1 Guile NEWS --- history of user-visible changes.
2 Copyright (C) 1996-2011 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3 See the end for copying conditions.
5 Please send Guile bug reports to bug-guile@gnu.org.
8 Changes in 2.0.3 (since 2.0.2):
12 ** Guile has a new optimizer, `peval'.
14 `Peval' is a partial evaluator that performs constant folding, dead code
15 elimination, copy propagation, and inlining. By default it runs on
16 every piece of code that Guile compiles, to fold computations that can
17 happen at compile-time, so they don't have to happen at runtime.
19 If we did our job right, the only impact you would see would be your
20 programs getting faster. But if you notice slowdowns or bloated code,
21 please send a mail to bug-guile@gnu.org with details.
23 Thanks to William R. Cook, Oscar Waddell, and Kent Dybvig for inspiring
24 peval and its implementation.
26 You can see what peval does on a given piece of code by running the new
27 `,optimize' REPL meta-command, and comparing it to the output of
28 `,expand'. See "Compile Commands" in the manual, for more.
30 ** Fewer calls to `stat'.
32 Guile now stats only the .go file and the .scm file when loading a fresh
37 ** New module: `(web client)', a simple synchronous web client.
39 See "Web Client" in the manual, for more.
41 ** Users can now install compiled `.go' files.
43 See "Installing Site Packages" in the manual.
45 ** Remove Front-Cover and Back-Cover text from the manual.
47 The manual is still under the GNU Free Documentation License, but no
48 longer has any invariant sections.
50 ** More helpful `guild help'.
52 `guild' is Guile's multi-tool, for use in shell scripting. Now it has a
53 nicer interface for querying the set of existing commands, and getting
54 help on those commands. Try it out and see!
56 ** New macro: `define-syntax-rule'
58 `define-syntax-rule' is a shorthand to make a `syntax-rules' macro with
59 one clause. See "Syntax Rules" in the manual, for more.
61 ** The `,time' REPL meta-command now has more precision.
63 The output of this command now has microsecond precision, instead of
64 10-millisecond precision.
66 ** `(ice-9 match)' can now match records.
68 See "Pattern Matching" in the manual, for more on matching records.
70 ** New module: `(language tree-il debug)'.
72 This module provides a tree-il verifier. This is useful for people that
73 generate tree-il, usually as part of a language compiler.
75 ** New functions: `scm_is_exact', `scm_is_inexact'.
77 These provide a nice C interface for Scheme's `exact?' and `inexact?',
82 See the git log (or the ChangeLog) for more details on these bugs.
84 ** Fix order of importing modules and resolving duplicates handlers.
85 ** Fix a number of bugs involving extended (merged) generics.
86 ** Fix invocation of merge-generics duplicate handler.
87 ** Fix write beyond array end in arrays.c.
88 ** Fix read beyond end of hashtable size array in hashtab.c.
89 ** (web http): Locale-independent parsing and serialization of dates.
90 ** Ensure presence of Host header in HTTP/1.1 requests.
91 ** Fix take-right and drop-right for improper lists.
92 ** Fix leak in get_current_locale().
93 ** Fix recursive define-inlinable expansions.
94 ** Check that srfi-1 procedure arguments are procedures.
95 ** Fix r6rs `map' for multiple returns.
96 ** Fix scm_tmpfile leak on POSIX platforms.
97 ** Fix a couple of leaks (objcode->bytecode, make-boot-program).
98 ** Fix guile-lib back-compatibility for module-stexi-documentation.
99 ** Fix --listen option to allow other ports.
100 ** Fix scm_to_latin1_stringn for substrings.
101 ** Fix compilation of untyped arrays of rank not 1.
102 ** Fix unparse-tree-il of <dynset>.
103 ** Fix reading of #||||#.
106 Changes in 2.0.2 (since 2.0.1):
110 ** `guile-tools' renamed to `guild'
112 The new name is shorter. Its intended future use is for a CPAN-like
113 system for Guile wizards and journeyfolk to band together to share code;
114 hence the name. `guile-tools' is provided as a backward-compatible
115 symbolic link. See "Using Guile Tools" in the manual, for more.
117 ** New control operators: `shift' and `reset'
119 See "Shift and Reset" in the manual, for more information.
121 ** `while' as an expression
123 Previously the return value of `while' was unspecified. Now its
124 values are specified both in the case of normal termination, and via
125 termination by invoking `break', possibly with arguments. See "while
126 do" in the manual for more.
128 ** Disallow access to handles of weak hash tables
130 `hash-get-handle' and `hash-create-handle!' are no longer permitted to
131 be called on weak hash tables, because the fields in a weak handle could
132 be nulled out by the garbage collector at any time, but yet they are
133 otherwise indistinguishable from pairs. Use `hash-ref' and `hash-set!'
136 ** More precision for `get-internal-run-time', `get-internal-real-time'
138 On 64-bit systems which support POSIX clocks, Guile's internal timing
139 procedures offer nanosecond resolution instead of the 10-millisecond
140 resolution previously available. 32-bit systems now use 1-millisecond
143 ** Guile now measures time spent in GC
145 `gc-stats' now returns a meaningful value for `gc-time-taken'.
149 The statprof profiler now exports a `gcprof' procedure, driven by the
150 `after-gc-hook', to see which parts of your program are causing GC. Let
151 us know if you find it useful.
153 ** `map', `for-each' and some others now implemented in Scheme
155 We would not mention this in NEWS, as it is not a user-visible change,
156 if it were not for one thing: `map' and `for-each' are no longer
157 primitive generics. Instead they are normal bindings, which can be
158 wrapped by normal generics. This fixes some modularity issues between
159 core `map', SRFI-1 `map', and GOOPS.
161 Also it's pretty cool that we can do this without a performance impact.
163 ** Add `scm_peek_byte_or_eof'.
165 This helper is like `scm_peek_char_or_eof', but for bytes instead of
168 ** Implement #:stop-at-first-non-option option for getopt-long
170 See "getopt-long Reference" in the manual, for more information.
172 ** Improve R6RS conformance for conditions in the I/O libraries
174 The `(rnrs io simple)' module now raises the correct R6RS conditions in
175 error cases. `(rnrs io ports)' is also more correct now, though it is
176 still a work in progress.
178 ** All deprecated routines emit warnings
180 A few deprecated routines were lacking deprecation warnings. This has
185 ** Constants in compiled code now share state better
187 Constants with shared state, like `("foo")' and `"foo"', now share state
188 as much as possible, in the entire compilation unit. This cuts compiled
189 `.go' file sizes in half, generally, and speeds startup.
191 ** VLists: optimize `vlist-fold-right', and add `vhash-fold-right'
193 These procedures are now twice as fast as they were.
195 ** UTF-8 ports to bypass `iconv' entirely
197 This reduces memory usage in a very common case.
201 The compiler is now about 40% faster. (Note that this is only the case
202 once the compiler is itself compiled, so the build still takes as long
207 Some assertions that were mostly useful for sanity-checks on the
208 bytecode compiler are now off for both "regular" and "debug" engines.
209 This together with a fix to cache a TLS access and some other tweaks
210 improve the VM's performance by about 20%.
212 ** SRFI-1 list-set optimizations
214 lset-adjoin and lset-union now have fast paths for eq? sets.
216 ** `memq', `memv' optimizations
218 These procedures are now at least twice as fast than in 2.0.1.
222 ** Deprecate scm_whash API
224 `scm_whash_get_handle', `SCM_WHASHFOUNDP', `SCM_WHASHREF',
225 `SCM_WHASHSET', `scm_whash_create_handle', `scm_whash_lookup', and
226 `scm_whash_insert' are now deprecated. Use the normal hash table API
229 ** Deprecate scm_struct_table
231 `SCM_STRUCT_TABLE_NAME', `SCM_SET_STRUCT_TABLE_NAME',
232 `SCM_STRUCT_TABLE_CLASS', `SCM_SET_STRUCT_TABLE_CLASS',
233 `scm_struct_table', and `scm_struct_create_handle' are now deprecated.
234 These routines formed part of the internals of the map between structs
237 ** Deprecate scm_internal_dynamic_wind
239 The `scm_t_inner' type and `scm_internal_dynamic_wind' are deprecated,
240 as the `scm_dynwind' API is better, and this API encourages users to
241 stuff SCM values into pointers.
243 ** Deprecate scm_immutable_cell, scm_immutable_double_cell
245 These routines are deprecated, as the GC_STUBBORN API doesn't do
250 Andreas Rottman kindly transcribed the missing parts of the `(rnrs io
251 ports)' documentation from the R6RS documentation. Thanks Andreas!
255 ** Fix double-loading of script in -ds case
256 ** -x error message fix
257 ** iconveh-related cross-compilation fixes
258 ** Fix small integer return value packing on big endian machines.
259 ** Fix hash-set! in weak-value table from non-immediate to immediate
260 ** Fix call-with-input-file & relatives for multiple values
261 ** Fix `hash' for inf and nan
262 ** Fix libguile internal type errors caught by typing-strictness==2
263 ** Fix compile error in MinGW fstat socket detection
264 ** Fix generation of auto-compiled file names on MinGW
265 ** Fix multithreaded access to internal hash tables
266 ** Emit a 1-based line number in error messages
267 ** Fix define-module ordering
268 ** Fix several POSIX functions to use the locale encoding
269 ** Add type and range checks to the complex generalized vector accessors
270 ** Fix unaligned accesses for bytevectors of complex numbers
272 ** Fix erroneous VM stack overflow for canceled threads
275 Changes in 2.0.1 (since 2.0.0):
279 ** guile.m4 supports linking with rpath
281 The GUILE_FLAGS macro now sets GUILE_LIBS and GUILE_LTLIBS, which
282 include appropriate directives to the linker to include libguile-2.0.so
283 in the runtime library lookup path.
285 ** `begin' expands macros in its body before other expressions
287 This enables support for programs like the following:
292 (or (= x 0) (odd? (- x 1)))))
295 ((odd? x) (not (even? x)))))
298 ** REPL reader usability enhancements
300 The REPL now flushes input after a read error, which should prevent one
301 error from causing other errors. The REPL also now interprets comments
304 ** REPL output has configurable width
306 The REPL now defaults to output with the current terminal's width, in
307 columns. See "Debug Commands" in the manual for more information on
310 ** Better C access to the module system
312 Guile now has convenient C accessors to look up variables or values in
313 modules and their public interfaces. See `scm_c_public_ref' and friends
314 in "Accessing Modules from C" in the manual.
316 ** Added `scm_call_5', `scm_call_6'
318 See "Fly Evaluation" in the manual.
320 ** Added `scm_from_latin1_keyword', `scm_from_utf8_keyword'
322 See "Keyword Procedures" in the manual, for more. Note that
323 `scm_from_locale_keyword' should not be used when the name is a C string
326 ** R6RS unicode and string I/O work
328 Added efficient implementations of `get-string-n' and `get-string-n!'
329 for binary ports. Exported `current-input-port', `current-output-port'
330 and `current-error-port' from `(rnrs io ports)', and enhanced support
333 ** Added `pointer->scm', `scm->pointer' to `(system foreign)'
335 These procedure are useful if one needs to pass and receive SCM values
336 to and from foreign functions. See "Foreign Variables" in the manual,
339 ** Added `heap-allocated-since-gc' to `(gc-stats)'
341 Also fixed the long-standing bug in the REPL `,stat' command.
343 ** Add `on-error' REPL option
345 This option controls what happens when an error occurs at the REPL, and
346 defaults to `debug', indicating that Guile should enter the debugger.
347 Other values include `report', which will simply print a backtrace
348 without entering the debugger. See "System Commands" in the manual.
350 ** Enforce immutability of string literals
352 Attempting to mutate a string literal now causes a runtime error.
354 ** Fix pthread redirection
356 Guile 2.0.0 shipped with headers that, if configured with pthread
357 support, would re-define `pthread_create', `pthread_join', and other API
358 to redirect to the BDW-GC wrappers, `GC_pthread_create', etc. This was
359 unintended, and not necessary: because threads must enter Guile with
360 `scm_with_guile', Guile can handle thread registration itself, without
361 needing to make the GC aware of all threads. This oversight has been
364 ** `with-continuation-barrier' now unwinds on `quit'
366 A throw to `quit' in a continuation barrier will cause Guile to exit.
367 Before, it would do so before unwinding to the barrier, which would
368 prevent cleanup handlers from running. This has been fixed so that it
369 exits only after unwinding.
371 ** `string->pointer' and `pointer->string' have optional encoding arg
373 This allows users of the FFI to more easily deal in strings with
374 particular (non-locale) encodings, like "utf-8". See "Void Pointers and
375 Byte Access" in the manual, for more.
377 ** R6RS fixnum arithmetic optimizations
379 R6RS fixnum operations are are still slower than generic arithmetic,
382 ** New procedure: `define-inlinable'
384 See "Inlinable Procedures" in the manual, for more.
386 ** New procedure: `exact-integer-sqrt'
388 See "Integer Operations" in the manual, for more.
390 ** "Extended read syntax" for symbols parses better
392 In #{foo}# symbols, backslashes are now treated as escapes, as the
393 symbol-printing code intended. Additionally, "\x" within #{foo}# is now
394 interpreted as starting an R6RS hex escape. This is backward compatible
395 because the symbol printer would never produce a "\x" before. The
396 printer also works better too.
398 ** Added `--fresh-auto-compile' option
400 This allows a user to invalidate the auto-compilation cache. It's
401 usually not needed. See "Compilation" in the manual, for a discussion.
405 ** GOOPS documentation updates
409 Thanks to Mark Harig for improvements to guile.1.
411 ** SRFI-23 documented
413 The humble `error' SRFI now has an entry in the manual.
417 ** `(ice-9 binary-ports)': "R6RS I/O Ports", in the manual
418 ** `(ice-9 eval-string)': "Fly Evaluation", in the manual
419 ** `(ice-9 command-line)', not documented yet
423 ** Fixed `iconv_t' memory leak on close-port
424 ** Fixed some leaks with weak hash tables
425 ** Export `vhash-delq' and `vhash-delv' from `(ice-9 vlist)'
426 ** `after-gc-hook' works again
427 ** `define-record-type' now allowed in nested contexts
428 ** `exact-integer-sqrt' now handles large integers correctly
429 ** Fixed C extension examples in manual
430 ** `vhash-delete' honors HASH argument
431 ** Make `locale-digit-grouping' more robust
432 ** Default exception printer robustness fixes
433 ** Fix presence of non-I CPPFLAGS in `guile-2.0.pc'
434 ** `read' updates line/column numbers when reading SCSH block comments
435 ** Fix imports of multiple custom interfaces of same module
436 ** Fix encoding scanning for non-seekable ports
437 ** Fix `setter' when called with a non-setter generic
438 ** Fix f32 and f64 bytevectors to not accept rationals
439 ** Fix description of the R6RS `finite?' in manual
440 ** Quotient, remainder and modulo accept inexact integers again
441 ** Fix `continue' within `while' to take zero arguments
442 ** Fix alignment for structures in FFI
443 ** Fix port-filename of stdin, stdout, stderr to match the docs
444 ** Fix weak hash table-related bug in `define-wrapped-pointer-type'
445 ** Fix partial continuation application with pending procedure calls
446 ** scm_{to,from}_locale_string use current locale, not current ports
447 ** Fix thread cleanup, by using a pthread_key destructor
448 ** Fix `quit' at the REPL
449 ** Fix a failure to sync regs in vm bytevector ops
450 ** Fix (texinfo reflection) to handle nested structures like syntax patterns
451 ** Fix stexi->html double translation
452 ** Fix tree-il->scheme fix for <prompt>
453 ** Fix compilation of <prompt> in <fix> in single-value context
454 ** Fix race condition in ensure-writable-dir
455 ** Fix error message on ,disassemble "non-procedure"
456 ** Fix prompt and abort with the boot evaluator
457 ** Fix `procedure->pointer' for functions returning `void'
458 ** Fix error reporting in dynamic-pointer
459 ** Fix problems detecting coding: in block comments
460 ** Fix duplicate load-path and load-compiled-path in compilation environment
461 ** Add fallback read(2) suppport for .go files if mmap(2) unavailable
462 ** Fix c32vector-set!, c64vector-set!
463 ** Fix mistakenly deprecated read syntax for uniform complex vectors
464 ** Fix parsing of exact numbers with negative exponents
465 ** Ignore SIGPIPE in (system repl server)
466 ** Fix optional second arg to R6RS log function
467 ** Fix R6RS `assert' to return true value.
468 ** Fix fencepost error when seeking in bytevector input ports
469 ** Gracefully handle `setlocale' errors when starting the REPL
470 ** Improve support of the `--disable-posix' configure option
471 ** Make sure R6RS binary ports pass `binary-port?' regardless of the locale
472 ** Gracefully handle unterminated UTF-8 sequences instead of hitting an `assert'
476 Changes in 2.0.0 (changes since the 1.8.x series):
478 * New modules (see the manual for details)
480 ** `(srfi srfi-18)', more sophisticated multithreading support
481 ** `(srfi srfi-27)', sources of random bits
482 ** `(srfi srfi-38)', External Representation for Data With Shared Structure
483 ** `(srfi srfi-42)', eager comprehensions
484 ** `(srfi srfi-45)', primitives for expressing iterative lazy algorithms
485 ** `(srfi srfi-67)', compare procedures
486 ** `(ice-9 i18n)', internationalization support
487 ** `(ice-9 futures)', fine-grain parallelism
488 ** `(rnrs bytevectors)', the R6RS bytevector API
489 ** `(rnrs io ports)', a subset of the R6RS I/O port API
490 ** `(system xref)', a cross-referencing facility (FIXME undocumented)
491 ** `(ice-9 vlist)', lists with constant-time random access; hash lists
492 ** `(system foreign)', foreign function interface
493 ** `(sxml match)', a pattern matcher for SXML
494 ** `(srfi srfi-9 gnu)', extensions to the SRFI-9 record library
495 ** `(system vm coverage)', a line-by-line code coverage library
496 ** `(web uri)', URI data type, parser, and unparser
497 ** `(web http)', HTTP header parsers and unparsers
498 ** `(web request)', HTTP request data type, reader, and writer
499 ** `(web response)', HTTP response data type, reader, and writer
500 ** `(web server)', Generic HTTP server
501 ** `(ice-9 poll)', a poll wrapper
502 ** `(web server http)', HTTP-over-TCP web server implementation
504 ** Replaced `(ice-9 match)' with Alex Shinn's compatible, hygienic matcher.
506 Guile's copy of Andrew K. Wright's `match' library has been replaced by
507 a compatible hygienic implementation by Alex Shinn. It is now
508 documented, see "Pattern Matching" in the manual.
510 Compared to Andrew K. Wright's `match', the new `match' lacks
511 `match-define', `match:error-control', `match:set-error-control',
512 `match:error', `match:set-error', and all structure-related procedures.
514 ** Imported statprof, SSAX, and texinfo modules from Guile-Lib
516 The statprof statistical profiler, the SSAX XML toolkit, and the texinfo
517 toolkit from Guile-Lib have been imported into Guile proper. See
518 "Standard Library" in the manual for more details.
520 ** Integration of lalr-scm, a parser generator
522 Guile has included Dominique Boucher's fine `lalr-scm' parser generator
523 as `(system base lalr)'. See "LALR(1) Parsing" in the manual, for more
526 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
528 ** Guile now can compile Scheme to bytecode for a custom virtual machine.
530 Compiled code loads much faster than Scheme source code, and runs around
531 3 or 4 times as fast, generating much less garbage in the process.
533 ** Evaluating Scheme code does not use the C stack.
535 Besides when compiling Guile itself, Guile no longer uses a recursive C
536 function as an evaluator. This obviates the need to check the C stack
537 pointer for overflow. Continuations still capture the C stack, however.
539 ** New environment variables: GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH,
540 GUILE_SYSTEM_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH
542 GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH is for compiled files what GUILE_LOAD_PATH is
543 for source files. It is a different path, however, because compiled
544 files are architecture-specific. GUILE_SYSTEM_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH is like
547 ** New read-eval-print loop (REPL) implementation
549 Running Guile with no arguments drops the user into the new REPL. See
550 "Using Guile Interactively" in the manual, for more information.
552 ** Remove old Emacs interface
554 Guile had an unused `--emacs' command line argument that was supposed to
555 help when running Guile inside Emacs. This option has been removed, and
556 the helper functions `named-module-use!' and `load-emacs-interface' have
559 ** Add `(system repl server)' module and `--listen' command-line argument
561 The `(system repl server)' module exposes procedures to listen on
562 sockets for connections, and serve REPLs to those clients. The --listen
563 command-line argument allows any Guile program to thus be remotely
566 See "Invoking Guile" for more information on `--listen'.
568 ** Command line additions
570 The guile binary now supports a new switch "-x", which can be used to
571 extend the list of filename extensions tried when loading files
574 ** New reader options: `square-brackets', `r6rs-hex-escapes',
577 The reader supports a new option (changeable via `read-options'),
578 `square-brackets', which instructs it to interpret square brackets as
579 parentheses. This option is on by default.
581 When the new `r6rs-hex-escapes' reader option is enabled, the reader
582 will recognize string escape sequences as defined in R6RS. R6RS string
583 escape sequences are incompatible with Guile's existing escapes, though,
584 so this option is off by default.
586 Additionally, Guile follows the R6RS newline escaping rules when the
587 `hungry-eol-escapes' option is enabled.
589 See "String Syntax" in the manual, for more information.
591 ** Function profiling and tracing at the REPL
593 The `,profile FORM' REPL meta-command can now be used to statistically
594 profile execution of a form, to see which functions are taking the most
595 time. See `,help profile' for more information.
597 Similarly, `,trace FORM' traces all function applications that occur
598 during the execution of `FORM'. See `,help trace' for more information.
600 ** Recursive debugging REPL on error
602 When Guile sees an error at the REPL, instead of saving the stack, Guile
603 will directly enter a recursive REPL in the dynamic context of the
604 error. See "Error Handling" in the manual, for more information.
606 A recursive REPL is the same as any other REPL, except that it
607 has been augmented with debugging information, so that one can inspect
608 the context of the error. The debugger has been integrated with the REPL
609 via a set of debugging meta-commands.
611 For example, one may access a backtrace with `,backtrace' (or
612 `,bt'). See "Interactive Debugging" in the manual, for more
615 ** New `guile-tools' commands: `compile', `disassemble'
617 Pass the `--help' command-line option to these commands for more
620 ** Guile now adds its install prefix to the LTDL_LIBRARY_PATH
622 Users may now install Guile to nonstandard prefixes and just run
623 `/path/to/bin/guile', instead of also having to set LTDL_LIBRARY_PATH to
624 include `/path/to/lib'.
626 ** Guile's Emacs integration is now more keyboard-friendly
628 Backtraces may now be disclosed with the keyboard in addition to the
631 ** Load path change: search in version-specific paths before site paths
633 When looking for a module, Guile now searches first in Guile's
634 version-specific path (the library path), *then* in the site dir. This
635 allows Guile's copy of SSAX to override any Guile-Lib copy the user has
636 installed. Also it should cut the number of `stat' system calls by half,
639 ** Value history in the REPL on by default
641 By default, the REPL will save computed values in variables like `$1',
642 `$2', and the like. There are programmatic and interactive interfaces to
643 control this. See "Value History" in the manual, for more information.
645 ** Readline tab completion for arguments
647 When readline is enabled, tab completion works for arguments too, not
648 just for the operator position.
650 ** Expression-oriented readline history
652 Guile's readline history now tries to operate on expressions instead of
653 input lines. Let us know what you think!
655 ** Interactive Guile follows GNU conventions
657 As recommended by the GPL, Guile now shows a brief copyright and
658 warranty disclaimer on startup, along with pointers to more information.
660 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
662 ** Support for R6RS libraries
664 The `library' and `import' forms from the latest Scheme report have been
665 added to Guile, in such a way that R6RS libraries share a namespace with
666 Guile modules. R6RS modules may import Guile modules, and are available
667 for Guile modules to import via use-modules and all the rest. See "R6RS
668 Libraries" in the manual for more information.
670 ** Implementations of R6RS libraries
672 Guile now has implementations for all of the libraries defined in the
673 R6RS. Thanks to Julian Graham for this excellent hack. See "R6RS
674 Standard Libraries" in the manual for a full list of libraries.
676 ** Partial R6RS compatibility
678 Guile now has enough support for R6RS to run a reasonably large subset
681 Guile is not fully R6RS compatible. Many incompatibilities are simply
682 bugs, though some parts of Guile will remain R6RS-incompatible for the
683 foreseeable future. See "R6RS Incompatibilities" in the manual, for more
686 Please contact bug-guile@gnu.org if you have found an issue not
687 mentioned in that compatibility list.
689 ** New implementation of `primitive-eval'
691 Guile's `primitive-eval' is now implemented in Scheme. Actually there is
692 still a C evaluator, used when building a fresh Guile to interpret the
693 compiler, so we can compile eval.scm. Thereafter all calls to
694 primitive-eval are implemented by VM-compiled code.
696 This allows all of Guile's procedures, be they interpreted or compiled,
697 to execute on the same stack, unifying multiple-value return semantics,
698 providing for proper tail recursion between interpreted and compiled
699 code, and simplifying debugging.
701 As part of this change, the evaluator no longer mutates the internal
702 representation of the code being evaluated in a thread-unsafe manner.
704 There are two negative aspects of this change, however. First, Guile
705 takes a lot longer to compile now. Also, there is less debugging
706 information available for debugging interpreted code. We hope to improve
707 both of these situations.
709 There are many changes to the internal C evalator interface, but all
710 public interfaces should be the same. See the ChangeLog for details. If
711 we have inadvertantly changed an interface that you were using, please
712 contact bug-guile@gnu.org.
714 ** Procedure removed: `the-environment'
716 This procedure was part of the interpreter's execution model, and does
717 not apply to the compiler.
719 ** No more `local-eval'
721 `local-eval' used to exist so that one could evaluate code in the
722 lexical context of a function. Since there is no way to get the lexical
723 environment any more, as that concept has no meaning for the compiler,
724 and a different meaning for the interpreter, we have removed the
727 If you think you need `local-eval', you should probably implement your
728 own metacircular evaluator. It will probably be as fast as Guile's
731 ** Scheme source files will now be compiled automatically.
733 If a compiled .go file corresponding to a .scm file is not found or is
734 not fresh, the .scm file will be compiled on the fly, and the resulting
735 .go file stored away. An advisory note will be printed on the console.
737 Note that this mechanism depends on the timestamp of the .go file being
738 newer than that of the .scm file; if the .scm or .go files are moved
739 after installation, care should be taken to preserve their original
742 Auto-compiled files will be stored in the $XDG_CACHE_HOME/guile/ccache
743 directory, where $XDG_CACHE_HOME defaults to ~/.cache. This directory
744 will be created if needed.
746 To inhibit automatic compilation, set the GUILE_AUTO_COMPILE environment
747 variable to 0, or pass --no-auto-compile on the Guile command line.
749 ** New POSIX procedures: `getrlimit' and `setrlimit'
751 Note however that the interface of these functions is likely to change
752 in the next prerelease.
754 ** New POSIX procedure: `getsid'
756 Scheme binding for the `getsid' C library call.
758 ** New POSIX procedure: `getaddrinfo'
760 Scheme binding for the `getaddrinfo' C library function.
762 ** Multicast socket options
764 Support was added for the IP_MULTICAST_TTL and IP_MULTICAST_IF socket
765 options. See "Network Sockets and Communication" in the manual, for
768 ** `recv!', `recvfrom!', `send', `sendto' now deal in bytevectors
770 These socket procedures now take bytevectors as arguments, instead of
771 strings. There is some deprecated string support, however.
773 ** New GNU procedures: `setaffinity' and `getaffinity'.
775 See "Processes" in the manual, for more information.
777 ** New procedures: `compose', `negate', and `const'
779 See "Higher-Order Functions" in the manual, for more information.
781 ** New procedure in `(oops goops)': `method-formals'
783 ** New procedures in (ice-9 session): `add-value-help-handler!',
784 `remove-value-help-handler!', `add-name-help-handler!'
785 `remove-name-help-handler!', `procedure-arguments'
787 The value and name help handlers provide some minimal extensibility to
788 the help interface. Guile-lib's `(texinfo reflection)' uses them, for
789 example, to make stexinfo help documentation available. See those
790 procedures' docstrings for more information.
792 `procedure-arguments' describes the arguments that a procedure can take,
793 combining arity and formals. For example:
795 (procedure-arguments resolve-interface)
796 => ((required . (name)) (rest . args))
798 Additionally, `module-commentary' is now publically exported from
801 ** Removed: `procedure->memoizing-macro', `procedure->syntax'
803 These procedures created primitive fexprs for the old evaluator, and are
804 no longer supported. If you feel that you need these functions, you
805 probably need to write your own metacircular evaluator (which will
806 probably be as fast as Guile's, anyway).
808 ** New language: ECMAScript
810 Guile now ships with one other high-level language supported,
811 ECMAScript. The goal is to support all of version 3.1 of the standard,
812 but not all of the libraries are there yet. This support is not yet
813 documented; ask on the mailing list if you are interested.
815 ** New language: Brainfuck
817 Brainfuck is a toy language that closely models Turing machines. Guile's
818 brainfuck compiler is meant to be an example of implementing other
819 languages. See the manual for details, or
820 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainfuck for more information about the
821 Brainfuck language itself.
823 ** New language: Elisp
825 Guile now has an experimental Emacs Lisp compiler and runtime. You can
826 now switch to Elisp at the repl: `,language elisp'. All kudos to Daniel
827 Kraft and Brian Templeton, and all bugs to bug-guile@gnu.org.
829 ** Better documentation infrastructure for macros
831 It is now possible to introspect on the type of a macro, e.g.
832 syntax-rules, identifier-syntax, etc, and extract information about that
833 macro, such as the syntax-rules patterns or the defmacro arguments.
834 `(texinfo reflection)' takes advantage of this to give better macro
837 ** Support for arbitrary procedure metadata
839 Building on its support for docstrings, Guile now supports multiple
840 docstrings, adding them to the tail of a compiled procedure's
841 properties. For example:
847 (procedure-properties foo)
848 => ((name . foo) (documentation . "one") (documentation . "two"))
850 Also, vectors of pairs are now treated as additional metadata entries:
853 #((quz . #f) (docstring . "xyzzy"))
855 (procedure-properties bar)
856 => ((name . bar) (quz . #f) (docstring . "xyzzy"))
858 This allows arbitrary literals to be embedded as metadata in a compiled
861 ** The psyntax expander now knows how to interpret the @ and @@ special
864 ** The psyntax expander is now hygienic with respect to modules.
866 Free variables in a macro are scoped in the module that the macro was
867 defined in, not in the module the macro is used in. For example, code
870 (define-module (foo) #:export (bar))
871 (define (helper x) ...)
873 (syntax-rules () ((_ x) (helper x))))
875 (define-module (baz) #:use-module (foo))
878 It used to be you had to export `helper' from `(foo)' as well.
879 Thankfully, this has been fixed.
881 ** Support for version information in Guile's `module' form
883 Guile modules now have a `#:version' field. See "R6RS Version
884 References", "General Information about Modules", "Using Guile Modules",
885 and "Creating Guile Modules" in the manual for more information.
887 ** Support for renaming bindings on module export
889 Wherever Guile accepts a symbol as an argument to specify a binding to
890 export, it now also accepts a pair of symbols, indicating that a binding
891 should be renamed on export. See "Creating Guile Modules" in the manual
892 for more information.
894 ** New procedure: `module-export-all!'
896 This procedure exports all current and future bindings from a module.
897 Use as `(module-export-all! (current-module))'.
899 ** New procedure `reload-module', and `,reload' REPL command
901 See "Module System Reflection" and "Module Commands" in the manual, for
904 ** `eval-case' has been deprecated, and replaced by `eval-when'.
906 The semantics of `eval-when' are easier to understand. See "Eval When"
907 in the manual, for more information.
909 ** Guile is now more strict about prohibiting definitions in expression
912 Although previous versions of Guile accepted it, the following
913 expression is not valid, in R5RS or R6RS:
915 (if test (define foo 'bar) (define foo 'baz))
917 In this specific case, it would be better to do:
919 (define foo (if test 'bar 'baz))
921 It is possible to circumvent this restriction with e.g.
922 `(module-define! (current-module) 'foo 'baz)'. Contact the list if you
925 ** Support for `letrec*'
927 Guile now supports `letrec*', a recursive lexical binding operator in
928 which the identifiers are bound in order. See "Local Bindings" in the
929 manual, for more details.
931 ** Internal definitions now expand to `letrec*'
933 Following the R6RS, internal definitions now expand to letrec* instead
934 of letrec. The following program is invalid for R5RS, but valid for
939 (define baz (+ bar 20))
942 ;; R5RS and Guile <= 1.8:
943 (foo) => Unbound variable: bar
944 ;; R6RS and Guile >= 2.0:
947 This change should not affect correct R5RS programs, or programs written
948 in earlier Guile dialects.
950 ** Macro expansion produces structures instead of s-expressions
952 In the olden days, macroexpanding an s-expression would yield another
953 s-expression. Though the lexical variables were renamed, expansions of
954 core forms like `if' and `begin' were still non-hygienic, as they relied
955 on the toplevel definitions of `if' et al being the conventional ones.
957 The solution is to expand to structures instead of s-expressions. There
958 is an `if' structure, a `begin' structure, a `toplevel-ref' structure,
959 etc. The expander already did this for compilation, producing Tree-IL
960 directly; it has been changed now to do so when expanding for the
963 ** Defmacros must now produce valid Scheme expressions.
965 It used to be that defmacros could unquote in Scheme values, as a way of
966 supporting partial evaluation, and avoiding some hygiene issues. For
969 (define (helper x) ...)
970 (define-macro (foo bar)
973 Assuming this macro is in the `(baz)' module, the direct translation of
976 (define (helper x) ...)
977 (define-macro (foo bar)
978 `((@@ (baz) helper) ,bar))
980 Of course, one could just use a hygienic macro instead:
984 ((_ bar) (helper bar))))
986 ** Guile's psyntax now supports docstrings and internal definitions.
988 The following Scheme is not strictly legal:
995 However its intent is fairly clear. Guile interprets "bar" to be the
996 docstring of `foo', and the definition of `baz' is still in definition
999 ** Support for settable identifier syntax
1001 Following the R6RS, "variable transformers" are settable
1002 identifier-syntax. See "Identifier macros" in the manual, for more
1005 ** syntax-case treats `_' as a placeholder
1007 Following R6RS, a `_' in a syntax-rules or syntax-case pattern matches
1008 anything, and binds no pattern variables. Unlike the R6RS, Guile also
1009 permits `_' to be in the literals list for a pattern.
1011 ** Macros need to be defined before their first use.
1013 It used to be that with lazy memoization, this might work:
1017 (define-macro (ref x) x)
1020 But now, the body of `foo' is interpreted to mean a call to the toplevel
1021 `ref' function, instead of a macro expansion. The solution is to define
1022 macros before code that uses them.
1024 ** Functions needed by macros at expand-time need to be present at
1027 For example, this code will work at the REPL:
1029 (define (double-helper x) (* x x))
1030 (define-macro (double-literal x) (double-helper x))
1031 (double-literal 2) => 4
1033 But it will not work when a file is compiled, because the definition of
1034 `double-helper' is not present at expand-time. The solution is to wrap
1035 the definition of `double-helper' in `eval-when':
1037 (eval-when (load compile eval)
1038 (define (double-helper x) (* x x)))
1039 (define-macro (double-literal x) (double-helper x))
1040 (double-literal 2) => 4
1042 See the documentation for eval-when for more information.
1044 ** `macroexpand' produces structures, not S-expressions.
1046 Given the need to maintain referential transparency, both lexically and
1047 modular, the result of expanding Scheme expressions is no longer itself
1048 an s-expression. If you want a human-readable approximation of the
1049 result of `macroexpand', call `tree-il->scheme' from `(language
1052 ** Removed function: `macroexpand-1'
1054 It is unclear how to implement `macroexpand-1' with syntax-case, though
1055 PLT Scheme does prove that it is possible.
1057 ** New reader macros: #' #` #, #,@
1059 These macros translate, respectively, to `syntax', `quasisyntax',
1060 `unsyntax', and `unsyntax-splicing'. See the R6RS for more information.
1061 These reader macros may be overridden by `read-hash-extend'.
1063 ** Incompatible change to #'
1065 Guile did have a #' hash-extension, by default, which just returned the
1066 subsequent datum: #'foo => foo. In the unlikely event that anyone
1067 actually used this, this behavior may be reinstated via the
1068 `read-hash-extend' mechanism.
1070 ** `unquote' and `unquote-splicing' accept multiple expressions
1072 As per the R6RS, these syntax operators can now accept any number of
1073 expressions to unquote.
1075 ** Scheme expresssions may be commented out with #;
1077 #; comments out an entire expression. See SRFI-62 or the R6RS for more
1080 ** Prompts: Delimited, composable continuations
1082 Guile now has prompts as part of its primitive language. See "Prompts"
1083 in the manual, for more information.
1085 Expressions entered in at the REPL, or from the command line, are
1086 surrounded by a prompt with the default prompt tag.
1088 ** `make-stack' with a tail-called procedural narrowing argument no longer
1089 works (with compiled procedures)
1091 It used to be the case that a captured stack could be narrowed to select
1092 calls only up to or from a certain procedure, even if that procedure
1093 already tail-called another procedure. This was because the debug
1094 information from the original procedure was kept on the stack.
1096 Now with the new compiler, the stack only contains active frames from
1097 the current continuation. A narrow to a procedure that is not in the
1098 stack will result in an empty stack. To fix this, narrow to a procedure
1099 that is active in the current continuation, or narrow to a specific
1100 number of stack frames.
1102 ** Backtraces through compiled procedures only show procedures that are
1103 active in the current continuation
1105 Similarly to the previous issue, backtraces in compiled code may be
1106 different from backtraces in interpreted code. There are no semantic
1107 differences, however. Please mail bug-guile@gnu.org if you see any
1108 deficiencies with Guile's backtraces.
1110 ** `positions' reader option enabled by default
1112 This change allows primitive-load without --auto-compile to also
1113 propagate source information through the expander, for better errors and
1114 to let macros know their source locations. The compiler was already
1115 turning it on anyway.
1117 ** New macro: `current-source-location'
1119 The macro returns the current source location (to be documented).
1121 ** syntax-rules and syntax-case macros now propagate source information
1122 through to the expanded code
1124 This should result in better backtraces.
1126 ** The currying behavior of `define' has been removed.
1128 Before, `(define ((f a) b) (* a b))' would translate to
1130 (define f (lambda (a) (lambda (b) (* a b))))
1132 Now a syntax error is signaled, as this syntax is not supported by
1133 default. Use the `(ice-9 curried-definitions)' module to get back the
1136 ** New procedure, `define!'
1138 `define!' is a procedure that takes two arguments, a symbol and a value,
1139 and binds the value to the symbol in the current module. It's useful to
1140 programmatically make definitions in the current module, and is slightly
1141 less verbose than `module-define!'.
1143 ** All modules have names now
1145 Before, you could have anonymous modules: modules without names. Now,
1146 because of hygiene and macros, all modules have names. If a module was
1147 created without a name, the first time `module-name' is called on it, a
1148 fresh name will be lazily generated for it.
1150 ** The module namespace is now separate from the value namespace
1152 It was a little-known implementation detail of Guile's module system
1153 that it was built on a single hierarchical namespace of values -- that
1154 if there was a module named `(foo bar)', then in the module named
1155 `(foo)' there was a binding from `bar' to the `(foo bar)' module.
1157 This was a neat trick, but presented a number of problems. One problem
1158 was that the bindings in a module were not apparent from the module
1159 itself; perhaps the `(foo)' module had a private binding for `bar', and
1160 then an external contributor defined `(foo bar)'. In the end there can
1161 be only one binding, so one of the two will see the wrong thing, and
1162 produce an obtuse error of unclear provenance.
1164 Also, the public interface of a module was also bound in the value
1165 namespace, as `%module-public-interface'. This was a hack from the early
1166 days of Guile's modules.
1168 Both of these warts have been fixed by the addition of fields in the
1169 `module' data type. Access to modules and their interfaces from the
1170 value namespace has been deprecated, and all accessors use the new
1171 record accessors appropriately.
1173 When Guile is built with support for deprecated code, as is the default,
1174 the value namespace is still searched for modules and public interfaces,
1175 and a deprecation warning is raised as appropriate.
1177 Finally, to support lazy loading of modules as one used to be able to do
1178 with module binder procedures, Guile now has submodule binders, called
1179 if a given submodule is not found. See boot-9.scm for more information.
1181 ** New procedures: module-ref-submodule, module-define-submodule,
1182 nested-ref-module, nested-define-module!, local-ref-module,
1185 These new accessors are like their bare variants, but operate on
1186 namespaces instead of values.
1188 ** The (app modules) module tree is officially deprecated
1190 It used to be that one could access a module named `(foo bar)' via
1191 `(nested-ref the-root-module '(app modules foo bar))'. The `(app
1192 modules)' bit was a never-used and never-documented abstraction, and has
1193 been deprecated. See the following mail for a full discussion:
1195 http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guile-devel/2010-04/msg00168.html
1197 The `%app' binding is also deprecated.
1199 ** `module-filename' field and accessor
1201 Modules now record the file in which they are defined. This field may be
1202 accessed with the new `module-filename' procedure.
1204 ** Modules load within a known environment
1206 It takes a few procedure calls to define a module, and those procedure
1207 calls need to be in scope. Now we ensure that the current module when
1208 loading a module is one that has the needed bindings, instead of relying
1211 ** `load' is a macro (!) that resolves paths relative to source file dir
1213 The familiar Schem `load' procedure is now a macro that captures the
1214 name of the source file being expanded, and dispatches to the new
1215 `load-in-vicinity'. Referencing `load' by bare name returns a closure
1216 that embeds the current source file name.
1218 This fix allows `load' of relative paths to be resolved with respect to
1219 the location of the file that calls `load'.
1221 ** Many syntax errors have different texts now
1223 Syntax errors still throw to the `syntax-error' key, but the arguments
1224 are often different now. Perhaps in the future, Guile will switch to
1225 using standard SRFI-35 conditions.
1227 ** Returning multiple values to compiled code will silently truncate the
1228 values to the expected number
1230 For example, the interpreter would raise an error evaluating the form,
1231 `(+ (values 1 2) (values 3 4))', because it would see the operands as
1232 being two compound "values" objects, to which `+' does not apply.
1234 The compiler, on the other hand, receives multiple values on the stack,
1235 not as a compound object. Given that it must check the number of values
1236 anyway, if too many values are provided for a continuation, it chooses
1237 to truncate those values, effectively evaluating `(+ 1 3)' instead.
1239 The idea is that the semantics that the compiler implements is more
1240 intuitive, and the use of the interpreter will fade out with time.
1241 This behavior is allowed both by the R5RS and the R6RS.
1243 ** Multiple values in compiled code are not represented by compound
1246 This change may manifest itself in the following situation:
1248 (let ((val (foo))) (do-something) val)
1250 In the interpreter, if `foo' returns multiple values, multiple values
1251 are produced from the `let' expression. In the compiler, those values
1252 are truncated to the first value, and that first value is returned. In
1253 the compiler, if `foo' returns no values, an error will be raised, while
1254 the interpreter would proceed.
