loading Scheme source files have changed.
6590 *** The variable %load-path now tells Guile which directories to search
6591 for Scheme code. Its value is a list of strings, each of which names
6594 *** The variable %load-extensions now tells Guile which extensions to
6595 try appending to a filename when searching the load path. Its value
6596 is a list of strings. Its default value is ("" ".scm").
6598 *** (%search-load-path FILENAME) searches the directories listed in the
6599 value of the %load-path variable for a Scheme file named FILENAME,
6600 with all the extensions listed in %load-extensions. If it finds a
6601 match, then it returns its full filename. If FILENAME is absolute, it
6602 returns it unchanged. Otherwise, it returns #f.
6604 %search-load-path will not return matches that refer to directories.
6606 *** (primitive-load FILENAME :optional CASE-INSENSITIVE-P SHARP)
6607 uses %seach-load-path to find a file named FILENAME, and loads it if
6608 it finds it. If it can't read FILENAME for any reason, it throws an
6611 The arguments CASE-INSENSITIVE-P and SHARP are interpreted as by the
6614 *** load uses the same searching semantics as primitive-load.
6616 *** The functions %try-load, try-load-with-path, %load, load-with-path,
6617 basic-try-load-with-path, basic-load-with-path, try-load-module-with-
6618 path, and load-module-with-path have been deleted. The functions
6619 above should serve their purposes.
6621 *** If the value of the variable %load-hook is a procedure,
6622 `primitive-load' applies its value to the name of the file being
6623 loaded (without the load path directory name prepended). If its value
6624 is #f, it is ignored. Otherwise, an error occurs.
6626 This is mostly useful for printing load notification messages.
6629 ** The function `eval!' is no longer accessible from the scheme level.
6630 We can't allow operations which introduce glocs into the scheme level,
6631 because Guile's type system can't handle these as data. Use `eval' or
6632 `read-and-eval!' (see below) as replacement.
6634 ** The new function read-and-eval! reads an expression from PORT,
6635 evaluates it, and returns the result. This is more efficient than
6636 simply calling `read' and `eval', since it is not necessary to make a
6637 copy of the expression for the evaluator to munge.
6639 Its optional arguments CASE_INSENSITIVE_P and SHARP are interpreted as
6640 for the `read' function.
6643 ** The function `int?' has been removed; its definition was identical
6644 to that of `integer?'.
6646 ** The functions `<?', `<?', `<=?', `=?', `>?', and `>=?'. Code should
6647 use the R4RS names for these functions.
6649 ** The function object-properties no longer returns the hash handle;
6650 it simply returns the object's property list.
6652 ** Many functions have been changed to throw errors, instead of
6653 returning #f on failure. The point of providing exception handling in
6654 the language is to simplify the logic of user code, but this is less
6655 useful if Guile's primitives don't throw exceptions.
6657 ** The function `fileno' has been renamed from `%fileno'.
6659 ** The function primitive-mode->fdes returns #t or #f now, not 1 or 0.
6662 * Changes to Guile's C interface:
6664 ** The library's initialization procedure has been simplified.
6665 scm_boot_guile now has the prototype:
6667 void scm_boot_guile (int ARGC,
6669 void (*main_func) (),
6672 scm_boot_guile calls MAIN_FUNC, passing it CLOSURE, ARGC, and ARGV.
6673 MAIN_FUNC should do all the work of the program (initializing other
6674 packages, reading user input, etc.) before returning. When MAIN_FUNC
6675 returns, call exit (0); this function never returns. If you want some
6676 other exit value, MAIN_FUNC may call exit itself.
6678 scm_boot_guile arranges for program-arguments to return the strings
6679 given by ARGC and ARGV. If MAIN_FUNC modifies ARGC/ARGV, should call
6680 scm_set_program_arguments with the final list, so Scheme code will
6681 know which arguments have been processed.
