START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
* Gambit-C: (gambit-c). A portable implementation of Scheme.
* gsi: (gambit-c) interpreter. Gambit interpreter.
* gsc: (gambit-c) compiler. Gambit compiler.
END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
This file documents Gambit-C, a portable implementation of Scheme.
Copyright (C) 1994-2006 Marc Feeley.
Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
preserved on all copies.
Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of
this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that
the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
permission notice identical to this one.
Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this
manual into another language, under the above conditions for modified
versions, except that this permission notice may be stated in a
translation approved by the copyright holder.
Gambit-C
********
This manual documents Gambit-C. It covers release 4.0 beta 20.
1 The Gambit-C system
*********************
The Gambit programming system is a full implementation of the Scheme
language which conforms to the R4RS and IEEE Scheme standards. It
consists of two main programs: `gsi', the Gambit Scheme interpreter,
and `gsc', the Gambit Scheme compiler.
Gambit-C is a version of the Gambit programming system in which the
compiler generates portable C code, making the whole Gambit-C system and
the programs compiled with it easily portable to many computer
architectures for which a C compiler is available. With appropriate
declarations in the source code the executable programs generated by
the compiler run roughly as fast as equivalent C programs.
For the most up to date information on Gambit and add-on packages
please check the Gambit web page at
`http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/~gambit' or the mailing list at
`http://mailman.iro.umontreal.ca/mailman/listinfo/gambit-list'. Bug
reports and inquiries should be sent to `gambit@iro.umontreal.ca'.
1.1 Accessing the system files
==============================
The "Gambit installation directory" is where all system files are
installed. This directory is `prefix/version', where `version' is the
system version number (e.g. 4.1.55 for Gambit 4.1.55) and `prefix' is
`/usr/local/Gambit-C' under UNIX and Mac OS X and `C:/Gambit-C' under
Microsoft Windows. The prefix can be overridden when the system is
built with the command `configure --prefix=/my/own/Gambit-C'.
Moreover, `prefix/current' is a symbolic link which points to the
installation directory.
Executable programs such as the interpreter `gsi' and compiler `gsc'
can be found in the `bin' subdirectory of the installation directory.
Adding this directory to the `PATH' environment variable allows these
programs to be started by simply entering their name.
The runtime library is located in the `lib' subdirectory. When the
system's runtime library is built as a shared-library (with the command
`configure --enable-shared') all programs built with Gambit-C,
including the interpreter and compiler, need to find this library when
they are executed and consequently this directory must be in the path
searched by the system for shared-libraries. This path is normally
specified through an environment variable which is `LD_LIBRARY_PATH' on
most versions of UNIX, `LIBPATH' on AIX, `SHLIB_PATH' on HPUX,
`DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH' on Mac OS X, and `PATH' on Microsoft Windows. If
the shell is `sh', the setting of the path can be made for a single
execution by prefixing the program name with the environment variable
assignment, as in:
$ LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/Gambit-C/current/lib gsi
A similar problem exists with the Gambit header file `gambit.h',
located in the `include' subdirectory. This header file is needed for
compiling Scheme programs with the Gambit-C compiler. When the C
compiler is being called explicitly it may be necessary to use a
`-I
' command line option to indicate where to find header files
and a `-L' command line option to indicate where to find
libraries. Access to both of these files can be simplified by creating
a link to them in the appropriate system directories (special
privileges may however be required):
$ ln -s /usr/local/Gambit-C/current/lib/libgambc.a /usr/lib # name may vary
$ ln -s /usr/local/Gambit-C/current/include/gambit.h /usr/include
This is not done by the installation process. Alternatively these
files can also be copied or linked in the directory where the C
compiler is invoked (this requires no special privileges).
2 The Gambit Scheme interpreter
*******************************
Synopsis:
gsi [-:RUNTIMEOPTION,...] [-i] [-f] [-v] [[-] [-e EXPRESSIONS] [FILE]]...
The interpreter is executed in "interactive mode" when no file or
`-' or `-e' option is given on the command line. When at least one
file or `-' or `-e' option is present the interpreter is executed in
"batch mode". The `-i' option is ignored by the interpreter. The
initialization file will be examined unless the `-f' option is present
(*note GSI customization::). The `-v' option prints the system version
string on standard output and exits. Runtime options are explained in
*Note Runtime options::.
2.1 Interactive mode
====================
In interactive mode a read-eval-print loop (REPL) is started for the
user to interact with the interpreter. At each iteration of this loop
the interpreter displays a prompt, reads a command and executes it.
The commands can be expressions to evaluate (the typical case) or
special commands related to debugging, for example `,q' to terminate
the current thread (for a complete list of commands see *Note
Debugging::). Most commands produce some output, such as the value or
error message resulting from an evaluation.
The input and output of the interaction is done on the "interaction
channel". The interaction channel can be specified through the runtime
options but if none is specified the system uses a reasonable default
that depends on the system's configuration. When the system's runtime
library was built with support for GUIDE, the Gambit Universal IDE
(with the command `configure --enable-guide') the interaction channel
corresponds to the "console window" of the primordial thread (for
details see *Note GUIDE::), otherwise the interaction channel is the
user's "console", also known as the "controlling terminal" in the UNIX
world. When the REPL starts, the ports associated with
`(current-input-port)', `(current-output-port)' and
`(current-error-port)' all refer to the interaction channel.
Expressions are evaluated in the global "interaction environment".
The interpreter adds to this environment any definition entered using
the `define' and `define-macro' special forms. Once the evaluation of
an expression is completed, the value or values resulting from the
evaluation are output to the interaction channel by the pretty printer.
The special "void" object is not output. This object is returned by
most procedures and special forms which the Scheme standard defines as
returning an unspecified value (e.g. `write', `set!', `define').
Here is a sample interaction with `gsi':
$ gsi
Gambit Version 4.0 beta 20
> (define (fact n) (if (< n 2) 1 (* n (fact (- n 1)))))
> (map fact '(1 2 3 4 5 6))
(1 2 6 24 120 720)
> (values (fact 10) (fact 40))
3628800
815915283247897734345611269596115894272000000000
> ,q
What happens when errors occur is explained in *Note Debugging::.
2.2 Batch mode
==============
In batch mode the command line arguments denote files to be loaded,
REPL interactions to start (`-' option), and expressions to be
evaluated (`-e' option). Note that the `-' and `-e' options can be
interspersed with the files on the command line and can occur multiple
times. The interpreter processes the command line arguments from left
to right, loading files with the `load' procedure and evaluating
expressions with the `eval' procedure in the global interaction
environment. After this processing the interpreter exits.
When the file name has no extension the `load' procedure first
attempts to load the file with no extension as a Scheme source file.
If that file doesn't exist it completes the file name with a `.oN'
extension with the highest consecutive version number starting with 1,
and loads that file as an object file. If that file doesn't exist the
file extensions `.scm' and `.six' will be tried in that order. When
the file name has an extension, the `load' procedure will only attempt
to load the file with that specific name.
When the extension of the file loaded is `.scm' the content of the
file will be parsed using the normal Scheme prefix syntax. When the
extension of the file loaded is `.six' the content of the file will be
parsed using the Scheme infix syntax extension (see *Note Scheme infix
syntax extension::). Otherwise, `gsi' will parse the file using the
normal Scheme prefix syntax.
The ports associated with `(current-input-port)',
`(current-output-port)' and `(current-error-port)' initially refer
respectively to the standard input (`stdin'), standard output
(`stdout') and the standard error (`stderr') of the interpreter. This
is true even in REPLs started with the `-' option. The usual
interaction channel (console or IDE's console window) is still used to
read expressions and commands and to display results. This makes it
possible to use REPLs to debug programs which read the standard input
and write to the standard output, even when these have been redirected.
Here is a sample use of the interpreter in batch mode, under UNIX:
$ cat h.scm
(display "hello") (newline)
$ cat w.six
display("world"); newline();
$ gsi h.scm - w.six -e "(pretty-print 1)(pretty-print 2)"
hello
> (define (display x) (write (reverse (string->list x))))
> ,(c 0)
(#\d #\l #\r #\o #\w)
1
2
2.3 Customization
=================
There are two ways to customize the interpreter. When the interpreter
starts off it tries to execute a `(load "~~/gambcext")' (for an
explanation of how file names are interpreted see *Note Host
environment::). An error is not signaled when the file does not exist.
Interpreter extensions and patches that are meant to apply to all
users and all modes should go in that file.
Extensions which are meant to apply to a single user or to a specific
working directory are best placed in the "initialization file", which
is a file containing Scheme code. In all modes, the interpreter first
tries to locate the initialization file by searching the following
locations: `gambcini' and `~/gambcini' (with no extension, a `.scm'
extension, and a `.six' extension in that order). The first file that
is found is examined as though the expression `(include
INITIALIZATION-FILE)' had been entered at the read-eval-print loop
where INITIALIZATION-FILE is the file that was found. Note that by
using an `include' the macros defined in the initialization file will
be visible from the read-eval-print loop (this would not have been the
case if `load' had been used). The initialization file is not searched
for or examined when the `-f' option is specified.
2.4 Process exit status
=======================
The status is zero when the interpreter exits normally and is nonzero
when the interpreter exits due to an error. Here is the meaning of the
exit statuses:
`0'
The execution of the primordial thread (i.e. the main thread) did
not encounter any error. It is however possible that other threads
terminated abnormally (by default threads other than the primordial
thread terminate silently when they raise an exception that is not
handled).
`64'
The runtime options or the environment variable `GAMBCOPT'
contained a syntax error or were invalid.
`70'
This normally indicates that an exception was raised in the
primordial thread and the exception was not handled.
`71'
There was a problem initializing the runtime system, for example
insufficient memory to allocate critical tables.