1256 Both of these behaviors are allowed by R5RS and R6RS. The compiler's
1257 behavior is more correct, however. If you wish to preserve a potentially
1258 multiply-valued return, you will need to set up a multiple-value
1259 continuation, using `call-with-values'.
1261 ** Defmacros are now implemented in terms of syntax-case.
1263 The practical ramification of this is that the `defmacro?' predicate has
1264 been removed, along with `defmacro-transformer', `macro-table',
1265 `xformer-table', `assert-defmacro?!', `set-defmacro-transformer!' and
1266 `defmacro:transformer'. This is because defmacros are simply macros. If
1267 any of these procedures provided useful facilities to you, we encourage
1268 you to contact the Guile developers.
1270 ** Hygienic macros documented as the primary syntactic extension mechanism.
1272 The macro documentation was finally fleshed out with some documentation
1273 on `syntax-rules' and `syntax-case' macros, and other parts of the macro
1274 expansion process. See "Macros" in the manual, for details.
1276 ** psyntax is now the default expander
1278 Scheme code is now expanded by default by the psyntax hygienic macro
1279 expander. Expansion is performed completely before compilation or
1282 Notably, syntax errors will be signalled before interpretation begins.
1283 In the past, many syntax errors were only detected at runtime if the
1284 code in question was memoized.
1286 As part of its expansion, psyntax renames all lexically-bound
1287 identifiers. Original identifier names are preserved and given to the
1288 compiler, but the interpreter will see the renamed variables, e.g.,
1289 `x432' instead of `x'.
1291 Note that the psyntax that Guile uses is a fork, as Guile already had
1292 modules before incompatible modules were added to psyntax -- about 10
1293 years ago! Thus there are surely a number of bugs that have been fixed
1294 in psyntax since then. If you find one, please notify bug-guile@gnu.org.
1296 ** syntax-rules and syntax-case are available by default.
1298 There is no longer any need to import the `(ice-9 syncase)' module
1299 (which is now deprecated). The expander may be invoked directly via
1300 `macroexpand', though it is normally searched for via the current module
1303 Also, the helper routines for syntax-case are available in the default
1304 environment as well: `syntax->datum', `datum->syntax',
1305 `bound-identifier=?', `free-identifier=?', `generate-temporaries',
1306 `identifier?', and `syntax-violation'. See the R6RS for documentation.
1308 ** Tail patterns in syntax-case
1310 Guile has pulled in some more recent changes from the psyntax portable
1311 syntax expander, to implement support for "tail patterns". Such patterns
1312 are supported by syntax-rules and syntax-case. This allows a syntax-case
1313 match clause to have ellipses, then a pattern at the end. For example:
1316 (syntax-rules (else)
1317 ((_ val match-clause ... (else e e* ...))
1320 Note how there is MATCH-CLAUSE, which is ellipsized, then there is a
1321 tail pattern for the else clause. Thanks to Andreas Rottmann for the
1322 patch, and Kent Dybvig for the code.
1324 ** Lexical bindings introduced by hygienic macros may not be referenced
1325 by nonhygienic macros.
1327 If a lexical binding is introduced by a hygienic macro, it may not be
1328 referenced by a nonhygienic macro. For example, this works:
1331 (define-macro (bind-x val body)
1332 `(let ((x ,val)) ,body))
1333 (define-macro (ref x)
1335 (bind-x 10 (ref x)))
1340 (define-syntax bind-x
1342 ((_ val body) (let ((x val)) body))))
1343 (define-macro (ref x)
1345 (bind-x 10 (ref x)))
1347 It is not normal to run into this situation with existing code. However,
1348 if you have defmacros that expand to hygienic macros, it is possible to
1349 run into situations like this. For example, if you have a defmacro that
1350 generates a `while' expression, the `break' bound by the `while' may not
1351 be visible within other parts of your defmacro. The solution is to port
1352 from defmacros to syntax-rules or syntax-case.
1354 ** Macros may no longer be referenced as first-class values.
1356 In the past, you could evaluate e.g. `if', and get its macro value. Now,
1357 expanding this form raises a syntax error.
1359 Macros still /exist/ as first-class values, but they must be
1360 /referenced/ via the module system, e.g. `(module-ref (current-module)
1363 ** Macros may now have docstrings.
1365 `object-documentation' from `(ice-9 documentation)' may be used to
1366 retrieve the docstring, once you have a macro value -- but see the above
1367 note about first-class macros. Docstrings are associated with the syntax
1368 transformer procedures.
1370 ** `case-lambda' is now available in the default environment.
1372 The binding in the default environment is equivalent to the one from the
1373 `(srfi srfi-16)' module. Use the srfi-16 module explicitly if you wish
1374 to maintain compatibility with Guile 1.8 and earlier.
1376 ** Procedures may now have more than one arity.
1378 This can be the case, for example, in case-lambda procedures. The
1379 arities of compiled procedures may be accessed via procedures from the
1380 `(system vm program)' module; see "Compiled Procedures", "Optional
1381 Arguments", and "Case-lambda" in the manual.
1383 ** Deprecate arity access via (procedure-properties proc 'arity)
1385 Instead of accessing a procedure's arity as a property, use the new
1386 `procedure-minimum-arity' function, which gives the most permissive
1387 arity that the the function has, in the same format as the old arity
1390 ** `lambda*' and `define*' are now available in the default environment
1392 As with `case-lambda', `(ice-9 optargs)' continues to be supported, for
1393 compatibility purposes. No semantic change has been made (we hope).
1394 Optional and keyword arguments now dispatch via special VM operations,
1395 without the need to cons rest arguments, making them very fast.
1397 ** New syntax: define-once
1399 `define-once' is like Lisp's `defvar': it creates a toplevel binding,
1400 but only if one does not exist already.
1402 ** New function, `truncated-print', with `format' support
1404 `(ice-9 pretty-print)' now exports `truncated-print', a printer that
1405 will ensure that the output stays within a certain width, truncating the
1406 output in what is hopefully an intelligent manner. See the manual for
1409 There is a new `format' specifier, `~@y', for doing a truncated
1410 print (as opposed to `~y', which does a pretty-print). See the `format'
1411 documentation for more details.
1413 ** Better pretty-printing
1415 Indentation recognizes more special forms, like `syntax-case', and read
1416 macros like `quote' are printed better.
1418 ** Passing a number as the destination of `format' is deprecated
1420 The `format' procedure in `(ice-9 format)' now emits a deprecation
1421 warning if a number is passed as its first argument.
1423 Also, it used to be that you could omit passing a port to `format', in
1424 some cases. This still works, but has been formally deprecated.
1426 ** SRFI-4 vectors reimplemented in terms of R6RS bytevectors
1428 Guile now implements SRFI-4 vectors using bytevectors. Often when you
1429 have a numeric vector, you end up wanting to write its bytes somewhere,
1430 or have access to the underlying bytes, or read in bytes from somewhere
1431 else. Bytevectors are very good at this sort of thing. But the SRFI-4
1432 APIs are nicer to use when doing number-crunching, because they are
1433 addressed by element and not by byte.
1435 So as a compromise, Guile allows all bytevector functions to operate on
1436 numeric vectors. They address the underlying bytes in the native
1437 endianness, as one would expect.
1439 Following the same reasoning, that it's just bytes underneath, Guile
1440 also allows uniform vectors of a given type to be accessed as if they
1441 were of any type. One can fill a u32vector, and access its elements with
1442 u8vector-ref. One can use f64vector-ref on bytevectors. It's all the
1445 In this way, uniform numeric vectors may be written to and read from
1446 input/output ports using the procedures that operate on bytevectors.
1448 Calls to SRFI-4 accessors (ref and set functions) from Scheme are now
1449 inlined to the VM instructions for bytevector access.
1451 See "SRFI-4" in the manual, for more information.
1453 ** Nonstandard SRFI-4 procedures now available from `(srfi srfi-4 gnu)'
1455 Guile's `(srfi srfi-4)' now only exports those srfi-4 procedures that
1456 are part of the standard. Complex uniform vectors and the
1457 `any->FOOvector' family are now available only from `(srfi srfi-4 gnu)'.
1459 Guile's default environment imports `(srfi srfi-4)', and probably should
1460 import `(srfi srfi-4 gnu)' as well.
1462 See "SRFI-4 Extensions" in the manual, for more information.
1464 ** New syntax: include-from-path.
1466 `include-from-path' is like `include', except it looks for its file in
1467 the load path. It can be used to compile other files into a file.
1469 ** New syntax: quasisyntax.
1471 `quasisyntax' is to `syntax' as `quasiquote' is to `quote'. See the R6RS
1472 documentation for more information. Thanks to Andre van Tonder for the
1475 ** `*unspecified*' is identifier syntax
1477 `*unspecified*' is no longer a variable, so it is optimized properly by
1478 the compiler, and is not `set!'-able.
1480 ** Changes and bugfixes in numerics code
1482 *** Added six new sets of fast quotient and remainder operators
1484 Added six new sets of fast quotient and remainder operator pairs with
1485 different semantics than the R5RS operators. They support not only
1486 integers, but all reals, including exact rationals and inexact
1487 floating point numbers.
1489 These procedures accept two real numbers N and D, where the divisor D
1490 must be non-zero. Each set of operators computes an integer quotient
1491 Q and a real remainder R such that N = Q*D + R and |R| < |D|. They
1492 differ only in how N/D is rounded to produce Q.
1494 `euclidean-quotient' returns the integer Q and `euclidean-remainder'
1495 returns the real R such that N = Q*D + R and 0 <= R < |D|. `euclidean/'
1496 returns both Q and R, and is more efficient than computing each
1497 separately. Note that when D > 0, `euclidean-quotient' returns
1498 floor(N/D), and when D < 0 it returns ceiling(N/D).
1500 `centered-quotient', `centered-remainder', and `centered/' are similar
1501 except that the range of remainders is -abs(D/2) <= R < abs(D/2), and
1502 `centered-quotient' rounds N/D to the nearest integer. Note that these
1503 operators are equivalent to the R6RS integer division operators `div',
1504 `mod', `div-and-mod', `div0', `mod0', and `div0-and-mod0'.
1506 `floor-quotient' and `floor-remainder' compute Q and R, respectively,
1507 where Q has been rounded toward negative infinity. `floor/' returns
1508 both Q and R, and is more efficient than computing each separately.
1509 Note that when applied to integers, `floor-remainder' is equivalent to
1510 the R5RS integer-only `modulo' operator. `ceiling-quotient',
1511 `ceiling-remainder', and `ceiling/' are similar except that Q is
1512 rounded toward positive infinity.
1514 For `truncate-quotient', `truncate-remainder', and `truncate/', Q is
1515 rounded toward zero. Note that when applied to integers,
1516 `truncate-quotient' and `truncate-remainder' are equivalent to the
1517 R5RS integer-only operators `quotient' and `remainder'.
1519 For `round-quotient', `round-remainder', and `round/', Q is rounded to
1520 the nearest integer, with ties going to the nearest even integer.
1522 *** Complex number changes
1524 Guile is now able to represent non-real complex numbers whose
1525 imaginary part is an _inexact_ zero (0.0 or -0.0), per R6RS.
1526 Previously, such numbers were immediately changed into inexact reals.
1528 (real? 0.0+0.0i) now returns #f, per R6RS, although (zero? 0.0+0.0i)
1529 still returns #t, per R6RS. (= 0 0.0+0.0i) and (= 0.0 0.0+0.0i) are
1530 #t, but the same comparisons using `eqv?' or `equal?' are #f.
1532 Like other non-real numbers, these complex numbers with inexact zero
1533 imaginary part will raise exceptions is passed to procedures requiring
1534 reals, such as `<', `>', `<=', `>=', `min', `max', `positive?',
1535 `negative?', `inf?', `nan?', `finite?', etc.
1537 **** `make-rectangular' changes
1539 scm_make_rectangular `make-rectangular' now returns a real number only
1540 if the imaginary part is an _exact_ 0. Previously, it would return a
1541 real number if the imaginary part was an inexact zero.
1543 scm_c_make_rectangular now always returns a non-real complex number,
1544 even if the imaginary part is zero. Previously, it would return a
1545 real number if the imaginary part was zero.
1547 **** `make-polar' changes
1549 scm_make_polar `make-polar' now returns a real number only if the
1550 angle or magnitude is an _exact_ 0. If the magnitude is an exact 0,
1551 it now returns an exact 0. Previously, it would return a real
1552 number if the imaginary part was an inexact zero.
1554 scm_c_make_polar now always returns a non-real complex number, even if
1555 the imaginary part is 0.0. Previously, it would return a real number
1556 if the imaginary part was 0.0.
1558 **** `imag-part' changes
1560 scm_imag_part `imag-part' now returns an exact 0 if applied to an
1561 inexact real number. Previously it returned an inexact zero in this
1564 *** `eqv?' and `equal?' now compare numbers equivalently
1566 scm_equal_p `equal?' now behaves equivalently to scm_eqv_p `eqv?' for
1567 numeric values, per R5RS. Previously, equal? worked differently,
1568 e.g. `(equal? 0.0 -0.0)' returned #t but `(eqv? 0.0 -0.0)' returned #f,
1569 and `(equal? +nan.0 +nan.0)' returned #f but `(eqv? +nan.0 +nan.0)'
1572 *** `(equal? +nan.0 +nan.0)' now returns #t
1574 Previously, `(equal? +nan.0 +nan.0)' returned #f, although
1575 `(let ((x +nan.0)) (equal? x x))' and `(eqv? +nan.0 +nan.0)'
1576 both returned #t. R5RS requires that `equal?' behave like
1577 `eqv?' when comparing numbers.
1579 *** Change in handling products `*' involving exact 0
1581 scm_product `*' now handles exact 0 differently. A product containing
1582 an exact 0 now returns an exact 0 if and only if the other arguments
1583 are all exact. An inexact zero is returned if and only if the other
1584 arguments are all finite but not all exact. If an infinite or NaN
1585 value is present, a NaN value is returned. Previously, any product
1586 containing an exact 0 yielded an exact 0, regardless of the other
1589 *** `expt' and `integer-expt' changes when the base is 0
1591 While `(expt 0 0)' is still 1, and `(expt 0 N)' for N > 0 is still
1592 zero, `(expt 0 N)' for N < 0 is now a NaN value, and likewise for
1593 integer-expt. This is more correct, and conforming to R6RS, but seems
1594 to be incompatible with R5RS, which would return 0 for all non-zero
1597 *** `expt' and `integer-expt' are more generic, less strict
1599 When raising to an exact non-negative integer exponent, `expt' and
1600 `integer-expt' are now able to exponentiate any object that can be
1601 multiplied using `*'. They can also raise an object to an exact
1602 negative integer power if its reciprocal can be taken using `/'.
1603 In order to allow this, the type of the first argument is no longer
1604 checked when raising to an exact integer power. If the exponent is 0
1605 or 1, the first parameter is not manipulated at all, and need not
1606 even support multiplication.
1608 *** Infinities are no longer integers, nor rationals
1610 scm_integer_p `integer?' and scm_rational_p `rational?' now return #f
1611 for infinities, per R6RS. Previously they returned #t for real
1612 infinities. The real infinities and NaNs are still considered real by
1613 scm_real `real?' however, per R6RS.
1615 *** NaNs are no longer rationals
1617 scm_rational_p `rational?' now returns #f for NaN values, per R6RS.
1618 Previously it returned #t for real NaN values. They are still
1619 considered real by scm_real `real?' however, per R6RS.
1621 *** `inf?' and `nan?' now throw exceptions for non-reals
1623 The domain of `inf?' and `nan?' is the real numbers. Guile now signals
1624 an error when a non-real number or non-number is passed to these
1625 procedures. (Note that NaNs _are_ considered numbers by scheme, despite
1628 *** `rationalize' bugfixes and changes
1630 Fixed bugs in scm_rationalize `rationalize'. Previously, it returned
1631 exact integers unmodified, although that was incorrect if the epsilon
1632 was at least 1 or inexact, e.g. (rationalize 4 1) should return 3 per
1633 R5RS and R6RS, but previously it returned 4. It also now handles
1634 cases involving infinities and NaNs properly, per R6RS.
1636 *** Trigonometric functions now return exact numbers in some cases
1638 scm_sin `sin', scm_cos `cos', scm_tan `tan', scm_asin `asin', scm_acos
1639 `acos', scm_atan `atan', scm_sinh `sinh', scm_cosh `cosh', scm_tanh
1640 `tanh', scm_sys_asinh `asinh', scm_sys_acosh `acosh', and
1641 scm_sys_atanh `atanh' now return exact results in some cases.
1643 *** New procedure: `finite?'
1645 Add scm_finite_p `finite?' from R6RS to guile core, which returns #t
1646 if and only if its argument is neither infinite nor a NaN. Note that
1647 this is not the same as (not (inf? x)) or (not (infinite? x)), since
1648 NaNs are neither finite nor infinite.
1650 *** Improved exactness handling for complex number parsing
1652 When parsing non-real complex numbers, exactness specifiers are now
1653 applied to each component, as is done in PLT Scheme. For complex
1654 numbers written in rectangular form, exactness specifiers are applied
1655 to the real and imaginary parts before calling scm_make_rectangular.
1656 For complex numbers written in polar form, exactness specifiers are
1657 applied to the magnitude and angle before calling scm_make_polar.
1659 Previously, exactness specifiers were applied to the number as a whole
1660 _after_ calling scm_make_rectangular or scm_make_polar.
1662 For example, (string->number "#i5.0+0i") now does the equivalent of:
1664 (make-rectangular (exact->inexact 5.0) (exact->inexact 0))
1666 which yields 5.0+0.0i. Previously it did the equivalent of:
1668 (exact->inexact (make-rectangular 5.0 0))
1672 ** Unicode characters
1674 Unicode characters may be entered in octal format via e.g. `#\454', or
1675 created via (integer->char 300). A hex external representation will
1676 probably be introduced at some point.
1680 Internally, strings are now represented either in the `latin-1'
1681 encoding, one byte per character, or in UTF-32, with four bytes per
1682 character. Strings manage their own allocation, switching if needed.
1684 Extended characters may be written in a literal string using the
1685 hexadecimal escapes `\xXX', `\uXXXX', or `\UXXXXXX', for 8-bit, 16-bit,
1686 or 24-bit codepoints, respectively, or entered directly in the native
1687 encoding of the port on which the string is read.
1691 One may now use U+03BB (GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMBDA) as an identifier.
1693 ** Support for non-ASCII source code files
1695 The default reader now handles source code files for some of the
1696 non-ASCII character encodings, such as UTF-8. A non-ASCII source file
1697 should have an encoding declaration near the top of the file. Also,
1698 there is a new function, `file-encoding', that scans a port for a coding
1699 declaration. See the section of the manual entitled, "Character Encoding
1702 The pre-1.9.3 reader handled 8-bit clean but otherwise unspecified source
1703 code. This use is now discouraged. Binary input and output is
1704 currently supported by opening ports in the ISO-8859-1 locale.
1706 ** Source files default to UTF-8.
1708 If source files do not specify their encoding via a `coding:' block,
1709 the default encoding is UTF-8, instead of being taken from the current
1712 ** Interactive Guile installs the current locale.
1714 Instead of leaving the user in the "C" locale, running the Guile REPL
1715 installs the current locale. [FIXME xref?]
1717 ** Support for locale transcoding when reading from and writing to ports
1719 Ports now have an associated character encoding, and port read and write
1720 operations do conversion to and from locales automatically. Ports also
1721 have an associated strategy for how to deal with locale conversion
1724 See the documentation in the manual for the four new support functions,
1725 `set-port-encoding!', `port-encoding', `set-port-conversion-strategy!',
1726 and `port-conversion-strategy'.
1728 ** String and SRFI-13 functions can operate on Unicode strings
1730 ** Unicode support for SRFI-14 character sets
1732 The default character sets are no longer locale dependent and contain
1733 characters from the whole Unicode range. There is a new predefined
1734 character set, `char-set:designated', which contains all assigned
1735 Unicode characters. There is a new debugging function, `%char-set-dump'.
1737 ** Character functions operate on Unicode characters
1739 `char-upcase' and `char-downcase' use default Unicode casing rules.
1740 Character comparisons such as `char<?' and `char-ci<?' now sort based on
1741 Unicode code points.
1743 ** Global variables `scm_charnames' and `scm_charnums' are removed
1745 These variables contained the names of control characters and were
1746 used when writing characters. While these were global, they were
1747 never intended to be public API. They have been replaced with private
1750 ** EBCDIC support is removed
1752 There was an EBCDIC compile flag that altered some of the character
1753 processing. It appeared that full EBCDIC support was never completed
1754 and was unmaintained.
1756 ** Compile-time warnings
1758 Guile can warn about potentially unbound free variables. Pass the
1759 -Wunbound-variable on the `guile-tools compile' command line, or add
1760 `#:warnings '(unbound-variable)' to your `compile' or `compile-file'
1761 invocation. Warnings are also enabled by default for expressions entered
1764 Guile can also warn when you pass the wrong number of arguments to a
1765 procedure, with -Warity-mismatch, or `arity-mismatch' in the
1766 `#:warnings' as above.
1768 Other warnings include `-Wunused-variable' and `-Wunused-toplevel', to
1769 warn about unused local or global (top-level) variables, and `-Wformat',
1770 to check for various errors related to the `format' procedure.
1772 ** A new `memoize-symbol' evaluator trap has been added.
1774 This trap can be used for efficiently implementing a Scheme code
1777 ** Duplicate bindings among used modules are resolved lazily.
1779 This slightly improves program startup times.
1781 ** New thread cancellation and thread cleanup API
1783 See `cancel-thread', `set-thread-cleanup!', and `thread-cleanup'.
1785 ** New threads are in `(guile-user)' by default, not `(guile)'
1787 It used to be that a new thread entering Guile would do so in the
1788 `(guile)' module, unless this was the first time Guile was initialized,
1789 in which case it was `(guile-user)'. This has been fixed to have all
1790 new threads unknown to Guile default to `(guile-user)'.
1792 ** New helpers: `print-exception', `set-exception-printer!'
1794 These functions implement an extensible exception printer. Guile
1795 registers printers for all of the exceptions it throws. Users may add
1796 their own printers. There is also `scm_print_exception', for use by C
1797 programs. Pleasantly, this allows SRFI-35 and R6RS exceptions to be
1798 printed appropriately.
1800 ** GOOPS dispatch in scheme
1802 As an implementation detail, GOOPS dispatch is no longer implemented by
1803 special evaluator bytecodes, but rather directly via a Scheme function
1804 associated with an applicable struct. There is some VM support for the
1805 underlying primitives, like `class-of'.
1807 This change will in the future allow users to customize generic function
1808 dispatch without incurring a performance penalty, and allow us to
1809 implement method combinations.
1811 ** Applicable struct support
1813 One may now make structs from Scheme that may be applied as procedures.
1814 To do so, make a struct whose vtable is `<applicable-struct-vtable>'.
1815 That struct will be the vtable of your applicable structs; instances of
1816 that new struct are assumed to have the procedure in their first slot.
1817 `<applicable-struct-vtable>' is like Common Lisp's
1818 `funcallable-standard-class'. Likewise there is
1819 `<applicable-struct-with-setter-vtable>', which looks for the setter in
1820 the second slot. This needs to be better documented.
1824 GOOPS had a number of concepts that were relevant to the days of Tcl,
1825 but not any more: operators and entities, mainly. These objects were
1826 never documented, and it is unlikely that they were ever used. Operators
1827 were a kind of generic specific to the Tcl support. Entities were
1828 replaced by applicable structs, mentioned above.
1830 ** New struct slot allocation: "hidden"
1832 A hidden slot is readable and writable, but will not be initialized by a
1833 call to make-struct. For example in your layout you would say "ph"
1834 instead of "pw". Hidden slots are useful for adding new slots to a
1835 vtable without breaking existing invocations to make-struct.
1837 ** eqv? not a generic
1839 One used to be able to extend `eqv?' as a primitive-generic, but no
1840 more. Because `eqv?' is in the expansion of `case' (via `memv'), which
1841 should be able to compile to static dispatch tables, it doesn't make
1842 sense to allow extensions that would subvert this optimization.
1844 ** `inet-ntop' and `inet-pton' are always available.
1846 Guile now use a portable implementation of `inet_pton'/`inet_ntop', so
1847 there is no more need to use `inet-aton'/`inet-ntoa'. The latter
1848 functions are deprecated.
1850 ** `getopt-long' parsing errors throw to `quit', not `misc-error'
1852 This change should inhibit backtraces on argument parsing errors.
1853 `getopt-long' has been modified to print out the error that it throws
1856 ** New primitive: `tmpfile'.
1858 See "File System" in the manual.
1860 ** Random generator state may be serialized to a datum
1862 `random-state->datum' will serialize a random state to a datum, which
1863 may be written out, read back in later, and revivified using
1864 `datum->random-state'. See "Random" in the manual, for more details.
1866 ** Fix random number generator on 64-bit platforms
1868 There was a nasty bug on 64-bit platforms in which asking for a random
1869 integer with a range between 2**32 and 2**64 caused a segfault. After
1870 many embarrassing iterations, this was fixed.
1872 ** Fast bit operations.
1874 The bit-twiddling operations `ash', `logand', `logior', and `logxor' now
1875 have dedicated bytecodes. Guile is not just for symbolic computation,
1876 it's for number crunching too.
1878 ** Faster SRFI-9 record access
1880 SRFI-9 records are now implemented directly on top of Guile's structs,
1881 and their accessors are defined in such a way that normal call-sites
1882 inline to special VM opcodes, while still allowing for the general case
1883 (e.g. passing a record accessor to `apply').
1885 ** R6RS block comment support
1887 Guile now supports R6RS nested block comments. The start of a comment is
1888 marked with `#|', and the end with `|#'.
1890 ** `guile-2' cond-expand feature
1892 To test if your code is running under Guile 2.0 (or its alpha releases),
1893 test for the `guile-2' cond-expand feature. Like this:
1895 (cond-expand (guile-2 (eval-when (compile)
1896 ;; This must be evaluated at compile time.
1897 (fluid-set! current-reader my-reader)))
1899 ;; Earlier versions of Guile do not have a
1900 ;; separate compilation phase.
1901 (fluid-set! current-reader my-reader)))
1903 ** New global variables: %load-compiled-path, %load-compiled-extensions
1905 These are analogous to %load-path and %load-extensions.
1907 ** New fluid: `%file-port-name-canonicalization'
1909 This fluid parameterizes the file names that are associated with file
1910 ports. If %file-port-name-canonicalization is 'absolute, then file names
1911 are canonicalized to be absolute paths. If it is 'relative, then the
1912 name is canonicalized, but any prefix corresponding to a member of
1913 `%load-path' is stripped off. Otherwise the names are passed through
1916 In addition, the `compile-file' and `compile-and-load' procedures bind
1917 %file-port-name-canonicalization to their `#:canonicalization' keyword
1918 argument, which defaults to 'relative. In this way, one might compile
1919 "../module/ice-9/boot-9.scm", but the path that gets residualized into
1920 the .go is "ice-9/boot-9.scm".
1922 ** New procedure, `make-promise'
1924 `(make-promise (lambda () foo))' is equivalent to `(delay foo)'.
1926 ** `defined?' may accept a module as its second argument
1928 Previously it only accepted internal structures from the evaluator.
1930 ** New entry into %guile-build-info: `ccachedir'
1932 ** Fix bug in `module-bound?'.
1934 `module-bound?' was returning true if a module did have a local
1935 variable, but one that was unbound, but another imported module bound
1936 the variable. This was an error, and was fixed.
1938 ** `(ice-9 syncase)' has been deprecated.
1940 As syntax-case is available by default, importing `(ice-9 syncase)' has
1941 no effect, and will trigger a deprecation warning.
1943 ** New readline history functions
1945 The (ice-9 readline) module now provides add-history, read-history,
1946 write-history and clear-history, which wrap the corresponding GNU
1947 History library functions.
1949 ** Removed deprecated uniform array procedures:
1950 dimensions->uniform-array, list->uniform-array, array-prototype
1952 Instead, use make-typed-array, list->typed-array, or array-type,
1955 ** Deprecate the old `scm-style-repl'
1957 The following bindings from boot-9 are now found in `(ice-9
1958 scm-style-repl)': `scm-style-repl', `error-catching-loop',
1959 `error-catching-repl', `bad-throw', `scm-repl-silent'
1960 `assert-repl-silence', `repl-print-unspecified',
1961 `assert-repl-print-unspecified', `scm-repl-verbose',
1962 `assert-repl-verbosity', `scm-repl-prompt', `set-repl-prompt!', `repl',
1963 `default-pre-unwind-handler', `handle-system-error',
1965 The following bindings have been deprecated, with no replacement:
1966 `pre-unwind-handler-dispatch'.
1968 The following bindings have been totally removed:
1969 `before-signal-stack'.
1971 Deprecated forwarding shims have been installed so that users that
1972 expect these bindings in the main namespace will still work, but receive
1973 a deprecation warning.
1975 ** `set-batch-mode?!' replaced by `ensure-batch-mode!'
1977 "Batch mode" is a flag used to tell a program that it is not running
1978 interactively. One usually turns it on after a fork. It may not be
1979 turned off. `ensure-batch-mode!' deprecates the old `set-batch-mode?!',
1980 because it is a better interface, as it can only turn on batch mode, not
1983 ** Deprecate `save-stack', `the-last-stack'
1985 It used to be that the way to debug programs in Guile was to capture the
1986 stack at the time of error, drop back to the REPL, then debug that
1987 stack. But this approach didn't compose, was tricky to get right in the
1988 presence of threads, and was not very powerful.
1990 So `save-stack', `stack-saved?', and `the-last-stack' have been moved to
1991 `(ice-9 save-stack)', with deprecated bindings left in the root module.
1993 ** `top-repl' has its own module
1995 The `top-repl' binding, called with Guile is run interactively, is now
1996 is its own module, `(ice-9 top-repl)'. A deprecated forwarding shim was
1997 left in the default environment.
1999 ** `display-error' takes a frame
2001 The `display-error' / `scm_display_error' helper now takes a frame as an
2002 argument instead of a stack. Stacks are still supported in deprecated
2003 builds. Additionally, `display-error' will again source location
2004 information for the error.
2006 ** No more `(ice-9 debug)'
2008 This module had some debugging helpers that are no longer applicable to
2009 the current debugging model. Importing this module will produce a
2010 deprecation warning. Users should contact bug-guile for support.
2012 ** Remove obsolete debug-options
2014 Removed `breakpoints', `trace', `procnames', `indent', `frames',
2015 `maxdepth', and `debug' debug-options.
2017 ** `backtrace' debug option on by default
2019 Given that Guile 2.0 can always give you a backtrace, backtraces are now
2022 ** `turn-on-debugging' deprecated
2024 ** Remove obsolete print-options
2026 The `source' and `closure-hook' print options are obsolete, and have
2029 ** Remove obsolete read-options
2031 The "elisp-strings" and "elisp-vectors" read options were unused and
2032 obsolete, so they have been removed.
2034 ** Remove eval-options and trap-options
2036 Eval-options and trap-options are obsolete with the new VM and
2039 ** Remove (ice-9 debugger) and (ice-9 debugging)
2041 See "Traps" and "Interactive Debugging" in the manual, for information
2042 on their replacements.
2044 ** Remove the GDS Emacs integration
2046 See "Using Guile in Emacs" in the manual, for info on how we think you
2047 should use Guile with Emacs.
2049 ** Deprecated: `lazy-catch'
2051 `lazy-catch' was a form that captured the stack at the point of a
2052 `throw', but the dynamic state at the point of the `catch'. It was a bit
2053 crazy. Please change to use `catch', possibly with a throw-handler, or
2054 `with-throw-handler'.
2056 ** Deprecated: primitive properties
2058 The `primitive-make-property', `primitive-property-set!',
2059 `primitive-property-ref', and `primitive-property-del!' procedures were
2060 crufty and only used to implement object properties, which has a new,
2061 threadsafe implementation. Use object properties or weak hash tables
2064 ** Deprecated `@bind' syntax
2066 `@bind' was part of an older implementation of the Emacs Lisp language,
2067 and is no longer used.
2069 ** Miscellaneous other deprecations
2071 `cuserid' has been deprecated, as it only returns 8 bytes of a user's
2072 login. Use `(passwd:name (getpwuid (geteuid)))' instead.
2074 Additionally, the procedures `apply-to-args', `has-suffix?', `scheme-file-suffix'
2075 `get-option', `for-next-option', `display-usage-report',
2076 `transform-usage-lambda', `collect', and `set-batch-mode?!' have all
2079 ** Add support for unbound fluids
2081 See `make-unbound-fluid', `fluid-unset!', and `fluid-bound?' in the
2084 ** Add `variable-unset!'
2086 See "Variables" in the manual, for more details.
2088 ** Last but not least, the `λ' macro can be used in lieu of `lambda'
2090 * Changes to the C interface
2092 ** Guile now uses libgc, the Boehm-Demers-Weiser garbage collector
2094 The semantics of `scm_gc_malloc ()' have been changed, in a
2095 backward-compatible way. A new allocation routine,
2096 `scm_gc_malloc_pointerless ()', was added.
2098 Libgc is a conservative GC, which we hope will make interaction with C
2099 code easier and less error-prone.
2101 ** New procedures: `scm_to_stringn', `scm_from_stringn'
2102 ** New procedures: scm_{to,from}_{utf8,latin1}_symbol{n,}
2103 ** New procedures: scm_{to,from}_{utf8,utf32,latin1}_string{n,}
2105 These new procedures convert to and from string representations in
2106 particular encodings.
2108 Users should continue to use locale encoding for user input, user
2109 output, or interacting with the C library.
2111 Use the Latin-1 functions for ASCII, and for literals in source code.
2113 Use UTF-8 functions for interaction with modern libraries which deal in
2114 UTF-8, and UTF-32 for interaction with utf32-using libraries.
2116 Otherwise, use scm_to_stringn or scm_from_stringn with a specific
2119 ** New type definitions for `scm_t_intptr' and friends.
2121 `SCM_T_UINTPTR_MAX', `SCM_T_INTPTR_MIN', `SCM_T_INTPTR_MAX',
2122 `SIZEOF_SCM_T_BITS', `scm_t_intptr' and `scm_t_uintptr' are now
2123 available to C. Have fun!
2125 ** The GH interface (deprecated in version 1.6, 2001) was removed.
2127 ** Internal `scm_i_' functions now have "hidden" linkage with GCC/ELF
2129 This makes these internal functions technically not callable from
2132 ** Functions for handling `scm_option' now no longer require an argument
2133 indicating length of the `scm_t_option' array.
2135 ** Procedures-with-setters are now implemented using applicable structs
2137 From a user's perspective this doesn't mean very much. But if, for some
2138 odd reason, you used the SCM_PROCEDURE_WITH_SETTER_P, SCM_PROCEDURE, or
2139 SCM_SETTER macros, know that they're deprecated now. Also, scm_tc7_pws
2142 ** Remove old evaluator closures
2144 There used to be ranges of typecodes allocated to interpreted data
2145 structures, but that it no longer the case, given that interpreted
2146 procedure are now just regular VM closures. As a result, there is a
2147 newly free tc3, and a number of removed macros. See the ChangeLog for
2150 ** Primitive procedures are now VM trampoline procedures
2152 It used to be that there were something like 12 different typecodes
2153 allocated to primitive procedures, each with its own calling convention.
2154 Now there is only one, the gsubr. This may affect user code if you were
2155 defining a procedure using scm_c_make_subr rather scm_c_make_gsubr. The
2156 solution is to switch to use scm_c_make_gsubr. This solution works well
2157 both with the old 1.8 and and with the current 1.9 branch.
2159 Guile's old evaluator used to have special cases for applying "gsubrs",
2160 primitive procedures with specified numbers of required, optional, and
2161 rest arguments. Now, however, Guile represents gsubrs as normal VM
2162 procedures, with appropriate bytecode to parse out the correct number of
2163 arguments, including optional and rest arguments, and then with a
2164 special bytecode to apply the gsubr.
2166 This allows primitive procedures to appear on the VM stack, allowing
2167 them to be accurately counted in profiles. Also they now have more
2168 debugging information attached to them -- their number of arguments, for
2169 example. In addition, the VM can completely inline the application
2170 mechanics, allowing for faster primitive calls.
2172 However there are some changes on the C level. There is no more
2173 `scm_tc7_gsubr' or `scm_tcs_subrs' typecode for primitive procedures, as
2174 they are just VM procedures. Likewise the macros `SCM_GSUBR_TYPE',
2175 `SCM_GSUBR_MAKTYPE', `SCM_GSUBR_REQ', `SCM_GSUBR_OPT', and
2176 `SCM_GSUBR_REST' are gone, as are `SCM_SUBR_META_INFO', `SCM_SUBR_PROPS'
2177 `SCM_SET_SUBR_GENERIC_LOC', and `SCM_SUBR_ARITY_TO_TYPE'.
2179 Perhaps more significantly, `scm_c_make_subr',
2180 `scm_c_make_subr_with_generic', `scm_c_define_subr', and
2181 `scm_c_define_subr_with_generic'. They all operated on subr typecodes,
2182 and there are no more subr typecodes. Use the scm_c_make_gsubr family
2185 Normal users of gsubrs should not be affected, though, as the
2186 scm_c_make_gsubr family still is the correct way to create primitive
2189 ** Remove deprecated array C interfaces
2191 Removed the deprecated array functions `scm_i_arrayp',
2192 `scm_i_array_ndim', `scm_i_array_mem', `scm_i_array_v',
2193 `scm_i_array_base', `scm_i_array_dims', and the deprecated macros
2194 `SCM_ARRAYP', `SCM_ARRAY_NDIM', `SCM_ARRAY_CONTP', `SCM_ARRAY_MEM',
2195 `SCM_ARRAY_V', `SCM_ARRAY_BASE', and `SCM_ARRAY_DIMS'.
2197 ** Remove unused snarf macros
2199 `SCM_DEFINE1', `SCM_PRIMITIVE_GENERIC_1', `SCM_PROC1, and `SCM_GPROC1'
2200 are no more. Use SCM_DEFINE or SCM_PRIMITIVE_GENERIC instead.
2202 ** New functions: `scm_call_n', `scm_c_run_hookn'
2204 `scm_call_n' applies to apply a function to an array of arguments.
2205 `scm_c_run_hookn' runs a hook with an array of arguments.
2207 ** Some SMOB types changed to have static typecodes
2209 Fluids, dynamic states, and hash tables used to be SMOB objects, but now
2210 they have statically allocated tc7 typecodes.
2212 ** Preparations for changing SMOB representation
2214 If things go right, we'll be changing the SMOB representation soon. To
2215 that end, we did a lot of cleanups to calls to e.g. SCM_CELL_WORD_2(x) when
2216 the code meant SCM_SMOB_DATA_2(x); user code will need similar changes
2217 in the future. Code accessing SMOBs using SCM_CELL macros was never
2218 correct, but until now things still worked. Users should be aware of
2221 ** Changed invocation mechanics of applicable SMOBs
2223 Guile's old evaluator used to have special cases for applying SMOB
2224 objects. Now, with the VM, when Guile sees a SMOB, it looks up a VM
2225 trampoline procedure for it, and use the normal mechanics to apply the
2226 trampoline. This simplifies procedure application in the normal,
2229 The upshot is that the mechanics used to apply a SMOB are different from
2230 1.8. Descriptors no longer have `apply_0', `apply_1', `apply_2', and
2231 `apply_3' functions, and the macros SCM_SMOB_APPLY_0 and friends are now
2232 deprecated. Just use the scm_call_0 family of procedures.
2234 ** Removed support shlibs for SRFIs 1, 4, 13, 14, and 60
2236 Though these SRFI support libraries did expose API, they encoded a
2237 strange version string into their library names. That version was never
2238 programmatically exported, so there was no way people could use the
2241 This was a fortunate oversight, as it allows us to remove the need for
2242 extra, needless shared libraries --- the C support code for SRFIs 4, 13,
2243 and 14 was already in core --- and allow us to incrementally return the
2244 SRFI implementation to Scheme.
2246 ** New C function: scm_module_public_interface
2248 This procedure corresponds to Scheme's `module-public-interface'.
2250 ** Undeprecate `scm_the_root_module ()'
2252 It's useful to be able to get the root module from C without doing a
2255 ** Inline vector allocation
2257 Instead of having vectors point out into the heap for their data, their
2258 data is now allocated inline to the vector object itself. The same is
2259 true for bytevectors, by default, though there is an indirection
2260 available which should allow for making a bytevector from an existing
2263 ** New struct constructors that don't involve making lists
2265 `scm_c_make_struct' and `scm_c_make_structv' are new varargs and array
2266 constructors, respectively, for structs. You might find them useful.
2270 In Guile 1.8, there were debugging frames on the C stack. Now there is
2271 no more need to explicitly mark the stack in this way, because Guile has
2272 a VM stack that it knows how to walk, which simplifies the C API
2273 considerably. See the ChangeLog for details; the relevant interface is
2274 in libguile/stacks.h. The Scheme API has not been changed significantly.
2276 ** Removal of Guile's primitive object system.
2278 There were a number of pieces in `objects.[ch]' that tried to be a
2279 minimal object system, but were never documented, and were quickly
2280 obseleted by GOOPS' merge into Guile proper. So `scm_make_class_object',
2281 `scm_make_subclass_object', `scm_metaclass_standard', and like symbols
2282 from objects.h are no more. In the very unlikely case in which these
2283 were useful to you, we urge you to contact guile-devel.
2287 Actually the future is still in the state that it was, is, and ever
2288 shall be, Amen, except that `futures.c' and `futures.h' are no longer a
2289 part of it. These files were experimental, never compiled, and would be
2290 better implemented in Scheme anyway. In the future, that is.
2292 ** Deprecate trampolines
2294 There used to be C functions `scm_trampoline_0', `scm_trampoline_1', and
2295 so on. The point was to do some precomputation on the type of the
2296 procedure, then return a specialized "call" procedure. However this
2297 optimization wasn't actually an optimization, so it is now deprecated.
2298 Just use `scm_call_0', etc instead.
2300 ** Deprecated `scm_badargsp'
2302 This function is unused in Guile, but was part of its API.
2304 ** Better support for Lisp `nil'.
2306 The bit representation of `nil' has been tweaked so that it is now very
2307 efficient to check e.g. if a value is equal to Scheme's end-of-list or
2308 Lisp's nil. Additionally there are a heap of new, specific predicates
2309 like scm_is_null_or_nil.
2311 ** Better integration of Lisp `nil'.
2313 `scm_is_boolean', `scm_is_false', and `scm_is_null' all return true now
2314 for Lisp's `nil'. This shouldn't affect any Scheme code at this point,
2315 but when we start to integrate more with Emacs, it is possible that we
2316 break code that assumes that, for example, `(not x)' implies that `x' is
2317 `eq?' to `#f'. This is not a common assumption. Refactoring affected
2318 code to rely on properties instead of identities will improve code
2319 correctness. See "Nil" in the manual, for more details.
2321 ** Support for static allocation of strings, symbols, and subrs.
2323 Calls to snarfing CPP macros like SCM_DEFINE macro will now allocate
2324 much of their associated data as static variables, reducing Guile's
2327 ** `scm_stat' has an additional argument, `exception_on_error'
2328 ** `scm_primitive_load_path' has an additional argument `exception_on_not_found'
2330 ** `scm_set_port_seek' and `scm_set_port_truncate' use the `scm_t_off' type
2332 Previously they would use the `off_t' type, which is fragile since its
2333 definition depends on the application's value for `_FILE_OFFSET_BITS'.