6683 scm_boot_guile establishes a catch-all catch handler which prints an
6684 error message and exits the process. This means that Guile exits in a
6685 coherent way when system errors occur and the user isn't prepared to
6686 handle it. If the user doesn't like this behavior, they can establish
6687 their own universal catcher in MAIN_FUNC to shadow this one.
6689 Why must the caller do all the real work from MAIN_FUNC? The garbage
6690 collector assumes that all local variables of type SCM will be above
6691 scm_boot_guile's stack frame on the stack. If you try to manipulate
6692 SCM values after this function returns, it's the luck of the draw
6693 whether the GC will be able to find the objects you allocate. So,
6694 scm_boot_guile function exits, rather than returning, to discourage
6695 people from making that mistake.
6697 The IN, OUT, and ERR arguments were removed; there are other
6698 convenient ways to override these when desired.
6700 The RESULT argument was deleted; this function should never return.
6702 The BOOT_CMD argument was deleted; the MAIN_FUNC argument is more
6706 ** Guile's header files should no longer conflict with your system's
6709 In order to compile code which #included <libguile.h>, previous
6710 versions of Guile required you to add a directory containing all the
6711 Guile header files to your #include path. This was a problem, since
6712 Guile's header files have names which conflict with many systems'
6715 Now only <libguile.h> need appear in your #include path; you must
6716 refer to all Guile's other header files as <libguile/mumble.h>.
6717 Guile's installation procedure puts libguile.h in $(includedir), and
6718 the rest in $(includedir)/libguile.
6721 ** Two new C functions, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object,
6722 have been added to the Guile library.
6724 scm_protect_object (OBJ) protects OBJ from the garbage collector.
6725 OBJ will not be freed, even if all other references are dropped,
6726 until someone does scm_unprotect_object (OBJ). Both functions
6729 Note that calls to scm_protect_object do not nest. You can call
6730 scm_protect_object any number of times on a given object, and the
6731 next call to scm_unprotect_object will unprotect it completely.
6733 Basically, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object just
6734 maintain a list of references to things. Since the GC knows about
6735 this list, all objects it mentions stay alive. scm_protect_object
6736 adds its argument to the list; scm_unprotect_object remove its
6737 argument from the list.
6740 ** scm_eval_0str now returns the value of the last expression
6743 ** The new function scm_read_0str reads an s-expression from a
6744 null-terminated string, and returns it.
6746 ** The new function `scm_stdio_to_port' converts a STDIO file pointer
6747 to a Scheme port object.
6749 ** The new function `scm_set_program_arguments' allows C code to set
6750 the value returned by the Scheme `program-arguments' function.
6755 * Guile no longer includes sophisticated Tcl/Tk support.
6757 The old Tcl/Tk support was unsatisfying to us, because it required the
6758 user to link against the Tcl library, as well as Tk and Guile. The
6759 interface was also un-lispy, in that it preserved Tcl/Tk's practice of
6760 referring to widgets by names, rather than exporting widgets to Scheme
6761 code as a special datatype.
6763 In the Usenix Tk Developer's Workshop held in July 1996, the Tcl/Tk
6764 maintainers described some very interesting changes in progress to the
6765 Tcl/Tk internals, which would facilitate clean interfaces between lone
6766 Tk and other interpreters --- even for garbage-collected languages
6767 like Scheme. They expected the new Tk to be publicly available in the
6770 Since it seems that Guile might soon have a new, cleaner interface to
6771 lone Tk, and that the old Guile/Tk glue code would probably need to be
6772 completely rewritten, we (Jim Blandy and Richard Stallman) have
6773 decided not to support the old code. We'll spend the time instead on
6774 a good interface to the newer Tk, as soon as it is available.
6776 Until then, gtcltk-lib provides trivial, low-maintenance functionality.
6779 Copyright information:
6781 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
6783 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
6784 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
6785 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
6786 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
6788 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
6789 of this document, or of portions of it,
6790 under the above conditions, provided also that they
6791 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
6796 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"