For example, if the shell is `sh':
$ gsi -:d0 -e "(pretty-print (expt 2 100))"
1267650600228229401496703205376
$ echo $?
0
$ gsi -:d0,unknown # try to use an unknown runtime option
$ echo $?
64
$ gsi -:d0 nonexistent.scm # try to load a file that does not exist
$ echo $?
70
$ gsi nonexistent.scm
*** ERROR IN ##main -- No such file or directory
(load "nonexistent.scm")
$ echo $?
70
$ gsi -:m4000000 # ask for a 4 gigabyte heap
*** malloc: vm_allocate(size=528384) failed (error code=3)
*** malloc[15068]: error: Can't allocate region
$ echo $?
71
Note the use of the runtime option `-:d0' that prevents error
messages from being output, and the runtime option `-:m4000000' which
sets the minimum heap size to 4 gigabytes.
2.5 Scheme scripts
==================
The `load' procedure treats specially files that begin with the two
characters `#!' and `@;'. Such files are called "script files". In
addition to indicating that the file is a script, the first line
provides information about the source code language to be used by the
`load' procedure. After the two characters `#!' and `@;' the system
will search for the first substring matching one of the following
language specifying tokens:
`scheme-r4rs'
R4RS language with prefix syntax, case-insensitivity, keyword
syntax not supported
`scheme-r5rs'
R5RS language with prefix syntax, case-insensitivity, keyword
syntax not supported
`scheme-ieee-1178-1990'
IEEE 1178-1990 language with prefix syntax, case-insensitivity,
keyword syntax not supported
`scheme-srfi-0'
R5RS language with prefix syntax and SRFI 0 support (i.e.
`cond-expand' special form), case-insensitivity, keyword syntax
not supported
`gsi-script'
Full Gambit Scheme language with prefix syntax, case-sensitivity,
keyword syntax supported
`gsc-script'
Full Gambit Scheme language with prefix syntax, case-sensitivity,
keyword syntax supported
`six-script'
Full Gambit Scheme language with infix syntax, case-sensitivity,
keyword syntax supported
If a language specifying token is not found, `load' will use the
same language as a nonscript file (i.e. it uses the file extension and
runtime system options to determine the language).
After processing the first line, `load' will parse the rest of the
file (using the syntax of the language indicated) and then execute it.
When the file is being loaded because it is an argument on the
interpreter's command line, the interpreter will:
* Setup the `command-line' procedure so that it returns a list
containing the expanded file name of the script file and the
arguments following the script file on the command line. This is
done before the script is executed. The expanded file name of the
script file can be used to determine the directory that contains
the script (i.e. `(path-directory (car (command-line)))').
* After the script is loaded the procedure `main' is called with the
command-line arguments. The way this is done depends on the
language specifying token. For `scheme-r4rs', `scheme-r5rs',
`scheme-ieee-1178-1990', and `scheme-srfi-0', the `main' procedure
is called with the equivalent of `(main (cdr (command-line)))' and
`main' is expected to return a process exit status code in the
range 0 to 255. This conforms to the "Running Scheme Scripts on
Unix SRFI" (SRFI 22). For `gsi-script' and `six-script' the `main'
procedure is called with the equivalent of `(apply main (cdr
(command-line)))' and the process exit status code is 0 (`main''s
result is ignored). The Gambit-C system has a predefined `main'
procedure which accepts any number of arguments and returns 0, so
it is perfectly valid for a script to not define `main' and to do
all its processing with top-level expressions (examples are given
in the next section).
* When `main' returns, the interpreter exits. The command-line
arguments after a script file are consequently not processed
(however they do appear in the list returned by the `command-line'
procedure, after the script file's expanded file name, so it is up
to the script to process them).
2.5.1 Scripts under UNIX and Mac OS X
-------------------------------------
Under UNIX and Mac OS X, the Gambit-C installation process creates the
executable `gsi' and also the executables `six', `gsi-script',
`six-script', `scheme-r5rs', `scheme-srfi-0', etc as links to `gsi'. A
Scheme script need only start with the name of the desired Scheme
language variant prefixed with `#!' and the directory where the Gambit-C
executables are stored. This script should be made executable by
setting the execute permission bits (with a `chmod +x SCRIPT'). Here
is an example of a script which lists on standard output the files in
the current directory:
#!/usr/local/Gambit-C/current/bin/gsi-script
(for-each pretty-print (directory-files))
Here is another UNIX script, using the Scheme infix syntax extension,
which takes a single integer argument and prints on standard output the
numbers from 1 to that integer:
#!/usr/local/Gambit-C/current/bin/six-script
void main (obj n_str)
{
int n = \string->number(n_str);
for (int i=1; i<=n; i++)
\pretty-print(i);
}
For maximal portability it is a good idea to start scripts indirectly
through the `/usr/bin/env' program, so that the executable of the
interpreter will be searched in the user's `PATH'. This is what SRFI
22 recommends. For example here is a script that mimics the UNIX `cat'
utility for text files:
#!/usr/bin/env gsi-script
(define (display-file filename)
(display (call-with-input-file filename
(lambda (port)
(read-line port #f)))))
(for-each display-file (cdr (command-line)))
2.5.2 Scripts under Microsoft Windows
-------------------------------------
Under Microsoft Windows, the Gambit-C installation process creates the
executable `gsi.exe' and `six.exe' and also the batch files
`gsi-script.bat', `six-script.bat', `scheme-r5rs.bat',
`scheme-srfi-0.bat', etc which simply invoke `gsi.exe' with the same
command line arguments. A Scheme script need only start with the name
of the desired Scheme language variant prefixed with `@;'. A UNIX
script can be converted to a Microsoft Windows script simply by
changing the first line and storing the script in a file whose name has
a `.bat' or `.cmd' extension:
@;gsi-script %~f0 %*
(display "files:\n")
(pretty-print (directory-files))
Note that Microsoft Windows always searches executables in the user's
`PATH', so there is no need for an indirection such as the UNIX
`/usr/bin/env'. However the first line must end with `%~f0 %*' to pass
the expanded filename of the script and command line arguments to the
interpreter.
2.5.3 Compiling scripts
-----------------------
A script file can be compiled using the Gambit Scheme compiler (*note
GSC::) into a dynamically loadable object file or into a standalone
executable. The first line of the script will provide information to
the compiler on which language to use. The first line also provides
information on which runtime options to use when executing the script.
The compiled script will be executed similarly to an interpreted script
(i.e. the list of command line arguments returned by the `command-line'
procedure and the invocation of the `main' procedure).
For example:
$ cat square.scm
#!/usr/local/Gambit-C/current/bin/gsi-script
(define (main arg)
(pretty-print (expt (string->number arg) 2)))
$ gsi square 30 # will load square.scm
900
$ gsc square
$ gsi square 30 # will load square.o1
900
3 The Gambit Scheme compiler
****************************
Synopsis:
gsc [-:RUNTIMEOPTION,...] [-i] [-f] [-v]
[-prelude EXPRESSIONS] [-postlude EXPRESSIONS]
[-dynamic] [-cc-options OPTIONS] [-ld-options OPTIONS]
[-warnings] [-verbose] [-report] [-expansion]
[-gvm] [-debug] [-track-scheme]
[-o OUTPUT] [-c] [-link] [-flat] [-l BASE]
[[-] [-e EXPRESSIONS] [FILE]]...
3.1 Interactive mode
====================
When no command line argument is present other than options the
compiler behaves like the interpreter in interactive mode. The only
difference with the interpreter is that the compilation related
procedures listed in this chapter are also available (i.e.
`compile-file', `compile-file-to-c', etc).
3.2 Customization
=================
Like the interpreter, the compiler will examine the initialization file
unless the `-f' option is specified.
3.3 Batch mode
==============
In batch mode `gsc' takes a set of file names (with either no
extension, or a `.c' extension, or some other extension) on the command
line and compiles each Scheme file into a C file. The extension can be
omitted from FILE when the Scheme file has a `.scm' or `.six'
extension. When the extension of the Scheme file is `.six' the content
of the file will be parsed using the Scheme infix syntax extension (see
*Note Scheme infix syntax extension::). Otherwise, `gsc' will parse the
Scheme file using the normal Scheme prefix syntax. Files with a `.c'
extension must have been previously produced by `gsc' and are used by
Gambit's linker.
For each Scheme file a C file `FILE.c' will be produced. The C
file's name is the same as the Scheme file, but the extension is
changed to `.c' and it is stripped of its directory (i.e. the C file is
created in the current working directory).
The C files produced by the compiler serve two purposes. They will
be processed by a C compiler to generate object files, and they also
contain information to be read by Gambit's linker to generate a "link
file". The link file is a C file that collects various linking
information for a group of modules, such as the set of all symbols and
global variables used by the modules. The linker is only invoked when
the `-link' option appears on the command line.
Compiler options must be specified before the first file name and
after the `-:' runtime option (*note Runtime options::). If present,
the `-i', `-f', and `-v' compiler options must come first. The
available options are:
`-i'
Force interpreter mode.
`-f'
Do not examine the initialization file.
`-v'
Print the system version number on standard output and exit.
`-prelude EXPRESSIONS'
Add expressions to the top of the source code being compiled.
`-postlude EXPRESSIONS'
Add expressions to the bottom of the source code being compiled.
`-cc-options OPTIONS'
Add options to the command that invokes the C compiler.
`-ld-options OPTIONS'
Add options to the command that invokes the C linker.
`-warnings'
Display warnings.
`-verbose'
Display a trace of the compiler's activity.
`-report'
Display a global variable usage report.
`-expansion'
Display the source code after expansion.
`-gvm'
Generate a listing of the GVM code.
`-debug'
Include debugging information in the code generated.
`-track-scheme'
Generate `#line' directives referring back to the Scheme code.