2335 ** The `long_long' C type, deprecated in 1.8, has been removed
2337 ** Removed deprecated uniform array procedures: scm_make_uve,
2338 scm_array_prototype, scm_list_to_uniform_array,
2339 scm_dimensions_to_uniform_array, scm_make_ra, scm_shap2ra, scm_cvref,
2340 scm_ra_set_contp, scm_aind, scm_raprin1
2342 These functions have been deprecated since early 2005.
2344 * Changes to the distribution
2346 ** Guile's license is now LGPLv3+
2348 In other words the GNU Lesser General Public License, version 3 or
2349 later (at the discretion of each person that chooses to redistribute
2354 Guile's build is visually quieter, due to the use of Automake 1.11's
2355 AM_SILENT_RULES. Build as `make V=1' to see all of the output.
2357 ** GOOPS documentation folded into Guile reference manual
2359 GOOPS, Guile's object system, used to be documented in separate manuals.
2360 This content is now included in Guile's manual directly.
2362 ** `guile-config' will be deprecated in favor of `pkg-config'
2364 `guile-config' has been rewritten to get its information from
2365 `pkg-config', so this should be a transparent change. Note however that
2366 guile.m4 has yet to be modified to call pkg-config instead of
2369 ** Guile now provides `guile-2.0.pc' instead of `guile-1.8.pc'
2371 Programs that use `pkg-config' to find Guile or one of its Autoconf
2372 macros should now require `guile-2.0' instead of `guile-1.8'.
2374 ** New installation directory: $(pkglibdir)/1.9/ccache
2376 If $(libdir) is /usr/lib, for example, Guile will install its .go files
2377 to /usr/lib/guile/1.9/ccache. These files are architecture-specific.
2379 ** Parallel installability fixes
2381 Guile now installs its header files to a effective-version-specific
2382 directory, and includes the effective version (e.g. 2.0) in the library
2383 name (e.g. libguile-2.0.so).
2385 This change should be transparent to users, who should detect Guile via
2386 the guile.m4 macro, or the guile-2.0.pc pkg-config file. It will allow
2387 parallel installs for multiple versions of Guile development
2390 ** Dynamically loadable extensions may be placed in a Guile-specific path
2392 Before, Guile only searched the system library paths for extensions
2393 (e.g. /usr/lib), which meant that the names of Guile extensions had to
2394 be globally unique. Installing them to a Guile-specific extensions
2395 directory is cleaner. Use `pkg-config --variable=extensiondir
2396 guile-2.0' to get the location of the extensions directory.
2398 ** User Scheme code may be placed in a version-specific path
2400 Before, there was only one way to install user Scheme code to a
2401 version-specific Guile directory: install to Guile's own path,
2402 e.g. /usr/share/guile/2.0. The site directory,
2403 e.g. /usr/share/guile/site, was unversioned. This has been changed to
2404 add a version-specific site directory, e.g. /usr/share/guile/site/2.0,
2405 searched before the global site directory.
2407 ** New dependency: libgc
2409 See http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc/, for more information.
2411 ** New dependency: GNU libunistring
2413 See http://www.gnu.org/software/libunistring/, for more information. Our
2414 Unicode support uses routines from libunistring.
2416 ** New dependency: libffi
2418 See http://sourceware.org/libffi/, for more information.
2422 Changes in 1.8.8 (since 1.8.7)
2426 ** Fix possible buffer overruns when parsing numbers
2427 ** Avoid clash with system setjmp/longjmp on IA64
2428 ** Fix `wrong type arg' exceptions with IPv6 addresses
2431 Changes in 1.8.7 (since 1.8.6)
2433 * New modules (see the manual for details)
2435 ** `(srfi srfi-98)', an interface to access environment variables
2439 ** Fix compilation with `--disable-deprecated'
2440 ** Fix %fast-slot-ref/set!, to avoid possible segmentation fault
2441 ** Fix MinGW build problem caused by HAVE_STRUCT_TIMESPEC confusion
2442 ** Fix build problem when scm_t_timespec is different from struct timespec
2443 ** Fix build when compiled with -Wundef -Werror
2444 ** More build fixes for `alphaev56-dec-osf5.1b' (Tru64)
2445 ** Build fixes for `powerpc-ibm-aix5.3.0.0' (AIX 5.3)
2446 ** With GCC, always compile with `-mieee' on `alpha*' and `sh*'
2447 ** Better diagnose broken `(strftime "%z" ...)' in `time.test' (bug #24130)
2448 ** Fix parsing of SRFI-88/postfix keywords longer than 128 characters
2449 ** Fix reading of complex numbers where both parts are inexact decimals
2451 ** Allow @ macro to work with (ice-9 syncase)
2453 Previously, use of the @ macro in a module whose code is being
2454 transformed by (ice-9 syncase) would cause an "Invalid syntax" error.
2455 Now it works as you would expect (giving the value of the specified
2458 ** Have `scm_take_locale_symbol ()' return an interned symbol (bug #25865)
2461 Changes in 1.8.6 (since 1.8.5)
2463 * New features (see the manual for details)
2465 ** New convenience function `scm_c_symbol_length ()'
2467 ** Single stepping through code from Emacs
2469 When you use GDS to evaluate Scheme code from Emacs, you can now use
2470 `C-u' to indicate that you want to single step through that code. See
2471 `Evaluating Scheme Code' in the manual for more details.
2473 ** New "guile(1)" man page!
2475 * Changes to the distribution
2477 ** Automake's `AM_MAINTAINER_MODE' is no longer used
2479 Thus, the `--enable-maintainer-mode' configure option is no longer
2480 available: Guile is now always configured in "maintainer mode".
2482 ** `ChangeLog' files are no longer updated
2484 Instead, changes are detailed in the version control system's logs. See
2485 the top-level `ChangeLog' files for details.
2490 ** `symbol->string' now returns a read-only string, as per R5RS
2491 ** Fix incorrect handling of the FLAGS argument of `fold-matches'
2492 ** `guile-config link' now prints `-L$libdir' before `-lguile'
2493 ** Fix memory corruption involving GOOPS' `class-redefinition'
2494 ** Fix possible deadlock in `mutex-lock'
2495 ** Fix build issue on Tru64 and ia64-hp-hpux11.23 (`SCM_UNPACK' macro)
2496 ** Fix build issue on mips, mipsel, powerpc and ia64 (stack direction)
2497 ** Fix build issue on hppa2.0w-hp-hpux11.11 (`dirent64' and `readdir64_r')
2498 ** Fix build issue on i386-unknown-freebsd7.0 ("break strict-aliasing rules")
2499 ** Fix misleading output from `(help rationalize)'
2500 ** Fix build failure on Debian hppa architecture (bad stack growth detection)
2501 ** Fix `gcd' when called with a single, negative argument.
2502 ** Fix `Stack overflow' errors seen when building on some platforms
2503 ** Fix bug when `scm_with_guile ()' was called several times from the
2505 ** The handler of SRFI-34 `with-exception-handler' is now invoked in the
2506 dynamic environment of the call to `raise'
2507 ** Fix potential deadlock in `make-struct'
2508 ** Fix compilation problem with libltdl from Libtool 2.2.x
2509 ** Fix sloppy bound checking in `string-{ref,set!}' with the empty string
2512 Changes in 1.8.5 (since 1.8.4)
2514 * Infrastructure changes
2516 ** Guile repository switched from CVS to Git
2518 The new repository can be accessed using
2519 "git-clone git://git.sv.gnu.org/guile.git", or can be browsed on-line at
2520 http://git.sv.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=guile.git . See `README' for details.
2522 ** Add support for `pkg-config'
2524 See "Autoconf Support" in the manual for details.
2526 * New modules (see the manual for details)
2530 * New features (see the manual for details)
2532 ** New `postfix' read option, for SRFI-88 keyword syntax
2533 ** Some I/O primitives have been inlined, which improves I/O performance
2534 ** New object-based traps infrastructure
2536 This is a GOOPS-based infrastructure that builds on Guile's low-level
2537 evaluator trap calls and facilitates the development of debugging
2538 features like single-stepping, breakpoints, tracing and profiling.
2539 See the `Traps' node of the manual for details.
2541 ** New support for working on Guile code from within Emacs
2543 Guile now incorporates the `GDS' library (previously distributed
2544 separately) for working on Guile code from within Emacs. See the
2545 `Using Guile In Emacs' node of the manual for details.
2549 ** `scm_add_slot ()' no longer segfaults (fixes bug #22369)
2550 ** Fixed `(ice-9 match)' for patterns like `((_ ...) ...)'
2552 Previously, expressions like `(match '((foo) (bar)) (((_ ...) ...) #t))'
2553 would trigger an unbound variable error for `match:andmap'.
2555 ** `(oop goops describe)' now properly provides the `describe' feature
2556 ** Fixed `args-fold' from `(srfi srfi-37)'
2558 Previously, parsing short option names of argument-less options would
2559 lead to a stack overflow.
2561 ** `(srfi srfi-35)' is now visible through `cond-expand'
2562 ** Fixed type-checking for the second argument of `eval'
2563 ** Fixed type-checking for SRFI-1 `partition'
2564 ** Fixed `struct-ref' and `struct-set!' on "light structs"
2565 ** Honor struct field access rights in GOOPS
2566 ** Changed the storage strategy of source properties, which fixes a deadlock
2567 ** Allow compilation of Guile-using programs in C99 mode with GCC 4.3 and later
2568 ** Fixed build issue for GNU/Linux on IA64
2569 ** Fixed build issues on NetBSD 1.6
2570 ** Fixed build issue on Solaris 2.10 x86_64
2571 ** Fixed build issue with DEC/Compaq/HP's compiler
2572 ** Fixed `scm_from_complex_double' build issue on FreeBSD
2573 ** Fixed `alloca' build issue on FreeBSD 6
2574 ** Removed use of non-portable makefile constructs
2575 ** Fixed shadowing of libc's <random.h> on Tru64, which broke compilation
2576 ** Make sure all tests honor `$TMPDIR'
2579 Changes in 1.8.4 (since 1.8.3)
2583 ** CR (ASCII 0x0d) is (again) recognized as a token delimiter by the reader
2584 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when displaying the
2585 backtrace of a stack with a promise object (made by `delay') in it.
2586 ** Make `accept' leave guile mode while blocking
2587 ** `scm_c_read ()' and `scm_c_write ()' now type-check their port argument
2588 ** Fixed a build problem on AIX (use of func_data identifier)
2589 ** Fixed a segmentation fault which occurred when hashx-ref or hashx-set! was
2590 called with an associator proc that returns neither a pair nor #f.
2591 ** Secondary threads now always return a valid module for (current-module).
2592 ** Avoid MacOS build problems caused by incorrect combination of "64"
2593 system and library calls.
2594 ** `guile-snarf' now honors `$TMPDIR'
2595 ** `guile-config compile' now reports CPPFLAGS used at compile-time
2596 ** Fixed build with Sun Studio (Solaris 9)
2597 ** Fixed wrong-type-arg errors when creating zero length SRFI-4
2598 uniform vectors on AIX.
2599 ** Fixed a deadlock that occurs upon GC with multiple threads.
2600 ** Fixed compile problem with GCC on Solaris and AIX (use of _Complex_I)
2601 ** Fixed autotool-derived build problems on AIX 6.1.
2602 ** Fixed NetBSD/alpha support
2603 ** Fixed MacOS build problem caused by use of rl_get_keymap(_name)
2605 * New modules (see the manual for details)
2609 * Documentation fixes and improvements
2611 ** Removed premature breakpoint documentation
2613 The features described are not available in the series of 1.8.x
2614 releases, so the documentation was misleading and has been removed.
2616 ** More about Guile's default *random-state* variable
2618 ** GOOPS: more about how to use `next-method'
2620 * Changes to the distribution
2622 ** Corrected a few files that referred incorrectly to the old GPL + special exception licence
2624 In fact Guile since 1.8.0 has been licensed with the GNU Lesser
2625 General Public License, and the few incorrect files have now been
2626 fixed to agree with the rest of the Guile distribution.
2628 ** Removed unnecessary extra copies of COPYING*
2630 The distribution now contains a single COPYING.LESSER at its top level.
2633 Changes in 1.8.3 (since 1.8.2)
2635 * New modules (see the manual for details)
2642 ** The `(ice-9 slib)' module now works as expected
2643 ** Expressions like "(set! 'x #t)" no longer yield a crash
2644 ** Warnings about duplicate bindings now go to stderr
2645 ** A memory leak in `make-socket-address' was fixed
2646 ** Alignment issues (e.g., on SPARC) in network routines were fixed
2647 ** A threading issue that showed up at least on NetBSD was fixed
2648 ** Build problems on Solaris and IRIX fixed
2650 * Implementation improvements
2652 ** The reader is now faster, which reduces startup time
2653 ** Procedures returned by `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' are faster
2656 Changes in 1.8.2 (since 1.8.1):
2658 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
2660 ** set-program-arguments
2663 * Incompatible changes
2665 ** The body of a top-level `define' no longer sees the binding being created
2667 In a top-level `define', the binding being created is no longer visible
2668 from the `define' body. This breaks code like
2669 "(define foo (begin (set! foo 1) (+ foo 1)))", where `foo' is now
2670 unbound in the body. However, such code was not R5RS-compliant anyway,
2675 ** Fractions were not `equal?' if stored in unreduced form.
2676 (A subtle problem, since printing a value reduced it, making it work.)
2677 ** srfi-60 `copy-bit' failed on 64-bit systems
2678 ** "guile --use-srfi" option at the REPL can replace core functions
2679 (Programs run with that option were ok, but in the interactive REPL
2680 the core bindings got priority, preventing SRFI replacements or
2682 ** `regexp-exec' doesn't abort() on #\nul in the input or bad flags arg
2683 ** `kill' on mingw throws an error for a PID other than oneself
2684 ** Procedure names are attached to procedure-with-setters
2685 ** Array read syntax works with negative lower bound
2686 ** `array-in-bounds?' fix if an array has different lower bounds on each index
2687 ** `*' returns exact 0 for "(* inexact 0)"
2688 This follows what it always did for "(* 0 inexact)".
2689 ** SRFI-19: Value returned by `(current-time time-process)' was incorrect
2690 ** SRFI-19: `date->julian-day' did not account for timezone offset
2691 ** `ttyname' no longer crashes when passed a non-tty argument
2692 ** `inet-ntop' no longer crashes on SPARC when passed an `AF_INET' address
2693 ** Small memory leaks have been fixed in `make-fluid' and `add-history'
2694 ** GOOPS: Fixed a bug in `method-more-specific?'
2695 ** Build problems on Solaris fixed
2696 ** Build problems on HP-UX IA64 fixed
2697 ** Build problems on MinGW fixed
2700 Changes in 1.8.1 (since 1.8.0):
2702 * LFS functions are now used to access 64-bit files on 32-bit systems.
2704 * New procedures (see the manual for details)
2706 ** primitive-_exit - [Scheme] the-root-module
2707 ** scm_primitive__exit - [C]
2708 ** make-completion-function - [Scheme] (ice-9 readline)
2709 ** scm_c_locale_stringn_to_number - [C]
2710 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse [C]
2711 ** scm_srfi1_append_reverse_x [C]
2719 ** Build problems have been fixed on MacOS, SunOS, and QNX.
2721 ** `strftime' fix sign of %z timezone offset.
2723 ** A one-dimensional array can now be 'equal?' to a vector.
2725 ** Structures, records, and SRFI-9 records can now be compared with `equal?'.
2727 ** SRFI-14 standard char sets are recomputed upon a successful `setlocale'.
2729 ** `record-accessor' and `record-modifier' now have strict type checks.
2731 Record accessor and modifier procedures now throw an error if the
2732 record type of the record they're given is not the type expected.
2733 (Previously accessors returned #f and modifiers silently did nothing).
2735 ** It is now OK to use both autoload and use-modules on a given module.
2737 ** `apply' checks the number of arguments more carefully on "0 or 1" funcs.
2739 Previously there was no checking on primatives like make-vector that
2740 accept "one or two" arguments. Now there is.
2742 ** The srfi-1 assoc function now calls its equality predicate properly.
2744 Previously srfi-1 assoc would call the equality predicate with the key
2745 last. According to the SRFI, the key should be first.
2747 ** A bug in n-par-for-each and n-for-each-par-map has been fixed.
2749 ** The array-set! procedure no longer segfaults when given a bit vector.
2751 ** Bugs in make-shared-array have been fixed.
2753 ** string<? and friends now follow char<? etc order on 8-bit chars.
2755 ** The format procedure now handles inf and nan values for ~f correctly.
2757 ** exact->inexact should no longer overflow when given certain large fractions.
2759 ** srfi-9 accessor and modifier procedures now have strict record type checks.
2761 This matches the srfi-9 specification.
2763 ** (ice-9 ftw) procedures won't ignore different files with same inode number.
2765 Previously the (ice-9 ftw) procedures would ignore any file that had
2766 the same inode number as a file they had already seen, even if that
2767 file was on a different device.
2770 Changes in 1.8.0 (changes since the 1.6.x series):
2772 * Changes to the distribution
2774 ** Guile is now licensed with the GNU Lesser General Public License.
2776 ** The manual is now licensed with the GNU Free Documentation License.
2778 ** Guile now requires GNU MP (http://swox.com/gmp).
2780 Guile now uses the GNU MP library for arbitrary precision arithmetic.
2782 ** Guile now has separate private and public configuration headers.
2784 That is, things like HAVE_STRING_H no longer leak from Guile's
2787 ** Guile now provides and uses an "effective" version number.
2789 Guile now provides scm_effective_version and effective-version
2790 functions which return the "effective" version number. This is just
2791 the normal full version string without the final micro-version number,
2792 so the current effective-version is "1.8". The effective version
2793 should remain unchanged during a stable series, and should be used for
2794 items like the versioned share directory name
2795 i.e. /usr/share/guile/1.8.
2797 Providing an unchanging version number during a stable release for
2798 things like the versioned share directory can be particularly
2799 important for Guile "add-on" packages, since it provides a directory
2800 that they can install to that won't be changed out from under them
2801 with each micro release during a stable series.
2803 ** Thread implementation has changed.
2805 When you configure "--with-threads=null", you will get the usual
2806 threading API (call-with-new-thread, make-mutex, etc), but you can't
2807 actually create new threads. Also, "--with-threads=no" is now
2808 equivalent to "--with-threads=null". This means that the thread API
2809 is always present, although you might not be able to create new
2812 When you configure "--with-threads=pthreads" or "--with-threads=yes",
2813 you will get threads that are implemented with the portable POSIX
2814 threads. These threads can run concurrently (unlike the previous
2815 "coop" thread implementation), but need to cooperate for things like
2818 The default is "pthreads", unless your platform doesn't have pthreads,
2819 in which case "null" threads are used.
2821 See the manual for details, nodes "Initialization", "Multi-Threading",
2822 "Blocking", and others.
2824 ** There is the new notion of 'discouraged' features.
2826 This is a milder form of deprecation.
2828 Things that are discouraged should not be used in new code, but it is
2829 OK to leave them in old code for now. When a discouraged feature is
2830 used, no warning message is printed like there is for 'deprecated'
2831 features. Also, things that are merely discouraged are nevertheless
2832 implemented efficiently, while deprecated features can be very slow.
2834 You can omit discouraged features from libguile by configuring it with
2835 the '--disable-discouraged' option.
2837 ** Deprecation warnings can be controlled at run-time.
2839 (debug-enable 'warn-deprecated) switches them on and (debug-disable
2840 'warn-deprecated) switches them off.
2842 ** Support for SRFI 61, extended cond syntax for multiple values has
2845 This SRFI is always available.
2847 ** Support for require-extension, SRFI-55, has been added.
2849 The SRFI-55 special form `require-extension' has been added. It is
2850 available at startup, and provides a portable way to load Scheme
2851 extensions. SRFI-55 only requires support for one type of extension,
2852 "srfi"; so a set of SRFIs may be loaded via (require-extension (srfi 1
2855 ** New module (srfi srfi-26) provides support for `cut' and `cute'.
2857 The (srfi srfi-26) module is an implementation of SRFI-26 which
2858 provides the `cut' and `cute' syntax. These may be used to specialize
2859 parameters without currying.
2861 ** New module (srfi srfi-31)
2863 This is an implementation of SRFI-31 which provides a special form
2864 `rec' for recursive evaluation.
2866 ** The modules (srfi srfi-13), (srfi srfi-14) and (srfi srfi-4) have
2867 been merged with the core, making their functionality always
2870 The modules are still available, tho, and you could use them together
2871 with a renaming import, for example.
2873 ** Guile no longer includes its own version of libltdl.
2875 The official version is good enough now.
2877 ** The --enable-htmldoc option has been removed from 'configure'.
2879 Support for translating the documentation into HTML is now always
2880 provided. Use 'make html'.
2882 ** New module (ice-9 serialize):
2884 (serialize FORM1 ...) and (parallelize FORM1 ...) are useful when you
2885 don't trust the thread safety of most of your program, but where you
2886 have some section(s) of code which you consider can run in parallel to
2887 other sections. See ice-9/serialize.scm for more information.
2889 ** The configure option '--disable-arrays' has been removed.
2891 Support for arrays and uniform numeric arrays is now always included
2894 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
2896 ** New command line option `-L'.
2898 This option adds a directory to the front of the load path.
2900 ** New command line option `--no-debug'.
2902 Specifying `--no-debug' on the command line will keep the debugging
2903 evaluator turned off, even for interactive sessions.
2905 ** User-init file ~/.guile is now loaded with the debugging evaluator.
2907 Previously, the normal evaluator would have been used. Using the
2908 debugging evaluator gives better error messages.
2910 ** The '-e' option now 'read's its argument.
2912 This is to allow the new '(@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)' construct to
2913 be used with '-e'. For example, you can now write a script like
2916 exec guile -e '(@ (demo) main)' -s "$0" "$@"
2919 (define-module (demo)
2923 (format #t "Demo: ~a~%" args))
2926 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
2928 ** Guardians have changed back to their original semantics
2930 Guardians now behave like described in the paper by Dybvig et al. In
2931 particular, they no longer make guarantees about the order in which
2932 they return objects, and they can no longer be greedy.
2934 They no longer drop cyclic data structures.
2936 The C function scm_make_guardian has been changed incompatibly and no
2937 longer takes the 'greedy_p' argument.
2939 ** New function hashx-remove!
2941 This function completes the set of 'hashx' functions.
2943 ** The concept of dynamic roots has been factored into continuation
2944 barriers and dynamic states.
2946 Each thread has a current dynamic state that carries the values of the
2947 fluids. You can create and copy dynamic states and use them as the
2948 second argument for 'eval'. See "Fluids and Dynamic States" in the
2951 To restrict the influence that captured continuations can have on the
2952 control flow, you can errect continuation barriers. See "Continuation
2953 Barriers" in the manual.
2955 The function call-with-dynamic-root now essentially temporarily
2956 installs a new dynamic state and errects a continuation barrier.
2958 ** The default load path no longer includes "." at the end.
2960 Automatically loading modules from the current directory should not
2961 happen by default. If you want to allow it in a more controlled
2962 manner, set the environment variable GUILE_LOAD_PATH or the Scheme
2963 variable %load-path.
2965 ** The uniform vector and array support has been overhauled.
2967 It now complies with SRFI-4 and the weird prototype based uniform
2968 array creation has been deprecated. See the manual for more details.
2970 Some non-compatible changes have been made:
2971 - characters can no longer be stored into byte arrays.
2972 - strings and bit vectors are no longer considered to be uniform numeric
2974 - array-rank throws an error for non-arrays instead of returning zero.
2975 - array-ref does no longer accept non-arrays when no indices are given.
2977 There is the new notion of 'generalized vectors' and corresponding
2978 procedures like 'generalized-vector-ref'. Generalized vectors include
2979 strings, bitvectors, ordinary vectors, and uniform numeric vectors.
2981 Arrays use generalized vectors as their storage, so that you still
2982 have arrays of characters, bits, etc. However, uniform-array-read!
2983 and uniform-array-write can no longer read/write strings and
2986 ** There is now support for copy-on-write substrings, mutation-sharing
2987 substrings and read-only strings.
2989 Three new procedures are related to this: substring/shared,
2990 substring/copy, and substring/read-only. See the manual for more
2993 ** Backtraces will now highlight the value that caused the error.
2995 By default, these values are enclosed in "{...}", such as in this
3004 <unnamed port>:1:1: In procedure car in expression (car (quote a)):
3005 <unnamed port>:1:1: Wrong type (expecting pair): a
3006 ABORT: (wrong-type-arg)
3008 The prefix and suffix used for highlighting can be set via the two new
3009 printer options 'highlight-prefix' and 'highlight-suffix'. For
3010 example, putting this into ~/.guile will output the bad value in bold
3011 on an ANSI terminal:
3013 (print-set! highlight-prefix "\x1b[1m")
3014 (print-set! highlight-suffix "\x1b[22m")
3017 ** 'gettext' support for internationalization has been added.
3019 See the manual for details.
3021 ** New syntax '@' and '@@':
3023 You can now directly refer to variables exported from a module by
3026 (@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME)
3028 For example (@ (ice-9 pretty-print) pretty-print) will directly access
3029 the pretty-print variable exported from the (ice-9 pretty-print)
3030 module. You don't need to 'use' that module first. You can also use
3031 '@' as a target of 'set!', as in (set! (@ mod var) val).
3033 The related syntax (@@ MODULE-NAME VARIABLE-NAME) works just like '@',
3034 but it can also access variables that have not been exported. It is
3035 intended only for kluges and temporary fixes and for debugging, not
3038 ** Keyword syntax has been made more disciplined.
3040 Previously, the name of a keyword was read as a 'token' but printed as
3041 a symbol. Now, it is read as a general Scheme datum which must be a
3052 ERROR: In expression (a b c):
3056 ERROR: Unbound variable: foo
3061 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): 12
3065 ERROR: Wrong type (expecting symbol): (a b c)
3069 ** The printing of symbols that might look like keywords can be
3072 The new printer option 'quote-keywordish-symbols' controls how symbols
3073 are printed that have a colon as their first or last character. The
3074 default now is to only quote a symbol with #{...}# when the read
3075 option 'keywords' is not '#f'. Thus:
3077 guile> (define foo (string->symbol ":foo"))
3078 guile> (read-set! keywords #f)
3081 guile> (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
3084 guile> (print-set! quote-keywordish-symbols #f)
3088 ** 'while' now provides 'break' and 'continue'
3090 break and continue were previously bound in a while loop, but not
3091 documented, and continue didn't quite work properly. The undocumented
3092 parameter to break which gave a return value for the while has been
3095 ** 'call-with-current-continuation' is now also available under the name
3098 ** The module system now checks for duplicate bindings.
3100 The module system now can check for name conflicts among imported
3103 The behavior can be controlled by specifying one or more 'duplicates'
3104 handlers. For example, to make Guile return an error for every name
3107 (define-module (foo)
3112 The new default behavior of the module system when a name collision
3113 has been detected is to
3115 1. Give priority to bindings marked as a replacement.
3116 2. Issue a warning (different warning if overriding core binding).
3117 3. Give priority to the last encountered binding (this corresponds to
3120 If you want the old behavior back without replacements or warnings you
3123 (default-duplicate-binding-handler 'last)
3125 to your .guile init file.
3127 ** New define-module option: :replace
3129 :replace works as :export, but, in addition, marks the binding as a
3132 A typical example is `format' in (ice-9 format) which is a replacement
3133 for the core binding `format'.
3135 ** Adding prefixes to imported bindings in the module system
3137 There is now a new :use-module option :prefix. It can be used to add
3138 a prefix to all imported bindings.
3140 (define-module (foo)
3141 :use-module ((bar) :prefix bar:))
3143 will import all bindings exported from bar, but rename them by adding
3146 ** Conflicting generic functions can be automatically merged.
3148 When two imported bindings conflict and they are both generic
3149 functions, the two functions can now be merged automatically. This is
3150 activated with the 'duplicates' handler 'merge-generics'.
3152 ** New function: effective-version
3154 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
3155 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
3156 to the distribution" above.
3158 ** New threading functions: parallel, letpar, par-map, and friends
3160 These are convenient ways to run calculations in parallel in new
3161 threads. See "Parallel forms" in the manual for details.
3163 ** New function 'try-mutex'.
3165 This function will attempt to lock a mutex but will return immediately
3166 instead of blocking and indicate failure.
3168 ** Waiting on a condition variable can have a timeout.
3170 The function 'wait-condition-variable' now takes a third, optional
3171 argument that specifies the point in time where the waiting should be
3174 ** New function 'broadcast-condition-variable'.
3176 ** New functions 'all-threads' and 'current-thread'.
3178 ** Signals and system asyncs work better with threads.
3180 The function 'sigaction' now takes a fourth, optional, argument that
3181 specifies the thread that the handler should run in. When the
3182 argument is omitted, the handler will run in the thread that called
3185 Likewise, 'system-async-mark' takes a second, optional, argument that
3186 specifies the thread that the async should run in. When it is
3187 omitted, the async will run in the thread that called
3188 'system-async-mark'.
3190 C code can use the new functions scm_sigaction_for_thread and
3191 scm_system_async_mark_for_thread to pass the new thread argument.
3193 When a thread blocks on a mutex, a condition variable or is waiting
3194 for IO to be possible, it will still execute system asyncs. This can
3195 be used to interrupt such a thread by making it execute a 'throw', for
3198 ** The function 'system-async' is deprecated.
3200 You can now pass any zero-argument procedure to 'system-async-mark'.
3201 The function 'system-async' will just return its argument unchanged
3204 ** New functions 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' and
3205 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
3207 The expression (call-with-blocked-asyncs PROC) will call PROC and will
3208 block execution of system asyncs for the current thread by one level
3209 while PROC runs. Likewise, call-with-unblocked-asyncs will call a
3210 procedure and will unblock the execution of system asyncs by one
3211 level for the current thread.
3213 Only system asyncs are affected by these functions.
3215 ** The functions 'mask-signals' and 'unmask-signals' are deprecated.
3217 Use 'call-with-blocked-asyncs' or 'call-with-unblocked-asyncs'
3218 instead. Those functions are easier to use correctly and can be
3221 ** New function 'unsetenv'.
3223 ** New macro 'define-syntax-public'.
3225 It works like 'define-syntax' and also exports the defined macro (but
3228 ** There is support for Infinity and NaNs.
3230 Following PLT Scheme, Guile can now work with infinite numbers, and
3233 There is new syntax for numbers: "+inf.0" (infinity), "-inf.0"
3234 (negative infinity), "+nan.0" (not-a-number), and "-nan.0" (same as
3235 "+nan.0"). These numbers are inexact and have no exact counterpart.
3237 Dividing by an inexact zero returns +inf.0 or -inf.0, depending on the
3238 sign of the dividend. The infinities are integers, and they answer #t
3239 for both 'even?' and 'odd?'. The +nan.0 value is not an integer and is
3240 not '=' to itself, but '+nan.0' is 'eqv?' to itself.
3251 ERROR: Numerical overflow
3253 Two new predicates 'inf?' and 'nan?' can be used to test for the
3256 ** Inexact zero can have a sign.
3258 Guile can now distinguish between plus and minus inexact zero, if your
3259 platform supports this, too. The two zeros are equal according to
3260 '=', but not according to 'eqv?'. For example
3271 ** Guile now has exact rationals.
3273 Guile can now represent fractions such as 1/3 exactly. Computing with
3274 them is also done exactly, of course:
3279 ** 'floor', 'ceiling', 'round' and 'truncate' now return exact numbers
3280 for exact arguments.
3282 For example: (floor 2) now returns an exact 2 where in the past it
3283 returned an inexact 2.0. Likewise, (floor 5/4) returns an exact 1.
3285 ** inexact->exact no longer returns only integers.
3287 Without exact rationals, the closest exact number was always an
3288 integer, but now inexact->exact returns the fraction that is exactly
3289 equal to a floating point number. For example:
3291 (inexact->exact 1.234)
3292 => 694680242521899/562949953421312
3294 When you want the old behavior, use 'round' explicitly:
3296 (inexact->exact (round 1.234))
3299 ** New function 'rationalize'.
3301 This function finds a simple fraction that is close to a given real
3302 number. For example (and compare with inexact->exact above):
3304 (rationalize (inexact->exact 1.234) 1/2000)
3307 Note that, as required by R5RS, rationalize returns only then an exact
3308 result when both its arguments are exact.
3310 ** 'odd?' and 'even?' work also for inexact integers.
3312 Previously, (odd? 1.0) would signal an error since only exact integers
3313 were recognized as integers. Now (odd? 1.0) returns #t, (odd? 2.0)
3314 returns #f and (odd? 1.5) signals an error.
3316 ** Guile now has uninterned symbols.
3318 The new function 'make-symbol' will return an uninterned symbol. This
3319 is a symbol that is unique and is guaranteed to remain unique.
3320 However, uninterned symbols can not yet be read back in.
3322 Use the new function 'symbol-interned?' to check whether a symbol is
3325 ** pretty-print has more options.
3327 The function pretty-print from the (ice-9 pretty-print) module can now
3328 also be invoked with keyword arguments that control things like
3329 maximum output width. See the manual for details.
3331 ** Variables have no longer a special behavior for `equal?'.
3333 Previously, comparing two variables with `equal?' would recursivly
3334 compare their values. This is no longer done. Variables are now only
3335 `equal?' if they are `eq?'.
3337 ** `(begin)' is now valid.
3339 You can now use an empty `begin' form. It will yield #<unspecified>
3340 when evaluated and simply be ignored in a definition context.
3342 ** Deprecated: procedure->macro
3344 Change your code to use 'define-macro' or r5rs macros. Also, be aware
3345 that macro expansion will not be done during evaluation, but prior to
3348 ** Soft ports now allow a `char-ready?' procedure
3350 The vector argument to `make-soft-port' can now have a length of
3351 either 5 or 6. (Previously the length had to be 5.) The optional 6th
3352 element is interpreted as an `input-waiting' thunk -- i.e. a thunk
3353 that returns the number of characters that can be read immediately
3354 without the soft port blocking.
3356 ** Deprecated: undefine
3358 There is no replacement for undefine.
3360 ** The functions make-keyword-from-dash-symbol and keyword-dash-symbol
3361 have been discouraged.
3363 They are relics from a time where a keyword like #:foo was used
3364 directly as a Tcl option "-foo" and thus keywords were internally
3365 stored as a symbol with a starting dash. We now store a symbol
3368 Use symbol->keyword and keyword->symbol instead.
3370 ** The `cheap' debug option is now obsolete
3372 Evaluator trap calls are now unconditionally "cheap" - in other words,
3373 they pass a debug object to the trap handler rather than a full
3374 continuation. The trap handler code can capture a full continuation
3375 by using `call-with-current-continuation' in the usual way, if it so
3378 The `cheap' option is retained for now so as not to break existing
3379 code which gets or sets it, but setting it now has no effect. It will
3380 be removed in the next major Guile release.
3382 ** Evaluator trap calls now support `tweaking'
3384 `Tweaking' means that the trap handler code can modify the Scheme
3385 expression that is about to be evaluated (in the case of an
3386 enter-frame trap) or the value that is being returned (in the case of
3387 an exit-frame trap). The trap handler code indicates that it wants to
3388 do this by returning a pair whose car is the symbol 'instead and whose
3389 cdr is the modified expression or return value.
3391 * Changes to the C interface
3393 ** The functions scm_hash_fn_remove_x and scm_hashx_remove_x no longer
3394 take a 'delete' function argument.
3396 This argument makes no sense since the delete function is used to
3397 remove a pair from an alist, and this must not be configurable.
3399 This is an incompatible change.
3401 ** The GH interface is now subject to the deprecation mechanism
3403 The GH interface has been deprecated for quite some time but now it is
3404 actually removed from Guile when it is configured with
3405 --disable-deprecated.
3407 See the manual "Transitioning away from GH" for more information.
3409 ** A new family of functions for converting between C values and
3410 Scheme values has been added.
3412 These functions follow a common naming scheme and are designed to be
3413 easier to use, thread-safe and more future-proof than the older
3416 - int scm_is_* (...)
3418 These are predicates that return a C boolean: 1 or 0. Instead of
3419 SCM_NFALSEP, you can now use scm_is_true, for example.
3421 - <type> scm_to_<type> (SCM val, ...)
3423 These are functions that convert a Scheme value into an appropriate
3424 C value. For example, you can use scm_to_int to safely convert from
3427 - SCM scm_from_<type> (<type> val, ...)
3429 These functions convert from a C type to a SCM value; for example,
3430 scm_from_int for ints.
3432 There is a huge number of these functions, for numbers, strings,
3433 symbols, vectors, etc. They are documented in the reference manual in
3434 the API section together with the types that they apply to.
3436 ** New functions for dealing with complex numbers in C have been added.
3438 The new functions are scm_c_make_rectangular, scm_c_make_polar,
3439 scm_c_real_part, scm_c_imag_part, scm_c_magnitude and scm_c_angle.
3440 They work like scm_make_rectangular etc but take or return doubles
3443 ** The function scm_make_complex has been discouraged.
3445 Use scm_c_make_rectangular instead.
3447 ** The INUM macros have been deprecated.
3449 A lot of code uses these macros to do general integer conversions,
3450 although the macros only work correctly with fixnums. Use the
3451 following alternatives.
3453 SCM_INUMP -> scm_is_integer or similar
3454 SCM_NINUMP -> !scm_is_integer or similar
3455 SCM_MAKINUM -> scm_from_int or similar
3456 SCM_INUM -> scm_to_int or similar
3458 SCM_VALIDATE_INUM_* -> Do not use these; scm_to_int, etc. will
3459 do the validating for you.
3461 ** The scm_num2<type> and scm_<type>2num functions and scm_make_real
3462 have been discouraged.
3464 Use the newer scm_to_<type> and scm_from_<type> functions instead for
3465 new code. The functions have been discouraged since they don't fit
3468 ** The 'boolean' macros SCM_FALSEP etc have been discouraged.
3470 They have strange names, especially SCM_NFALSEP, and SCM_BOOLP
3471 evaluates its argument twice. Use scm_is_true, etc. instead for new
3474 ** The macro SCM_EQ_P has been discouraged.
3476 Use scm_is_eq for new code, which fits better into the naming
3479 ** The macros SCM_CONSP, SCM_NCONSP, SCM_NULLP, and SCM_NNULLP have
3482 Use the function scm_is_pair or scm_is_null instead.
3484 ** The functions scm_round and scm_truncate have been deprecated and
3485 are now available as scm_c_round and scm_c_truncate, respectively.
3487 These functions occupy the names that scm_round_number and
3488 scm_truncate_number should have.
3490 ** The functions scm_c_string2str, scm_c_substring2str, and
3491 scm_c_symbol2str have been deprecated.
3493 Use scm_to_locale_stringbuf or similar instead, maybe together with
3496 ** New functions scm_c_make_string, scm_c_string_length,
3497 scm_c_string_ref, scm_c_string_set_x, scm_c_substring,
3498 scm_c_substring_shared, scm_c_substring_copy.
3500 These are like scm_make_string, scm_length, etc. but are slightly
3501 easier to use from C.
3503 ** The macros SCM_STRINGP, SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_STRING_LENGTH,
3504 SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, and SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH have been deprecated.
3506 They export too many assumptions about the implementation of strings
3507 and symbols that are no longer true in the presence of
3508 mutation-sharing substrings and when Guile switches to some form of
3511 When working with strings, it is often best to use the normal string
3512 functions provided by Guile, such as scm_c_string_ref,
3513 scm_c_string_set_x, scm_string_append, etc. Be sure to look in the
3514 manual since many more such functions are now provided than
3517 When you want to convert a SCM string to a C string, use the
3518 scm_to_locale_string function or similar instead. For symbols, use
3519 scm_symbol_to_string and then work with that string. Because of the
3520 new string representation, scm_symbol_to_string does not need to copy
3521 and is thus quite efficient.
3523 ** Some string, symbol and keyword functions have been discouraged.
3525 They don't fit into the uniform naming scheme and are not explicit
3526 about the character encoding.
3528 Replace according to the following table:
3530 scm_allocate_string -> scm_c_make_string
3531 scm_take_str -> scm_take_locale_stringn
3532 scm_take0str -> scm_take_locale_string
3533 scm_mem2string -> scm_from_locale_stringn
3534 scm_str2string -> scm_from_locale_string
3535 scm_makfrom0str -> scm_from_locale_string
3536 scm_mem2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symboln
3537 scm_mem2uninterned_symbol -> scm_from_locale_stringn + scm_make_symbol
3538 scm_str2symbol -> scm_from_locale_symbol
3540 SCM_SYMBOL_HASH -> scm_hashq
3541 SCM_SYMBOL_INTERNED_P -> scm_symbol_interned_p
3543 scm_c_make_keyword -> scm_from_locale_keyword
3545 ** The functions scm_keyword_to_symbol and sym_symbol_to_keyword are
3546 now also available to C code.
3548 ** SCM_KEYWORDP and SCM_KEYWORDSYM have been deprecated.
3550 Use scm_is_keyword and scm_keyword_to_symbol instead, but note that
3551 the latter returns the true name of the keyword, not the 'dash name',
3552 as SCM_KEYWORDSYM used to do.
3554 ** A new way to access arrays in a thread-safe and efficient way has
3557 See the manual, node "Accessing Arrays From C".
3559 ** The old uniform vector and bitvector implementations have been
3560 unceremoniously removed.
3562 This implementation exposed the details of the tagging system of
3563 Guile. Use the new C API explained in the manual in node "Uniform
3564 Numeric Vectors" and "Bit Vectors", respectively.
3566 The following macros are gone: SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE,
3567 SCM_UVECTOR_MAXLENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_UVECTOR_TAG,
3568 SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVECTOR_P, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE,
3569 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
3570 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_MAKE_BITVECTOR_TAG,
3571 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_BITVEC_REF, SCM_BITVEC_SET,
3574 ** The macros dealing with vectors have been deprecated.
3576 Use the new functions scm_is_vector, scm_vector_elements,
3577 scm_vector_writable_elements, etc, or scm_is_simple_vector,
3578 SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_REF, SCM_SIMPLE_VECTOR_SET, etc instead. See the
3579 manual for more details.
3581 Deprecated are SCM_VECTORP, SCM_VELTS, SCM_VECTOR_MAX_LENGTH,
3582 SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_REF, SCM_VECTOR_SET, SCM_WRITABLE_VELTS.
3584 The following macros have been removed: SCM_VECTOR_BASE,
3585 SCM_SET_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_MAKE_VECTOR_TAG, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH,
3586 SCM_VELTS_AS_STACKITEMS, SCM_SETVELTS, SCM_GC_WRITABLE_VELTS.
3588 ** Some C functions and macros related to arrays have been deprecated.
3590 Migrate according to the following table:
3592 scm_make_uve -> scm_make_typed_array, scm_make_u8vector etc.
3593 scm_make_ra -> scm_make_array
3594 scm_shap2ra -> scm_make_array
3595 scm_cvref -> scm_c_generalized_vector_ref
3596 scm_ra_set_contp -> do not use
3597 scm_aind -> scm_array_handle_pos
3598 scm_raprin1 -> scm_display or scm_write
3600 SCM_ARRAYP -> scm_is_array
3601 SCM_ARRAY_NDIM -> scm_c_array_rank
3602 SCM_ARRAY_DIMS -> scm_array_handle_dims
3603 SCM_ARRAY_CONTP -> do not use
3604 SCM_ARRAY_MEM -> do not use
3605 SCM_ARRAY_V -> scm_array_handle_elements or similar
3606 SCM_ARRAY_BASE -> do not use
3608 ** SCM_CELL_WORD_LOC has been deprecated.
3610 Use the new macro SCM_CELL_OBJECT_LOC instead, which returns a pointer
3611 to a SCM, as opposed to a pointer to a scm_t_bits.
3613 This was done to allow the correct use of pointers into the Scheme
3614 heap. Previously, the heap words were of type scm_t_bits and local
3615 variables and function arguments were of type SCM, making it
3616 non-standards-conformant to have a pointer that can point to both.
3618 ** New macros SCM_SMOB_DATA_2, SCM_SMOB_DATA_3, etc.
3620 These macros should be used instead of SCM_CELL_WORD_2/3 to access the
3621 second and third words of double smobs. Likewise for
3622 SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_2 and SCM_SET_SMOB_DATA_3.
3624 Also, there is SCM_SMOB_FLAGS and SCM_SET_SMOB_FLAGS that should be
3625 used to get and set the 16 exra bits in the zeroth word of a smob.
3627 And finally, there is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT and SCM_SMOB_SET_OBJECT for
3628 accesing the first immediate word of a smob as a SCM value, and there
3629 is SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_LOC for getting a pointer to the first immediate
3630 smob word. Like wise for SCM_SMOB_OBJECT_2, etc.
3632 ** New way to deal with non-local exits and re-entries.
3634 There is a new set of functions that essentially do what
3635 scm_internal_dynamic_wind does, but in a way that is more convenient
3636 for C code in some situations. Here is a quick example of how to
3637 prevent a potential memory leak:
3644 scm_dynwind_begin (0);
3646 mem = scm_malloc (100);
3647 scm_dynwind_unwind_handler (free, mem, SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY);
3649 /* MEM would leak if BAR throws an error.
3650 SCM_DYNWIND_UNWIND_HANDLER frees it nevertheless.
3657 /* Because of SCM_F_WIND_EXPLICITLY, MEM will be freed by
3658 SCM_DYNWIND_END as well.
3662 For full documentation, see the node "Dynamic Wind" in the manual.
3664 ** New function scm_dynwind_free
3666 This function calls 'free' on a given pointer when a dynwind context
3667 is left. Thus the call to scm_dynwind_unwind_handler above could be
3668 replaced with simply scm_dynwind_free (mem).
3670 ** New functions scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
3671 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs
3673 Like scm_call_with_blocked_asyncs etc. but for C functions.
3675 ** New functions scm_dynwind_block_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs
3677 In addition to scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs you can now also use
3678 scm_dynwind_block_asyncs in a 'dynwind context' (see above). Likewise for
3679 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs and scm_dynwind_unblock_asyncs.
3681 ** The macros SCM_DEFER_INTS, SCM_ALLOW_INTS, SCM_REDEFER_INTS,
3682 SCM_REALLOW_INTS have been deprecated.
3684 They do no longer fulfill their original role of blocking signal
3685 delivery. Depending on what you want to achieve, replace a pair of
3686 SCM_DEFER_INTS and SCM_ALLOW_INTS with a dynwind context that locks a
3687 mutex, blocks asyncs, or both. See node "Critical Sections" in the
3690 ** The value 'scm_mask_ints' is no longer writable.
3692 Previously, you could set scm_mask_ints directly. This is no longer
3693 possible. Use scm_c_call_with_blocked_asyncs and
3694 scm_c_call_with_unblocked_asyncs instead.
3696 ** New way to temporarily set the current input, output or error ports
3698 C code can now use scm_dynwind_current_<foo>_port in a 'dynwind
3699 context' (see above). <foo> is one of "input", "output" or "error".
3701 ** New way to temporarily set fluids
3703 C code can now use scm_dynwind_fluid in a 'dynwind context' (see
3704 above) to temporarily set the value of a fluid.
3706 ** New types scm_t_intmax and scm_t_uintmax.
3708 On platforms that have them, these types are identical to intmax_t and
3709 uintmax_t, respectively. On other platforms, they are identical to
3710 the largest integer types that Guile knows about.
3712 ** The functions scm_unmemocopy and scm_unmemoize have been removed.
3714 You should not have used them.
3716 ** Many public #defines with generic names have been made private.
3718 #defines with generic names like HAVE_FOO or SIZEOF_FOO have been made
3719 private or renamed with a more suitable public name.
3721 ** The macro SCM_TYP16S has been deprecated.
3723 This macro is not intended for public use.
3725 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_INEXACTP has been deprecated.
3727 Use scm_is_true (scm_inexact_p (...)) instead.
3729 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_REALP has been deprecated.
3731 Use scm_is_real instead.
3733 ** The macro SCM_SLOPPY_COMPLEXP has been deprecated.
3735 Use scm_is_complex instead.
3737 ** Some preprocessor defines have been deprecated.
3739 These defines indicated whether a certain feature was present in Guile
3740 or not. Going forward, assume that the features are always present.
3742 The macros are: USE_THREADS, GUILE_ISELECT, READER_EXTENSIONS,
3743 DEBUG_EXTENSIONS, DYNAMIC_LINKING.
3745 The following macros have been removed completely: MEMOIZE_LOCALS,
3746 SCM_RECKLESS, SCM_CAUTIOUS.
3748 ** The preprocessor define STACK_DIRECTION has been deprecated.
3750 There should be no need to know about the stack direction for ordinary
3753 ** New function: scm_effective_version
3755 Returns the "effective" version number. This is just the normal full
3756 version string without the final micro-version number. See "Changes
3757 to the distribution" above.
3759 ** The function scm_call_with_new_thread has a new prototype.
3761 Instead of taking a list with the thunk and handler, these two
3762 arguments are now passed directly:
3764 SCM scm_call_with_new_thread (SCM thunk, SCM handler);
3766 This is an incompatible change.
3768 ** New snarfer macro SCM_DEFINE_PUBLIC.
3770 This is like SCM_DEFINE, but also calls scm_c_export for the defined
3771 function in the init section.
3773 ** The snarfer macro SCM_SNARF_INIT is now officially supported.
3775 ** Garbage collector rewrite.
3777 The garbage collector is cleaned up a lot, and now uses lazy
3778 sweeping. This is reflected in the output of (gc-stats); since cells
3779 are being freed when they are allocated, the cells-allocated field
3780 stays roughly constant.
3782 For malloc related triggers, the behavior is changed. It uses the same
3783 heuristic as the cell-triggered collections. It may be tuned with the
3784 environment variables GUILE_MIN_YIELD_MALLOC. This is the percentage
3785 for minimum yield of malloc related triggers. The default is 40.
3786 GUILE_INIT_MALLOC_LIMIT sets the initial trigger for doing a GC. The
3789 Debugging operations for the freelist have been deprecated, along with
3790 the C variables that control garbage collection. The environment
3791 variables GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE, GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2,
3792 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1, and GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2 should be used.
3794 For understanding the memory usage of a GUILE program, the routine
3795 gc-live-object-stats returns an alist containing the number of live
3796 objects for every type.
3799 ** The function scm_definedp has been renamed to scm_defined_p
3801 The name scm_definedp is deprecated.
3803 ** The struct scm_cell type has been renamed to scm_t_cell
3805 This is in accordance to Guile's naming scheme for types. Note that
3806 the name scm_cell is now used for a function that allocates and
3807 initializes a new cell (see below).
3809 ** New functions for memory management
3811 A new set of functions for memory management has been added since the
3812 old way (scm_must_malloc, scm_must_free, etc) was error prone and
3813 indeed, Guile itself contained some long standing bugs that could
3814 cause aborts in long running programs.
3816 The new functions are more symmetrical and do not need cooperation
3817 from smob free routines, among other improvements.
3819 The new functions are scm_malloc, scm_realloc, scm_calloc, scm_strdup,
3820 scm_strndup, scm_gc_malloc, scm_gc_calloc, scm_gc_realloc,
3821 scm_gc_free, scm_gc_register_collectable_memory, and
3822 scm_gc_unregister_collectable_memory. Refer to the manual for more
3823 details and for upgrading instructions.
3825 The old functions for memory management have been deprecated. They
3826 are: scm_must_malloc, scm_must_realloc, scm_must_free,
3827 scm_must_strdup, scm_must_strndup, scm_done_malloc, scm_done_free.
3829 ** Declarations of exported features are marked with SCM_API.
3831 Every declaration of a feature that belongs to the exported Guile API
3832 has been marked by adding the macro "SCM_API" to the start of the
3833 declaration. This macro can expand into different things, the most
3834 common of which is just "extern" for Unix platforms. On Win32, it can
3835 be used to control which symbols are exported from a DLL.
3837 If you `#define SCM_IMPORT' before including <libguile.h>, SCM_API
3838 will expand into "__declspec (dllimport) extern", which is needed for
3839 linking to the Guile DLL in Windows.
3841 There are also SCM_RL_IMPORT, SCM_SRFI1314_IMPORT, and
3842 SCM_SRFI4_IMPORT, for the corresponding libraries.
3844 ** SCM_NEWCELL and SCM_NEWCELL2 have been deprecated.
3846 Use the new functions scm_cell and scm_double_cell instead. The old
3847 macros had problems because with them allocation and initialization
3848 was separated and the GC could sometimes observe half initialized
3849 cells. Only careful coding by the user of SCM_NEWCELL and
3850 SCM_NEWCELL2 could make this safe and efficient.
3852 ** CHECK_ENTRY, CHECK_APPLY and CHECK_EXIT have been deprecated.
3854 Use the variables scm_check_entry_p, scm_check_apply_p and scm_check_exit_p
3857 ** SRCBRKP has been deprecated.
3859 Use scm_c_source_property_breakpoint_p instead.
3861 ** Deprecated: scm_makmacro
3863 Change your code to use either scm_makmmacro or to define macros in
3864 Scheme, using 'define-macro'.
3866 ** New function scm_c_port_for_each.
3868 This function is like scm_port_for_each but takes a pointer to a C
3869 function as the callback instead of a SCM value.
3871 ** The names scm_internal_select, scm_thread_sleep, and
3872 scm_thread_usleep have been discouraged.
3874 Use scm_std_select, scm_std_sleep, scm_std_usleep instead.
3876 ** The GC can no longer be blocked.
3878 The global flags scm_gc_heap_lock and scm_block_gc have been removed.
3879 The GC can now run (partially) concurrently with other code and thus
3880 blocking it is not well defined.
3882 ** Many definitions have been removed that were previously deprecated.
3884 scm_lisp_nil, scm_lisp_t, s_nil_ify, scm_m_nil_ify, s_t_ify,
3885 scm_m_t_ify, s_0_cond, scm_m_0_cond, s_0_ify, scm_m_0_ify, s_1_ify,
3886 scm_m_1_ify, scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2,
3887 scm_tc16_allocated, SCM_SET_SYMBOL_HASH, SCM_IM_NIL_IFY, SCM_IM_T_IFY,
3888 SCM_IM_0_COND, SCM_IM_0_IFY, SCM_IM_1_IFY, SCM_GC_SET_ALLOCATED,
3889 scm_debug_newcell, scm_debug_newcell2, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL, SCM_INT_SIGNAL,
3890 SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL, SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL,
3891 SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD, SCM_ORD_SIG,
3892 SCM_NUM_SIGS, scm_top_level_lookup_closure_var,
3893 *top-level-lookup-closure*, scm_system_transformer, scm_eval_3,
3894 scm_eval2, root_module_lookup_closure, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
3895 SCM_RWSTRINGP, scm_read_only_string_p, scm_make_shared_substring,
3896 scm_tc7_substring, sym_huh, SCM_VARVCELL, SCM_UDVARIABLEP,
3897 SCM_DEFVARIABLEP, scm_mkbig, scm_big2inum, scm_adjbig, scm_normbig,
3898 scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl, SCM_FIXNUM_BIT,
3899 SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_SLOPPY_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET,
3900 SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_ROLENGTH,
3901 SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
3902 scm_sym2vcell, scm_intern, scm_intern0, scm_sysintern, scm_sysintern0,
3903 scm_sysintern0_no_module_lookup, scm_init_symbols_deprecated,
3904 scm_vector_set_length_x, scm_contregs, scm_debug_info,
3905 scm_debug_frame, SCM_DSIDEVAL, SCM_CONST_LONG, SCM_VCELL,
3906 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL, SCM_VCELL_INIT, SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL_INIT,
3907 SCM_HUGE_LENGTH, SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING,
3908 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY, SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY,
3909 SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, DIGITS, scm_small_istr2int, scm_istr2int,
3910 scm_istr2flo, scm_istring2number, scm_istr2int, scm_istr2flo,
3911 scm_istring2number, scm_vtable_index_vcell, scm_si_vcell, SCM_ECONSP,
3912 SCM_NECONSP, SCM_GLOC_VAR, SCM_GLOC_VAL, SCM_GLOC_SET_VAL,
3913 SCM_GLOC_VAL_LOC, scm_make_gloc, scm_gloc_p, scm_tc16_variable,
3914 SCM_CHARS, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH.
3916 * Changes to bundled modules
3920 Using the (ice-9 debug) module no longer automatically switches Guile
3921 to use the debugging evaluator. If you want to switch to the
3922 debugging evaluator (which is needed for backtrace information if you
3923 hit an error), please add an explicit "(debug-enable 'debug)" to your
3924 code just after the code to use (ice-9 debug).
3927 Changes since Guile 1.4:
3929 * Changes to the distribution
3931 ** A top-level TODO file is included.
3933 ** Guile now uses a versioning scheme similar to that of the Linux kernel.
3935 Guile now always uses three numbers to represent the version,
3936 i.e. "1.6.5". The first number, 1, is the major version number, the
3937 second number, 6, is the minor version number, and the third number,
3938 5, is the micro version number. Changes in major version number
3939 indicate major changes in Guile.
3941 Minor version numbers that are even denote stable releases, and odd
3942 minor version numbers denote development versions (which may be
3943 unstable). The micro version number indicates a minor sub-revision of
3944 a given MAJOR.MINOR release.
3946 In keeping with the new scheme, (minor-version) and scm_minor_version
3947 no longer return everything but the major version number. They now
3948 just return the minor version number. Two new functions
3949 (micro-version) and scm_micro_version have been added to report the
3950 micro version number.
3952 In addition, ./GUILE-VERSION now defines GUILE_MICRO_VERSION.
3954 ** New preprocessor definitions are available for checking versions.
3956 version.h now #defines SCM_MAJOR_VERSION, SCM_MINOR_VERSION, and
3957 SCM_MICRO_VERSION to the appropriate integer values.
3959 ** Guile now actively warns about deprecated features.
3961 The new configure option `--enable-deprecated=LEVEL' and the
3962 environment variable GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED control this mechanism.
3963 See INSTALL and README for more information.
3965 ** Guile is much more likely to work on 64-bit architectures.
3967 Guile now compiles and passes "make check" with only two UNRESOLVED GC
3968 cases on Alpha and ia64 based machines now. Thanks to John Goerzen
3969 for the use of a test machine, and thanks to Stefan Jahn for ia64
3972 ** New functions: setitimer and getitimer.
3974 These implement a fairly direct interface to the libc functions of the
3977 ** The #. reader extension is now disabled by default.
3979 For safety reasons, #. evaluation is disabled by default. To
3980 re-enable it, set the fluid read-eval? to #t. For example:
3982 (fluid-set! read-eval? #t)
3984 but make sure you realize the potential security risks involved. With
3985 read-eval? enabled, reading a data file from an untrusted source can
3988 ** New SRFI modules have been added:
3990 SRFI-0 `cond-expand' is now supported in Guile, without requiring
3993 (srfi srfi-1) is a library containing many useful pair- and list-processing
3996 (srfi srfi-2) exports and-let*.
3998 (srfi srfi-4) implements homogeneous numeric vector datatypes.
4000 (srfi srfi-6) is a dummy module for now, since guile already provides
4001 all of the srfi-6 procedures by default: open-input-string,
4002 open-output-string, get-output-string.
4004 (srfi srfi-8) exports receive.
4006 (srfi srfi-9) exports define-record-type.
4008 (srfi srfi-10) exports define-reader-ctor and implements the reader
4011 (srfi srfi-11) exports let-values and let*-values.
4013 (srfi srfi-13) implements the SRFI String Library.
4015 (srfi srfi-14) implements the SRFI Character-Set Library.
4017 (srfi srfi-17) implements setter and getter-with-setter and redefines
4018 some accessor procedures as procedures with getters. (such as car,
4019 cdr, vector-ref etc.)
4021 (srfi srfi-19) implements the SRFI Time/Date Library.
4023 ** New scripts / "executable modules"
4025 Subdirectory "scripts" contains Scheme modules that are packaged to
4026 also be executable as scripts. At this time, these scripts are available:
4035 See README there for more info.
4037 These scripts can be invoked from the shell with the new program
4038 "guile-tools", which keeps track of installation directory for you.
4041 $ guile-tools display-commentary srfi/*.scm
4043 guile-tools is copied to the standard $bindir on "make install".
4045 ** New module (ice-9 stack-catch):
4047 stack-catch is like catch, but saves the current state of the stack in
4048 the fluid the-last-stack. This fluid can be useful when using the
4049 debugger and when re-throwing an error.
4051 ** The module (ice-9 and-let*) has been renamed to (ice-9 and-let-star)
4053 This has been done to prevent problems on lesser operating systems
4054 that can't tolerate `*'s in file names. The exported macro continues
4055 to be named `and-let*', of course.
4057 On systems that support it, there is also a compatibility module named
4058 (ice-9 and-let*). It will go away in the next release.
4060 ** New modules (oop goops) etc.:
4063 (oop goops describe)
4065 (oop goops active-slot)
4066 (oop goops composite-slot)
4068 The Guile Object Oriented Programming System (GOOPS) has been
4069 integrated into Guile. For further information, consult the GOOPS
4070 manual and tutorial in the `doc' directory.
4072 ** New module (ice-9 rdelim).
4074 This exports the following procedures which were previously defined
4075 in the default environment:
4077 read-line read-line! read-delimited read-delimited! %read-delimited!
4078 %read-line write-line
4080 For backwards compatibility the definitions are still imported into the
4081 default environment in this version of Guile. However you should add:
4083 (use-modules (ice-9 rdelim))
4085 to any program which uses the definitions, since this may change in
4088 Alternatively, if guile-scsh is installed, the (scsh rdelim) module
4089 can be used for similar functionality.
4091 ** New module (ice-9 rw)
4093 This is a subset of the (scsh rw) module from guile-scsh. Currently
4094 it defines two procedures:
4096 *** New function: read-string!/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
4098 Read characters from a port or file descriptor into a string STR.
4099 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
4100 fport. This procedure is scsh-compatible and can efficiently read
4103 *** New function: write-string/partial str [port_or_fdes [start [end]]]
4105 Write characters from a string STR to a port or file descriptor.
4106 A port must have an underlying file descriptor -- a so-called
4107 fport. This procedure is mostly compatible and can efficiently
4108 write large strings.
4110 ** New module (ice-9 match)
4112 This module includes Andrew K. Wright's pattern matcher. See
4113 ice-9/match.scm for brief description or
4115 http://www.star-lab.com/wright/code.html
4117 for complete documentation.
4119 ** New module (ice-9 buffered-input)
4121 This module provides procedures to construct an input port from an
4122 underlying source of input that reads and returns its input in chunks.
4123 The underlying input source is a Scheme procedure, specified by the
4124 caller, which the port invokes whenever it needs more input.
4126 This is useful when building an input port whose back end is Readline
4127 or a UI element such as the GtkEntry widget.
4131 The reference and tutorial documentation that was previously
4132 distributed separately, as `guile-doc', is now included in the core
4133 Guile distribution. The documentation consists of the following
4136 - The Guile Tutorial (guile-tut.texi) contains a tutorial introduction
4139 - The Guile Reference Manual (guile.texi) contains (or is intended to
4140 contain) reference documentation on all aspects of Guile.
4142 - The GOOPS Manual (goops.texi) contains both tutorial-style and
4143 reference documentation for using GOOPS, Guile's Object Oriented
4146 - The Revised^5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme
4149 See the README file in the `doc' directory for more details.
4151 ** There are a couple of examples in the examples/ directory now.
4153 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
4155 ** New command line option `--use-srfi'
4157 Using this option, SRFI modules can be loaded on startup and be
4158 available right from the beginning. This makes programming portable
4159 Scheme programs easier.
4161 The option `--use-srfi' expects a comma-separated list of numbers,
4162 each representing a SRFI number to be loaded into the interpreter
4163 before starting evaluating a script file or the REPL. Additionally,
4164 the feature identifier for the loaded SRFIs is recognized by
4165 `cond-expand' when using this option.
4168 $ guile --use-srfi=8,13
4169 guile> (receive (x z) (values 1 2) (+ 1 2))
4171 guile> (string-pad "bla" 20)
4174 ** Guile now always starts up in the `(guile-user)' module.
4176 Previously, scripts executed via the `-s' option would run in the
4177 `(guile)' module and the repl would run in the `(guile-user)' module.
4178 Now every user action takes place in the `(guile-user)' module by
4181 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
4183 ** Character classifiers work for non-ASCII characters.
4185 The predicates `char-alphabetic?', `char-numeric?',
4186 `char-whitespace?', `char-lower?', `char-upper?' and `char-is-both?'
4187 no longer check whether their arguments are ASCII characters.
4188 Previously, a character would only be considered alphabetic when it
4189 was also ASCII, for example.
4191 ** Previously deprecated Scheme functions have been removed:
4193 tag - no replacement.
4194 fseek - replaced by seek.
4195 list* - replaced by cons*.
4197 ** It's now possible to create modules with controlled environments
4201 (use-modules (ice-9 safe))
4202 (define m (make-safe-module))
4203 ;;; m will now be a module containing only a safe subset of R5RS
4204 (eval '(+ 1 2) m) --> 3
4205 (eval 'load m) --> ERROR: Unbound variable: load
4207 ** Evaluation of "()", the empty list, is now an error.
4209 Previously, the expression "()" evaluated to the empty list. This has
4210 been changed to signal a "missing expression" error. The correct way
4211 to write the empty list as a literal constant is to use quote: "'()".
4213 ** New concept of `Guile Extensions'.
4215 A Guile Extension is just a ordinary shared library that can be linked
4216 at run-time. We found it advantageous to give this simple concept a
4217 dedicated name to distinguish the issues related to shared libraries
4218 from the issues related to the module system.
4220 *** New function: load-extension
4222 Executing (load-extension lib init) is mostly equivalent to
4224 (dynamic-call init (dynamic-link lib))
4226 except when scm_register_extension has been called previously.
4227 Whenever appropriate, you should use `load-extension' instead of
4228 dynamic-link and dynamic-call.
4230 *** New C function: scm_c_register_extension
4232 This function registers a initialization function for use by
4233 `load-extension'. Use it when you don't want specific extensions to
4234 be loaded as shared libraries (for example on platforms that don't
4235 support dynamic linking).
4237 ** Auto-loading of compiled-code modules is deprecated.
4239 Guile used to be able to automatically find and link a shared
4240 library to satisfy requests for a module. For example, the module
4241 `(foo bar)' could be implemented by placing a shared library named
4242 "foo/libbar.so" (or with a different extension) in a directory on the
4245 This has been found to be too tricky, and is no longer supported. The
4246 shared libraries are now called "extensions". You should now write a
4247 small Scheme file that calls `load-extension' to load the shared
4248 library and initialize it explicitly.
4250 The shared libraries themselves should be installed in the usual
4251 places for shared libraries, with names like "libguile-foo-bar".
4253 For example, place this into a file "foo/bar.scm"
4255 (define-module (foo bar))
4257 (load-extension "libguile-foo-bar" "foobar_init")
4259 ** Backward incompatible change: eval EXP ENVIRONMENT-SPECIFIER
4261 `eval' is now R5RS, that is it takes two arguments.
4262 The second argument is an environment specifier, i.e. either
4264 (scheme-report-environment 5)
4265 (null-environment 5)
4266 (interaction-environment)
4272 ** The module system has been made more disciplined.
4274 The function `eval' will save and restore the current module around
4275 the evaluation of the specified expression. While this expression is
4276 evaluated, `(current-module)' will now return the right module, which
4277 is the module specified as the second argument to `eval'.
4279 A consequence of this change is that `eval' is not particularly
4280 useful when you want allow the evaluated code to change what module is
4281 designated as the current module and have this change persist from one
4282 call to `eval' to the next. The read-eval-print-loop is an example
4283 where `eval' is now inadequate. To compensate, there is a new
4284 function `primitive-eval' that does not take a module specifier and
4285 that does not save/restore the current module. You should use this
4286 function together with `set-current-module', `current-module', etc
4287 when you want to have more control over the state that is carried from
4288 one eval to the next.
4290 Additionally, it has been made sure that forms that are evaluated at
4291 the top level are always evaluated with respect to the current module.
4292 Previously, subforms of top-level forms such as `begin', `case',
4293 etc. did not respect changes to the current module although these
4294 subforms are at the top-level as well.
4296 To prevent strange behavior, the forms `define-module',
4297 `use-modules', `use-syntax', and `export' have been restricted to only
4298 work on the top level. The forms `define-public' and
4299 `defmacro-public' only export the new binding on the top level. They
4300 behave just like `define' and `defmacro', respectively, when they are
4301 used in a lexical environment.
4303 Also, `export' will no longer silently re-export bindings imported
4304 from a used module. It will emit a `deprecation' warning and will
4305 cease to perform any re-export in the next version. If you actually
4306 want to re-export bindings, use the new `re-export' in place of
4307 `export'. The new `re-export' will not make copies of variables when
4308 rexporting them, as `export' did wrongly.
4310 ** Module system now allows selection and renaming of imported bindings
4312 Previously, when using `use-modules' or the `#:use-module' clause in
4313 the `define-module' form, all the bindings (association of symbols to
4314 values) for imported modules were added to the "current module" on an
4315 as-is basis. This has been changed to allow finer control through two
4316 new facilities: selection and renaming.
4318 You can now select which of the imported module's bindings are to be
4319 visible in the current module by using the `:select' clause. This
4320 clause also can be used to rename individual bindings. For example:
4322 ;; import all bindings no questions asked
4323 (use-modules (ice-9 common-list))
4325 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them;
4326 ;; the current module sees: every some zonk-y zonk-n
4327 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
4329 (remove-if . zonk-y)
4330 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))))
4332 You can also programmatically rename all selected bindings using the
4333 `:renamer' clause, which specifies a proc that takes a symbol and
4334 returns another symbol. Because it is common practice to use a prefix,
4335 we now provide the convenience procedure `symbol-prefix-proc'. For
4338 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
4339 ;; and all four w/ prefix "CL:";
4340 ;; the current module sees: CL:every CL:some CL:zonk-y CL:zonk-n
4341 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
4343 (remove-if . zonk-y)
4344 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
4345 :renamer (symbol-prefix-proc 'CL:)))
4347 ;; import four bindings, renaming two of them specifically,
4348 ;; and all four by upcasing.
4349 ;; the current module sees: EVERY SOME ZONK-Y ZONK-N
4350 (define (upcase-symbol sym)
4351 (string->symbol (string-upcase (symbol->string sym))))
4353 (use-modules ((ice-9 common-list)
4355 (remove-if . zonk-y)
4356 (remove-if-not . zonk-n))
4357 :renamer upcase-symbol))
4359 Note that programmatic renaming is done *after* individual renaming.
4360 Also, the above examples show `use-modules', but the same facilities are
4361 available for the `#:use-module' clause of `define-module'.
4363 See manual for more info.
4365 ** The semantics of guardians have changed.
4367 The changes are for the most part compatible. An important criterion
4368 was to keep the typical usage of guardians as simple as before, but to
4369 make the semantics safer and (as a result) more useful.
4371 *** All objects returned from guardians are now properly alive.
4373 It is now guaranteed that any object referenced by an object returned
4374 from a guardian is alive. It's now impossible for a guardian to
4375 return a "contained" object before its "containing" object.
4377 One incompatible (but probably not very important) change resulting
4378 from this is that it is no longer possible to guard objects that
4379 indirectly reference themselves (i.e. are parts of cycles). If you do
4380 so accidentally, you'll get a warning.
4382 *** There are now two types of guardians: greedy and sharing.
4384 If you call (make-guardian #t) or just (make-guardian), you'll get a
4385 greedy guardian, and for (make-guardian #f) a sharing guardian.
4387 Greedy guardians are the default because they are more "defensive".
4388 You can only greedily guard an object once. If you guard an object
4389 more than once, once in a greedy guardian and the rest of times in
4390 sharing guardians, then it is guaranteed that the object won't be
4391 returned from sharing guardians as long as it is greedily guarded
4394 Guardians returned by calls to `make-guardian' can now take one more
4395 optional parameter, which says whether to throw an error in case an
4396 attempt is made to greedily guard an object that is already greedily
4397 guarded. The default is true, i.e. throw an error. If the parameter
4398 is false, the guardian invocation returns #t if guarding was
4399 successful and #f if it wasn't.
4401 Also, since greedy guarding is, in effect, a side-effecting operation
4402 on objects, a new function is introduced: `destroy-guardian!'.
4403 Invoking this function on a guardian renders it unoperative and, if
4404 the guardian is greedy, clears the "greedily guarded" property of the
4405 objects that were guarded by it, thus undoing the side effect.
4407 Note that all this hair is hardly very important, since guardian
4408 objects are usually permanent.
4410 ** Continuations created by call-with-current-continuation now accept
4411 any number of arguments, as required by R5RS.
4413 ** New function `issue-deprecation-warning'
4415 This function is used to display the deprecation messages that are
4416 controlled by GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATION as explained in the README.
4419 (issue-deprecation-warning "`id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.")
4423 ;; `id' is deprecated. Use `identity' instead.
4428 ** New syntax `begin-deprecated'
4430 When deprecated features are included (as determined by the configure
4431 option --enable-deprecated), `begin-deprecated' is identical to
4432 `begin'. When deprecated features are excluded, it always evaluates
4433 to `#f', ignoring the body forms.
4435 ** New function `make-object-property'
4437 This function returns a new `procedure with setter' P that can be used
4438 to attach a property to objects. When calling P as
4442 where `obj' is any kind of object, it attaches `val' to `obj' in such
4443 a way that it can be retrieved by calling P as
4447 This function will replace procedure properties, symbol properties and
4448 source properties eventually.
4450 ** Module (ice-9 optargs) now uses keywords instead of `#&'.
4452 Instead of #&optional, #&key, etc you should now use #:optional,
4453 #:key, etc. Since #:optional is a keyword, you can write it as just
4454 :optional when (read-set! keywords 'prefix) is active.
4456 The old reader syntax `#&' is still supported, but deprecated. It
4457 will be removed in the next release.
4459 ** New define-module option: pure
4461 Tells the module system not to include any bindings from the root
4466 (define-module (totally-empty-module)
4469 ** New define-module option: export NAME1 ...
4471 Export names NAME1 ...
4473 This option is required if you want to be able to export bindings from
4474 a module which doesn't import one of `define-public' or `export'.
4478 (define-module (foo)
4480 :use-module (ice-9 r5rs)
4483 ;;; Note that we're pure R5RS below this point!
4488 ** New function: object->string OBJ
4490 Return a Scheme string obtained by printing a given object.
4492 ** New function: port? X
4494 Returns a boolean indicating whether X is a port. Equivalent to
4495 `(or (input-port? X) (output-port? X))'.
4497 ** New function: file-port?
4499 Determines whether a given object is a port that is related to a file.
4501 ** New function: port-for-each proc
4503 Apply PROC to each port in the Guile port table in turn. The return
4504 value is unspecified. More specifically, PROC is applied exactly once
4505 to every port that exists in the system at the time PORT-FOR-EACH is
4506 invoked. Changes to the port table while PORT-FOR-EACH is running
4507 have no effect as far as PORT-FOR-EACH is concerned.
4509 ** New function: dup2 oldfd newfd
4511 A simple wrapper for the `dup2' system call. Copies the file
4512 descriptor OLDFD to descriptor number NEWFD, replacing the
4513 previous meaning of NEWFD. Both OLDFD and NEWFD must be integers.
4514 Unlike for dup->fdes or primitive-move->fdes, no attempt is made
4515 to move away ports which are using NEWFD. The return value is
4518 ** New function: close-fdes fd
4520 A simple wrapper for the `close' system call. Close file
4521 descriptor FD, which must be an integer. Unlike close (*note
4522 close: Ports and File Descriptors.), the file descriptor will be
4523 closed even if a port is using it. The return value is
4526 ** New function: crypt password salt
4528 Encrypts `password' using the standard unix password encryption
4531 ** New function: chroot path
4533 Change the root directory of the running process to `path'.
4535 ** New functions: getlogin, cuserid
4537 Return the login name or the user name of the current effective user
4540 ** New functions: getpriority which who, setpriority which who prio
4542 Get or set the priority of the running process.
4544 ** New function: getpass prompt
4546 Read a password from the terminal, first displaying `prompt' and
4549 ** New function: flock file operation
4551 Set/remove an advisory shared or exclusive lock on `file'.
4553 ** New functions: sethostname name, gethostname
4555 Set or get the hostname of the machine the current process is running
4558 ** New function: mkstemp! tmpl
4560 mkstemp creates a new unique file in the file system and returns a
4561 new buffered port open for reading and writing to the file. TMPL
4562 is a string specifying where the file should be created: it must
4563 end with `XXXXXX' and will be changed in place to return the name
4564 of the temporary file.
4566 ** New function: open-input-string string
4568 Return an input string port which delivers the characters from
4569 `string'. This procedure, together with `open-output-string' and
4570 `get-output-string' implements SRFI-6.
4572 ** New function: open-output-string
4574 Return an output string port which collects all data written to it.
4575 The data can then be retrieved by `get-output-string'.
4577 ** New function: get-output-string
4579 Return the contents of an output string port.
4581 ** New function: identity
4583 Return the argument.
4585 ** socket, connect, accept etc., now have support for IPv6. IPv6 addresses
4586 are represented in Scheme as integers with normal host byte ordering.
4588 ** New function: inet-pton family address
4590 Convert a printable string network address into an integer. Note that
4591 unlike the C version of this function, the result is an integer with
4592 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
4595 (inet-pton AF_INET "127.0.0.1") => 2130706433
4596 (inet-pton AF_INET6 "::1") => 1
4598 ** New function: inet-ntop family address
4600 Convert an integer network address into a printable string. Note that
4601 unlike the C version of this function, the input is an integer with
4602 normal host byte ordering. FAMILY can be `AF_INET' or `AF_INET6'.
4605 (inet-ntop AF_INET 2130706433) => "127.0.0.1"
4606 (inet-ntop AF_INET6 (- (expt 2 128) 1)) =>
4607 ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff
4611 Use `identity' instead.
4617 ** Deprecated: return-it
4621 ** Deprecated: string-character-length
4623 Use `string-length' instead.
4625 ** Deprecated: flags
4627 Use `logior' instead.
4629 ** Deprecated: close-all-ports-except.
4631 This was intended for closing ports in a child process after a fork,
4632 but it has the undesirable side effect of flushing buffers.
4633 port-for-each is more flexible.
4635 ** The (ice-9 popen) module now attempts to set up file descriptors in
4636 the child process from the current Scheme ports, instead of using the
4637 current values of file descriptors 0, 1, and 2 in the parent process.
4639 ** Removed function: builtin-weak-bindings
4641 There is no such concept as a weak binding any more.
4643 ** Removed constants: bignum-radix, scm-line-incrementors
4645 ** define-method: New syntax mandatory.
4647 The new method syntax is now mandatory:
4649 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ...) BODY ...)
4650 (define-method (NAME ARG-SPEC ... . REST-ARG) BODY ...)
4652 ARG-SPEC ::= ARG-NAME | (ARG-NAME TYPE)
4653 REST-ARG ::= ARG-NAME
4655 If you have old code using the old syntax, import
4656 (oop goops old-define-method) before (oop goops) as in:
4658 (use-modules (oop goops old-define-method) (oop goops))
4660 ** Deprecated function: builtin-variable
4661 Removed function: builtin-bindings
4663 There is no longer a distinction between builtin or other variables.
4664 Use module system operations for all variables.
4666 ** Lazy-catch handlers are no longer allowed to return.
4668 That is, a call to `throw', `error', etc is now guaranteed to not
4671 ** Bugfixes for (ice-9 getopt-long)
4673 This module is now tested using test-suite/tests/getopt-long.test.
4674 The following bugs have been fixed:
4676 *** Parsing for options that are specified to have `optional' args now checks
4677 if the next element is an option instead of unconditionally taking it as the
4680 *** An error is now thrown for `--opt=val' when the option description
4681 does not specify `(value #t)' or `(value optional)'. This condition used to
4682 be accepted w/o error, contrary to the documentation.
4684 *** The error message for unrecognized options is now more informative.
4685 It used to be "not a record", an artifact of the implementation.
4687 *** The error message for `--opt' terminating the arg list (no value), when
4688 `(value #t)' is specified, is now more informative. It used to be "not enough
4691 *** "Clumped" single-char args now preserve trailing string, use it as arg.
4692 The expansion used to be like so:
4694 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "--xyz")
4696 Note that the "5d" is dropped. Now it is like so:
4698 ("-abc5d" "--xyz") => ("-a" "-b" "-c" "5d" "--xyz")
4700 This enables single-char options to have adjoining arguments as long as their
4701 constituent characters are not potential single-char options.
4703 ** (ice-9 session) procedure `arity' now works with (ice-9 optargs) `lambda*'
4705 The `lambda*' and derivative forms in (ice-9 optargs) now set a procedure
4706 property `arglist', which can be retrieved by `arity'. The result is that
4707 `arity' can give more detailed information than before:
4711 guile> (use-modules (ice-9 optargs))
4712 guile> (define* (foo #:optional a b c) a)
4714 0 or more arguments in `lambda*:G0'.
4719 3 optional arguments: `a', `b' and `c'.
4720 guile> (define* (bar a b #:key c d #:allow-other-keys) a)
4722 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 2 keyword arguments: `c'
4723 and `d', other keywords allowed.
4724 guile> (define* (baz a b #:optional c #:rest r) a)
4726 2 required arguments: `a' and `b', 1 optional argument: `c',
4729 * Changes to the C interface
4731 ** Types have been renamed from scm_*_t to scm_t_*.
4733 This has been done for POSIX sake. It reserves identifiers ending
4734 with "_t". What a concept.
4736 The old names are still available with status `deprecated'.
4738 ** scm_t_bits (former scm_bits_t) is now a unsigned type.
4740 ** Deprecated features have been removed.
4744 SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP SCM_ICHRP, SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR
4745 SCM_SETJMPBUF SCM_NSTRINGP SCM_NRWSTRINGP SCM_NVECTORP SCM_DOUBLE_CELLP
4747 *** C Functions removed
4749 scm_sysmissing scm_tag scm_tc16_flo scm_tc_flo
4750 scm_fseek - replaced by scm_seek.
4751 gc-thunk - replaced by after-gc-hook.
4752 gh_int2scmb - replaced by gh_bool2scm.
4753 scm_tc_dblr - replaced by scm_tc16_real.
4754 scm_tc_dblc - replaced by scm_tc16_complex.
4755 scm_list_star - replaced by scm_cons_star.
4757 ** Deprecated: scm_makfromstr
4759 Use scm_mem2string instead.
4761 ** Deprecated: scm_make_shared_substring
4763 Explicit shared substrings will disappear from Guile.
4765 Instead, "normal" strings will be implemented using sharing
4766 internally, combined with a copy-on-write strategy.
4768 ** Deprecated: scm_read_only_string_p
4770 The concept of read-only strings will disappear in next release of
4773 ** Deprecated: scm_sloppy_memq, scm_sloppy_memv, scm_sloppy_member
4775 Instead, use scm_c_memq or scm_memq, scm_memv, scm_member.
4777 ** New functions: scm_call_0, scm_call_1, scm_call_2, scm_call_3
4779 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments. See "Fly
4780 Evaluation" in the manual.
4782 ** New functions: scm_apply_0, scm_apply_1, scm_apply_2, scm_apply_3
4784 Call a procedure with the indicated number of arguments and a list of
4785 further arguments. See "Fly Evaluation" in the manual.
4787 ** New functions: scm_list_1, scm_list_2, scm_list_3, scm_list_4, scm_list_5
4789 Create a list of the given number of elements. See "List
4790 Constructors" in the manual.
4792 ** Renamed function: scm_listify has been replaced by scm_list_n.
4794 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_LIST0, SCM_LIST1, SCM_LIST2, SCM_LIST3, SCM_LIST4,
4795 SCM_LIST5, SCM_LIST6, SCM_LIST7, SCM_LIST8, SCM_LIST9.
4797 Use functions scm_list_N instead.
4799 ** New function: scm_c_read (SCM port, void *buffer, scm_sizet size)
4801 Used by an application to read arbitrary number of bytes from a port.
4802 Same semantics as libc read, except that scm_c_read only returns less
4803 than SIZE bytes if at end-of-file.
4805 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
4807 ** New function: scm_c_write (SCM port, const void *ptr, scm_sizet size)
4809 Used by an application to write arbitrary number of bytes to an SCM
4810 port. Similar semantics as libc write. However, unlike libc
4811 write, scm_c_write writes the requested number of bytes and has no
4814 Warning: Doesn't update port line and column counts!
4816 ** New function: scm_init_guile ()
4818 In contrast to scm_boot_guile, scm_init_guile will return normally
4819 after initializing Guile. It is not available on all systems, tho.
4821 ** New functions: scm_str2symbol, scm_mem2symbol
4823 The function scm_str2symbol takes a const char* pointing to a zero-terminated
4824 field of characters and creates a scheme symbol object from that C string.
4825 The function scm_mem2symbol takes a const char* and a number of characters and
4826 creates a symbol from the characters in that memory area.
4828 ** New functions: scm_primitive_make_property
4829 scm_primitive_property_ref
4830 scm_primitive_property_set_x
4831 scm_primitive_property_del_x
4833 These functions implement a new way to deal with object properties.
4834 See libguile/properties.c for their documentation.
4836 ** New function: scm_done_free (long size)
4838 This function is the inverse of scm_done_malloc. Use it to report the
4839 amount of smob memory you free. The previous method, which involved
4840 calling scm_done_malloc with negative argument, was somewhat
4841 unintuitive (and is still available, of course).
4843 ** New function: scm_c_memq (SCM obj, SCM list)
4845 This function provides a fast C level alternative for scm_memq for the case
4846 that the list parameter is known to be a proper list. The function is a
4847 replacement for scm_sloppy_memq, but is stricter in its requirements on its
4848 list input parameter, since for anything else but a proper list the function's
4849 behaviour is undefined - it may even crash or loop endlessly. Further, for
4850 the case that the object is not found in the list, scm_c_memq returns #f which
4851 is similar to scm_memq, but different from scm_sloppy_memq's behaviour.
4853 ** New functions: scm_remember_upto_here_1, scm_remember_upto_here_2,
4854 scm_remember_upto_here
4856 These functions replace the function scm_remember.
4858 ** Deprecated function: scm_remember
4860 Use one of the new functions scm_remember_upto_here_1,
4861 scm_remember_upto_here_2 or scm_remember_upto_here instead.
4863 ** New function: scm_allocate_string
4865 This function replaces the function scm_makstr.
4867 ** Deprecated function: scm_makstr
4869 Use the new function scm_allocate_string instead.
4871 ** New global variable scm_gc_running_p introduced.