`-o OUTPUT'
Set name of output file.
`-dynamic'
Compile Scheme source files to dynamically loadable object files
(this is the default).
`-c'
Compile Scheme source files to C without generating link file.
`-link'
Compile Scheme source files to C and generate a link file.
`-flat'
Generate a flat link file instead of the default incremental link
file.
`-l BASE'
Specify the link file of the base library to use for the link.
`-'
Start REPL interaction.
`-e EXPRESSIONS'
Evaluate expressions in the interaction environment.
The `-i' option forces the compiler to process the remaining command
line arguments like the interpreter.
The `-prelude' option adds the specified expressions to the top of
the source code being compiled. The main use of this option is to
supply declarations on the command line. For example the following
invocation of the compiler will compile the file `bench.scm' in unsafe
mode:
$ gsc -prelude "(declare (not safe))" bench.scm
The `-postlude' option adds the specified expressions to the bottom
of the source code being compiled. The main use of this option is to
supply the expression that will start the execution of the program. For
example:
$ gsc -postlude "(start-bench)" bench.scm
The `-cc-options' option is only meaningful when a dynamically
loadable object file is being generated (neither the `-c' or `-link'
options are used). The `-cc-options' option adds the specified options
to the command that invokes the C compiler. The main use of this
option is to specify the include path, some symbols to define or
undefine, the optimization level, or any C compiler option that is
different from the default. For example:
$ gsc -cc-options "-U___SINGLE_HOST -O2 -I../include" bench.scm
The `-ld-options' option is only meaningful when a dynamically
loadable object file is being generated (neither the `-c' or `-link'
options are used). The `-ld-options' option adds the specified options
to the command that invokes the C linker. The main use of this option
is to specify additional object files or libraries that need to be
linked, or any C linker option that is different from the default (such
as the library search path and flags to select between static and
dynamic linking). For example:
$ gsc -ld-options "-L/usr/X11R6/lib -lX11 -dynamic" bench.scm
The `-warnings' option displays on standard output all warnings that
the compiler may have.
The `-verbose' option displays on standard output a trace of the
compiler's activity.
The `-report' option displays on standard output a global variable
usage report. Each global variable used in the program is listed with
4 flags that indicate whether the global variable is defined,
referenced, mutated and called.
The `-expansion' option displays on standard output the source code
after expansion and inlining by the front end.
The `-gvm' option generates a listing of the intermediate code for
the "Gambit Virtual Machine" (GVM) of each Scheme file on `FILE.gvm'.
The `-debug' option causes debugging information to be saved in the
code generated. With this option run time error messages indicate the
source code and its location, the backtraces are more precise, and the
`pp' procedure will display the source code of compiled procedures.
The debugging information is large (the size of the object file is
typically 2 to 4 times bigger).
The `-track-scheme' options causes the generation of `#line'
directives that refer back to the Scheme source code. This allows the
use of a C debugger to debug Scheme code.
The `-o' option sets the name of the output file generated by the
compiler. When a link file is being generated the name specified is
that of the link file. Otherwise the name specified is that of the C
file (this option is ignored when the compiler is generating more than
one output file or is generating a dynamically loadable object file).
If the `-link' option appears on the command line, the Gambit linker
is invoked to generate the link file from the set of C files specified
on the command line or produced by the Gambit compiler. Unless the
name is specified explicitly with the `-o' option, the link file is
named `LAST_.c', where `LAST.c' is the last file in the set of C files.
When the `-c' option is specified, the Scheme source files are
compiled to C files. If neither the `-link' or `-c' options appear on
the command line, the Scheme source files are compiled to dynamically
loadable object files (`.oN' extension).
The `-flat' option is only meaningful when a link file is being
generated (i.e. the `-link' option also appears on the command line).
The `-flat' option directs the Gambit linker to generate a flat link
file. By default, the linker generates an incremental link file (see
the next section for a description of the two types of link files).
The `-l' option is only meaningful when an incremental link file is
being generated (i.e. the `-link' option appears on the command line
and the `-flat' option is absent). The `-l' option specifies the link
file (without the `.c' extension) of the base library to use for the
incremental link. By default the link file of the Gambit runtime
library is used (i.e. `~~/lib/_gambc.c').
The `-' option starts a REPL interaction.
The `-e' option evaluates the specified expressions in the
interaction environment.
3.4 Link files
==============
Gambit can be used to create programs and libraries of Scheme modules.
This section explains the steps required to do so and the role played
by the link files.
In general, a program is composed of a set of Scheme modules and C
modules. Some of the modules are part of the Gambit runtime library and
the other modules are supplied by the user. When the program is
started it must setup various global tables (including the symbol table
and the global variable table) and then sequentially execute the Scheme
modules (more or less as though they were being loaded one after
another). The information required for this is contained in one or
more "link files" generated by the Gambit linker from the C files
produced by the Gambit compiler.
The order of execution of the Scheme modules corresponds to the
order of the modules on the command line which produced the link file.
The order is usually important because most modules define variables and
procedures which are used by other modules (for this reason the
program's main computation is normally started by the last module).
When a single link file is used to contain the linking information of
all the Scheme modules it is called a "flat link file". Thus a program
built with a flat link file contains in its link file both information
on the user modules and on the runtime library. This is fine if the
program is to be statically linked but is wasteful in a shared-library
context because the linking information of the runtime library can't be
shared and will be duplicated in all programs (this linking information
typically takes hundreds of kilobytes).
Flat link files are mainly useful to bundle multiple Scheme modules
to make a runtime library (such as the Gambit runtime library) or to
make a single file that can be loaded with the `load' procedure.
An "incremental link file" contains only the linking information
that is not already contained in a second link file (the "base" link
file). Assuming that a flat link file was produced when the runtime
library was linked, a program can be built by linking the user modules
with the runtime library's link file, producing an incremental link
file. This allows the creation of a shared-library which contains the
modules of the runtime library and its flat link file. The program is
dynamically linked with this shared-library and only contains the user
modules and the incremental link file. For small programs this
approach greatly reduces the size of the program because the
incremental link file is small. A "hello world" program built this way
can be as small as 5 Kbytes. Note that it is perfectly fine to use an
incremental link file for statically linked programs (there is very
little loss compared to a single flat link file).
Incremental link files may be built from other incremental link
files. This allows the creation of shared-libraries which extend the
functionality of the Gambit runtime library.
3.4.1 Building an executable program
------------------------------------
The simplest way to create an executable program is to call up `gsc' to
compile each Scheme module into a C file and create an incremental link
file. The C files and the link file must then be compiled with a C
compiler and linked (at the object file level) with the Gambit runtime
library and possibly other libraries (such as the math library and the
dynamic loading library).
Here is for example how a program with three modules (one in C and
two in Scheme) can be built. The content of the three source files
(`m1.c', `m2.scm' and `m3.scm') is:
/* File: "m1.c" */
int power_of_2 (int x) { return 1< /dev/null
m2:
m3:
$ gcc -bundle -D___DYNAMIC m1.c m2.c m3.c foo.o1.c -o foo.o1
$ gsi foo.o1
((2 . 2) (4 . 4) (8 . 8) (16 . 16))
Here is an example under Linux:
$ uname -srmp
Linux 2.6.8-1.521 i686 athlon
$ gsc -link -flat -o foo.o1.c m2 m3 > /dev/null
m2:
m3:
$ gcc -shared -D___DYNAMIC m1.c m2.c m3.c foo.o1.c -o foo.o1
$ gsi foo.o1
((2 . 2) (4 . 4) (8 . 8) (16 . 16))
Here is a more complex example, under Solaris, which shows how to
build a loadable library `mymod.o1' composed of the files `m4.scm',
`m5.scm' and `x.c' that links to system shared libraries (for
X-windows):
$ uname -srmp
SunOS ungava 5.6 Generic_105181-05 sun4m sparc SUNW,SPARCstation-20
$ gsc -link -flat -o mymod.o1.c m4 m5
m4:
m5:
*** WARNING -- "*" is not defined,
*** referenced in: ("m4.c")
*** WARNING -- "+" is not defined,
*** referenced in: ("m5.c")
*** WARNING -- "display" is not defined,
*** referenced in: ("m5.c" "m4.c")
*** WARNING -- "newline" is not defined,
*** referenced in: ("m5.c" "m4.c")
*** WARNING -- "write" is not defined,
*** referenced in: ("m5.c")
$ gcc -fPIC -c -D___DYNAMIC mymod.o1.c m4.c m5.c x.c
$ /usr/ccs/bin/ld -G -o mymod.o1 mymod.o1.o m4.o m5.o x.o -lX11 -lsocket
$ gsi mymod.o1
hello from m4
hello from m5
(f1 10) = 22
$ cat m4.scm
(define (f1 x) (* 2 (f2 x)))
(display "hello from m4")
(newline)
(c-declare #<
static Display *display;
int x_initialize (char *display_name)
{
display = XOpenDisplay (display_name);
return display != NULL;
}
char *x_display_name (void)
{
return XDisplayName (NULL);
}
void x_bell (int volume)
{
XBell (display, volume);
XFlush (display);
}
$ cat x.h
int x_initialize (char *display_name);
char *x_display_name (void);
void x_bell (int);
3.4.3 Building a shared-library
-------------------------------
A shared-library can be built using an incremental link file or a flat
link file. An incremental link file is normally used when the Gambit
runtime library (or some other library) is to be extended with new
procedures. A flat link file is mainly useful when building a "primal"
runtime library, which is a library (such as the Gambit runtime
library) that does not extend another library. When compiling the C
files and link file generated, the flags `-D___LIBRARY' and
`-D___SHARED' must be passed to the C compiler. The flag `-D___PRIMAL'
must also be passed to the C compiler when a primal library is being
built.
A shared-library `mylib.so' containing the two first modules of the
previous example can be built this way:
$ uname -srmp
Linux bailey 1.2.13 #2 Wed Aug 28 16:29:41 GMT 1996 i586
$ gsc -link -o mylib.c m2
$ gcc -shared -fPIC -D___LIBRARY -D___SHARED m1.c m2.c mylib.c -o mylib.so
Note that this shared-library is built using an incremental link file
(it extends the Gambit runtime library with the procedures `pow2' and
`twice'). This shared-library can in turn be used to build an
executable program from the third module of the previous example:
$ gsc -link -l mylib m3
$ gcc m3.c m3_.c mylib.so -lgambc
$ LD_LIBRARY_PATH=.:/usr/local/lib ./a.out
((2 . 2) (4 . 4) (8 . 8) (16 . 16))
3.4.4 Other compilation options
-------------------------------
The performance of the code can be increased by passing the
`-D___SINGLE_HOST' flag to the C compiler. This will merge all the
procedures of a module into a single C procedure, which reduces the
cost of intra-module procedure calls. In addition the `-O' option can
be passed to the C compiler. For large modules, it will not be
practical to specify both `-O' and `-D___SINGLE_HOST' for typical C
compilers because the compile time will be high and the C compiler
might even fail to compile the program for lack of memory. It has been
observed that lower levels of optimization (e.g. `-O1') often give
faster compilation and also generate faster code. It is a good idea to
experiment.
Normally C compilers will not automatically search
`/usr/local/Gambit-C/current/include' for header files so the flag
`-I/usr/local/Gambit-C/current/include' should be passed to the C
compiler. Similarly, C compilers/linkers will not automatically search
`/usr/local/Gambit-C/current/lib' for libraries so the flag
`-L/usr/local/Gambit-C/current/lib' should be passed to the C
compiler/linker. Alternatives are given in *Note Accessing the system
files::.
A variety of flags are needed by some C compilers when compiling a
shared-library or a dynamically loadable library. Some of these flags
are: `-shared', `-call_shared', `-rdynamic', `-fpic', `-fPIC', `-Kpic',
`-KPIC', `-pic', `+z', `-G'. Check your compiler's documentation to see
which flag you need.
3.5 Procedures specific to compiler
===================================
The Gambit Scheme compiler features the following procedures that are
not available in the Gambit Scheme interpreter.
-- procedure: compile-file-to-c FILE [OPTIONS [OUTPUT]]
The FILE argument must be a string naming an existing file
containing Scheme source code. The extension can be omitted from
FILE when the Scheme file has a `.scm' or `.six' extension. This
procedure compiles the source file into a file containing C code.
By default, this file is named after FILE with the extension
replaced with `.c'. However, when OUTPUT is supplied the file is
named `OUTPUT'.
Compilation options are given as a list of symbols after the file
name. Any combination of the following options can be used:
`verbose', `report', `expansion', `gvm', and `debug'.
-- procedure: compile-file FILE [OPTIONS]
The arguments of `compile-file' are the same as the first two
arguments of `compile-file-to-c'. The `compile-file' procedure
compiles the source file into an object file by first generating a
C file and then compiling it with the C compiler. The object file
is named after FILE with the extension replaced with `.oN', where
N is a positive integer that acts as a version number. The next
available version number is generated automatically by
`compile-file'. Object files can be loaded dynamically by using
the `load' procedure. The `.oN' extension can be specified (to
select a particular version) or omitted (to load the highest
numbered version). When older versions are no longer needed, all
versions must be deleted and the compilation must be repeated
(this is necessary because the file name, including the extension,
is used to name some of the exported symbols of the object file).
Note that this procedure is only available on host operating
systems that support dynamic loading.
-- procedure: link-incremental MODULE-LIST [OUTPUT [BASE]]
The first argument must be a non empty list of strings naming
Scheme modules to link (extensions must be omitted). The
remaining optional arguments must be strings. An incremental link
file is generated for the modules specified in MODULE-LIST. By
default the link file generated is named `LAST_.c', where LAST is
the name of the last module. However, when OUTPUT is supplied the
link file is named `OUTPUT'. The base link file is specified by
the BASE parameter. By default the base link file is the Gambit
runtime library link file `~~/lib/_gambc.c'. However, when BASE
is supplied the base link file is named `BASE.c'.
The following example shows how to build the executable program
`hello' which contains the two Scheme modules `h.scm' and `w.six'.
$ uname -srmp
Darwin 8.1.0 Power Macintosh powerpc
$ cat h.scm
(display "hello") (newline)
$ cat w.six
display("world"); newline();
$ gsc
Gambit Version 4.0 beta 20
> (compile-file-to-c "h")
#t
> (compile-file-to-c "w")
#t
> (link-incremental '("h" "w") "hello.c")
> ,q
$ gcc h.c w.c hello.c -lgambc -o hello
$ ./hello
hello
world
-- procedure: link-flat MODULE-LIST [OUTPUT]
The first argument must be a non empty list of strings. The first
string must be the name of a Scheme module or the name of a link
file and the remaining strings must name Scheme modules (in all
cases extensions must be omitted). If it is supplied, the second
argument must be a string. A flat link file is generated for the
modules specified in MODULE-LIST. By default the link file
generated is named `LAST_.c', where LAST is the name of the last
module. However, when OUTPUT is supplied the link file is named
`OUTPUT'.
The following example shows how to build the dynamically loadable
Scheme library `lib.o1' which contains the two Scheme modules
`m6.scm' and `m7.scm'.
$ uname -srmp
Darwin 8.1.0 Power Macintosh powerpc
$ cat m6.scm
(define (f x) (g (* x x)))
$ cat m7.scm
(define (g y) (+ n y))
$ gsc
Gambit Version 4.0 beta 20
> (compile-file-to-c "m6")
#t
> (compile-file-to-c "m7")
#t
> (link-flat '("m6" "m7") "lib.o1.c")
*** WARNING -- "*" is not defined,
*** referenced in: ("m6.c")
*** WARNING -- "+" is not defined,
*** referenced in: ("m7.c")
*** WARNING -- "n" is not defined,
*** referenced in: ("m7.c")
> ,q
$ gcc -bundle -D___DYNAMIC m6.c m7.c lib.o1.c -o lib.o1
$ gsc
Gambit Version 4.0 beta 20
> (load "lib")
*** WARNING -- Variable "n" used in module "m7" is undefined
"/Users/feeley/gambit/doc/lib.o1"
> (define n 10)
> (f 5)
35
> ,q
The warnings indicate that there are no definitions (`define's or
`set!'s) of the variables `*', `+' and `n' in the modules
contained in the library. Before the library is used, these
variables will have to be bound; either implicitly (by the runtime
library) or explicitly.
4 Runtime options for all programs
**********************************
Both `gsi' and `gsc' as well as executable programs compiled and linked
using `gsc' take a `-:' option which supplies parameters to the runtime
system. This option must appear first on the command line. The colon
is followed by a comma separated list of options with no intervening
spaces. The available options are:
`mHEAPSIZE'
Set minimum heap size in kilobytes.
`hHEAPSIZE'
Set maximum heap size in kilobytes.
`lLIVEPERCENT'
Set heap occupation after garbage collection.
`s'
Select standard Scheme mode.
`S'
Select Gambit Scheme mode.
`d[OPT...]'
Set debugging options.
`=DIRECTORY'
Override the Gambit installation directory.
`+ARGUMENT'
Add ARGUMENT to the command line before other arguments.
`f[OPT...]'
Set file options.
`t[OPT...]'
Set terminal options.
`-[OPT...]'
Set standard input and output options.
The `m' option specifies the minimum size of the heap. The `m' is
immediately followed by an integer indicating the number of kilobytes
of memory. The heap will not shrink lower than this size. By default,
the minimum size is 0.
The `h' option specifies the maximum size of the heap. The `h' is
immediately followed by an integer indicating the number of kilobytes
of memory. The heap will not grow larger than this size. By default,
there is no limit (i.e. the heap will grow until the virtual memory is
exhausted).
The `l' option specifies the percentage of the heap that will be
occupied with live objects after the heap is resized at the end of a
garbage collection. The `l' is immediately followed by an integer
between 1 and 100 inclusively indicating the desired percentage. The
garbage collector resizes the heap to reach this percentage occupation.
By default, the percentage is 50.
The `s' option selects standard Scheme mode. In this mode the
reader is case-insensitive and keywords are not recognized. The `S'
option selects Gambit Scheme mode (the reader is case-sensitive and
recognizes keywords which end with a colon). By default Gambit Scheme
mode is used.
The `d' option sets various debugging options. The letter `d' is
followed by a sequence of letters indicating suboptions.
`p'
Uncaught exceptions will be treated as "errors" in the primordial
thread only.
`a'
Uncaught exceptions will be treated as "errors" in all threads.
`r'
When an "error" occurs a new REPL will be started.
`s'
When an "error" occurs a new REPL will be started. Moreover the
program starts in single-stepping mode.
`q'
When an "error" occurs the program will terminate with a nonzero
exit status.
`i'
The REPL interaction channel will be the IDE REPL window (if the
IDE is available).
`c'
The REPL interaction channel will be the console.
`-'
The REPL interaction channel will be standard input and standard
output.
`LEVEL'
The verbosity level is set to LEVEL (a digit from 0 to 9). At
level 0 the runtime system will not display error messages and
warnings.
The default debugging options are equivalent to `-:dpqi1' (i.e. an
uncaught exception in the primordial thread terminates the program after
displaying an error message). When the letter `d' is not followed by
suboptions, it is equivalent to `-:dpri1' (i.e. a new REPL is started
only when an uncaught exception occurs in the primordial thread).
The `=' option overrides the setting of the Gambit installation
directory.
The `+' option adds the text that follows to the command line before
other arguments.