4873 Use this variable to find out if garbage collection is being executed. Up to
4874 now applications have used scm_gc_heap_lock to test if garbage collection was
4875 running, which also works because of the fact that up to know only the garbage
4876 collector has set this variable. But, this is an implementation detail that
4877 may change. Further, scm_gc_heap_lock is not set throughout gc, thus the use
4878 of this variable is (and has been) not fully safe anyway.
4880 ** New macros: SCM_BITVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_MAX_LENGTH
4882 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
4884 ** New macros: SCM_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_CCLO_LENGTH, SCM_STACK_LENGTH,
4885 SCM_STRING_LENGTH, SCM_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
4886 SCM_BITVECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_VECTOR_LENGTH.
4888 Use these instead of SCM_LENGTH.
4890 ** New macros: SCM_SET_CONTINUATION_LENGTH, SCM_SET_STRING_LENGTH,
4891 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_LENGTH, SCM_SET_VECTOR_LENGTH, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_LENGTH,
4892 SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_LENGTH
4894 Use these instead of SCM_SETLENGTH
4896 ** New macros: SCM_STRING_CHARS, SCM_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_CCLO_BASE,
4897 SCM_VECTOR_BASE, SCM_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_BITVECTOR_BASE, SCM_COMPLEX_MEM,
4900 Use these instead of SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS, SCM_ROCHARS, SCM_ROUCHARS or
4903 ** New macros: SCM_SET_BIGNUM_BASE, SCM_SET_STRING_CHARS,
4904 SCM_SET_SYMBOL_CHARS, SCM_SET_UVECTOR_BASE, SCM_SET_BITVECTOR_BASE,
4907 Use these instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
4909 ** New macro: SCM_BITVECTOR_P
4911 ** New macro: SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X
4913 Use instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
4915 ** New macros: SCM_DIR_OPEN_P, SCM_DIR_FLAG_OPEN
4917 For directory objects, use these instead of SCM_OPDIRP and SCM_OPN.
4919 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_OUTOFRANGE, SCM_NALLOC, SCM_HUP_SIGNAL,
4920 SCM_INT_SIGNAL, SCM_FPE_SIGNAL, SCM_BUS_SIGNAL, SCM_SEGV_SIGNAL,
4921 SCM_ALRM_SIGNAL, SCM_GC_SIGNAL, SCM_TICK_SIGNAL, SCM_SIG_ORD,
4922 SCM_ORD_SIG, SCM_NUM_SIGS, SCM_SYMBOL_SLOTS, SCM_SLOTS, SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP,
4923 SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR, SCM_FREEP, SCM_NFREEP, SCM_CHARS, SCM_UCHARS,
4924 SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING, SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING_COPY,
4925 SCM_VALIDATE_NULLORROSTRING_COPY, SCM_ROLENGTH, SCM_LENGTH, SCM_HUGE_LENGTH,
4926 SCM_SUBSTRP, SCM_SUBSTR_STR, SCM_SUBSTR_OFFSET, SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR,
4927 SCM_ROSTRINGP, SCM_RWSTRINGP, SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING, SCM_ROCHARS,
4928 SCM_ROUCHARS, SCM_SETLENGTH, SCM_SETCHARS, SCM_LENGTH_MAX, SCM_GC8MARKP,
4929 SCM_SETGC8MARK, SCM_CLRGC8MARK, SCM_GCTYP16, SCM_GCCDR, SCM_SUBR_DOC,
4930 SCM_OPDIRP, SCM_VALIDATE_OPDIR, SCM_WTA, RETURN_SCM_WTA, SCM_CONST_LONG,
4931 SCM_WNA, SCM_FUNC_NAME, SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_COPY,
4932 SCM_VALIDATE_NUMBER_DEF_COPY, SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP, SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP,
4933 SCM_SETAND_CDR, SCM_SETOR_CDR, SCM_SETAND_CAR, SCM_SETOR_CAR
4935 Use SCM_ASSERT_RANGE or SCM_VALIDATE_XXX_RANGE instead of SCM_OUTOFRANGE.
4936 Use scm_memory_error instead of SCM_NALLOC.
4937 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_STRINGP.
4938 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_STRINGORSUBSTR.
4939 Use SCM_FREE_CELL_P instead of SCM_FREEP/SCM_NFREEP
4940 Use a type specific accessor macro instead of SCM_CHARS/SCM_UCHARS.
4941 Use a type specific accessor instead of SCM(_|_RO|_HUGE_)LENGTH.
4942 Use SCM_VALIDATE_(SYMBOL|STRING) instead of SCM_VALIDATE_ROSTRING.
4943 Use SCM_STRING_COERCE_0TERMINATION_X instead of SCM_COERCE_SUBSTR.
4944 Use SCM_STRINGP or SCM_SYMBOLP instead of SCM_ROSTRINGP.
4945 Use SCM_STRINGP instead of SCM_RWSTRINGP.
4946 Use SCM_VALIDATE_STRING instead of SCM_VALIDATE_RWSTRING.
4947 Use SCM_STRING_CHARS instead of SCM_ROCHARS.
4948 Use SCM_STRING_UCHARS instead of SCM_ROUCHARS.
4949 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETLENGTH.
4950 Use a type specific setter macro instead of SCM_SETCHARS.
4951 Use a type specific length macro instead of SCM_LENGTH_MAX.
4952 Use SCM_GCMARKP instead of SCM_GC8MARKP.
4953 Use SCM_SETGCMARK instead of SCM_SETGC8MARK.
4954 Use SCM_CLRGCMARK instead of SCM_CLRGC8MARK.
4955 Use SCM_TYP16 instead of SCM_GCTYP16.
4956 Use SCM_CDR instead of SCM_GCCDR.
4957 Use SCM_DIR_OPEN_P instead of SCM_OPDIRP.
4958 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of SCM_WTA.
4959 Use SCM_MISC_ERROR or SCM_WRONG_TYPE_ARG instead of RETURN_SCM_WTA.
4960 Use SCM_VCELL_INIT instead of SCM_CONST_LONG.
4961 Use SCM_WRONG_NUM_ARGS instead of SCM_WNA.
4962 Use SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_CONSP.
4963 Use !SCM_CONSP instead of SCM_SLOPPY_NCONSP.
4965 ** Removed function: scm_struct_init
4967 ** Removed variable: scm_symhash_dim
4969 ** Renamed function: scm_make_cont has been replaced by
4970 scm_make_continuation, which has a different interface.
4972 ** Deprecated function: scm_call_catching_errors
4974 Use scm_catch or scm_lazy_catch from throw.[ch] instead.
4976 ** Deprecated function: scm_strhash
4978 Use scm_string_hash instead.
4980 ** Deprecated function: scm_vector_set_length_x
4982 Instead, create a fresh vector of the desired size and copy the contents.
4984 ** scm_gensym has changed prototype
4986 scm_gensym now only takes one argument.
4988 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc7_ssymbol, scm_tc7_msymbol, scm_tcs_symbols,
4991 There is now only a single symbol type scm_tc7_symbol.
4992 The tag scm_tc7_lvector was not used anyway.
4994 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe, scm_set_smob_mfpe.
4996 Use scm_make_smob_type and scm_set_smob_XXX instead.
4998 ** New function scm_set_smob_apply.
5000 This can be used to set an apply function to a smob type.
5002 ** Deprecated function: scm_strprint_obj
5004 Use scm_object_to_string instead.
5006 ** Deprecated function: scm_wta
5008 Use scm_wrong_type_arg, or another appropriate error signalling function
5011 ** Explicit support for obarrays has been deprecated.
5013 Use `scm_str2symbol' and the generic hashtable functions instead.
5015 ** The concept of `vcells' has been deprecated.
5017 The data type `variable' is now used exclusively. `Vcells' have been
5018 a low-level concept so you are likely not affected by this change.
5020 *** Deprecated functions: scm_sym2vcell, scm_sysintern,
5021 scm_sysintern0, scm_symbol_value0, scm_intern, scm_intern0.
5023 Use scm_c_define or scm_c_lookup instead, as appropriate.
5025 *** New functions: scm_c_module_lookup, scm_c_lookup,
5026 scm_c_module_define, scm_c_define, scm_module_lookup, scm_lookup,
5027 scm_module_define, scm_define.
5029 These functions work with variables instead of with vcells.
5031 ** New functions for creating and defining `subr's and `gsubr's.
5033 The new functions more clearly distinguish between creating a subr (or
5034 gsubr) object and adding it to the current module.
5036 These new functions are available: scm_c_make_subr, scm_c_define_subr,
5037 scm_c_make_subr_with_generic, scm_c_define_subr_with_generic,
5038 scm_c_make_gsubr, scm_c_define_gsubr, scm_c_make_gsubr_with_generic,
5039 scm_c_define_gsubr_with_generic.
5041 ** Deprecated functions: scm_make_subr, scm_make_subr_opt,
5042 scm_make_subr_with_generic, scm_make_gsubr,
5043 scm_make_gsubr_with_generic.
5045 Use the new ones from above instead.
5047 ** C interface to the module system has changed.
5049 While we suggest that you avoid as many explicit module system
5050 operations from C as possible for the time being, the C interface has
5051 been made more similar to the high-level Scheme module system.
5053 *** New functions: scm_c_define_module, scm_c_use_module,
5054 scm_c_export, scm_c_resolve_module.
5056 They mostly work like their Scheme namesakes. scm_c_define_module
5057 takes a function that is called a context where the new module is
5060 *** Deprecated functions: scm_the_root_module, scm_make_module,
5061 scm_ensure_user_module, scm_load_scheme_module.
5063 Use the new functions instead.
5065 ** Renamed function: scm_internal_with_fluids becomes
5068 scm_internal_with_fluids is available as a deprecated function.
5070 ** New function: scm_c_with_fluid.
5072 Just like scm_c_with_fluids, but takes one fluid and one value instead
5075 ** Deprecated typedefs: long_long, ulong_long.
5077 They are of questionable utility and they pollute the global
5080 ** Deprecated typedef: scm_sizet
5082 It is of questionable utility now that Guile requires ANSI C, and is
5085 ** Deprecated typedefs: scm_port_rw_active, scm_port,
5086 scm_ptob_descriptor, scm_debug_info, scm_debug_frame, scm_fport,
5087 scm_option, scm_rstate, scm_rng, scm_array, scm_array_dim.
5089 Made more compliant with the naming policy by adding a _t at the end.
5091 ** Deprecated functions: scm_mkbig, scm_big2num, scm_adjbig,
5092 scm_normbig, scm_copybig, scm_2ulong2big, scm_dbl2big, scm_big2dbl
5094 With the exception of the mysterious scm_2ulong2big, they are still
5095 available under new names (scm_i_mkbig etc). These functions are not
5096 intended to be used in user code. You should avoid dealing with
5097 bignums directly, and should deal with numbers in general (which can
5100 ** Change in behavior: scm_num2long, scm_num2ulong
5102 The scm_num2[u]long functions don't any longer accept an inexact
5103 argument. This change in behavior is motivated by concordance with
5104 R5RS: It is more common that a primitive doesn't want to accept an
5105 inexact for an exact.
5107 ** New functions: scm_short2num, scm_ushort2num, scm_int2num,
5108 scm_uint2num, scm_size2num, scm_ptrdiff2num, scm_num2short,
5109 scm_num2ushort, scm_num2int, scm_num2uint, scm_num2ptrdiff,
5112 These are conversion functions between the various ANSI C integral
5113 types and Scheme numbers. NOTE: The scm_num2xxx functions don't
5114 accept an inexact argument.
5116 ** New functions: scm_float2num, scm_double2num,
5117 scm_num2float, scm_num2double.
5119 These are conversion functions between the two ANSI C float types and
5122 ** New number validation macros:
5123 SCM_NUM2{SIZE,PTRDIFF,SHORT,USHORT,INT,UINT}[_DEF]
5127 ** New functions: scm_gc_protect_object, scm_gc_unprotect_object
5129 These are just nicer-named old scm_protect_object and
5130 scm_unprotect_object.
5132 ** Deprecated functions: scm_protect_object, scm_unprotect_object
5134 ** New functions: scm_gc_[un]register_root, scm_gc_[un]register_roots
5136 These functions can be used to register pointers to locations that
5139 ** Deprecated function: scm_create_hook.
5141 Its sins are: misleading name, non-modularity and lack of general
5145 Changes since Guile 1.3.4:
5147 * Changes to the distribution
5149 ** Trees from nightly snapshots and CVS now require you to run autogen.sh.
5151 We've changed the way we handle generated files in the Guile source
5152 repository. As a result, the procedure for building trees obtained
5153 from the nightly FTP snapshots or via CVS has changed:
5154 - You must have appropriate versions of autoconf, automake, and
5155 libtool installed on your system. See README for info on how to
5156 obtain these programs.
5157 - Before configuring the tree, you must first run the script
5158 `autogen.sh' at the top of the source tree.
5160 The Guile repository used to contain not only source files, written by
5161 humans, but also some generated files, like configure scripts and
5162 Makefile.in files. Even though the contents of these files could be
5163 derived mechanically from other files present, we thought it would
5164 make the tree easier to build if we checked them into CVS.
5166 However, this approach means that minor differences between
5167 developer's installed tools and habits affected the whole team.
5168 So we have removed the generated files from the repository, and
5169 added the autogen.sh script, which will reconstruct them
5173 ** configure now has experimental options to remove support for certain
5176 --disable-arrays omit array and uniform array support
5177 --disable-posix omit posix interfaces
5178 --disable-networking omit networking interfaces
5179 --disable-regex omit regular expression interfaces
5181 These are likely to become separate modules some day.
5183 ** New configure option --enable-debug-freelist
5185 This enables a debugging version of SCM_NEWCELL(), and also registers
5186 an extra primitive, the setter `gc-set-debug-check-freelist!'.
5188 Configure with the --enable-debug-freelist option to enable
5189 the gc-set-debug-check-freelist! primitive, and then use:
5191 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #t) # turn on checking of the freelist
5192 (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #f) # turn off checking
5194 Checking of the freelist forces a traversal of the freelist and
5195 a garbage collection before each allocation of a cell. This can
5196 slow down the interpreter dramatically, so the setter should be used to
5197 turn on this extra processing only when necessary.
5199 ** New configure option --enable-debug-malloc
5201 Include code for debugging of calls to scm_must_malloc/realloc/free.
5205 1. objects freed by scm_must_free has been mallocated by scm_must_malloc
5206 2. objects reallocated by scm_must_realloc has been allocated by
5208 3. reallocated objects are reallocated with the same what string
5210 But, most importantly, it records the number of allocated objects of
5211 each kind. This is useful when searching for memory leaks.
5213 A Guile compiled with this option provides the primitive
5214 `malloc-stats' which returns an alist with pairs of kind and the
5215 number of objects of that kind.
5217 ** All includes are now referenced relative to the root directory
5219 Since some users have had problems with mixups between Guile and
5220 system headers, we have decided to always refer to Guile headers via
5221 their parent directories. This essentially creates a "private name
5222 space" for Guile headers. This means that the compiler only is given
5223 -I options for the root build and root source directory.
5225 ** Header files kw.h and genio.h have been removed.
5227 ** The module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) has been removed.
5229 ** New module (ice-9 documentation)
5231 Implements the interface to documentation strings associated with
5234 ** New module (ice-9 time)
5236 Provides a macro `time', which displays execution time of a given form.
5238 ** New module (ice-9 history)
5240 Loading this module enables value history in the repl.
5242 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
5244 ** New command line option --debug
5246 Start Guile with debugging evaluator and backtraces enabled.
5248 This is useful when debugging your .guile init file or scripts.
5250 ** New help facility
5252 Usage: (help NAME) gives documentation about objects named NAME (a symbol)
5253 (help REGEXP) ditto for objects with names matching REGEXP (a string)
5254 (help 'NAME) gives documentation for NAME, even if it is not an object
5255 (help ,EXPR) gives documentation for object returned by EXPR
5256 (help (my module)) gives module commentary for `(my module)'
5257 (help) gives this text
5259 `help' searches among bindings exported from loaded modules, while
5260 `apropos' searches among bindings visible from the "current" module.
5262 Examples: (help help)
5264 (help "output-string")
5266 ** `help' and `apropos' now prints full module names
5268 ** Dynamic linking now uses libltdl from the libtool package.
5270 The old system dependent code for doing dynamic linking has been
5271 replaced with calls to the libltdl functions which do all the hairy
5274 The major improvement is that you can now directly pass libtool
5275 library names like "libfoo.la" to `dynamic-link' and `dynamic-link'
5276 will be able to do the best shared library job you can get, via
5279 The way dynamic libraries are found has changed and is not really
5280 portable across platforms, probably. It is therefore recommended to
5281 use absolute filenames when possible.
5283 If you pass a filename without an extension to `dynamic-link', it will
5284 try a few appropriate ones. Thus, the most platform ignorant way is
5285 to specify a name like "libfoo", without any directories and
5288 ** Guile COOP threads are now compatible with LinuxThreads
5290 Previously, COOP threading wasn't possible in applications linked with
5291 Linux POSIX threads due to their use of the stack pointer to find the
5292 thread context. This has now been fixed with a workaround which uses
5293 the pthreads to allocate the stack.
5295 ** New primitives: `pkgdata-dir', `site-dir', `library-dir'
5297 ** Positions of erring expression in scripts
5299 With version 1.3.4, the location of the erring expression in Guile
5300 scipts is no longer automatically reported. (This should have been
5301 documented before the 1.3.4 release.)
5303 You can get this information by enabling recording of positions of
5304 source expressions and running the debugging evaluator. Put this at
5305 the top of your script (or in your "site" file):
5307 (read-enable 'positions)
5308 (debug-enable 'debug)
5310 ** Backtraces in scripts
5312 It is now possible to get backtraces in scripts.
5316 (debug-enable 'debug 'backtrace)
5318 at the top of the script.
5320 (The first options enables the debugging evaluator.
5321 The second enables backtraces.)
5323 ** Part of module system symbol lookup now implemented in C
5325 The eval closure of most modules is now implemented in C. Since this
5326 was one of the bottlenecks for loading speed, Guile now loads code
5327 substantially faster than before.
5329 ** Attempting to get the value of an unbound variable now produces
5330 an exception with a key of 'unbound-variable instead of 'misc-error.
5332 ** The initial default output port is now unbuffered if it's using a
5333 tty device. Previously in this situation it was line-buffered.
5335 ** New hook: after-gc-hook
5337 after-gc-hook takes over the role of gc-thunk. This hook is run at
5338 the first SCM_TICK after a GC. (Thus, the code is run at the same
5339 point during evaluation as signal handlers.)
5341 Note that this hook should be used only for diagnostic and debugging
5342 purposes. It is not certain that it will continue to be well-defined
5343 when this hook is run in the future.
5345 C programmers: Note the new C level hooks scm_before_gc_c_hook,
5346 scm_before_sweep_c_hook, scm_after_gc_c_hook.
5348 ** Improvements to garbage collector
5350 Guile 1.4 has a new policy for triggering heap allocation and
5351 determining the sizes of heap segments. It fixes a number of problems
5354 1. The new policy can handle two separate pools of cells
5355 (2-word/4-word) better. (The old policy would run wild, allocating
5356 more and more memory for certain programs.)
5358 2. The old code would sometimes allocate far too much heap so that the
5359 Guile process became gigantic. The new code avoids this.
5361 3. The old code would sometimes allocate too little so that few cells
5362 were freed at GC so that, in turn, too much time was spent in GC.
5364 4. The old code would often trigger heap allocation several times in a
5365 row. (The new scheme predicts how large the segments needs to be
5366 in order not to need further allocation.)
5368 All in all, the new GC policy will make larger applications more
5371 The new GC scheme also is prepared for POSIX threading. Threads can
5372 allocate private pools of cells ("clusters") with just a single
5373 function call. Allocation of single cells from such a cluster can
5374 then proceed without any need of inter-thread synchronization.
5376 ** New environment variables controlling GC parameters
5378 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE Maximal segment size
5381 Allocation of 2-word cell heaps:
5383 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_1 Size of initial heap segment in bytes
5386 GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1 Minimum number of freed cells at each
5387 GC in percent of total heap size
5390 Allocation of 4-word cell heaps
5391 (used for real numbers and misc other objects):
5393 GUILE_INIT_SEGMENT_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2
5395 (See entry "Way for application to customize GC parameters" under
5396 section "Changes to the scm_ interface" below.)
5398 ** Guile now implements reals using 4-word cells
5400 This speeds up computation with reals. (They were earlier allocated
5401 with `malloc'.) There is still some room for optimizations, however.
5403 ** Some further steps toward POSIX thread support have been taken
5405 *** Guile's critical sections (SCM_DEFER/ALLOW_INTS)
5406 don't have much effect any longer, and many of them will be removed in
5410 are only handled at the top of the evaluator loop, immediately after
5411 I/O, and in scm_equalp.
5413 *** The GC can allocate thread private pools of pairs.
5415 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5417 ** close-input-port and close-output-port are now R5RS
5419 These procedures have been turned into primitives and have R5RS behaviour.
5421 ** New procedure: simple-format PORT MESSAGE ARG1 ...
5423 (ice-9 boot) makes `format' an alias for `simple-format' until possibly
5424 extended by the more sophisticated version in (ice-9 format)
5426 (simple-format port message . args)
5427 Write MESSAGE to DESTINATION, defaulting to `current-output-port'.
5428 MESSAGE can contain ~A (was %s) and ~S (was %S) escapes. When printed,
5429 the escapes are replaced with corresponding members of ARGS:
5430 ~A formats using `display' and ~S formats using `write'.
5431 If DESTINATION is #t, then use the `current-output-port',
5432 if DESTINATION is #f, then return a string containing the formatted text.
5433 Does not add a trailing newline."
5435 ** string-ref: the second argument is no longer optional.
5437 ** string, list->string: no longer accept strings in their arguments,
5438 only characters, for compatibility with R5RS.
5440 ** New procedure: port-closed? PORT
5441 Returns #t if PORT is closed or #f if it is open.
5443 ** Deprecated: list*
5445 The list* functionality is now provided by cons* (SRFI-1 compliant)
5447 ** New procedure: cons* ARG1 ARG2 ... ARGn
5449 Like `list', but the last arg provides the tail of the constructed list,
5450 returning (cons ARG1 (cons ARG2 (cons ... ARGn))).
5452 Requires at least one argument. If given one argument, that argument
5453 is returned as result.
5455 This function is called `list*' in some other Schemes and in Common LISP.
5457 ** Removed deprecated: serial-map, serial-array-copy!, serial-array-map!
5459 ** New procedure: object-documentation OBJECT
5461 Returns the documentation string associated with OBJECT. The
5462 procedure uses a caching mechanism so that subsequent lookups are
5465 Exported by (ice-9 documentation).
5467 ** module-name now returns full names of modules
5469 Previously, only the last part of the name was returned (`session' for
5470 `(ice-9 session)'). Ex: `(ice-9 session)'.
5472 * Changes to the gh_ interface
5474 ** Deprecated: gh_int2scmb
5476 Use gh_bool2scm instead.
5478 * Changes to the scm_ interface
5480 ** Guile primitives now carry docstrings!
5482 Thanks to Greg Badros!
5484 ** Guile primitives are defined in a new way: SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
5486 Now Guile primitives are defined using the SCM_DEFINE/SCM_DEFINE1/SCM_PROC
5487 macros and must contain a docstring that is extracted into foo.doc using a new
5488 guile-doc-snarf script (that uses guile-doc-snarf.awk).
5490 However, a major overhaul of these macros is scheduled for the next release of
5493 ** Guile primitives use a new technique for validation of arguments
5495 SCM_VALIDATE_* macros are defined to ease the redundancy and improve
5496 the readability of argument checking.
5498 ** All (nearly?) K&R prototypes for functions replaced with ANSI C equivalents.
5500 ** New macros: SCM_PACK, SCM_UNPACK
5502 Compose/decompose an SCM value.
5504 The SCM type is now treated as an abstract data type and may be defined as a
5505 long, a void* or as a struct, depending on the architecture and compile time
5506 options. This makes it easier to find several types of bugs, for example when
5507 SCM values are treated as integers without conversion. Values of the SCM type
5508 should be treated as "atomic" values. These macros are used when
5509 composing/decomposing an SCM value, either because you want to access
5510 individual bits, or because you want to treat it as an integer value.
5512 E.g., in order to set bit 7 in an SCM value x, use the expression
5514 SCM_PACK (SCM_UNPACK (x) | 0x80)
5516 ** The name property of hooks is deprecated.
5517 Thus, the use of SCM_HOOK_NAME and scm_make_hook_with_name is deprecated.
5519 You can emulate this feature by using object properties.
5521 ** Deprecated macros: SCM_INPORTP, SCM_OUTPORTP, SCM_CRDY, SCM_ICHRP,
5522 SCM_ICHR, SCM_MAKICHR, SCM_SETJMPBUF, SCM_NSTRINGP, SCM_NRWSTRINGP,
5525 These macros will be removed in a future release of Guile.
5527 ** The following types, functions and macros from numbers.h are deprecated:
5528 scm_dblproc, SCM_UNEGFIXABLE, SCM_FLOBUFLEN, SCM_INEXP, SCM_CPLXP, SCM_REAL,
5529 SCM_IMAG, SCM_REALPART, scm_makdbl, SCM_SINGP, SCM_NUM2DBL, SCM_NO_BIGDIG
5531 ** Port internals: the rw_random variable in the scm_port structure
5532 must be set to non-zero in any random access port. In recent Guile
5533 releases it was only set for bidirectional random-access ports.
5535 ** Port internals: the seek ptob procedure is now responsible for
5536 resetting the buffers if required. The change was made so that in the
5537 special case of reading the current position (i.e., seek p 0 SEEK_CUR)
5538 the fport and strport ptobs can avoid resetting the buffers,
5539 in particular to avoid discarding unread chars. An existing port
5540 type can be fixed by adding something like the following to the
5541 beginning of the ptob seek procedure:
5543 if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_READ)
5544 scm_end_input (object);
5545 else if (pt->rw_active == SCM_PORT_WRITE)
5546 ptob->flush (object);
5548 although to actually avoid resetting the buffers and discard unread
5549 chars requires further hacking that depends on the characteristics
5552 ** Deprecated functions: scm_fseek, scm_tag
5554 These functions are no longer used and will be removed in a future version.
5556 ** The scm_sysmissing procedure is no longer used in libguile.
5557 Unless it turns out to be unexpectedly useful to somebody, it will be
5558 removed in a future version.
5560 ** The format of error message strings has changed
5562 The two C procedures: scm_display_error and scm_error, as well as the
5563 primitive `scm-error', now use scm_simple_format to do their work.
5564 This means that the message strings of all code must be updated to use
5565 ~A where %s was used before, and ~S where %S was used before.
5567 During the period when there still are a lot of old Guiles out there,
5568 you might want to support both old and new versions of Guile.
5570 There are basically two methods to achieve this. Both methods use
5573 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(scm_simple_format)
5575 in your configure.in.
5577 Method 1: Use the string concatenation features of ANSI C's
5582 #ifdef HAVE_SCM_SIMPLE_FORMAT
5588 Then represent each of your error messages using a preprocessor macro:
5590 #define E_SPIDER_ERROR "There's a spider in your " ## FMT_S ## "!!!"
5594 (define fmt-s (if (defined? 'simple-format) "~S" "%S"))
5595 (define make-message string-append)
5597 (define e-spider-error (make-message "There's a spider in your " fmt-s "!!!"))
5599 Method 2: Use the oldfmt function found in doc/oldfmt.c.
5603 scm_misc_error ("picnic", scm_c_oldfmt0 ("There's a spider in your ~S!!!"),
5608 (scm-error 'misc-error "picnic" (oldfmt "There's a spider in your ~S!!!")
5612 ** Deprecated: coop_mutex_init, coop_condition_variable_init
5614 Don't use the functions coop_mutex_init and
5615 coop_condition_variable_init. They will change.
5617 Use scm_mutex_init and scm_cond_init instead.
5619 ** New function: int scm_cond_timedwait (scm_cond_t *COND, scm_mutex_t *MUTEX, const struct timespec *ABSTIME)
5620 `scm_cond_timedwait' atomically unlocks MUTEX and waits on
5621 COND, as `scm_cond_wait' does, but it also bounds the duration
5622 of the wait. If COND has not been signaled before time ABSTIME,
5623 the mutex MUTEX is re-acquired and `scm_cond_timedwait'
5624 returns the error code `ETIMEDOUT'.
5626 The ABSTIME parameter specifies an absolute time, with the same
5627 origin as `time' and `gettimeofday': an ABSTIME of 0 corresponds
5628 to 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970.
5630 ** New function: scm_cond_broadcast (scm_cond_t *COND)
5631 `scm_cond_broadcast' restarts all the threads that are waiting
5632 on the condition variable COND. Nothing happens if no threads are
5635 ** New function: scm_key_create (scm_key_t *KEY, void (*destr_function) (void *))
5636 `scm_key_create' allocates a new TSD key. The key is stored in
5637 the location pointed to by KEY. There is no limit on the number
5638 of keys allocated at a given time. The value initially associated
5639 with the returned key is `NULL' in all currently executing threads.
5641 The DESTR_FUNCTION argument, if not `NULL', specifies a destructor
5642 function associated with the key. When a thread terminates,
5643 DESTR_FUNCTION is called on the value associated with the key in
5644 that thread. The DESTR_FUNCTION is not called if a key is deleted
5645 with `scm_key_delete' or a value is changed with
5646 `scm_setspecific'. The order in which destructor functions are
5647 called at thread termination time is unspecified.
5649 Destructors are not yet implemented.
5651 ** New function: scm_setspecific (scm_key_t KEY, const void *POINTER)
5652 `scm_setspecific' changes the value associated with KEY in the
5653 calling thread, storing the given POINTER instead.
5655 ** New function: scm_getspecific (scm_key_t KEY)
5656 `scm_getspecific' returns the value currently associated with
5657 KEY in the calling thread.
5659 ** New function: scm_key_delete (scm_key_t KEY)
5660 `scm_key_delete' deallocates a TSD key. It does not check
5661 whether non-`NULL' values are associated with that key in the
5662 currently executing threads, nor call the destructor function
5663 associated with the key.
5665 ** New function: scm_c_hook_init (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *HOOK_DATA, scm_c_hook_type_t TYPE)
5667 Initialize a C level hook HOOK with associated HOOK_DATA and type
5668 TYPE. (See scm_c_hook_run ().)
5670 ** New function: scm_c_hook_add (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA, int APPENDP)
5672 Add hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA to HOOK. If APPENDP
5673 is true, add it last, otherwise first. The same FUNC can be added
5674 multiple times if FUNC_DATA differ and vice versa.
5676 ** New function: scm_c_hook_remove (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, scm_c_hook_function_t FUNC, void *FUNC_DATA)
5678 Remove hook function FUNC with associated FUNC_DATA from HOOK. A
5679 function is only removed if both FUNC and FUNC_DATA matches.
5681 ** New function: void *scm_c_hook_run (scm_c_hook_t *HOOK, void *DATA)
5683 Run hook HOOK passing DATA to the hook functions.
5685 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_NORMAL, all hook functions are run. The value
5686 returned is undefined.
5688 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_OR, hook functions are run until a function
5689 returns a non-NULL value. This value is returned as the result of
5690 scm_c_hook_run. If all functions return NULL, NULL is returned.
5692 If TYPE is SCM_C_HOOK_AND, hook functions are run until a function
5693 returns a NULL value, and NULL is returned. If all functions returns
5694 a non-NULL value, the last value is returned.
5696 ** New C level GC hooks
5698 Five new C level hooks has been added to the garbage collector.
5700 scm_before_gc_c_hook
5703 are run before locking and after unlocking the heap. The system is
5704 thus in a mode where evaluation can take place. (Except that
5705 scm_before_gc_c_hook must not allocate new cells.)
5707 scm_before_mark_c_hook
5708 scm_before_sweep_c_hook
5709 scm_after_sweep_c_hook
5711 are run when the heap is locked. These are intended for extension of
5712 the GC in a modular fashion. Examples are the weaks and guardians
5715 ** Way for application to customize GC parameters
5717 The application can set up other default values for the GC heap
5718 allocation parameters
5720 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_1, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_1,
5721 GUILE_INIT_HEAP_SIZE_2, GUILE_MIN_YIELD_2,
5722 GUILE_MAX_SEGMENT_SIZE,
5726 scm_default_init_heap_size_1, scm_default_min_yield_1,
5727 scm_default_init_heap_size_2, scm_default_min_yield_2,
5728 scm_default_max_segment_size
5730 respectively before callong scm_boot_guile.
5732 (See entry "New environment variables ..." in section
5733 "Changes to the stand-alone interpreter" above.)
5735 ** scm_protect_object/scm_unprotect_object now nest
5737 This means that you can call scm_protect_object multiple times on an
5738 object and count on the object being protected until
5739 scm_unprotect_object has been call the same number of times.
5741 The functions also have better time complexity.
5743 Still, it is usually possible to structure the application in a way
5744 that you don't need to use these functions. For example, if you use a
5745 protected standard Guile list to keep track of live objects rather
5746 than some custom data type, objects will die a natural death when they
5747 are no longer needed.
5749 ** Deprecated type tags: scm_tc16_flo, scm_tc_flo, scm_tc_dblr, scm_tc_dblc
5751 Guile does not provide the float representation for inexact real numbers any
5752 more. Now, only doubles are used to represent inexact real numbers. Further,
5753 the tag names scm_tc_dblr and scm_tc_dblc have been changed to scm_tc16_real
5754 and scm_tc16_complex, respectively.
5756 ** Removed deprecated type scm_smobfuns
5758 ** Removed deprecated function scm_newsmob
5760 ** Warning: scm_make_smob_type_mfpe might become deprecated in a future release
5762 There is an ongoing discussion among the developers whether to
5763 deprecate `scm_make_smob_type_mfpe' or not. Please use the current
5764 standard interface (scm_make_smob_type, scm_set_smob_XXX) in new code
5765 until this issue has been settled.
5767 ** Removed deprecated type tag scm_tc16_kw
5769 ** Added type tag scm_tc16_keyword
5771 (This was introduced already in release 1.3.4 but was not documented
5774 ** gdb_print now prints "*** Guile not initialized ***" until Guile initialized
5776 * Changes to system call interfaces:
5778 ** The "select" procedure now tests port buffers for the ability to
5779 provide input or accept output. Previously only the underlying file
5780 descriptors were checked.
5782 ** New variable PIPE_BUF: the maximum number of bytes that can be
5783 atomically written to a pipe.
5785 ** If a facility is not available on the system when Guile is
5786 compiled, the corresponding primitive procedure will not be defined.
5787 Previously it would have been defined but would throw a system-error
5788 exception if called. Exception handlers which catch this case may
5789 need minor modification: an error will be thrown with key
5790 'unbound-variable instead of 'system-error. Alternatively it's
5791 now possible to use `defined?' to check whether the facility is
5794 ** Procedures which depend on the timezone should now give the correct
5795 result on systems which cache the TZ environment variable, even if TZ
5796 is changed without calling tzset.
5798 * Changes to the networking interfaces:
5800 ** New functions: htons, ntohs, htonl, ntohl: for converting short and
5801 long integers between network and host format. For now, it's not
5802 particularly convenient to do this kind of thing, but consider:
5804 (define write-network-long
5805 (lambda (value port)
5806 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
5807 (uniform-vector-set! v 0 (htonl value))
5808 (uniform-vector-write v port))))
5810 (define read-network-long
5812 (let ((v (make-uniform-vector 1 1 0)))
5813 (uniform-vector-read! v port)
5814 (ntohl (uniform-vector-ref v 0)))))
5816 ** If inet-aton fails, it now throws an error with key 'misc-error
5817 instead of 'system-error, since errno is not relevant.
5819 ** Certain gethostbyname/gethostbyaddr failures now throw errors with
5820 specific keys instead of 'system-error. The latter is inappropriate
5821 since errno will not have been set. The keys are:
5822 'host-not-found, 'try-again, 'no-recovery and 'no-data.
5824 ** sethostent, setnetent, setprotoent, setservent: now take an
5825 optional argument STAYOPEN, which specifies whether the database
5826 remains open after a database entry is accessed randomly (e.g., using
5827 gethostbyname for the hosts database.) The default is #f. Previously
5831 Changes since Guile 1.3.2:
5833 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
5837 An initial version of the Guile debugger written by Chris Hanson has
5838 been added. The debugger is still under development but is included
5839 in the distribution anyway since it is already quite useful.
5845 after an error to enter the debugger. Type `help' inside the debugger
5846 for a description of available commands.
5848 If you prefer to have stack frames numbered and printed in
5849 anti-chronological order and prefer up in the stack to be down on the
5850 screen as is the case in gdb, you can put
5852 (debug-enable 'backwards)
5854 in your .guile startup file. (However, this means that Guile can't
5855 use indentation to indicate stack level.)
5857 The debugger is autoloaded into Guile at the first use.
5859 ** Further enhancements to backtraces
5861 There is a new debug option `width' which controls the maximum width
5862 on the screen of printed stack frames. Fancy printing parameters
5863 ("level" and "length" as in Common LISP) are adaptively adjusted for
5864 each stack frame to give maximum information while still fitting
5865 within the bounds. If the stack frame can't be made to fit by
5866 adjusting parameters, it is simply cut off at the end. This is marked
5869 ** Some modules are now only loaded when the repl is started
5871 The modules (ice-9 debug), (ice-9 session), (ice-9 threads) and (ice-9
5872 regex) are now loaded into (guile-user) only if the repl has been
5873 started. The effect is that the startup time for scripts has been
5874 reduced to 30% of what it was previously.
5876 Correctly written scripts load the modules they require at the top of
5877 the file and should not be affected by this change.
5879 ** Hooks are now represented as smobs
5881 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
5883 ** Readline support has changed again.
5885 The old (readline-activator) module is gone. Use (ice-9 readline)
5886 instead, which now contains all readline functionality. So the code
5887 to activate readline is now
5889 (use-modules (ice-9 readline))
5892 This should work at any time, including from the guile prompt.
5894 To avoid confusion about the terms of Guile's license, please only
5895 enable readline for your personal use; please don't make it the
5896 default for others. Here is why we make this rather odd-sounding
5899 Guile is normally licensed under a weakened form of the GNU General
5900 Public License, which allows you to link code with Guile without
5901 placing that code under the GPL. This exception is important to some
5904 However, since readline is distributed under the GNU General Public
5905 License, when you link Guile with readline, either statically or
5906 dynamically, you effectively change Guile's license to the strict GPL.
5907 Whenever you link any strictly GPL'd code into Guile, uses of Guile
5908 which are normally permitted become forbidden. This is a rather
5909 non-obvious consequence of the licensing terms.
5911 So, to make sure things remain clear, please let people choose for
5912 themselves whether to link GPL'd libraries like readline with Guile.
5914 ** regexp-substitute/global has changed slightly, but incompatibly.
5916 If you include a function in the item list, the string of the match
5917 object it receives is the same string passed to
5918 regexp-substitute/global, not some suffix of that string.
5919 Correspondingly, the match's positions are relative to the entire
5920 string, not the suffix.
5922 If the regexp can match the empty string, the way matches are chosen
5923 from the string has changed. regexp-substitute/global recognizes the
5924 same set of matches that list-matches does; see below.
5926 ** New function: list-matches REGEXP STRING [FLAGS]
5928 Return a list of match objects, one for every non-overlapping, maximal
5929 match of REGEXP in STRING. The matches appear in left-to-right order.
5930 list-matches only reports matches of the empty string if there are no
5931 other matches which begin on, end at, or include the empty match's
5934 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
5936 ** New function: fold-matches REGEXP STRING INIT PROC [FLAGS]
5938 For each match of REGEXP in STRING, apply PROC to the match object,
5939 and the last value PROC returned, or INIT for the first call. Return
5940 the last value returned by PROC. We apply PROC to the matches as they
5941 appear from left to right.
5943 This function recognizes matches according to the same criteria as
5946 Thus, you could define list-matches like this:
5948 (define (list-matches regexp string . flags)
5949 (reverse! (apply fold-matches regexp string '() cons flags)))
5951 If present, FLAGS is passed as the FLAGS argument to regexp-exec.
5955 *** New function: hook? OBJ
5957 Return #t if OBJ is a hook, otherwise #f.
5959 *** New function: make-hook-with-name NAME [ARITY]
5961 Return a hook with name NAME and arity ARITY. The default value for
5962 ARITY is 0. The only effect of NAME is that it will appear when the
5963 hook object is printed to ease debugging.
5965 *** New function: hook-empty? HOOK
5967 Return #t if HOOK doesn't contain any procedures, otherwise #f.
5969 *** New function: hook->list HOOK
5971 Return a list of the procedures that are called when run-hook is
5974 ** `map' signals an error if its argument lists are not all the same length.
5976 This is the behavior required by R5RS, so this change is really a bug
5977 fix. But it seems to affect a lot of people's code, so we're
5978 mentioning it here anyway.
5980 ** Print-state handling has been made more transparent
5982 Under certain circumstances, ports are represented as a port with an
5983 associated print state. Earlier, this pair was represented as a pair
5984 (see "Some magic has been added to the printer" below). It is now
5985 indistinguishable (almost; see `get-print-state') from a port on the
5988 *** New function: port-with-print-state OUTPUT-PORT PRINT-STATE
5990 Return a new port with the associated print state PRINT-STATE.
5992 *** New function: get-print-state OUTPUT-PORT
5994 Return the print state associated with this port if it exists,
5995 otherwise return #f.
5997 *** New function: directory-stream? OBJECT
5999 Returns true iff OBJECT is a directory stream --- the sort of object
6000 returned by `opendir'.
6002 ** New function: using-readline?
6004 Return #t if readline is in use in the current repl.
6006 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
6008 Structs will be replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into Guile
6009 and use GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
6011 * Changes to the scm_ interface
6013 ** structs will be removed in 1.4
6015 The entire current struct interface (struct.c, struct.h) will be
6016 replaced in Guile 1.4. We will merge GOOPS into libguile and use
6017 GOOPS objects as the fundamental record type.
6019 ** The internal representation of subr's has changed
6021 Instead of giving a hint to the subr name, the CAR field of the subr
6022 now contains an index to a subr entry in scm_subr_table.
6024 *** New variable: scm_subr_table
6026 An array of subr entries. A subr entry contains the name, properties
6027 and documentation associated with the subr. The properties and
6028 documentation slots are not yet used.
6030 ** A new scheme for "forwarding" calls to a builtin to a generic function
6032 It is now possible to extend the functionality of some Guile
6033 primitives by letting them defer a call to a GOOPS generic function on
6034 argument mismatch. This means that there is no loss of efficiency in
6039 (use-modules (oop goops)) ; Must be GOOPS version 0.2.
6040 (define-method + ((x <string>) (y <string>))
6041 (string-append x y))
6043 + will still be as efficient as usual in numerical calculations, but
6044 can also be used for concatenating strings.
6046 Who will be the first one to extend Guile's numerical tower to
6047 rationals? :) [OK, there a few other things to fix before this can
6048 be made in a clean way.]
6050 *** New snarf macros for defining primitives: SCM_GPROC, SCM_GPROC1
6052 New macro: SCM_GPROC (CNAME, SNAME, REQ, OPT, VAR, CFUNC, GENERIC)
6054 New macro: SCM_GPROC1 (CNAME, SNAME, TYPE, CFUNC, GENERIC)
6056 These do the same job as SCM_PROC and SCM_PROC1, but they also define
6057 a variable GENERIC which can be used by the dispatch macros below.
6059 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
6061 *** New macros for forwarding control to a generic on arg type error
6063 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_1 (GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
6065 New macro: SCM_WTA_DISPATCH_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
6067 These correspond to the scm_wta function call, and have the same
6068 behaviour until the user has called the GOOPS primitive
6069 `enable-primitive-generic!'. After that, these macros will apply the
6070 generic function GENERIC to the argument(s) instead of calling
6073 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
6075 *** New macros for argument testing with generic dispatch
6077 New macro: SCM_GASSERT1 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, POS, SUBR)
6079 New macro: SCM_GASSERT2 (COND, GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, POS, SUBR)
6081 These correspond to the SCM_ASSERT macro, but will defer control to
6082 GENERIC on error after `enable-primitive-generic!' has been called.
6084 [This is experimental code which may change soon.]
6086 ** New function: SCM scm_eval_body (SCM body, SCM env)
6088 Evaluates the body of a special form.
6090 ** The internal representation of struct's has changed
6092 Previously, four slots were allocated for the procedure(s) of entities
6093 and operators. The motivation for this representation had to do with
6094 the structure of the evaluator, the wish to support tail-recursive
6095 generic functions, and efficiency. Since the generic function
6096 dispatch mechanism has changed, there is no longer a need for such an
6097 expensive representation, and the representation has been simplified.
6099 This should not make any difference for most users.
6101 ** GOOPS support has been cleaned up.
6103 Some code has been moved from eval.c to objects.c and code in both of
6104 these compilation units has been cleaned up and better structured.
6106 *** New functions for applying generic functions
6108 New function: SCM scm_apply_generic (GENERIC, ARGS)
6109 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_0 (GENERIC)
6110 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_1 (GENERIC, ARG1)
6111 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_2 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2)
6112 New function: SCM scm_call_generic_3 (GENERIC, ARG1, ARG2, ARG3)
6114 ** Deprecated function: scm_make_named_hook
6116 It is now replaced by:
6118 ** New function: SCM scm_create_hook (const char *name, int arity)
6120 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
6121 binds a variable named NAME to it.
6123 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
6125 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module.
6126 This might change when we get the new module system.
6128 [The behaviour is identical to scm_make_named_hook.]
6132 Changes since Guile 1.3:
6134 * Changes to mailing lists
6136 ** Some of the Guile mailing lists have moved to sourceware.cygnus.com.
6138 See the README file to find current addresses for all the Guile
6141 * Changes to the distribution
6143 ** Readline support is no longer included with Guile by default.
6145 Based on the different license terms of Guile and Readline, we
6146 concluded that Guile should not *by default* cause the linking of
6147 Readline into an application program. Readline support is now offered
6148 as a separate module, which is linked into an application only when
6149 you explicitly specify it.
6151 Although Guile is GNU software, its distribution terms add a special
6152 exception to the usual GNU General Public License (GPL). Guile's
6153 license includes a clause that allows you to link Guile with non-free
6154 programs. We add this exception so as not to put Guile at a
6155 disadvantage vis-a-vis other extensibility packages that support other
6158 In contrast, the GNU Readline library is distributed under the GNU
6159 General Public License pure and simple. This means that you may not
6160 link Readline, even dynamically, into an application unless it is
6161 distributed under a free software license that is compatible the GPL.
6163 Because of this difference in distribution terms, an application that
6164 can use Guile may not be able to use Readline. Now users will be
6165 explicitly offered two independent decisions about the use of these
6168 You can activate the readline support by issuing
6170 (use-modules (readline-activator))
6173 from your ".guile" file, for example.
6175 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
6177 ** All builtins now print as primitives.
6178 Previously builtin procedures not belonging to the fundamental subr
6179 types printed as #<compiled closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>.
6180 Now, they print as #<primitive-procedure NAME>.
6182 ** Backtraces slightly more intelligible.
6183 gsubr-apply and macro transformer application frames no longer appear
6186 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
6188 ** Guile now correctly handles internal defines by rewriting them into
6189 their equivalent letrec. Previously, internal defines would
6190 incrementally add to the innermost environment, without checking
6191 whether the restrictions specified in RnRS were met. This lead to the
6192 correct behaviour when these restriction actually were met, but didn't
6193 catch all illegal uses. Such an illegal use could lead to crashes of
6194 the Guile interpreter or or other unwanted results. An example of
6195 incorrect internal defines that made Guile behave erratically:
6207 The problem with this example is that the definition of `c' uses the
6208 value of `b' directly. This confuses the meoization machine of Guile
6209 so that the second call of `b' (this time in a larger environment that
6210 also contains bindings for `c' and `d') refers to the binding of `c'
6211 instead of `a'. You could also make Guile crash with a variation on
6216 (define (b flag) (if flag a 1))
6217 (define c (1+ (b flag)))
6225 From now on, Guile will issue an `Unbound variable: b' error message
6230 A hook contains a list of functions which should be called on
6231 particular occasions in an existing program. Hooks are used for
6234 A window manager might have a hook before-window-map-hook. The window
6235 manager uses the function run-hooks to call all functions stored in
6236 before-window-map-hook each time a window is mapped. The user can
6237 store functions in the hook using add-hook!.
6239 In Guile, hooks are first class objects.
6241 *** New function: make-hook [N_ARGS]
6243 Return a hook for hook functions which can take N_ARGS arguments.
6244 The default value for N_ARGS is 0.
6246 (See also scm_make_named_hook below.)
6248 *** New function: add-hook! HOOK PROC [APPEND_P]
6250 Put PROC at the beginning of the list of functions stored in HOOK.
6251 If APPEND_P is supplied, and non-false, put PROC at the end instead.
6253 PROC must be able to take the number of arguments specified when the
6256 If PROC already exists in HOOK, then remove it first.
6258 *** New function: remove-hook! HOOK PROC
6260 Remove PROC from the list of functions in HOOK.
6262 *** New function: reset-hook! HOOK
6264 Clear the list of hook functions stored in HOOK.
6266 *** New function: run-hook HOOK ARG1 ...
6268 Run all hook functions stored in HOOK with arguments ARG1 ... .
6269 The number of arguments supplied must correspond to the number given
6270 when the hook was created.
6272 ** The function `dynamic-link' now takes optional keyword arguments.
6273 The only keyword argument that is currently defined is `:global
6274 BOOL'. With it, you can control whether the shared library will be
6275 linked in global mode or not. In global mode, the symbols from the
6276 linked library can be used to resolve references from other
6277 dynamically linked libraries. In non-global mode, the linked
6278 library is essentially invisible and can only be accessed via
6279 `dynamic-func', etc. The default is now to link in global mode.
6280 Previously, the default has been non-global mode.
6282 The `#:global' keyword is only effective on platforms that support
6283 the dlopen family of functions.
6285 ** New function `provided?'
6287 - Function: provided? FEATURE
6288 Return true iff FEATURE is supported by this installation of
6289 Guile. FEATURE must be a symbol naming a feature; the global
6290 variable `*features*' is a list of available features.
6292 ** Changes to the module (ice-9 expect):
6294 *** The expect-strings macro now matches `$' in a regular expression
6295 only at a line-break or end-of-file by default. Previously it would
6296 match the end of the string accumulated so far. The old behaviour
6297 can be obtained by setting the variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
6300 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable `expect-strings-exec-flags'
6301 for the regexp-exec flags. If `regexp/noteol' is included, then `$'
6302 in a regular expression will still match before a line-break or
6303 end-of-file. The default is `regexp/noteol'.
6305 *** The expect-strings macro now uses a variable
6306 `expect-strings-compile-flags' for the flags to be supplied to
6307 `make-regexp'. The default is `regexp/newline', which was previously
6310 *** The expect macro now supplies two arguments to a match procedure:
6311 the current accumulated string and a flag to indicate whether
6312 end-of-file has been reached. Previously only the string was supplied.
6313 If end-of-file is reached, the match procedure will be called an
6314 additional time with the same accumulated string as the previous call
6315 but with the flag set.
6317 ** New module (ice-9 format), implementing the Common Lisp `format' function.
6319 This code, and the documentation for it that appears here, was
6320 borrowed from SLIB, with minor adaptations for Guile.
6322 - Function: format DESTINATION FORMAT-STRING . ARGUMENTS
6323 An almost complete implementation of Common LISP format description
6324 according to the CL reference book `Common LISP' from Guy L.
6325 Steele, Digital Press. Backward compatible to most of the
6326 available Scheme format implementations.
6328 Returns `#t', `#f' or a string; has side effect of printing
6329 according to FORMAT-STRING. If DESTINATION is `#t', the output is
6330 to the current output port and `#t' is returned. If DESTINATION
6331 is `#f', a formatted string is returned as the result of the call.
6332 NEW: If DESTINATION is a string, DESTINATION is regarded as the
6333 format string; FORMAT-STRING is then the first argument and the
6334 output is returned as a string. If DESTINATION is a number, the
6335 output is to the current error port if available by the
6336 implementation. Otherwise DESTINATION must be an output port and
6339 FORMAT-STRING must be a string. In case of a formatting error
6340 format returns `#f' and prints a message on the current output or
6341 error port. Characters are output as if the string were output by
6342 the `display' function with the exception of those prefixed by a
6343 tilde (~). For a detailed description of the FORMAT-STRING syntax
6344 please consult a Common LISP format reference manual. For a test
6345 suite to verify this format implementation load `formatst.scm'.
6346 Please send bug reports to `lutzeb@cs.tu-berlin.de'.
6348 Note: `format' is not reentrant, i.e. only one `format'-call may
6349 be executed at a time.
6352 *** Format Specification (Format version 3.0)
6354 Please consult a Common LISP format reference manual for a detailed
6355 description of the format string syntax. For a demonstration of the
6356 implemented directives see `formatst.scm'.
6358 This implementation supports directive parameters and modifiers (`:'
6359 and `@' characters). Multiple parameters must be separated by a comma
6360 (`,'). Parameters can be numerical parameters (positive or negative),
6361 character parameters (prefixed by a quote character (`''), variable
6362 parameters (`v'), number of rest arguments parameter (`#'), empty and
6363 default parameters. Directive characters are case independent. The
6364 general form of a directive is:
6366 DIRECTIVE ::= ~{DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER,}[:][@]DIRECTIVE-CHARACTER
6368 DIRECTIVE-PARAMETER ::= [ [-|+]{0-9}+ | 'CHARACTER | v | # ]
6370 *** Implemented CL Format Control Directives
6372 Documentation syntax: Uppercase characters represent the
6373 corresponding control directive characters. Lowercase characters
6374 represent control directive parameter descriptions.
6377 Any (print as `display' does).
6381 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARA'
6385 S-expression (print as `write' does).
6389 `~MINCOL,COLINC,MINPAD,PADCHARS'
6395 print number sign always.
6398 print comma separated.
6400 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARD'
6406 print number sign always.
6409 print comma separated.
6411 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARX'
6417 print number sign always.
6420 print comma separated.
6422 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARO'
6428 print number sign always.
6431 print comma separated.
6433 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARB'
6438 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHARR'
6442 print a number as a Roman numeral.
6445 print a number as an "old fashioned" Roman numeral.
6448 print a number as an ordinal English number.
6451 print a number as a cardinal English number.
6456 prints `y' and `ies'.
6459 as `~P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
6462 as `~@P but jumps 1 argument backward.'
6467 prints a character as the reader can understand it (i.e. `#\'
6471 prints a character as emacs does (eg. `^C' for ASCII 03).
6474 Fixed-format floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN).
6475 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHARF'
6477 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
6480 Exponential floating-point (prints a flonum like MMM.NNN`E'EE).
6481 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARE'
6483 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
6486 General floating-point (prints a flonum either fixed or
6488 `~WIDTH,DIGITS,EXPONENTDIGITS,SCALE,OVERFLOWCHAR,PADCHAR,EXPONENTCHARG'
6490 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
6493 Dollars floating-point (prints a flonum in fixed with signs
6495 `~DIGITS,SCALE,WIDTH,PADCHAR$'
6497 If the number is positive a plus sign is printed.
6500 A sign is always printed and appears before the padding.
6503 The sign appears before the padding.
6511 print newline if not at the beginning of the output line.
6513 prints `~&' and then N-1 newlines.
6518 print N page separators.
6528 newline is ignored, white space left.
6531 newline is left, white space ignored.
6536 relative tabulation.
6542 Indirection (expects indirect arguments as a list).
6544 extracts indirect arguments from format arguments.
6547 Case conversion (converts by `string-downcase').
6549 converts by `string-capitalize'.
6552 converts by `string-capitalize-first'.
6555 converts by `string-upcase'.
6558 Argument Jumping (jumps 1 argument forward).
6560 jumps N arguments forward.
6563 jumps 1 argument backward.
6566 jumps N arguments backward.
6569 jumps to the 0th argument.
6572 jumps to the Nth argument (beginning from 0)
6574 `~[STR0~;STR1~;...~;STRN~]'
6575 Conditional Expression (numerical clause conditional).
6577 take argument from N.
6580 true test conditional.
6583 if-else-then conditional.
6589 default clause follows.
6592 Iteration (args come from the next argument (a list)).
6594 at most N iterations.
6597 args from next arg (a list of lists).
6600 args from the rest of arguments.
6603 args from the rest args (lists).
6614 aborts if N <= M <= K
6616 *** Not Implemented CL Format Control Directives
6619 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
6622 print `#f' as an empty list (see below).
6628 (sorry I don't understand its semantics completely)
6630 *** Extended, Replaced and Additional Control Directives
6632 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHD'
6633 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHX'
6634 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHO'
6635 `~MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHB'
6636 `~N,MINCOL,PADCHAR,COMMACHAR,COMMAWIDTHR'
6637 COMMAWIDTH is the number of characters between two comma
6641 print a R4RS complex number as `~F~@Fi' with passed parameters for
6645 Pretty print formatting of an argument for scheme code lists.
6651 Flushes the output if format DESTINATION is a port.
6654 Print a `#\space' character
6656 print N `#\space' characters.
6659 Print a `#\tab' character
6661 print N `#\tab' characters.
6664 Takes N as an integer representation for a character. No arguments
6665 are consumed. N is converted to a character by `integer->char'. N
6666 must be a positive decimal number.
6669 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
6670 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
6671 be processed by `read'.
6674 Print out readproof. Prints out internal objects represented as
6675 `#<...>' as strings `"#<...>"' so that the format output can always
6676 be processed by `read'.
6679 Prints information and a copyright notice on the format
6682 prints format version.
6685 may also print number strings, i.e. passing a number as a string
6686 and format it accordingly.
6688 *** Configuration Variables
6690 The format module exports some configuration variables to suit the
6691 systems and users needs. There should be no modification necessary for
6692 the configuration that comes with Guile. Format detects automatically
6693 if the running scheme system implements floating point numbers and
6696 format:symbol-case-conv
6697 Symbols are converted by `symbol->string' so the case type of the
6698 printed symbols is implementation dependent.
6699 `format:symbol-case-conv' is a one arg closure which is either
6700 `#f' (no conversion), `string-upcase', `string-downcase' or
6701 `string-capitalize'. (default `#f')
6703 format:iobj-case-conv
6704 As FORMAT:SYMBOL-CASE-CONV but applies for the representation of
6705 implementation internal objects. (default `#f')
6708 The character prefixing the exponent value in `~E' printing.
6711 *** Compatibility With Other Format Implementations
6717 Downward compatible except for padding support and `~A', `~S',
6718 `~P', `~X' uppercase printing. SLIB format 1.4 uses C-style
6719 `printf' padding support which is completely replaced by the CL
6720 `format' padding style.
6723 Downward compatible except for `~', which is not documented
6724 (ignores all characters inside the format string up to a newline
6725 character). (7.1 implements `~a', `~s', ~NEWLINE, `~~', `~%',
6726 numerical and variable parameters and `:/@' modifiers in the CL
6730 Downward compatible except for `~A' and `~S' which print in
6731 uppercase. (Elk implements `~a', `~s', `~~', and `~%' (no
6732 directive parameters or modifiers)).
6735 Downward compatible except for an optional destination parameter:
6736 S2C accepts a format call without a destination which returns a
6737 formatted string. This is equivalent to a #f destination in S2C.
6738 (S2C implements `~a', `~s', `~c', `~%', and `~~' (no directive
6739 parameters or modifiers)).
6742 ** Changes to string-handling functions.
6744 These functions were added to support the (ice-9 format) module, above.
6746 *** New function: string-upcase STRING
6747 *** New function: string-downcase STRING
6749 These are non-destructive versions of the existing string-upcase! and
6750 string-downcase! functions.
6752 *** New function: string-capitalize! STRING
6753 *** New function: string-capitalize STRING
6755 These functions convert the first letter of each word in the string to
6758 (string-capitalize "howdy there")
6761 As with the other functions, string-capitalize! modifies the string in
6762 place, while string-capitalize returns a modified copy of its argument.
6764 *** New function: string-ci->symbol STRING
6766 Return a symbol whose name is STRING, but having the same case as if
6767 the symbol had be read by `read'.
6769 Guile can be configured to be sensitive or insensitive to case
6770 differences in Scheme identifiers. If Guile is case-insensitive, all
6771 symbols are converted to lower case on input. The `string-ci->symbol'
6772 function returns a symbol whose name in STRING, transformed as Guile
6773 would if STRING were input.
6775 *** New function: substring-move! STRING1 START END STRING2 START
6777 Copy the substring of STRING1 from START (inclusive) to END
6778 (exclusive) to STRING2 at START. STRING1 and STRING2 may be the same
6779 string, and the source and destination areas may overlap; in all
6780 cases, the function behaves as if all the characters were copied
6783 *** Extended functions: substring-move-left! substring-move-right!
6785 These functions now correctly copy arbitrarily overlapping substrings;
6786 they are both synonyms for substring-move!.
6789 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-long), with the function `getopt-long'.
6791 getopt-long is a function for parsing command-line arguments in a
6792 manner consistent with other GNU programs.
6794 (getopt-long ARGS GRAMMAR)
6795 Parse the arguments ARGS according to the argument list grammar GRAMMAR.
6797 ARGS should be a list of strings. Its first element should be the
6798 name of the program; subsequent elements should be the arguments
6799 that were passed to the program on the command line. The
6800 `program-arguments' procedure returns a list of this form.
6802 GRAMMAR is a list of the form:
6803 ((OPTION (PROPERTY VALUE) ...) ...)
6805 Each OPTION should be a symbol. `getopt-long' will accept a
6806 command-line option named `--OPTION'.
6807 Each option can have the following (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs:
6809 (single-char CHAR) --- Accept `-CHAR' as a single-character
6810 equivalent to `--OPTION'. This is how to specify traditional
6812 (required? BOOL) --- If BOOL is true, the option is required.
6813 getopt-long will raise an error if it is not found in ARGS.
6814 (value BOOL) --- If BOOL is #t, the option accepts a value; if
6815 it is #f, it does not; and if it is the symbol
6816 `optional', the option may appear in ARGS with or
6818 (predicate FUNC) --- If the option accepts a value (i.e. you
6819 specified `(value #t)' for this option), then getopt
6820 will apply FUNC to the value, and throw an exception
6821 if it returns #f. FUNC should be a procedure which
6822 accepts a string and returns a boolean value; you may
6823 need to use quasiquotes to get it into GRAMMAR.
6825 The (PROPERTY VALUE) pairs may occur in any order, but each
6826 property may occur only once. By default, options do not have
6827 single-character equivalents, are not required, and do not take
6830 In ARGS, single-character options may be combined, in the usual
6831 Unix fashion: ("-x" "-y") is equivalent to ("-xy"). If an option
6832 accepts values, then it must be the last option in the
6833 combination; the value is the next argument. So, for example, using
6834 the following grammar:
6835 ((apples (single-char #\a))
6836 (blimps (single-char #\b) (value #t))
6837 (catalexis (single-char #\c) (value #t)))
6838 the following argument lists would be acceptable:
6839 ("-a" "-b" "bang" "-c" "couth") ("bang" and "couth" are the values
6840 for "blimps" and "catalexis")
6841 ("-ab" "bang" "-c" "couth") (same)
6842 ("-ac" "couth" "-b" "bang") (same)
6843 ("-abc" "couth" "bang") (an error, since `-b' is not the
6844 last option in its combination)
6846 If an option's value is optional, then `getopt-long' decides
6847 whether it has a value by looking at what follows it in ARGS. If
6848 the next element is a string, and it does not appear to be an
6849 option itself, then that string is the option's value.
6851 The value of a long option can appear as the next element in ARGS,
6852 or it can follow the option name, separated by an `=' character.
6853 Thus, using the same grammar as above, the following argument lists
6855 ("--apples" "Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
6856 ("--apples=Braeburn" "--blimps" "Goodyear")
6857 ("--blimps" "Goodyear" "--apples=Braeburn")
6859 If the option "--" appears in ARGS, argument parsing stops there;
6860 subsequent arguments are returned as ordinary arguments, even if
6861 they resemble options. So, in the argument list:
6862 ("--apples" "Granny Smith" "--" "--blimp" "Goodyear")
6863 `getopt-long' will recognize the `apples' option as having the
6864 value "Granny Smith", but it will not recognize the `blimp'
6865 option; it will return the strings "--blimp" and "Goodyear" as
6866 ordinary argument strings.
6868 The `getopt-long' function returns the parsed argument list as an
6869 assocation list, mapping option names --- the symbols from GRAMMAR
6870 --- onto their values, or #t if the option does not accept a value.
6871 Unused options do not appear in the alist.
6873 All arguments that are not the value of any option are returned
6874 as a list, associated with the empty list.
6876 `getopt-long' throws an exception if:
6877 - it finds an unrecognized option in ARGS
6878 - a required option is omitted
6879 - an option that requires an argument doesn't get one
6880 - an option that doesn't accept an argument does get one (this can
6881 only happen using the long option `--opt=value' syntax)
6882 - an option predicate fails
6887 `((lockfile-dir (required? #t)
6890 (predicate ,file-is-directory?))
6891 (verbose (required? #f)
6894 (x-includes (single-char #\x))
6895 (rnet-server (single-char #\y)
6896 (predicate ,string?))))
6898 (getopt-long '("my-prog" "-vk" "/tmp" "foo1" "--x-includes=/usr/include"
6899 "--rnet-server=lamprod" "--" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
6901 => ((() "foo1" "-fred" "foo2" "foo3")
6902 (rnet-server . "lamprod")
6903 (x-includes . "/usr/include")
6904 (lockfile-dir . "/tmp")
6907 ** The (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style) module is obsolete; use (ice-9 getopt-long).
6909 It will be removed in a few releases.
6911 ** New syntax: lambda*
6912 ** New syntax: define*
6913 ** New syntax: define*-public
6914 ** New syntax: defmacro*
6915 ** New syntax: defmacro*-public
6916 Guile now supports optional arguments.
6918 `lambda*', `define*', `define*-public', `defmacro*' and
6919 `defmacro*-public' are identical to the non-* versions except that
6920 they use an extended type of parameter list that has the following BNF
6921 syntax (parentheses are literal, square brackets indicate grouping,
6922 and `*', `+' and `?' have the usual meaning):
6924 ext-param-list ::= ( [identifier]* [#&optional [ext-var-decl]+]?
6925 [#&key [ext-var-decl]+ [#&allow-other-keys]?]?
6926 [[#&rest identifier]|[. identifier]]? ) | [identifier]
6928 ext-var-decl ::= identifier | ( identifier expression )
6930 The semantics are best illustrated with the following documentation
6931 and examples for `lambda*':
6934 lambda extended for optional and keyword arguments
6936 lambda* creates a procedure that takes optional arguments. These
6937 are specified by putting them inside brackets at the end of the
6938 paramater list, but before any dotted rest argument. For example,
6939 (lambda* (a b #&optional c d . e) '())
6940 creates a procedure with fixed arguments a and b, optional arguments c
6941 and d, and rest argument e. If the optional arguments are omitted
6942 in a call, the variables for them are unbound in the procedure. This
6943 can be checked with the bound? macro.
6945 lambda* can also take keyword arguments. For example, a procedure
6947 (lambda* (#&key xyzzy larch) '())
6948 can be called with any of the argument lists (#:xyzzy 11)
6949 (#:larch 13) (#:larch 42 #:xyzzy 19) (). Whichever arguments
6950 are given as keywords are bound to values.
6952 Optional and keyword arguments can also be given default values
6953 which they take on when they are not present in a call, by giving a
6954 two-item list in place of an optional argument, for example in:
6955 (lambda* (foo #&optional (bar 42) #&key (baz 73)) (list foo bar baz))
6956 foo is a fixed argument, bar is an optional argument with default
6957 value 42, and baz is a keyword argument with default value 73.
6958 Default value expressions are not evaluated unless they are needed
6959 and until the procedure is called.
6961 lambda* now supports two more special parameter list keywords.
6963 lambda*-defined procedures now throw an error by default if a
6964 keyword other than one of those specified is found in the actual
6965 passed arguments. However, specifying #&allow-other-keys
6966 immediately after the kyword argument declarations restores the
6967 previous behavior of ignoring unknown keywords. lambda* also now
6968 guarantees that if the same keyword is passed more than once, the
6969 last one passed is the one that takes effect. For example,
6970 ((lambda* (#&key (heads 0) (tails 0)) (display (list heads tails)))
6971 #:heads 37 #:tails 42 #:heads 99)
6972 would result in (99 47) being displayed.
6974 #&rest is also now provided as a synonym for the dotted syntax rest
6975 argument. The argument lists (a . b) and (a #&rest b) are equivalent in
6976 all respects to lambda*. This is provided for more similarity to DSSSL,
6977 MIT-Scheme and Kawa among others, as well as for refugees from other
6980 Further documentation may be found in the optargs.scm file itself.
6982 The optional argument module also exports the macros `let-optional',
6983 `let-optional*', `let-keywords', `let-keywords*' and `bound?'. These
6984 are not documented here because they may be removed in the future, but
6985 full documentation is still available in optargs.scm.
6987 ** New syntax: and-let*
6988 Guile now supports the `and-let*' form, described in the draft SRFI-2.
6990 Syntax: (land* (<clause> ...) <body> ...)
6991 Each <clause> should have one of the following forms:
6992 (<variable> <expression>)
6995 Each <variable> or <bound-variable> should be an identifier. Each
6996 <expression> should be a valid expression. The <body> should be a
6997 possibly empty sequence of expressions, like the <body> of a
7000 Semantics: A LAND* expression is evaluated by evaluating the
7001 <expression> or <bound-variable> of each of the <clause>s from
7002 left to right. The value of the first <expression> or
7003 <bound-variable> that evaluates to a false value is returned; the
7004 remaining <expression>s and <bound-variable>s are not evaluated.
7005 The <body> forms are evaluated iff all the <expression>s and
7006 <bound-variable>s evaluate to true values.
7008 The <expression>s and the <body> are evaluated in an environment
7009 binding each <variable> of the preceding (<variable> <expression>)
7010 clauses to the value of the <expression>. Later bindings
7011 shadow earlier bindings.
7013 Guile's and-let* macro was contributed by Michael Livshin.
7015 ** New sorting functions
7017 *** New function: sorted? SEQUENCE LESS?
7018 Returns `#t' when the sequence argument is in non-decreasing order
7019 according to LESS? (that is, there is no adjacent pair `... x y
7020 ...' for which `(less? y x)').
7022 Returns `#f' when the sequence contains at least one out-of-order
7023 pair. It is an error if the sequence is neither a list nor a
7026 *** New function: merge LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
7027 LIST1 and LIST2 are sorted lists.
7028 Returns the sorted list of all elements in LIST1 and LIST2.
7030 Assume that the elements a and b1 in LIST1 and b2 in LIST2 are "equal"
7031 in the sense that (LESS? x y) --> #f for x, y in {a, b1, b2},
7032 and that a < b1 in LIST1. Then a < b1 < b2 in the result.
7033 (Here "<" should read "comes before".)
7035 *** New procedure: merge! LIST1 LIST2 LESS?
7036 Merges two lists, re-using the pairs of LIST1 and LIST2 to build
7037 the result. If the code is compiled, and LESS? constructs no new
7038 pairs, no pairs at all will be allocated. The first pair of the
7039 result will be either the first pair of LIST1 or the first pair of
7042 *** New function: sort SEQUENCE LESS?
7043 Accepts either a list or a vector, and returns a new sequence
7044 which is sorted. The new sequence is the same type as the input.
7045 Always `(sorted? (sort sequence less?) less?)'. The original
7046 sequence is not altered in any way. The new sequence shares its
7047 elements with the old one; no elements are copied.
7049 *** New procedure: sort! SEQUENCE LESS
7050 Returns its sorted result in the original boxes. No new storage is
7051 allocated at all. Proper usage: (set! slist (sort! slist <))
7053 *** New function: stable-sort SEQUENCE LESS?
7054 Similar to `sort' but stable. That is, if "equal" elements are
7055 ordered a < b in the original sequence, they will have the same order
7058 *** New function: stable-sort! SEQUENCE LESS?
7059 Similar to `sort!' but stable.
7060 Uses temporary storage when sorting vectors.
7062 *** New functions: sort-list, sort-list!
7063 Added for compatibility with scsh.
7065 ** New built-in random number support
7067 *** New function: random N [STATE]
7068 Accepts a positive integer or real N and returns a number of the
7069 same type between zero (inclusive) and N (exclusive). The values
7070 returned have a uniform distribution.
7072 The optional argument STATE must be of the type produced by
7073 `copy-random-state' or `seed->random-state'. It defaults to the value
7074 of the variable `*random-state*'. This object is used to maintain the
7075 state of the pseudo-random-number generator and is altered as a side
7076 effect of the `random' operation.
7078 *** New variable: *random-state*
7079 Holds a data structure that encodes the internal state of the
7080 random-number generator that `random' uses by default. The nature
7081 of this data structure is implementation-dependent. It may be
7082 printed out and successfully read back in, but may or may not
7083 function correctly as a random-number state object in another
7086 *** New function: copy-random-state [STATE]
7087 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
7088 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
7089 If argument STATE is given, a copy of it is returned. Otherwise a
7090 copy of `*random-state*' is returned.
7092 *** New function: seed->random-state SEED
7093 Returns a new object of type suitable for use as the value of the
7094 variable `*random-state*' and as a second argument to `random'.
7095 SEED is a string or a number. A new state is generated and
7096 initialized using SEED.
7098 *** New function: random:uniform [STATE]
7099 Returns an uniformly distributed inexact real random number in the
7100 range between 0 and 1.
7102 *** New procedure: random:solid-sphere! VECT [STATE]
7103 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose
7104 squares is less than 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in
7105 space of dimension N = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are
7106 uniformly distributed within the unit N-shere. The sum of the
7107 squares of the numbers is returned. VECT can be either a vector
7108 or a uniform vector of doubles.
7110 *** New procedure: random:hollow-sphere! VECT [STATE]
7111 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers the sum of whose squares
7112 is equal to 1.0. Thinking of VECT as coordinates in space of
7113 dimension n = `(vector-length VECT)', the coordinates are uniformly
7114 distributed over the surface of the unit n-shere. VECT can be either
7115 a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
7117 *** New function: random:normal [STATE]
7118 Returns an inexact real in a normal distribution with mean 0 and
7119 standard deviation 1. For a normal distribution with mean M and
7120 standard deviation D use `(+ M (* D (random:normal)))'.
7122 *** New procedure: random:normal-vector! VECT [STATE]
7123 Fills VECT with inexact real random numbers which are independent and
7124 standard normally distributed (i.e., with mean 0 and variance 1).
7125 VECT can be either a vector or a uniform vector of doubles.
7127 *** New function: random:exp STATE
7128 Returns an inexact real in an exponential distribution with mean 1.
7129 For an exponential distribution with mean U use (* U (random:exp)).
7131 ** The range of logand, logior, logxor, logtest, and logbit? have changed.
7133 These functions now operate on numbers in the range of a C unsigned
7136 These functions used to operate on numbers in the range of a C signed
7137 long; however, this seems inappropriate, because Guile integers don't
7140 ** New function: make-guardian
7141 This is an implementation of guardians as described in
7142 R. Kent Dybvig, Carl Bruggeman, and David Eby (1993) "Guardians in a
7143 Generation-Based Garbage Collector" ACM SIGPLAN Conference on
7144 Programming Language Design and Implementation, June 1993
7145 ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/scheme-repository/doc/pubs/guardians.ps.gz
7147 ** New functions: delq1!, delv1!, delete1!
7148 These procedures behave similar to delq! and friends but delete only
7149 one object if at all.
7151 ** New function: unread-string STRING PORT
7152 Unread STRING to PORT, that is, push it back onto the port so that
7153 next read operation will work on the pushed back characters.
7155 ** unread-char can now be called multiple times
7156 If unread-char is called multiple times, the unread characters will be
7157 read again in last-in first-out order.
7159 ** the procedures uniform-array-read! and uniform-array-write! now
7160 work on any kind of port, not just ports which are open on a file.
7162 ** Now 'l' in a port mode requests line buffering.
7164 ** The procedure truncate-file now works on string ports as well
7165 as file ports. If the size argument is omitted, the current
7166 file position is used.
7168 ** new procedure: seek PORT/FDES OFFSET WHENCE
7169 The arguments are the same as for the old fseek procedure, but it
7170 works on string ports as well as random-access file ports.
7172 ** the fseek procedure now works on string ports, since it has been
7173 redefined using seek.
7175 ** the setvbuf procedure now uses a default size if mode is _IOFBF and
7176 size is not supplied.
7178 ** the newline procedure no longer flushes the port if it's not
7179 line-buffered: previously it did if it was the current output port.
7181 ** open-pipe and close-pipe are no longer primitive procedures, but
7182 an emulation can be obtained using `(use-modules (ice-9 popen))'.
7184 ** the freopen procedure has been removed.
7186 ** new procedure: drain-input PORT
7187 Drains PORT's read buffers (including any pushed-back characters)
7188 and returns the contents as a single string.
7190 ** New function: map-in-order PROC LIST1 LIST2 ...
7191 Version of `map' which guarantees that the procedure is applied to the
7192 lists in serial order.
7194 ** Renamed `serial-array-copy!' and `serial-array-map!' to
7195 `array-copy-in-order!' and `array-map-in-order!'. The old names are
7196 now obsolete and will go away in release 1.5.
7198 ** New syntax: collect BODY1 ...
7199 Version of `begin' which returns a list of the results of the body
7200 forms instead of the result of the last body form. In contrast to
7201 `begin', `collect' allows an empty body.
7203 ** New functions: read-history FILENAME, write-history FILENAME
7204 Read/write command line history from/to file. Returns #t on success
7205 and #f if an error occured.
7207 ** `ls' and `lls' in module (ice-9 ls) now handle no arguments.
7209 These procedures return a list of definitions available in the specified
7210 argument, a relative module reference. In the case of no argument,
7211 `(current-module)' is now consulted for definitions to return, instead
7212 of simply returning #f, the former behavior.
7214 ** The #/ syntax for lists is no longer supported.
7216 Earlier versions of Scheme accepted this syntax, but printed a
7219 ** Guile no longer consults the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable.
7221 Instead, you should set GUILE_LOAD_PATH to tell Guile where to find
7224 * Changes to the gh_ interface
7228 Now takes a second argument which is the result array. If this
7229 pointer is NULL, a new array is malloced (the old behaviour).
7231 ** gh_chars2byvect, gh_shorts2svect, gh_floats2fvect, gh_scm2chars,
7232 gh_scm2shorts, gh_scm2longs, gh_scm2floats
7236 * Changes to the scm_ interface
7238 ** Function: scm_make_named_hook (char* name, int n_args)
7240 Creates a hook in the same way as make-hook above but also
7241 binds a variable named NAME to it.
7243 This is the typical way of creating a hook from C code.
7245 Currently, the variable is created in the "current" module. This
7246 might change when we get the new module system.
7248 ** The smob interface
7250 The interface for creating smobs has changed. For documentation, see
7251 data-rep.info (made from guile-core/doc/data-rep.texi).
7253 *** Deprecated function: SCM scm_newsmob (scm_smobfuns *)
7255 >>> This function will be removed in 1.3.4. <<<
7259 *** Function: SCM scm_make_smob_type (const char *name, scm_sizet size)
7260 This function adds a new smob type, named NAME, with instance size
7261 SIZE to the system. The return value is a tag that is used in
7262 creating instances of the type. If SIZE is 0, then no memory will
7263 be allocated when instances of the smob are created, and nothing
7264 will be freed by the default free function.
7266 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_mark (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
7267 This function sets the smob marking procedure for the smob type
7268 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
7269 `scm_make_smob_type'.
7271 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_free (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
7272 This function sets the smob freeing procedure for the smob type
7273 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
7274 `scm_make_smob_type'.
7276 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_print (tc, print)
7278 - Function: void scm_set_smob_print (long tc,
7279 scm_sizet (*print) (SCM,
7283 This function sets the smob printing procedure for the smob type
7284 specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
7285 `scm_make_smob_type'.
7287 *** Function: void scm_set_smob_equalp (long tc, SCM (*equalp) (SCM, SCM))
7288 This function sets the smob equality-testing predicate for the
7289 smob type specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
7290 `scm_make_smob_type'.
7292 *** Macro: void SCM_NEWSMOB (SCM var, long tc, void *data)
7293 Make VALUE contain a smob instance of the type with type code TC and
7294 smob data DATA. VALUE must be previously declared as C type `SCM'.
7296 *** Macro: fn_returns SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB (long tc, void *data)
7297 This macro expands to a block of code that creates a smob instance
7298 of the type with type code TC and smob data DATA, and returns that
7299 `SCM' value. It should be the last piece of code in a block.
7301 ** The interfaces for using I/O ports and implementing port types
7302 (ptobs) have changed significantly. The new interface is based on
7303 shared access to buffers and a new set of ptob procedures.
7305 *** scm_newptob has been removed
7309 *** Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (type_name, fill_buffer, write_flush)
7311 - Function: SCM scm_make_port_type (char *type_name,
7312 int (*fill_buffer) (SCM port),
7313 void (*write_flush) (SCM port));
7315 Similarly to the new smob interface, there is a set of function
7316 setters by which the user can customize the behaviour of his port
7317 type. See ports.h (scm_set_port_XXX).
7319 ** scm_strport_to_string: New function: creates a new string from
7320 a string port's buffer.
7322 ** Plug in interface for random number generators
7323 The variable `scm_the_rng' in random.c contains a value and three
7324 function pointers which together define the current random number
7325 generator being used by the Scheme level interface and the random
7326 number library functions.
7328 The user is free to replace the default generator with the generator
7331 *** Variable: size_t scm_the_rng.rstate_size
7332 The size of the random state type used by the current RNG
7335 *** Function: unsigned long scm_the_rng.random_bits (scm_rstate *STATE)
7336 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
7338 *** Function: void scm_the_rng.init_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE, chars *S, int N)
7339 Seed random state STATE using string S of length N.
7341 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_the_rng.copy_rstate (scm_rstate *STATE)
7342 Given random state STATE, return a malloced copy.
7345 The default RNG is the MWC (Multiply With Carry) random number
7346 generator described by George Marsaglia at the Department of
7347 Statistics and Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, The
7348 Florida State University (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo).
7350 It uses 64 bits, has a period of 4578426017172946943 (4.6e18), and
7351 passes all tests in the DIEHARD test suite
7352 (http://stat.fsu.edu/~geo/diehard.html). The generation of 32 bits
7353 costs one multiply and one add on platforms which either supports long
7354 longs (gcc does this on most systems) or have 64 bit longs. The cost
7355 is four multiply on other systems but this can be optimized by writing
7356 scm_i_uniform32 in assembler.
7358 These functions are provided through the scm_the_rng interface for use
7359 by libguile and the application.
7361 *** Function: unsigned long scm_i_uniform32 (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
7362 Given the random STATE, return 32 random bits.
7363 Don't use this function directly. Instead go through the plugin
7364 interface (see "Plug in interface" above).
7366 *** Function: void scm_i_init_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE, char *SEED, int N)
7367 Initialize STATE using SEED of length N.
7369 *** Function: scm_i_rstate *scm_i_copy_rstate (scm_i_rstate *STATE)
7370 Return a malloc:ed copy of STATE. This function can easily be re-used
7371 in the interfaces to other RNGs.
7373 ** Random number library functions
7374 These functions use the current RNG through the scm_the_rng interface.
7375 It might be a good idea to use these functions from your C code so
7376 that only one random generator is used by all code in your program.
7378 The default random state is stored in:
7380 *** Variable: SCM scm_var_random_state
7381 Contains the vcell of the Scheme variable "*random-state*" which is
7382 used as default state by all random number functions in the Scheme
7387 double x = scm_c_uniform01 (SCM_RSTATE (SCM_CDR (scm_var_random_state)));
7389 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_default_rstate (void)
7390 This is a convenience function which returns the value of
7391 scm_var_random_state. An error message is generated if this value
7392 isn't a random state.
7394 *** Function: scm_rstate *scm_c_make_rstate (char *SEED, int LENGTH)
7395 Make a new random state from the string SEED of length LENGTH.
7397 It is generally not a good idea to use multiple random states in a
7398 program. While subsequent random numbers generated from one random
7399 state are guaranteed to be reasonably independent, there is no such
7400 guarantee for numbers generated from different random states.
7402 *** Macro: unsigned long scm_c_uniform32 (scm_rstate *STATE)
7403 Return 32 random bits.
7405 *** Function: double scm_c_uniform01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
7406 Return a sample from the uniform(0,1) distribution.
7408 *** Function: double scm_c_normal01 (scm_rstate *STATE)
7409 Return a sample from the normal(0,1) distribution.
7411 *** Function: double scm_c_exp1 (scm_rstate *STATE)
7412 Return a sample from the exp(1) distribution.
7414 *** Function: unsigned long scm_c_random (scm_rstate *STATE, unsigned long M)
7415 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
7417 *** Function: SCM scm_c_random_bignum (scm_rstate *STATE, SCM M)
7418 Return a sample from the discrete uniform(0,M) distribution.
7419 M must be a bignum object. The returned value may be an INUM.
7423 Changes in Guile 1.3 (released Monday, October 19, 1998):
7425 * Changes to the distribution
7427 ** We renamed the SCHEME_LOAD_PATH environment variable to GUILE_LOAD_PATH.
7428 To avoid conflicts, programs should name environment variables after
7429 themselves, except when there's a common practice establishing some
7432 For now, Guile supports both GUILE_LOAD_PATH and SCHEME_LOAD_PATH,
7433 giving the former precedence, and printing a warning message if the
7434 latter is set. Guile 1.4 will not recognize SCHEME_LOAD_PATH at all.
7436 ** The header files related to multi-byte characters have been removed.
7437 They were: libguile/extchrs.h and libguile/mbstrings.h. Any C code
7438 which referred to these explicitly will probably need to be rewritten,
7439 since the support for the variant string types has been removed; see
7442 ** The header files append.h and sequences.h have been removed. These
7443 files implemented non-R4RS operations which would encourage
7444 non-portable programming style and less easy-to-read code.
7446 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
7448 ** New procedures have been added to implement a "batch mode":
7450 *** Function: batch-mode?
7452 Returns a boolean indicating whether the interpreter is in batch
7455 *** Function: set-batch-mode?! ARG
7457 If ARG is true, switches the interpreter to batch mode. The `#f'
7458 case has not been implemented.
7460 ** Guile now provides full command-line editing, when run interactively.