The `f', `t' and `-' options specify the default settings of the
ports created for files, terminals and standard input and output
respectively. The default character encoding, end-of-line encoding and
buffering can be set. Moreover, for terminals the line-editing feature
can be enabled or disabled. The `f', `t' and `-' must be followed by a
sequence of these options:
`A'
ASCII character encoding.
`1'
ISO-8859-1 character encoding.
`2'
UCS-2 character encoding.
`4'
UCS-4 character encoding.
`6'
UTF-16 character encoding.
`8'
UTF-8 character encoding.
`c'
End-of-line is encoded as CR (carriage-return).
`l'
End-of-line is encoded as LF (linefeed)
`cl'
End-of-line is encoded as CR-LF.
`u'
Unbuffered I/O.
`n'
Line buffered I/O (`n' for "newline").
`f'
Fully buffered I/O.
`e'
Enable line-editing (applies to terminals only).
`E'
Disable line-editing (applies to terminals only).
When the environment variable `GAMBCOPT' is defined, the runtime
system will take its options from that environment variable. A `-:'
option can be used to override some or all of the runtime system
options. For example:
$ GAMBCOPT=d0,=~/my-gambit2
$ export GAMBCOPT
$ gsi -e '(pretty-print (path-expand "~~")) (/ 1 0)'
"/Users/feeley/my-gambit2/4.0b20/"
$ echo $?
70
$ gsi -:d1 -e '(pretty-print (path-expand "~~")) (/ 1 0)'
"/Users/feeley/my-gambit2/4.0b20/"
*** ERROR IN (string)@1.3 -- Divide by zero
(/ 1 0)
5 Debugging
***********
5.1 Debugging model
===================
The evaluation of an expression may stop before it is completed for the
following reasons:
a. An evaluation error has occured, such as attempting to divide by
zero.
b. The user has interrupted the evaluation (usually by typing <^C>).
c. A breakpoint has been reached or `(step)' was evaluated.
d. Single-stepping mode is enabled.
When an evaluation stops, a message is displayed indicating the
reason and location where the evaluation was stopped. The location
information includes, if known, the name of the procedure where the
evaluation was stopped and the source code location in the format
`STREAM@LINE.COLUMN', where STREAM is either a string naming a file or
a symbol within parentheses, such as `(console)'.
A "nested REPL" is then initiated in the context of the point of
execution where the evaluation was stopped. The nested REPL's
continuation and evaluation environment are the same as the point where
the evaluation was stopped. For example when evaluating the expression
`(let ((y (- 1 1))) (* (/ x y) 2))', a "divide by zero" error is
reported and the nested REPL's continuation is the one that takes the
result and multiplies it by two. The REPL's lexical environment
includes the lexical variable `y'. This allows the inspection of the
evaluation context (i.e. the lexical and dynamic environments and
continuation), which is particularly useful to determine the exact
location and cause of an error.
The prompt of nested REPLs includes the nesting level; `1>' is the
prompt at the first nesting level, `2>' at the second nesting level,
and so on. An end of file (usually <^D>) will cause the current REPL
to be terminated and the enclosing REPL (one nesting level less) to be
resumed.
At any time the user can examine the frames in the REPL's
continuation, which is useful to determine which chain of procedure
calls lead to an error. A backtrace that lists the chain of active
continuation frames in the REPL's continuation can be obtained with the
`,b' command. The frames are numbered from 0, that is frame 0 is the
most recent frame of the continuation where execution stopped, frame 1
is the parent frame of frame 0, and so on. It is also possible to move
the REPL to a specific parent continuation (i.e. a specific frame of
the continuation where execution stopped) with the `,+', `,-' and `,N'
commands (where N is the frame number). When the frame number of the
frame being examined is not zero, it is shown in the prompt after the
nesting level, for example `1\5>' is the prompt when the REPL nesting
level is 1 and the frame number is 5.
Expressions entered at a nested REPL are evaluated in the environment
(both lexical and dynamic) of the continuation frame currently being
examined if that frame was created by interpreted Scheme code. If the
frame was created by compiled Scheme code then expressions get evaluated
in the global interaction environment. This feature may be used in
interpreted code to fetch the value of a variable in the current frame
or to change its value with `set!'. Note that some special forms
(`define' in particular) can only be evaluated in the global
interaction environment.
5.2 Debugging commands
======================
In addition to expressions, the REPL accepts the following special
"comma" commands:
`,?'
Give a summary of the REPL commands.
`,q'
Terminate the current thread (note that terminating the primordial
thread terminates the program). To terminate the program from any
thread, call the `exit' procedure.
`,t'
Return to the outermost REPL, also known as the "top-level REPL".
`,d'
Leave the current REPL and resume the enclosing REPL. This
command does nothing in the top-level REPL.
`,(c EXPR)'
Leave the current REPL and continue the computation that initiated
the REPL with a specific value. This command can only be used to
continue a computation that signaled an error. The expression
EXPR is evaluated in the current context and the resulting value
is returned as the value of the expression which signaled the
error. For example, if the evaluation of the expression `(* (/ x
y) 2)' signaled an error because `y' is zero, then in the nested
REPL a `,(c (+ 4 y))' will resume the computation of `(* (/ x y)
2)' as though the value of `(/ x y)' was 4. This command must be
used carefully because the context where the error occured may
rely on the result being of a particular type. For instance a
`,(c #f)' in the previous example will cause `*' to signal a type
error (this problem is the most troublesome when debugging Scheme
code that was compiled with type checking turned off so be
careful).
`,c'
Leave the current REPL and continue the computation that initiated
the REPL. This command can only be used to continue a computation
that was stopped due to a user interrupt, breakpoint or a
single-step.
`,s'
Leave the current REPL and continue the computation that initiated
the REPL in single-stepping mode. The computation will perform an
evaluation step (as defined by `step-level-set!') and then stop,
causing a nested REPL to be entered. Just before the evaluation
step is performed, a line is displayed (in the same format as
`trace') which indicates the expression that is being evaluated.
If the evaluation step produces a result, the result is also
displayed on another line. A nested REPL is then entered after
displaying a message which describes the next step of the
computation. This command can only be used to continue a
computation that was stopped due to a user interrupt, breakpoint
or a single-step.
`,l'
This command is similar to `,s' except that it "leaps" over
procedure calls, that is procedure calls are treated like a single
step. Single-stepping mode will resume when the procedure call
returns, or if and when the execution of the called procedure
encounters a breakpoint.
`,N'
Move to frame number N of the continuation. After changing the
current frame, a one-line summary of the frame is displayed as if
the `,y' command was entered.
`,+'
Move to the next frame in the chain of continuation frames (i.e.
towards older continuation frames). After changing the current
frame, a one-line summary of the frame is displayed as if the `,y'
command was entered.
`,-'
Move to the previous frame in the chain of continuation frames
(i.e. towards more recently created continuation frames). After
changing the current frame, a one-line summary of the frame is
displayed as if the `,y' command was entered.
`,y'
Display a one-line summary of the current frame. The information
is displayed in four fields. The first field is the frame number.
The second field is the procedure that created the frame or
`(interaction)' if the frame was created by an expression entered
at the REPL. The remaining fields describe the subproblem
associated with the frame, that is the expression whose value is
being computed. The third field is the location of the
subproblem's source code and the fourth field is a reproduction of
the source code, possibly truncated to fit on the line. The last
two fields may be missing if that information is not available.
In particular, the third field is missing when the frame was
created by a user call to the `eval' procedure, and the last two
fields are missing when the frame was created by a compiled
procedure not compiled with the `-debug' option.
`,b'
Display a backtrace summarizing each frame in the chain of
continuation frames starting with the current frame. For each
frame, the same information as for the `,y' command is displayed
(except that location information is displayed in the format
`STREAM@LINE:COLUMN'). If there are more that 15 frames in the
chain of continuation frames, some of the middle frames will be
omitted.
`,i'
Pretty print the procedure that created the current frame or
`(interaction)' if the frame was created by an expression entered
at the REPL. Compiled procedures will only be pretty printed when
they are compiled with the `-debug' option.
`,e'
Display the environment which is accessible from the current frame.
Both the lexical and dynamic environments are displayed. However,
only non-global lexical variables are displayed and only if the
frame was created by interpreted code or code compiled with the
`-debug' option. Due to space safety considerations and compiler
optimizations, some of the lexical variable bindings may be
missing. Lexical variable bindings are displayed using the format
`VARIABLE = EXPRESSION' and dynamically-bound parameter bindings
are displayed using the format `(PARAMETER) = EXPRESSION'. Note
that EXPRESSION can be a self-evaluating expression (number,
string, boolean, character, ...), a quoted expression, a lambda
expression or a global variable (the last two cases, which are
only used when the value of the variable or parameter is a
procedure, simplifies the debugging of higher-order procedures).
A PARAMETER can be a quoted expression or a global variable.
Lexical bindings are displayed in inverse binding order (most
deeply nested first) and shadowed variables are included in the
list.
Here is a sample interaction with `gsi':
$ gsi
Gambit Version 4.0 beta 20
> (define (invsqr x) (/ 1 (expt x 2)))
> (define (mymap fn lst)
(define (mm in)
(if (null? in)
'()
(cons (fn (car in)) (mm (cdr in)))))
(mm lst))
> (mymap invsqr '(5 2 hello 9 1))
*** ERROR IN invsqr, (console)@1.25 -- (Argument 1) NUMBER expected
(expt 'hello 2)
1> ,i
# =
(lambda (x) (/ 1 (expt x 2)))
1> ,e
x = 'hello
(current-exception-handler) = primordial-exception-handler
(current-input-port) = '#
(current-output-port) = '#
(current-directory) = "/Users/feeley/gambit/doc/"
1> ,b
0 invsqr (console)@1:25 (expt x 2)
1 # (console)@6:17 (fn (car in))
2 # (console)@6:31 (mm (cdr in))
3 # (console)@6:31 (mm (cdr in))
4 (interaction) (console)@8:1 (mymap invsqr '(5 2 hel...
1> ,+
1 # (console)@6.17 (fn (car in))
1\1> (pp #4)
(lambda (in) (if (null? in) '() (cons (fn (car in)) (mm (cdr in)))))
1\1> ,e
in = '(hello 9 1)
mm = (lambda (in) (if (null? in) '() (cons (fn (car in)) (mm (cdr in)))))
fn = invsqr
lst = '(5 2 hello 9 1)
(current-exception-handler) = primordial-exception-handler
(current-input-port) = '#
(current-output-port) = '#
(current-directory) = "/Users/feeley/gambit/doc/"
1\1> fn
#
1\1> (pp fn)
(lambda (x) (/ 1 (expt x 2)))
1\1> ,+
2 # (console)@6.31 (mm (cdr in))
1\2> ,e
in = '(2 hello 9 1)
mm = (lambda (in) (if (null? in) '() (cons (fn (car in)) (mm (cdr in)))))
fn = invsqr
lst = '(5 2 hello 9 1)
(current-exception-handler) = primordial-exception-handler
(current-input-port) = '#
(current-output-port) = '#
(current-directory) = "/Users/feeley/gambit/doc/"
1\2> ,(c (list 3 4 5))
(1/25 1/4 3 4 5)
> ,q
5.3 Procedures related to debugging
===================================
-- procedure: trace PROC...
-- procedure: untrace PROC...
The `trace' procedure starts tracing calls to the specified
procedures. When a traced procedure is called, a line containing
the procedure and its arguments is displayed (using the procedure
call expression syntax). The line is indented with a sequence of
vertical bars which indicate the nesting depth of the procedure's
continuation. After the vertical bars is a greater-than sign
which indicates that the evaluation of the call is starting.
When a traced procedure returns a result, it is displayed with the
same indentation as the call but without the greater-than sign.
This makes it easy to match calls and results (the result of a
given call is the value at the same indentation as the
greater-than sign). If a traced procedure P1 performs a tail call
to a traced procedure P2, then P2 will use the same indentation as
P1. This makes it easy to spot tail calls. The special handling
for tail calls is needed to preserve the space complexity of the
program (i.e. tail calls are implemented as required by Scheme
even when they involve traced procedures).
The `untrace' procedure stops tracing calls to the specified
procedures. When no arguments is passed to the `trace' procedure,
the list of procedures currently being traced is returned. The
void object is returned by the `trace' procedure when it is passed
one or more arguments. When no argument is passed to the
`untrace' procedure stops all tracing and returns the void object.
A compiled procedure may be traced but only if it is bound to a
global variable.
For example:
> (define (fact n) (if (< n 2) 1 (* n (fact (- n 1)))))
> (trace fact)
> (fact 5)
| > (fact 5)
| | > (fact 4)
| | | > (fact 3)
| | | | > (fact 2)
| | | | | > (fact 1)
| | | | | 1
| | | | 2
| | | 6
| | 24
| 120
120
> (trace -)
*** WARNING -- Rebinding global variable "-" to an interpreted procedure
> (define (fact-iter n r) (if (< n 2) r (fact-iter (- n 1) (* n r))))
> (trace fact-iter)
> (fact-iter 5 1)
| > (fact-iter 5 1)
| | > (- 5 1)
| | 4
| > (fact-iter 4 5)
| | > (- 4 1)
| | 3
| > (fact-iter 3 20)
| | > (- 3 1)
| | 2
| > (fact-iter 2 60)
| | > (- 2 1)
| | 1
| > (fact-iter 1 120)
| 120
120
> (trace)
(# # #)
> (untrace)
> (fact 5)
120
-- procedure: step
-- procedure: step-level-set! LEVEL
The `step' procedure enables single-stepping mode. After the call
to `step' the computation will stop just before the interpreter
executes the next evaluation step (as defined by
`step-level-set!'). A nested REPL is then started. Note that
because single-stepping is stopped by the REPL whenever the prompt
is displayed it is pointless to enter `(step)' by itself. On the
other hand entering `(begin (step) EXPR)' will evaluate EXPR in
single-stepping mode.
The procedure `step-level-set!' sets the stepping level which
determines the granularity of the evaluation steps when
single-stepping is enabled. The stepping level LEVEL must be an
exact integer in the range 0 to 7. At a level of 0, the
interpreter ignores single-stepping mode. At higher levels the
interpreter stops the computation just before it performs the
following operations, depending on the stepping level:
1. procedure call
2. `delay' special form and operations at lower levels
3. `lambda' special form and operations at lower levels
4. `define' special form and operations at lower levels
5. `set!' special form and operations at lower levels
6. variable reference and operations at lower levels
7. constant reference and operations at lower levels
The default stepping level is 7.
For example:
> (define (fact n) (if (< n 2) 1 (* n (fact (- n 1)))))
> (step-level-set! 1)
> (begin (step) (fact 5))
*** STOPPED IN (console)@3.15
1> ,s
| > (fact 5)
*** STOPPED IN fact, (console)@1.22
1> ,s
| | > (< n 2)
| | #f
*** STOPPED IN fact, (console)@1.43
1> ,s
| | > (- n 1)
| | 4
*** STOPPED IN fact, (console)@1.37
1> ,s
| | > (fact (- n 1))
*** STOPPED IN fact, (console)@1.22
1> ,s
| | | > (< n 2)
| | | #f
*** STOPPED IN fact, (console)@1.43
1> ,s
| | | > (- n 1)
| | | 3
*** STOPPED IN fact, (console)@1.37
1> ,l
| | | > (fact (- n 1))
*** STOPPED IN fact, (console)@1.22
1> ,l
| | > (* n (fact (- n 1)))
| | 24
*** STOPPED IN fact, (console)@1.32
1> ,l
| > (* n (fact (- n 1)))
| 120
120
-- procedure: break PROC...
-- procedure: unbreak PROC...
The `break' procedure places a breakpoint on each of the specified
procedures. When a procedure is called that has a breakpoint, the
interpreter will enable single-stepping mode (as if `step' had
been called). This typically causes the computation to stop soon
inside the procedure if the stepping level is high enough.
The `unbreak' procedure removes the breakpoints on the specified
procedures. With no argument, `break' returns the list of
procedures currently containing breakpoints. The void object is
returned by `break' if it is passed one or more arguments. With
no argument `unbreak' removes all the breakpoints and returns the
void object. A breakpoint can be placed on a compiled procedure
but only if it is bound to a global variable.
For example:
> (define (double x) (+ x x))
> (define (triple y) (- (double (double y)) y))
> (define (f z) (* (triple z) 10))
> (break double)
> (break -)
*** WARNING -- Rebinding global variable "-" to an interpreted procedure
> (f 5)
*** STOPPED IN double, (console)@1.21
1> ,b
0 double (console)@1:21 +
1 triple (console)@2:31 (double y)
2 f (console)@3:18 (triple z)
3 (interaction) (console)@6:1 (f 5)
1> ,e
x = 5
(current-exception-handler) = primordial-exception-handler
(current-input-port) = '#
(current-output-port) = '#
(current-directory) = "/Users/feeley/gambit/doc/"
1> ,c
*** STOPPED IN double, (console)@1.21
1> ,c
*** STOPPED IN f, (console)@3.29
1> ,c
150
> (break)
(# #)
> (unbreak)
> (f 5)
150
-- procedure: generate-proper-tail-calls [NEW-VALUE]
The parameter object `generate-proper-tail-calls' is bound to a
boolean value controlling how the interpreter handles tail calls.
When it is bound to `#f' the interpreter will treat tail calls
like nontail calls, that is a new continuation will be created for
the call. This setting is useful for debugging, because when a
primitive signals an error the location information will point to
the call site of the primitive even if this primitive was called
with a tail call. The initial value of this parameter object is
`#t', which means that a tail call will reuse the continuation of
the calling function.
This parameter object only affects code that is subsequently
processed by `load' or `eval', or entered at the REPL.
For example:
> (generate-proper-tail-calls)
#t
> (let loop ((i 1)) (if (< i 10) (loop (* i 2)) oops))
*** ERROR IN #, (console)@2.47 -- Unbound variable: oops
1> ,b
0 # (console)@2:47 oops
1 (interaction) (console)@2:1 ((letrec ((loop (lambda...
1> ,t
> (generate-proper-tail-calls #f)
> (let loop ((i 1)) (if (< i 10) (loop (* i 2)) oops))
*** ERROR IN #, (console)@6.47 -- Unbound variable: oops
1> ,b
0 # (console)@6:47 oops
1 # (console)@6:32 (loop (* i 2))
2 # (console)@6:32 (loop (* i 2))
3 # (console)@6:32 (loop (* i 2))
4 # (console)@6:32 (loop (* i 2))
5 (interaction) (console)@6:1 ((letrec ((loop (lambda...
-- procedure: display-environment-set! DISPLAY?
This procedure sets a flag that controls the automatic display of
the environment by the REPL. If DISPLAY? is true, the environment
is displayed by the REPL before the prompt. The default setting is
not to display the environment.
-- procedure: pretty-print OBJ [PORT]
This procedure pretty-prints OBJ on the port PORT. If it is not
specified, PORT defaults to the current output-port.
For example:
> (pretty-print
(let* ((x '(1 2 3 4)) (y (list x x x))) (list y y y)))
(((1 2 3 4) (1 2 3 4) (1 2 3 4))
((1 2 3 4) (1 2 3 4) (1 2 3 4))
((1 2 3 4) (1 2 3 4) (1 2 3 4)))
-- procedure: pp OBJ [PORT]
This procedure pretty-prints OBJ on the port PORT. When OBJ is a
procedure created by the interpreter or a procedure created by
code compiled with the `-debug' option, the procedure's source
code is displayed. If it is not specified, PORT defaults to the
interaction channel (i.e. the output will appear at the REPL).