7461 To use this feature, you must have the readline library installed.
7462 The Guile build process will notice it, and automatically include
7465 The readline library is available via anonymous FTP from any GNU
7466 mirror site; the canonical location is "ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu".
7468 ** the-last-stack is now a fluid.
7470 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
7472 ** You can now use the `guile-config' utility to build programs that use Guile.
7474 Guile now includes a command-line utility called `guile-config', which
7475 can provide information about how to compile and link programs that
7478 *** `guile-config compile' prints any C compiler flags needed to use Guile.
7479 You should include this command's output on the command line you use
7480 to compile C or C++ code that #includes the Guile header files. It's
7481 usually just a `-I' flag to help the compiler find the Guile headers.
7484 *** `guile-config link' prints any linker flags necessary to link with Guile.
7486 This command writes to its standard output a list of flags which you
7487 must pass to the linker to link your code against the Guile library.
7488 The flags include '-lguile' itself, any other libraries the Guile
7489 library depends upon, and any `-L' flags needed to help the linker
7490 find those libraries.
7492 For example, here is a Makefile rule that builds a program named 'foo'
7493 from the object files ${FOO_OBJECTS}, and links them against Guile:
7496 ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${FOO_OBJECTS} `guile-config link` -o foo
7498 Previous Guile releases recommended that you use autoconf to detect
7499 which of a predefined set of libraries were present on your system.
7500 It is more robust to use `guile-config', since it records exactly which
7501 libraries the installed Guile library requires.
7503 This was originally called `build-guile', but was renamed to
7504 `guile-config' before Guile 1.3 was released, to be consistent with
7505 the analogous script for the GTK+ GUI toolkit, which is called
7509 ** Use the GUILE_FLAGS macro in your configure.in file to find Guile.
7511 If you are using the GNU autoconf package to configure your program,
7512 you can use the GUILE_FLAGS autoconf macro to call `guile-config'
7513 (described above) and gather the necessary values for use in your
7516 The GUILE_FLAGS macro expands to configure script code which runs the
7517 `guile-config' script, to find out where Guile's header files and
7518 libraries are installed. It sets two variables, marked for
7519 substitution, as by AC_SUBST.
7521 GUILE_CFLAGS --- flags to pass to a C or C++ compiler to build
7522 code that uses Guile header files. This is almost always just a
7525 GUILE_LDFLAGS --- flags to pass to the linker to link a
7526 program against Guile. This includes `-lguile' for the Guile
7527 library itself, any libraries that Guile itself requires (like
7528 -lqthreads), and so on. It may also include a -L flag to tell the
7529 compiler where to find the libraries.
7531 GUILE_FLAGS is defined in the file guile.m4, in the top-level
7532 directory of the Guile distribution. You can copy it into your
7533 package's aclocal.m4 file, and then use it in your configure.in file.
7535 If you are using the `aclocal' program, distributed with GNU automake,
7536 to maintain your aclocal.m4 file, the Guile installation process
7537 installs guile.m4 where aclocal will find it. All you need to do is
7538 use GUILE_FLAGS in your configure.in file, and then run `aclocal';
7539 this will copy the definition of GUILE_FLAGS into your aclocal.m4
7543 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
7545 ** Multi-byte strings have been removed, as have multi-byte and wide
7546 ports. We felt that these were the wrong approach to
7547 internationalization support.
7549 ** New function: readline [PROMPT]
7550 Read a line from the terminal, and allow the user to edit it,
7551 prompting with PROMPT. READLINE provides a large set of Emacs-like
7552 editing commands, lets the user recall previously typed lines, and
7553 works on almost every kind of terminal, including dumb terminals.
7555 READLINE assumes that the cursor is at the beginning of the line when
7556 it is invoked. Thus, you can't print a prompt yourself, and then call
7557 READLINE; you need to package up your prompt as a string, pass it to
7558 the function, and let READLINE print the prompt itself. This is
7559 because READLINE needs to know the prompt's screen width.
7561 For Guile to provide this function, you must have the readline
7562 library, version 2.1 or later, installed on your system. Readline is
7563 available via anonymous FTP from prep.ai.mit.edu in pub/gnu, or from
7564 any GNU mirror site.
7566 See also ADD-HISTORY function.
7568 ** New function: add-history STRING
7569 Add STRING as the most recent line in the history used by the READLINE
7570 command. READLINE does not add lines to the history itself; you must
7571 call ADD-HISTORY to make previous input available to the user.
7573 ** The behavior of the read-line function has changed.
7575 This function now uses standard C library functions to read the line,
7576 for speed. This means that it doesn not respect the value of
7577 scm-line-incrementors; it assumes that lines are delimited with
7580 (Note that this is read-line, the function that reads a line of text
7581 from a port, not readline, the function that reads a line from a
7582 terminal, providing full editing capabilities.)
7584 ** New module (ice-9 getopt-gnu-style): Parse command-line arguments.
7586 This module provides some simple argument parsing. It exports one
7589 Function: getopt-gnu-style ARG-LS
7590 Parse a list of program arguments into an alist of option
7593 Each item in the list of program arguments is examined to see if
7594 it meets the syntax of a GNU long-named option. An argument like
7595 `--MUMBLE' produces an element of the form (MUMBLE . #t) in the
7596 returned alist, where MUMBLE is a keyword object with the same
7597 name as the argument. An argument like `--MUMBLE=FROB' produces
7598 an element of the form (MUMBLE . FROB), where FROB is a string.
7600 As a special case, the returned alist also contains a pair whose
7601 car is the symbol `rest'. The cdr of this pair is a list
7602 containing all the items in the argument list that are not options
7603 of the form mentioned above.
7605 The argument `--' is treated specially: all items in the argument
7606 list appearing after such an argument are not examined, and are
7607 returned in the special `rest' list.
7609 This function does not parse normal single-character switches.
7610 You will need to parse them out of the `rest' list yourself.
7612 ** The read syntax for byte vectors and short vectors has changed.
7614 Instead of #bytes(...), write #y(...).
7616 Instead of #short(...), write #h(...).
7618 This may seem nutty, but, like the other uniform vectors, byte vectors
7619 and short vectors want to have the same print and read syntax (and,
7620 more basic, want to have read syntax!). Changing the read syntax to
7621 use multiple characters after the hash sign breaks with the
7622 conventions used in R5RS and the conventions used for the other
7623 uniform vectors. It also introduces complexity in the current reader,
7624 both on the C and Scheme levels. (The Right solution is probably to
7625 change the syntax and prototypes for uniform vectors entirely.)
7628 ** The new module (ice-9 session) provides useful interactive functions.
7630 *** New procedure: (apropos REGEXP OPTION ...)
7632 Display a list of top-level variables whose names match REGEXP, and
7633 the modules they are imported from. Each OPTION should be one of the
7636 value --- Show the value of each matching variable.
7637 shadow --- Show bindings shadowed by subsequently imported modules.
7638 full --- Same as both `shadow' and `value'.
7642 guile> (apropos "trace" 'full)
7643 debug: trace #<procedure trace args>
7644 debug: untrace #<procedure untrace args>
7645 the-scm-module: display-backtrace #<compiled-closure #<primitive-procedure gsubr-apply>>
7646 the-scm-module: before-backtrace-hook ()
7647 the-scm-module: backtrace #<primitive-procedure backtrace>
7648 the-scm-module: after-backtrace-hook ()
7649 the-scm-module: has-shown-backtrace-hint? #f
7652 ** There are new functions and syntax for working with macros.
7654 Guile implements macros as a special object type. Any variable whose
7655 top-level binding is a macro object acts as a macro. The macro object
7656 specifies how the expression should be transformed before evaluation.
7658 *** Macro objects now print in a reasonable way, resembling procedures.
7660 *** New function: (macro? OBJ)
7661 True iff OBJ is a macro object.
7663 *** New function: (primitive-macro? OBJ)
7664 Like (macro? OBJ), but true only if OBJ is one of the Guile primitive
7665 macro transformers, implemented in eval.c rather than Scheme code.
7667 Why do we have this function?
7668 - For symmetry with procedure? and primitive-procedure?,
7669 - to allow custom print procedures to tell whether a macro is
7670 primitive, and display it differently, and
7671 - to allow compilers and user-written evaluators to distinguish
7672 builtin special forms from user-defined ones, which could be
7675 *** New function: (macro-type OBJ)
7676 Return a value indicating what kind of macro OBJ is. Possible return
7679 The symbol `syntax' --- a macro created by procedure->syntax.
7680 The symbol `macro' --- a macro created by procedure->macro.
7681 The symbol `macro!' --- a macro created by procedure->memoizing-macro.
7682 The boolean #f --- if OBJ is not a macro object.
7684 *** New function: (macro-name MACRO)
7685 Return the name of the macro object MACRO's procedure, as returned by
7688 *** New function: (macro-transformer MACRO)
7689 Return the transformer procedure for MACRO.
7691 *** New syntax: (use-syntax MODULE ... TRANSFORMER)
7693 Specify a new macro expander to use in the current module. Each
7694 MODULE is a module name, with the same meaning as in the `use-modules'
7695 form; each named module's exported bindings are added to the current
7696 top-level environment. TRANSFORMER is an expression evaluated in the
7697 resulting environment which must yield a procedure to use as the
7698 module's eval transformer: every expression evaluated in this module
7699 is passed to this function, and the result passed to the Guile
7702 *** macro-eval! is removed. Use local-eval instead.
7704 ** Some magic has been added to the printer to better handle user
7705 written printing routines (like record printers, closure printers).
7707 The problem is that these user written routines must have access to
7708 the current `print-state' to be able to handle fancy things like
7709 detection of circular references. These print-states have to be
7710 passed to the builtin printing routines (display, write, etc) to
7711 properly continue the print chain.
7713 We didn't want to change all existing print code so that it
7714 explicitly passes thru a print state in addition to a port. Instead,
7715 we extented the possible values that the builtin printing routines
7716 accept as a `port'. In addition to a normal port, they now also take
7717 a pair of a normal port and a print-state. Printing will go to the
7718 port and the print-state will be used to control the detection of
7719 circular references, etc. If the builtin function does not care for a
7720 print-state, it is simply ignored.
7722 User written callbacks are now called with such a pair as their
7723 `port', but because every function now accepts this pair as a PORT
7724 argument, you don't have to worry about that. In fact, it is probably
7725 safest to not check for these pairs.
7727 However, it is sometimes necessary to continue a print chain on a
7728 different port, for example to get a intermediate string
7729 representation of the printed value, mangle that string somehow, and
7730 then to finally print the mangled string. Use the new function
7732 inherit-print-state OLD-PORT NEW-PORT
7734 for this. It constructs a new `port' that prints to NEW-PORT but
7735 inherits the print-state of OLD-PORT.
7737 ** struct-vtable-offset renamed to vtable-offset-user
7739 ** New constants: vtable-index-layout, vtable-index-vtable, vtable-index-printer
7741 ** There is now a third optional argument to make-vtable-vtable
7742 (and fourth to make-struct) when constructing new types (vtables).
7743 This argument initializes field vtable-index-printer of the vtable.
7745 ** The detection of circular references has been extended to structs.
7746 That is, a structure that -- in the process of being printed -- prints
7747 itself does not lead to infinite recursion.
7749 ** There is now some basic support for fluids. Please read
7750 "libguile/fluid.h" to find out more. It is accessible from Scheme with
7751 the following functions and macros:
7753 Function: make-fluid
7755 Create a new fluid object. Fluids are not special variables or
7756 some other extension to the semantics of Scheme, but rather
7757 ordinary Scheme objects. You can store them into variables (that
7758 are still lexically scoped, of course) or into any other place you
7759 like. Every fluid has a initial value of `#f'.
7761 Function: fluid? OBJ
7763 Test whether OBJ is a fluid.
7765 Function: fluid-ref FLUID
7766 Function: fluid-set! FLUID VAL
7768 Access/modify the fluid FLUID. Modifications are only visible
7769 within the current dynamic root (that includes threads).
7771 Function: with-fluids* FLUIDS VALUES THUNK
7773 FLUIDS is a list of fluids and VALUES a corresponding list of
7774 values for these fluids. Before THUNK gets called the values are
7775 installed in the fluids and the old values of the fluids are
7776 saved in the VALUES list. When the flow of control leaves THUNK
7777 or reenters it, the values get swapped again. You might think of
7778 this as a `safe-fluid-excursion'. Note that the VALUES list is
7779 modified by `with-fluids*'.
7781 Macro: with-fluids ((FLUID VALUE) ...) FORM ...
7783 The same as `with-fluids*' but with a different syntax. It looks
7784 just like `let', but both FLUID and VALUE are evaluated. Remember,
7785 fluids are not special variables but ordinary objects. FLUID
7786 should evaluate to a fluid.
7788 ** Changes to system call interfaces:
7790 *** close-port, close-input-port and close-output-port now return a
7791 boolean instead of an `unspecified' object. #t means that the port
7792 was successfully closed, while #f means it was already closed. It is
7793 also now possible for these procedures to raise an exception if an
7794 error occurs (some errors from write can be delayed until close.)
7796 *** the first argument to chmod, fcntl, ftell and fseek can now be a
7799 *** the third argument to fcntl is now optional.
7801 *** the first argument to chown can now be a file descriptor or a port.
7803 *** the argument to stat can now be a port.
7805 *** The following new procedures have been added (most use scsh
7808 *** procedure: close PORT/FD
7809 Similar to close-port (*note close-port: Closing Ports.), but also
7810 works on file descriptors. A side effect of closing a file
7811 descriptor is that any ports using that file descriptor are moved
7812 to a different file descriptor and have their revealed counts set
7815 *** procedure: port->fdes PORT
7816 Returns the integer file descriptor underlying PORT. As a side
7817 effect the revealed count of PORT is incremented.
7819 *** procedure: fdes->ports FDES
7820 Returns a list of existing ports which have FDES as an underlying
7821 file descriptor, without changing their revealed counts.
7823 *** procedure: fdes->inport FDES
7824 Returns an existing input port which has FDES as its underlying
7825 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
7826 Otherwise, returns a new input port with a revealed count of 1.
7828 *** procedure: fdes->outport FDES
7829 Returns an existing output port which has FDES as its underlying
7830 file descriptor, if one exists, and increments its revealed count.
7831 Otherwise, returns a new output port with a revealed count of 1.
7833 The next group of procedures perform a `dup2' system call, if NEWFD
7834 (an integer) is supplied, otherwise a `dup'. The file descriptor to be
7835 duplicated can be supplied as an integer or contained in a port. The
7836 type of value returned varies depending on which procedure is used.
7838 All procedures also have the side effect when performing `dup2' that
7839 any ports using NEWFD are moved to a different file descriptor and have
7840 their revealed counts set to zero.
7842 *** procedure: dup->fdes PORT/FD [NEWFD]
7843 Returns an integer file descriptor.
7845 *** procedure: dup->inport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
7846 Returns a new input port using the new file descriptor.
7848 *** procedure: dup->outport PORT/FD [NEWFD]
7849 Returns a new output port using the new file descriptor.
7851 *** procedure: dup PORT/FD [NEWFD]
7852 Returns a new port if PORT/FD is a port, with the same mode as the
7853 supplied port, otherwise returns an integer file descriptor.
7855 *** procedure: dup->port PORT/FD MODE [NEWFD]
7856 Returns a new port using the new file descriptor. MODE supplies a
7857 mode string for the port (*note open-file: File Ports.).
7859 *** procedure: setenv NAME VALUE
7860 Modifies the environment of the current process, which is also the
7861 default environment inherited by child processes.
7863 If VALUE is `#f', then NAME is removed from the environment.
7864 Otherwise, the string NAME=VALUE is added to the environment,
7865 replacing any existing string with name matching NAME.
7867 The return value is unspecified.
7869 *** procedure: truncate-file OBJ SIZE
7870 Truncates the file referred to by OBJ to at most SIZE bytes. OBJ
7871 can be a string containing a file name or an integer file
7872 descriptor or port open for output on the file. The underlying
7873 system calls are `truncate' and `ftruncate'.
7875 The return value is unspecified.
7877 *** procedure: setvbuf PORT MODE [SIZE]
7878 Set the buffering mode for PORT. MODE can be:
7886 block buffered, using a newly allocated buffer of SIZE bytes.
7887 However if SIZE is zero or unspecified, the port will be made
7890 This procedure should not be used after I/O has been performed with
7893 Ports are usually block buffered by default, with a default buffer
7894 size. Procedures e.g., *Note open-file: File Ports, which accept a
7895 mode string allow `0' to be added to request an unbuffered port.
7897 *** procedure: fsync PORT/FD
7898 Copies any unwritten data for the specified output file descriptor
7899 to disk. If PORT/FD is a port, its buffer is flushed before the
7900 underlying file descriptor is fsync'd. The return value is
7903 *** procedure: open-fdes PATH FLAGS [MODES]
7904 Similar to `open' but returns a file descriptor instead of a port.
7906 *** procedure: execle PATH ENV [ARG] ...
7907 Similar to `execl', but the environment of the new process is
7908 specified by ENV, which must be a list of strings as returned by
7909 the `environ' procedure.
7911 This procedure is currently implemented using the `execve' system
7912 call, but we call it `execle' because of its Scheme calling
7915 *** procedure: strerror ERRNO
7916 Returns the Unix error message corresponding to ERRNO, an integer.
7918 *** procedure: primitive-exit [STATUS]
7919 Terminate the current process without unwinding the Scheme stack.
7920 This is would typically be useful after a fork. The exit status
7921 is STATUS if supplied, otherwise zero.
7923 *** procedure: times
7924 Returns an object with information about real and processor time.
7925 The following procedures accept such an object as an argument and
7926 return a selected component:
7929 The current real time, expressed as time units relative to an
7933 The CPU time units used by the calling process.
7936 The CPU time units used by the system on behalf of the
7940 The CPU time units used by terminated child processes of the
7941 calling process, whose status has been collected (e.g., using
7945 Similarly, the CPU times units used by the system on behalf of
7946 terminated child processes.
7948 ** Removed: list-length
7949 ** Removed: list-append, list-append!
7950 ** Removed: list-reverse, list-reverse!
7952 ** array-map renamed to array-map!
7954 ** serial-array-map renamed to serial-array-map!
7956 ** catch doesn't take #f as first argument any longer
7958 Previously, it was possible to pass #f instead of a key to `catch'.
7959 That would cause `catch' to pass a jump buffer object to the procedure
7960 passed as second argument. The procedure could then use this jump
7961 buffer objekt as an argument to throw.
7963 This mechanism has been removed since its utility doesn't motivate the
7964 extra complexity it introduces.
7966 ** The `#/' notation for lists now provokes a warning message from Guile.
7967 This syntax will be removed from Guile in the near future.
7969 To disable the warning message, set the GUILE_HUSH environment
7970 variable to any non-empty value.
7972 ** The newline character now prints as `#\newline', following the
7973 normal Scheme notation, not `#\nl'.
7975 * Changes to the gh_ interface
7977 ** The gh_enter function now takes care of loading the Guile startup files.
7978 gh_enter works by calling scm_boot_guile; see the remarks below.
7980 ** Function: void gh_write (SCM x)
7982 Write the printed representation of the scheme object x to the current
7983 output port. Corresponds to the scheme level `write'.
7985 ** gh_list_length renamed to gh_length.
7987 ** vector handling routines
7989 Several major changes. In particular, gh_vector() now resembles
7990 (vector ...) (with a caveat -- see manual), and gh_make_vector() now
7991 exists and behaves like (make-vector ...). gh_vset() and gh_vref()
7992 have been renamed gh_vector_set_x() and gh_vector_ref(). Some missing
7993 vector-related gh_ functions have been implemented.
7995 ** pair and list routines
7997 Implemented several of the R4RS pair and list functions that were
8000 ** gh_scm2doubles, gh_doubles2scm, gh_doubles2dvect
8002 New function. Converts double arrays back and forth between Scheme
8005 * Changes to the scm_ interface
8007 ** The function scm_boot_guile now takes care of loading the startup files.
8009 Guile's primary initialization function, scm_boot_guile, now takes
8010 care of loading `boot-9.scm', in the `ice-9' module, to initialize
8011 Guile, define the module system, and put together some standard
8012 bindings. It also loads `init.scm', which is intended to hold
8013 site-specific initialization code.
8015 Since Guile cannot operate properly until boot-9.scm is loaded, there
8016 is no reason to separate loading boot-9.scm from Guile's other
8017 initialization processes.
8019 This job used to be done by scm_compile_shell_switches, which didn't
8020 make much sense; in particular, it meant that people using Guile for
8021 non-shell-like applications had to jump through hoops to get Guile
8022 initialized properly.
8024 ** The function scm_compile_shell_switches no longer loads the startup files.
8025 Now, Guile always loads the startup files, whenever it is initialized;
8026 see the notes above for scm_boot_guile and scm_load_startup_files.
8028 ** Function: scm_load_startup_files
8029 This new function takes care of loading Guile's initialization file
8030 (`boot-9.scm'), and the site initialization file, `init.scm'. Since
8031 this is always called by the Guile initialization process, it's
8032 probably not too useful to call this yourself, but it's there anyway.
8034 ** The semantics of smob marking have changed slightly.
8036 The smob marking function (the `mark' member of the scm_smobfuns
8037 structure) is no longer responsible for setting the mark bit on the
8038 smob. The generic smob handling code in the garbage collector will
8039 set this bit. The mark function need only ensure that any other
8040 objects the smob refers to get marked.
8042 Note that this change means that the smob's GC8MARK bit is typically
8043 already set upon entry to the mark function. Thus, marking functions
8044 which look like this:
8047 if (SCM_GC8MARKP (ptr))
8049 SCM_SETGC8MARK (ptr);
8050 ... mark objects to which the smob refers ...
8053 are now incorrect, since they will return early, and fail to mark any
8054 other objects the smob refers to. Some code in the Guile library used
8057 ** The semantics of the I/O port functions in scm_ptobfuns have changed.
8059 If you have implemented your own I/O port type, by writing the
8060 functions required by the scm_ptobfuns and then calling scm_newptob,
8061 you will need to change your functions slightly.
8063 The functions in a scm_ptobfuns structure now expect the port itself
8064 as their argument; they used to expect the `stream' member of the
8065 port's scm_port_table structure. This allows functions in an
8066 scm_ptobfuns structure to easily access the port's cell (and any flags
8067 it its CAR), and the port's scm_port_table structure.
8069 Guile now passes the I/O port itself as the `port' argument in the
8070 following scm_ptobfuns functions:
8072 int (*free) (SCM port);
8073 int (*fputc) (int, SCM port);
8074 int (*fputs) (char *, SCM port);
8075 scm_sizet (*fwrite) SCM_P ((char *ptr,
8079 int (*fflush) (SCM port);
8080 int (*fgetc) (SCM port);
8081 int (*fclose) (SCM port);
8083 The interfaces to the `mark', `print', `equalp', and `fgets' methods
8086 If you have existing code which defines its own port types, it is easy
8087 to convert your code to the new interface; simply apply SCM_STREAM to
8088 the port argument to yield the value you code used to expect.
8090 Note that since both the port and the stream have the same type in the
8091 C code --- they are both SCM values --- the C compiler will not remind
8092 you if you forget to update your scm_ptobfuns functions.
8095 ** Function: int scm_internal_select (int fds,
8099 struct timeval *timeout);
8101 This is a replacement for the `select' function provided by the OS.
8102 It enables I/O blocking and sleeping to happen for one cooperative
8103 thread without blocking other threads. It also avoids busy-loops in
8104 these situations. It is intended that all I/O blocking and sleeping
8105 will finally go through this function. Currently, this function is
8106 only available on systems providing `gettimeofday' and `select'.
8108 ** Function: SCM scm_internal_stack_catch (SCM tag,
8109 scm_catch_body_t body,
8111 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
8114 A new sibling to the other two C level `catch' functions
8115 scm_internal_catch and scm_internal_lazy_catch. Use it if you want
8116 the stack to be saved automatically into the variable `the-last-stack'
8117 (scm_the_last_stack_var) on error. This is necessary if you want to
8118 use advanced error reporting, such as calling scm_display_error and
8119 scm_display_backtrace. (They both take a stack object as argument.)
8121 ** Function: SCM scm_spawn_thread (scm_catch_body_t body,
8123 scm_catch_handler_t handler,
8126 Spawns a new thread. It does a job similar to
8127 scm_call_with_new_thread but takes arguments more suitable when
8128 spawning threads from application C code.
8130 ** The hook scm_error_callback has been removed. It was originally
8131 intended as a way for the user to install his own error handler. But
8132 that method works badly since it intervenes between throw and catch,
8133 thereby changing the semantics of expressions like (catch #t ...).
8134 The correct way to do it is to use one of the C level catch functions
8135 in throw.c: scm_internal_catch/lazy_catch/stack_catch.
8137 ** Removed functions:
8139 scm_obj_length, scm_list_length, scm_list_append, scm_list_append_x,
8140 scm_list_reverse, scm_list_reverse_x
8142 ** New macros: SCM_LISTn where n is one of the integers 0-9.
8144 These can be used for pretty list creation from C. The idea is taken
8145 from Erick Gallesio's STk.
8147 ** scm_array_map renamed to scm_array_map_x
8149 ** mbstrings are now removed
8151 This means that the type codes scm_tc7_mb_string and
8152 scm_tc7_mb_substring has been removed.
8154 ** scm_gen_putc, scm_gen_puts, scm_gen_write, and scm_gen_getc have changed.
8156 Since we no longer support multi-byte strings, these I/O functions
8157 have been simplified, and renamed. Here are their old names, and
8158 their new names and arguments:
8160 scm_gen_putc -> void scm_putc (int c, SCM port);
8161 scm_gen_puts -> void scm_puts (char *s, SCM port);
8162 scm_gen_write -> void scm_lfwrite (char *ptr, scm_sizet size, SCM port);
8163 scm_gen_getc -> void scm_getc (SCM port);
8166 ** The macros SCM_TYP7D and SCM_TYP7SD has been removed.
8168 ** The macro SCM_TYP7S has taken the role of the old SCM_TYP7D
8170 SCM_TYP7S now masks away the bit which distinguishes substrings from
8173 ** scm_catch_body_t: Backward incompatible change!
8175 Body functions to scm_internal_catch and friends do not any longer
8176 take a second argument. This is because it is no longer possible to
8177 pass a #f arg to catch.
8179 ** Calls to scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect now nest properly.
8181 The function scm_protect_object protects its argument from being freed
8182 by the garbage collector. scm_unprotect_object removes that
8185 These functions now nest properly. That is, for every object O, there
8186 is a counter which scm_protect_object(O) increments and
8187 scm_unprotect_object(O) decrements, if the counter is greater than
8188 zero. Every object's counter is zero when it is first created. If an
8189 object's counter is greater than zero, the garbage collector will not
8190 reclaim its storage.
8192 This allows you to use scm_protect_object in your code without
8193 worrying that some other function you call will call
8194 scm_unprotect_object, and allow it to be freed. Assuming that the
8195 functions you call are well-behaved, and unprotect only those objects
8196 they protect, you can follow the same rule and have confidence that
8197 objects will be freed only at appropriate times.
8200 Changes in Guile 1.2 (released Tuesday, June 24 1997):
8202 * Changes to the distribution
8204 ** Nightly snapshots are now available from ftp.red-bean.com.
8205 The old server, ftp.cyclic.com, has been relinquished to its rightful
8208 Nightly snapshots of the Guile development sources are now available via
8209 anonymous FTP from ftp.red-bean.com, as /pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz.
8211 Via the web, that's: ftp://ftp.red-bean.com/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
8212 For getit, that's: ftp.red-bean.com:/pub/guile/guile-snap.tar.gz
8214 ** To run Guile without installing it, the procedure has changed a bit.
8216 If you used a separate build directory to compile Guile, you'll need
8217 to include the build directory in SCHEME_LOAD_PATH, as well as the
8218 source directory. See the `INSTALL' file for examples.
8220 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
8222 ** The standard Guile load path for Scheme code now includes
8223 $(datadir)/guile (usually /usr/local/share/guile). This means that
8224 you can install your own Scheme files there, and Guile will find them.
8225 (Previous versions of Guile only checked a directory whose name
8226 contained the Guile version number, so you had to re-install or move
8227 your Scheme sources each time you installed a fresh version of Guile.)
8229 The load path also includes $(datadir)/guile/site; we recommend
8230 putting individual Scheme files there. If you want to install a
8231 package with multiple source files, create a directory for them under
8234 ** Guile 1.2 will now use the Rx regular expression library, if it is
8235 installed on your system. When you are linking libguile into your own
8236 programs, this means you will have to link against -lguile, -lqt (if
8237 you configured Guile with thread support), and -lrx.
8239 If you are using autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your
8240 application, the following lines should suffice to add the appropriate
8241 libraries to your link command:
8243 ### Find Rx, quickthreads and libguile.
8244 AC_CHECK_LIB(rx, main)
8245 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
8246 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
8248 The Guile 1.2 distribution does not contain sources for the Rx
8249 library, as Guile 1.0 did. If you want to use Rx, you'll need to
8250 retrieve it from a GNU FTP site and install it separately.
8252 * Changes to Scheme functions and syntax
8254 ** The dynamic linking features of Guile are now enabled by default.
8255 You can disable them by giving the `--disable-dynamic-linking' option
8258 (dynamic-link FILENAME)
8260 Find the object file denoted by FILENAME (a string) and link it
8261 into the running Guile application. When everything works out,
8262 return a Scheme object suitable for representing the linked object
8263 file. Otherwise an error is thrown. How object files are
8264 searched is system dependent.
8266 (dynamic-object? VAL)
8268 Determine whether VAL represents a dynamically linked object file.
8270 (dynamic-unlink DYNOBJ)
8272 Unlink the indicated object file from the application. DYNOBJ
8273 should be one of the values returned by `dynamic-link'.
8275 (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
8277 Search the C function indicated by FUNCTION (a string or symbol)
8278 in DYNOBJ and return some Scheme object that can later be used
8279 with `dynamic-call' to actually call this function. Right now,
8280 these Scheme objects are formed by casting the address of the
8281 function to `long' and converting this number to its Scheme
8284 (dynamic-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ)
8286 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ. The
8287 function is passed no arguments and its return value is ignored.
8288 When FUNCTION is something returned by `dynamic-func', call that
8289 function and ignore DYNOBJ. When FUNCTION is a string (or symbol,
8290 etc.), look it up in DYNOBJ; this is equivalent to
8292 (dynamic-call (dynamic-func FUNCTION DYNOBJ) #f)
8294 Interrupts are deferred while the C function is executing (with
8295 SCM_DEFER_INTS/SCM_ALLOW_INTS).
8297 (dynamic-args-call FUNCTION DYNOBJ ARGS)
8299 Call the C function indicated by FUNCTION and DYNOBJ, but pass it
8300 some arguments and return its return value. The C function is
8301 expected to take two arguments and return an `int', just like
8304 int c_func (int argc, char **argv);
8306 ARGS must be a list of strings and is converted into an array of
8307 `char *'. The array is passed in ARGV and its size in ARGC. The
8308 return value is converted to a Scheme number and returned from the
8309 call to `dynamic-args-call'.
8311 When dynamic linking is disabled or not supported on your system,
8312 the above functions throw errors, but they are still available.
8314 Here is a small example that works on GNU/Linux:
8316 (define libc-obj (dynamic-link "libc.so"))
8317 (dynamic-args-call 'rand libc-obj '())
8319 See the file `libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING' for additional comments.
8321 ** The #/ syntax for module names is depreciated, and will be removed
8322 in a future version of Guile. Instead of
8330 The latter syntax is more consistent with existing Lisp practice.
8332 ** Guile now does fancier printing of structures. Structures are the
8333 underlying implementation for records, which in turn are used to
8334 implement modules, so all of these object now print differently and in
8335 a more informative way.
8337 The Scheme printer will examine the builtin variable *struct-printer*
8338 whenever it needs to print a structure object. When this variable is
8339 not `#f' it is deemed to be a procedure and will be applied to the
8340 structure object and the output port. When *struct-printer* is `#f'
8341 or the procedure return `#f' the structure object will be printed in
8342 the boring #<struct 80458270> form.
8344 This hook is used by some routines in ice-9/boot-9.scm to implement
8345 type specific printing routines. Please read the comments there about
8348 One of the more specific uses of structs are records. The printing
8349 procedure that could be passed to MAKE-RECORD-TYPE is now actually
8350 called. It should behave like a *struct-printer* procedure (described
8353 ** Guile now supports a new R4RS-compliant syntax for keywords. A
8354 token of the form #:NAME, where NAME has the same syntax as a Scheme
8355 symbol, is the external representation of the keyword named NAME.
8356 Keyword objects print using this syntax as well, so values containing
8357 keyword objects can be read back into Guile. When used in an
8358 expression, keywords are self-quoting objects.
8360 Guile suports this read syntax, and uses this print syntax, regardless
8361 of the current setting of the `keyword' read option. The `keyword'
8362 read option only controls whether Guile recognizes the `:NAME' syntax,
8363 which is incompatible with R4RS. (R4RS says such token represent
8366 ** Guile has regular expression support again. Guile 1.0 included
8367 functions for matching regular expressions, based on the Rx library.
8368 In Guile 1.1, the Guile/Rx interface was removed to simplify the
8369 distribution, and thus Guile had no regular expression support. Guile
8370 1.2 again supports the most commonly used functions, and supports all
8371 of SCSH's regular expression functions.
8373 If your system does not include a POSIX regular expression library,
8374 and you have not linked Guile with a third-party regexp library such as
8375 Rx, these functions will not be available. You can tell whether your
8376 Guile installation includes regular expression support by checking
8377 whether the `*features*' list includes the `regex' symbol.
8379 *** regexp functions
8381 By default, Guile supports POSIX extended regular expressions. That
8382 means that the characters `(', `)', `+' and `?' are special, and must
8383 be escaped if you wish to match the literal characters.
8385 This regular expression interface was modeled after that implemented
8386 by SCSH, the Scheme Shell. It is intended to be upwardly compatible
8387 with SCSH regular expressions.
8389 **** Function: string-match PATTERN STR [START]
8390 Compile the string PATTERN into a regular expression and compare
8391 it with STR. The optional numeric argument START specifies the
8392 position of STR at which to begin matching.
8394 `string-match' returns a "match structure" which describes what,
8395 if anything, was matched by the regular expression. *Note Match
8396 Structures::. If STR does not match PATTERN at all,
8397 `string-match' returns `#f'.
8399 Each time `string-match' is called, it must compile its PATTERN
8400 argument into a regular expression structure. This operation is
8401 expensive, which makes `string-match' inefficient if the same regular
8402 expression is used several times (for example, in a loop). For better
8403 performance, you can compile a regular expression in advance and then
8404 match strings against the compiled regexp.
8406 **** Function: make-regexp STR [FLAGS]
8407 Compile the regular expression described by STR, and return the
8408 compiled regexp structure. If STR does not describe a legal
8409 regular expression, `make-regexp' throws a
8410 `regular-expression-syntax' error.
8412 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
8414 **** Constant: regexp/extended
8415 Use POSIX Extended Regular Expression syntax when interpreting
8416 STR. If not set, POSIX Basic Regular Expression syntax is used.
8417 If the FLAGS argument is omitted, we assume regexp/extended.
8419 **** Constant: regexp/icase
8420 Do not differentiate case. Subsequent searches using the
8421 returned regular expression will be case insensitive.
8423 **** Constant: regexp/newline
8424 Match-any-character operators don't match a newline.
8426 A non-matching list ([^...]) not containing a newline matches a
8429 Match-beginning-of-line operator (^) matches the empty string
8430 immediately after a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
8431 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/notbol.
8433 Match-end-of-line operator ($) matches the empty string
8434 immediately before a newline, regardless of whether the FLAGS
8435 passed to regexp-exec contain regexp/noteol.
8437 **** Function: regexp-exec REGEXP STR [START [FLAGS]]
8438 Match the compiled regular expression REGEXP against `str'. If
8439 the optional integer START argument is provided, begin matching
8440 from that position in the string. Return a match structure
8441 describing the results of the match, or `#f' if no match could be
8444 FLAGS may be the bitwise-or of one or more of the following:
8446 **** Constant: regexp/notbol
8447 The match-beginning-of-line operator always fails to match (but
8448 see the compilation flag regexp/newline above) This flag may be
8449 used when different portions of a string are passed to
8450 regexp-exec and the beginning of the string should not be
8451 interpreted as the beginning of the line.
8453 **** Constant: regexp/noteol
8454 The match-end-of-line operator always fails to match (but see the
8455 compilation flag regexp/newline above)
8457 **** Function: regexp? OBJ
8458 Return `#t' if OBJ is a compiled regular expression, or `#f'
8461 Regular expressions are commonly used to find patterns in one string
8462 and replace them with the contents of another string.
8464 **** Function: regexp-substitute PORT MATCH [ITEM...]
8465 Write to the output port PORT selected contents of the match
8466 structure MATCH. Each ITEM specifies what should be written, and
8467 may be one of the following arguments:
8469 * A string. String arguments are written out verbatim.
8471 * An integer. The submatch with that number is written.
8473 * The symbol `pre'. The portion of the matched string preceding
8474 the regexp match is written.
8476 * The symbol `post'. The portion of the matched string
8477 following the regexp match is written.
8479 PORT may be `#f', in which case nothing is written; instead,
8480 `regexp-substitute' constructs a string from the specified ITEMs
8483 **** Function: regexp-substitute/global PORT REGEXP TARGET [ITEM...]
8484 Similar to `regexp-substitute', but can be used to perform global
8485 substitutions on STR. Instead of taking a match structure as an
8486 argument, `regexp-substitute/global' takes two string arguments: a
8487 REGEXP string describing a regular expression, and a TARGET string
8488 which should be matched against this regular expression.
8490 Each ITEM behaves as in REGEXP-SUBSTITUTE, with the following
8493 * A function may be supplied. When this function is called, it
8494 will be passed one argument: a match structure for a given
8495 regular expression match. It should return a string to be
8496 written out to PORT.
8498 * The `post' symbol causes `regexp-substitute/global' to recurse
8499 on the unmatched portion of STR. This *must* be supplied in
8500 order to perform global search-and-replace on STR; if it is
8501 not present among the ITEMs, then `regexp-substitute/global'
8502 will return after processing a single match.
8504 *** Match Structures
8506 A "match structure" is the object returned by `string-match' and
8507 `regexp-exec'. It describes which portion of a string, if any, matched
8508 the given regular expression. Match structures include: a reference to
8509 the string that was checked for matches; the starting and ending
8510 positions of the regexp match; and, if the regexp included any
8511 parenthesized subexpressions, the starting and ending positions of each
8514 In each of the regexp match functions described below, the `match'
8515 argument must be a match structure returned by a previous call to
8516 `string-match' or `regexp-exec'. Most of these functions return some
8517 information about the original target string that was matched against a
8518 regular expression; we will call that string TARGET for easy reference.
8520 **** Function: regexp-match? OBJ
8521 Return `#t' if OBJ is a match structure returned by a previous
8522 call to `regexp-exec', or `#f' otherwise.
8524 **** Function: match:substring MATCH [N]
8525 Return the portion of TARGET matched by subexpression number N.
8526 Submatch 0 (the default) represents the entire regexp match. If
8527 the regular expression as a whole matched, but the subexpression
8528 number N did not match, return `#f'.
8530 **** Function: match:start MATCH [N]
8531 Return the starting position of submatch number N.
8533 **** Function: match:end MATCH [N]
8534 Return the ending position of submatch number N.
8536 **** Function: match:prefix MATCH
8537 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET preceding the regexp match.
8539 **** Function: match:suffix MATCH
8540 Return the unmatched portion of TARGET following the regexp match.
8542 **** Function: match:count MATCH
8543 Return the number of parenthesized subexpressions from MATCH.
8544 Note that the entire regular expression match itself counts as a
8545 subexpression, and failed submatches are included in the count.
8547 **** Function: match:string MATCH
8548 Return the original TARGET string.
8550 *** Backslash Escapes
8552 Sometimes you will want a regexp to match characters like `*' or `$'
8553 exactly. For example, to check whether a particular string represents
8554 a menu entry from an Info node, it would be useful to match it against
8555 a regexp like `^* [^:]*::'. However, this won't work; because the
8556 asterisk is a metacharacter, it won't match the `*' at the beginning of
8557 the string. In this case, we want to make the first asterisk un-magic.
8559 You can do this by preceding the metacharacter with a backslash
8560 character `\'. (This is also called "quoting" the metacharacter, and
8561 is known as a "backslash escape".) When Guile sees a backslash in a
8562 regular expression, it considers the following glyph to be an ordinary
8563 character, no matter what special meaning it would ordinarily have.
8564 Therefore, we can make the above example work by changing the regexp to
8565 `^\* [^:]*::'. The `\*' sequence tells the regular expression engine
8566 to match only a single asterisk in the target string.
8568 Since the backslash is itself a metacharacter, you may force a
8569 regexp to match a backslash in the target string by preceding the
8570 backslash with itself. For example, to find variable references in a
8571 TeX program, you might want to find occurrences of the string `\let\'
8572 followed by any number of alphabetic characters. The regular expression
8573 `\\let\\[A-Za-z]*' would do this: the double backslashes in the regexp
8574 each match a single backslash in the target string.
8576 **** Function: regexp-quote STR
8577 Quote each special character found in STR with a backslash, and
8578 return the resulting string.
8580 *Very important:* Using backslash escapes in Guile source code (as
8581 in Emacs Lisp or C) can be tricky, because the backslash character has
8582 special meaning for the Guile reader. For example, if Guile encounters
8583 the character sequence `\n' in the middle of a string while processing
8584 Scheme code, it replaces those characters with a newline character.
8585 Similarly, the character sequence `\t' is replaced by a horizontal tab.
8586 Several of these "escape sequences" are processed by the Guile reader
8587 before your code is executed. Unrecognized escape sequences are
8588 ignored: if the characters `\*' appear in a string, they will be
8589 translated to the single character `*'.
8591 This translation is obviously undesirable for regular expressions,
8592 since we want to be able to include backslashes in a string in order to
8593 escape regexp metacharacters. Therefore, to make sure that a backslash
8594 is preserved in a string in your Guile program, you must use *two*
8595 consecutive backslashes:
8597 (define Info-menu-entry-pattern (make-regexp "^\\* [^:]*"))
8599 The string in this example is preprocessed by the Guile reader before
8600 any code is executed. The resulting argument to `make-regexp' is the
8601 string `^\* [^:]*', which is what we really want.
8603 This also means that in order to write a regular expression that
8604 matches a single backslash character, the regular expression string in
8605 the source code must include *four* backslashes. Each consecutive pair
8606 of backslashes gets translated by the Guile reader to a single
8607 backslash, and the resulting double-backslash is interpreted by the
8608 regexp engine as matching a single backslash character. Hence:
8610 (define tex-variable-pattern (make-regexp "\\\\let\\\\=[A-Za-z]*"))
8612 The reason for the unwieldiness of this syntax is historical. Both
8613 regular expression pattern matchers and Unix string processing systems
8614 have traditionally used backslashes with the special meanings described
8615 above. The POSIX regular expression specification and ANSI C standard
8616 both require these semantics. Attempting to abandon either convention
8617 would cause other kinds of compatibility problems, possibly more severe
8618 ones. Therefore, without extending the Scheme reader to support
8619 strings with different quoting conventions (an ungainly and confusing
8620 extension when implemented in other languages), we must adhere to this
8621 cumbersome escape syntax.