For example:
> (define (f g) (+ (time (g 100)) (time (g 1000))))
> (pp f)
(lambda (g)
(+ (##time (lambda () (g 100)) '(g 100))
(##time (lambda () (g 1000)) '(g 1000))))
-- procedure: gc-report-set! REPORT?
This procedure controls the generation of reports during garbage
collections. If the argument is true, a brief report of memory
usage is generated after every garbage collection. It contains:
the time taken for this garbage collection, the amount of memory
allocated in megabytes since the program was started, the size of
the heap in megabytes, the heap memory in megabytes occupied by
live data, the proportion of the heap occupied by live data, and
the number of bytes occupied by movable and nonmovable objects.
5.4 Console line-editing
========================
The console implements a simple Scheme-friendly line-editing
user-interface that is enabled by default. It offers parentheses
balancing, a history of previous commands, and several emacs-compatible
keyboard commands. The user's input is displayed in a bold font and
the output produced by the system is in a plain font. Here are the
keyboard commands available (where the ``M-'' prefix means the escape
key is typed and the ``C-'' prefix means the control key is pressed):
`C-d'
Generate an end-of-file when the line is empty, otherwise delete
character at cursor.
`C-a'
Move cursor to beginning of line.
`C-e'
Move cursor to end of line.
`C-b or left-arrow'
Move cursor left one character.
`M-C-b or `M-'left-arrow'
Move cursor left one S-expression.
`C-f or right-arrow'
Move cursor right one character.
`M-C-f or `M-'right-arrow'
Move cursor right one S-expression.
`C-p or up-arrow'
Move to previous line in history.
`C-n or down-arrow'
Move to next line in history.
`C-t'
Transpose character at cursor with previous character.
`M-C-t'
Transpose S-expression at cursor with previous S-expression.
`C-l'
Clear console and redraw line being edited.
`C-nul'
Set the mark to the cursor.
`C-w'
Delete the text between the cursor and the mark and keep a copy of
this text on the internal clipboard.
`C-k'
Delete the text from the cursor to the end of the line and keep a
copy of this text on the internal clipboard.
`C-y'
Paste the text that is on the internal clipboard.
`F8'
Same as typing `#||#,c;' (REPL command to continue the
computation).
`F9'
Same as typing `#||#,-;' (REPL command to move to newer frame).
`F10'
Same as typing `#||#,+;' (REPL command to move to older frame).
`F11'
Same as typing `#||#,s;' (REPL command to step the computation).
`F12'
Same as typing `#||#,l;' (REPL command to leap the computation).
Note that on Mac OS X, depending on your configuration, you may have
to press the `fn' key to access the function key `F12' and the `option'
key to access the other function keys.
5.5 Emacs interface
===================
Gambit comes with the Emacs package `gambit.el' which provides a nice
environment for running Gambit from within the Emacs editor. This
package filters the standard output of the Gambit process and when it
intercepts a location information (in the format `STREAM@LINE.COLUMN'
where STREAM is either `(stdin)' when the expression was obtained from
standard input, `(console)' when the expression was obtained from the
console, or a string naming a file) it opens a window to highlight the
corresponding expression.
To use this package, make sure the file `gambit.el' is accessible
from your load-path and that the following lines are in your `.emacs'
file:
(autoload 'gambit-inferior-mode "gambit" "Hook Gambit mode into cmuscheme.")
(autoload 'gambit-mode "gambit" "Hook Gambit mode into scheme.")
(add-hook 'inferior-scheme-mode-hook (function gambit-inferior-mode))
(add-hook 'scheme-mode-hook (function gambit-mode))
(setq scheme-program-name "gsi -:d-")
Alternatively, if you don't mind always loading this package, you
can simply add this line to your `.emacs' file:
(require 'gambit)
You can then start an inferior Gambit process by typing `M-x
run-scheme'. The commands provided in `cmuscheme' mode will be
available in the Gambit interaction buffer (i.e. `*scheme*') and in
buffers attached to Scheme source files. Here is a list of the most
useful commands (for a complete list type `C-h m' in the Gambit
interaction buffer):
`C-x C-e'
Evaluate the expression which is before the cursor (the expression
will be copied to the Gambit interaction buffer).
`C-c C-z'
Switch to Gambit interaction buffer.
`C-c C-l'
Load a file (file attached to current buffer is default) using
`(load FILE)'.
`C-c C-k'
Compile a file (file attached to current buffer is default) using
`(compile-file FILE)'.
The file `gambit.el' provides these additional commands:
`F8 or C-c c'
Continue the computation (same as typing `#||#,c;' to the REPL).
`F9 or C-c ]'
Move to newer frame (same as typing `#||#,-;' to the REPL).
`F10 or C-c ['
Move to older frame (same as typing `#||#,+;' to the REPL).
`F11 or C-c s'
Step the computation (same as typing `#||#,s;' to the REPL).
`F12 or C-c l'
Leap the computation (same as typing `#||#,l;' to the REPL).
`C-c _'
Removes the last window that was opened to highlight an expression.
The two keystroke version of these commands can be shortened to
`M-c', `M-[', `M-]', `M-s', `M-l', and `M-_' respectively by adding
this line to your `.emacs' file:
(setq gambit-repl-command-prefix "\e")
This is more convenient to type than the two keystroke `C-c' based
sequences but the purist may not like this because it does not follow
normal Emacs conventions.
Here is what a typical `.emacs' file will look like:
(setq load-path ; add directory containing gambit.el
(cons "/usr/local/Gambit-C/current/share/emacs/site-lisp"
load-path))
(setq scheme-program-name "/tmp/gsi -:d-") ; if gsi not in executable path
(setq gambit-highlight-color "gray") ; if you don't like the default
(setq gambit-repl-command-prefix "\e") ; if you want M-c, M-s, etc
(require 'gambit)
5.6 GUIDE
=========
The implementation and documentation for GUIDE, the Gambit Universal
IDE, are not yet complete.
6 Scheme extensions
*******************
6.1 Extensions to standard procedures
=====================================
-- procedure: transcript-on FILE
-- procedure: transcript-off
These procedures do nothing.
-- procedure: call-with-current-continuation PROC
-- procedure: call/cc PROC
The procedure `call-with-current-continuation' is bound to the
global variables `call-with-current-continuation' and `call/cc'.
6.2 Extensions to standard special forms
========================================
-- special form: lambda lambda-formals body
-- special form: define (variable define-formals) body
lambda-formals = `(' formal-argument-list `)' |
r4rs-lambda-formals
define-formals = formal-argument-list | r4rs-define-formals
formal-argument-list = dsssl-formal-argument-list |
rest-at-end-formal-argument-list
dsssl-formal-argument-list = reqs opts rest keys
rest-at-end-formal-argument-list = reqs opts keys rest | reqs
opts keys `.' rest-formal-argument
reqs = required-formal-argument*
required-formal-argument = variable
opts = `#!optional' optional-formal-argument* | empty
optional-formal-argument = variable | `(' variable
initializer `)'
rest = `#!rest' rest-formal-argument | empty
rest-formal-argument = variable
keys = `#!key' keyword-formal-argument* | empty
keyword-formal-argument = variable | `(' variable initializer
`)'
initializer = expression
r4rs-lambda-formals = `(' variable* `)' | `(' variable+ `.'
variable `)' | variable
r4rs-define-formals = variable* | variable* `.' variable
These forms are extended versions of the `lambda' and `define'
special forms of standard Scheme. They allow the use of optional
formal arguments, either positional or named, and support the
syntax and semantics of the DSSSL standard.
When the procedure introduced by a `lambda' (or `define') is
applied to a list of actual arguments, the formal and actual
arguments are processed as specified in the R4RS if the
lambda-formals (or define-formals) is a r4rs-lambda-formals (or
r4rs-define-formals).
If the formal-argument-list matches dsssl-formal-argument-list or
extended-formal-argument-list they are processed as follows:
a. Variables in required-formal-arguments are bound to
successive actual arguments starting with the first actual
argument. It shall be an error if there are fewer actual
arguments than required-formal-arguments.
b. Next variables in optional-formal-arguments are bound to
remaining actual arguments. If there are fewer remaining
actual arguments than optional-formal-arguments, then the
variables are bound to the result of evaluating initializer,
if one was specified, and otherwise to `#f'. The initializer
is evaluated in an environment in which all previous formal
arguments have been bound.
c. If `#!key' does not appear in the formal-argument-list and
there is no rest-formal-argument then it shall be an error if
there are any remaining actual arguments.
d. If `#!key' does not appear in the formal-argument-list and
there is a rest-formal-argument then the rest-formal-argument
is bound to a list of all remaining actual arguments.
e. If `#!key' appears in the formal-argument-list and there is
no rest-formal-argument then there shall be an even number of
remaining actual arguments. These are interpreted as a
series of pairs, where the first member of each pair is a
keyword specifying the argument name, and the second is the
corresponding value. It shall be an error if the first
member of a pair is not a keyword. It shall be an error if
the argument name is not the same as a variable in a
keyword-formal-argument. If the same argument name occurs
more than once in the list of actual arguments, then the
first value is used. If there is no actual argument for a
particular keyword-formal-argument, then the variable is
bound to the result of evaluating initializer if one was
specified, and otherwise to `#f'. The initializer is
evaluated in an environment in which all previous formal
arguments have been bound.
f. If `#!key' appears in the formal-argument-list and there is a
rest-formal-argument before the `#!key' then there may be an
even or odd number of remaining actual arguments and the
rest-formal-argument is bound to a list of all remaining
actual arguments. Then, these remaining actual arguments are
scanned from left to right in pairs, stopping at the first
pair whose first element is not a keyword. Each pair whose
first element is a keyword matching the name of a
keyword-formal-argument gives the value (i.e. the second
element of the pair) of the corresponding formal argument. If
the same argument name occurs more than once in the list of
actual arguments, then the first value is used. If there is
no actual argument for a particular keyword-formal-argument,
then the variable is bound to the result of evaluating
initializer if one was specified, and otherwise to `#f'. The
initializer is evaluated in an environment in which all
previous formal arguments have been bound.
g. If `#!key' appears in the formal-argument-list and there is a
rest-formal-argument after the `#!key' then there may be an
even or odd number of remaining actual arguments. The
remaining actual arguments are scanned from left to right in
pairs, stopping at the first pair whose first element is not
a keyword. Each pair shall have as its first element a
keyword matching the name of a keyword-formal-argument; the
second element gives the value of the corresponding formal
argument. If the same argument name occurs more than once in
the list of actual arguments, then the first value is used.