8623 * Changes to the gh_ interface
8625 * Changes to the scm_ interface
8627 * Changes to system call interfaces:
8629 ** The value returned by `raise' is now unspecified. It throws an exception
8632 *** A new procedure `sigaction' can be used to install signal handlers
8634 (sigaction signum [action] [flags])
8636 signum is the signal number, which can be specified using the value
8639 If action is omitted, sigaction returns a pair: the CAR is the current
8640 signal hander, which will be either an integer with the value SIG_DFL
8641 (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or the Scheme procedure which
8642 handles the signal, or #f if a non-Scheme procedure handles the
8643 signal. The CDR contains the current sigaction flags for the handler.
8645 If action is provided, it is installed as the new handler for signum.
8646 action can be a Scheme procedure taking one argument, or the value of
8647 SIG_DFL (default action) or SIG_IGN (ignore), or #f to restore
8648 whatever signal handler was installed before sigaction was first used.
8649 Flags can optionally be specified for the new handler (SA_RESTART is
8650 always used if the system provides it, so need not be specified.) The
8651 return value is a pair with information about the old handler as
8654 This interface does not provide access to the "signal blocking"
8655 facility. Maybe this is not needed, since the thread support may
8656 provide solutions to the problem of consistent access to data
8659 *** A new procedure `flush-all-ports' is equivalent to running
8660 `force-output' on every port open for output.
8662 ** Guile now provides information on how it was built, via the new
8663 global variable, %guile-build-info. This variable records the values
8664 of the standard GNU makefile directory variables as an assocation
8665 list, mapping variable names (symbols) onto directory paths (strings).
8666 For example, to find out where the Guile link libraries were
8667 installed, you can say:
8669 guile -c "(display (assq-ref %guile-build-info 'libdir)) (newline)"
8672 * Changes to the scm_ interface
8674 ** The new function scm_handle_by_message_noexit is just like the
8675 existing scm_handle_by_message function, except that it doesn't call
8676 exit to terminate the process. Instead, it prints a message and just
8677 returns #f. This might be a more appropriate catch-all handler for
8678 new dynamic roots and threads.
8681 Changes in Guile 1.1 (released Friday, May 16 1997):
8683 * Changes to the distribution.
8685 The Guile 1.0 distribution has been split up into several smaller
8687 guile-core --- the Guile interpreter itself.
8688 guile-tcltk --- the interface between the Guile interpreter and
8689 Tcl/Tk; Tcl is an interpreter for a stringy language, and Tk
8690 is a toolkit for building graphical user interfaces.
8691 guile-rgx-ctax --- the interface between Guile and the Rx regular
8692 expression matcher, and the translator for the Ctax
8693 programming language. These are packaged together because the
8694 Ctax translator uses Rx to parse Ctax source code.
8696 This NEWS file describes the changes made to guile-core since the 1.0
8699 We no longer distribute the documentation, since it was either out of
8700 date, or incomplete. As soon as we have current documentation, we
8705 * Changes to the stand-alone interpreter
8707 ** guile now accepts command-line arguments compatible with SCSH, Olin
8708 Shivers' Scheme Shell.
8710 In general, arguments are evaluated from left to right, but there are
8711 exceptions. The following switches stop argument processing, and
8712 stash all remaining command-line arguments as the value returned by
8713 the (command-line) function.
8714 -s SCRIPT load Scheme source code from FILE, and exit
8715 -c EXPR evalute Scheme expression EXPR, and exit
8716 -- stop scanning arguments; run interactively
8718 The switches below are processed as they are encountered.
8719 -l FILE load Scheme source code from FILE
8720 -e FUNCTION after reading script, apply FUNCTION to
8721 command line arguments
8722 -ds do -s script at this point
8723 --emacs enable Emacs protocol (experimental)
8724 -h, --help display this help and exit
8725 -v, --version display version information and exit
8726 \ read arguments from following script lines
8728 So, for example, here is a Guile script named `ekko' (thanks, Olin)
8729 which re-implements the traditional "echo" command:
8731 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
8734 (map (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
8738 (main (command-line))
8740 Suppose we invoke this script as follows:
8742 ekko a speckled gecko
8744 Through the magic of Unix script processing (triggered by the `#!'
8745 token at the top of the file), /usr/local/bin/guile receives the
8746 following list of command-line arguments:
8748 ("-s" "./ekko" "a" "speckled" "gecko")
8750 Unix inserts the name of the script after the argument specified on
8751 the first line of the file (in this case, "-s"), and then follows that
8752 with the arguments given to the script. Guile loads the script, which
8753 defines the `main' function, and then applies it to the list of
8754 remaining command-line arguments, ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
8756 In Unix, the first line of a script file must take the following form:
8758 #!INTERPRETER ARGUMENT
8760 where INTERPRETER is the absolute filename of the interpreter
8761 executable, and ARGUMENT is a single command-line argument to pass to
8764 You may only pass one argument to the interpreter, and its length is
8765 limited. These restrictions can be annoying to work around, so Guile
8766 provides a general mechanism (borrowed from, and compatible with,
8767 SCSH) for circumventing them.
8769 If the ARGUMENT in a Guile script is a single backslash character,
8770 `\', Guile will open the script file, parse arguments from its second
8771 and subsequent lines, and replace the `\' with them. So, for example,
8772 here is another implementation of the `ekko' script:
8774 #!/usr/local/bin/guile \
8778 (for-each (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
8782 If the user invokes this script as follows:
8784 ekko a speckled gecko
8786 Unix expands this into
8788 /usr/local/bin/guile \ ekko a speckled gecko
8790 When Guile sees the `\' argument, it replaces it with the arguments
8791 read from the second line of the script, producing:
8793 /usr/local/bin/guile -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
8795 This tells Guile to load the `ekko' script, and apply the function
8796 `main' to the argument list ("a" "speckled" "gecko").
8798 Here is how Guile parses the command-line arguments:
8799 - Each space character terminates an argument. This means that two
8800 spaces in a row introduce an empty-string argument.
8801 - The tab character is not permitted (unless you quote it with the
8802 backslash character, as described below), to avoid confusion.
8803 - The newline character terminates the sequence of arguments, and will
8804 also terminate a final non-empty argument. (However, a newline
8805 following a space will not introduce a final empty-string argument;
8806 it only terminates the argument list.)
8807 - The backslash character is the escape character. It escapes
8808 backslash, space, tab, and newline. The ANSI C escape sequences
8809 like \n and \t are also supported. These produce argument
8810 constituents; the two-character combination \n doesn't act like a
8811 terminating newline. The escape sequence \NNN for exactly three
8812 octal digits reads as the character whose ASCII code is NNN. As
8813 above, characters produced this way are argument constituents.
8814 Backslash followed by other characters is not allowed.
8816 * Changes to the procedure for linking libguile with your programs
8818 ** Guile now builds and installs a shared guile library, if your
8819 system support shared libraries. (It still builds a static library on
8820 all systems.) Guile automatically detects whether your system
8821 supports shared libraries. To prevent Guile from buildisg shared
8822 libraries, pass the `--disable-shared' flag to the configure script.
8824 Guile takes longer to compile when it builds shared libraries, because
8825 it must compile every file twice --- once to produce position-
8826 independent object code, and once to produce normal object code.
8828 ** The libthreads library has been merged into libguile.
8830 To link a program against Guile, you now need only link against
8831 -lguile and -lqt; -lthreads is no longer needed. If you are using
8832 autoconf to generate configuration scripts for your application, the
8833 following lines should suffice to add the appropriate libraries to
8836 ### Find quickthreads and libguile.
8837 AC_CHECK_LIB(qt, main)
8838 AC_CHECK_LIB(guile, scm_shell)
8840 * Changes to Scheme functions
8842 ** Guile Scheme's special syntax for keyword objects is now optional,
8843 and disabled by default.
8845 The syntax variation from R4RS made it difficult to port some
8846 interesting packages to Guile. The routines which accepted keyword
8847 arguments (mostly in the module system) have been modified to also
8848 accept symbols whose names begin with `:'.
8850 To change the keyword syntax, you must first import the (ice-9 debug)
8852 (use-modules (ice-9 debug))
8854 Then you can enable the keyword syntax as follows:
8855 (read-set! keywords 'prefix)
8857 To disable keyword syntax, do this:
8858 (read-set! keywords #f)
8860 ** Many more primitive functions accept shared substrings as
8861 arguments. In the past, these functions required normal, mutable
8862 strings as arguments, although they never made use of this
8865 ** The uniform array functions now operate on byte vectors. These
8866 functions are `array-fill!', `serial-array-copy!', `array-copy!',
8867 `serial-array-map', `array-map', `array-for-each', and
8870 ** The new functions `trace' and `untrace' implement simple debugging
8871 support for Scheme functions.
8873 The `trace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
8874 and tells the Guile interpreter to display each procedure's name and
8875 arguments each time the procedure is invoked. When invoked with no
8876 arguments, `trace' returns the list of procedures currently being
8879 The `untrace' function accepts any number of procedures as arguments,
8880 and tells the Guile interpreter not to trace them any more. When
8881 invoked with no arguments, `untrace' untraces all curretly traced
8884 The tracing in Guile has an advantage over most other systems: we
8885 don't create new procedure objects, but mark the procedure objects
8886 themselves. This means that anonymous and internal procedures can be
8889 ** The function `assert-repl-prompt' has been renamed to
8890 `set-repl-prompt!'. It takes one argument, PROMPT.
8891 - If PROMPT is #f, the Guile read-eval-print loop will not prompt.
8892 - If PROMPT is a string, we use it as a prompt.
8893 - If PROMPT is a procedure accepting no arguments, we call it, and
8894 display the result as a prompt.
8895 - Otherwise, we display "> ".
8897 ** The new function `eval-string' reads Scheme expressions from a
8898 string and evaluates them, returning the value of the last expression
8899 in the string. If the string contains no expressions, it returns an
8902 ** The new function `thunk?' returns true iff its argument is a
8903 procedure of zero arguments.
8905 ** `defined?' is now a builtin function, instead of syntax. This
8906 means that its argument should be quoted. It returns #t iff its
8907 argument is bound in the current module.
8909 ** The new syntax `use-modules' allows you to add new modules to your
8910 environment without re-typing a complete `define-module' form. It
8911 accepts any number of module names as arguments, and imports their
8912 public bindings into the current module.
8914 ** The new function (module-defined? NAME MODULE) returns true iff
8915 NAME, a symbol, is defined in MODULE, a module object.
8917 ** The new function `builtin-bindings' creates and returns a hash
8918 table containing copies of all the root module's bindings.
8920 ** The new function `builtin-weak-bindings' does the same as
8921 `builtin-bindings', but creates a doubly-weak hash table.
8923 ** The `equal?' function now considers variable objects to be
8924 equivalent if they have the same name and the same value.
8926 ** The new function `command-line' returns the command-line arguments
8927 given to Guile, as a list of strings.
8929 When using guile as a script interpreter, `command-line' returns the
8930 script's arguments; those processed by the interpreter (like `-s' or
8931 `-c') are omitted. (In other words, you get the normal, expected
8932 behavior.) Any application that uses scm_shell to process its
8933 command-line arguments gets this behavior as well.
8935 ** The new function `load-user-init' looks for a file called `.guile'
8936 in the user's home directory, and loads it if it exists. This is
8937 mostly for use by the code generated by scm_compile_shell_switches,
8938 but we thought it might also be useful in other circumstances.
8940 ** The new function `log10' returns the base-10 logarithm of its
8943 ** Changes to I/O functions
8945 *** The functions `read', `primitive-load', `read-and-eval!', and
8946 `primitive-load-path' no longer take optional arguments controlling
8947 case insensitivity and a `#' parser.
8949 Case sensitivity is now controlled by a read option called
8950 `case-insensitive'. The user can add new `#' syntaxes with the
8951 `read-hash-extend' function (see below).
8953 *** The new function `read-hash-extend' allows the user to change the
8954 syntax of Guile Scheme in a somewhat controlled way.
8956 (read-hash-extend CHAR PROC)
8957 When parsing S-expressions, if we read a `#' character followed by
8958 the character CHAR, use PROC to parse an object from the stream.
8959 If PROC is #f, remove any parsing procedure registered for CHAR.
8961 The reader applies PROC to two arguments: CHAR and an input port.
8963 *** The new functions read-delimited and read-delimited! provide a
8964 general mechanism for doing delimited input on streams.
8966 (read-delimited DELIMS [PORT HANDLE-DELIM])
8967 Read until we encounter one of the characters in DELIMS (a string),
8968 or end-of-file. PORT is the input port to read from; it defaults to
8969 the current input port. The HANDLE-DELIM parameter determines how
8970 the terminating character is handled; it should be one of the
8973 'trim omit delimiter from result
8974 'peek leave delimiter character in input stream
8975 'concat append delimiter character to returned value
8976 'split return a pair: (RESULT . TERMINATOR)
8978 HANDLE-DELIM defaults to 'peek.
8980 (read-delimited! DELIMS BUF [PORT HANDLE-DELIM START END])
8981 A side-effecting variant of `read-delimited'.
8983 The data is written into the string BUF at the indices in the
8984 half-open interval [START, END); the default interval is the whole
8985 string: START = 0 and END = (string-length BUF). The values of
8986 START and END must specify a well-defined interval in BUF, i.e.
8987 0 <= START <= END <= (string-length BUF).
8989 It returns NBYTES, the number of bytes read. If the buffer filled
8990 up without a delimiter character being found, it returns #f. If the
8991 port is at EOF when the read starts, it returns the EOF object.
8993 If an integer is returned (i.e., the read is successfully terminated
8994 by reading a delimiter character), then the HANDLE-DELIM parameter
8995 determines how to handle the terminating character. It is described
8996 above, and defaults to 'peek.
8998 (The descriptions of these functions were borrowed from the SCSH
8999 manual, by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
9001 *** The `%read-delimited!' function is the primitive used to implement
9002 `read-delimited' and `read-delimited!'.
9004 (%read-delimited! DELIMS BUF GOBBLE? [PORT START END])
9006 This returns a pair of values: (TERMINATOR . NUM-READ).
9007 - TERMINATOR describes why the read was terminated. If it is a
9008 character or the eof object, then that is the value that terminated
9009 the read. If it is #f, the function filled the buffer without finding
9010 a delimiting character.
9011 - NUM-READ is the number of characters read into BUF.
9013 If the read is successfully terminated by reading a delimiter
9014 character, then the gobble? parameter determines what to do with the
9015 terminating character. If true, the character is removed from the
9016 input stream; if false, the character is left in the input stream
9017 where a subsequent read operation will retrieve it. In either case,
9018 the character is also the first value returned by the procedure call.
9020 (The descriptions of this function was borrowed from the SCSH manual,
9021 by Olin Shivers and Brian Carlstrom.)
9023 *** The `read-line' and `read-line!' functions have changed; they now
9024 trim the terminator by default; previously they appended it to the
9025 returned string. For the old behavior, use (read-line PORT 'concat).
9027 *** The functions `uniform-array-read!' and `uniform-array-write!' now
9028 take new optional START and END arguments, specifying the region of
9029 the array to read and write.
9031 *** The `ungetc-char-ready?' function has been removed. We feel it's
9032 inappropriate for an interface to expose implementation details this
9035 ** Changes to the Unix library and system call interface
9037 *** The new fcntl function provides access to the Unix `fcntl' system
9040 (fcntl PORT COMMAND VALUE)
9041 Apply COMMAND to PORT's file descriptor, with VALUE as an argument.
9042 Values for COMMAND are:
9044 F_DUPFD duplicate a file descriptor
9045 F_GETFD read the descriptor's close-on-exec flag
9046 F_SETFD set the descriptor's close-on-exec flag to VALUE
9047 F_GETFL read the descriptor's flags, as set on open
9048 F_SETFL set the descriptor's flags, as set on open to VALUE
9049 F_GETOWN return the process ID of a socket's owner, for SIGIO
9050 F_SETOWN set the process that owns a socket to VALUE, for SIGIO
9051 FD_CLOEXEC not sure what this is
9053 For details, see the documentation for the fcntl system call.
9055 *** The arguments to `select' have changed, for compatibility with
9056 SCSH. The TIMEOUT parameter may now be non-integral, yielding the
9057 expected behavior. The MILLISECONDS parameter has been changed to
9058 MICROSECONDS, to more closely resemble the underlying system call.
9059 The RVEC, WVEC, and EVEC arguments can now be vectors; the type of the
9060 corresponding return set will be the same.
9062 *** The arguments to the `mknod' system call have changed. They are
9065 (mknod PATH TYPE PERMS DEV)
9066 Create a new file (`node') in the file system. PATH is the name of
9067 the file to create. TYPE is the kind of file to create; it should
9068 be 'fifo, 'block-special, or 'char-special. PERMS specifies the
9069 permission bits to give the newly created file. If TYPE is
9070 'block-special or 'char-special, DEV specifies which device the
9071 special file refers to; its interpretation depends on the kind of
9072 special file being created.
9074 *** The `fork' function has been renamed to `primitive-fork', to avoid
9075 clashing with various SCSH forks.
9077 *** The `recv' and `recvfrom' functions have been renamed to `recv!'
9078 and `recvfrom!'. They no longer accept a size for a second argument;
9079 you must pass a string to hold the received value. They no longer
9080 return the buffer. Instead, `recv' returns the length of the message
9081 received, and `recvfrom' returns a pair containing the packet's length
9082 and originating address.
9084 *** The file descriptor datatype has been removed, as have the
9085 `read-fd', `write-fd', `close', `lseek', and `dup' functions.
9086 We plan to replace these functions with a SCSH-compatible interface.
9088 *** The `create' function has been removed; it's just a special case
9091 *** There are new functions to break down process termination status
9092 values. In the descriptions below, STATUS is a value returned by
9095 (status:exit-val STATUS)
9096 If the child process exited normally, this function returns the exit
9097 code for the child process (i.e., the value passed to exit, or
9098 returned from main). If the child process did not exit normally,
9099 this function returns #f.
9101 (status:stop-sig STATUS)
9102 If the child process was suspended by a signal, this function
9103 returns the signal that suspended the child. Otherwise, it returns
9106 (status:term-sig STATUS)
9107 If the child process terminated abnormally, this function returns
9108 the signal that terminated the child. Otherwise, this function
9111 POSIX promises that exactly one of these functions will return true on
9112 a valid STATUS value.
9114 These functions are compatible with SCSH.
9116 *** There are new accessors and setters for the broken-out time vectors
9117 returned by `localtime', `gmtime', and that ilk. They are:
9119 Component Accessor Setter
9120 ========================= ============ ============
9121 seconds tm:sec set-tm:sec
9122 minutes tm:min set-tm:min
9123 hours tm:hour set-tm:hour
9124 day of the month tm:mday set-tm:mday
9125 month tm:mon set-tm:mon
9126 year tm:year set-tm:year
9127 day of the week tm:wday set-tm:wday
9128 day in the year tm:yday set-tm:yday
9129 daylight saving time tm:isdst set-tm:isdst
9130 GMT offset, seconds tm:gmtoff set-tm:gmtoff
9131 name of time zone tm:zone set-tm:zone
9133 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `uname',
9134 describing the host system:
9137 ============================================== ================
9138 name of the operating system implementation utsname:sysname
9139 network name of this machine utsname:nodename
9140 release level of the operating system utsname:release
9141 version level of the operating system utsname:version
9142 machine hardware platform utsname:machine
9144 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getpw',
9145 `getpwnam', `getpwuid', and `getpwent', describing entries from the
9146 system's user database:
9149 ====================== =================
9150 user name passwd:name
9151 user password passwd:passwd
9154 real name passwd:gecos
9155 home directory passwd:dir
9156 shell program passwd:shell
9158 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getgr',
9159 `getgrnam', `getgrgid', and `getgrent', describing entries from the
9160 system's group database:
9163 ======================= ============
9164 group name group:name
9165 group password group:passwd
9167 group members group:mem
9169 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `gethost',
9170 `gethostbyaddr', `gethostbyname', and `gethostent', describing
9174 ========================= ===============
9175 official name of host hostent:name
9176 alias list hostent:aliases
9177 host address type hostent:addrtype
9178 length of address hostent:length
9179 list of addresses hostent:addr-list
9181 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getnet',
9182 `getnetbyaddr', `getnetbyname', and `getnetent', describing internet
9186 ========================= ===============
9187 official name of net netent:name
9188 alias list netent:aliases
9189 net number type netent:addrtype
9190 net number netent:net
9192 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getproto',
9193 `getprotobyname', `getprotobynumber', and `getprotoent', describing
9197 ========================= ===============
9198 official protocol name protoent:name
9199 alias list protoent:aliases
9200 protocol number protoent:proto
9202 *** There are new accessors for the vectors returned by `getserv',
9203 `getservbyname', `getservbyport', and `getservent', describing
9207 ========================= ===============
9208 official service name servent:name
9209 alias list servent:aliases
9210 port number servent:port
9211 protocol to use servent:proto
9213 *** There are new accessors for the sockaddr structures returned by
9214 `accept', `getsockname', `getpeername', `recvfrom!':
9217 ======================================== ===============
9218 address format (`family') sockaddr:fam
9219 path, for file domain addresses sockaddr:path
9220 address, for internet domain addresses sockaddr:addr
9221 TCP or UDP port, for internet sockaddr:port
9223 *** The `getpwent', `getgrent', `gethostent', `getnetent',
9224 `getprotoent', and `getservent' functions now return #f at the end of
9225 the user database. (They used to throw an exception.)
9227 Note that calling MUMBLEent function is equivalent to calling the
9228 corresponding MUMBLE function with no arguments.
9230 *** The `setpwent', `setgrent', `sethostent', `setnetent',
9231 `setprotoent', and `setservent' routines now take no arguments.
9233 *** The `gethost', `getproto', `getnet', and `getserv' functions now
9234 provide more useful information when they throw an exception.
9236 *** The `lnaof' function has been renamed to `inet-lnaof'.
9238 *** Guile now claims to have the `current-time' feature.
9240 *** The `mktime' function now takes an optional second argument ZONE,
9241 giving the time zone to use for the conversion. ZONE should be a
9242 string, in the same format as expected for the "TZ" environment variable.
9244 *** The `strptime' function now returns a pair (TIME . COUNT), where
9245 TIME is the parsed time as a vector, and COUNT is the number of
9246 characters from the string left unparsed. This function used to
9247 return the remaining characters as a string.
9249 *** The `gettimeofday' function has replaced the old `time+ticks' function.
9250 The return value is now (SECONDS . MICROSECONDS); the fractional
9251 component is no longer expressed in "ticks".
9253 *** The `ticks/sec' constant has been removed, in light of the above change.
9255 * Changes to the gh_ interface
9257 ** gh_eval_str() now returns an SCM object which is the result of the
9260 ** gh_scm2str() now copies the Scheme data to a caller-provided C
9263 ** gh_scm2newstr() now makes a C array, copies the Scheme data to it,
9264 and returns the array
9266 ** gh_scm2str0() is gone: there is no need to distinguish
9267 null-terminated from non-null-terminated, since gh_scm2newstr() allows
9268 the user to interpret the data both ways.
9270 * Changes to the scm_ interface
9272 ** The new function scm_symbol_value0 provides an easy way to get a
9273 symbol's value from C code:
9275 SCM scm_symbol_value0 (char *NAME)
9276 Return the value of the symbol named by the null-terminated string
9277 NAME in the current module. If the symbol named NAME is unbound in
9278 the current module, return SCM_UNDEFINED.
9280 ** The new function scm_sysintern0 creates new top-level variables,
9281 without assigning them a value.
9283 SCM scm_sysintern0 (char *NAME)
9284 Create a new Scheme top-level variable named NAME. NAME is a
9285 null-terminated string. Return the variable's value cell.
9287 ** The function scm_internal_catch is the guts of catch. It handles
9288 all the mechanics of setting up a catch target, invoking the catch
9289 body, and perhaps invoking the handler if the body does a throw.
9291 The function is designed to be usable from C code, but is general
9292 enough to implement all the semantics Guile Scheme expects from throw.
9294 TAG is the catch tag. Typically, this is a symbol, but this function
9295 doesn't actually care about that.
9297 BODY is a pointer to a C function which runs the body of the catch;
9298 this is the code you can throw from. We call it like this:
9299 BODY (BODY_DATA, JMPBUF)
9301 BODY_DATA is just the BODY_DATA argument we received; we pass it
9302 through to BODY as its first argument. The caller can make
9303 BODY_DATA point to anything useful that BODY might need.
9304 JMPBUF is the Scheme jmpbuf object corresponding to this catch,
9305 which we have just created and initialized.
9307 HANDLER is a pointer to a C function to deal with a throw to TAG,
9308 should one occur. We call it like this:
9309 HANDLER (HANDLER_DATA, THROWN_TAG, THROW_ARGS)
9311 HANDLER_DATA is the HANDLER_DATA argument we recevied; it's the
9312 same idea as BODY_DATA above.
9313 THROWN_TAG is the tag that the user threw to; usually this is
9314 TAG, but it could be something else if TAG was #t (i.e., a
9315 catch-all), or the user threw to a jmpbuf.
9316 THROW_ARGS is the list of arguments the user passed to the THROW
9319 BODY_DATA is just a pointer we pass through to BODY. HANDLER_DATA
9320 is just a pointer we pass through to HANDLER. We don't actually
9321 use either of those pointers otherwise ourselves. The idea is
9322 that, if our caller wants to communicate something to BODY or
9323 HANDLER, it can pass a pointer to it as MUMBLE_DATA, which BODY and
9324 HANDLER can then use. Think of it as a way to make BODY and
9325 HANDLER closures, not just functions; MUMBLE_DATA points to the
9328 Of course, it's up to the caller to make sure that any data a
9329 MUMBLE_DATA needs is protected from GC. A common way to do this is
9330 to make MUMBLE_DATA a pointer to data stored in an automatic
9331 structure variable; since the collector must scan the stack for
9332 references anyway, this assures that any references in MUMBLE_DATA
9335 ** The new function scm_internal_lazy_catch is exactly like
9336 scm_internal_catch, except:
9338 - It does not unwind the stack (this is the major difference).
9339 - If handler returns, its value is returned from the throw.
9340 - BODY always receives #f as its JMPBUF argument (since there's no
9341 jmpbuf associated with a lazy catch, because we don't unwind the
9344 ** scm_body_thunk is a new body function you can pass to
9345 scm_internal_catch if you want the body to be like Scheme's `catch'
9346 --- a thunk, or a function of one argument if the tag is #f.
9348 BODY_DATA is a pointer to a scm_body_thunk_data structure, which
9349 contains the Scheme procedure to invoke as the body, and the tag
9350 we're catching. If the tag is #f, then we pass JMPBUF (created by
9351 scm_internal_catch) to the body procedure; otherwise, the body gets
9354 ** scm_handle_by_proc is a new handler function you can pass to
9355 scm_internal_catch if you want the handler to act like Scheme's catch
9356 --- call a procedure with the tag and the throw arguments.
9358 If the user does a throw to this catch, this function runs a handler
9359 procedure written in Scheme. HANDLER_DATA is a pointer to an SCM
9360 variable holding the Scheme procedure object to invoke. It ought to
9361 be a pointer to an automatic variable (i.e., one living on the stack),
9362 or the procedure object should be otherwise protected from GC.
9364 ** scm_handle_by_message is a new handler function to use with
9365 `scm_internal_catch' if you want Guile to print a message and die.
9366 It's useful for dealing with throws to uncaught keys at the top level.
9368 HANDLER_DATA, if non-zero, is assumed to be a char * pointing to a
9369 message header to print; if zero, we use "guile" instead. That
9370 text is followed by a colon, then the message described by ARGS.
9372 ** The return type of scm_boot_guile is now void; the function does
9373 not return a value, and indeed, never returns at all.
9375 ** The new function scm_shell makes it easy for user applications to
9376 process command-line arguments in a way that is compatible with the
9377 stand-alone guile interpreter (which is in turn compatible with SCSH,
9380 To use the scm_shell function, first initialize any guile modules
9381 linked into your application, and then call scm_shell with the values
9382 of ARGC and ARGV your `main' function received. scm_shell will add
9383 any SCSH-style meta-arguments from the top of the script file to the
9384 argument vector, and then process the command-line arguments. This
9385 generally means loading a script file or starting up an interactive
9386 command interpreter. For details, see "Changes to the stand-alone
9389 ** The new functions scm_get_meta_args and scm_count_argv help you
9390 implement the SCSH-style meta-argument, `\'.
9392 char **scm_get_meta_args (int ARGC, char **ARGV)
9393 If the second element of ARGV is a string consisting of a single
9394 backslash character (i.e. "\\" in Scheme notation), open the file
9395 named by the following argument, parse arguments from it, and return
9396 the spliced command line. The returned array is terminated by a
9399 For details of argument parsing, see above, under "guile now accepts
9400 command-line arguments compatible with SCSH..."
9402 int scm_count_argv (char **ARGV)
9403 Count the arguments in ARGV, assuming it is terminated by a null
9406 For an example of how these functions might be used, see the source
9407 code for the function scm_shell in libguile/script.c.
9409 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
9412 ** The new function scm_compile_shell_switches turns an array of
9413 command-line arguments into Scheme code to carry out the actions they
9414 describe. Given ARGC and ARGV, it returns a Scheme expression to
9415 evaluate, and calls scm_set_program_arguments to make any remaining
9416 command-line arguments available to the Scheme code. For example,
9417 given the following arguments:
9419 -e main -s ekko a speckled gecko
9421 scm_set_program_arguments will return the following expression:
9423 (begin (load "ekko") (main (command-line)) (quit))
9425 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
9428 ** The function scm_shell_usage prints a usage message appropriate for
9429 an interpreter that uses scm_compile_shell_switches to handle its
9430 command-line arguments.
9432 void scm_shell_usage (int FATAL, char *MESSAGE)
9433 Print a usage message to the standard error output. If MESSAGE is
9434 non-zero, write it before the usage message, followed by a newline.
9435 If FATAL is non-zero, exit the process, using FATAL as the
9436 termination status. (If you want to be compatible with Guile,
9437 always use 1 as the exit status when terminating due to command-line
9440 You will usually want to use scm_shell instead of calling this
9443 ** scm_eval_0str now returns SCM_UNSPECIFIED if the string contains no
9444 expressions. It used to return SCM_EOL. Earth-shattering.
9446 ** The macros for declaring scheme objects in C code have been
9447 rearranged slightly. They are now:
9449 SCM_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
9450 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
9451 point to the Scheme symbol whose name is SCHEME_NAME. C_NAME should
9452 be a C identifier, and SCHEME_NAME should be a C string.
9454 SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
9455 Just like SCM_SYMBOL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
9457 SCM_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
9458 Create a global variable at the Scheme level named SCHEME_NAME.
9459 Declare a static SCM variable named C_NAME, and initialize it to
9460 point to the Scheme variable's value cell.
9462 SCM_GLOBAL_VCELL (C_NAME, SCHEME_NAME)
9463 Just like SCM_VCELL, but make C_NAME globally visible.
9465 The `guile-snarf' script writes initialization code for these macros
9466 to its standard output, given C source code as input.
9468 The SCM_GLOBAL macro is gone.
9470 ** The scm_read_line and scm_read_line_x functions have been replaced
9471 by Scheme code based on the %read-delimited! procedure (known to C
9472 code as scm_read_delimited_x). See its description above for more
9475 ** The function scm_sys_open has been renamed to scm_open. It now
9476 returns a port instead of an FD object.
9478 * The dynamic linking support has changed. For more information, see
9479 libguile/DYNAMIC-LINKING.
9484 User-visible changes from Thursday, September 5, 1996 until Guile 1.0
9487 * Changes to the 'guile' program:
9489 ** Guile now loads some new files when it starts up. Guile first
9490 searches the load path for init.scm, and loads it if found. Then, if
9491 Guile is not being used to execute a script, and the user's home
9492 directory contains a file named `.guile', Guile loads that.
9494 ** You can now use Guile as a shell script interpreter.
9496 To paraphrase the SCSH manual:
9498 When Unix tries to execute an executable file whose first two
9499 characters are the `#!', it treats the file not as machine code to
9500 be directly executed by the native processor, but as source code
9501 to be executed by some interpreter. The interpreter to use is
9502 specified immediately after the #! sequence on the first line of
9503 the source file. The kernel reads in the name of the interpreter,
9504 and executes that instead. It passes the interpreter the source
9505 filename as its first argument, with the original arguments
9506 following. Consult the Unix man page for the `exec' system call
9507 for more information.
9509 Now you can use Guile as an interpreter, using a mechanism which is a
9510 compatible subset of that provided by SCSH.
9512 Guile now recognizes a '-s' command line switch, whose argument is the
9513 name of a file of Scheme code to load. It also treats the two
9514 characters `#!' as the start of a comment, terminated by `!#'. Thus,
9515 to make a file of Scheme code directly executable by Unix, insert the
9516 following two lines at the top of the file:
9518 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
9521 Guile treats the argument of the `-s' command-line switch as the name
9522 of a file of Scheme code to load, and treats the sequence `#!' as the
9523 start of a block comment, terminated by `!#'.
9525 For example, here's a version of 'echo' written in Scheme:
9527 #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
9529 (let loop ((args (cdr (program-arguments))))
9532 (display (car args))
9533 (if (pair? (cdr args))
9535 (loop (cdr args)))))
9538 Why does `#!' start a block comment terminated by `!#', instead of the
9539 end of the line? That is the notation SCSH uses, and although we
9540 don't yet support the other SCSH features that motivate that choice,
9541 we would like to be backward-compatible with any existing Guile
9542 scripts once we do. Furthermore, if the path to Guile on your system
9543 is too long for your kernel, you can start the script with this
9547 exec /really/long/path/to/guile -s "$0" ${1+"$@"}
9550 Note that some very old Unix systems don't support the `#!' syntax.
9553 ** You can now run Guile without installing it.
9555 Previous versions of the interactive Guile interpreter (`guile')
9556 couldn't start up unless Guile's Scheme library had been installed;
9557 they used the value of the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH'
9558 later on in the startup process, but not to find the startup code
9559 itself. Now Guile uses `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' in all searches for Scheme
9562 To run Guile without installing it, build it in the normal way, and
9563 then set the environment variable `SCHEME_LOAD_PATH' to a
9564 colon-separated list of directories, including the top-level directory
9565 of the Guile sources. For example, if you unpacked Guile so that the
9566 full filename of this NEWS file is /home/jimb/guile-1.0b3/NEWS, then
9569 export SCHEME_LOAD_PATH=/home/jimb/my-scheme:/home/jimb/guile-1.0b3
9572 ** Guile's read-eval-print loop no longer prints #<unspecified>
9573 results. If the user wants to see this, she can evaluate the
9574 expression (assert-repl-print-unspecified #t), perhaps in her startup
9577 ** Guile no longer shows backtraces by default when an error occurs;
9578 however, it does display a message saying how to get one, and how to
9579 request that they be displayed by default. After an error, evaluate
9581 to see a backtrace, and
9582 (debug-enable 'backtrace)
9583 to see them by default.
9587 * Changes to Guile Scheme:
9589 ** Guile now distinguishes between #f and the empty list.
9591 This is for compatibility with the IEEE standard, the (possibly)
9592 upcoming Revised^5 Report on Scheme, and many extant Scheme
9595 Guile used to have #f and '() denote the same object, to make Scheme's
9596 type system more compatible with Emacs Lisp's. However, the change
9597 caused too much trouble for Scheme programmers, and we found another
9598 way to reconcile Emacs Lisp with Scheme that didn't require this.
9601 ** Guile's delq, delv, delete functions, and their destructive
9602 counterparts, delq!, delv!, and delete!, now remove all matching
9603 elements from the list, not just the first. This matches the behavior
9604 of the corresponding Emacs Lisp functions, and (I believe) the Maclisp
9605 functions which inspired them.
9607 I recognize that this change may break code in subtle ways, but it
9608 seems best to make the change before the FSF's first Guile release,
9612 ** The compiled-library-path function has been deleted from libguile.
9614 ** The facilities for loading Scheme source files have changed.
9616 *** The variable %load-path now tells Guile which directories to search
9617 for Scheme code. Its value is a list of strings, each of which names
9620 *** The variable %load-extensions now tells Guile which extensions to
9621 try appending to a filename when searching the load path. Its value
9622 is a list of strings. Its default value is ("" ".scm").
9624 *** (%search-load-path FILENAME) searches the directories listed in the
9625 value of the %load-path variable for a Scheme file named FILENAME,
9626 with all the extensions listed in %load-extensions. If it finds a
9627 match, then it returns its full filename. If FILENAME is absolute, it
9628 returns it unchanged. Otherwise, it returns #f.
9630 %search-load-path will not return matches that refer to directories.
9632 *** (primitive-load FILENAME :optional CASE-INSENSITIVE-P SHARP)
9633 uses %seach-load-path to find a file named FILENAME, and loads it if
9634 it finds it. If it can't read FILENAME for any reason, it throws an
9637 The arguments CASE-INSENSITIVE-P and SHARP are interpreted as by the
9640 *** load uses the same searching semantics as primitive-load.
9642 *** The functions %try-load, try-load-with-path, %load, load-with-path,
9643 basic-try-load-with-path, basic-load-with-path, try-load-module-with-
9644 path, and load-module-with-path have been deleted. The functions
9645 above should serve their purposes.
9647 *** If the value of the variable %load-hook is a procedure,
9648 `primitive-load' applies its value to the name of the file being
9649 loaded (without the load path directory name prepended). If its value
9650 is #f, it is ignored. Otherwise, an error occurs.
9652 This is mostly useful for printing load notification messages.
9655 ** The function `eval!' is no longer accessible from the scheme level.
9656 We can't allow operations which introduce glocs into the scheme level,
9657 because Guile's type system can't handle these as data. Use `eval' or
9658 `read-and-eval!' (see below) as replacement.
9660 ** The new function read-and-eval! reads an expression from PORT,
9661 evaluates it, and returns the result. This is more efficient than
9662 simply calling `read' and `eval', since it is not necessary to make a
9663 copy of the expression for the evaluator to munge.
9665 Its optional arguments CASE_INSENSITIVE_P and SHARP are interpreted as
9666 for the `read' function.
9669 ** The function `int?' has been removed; its definition was identical
9670 to that of `integer?'.
9672 ** The functions `<?', `<?', `<=?', `=?', `>?', and `>=?'. Code should
9673 use the R4RS names for these functions.
9675 ** The function object-properties no longer returns the hash handle;
9676 it simply returns the object's property list.
9678 ** Many functions have been changed to throw errors, instead of
9679 returning #f on failure. The point of providing exception handling in
9680 the language is to simplify the logic of user code, but this is less
9681 useful if Guile's primitives don't throw exceptions.
9683 ** The function `fileno' has been renamed from `%fileno'.
9685 ** The function primitive-mode->fdes returns #t or #f now, not 1 or 0.
9688 * Changes to Guile's C interface:
9690 ** The library's initialization procedure has been simplified.
9691 scm_boot_guile now has the prototype:
9693 void scm_boot_guile (int ARGC,
9695 void (*main_func) (),
9698 scm_boot_guile calls MAIN_FUNC, passing it CLOSURE, ARGC, and ARGV.
9699 MAIN_FUNC should do all the work of the program (initializing other
9700 packages, reading user input, etc.) before returning. When MAIN_FUNC
9701 returns, call exit (0); this function never returns. If you want some
9702 other exit value, MAIN_FUNC may call exit itself.
9704 scm_boot_guile arranges for program-arguments to return the strings
9705 given by ARGC and ARGV. If MAIN_FUNC modifies ARGC/ARGV, should call
9706 scm_set_program_arguments with the final list, so Scheme code will
9707 know which arguments have been processed.
9709 scm_boot_guile establishes a catch-all catch handler which prints an
9710 error message and exits the process. This means that Guile exits in a
9711 coherent way when system errors occur and the user isn't prepared to
9712 handle it. If the user doesn't like this behavior, they can establish
9713 their own universal catcher in MAIN_FUNC to shadow this one.
9715 Why must the caller do all the real work from MAIN_FUNC? The garbage
9716 collector assumes that all local variables of type SCM will be above
9717 scm_boot_guile's stack frame on the stack. If you try to manipulate
9718 SCM values after this function returns, it's the luck of the draw
9719 whether the GC will be able to find the objects you allocate. So,
9720 scm_boot_guile function exits, rather than returning, to discourage
9721 people from making that mistake.
9723 The IN, OUT, and ERR arguments were removed; there are other
9724 convenient ways to override these when desired.
9726 The RESULT argument was deleted; this function should never return.
9728 The BOOT_CMD argument was deleted; the MAIN_FUNC argument is more
9732 ** Guile's header files should no longer conflict with your system's
9735 In order to compile code which #included <libguile.h>, previous
9736 versions of Guile required you to add a directory containing all the
9737 Guile header files to your #include path. This was a problem, since
9738 Guile's header files have names which conflict with many systems'
9741 Now only <libguile.h> need appear in your #include path; you must
9742 refer to all Guile's other header files as <libguile/mumble.h>.
9743 Guile's installation procedure puts libguile.h in $(includedir), and
9744 the rest in $(includedir)/libguile.
9747 ** Two new C functions, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object,
9748 have been added to the Guile library.
9750 scm_protect_object (OBJ) protects OBJ from the garbage collector.
9751 OBJ will not be freed, even if all other references are dropped,
9752 until someone does scm_unprotect_object (OBJ). Both functions
9755 Note that calls to scm_protect_object do not nest. You can call
9756 scm_protect_object any number of times on a given object, and the
9757 next call to scm_unprotect_object will unprotect it completely.
9759 Basically, scm_protect_object and scm_unprotect_object just
9760 maintain a list of references to things. Since the GC knows about
9761 this list, all objects it mentions stay alive. scm_protect_object
9762 adds its argument to the list; scm_unprotect_object remove its
9763 argument from the list.
9766 ** scm_eval_0str now returns the value of the last expression
9769 ** The new function scm_read_0str reads an s-expression from a
9770 null-terminated string, and returns it.
9772 ** The new function `scm_stdio_to_port' converts a STDIO file pointer
9773 to a Scheme port object.
9775 ** The new function `scm_set_program_arguments' allows C code to set
9776 the value returned by the Scheme `program-arguments' function.
9781 * Guile no longer includes sophisticated Tcl/Tk support.
9783 The old Tcl/Tk support was unsatisfying to us, because it required the
9784 user to link against the Tcl library, as well as Tk and Guile. The
9785 interface was also un-lispy, in that it preserved Tcl/Tk's practice of
9786 referring to widgets by names, rather than exporting widgets to Scheme
9787 code as a special datatype.
9789 In the Usenix Tk Developer's Workshop held in July 1996, the Tcl/Tk
9790 maintainers described some very interesting changes in progress to the
9791 Tcl/Tk internals, which would facilitate clean interfaces between lone
9792 Tk and other interpreters --- even for garbage-collected languages
9793 like Scheme. They expected the new Tk to be publicly available in the
9796 Since it seems that Guile might soon have a new, cleaner interface to
9797 lone Tk, and that the old Guile/Tk glue code would probably need to be
9798 completely rewritten, we (Jim Blandy and Richard Stallman) have
9799 decided not to support the old code. We'll spend the time instead on
9800 a good interface to the newer Tk, as soon as it is available.
9802 Until then, gtcltk-lib provides trivial, low-maintenance functionality.
9805 Copyright information:
9807 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
9809 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
9810 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
9811 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
9812 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
9814 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
9815 of this document, or of portions of it,
9816 under the above conditions, provided also that they
9817 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
9822 paragraph-separate: "[
\f]*$"