If there is no actual argument for a particular
keyword-formal-argument, then the variable is bound to the
result of evaluating initializer if one was specified, and
otherwise to `#f'. The initializer is evaluated in an
environment in which all previous formal arguments have been
bound. Finally, the rest-formal-argument is bound to the
list of the actual arguments that were not scanned (i.e.
after the last keyword/value pair).
In all cases it is an error for a variable to appear more than
once in a formal-argument-list.
Note that this specification is compatible with the DSSSL language
standard (i.e. a correct DSSSL program will have the same semantics
when run with Gambit).
It is unspecified whether variables receive their value by binding
or by assignment. Currently the compiler and interpreter use
different methods, which can lead to different semantics if
`call-with-current-continuation' is used in an initializer. Note
that this is irrelevant for DSSSL programs because
`call-with-current-continuation' does not exist in DSSSL.
For example:
> ((lambda (#!rest x) x) 1 2 3)
(1 2 3)
> (define (f a #!optional b) (list a b))
> (define (g a #!optional (b a) #!key (k (* a b))) (list a b k))
> (define (h1 a #!rest r #!key k) (list a k r))
> (define (h2 a #!key k #!rest r) (list a k r))
> (f 1)
(1 #f)
> (f 1 2)
(1 2)
> (g 3)
(3 3 9)
> (g 3 4)
(3 4 12)
> (g 3 4 k: 5)
(3 4 5)
> (g 3 4 k: 5 k: 6)
(3 4 5)
> (h1 7)
(7 #f ())
> (h1 7 k: 8 9)
(7 8 (k: 8 9))
> (h1 7 k: 8 z: 9)
(7 8 (k: 8 z: 9))
> (h2 7)
(7 #f ())
> (h2 7 k: 8 9)
(7 8 (9))
> (h2 7 k: 8 z: 9)
*** ERROR IN (console)@17.1 -- Unknown keyword argument passed to procedure
(h2 7 k: 8 z: 9)
6.3 Miscellaneous extensions
============================
-- procedure: vector-copy VECTOR
This procedure returns a newly allocated vector with the same
content as the vector VECTOR. Note that the elements are not
recursively copied.
-- procedure: vector-append VECTOR...
This procedure is the vector analog of the `string-append'
procedure. It returns a newly allocated vector whose elements
form the concatenation of the given vectors.
-- procedure: subvector VECTOR START END
This procedure is the vector analog of the `substring' procedure.
It returns a newly allocated vector formed from the elements of
the vector VECTOR beginning with index START (inclusive) and
ending with index END (exclusive).
-- procedure: box OBJ
-- procedure: box? OBJ
-- procedure: unbox BOX
-- procedure: set-box! BOX OBJ
These procedures implement the "box" data type. A box is a cell
containing a single mutable field. The lexical syntax of a box
containing the object OBJ is `#&OBJ' (*note Box syntax::).
The procedure `box' returns a new box object whose content is
initialized to OBJ. The procedure `box?' returns `#t' if OBJ is a
box, and otherwise returns `#f'. The procedure `unbox' returns
the content of the box BOX. The procedure `set-box!' changes the
content of the box BOX to OBJ. The procedure `set-box!' returns
an unspecified value.
For example:
> (define b (box 0))
> b
#&0
> (define (inc!) (set-box! b (+ (unbox b) 1)))
> (inc!)
> b
#&1
> (unbox b)
1
-- procedure: keyword? OBJ
-- procedure: keyword->string KEYWORD
-- procedure: string->keyword STRING
These procedures implement the "keyword" data type. Keywords are
similar to symbols but are self evaluating and distinct from the
symbol data type. The lexical syntax of keywords is specified in
*Note Keyword syntax::.
The procedure `keyword?' returns `#t' if OBJ is a keyword, and
otherwise returns `#f'. The procedure `keyword->string' returns
the name of KEYWORD as a string. The procedure `string->keyword'
returns the keyword whose name is STRING.
For example:
> (keyword? 'color)
#f
> (keyword? color:)
#t
> (keyword->string color:)
"color"
> (string->keyword "color")
color:
-- procedure: gensym [PREFIX]
This procedure returns a new "uninterned symbol". Uninterned
symbols are guaranteed to be distinct from the symbols generated
by the procedures `read' and `string->symbol'. The symbol PREFIX
is the prefix used to generate the new symbol's name. If it is
not specified, the prefix defaults to `g'.
For example:
> (gensym)
#:g0
> (gensym)
#:g1
> (gensym 'star-trek-)
#:star-trek-2
-- procedure: make-uninterned-symbol NAME [HASH]
-- procedure: uninterned-symbol? OBJ
The procedure `make-uninterned-symbol' returns a new uninterned
symbol whose name is NAME and hash is HASH. The name must be a
string and the hash must be a nonnegative fixnum.
The procedure `uninterned-symbol?' returns `#t' when OBJ is a
symbol that is uninterned and `#f' otherwise.
For example:
> (uninterned-symbol? (gensym))
#t
> (make-uninterned-symbol "foo")
#:foo:
> (uninterned-symbol? (make-uninterned-symbol "foo"))
#t
> (uninterned-symbol? 'hello)
#f
> (uninterned-symbol? 123)
#f
-- procedure: make-uninterned-keyword NAME [HASH]
-- procedure: uninterned-keyword? OBJ
The procedure `make-uninterned-keyword' returns a new uninterned
keyword whose name is NAME and hash is HASH. The name must be a
string and the hash must be a nonnegative fixnum.
The procedure `uninterned-keyword?' returns `#t' when OBJ is a
keyword that is uninterned and `#f' otherwise.
For example:
> (make-uninterned-keyword "foo")
#:foo:
> (uninterned-keyword? (make-uninterned-keyword "foo"))
#t
> (uninterned-keyword? hello:)
#f
> (uninterned-keyword? 123)
#f
-- procedure: void
This procedure returns the void object. The read-eval-print loop
prints nothing when the result is the void object.
-- procedure: eval EXPR [ENV]
The first argument is a datum representing an expression. The
`eval' procedure evaluates this expression in the global
interaction environment and returns the result. If present, the
second argument is ignored (it is provided for compatibility with
R5RS).
For example:
> (eval '(+ 1 2))
3
> ((eval 'car) '(1 2))
1
> (eval '(define x 5))
> x
5
-- special form: include file
The file argument must be a string naming an existing file
containing Scheme source code. The `include' special form splices
the content of the specified source file. This form can only
appear where a `define' form is acceptable.
For example:
(include "macros.scm")
(define (f lst)
(include "sort.scm")
(map sqrt (sort lst)))
-- special form: define-macro (name define-formals) body
Define name as a macro special form which expands into body. This
form can only appear where a `define' form is acceptable. Macros
are lexically scoped. The scope of a local macro definition
extends from the definition to the end of the body of the
surrounding binding construct. Macros defined at the top level of
a Scheme module are only visible in that module. To have access
to the macro definitions contained in a file, that file must be
included using the `include' special form. Macros which are
visible from the REPL are also visible during the compilation of
Scheme source files.
For example:
(define-macro (unless test . body)
`(if ,test #f (begin ,@body)))
(define-macro (push var #!optional val)
`(set! ,var (cons ,val ,var)))
To examine the code into which a macro expands you can use the
compiler's `-expansion' option or the `pp' procedure. For example:
> (define-macro (push var #!optional val)
`(set! ,var (cons ,val ,var)))
> (pp (lambda () (push stack 1) (push stack) (push stack 3)))
(lambda ()
(set! stack (cons 1 stack))
(set! stack (cons #f stack))
(set! stack (cons 3 stack)))
-- special form: define-syntax name expander
Define name as a macro special form whose expansion is specified
by expander. This form is available only after evaluating `(load
"~~/syntax-case")', which can be done at the REPL or in the
initialization file. This file contains Hieb and Dybvig's
portable `syntax-case' implementation that has been ported to the
Gambit interpreter and compiler. Note that this implementation of
`syntax-case' does not correctly track source code location
information, so the error messages will be much less precise.
For example:
> (load "~~/syntax-case")
"/usr/local/Gambit-C/4.0b20/syntax-case.scm"
> (define-syntax unless
(syntax-rules ()
((unless test body ...)
(if test #f (begin body ...)))))
> (let ((test 111)) (unless (= 1 2) (list test test)))
(111 111)
> (pp (lambda () (let ((test 111)) (unless (= 1 2) (list test test)))))
(lambda () ((lambda (%%test14) (if (= 1 2) #f (list %%test14 %%test14))) 111))
> (unless #f (pp xxx))
*** ERROR IN (console)@8.16 -- Unbound variable: xxx
-- special form: declare declaration...
This form introduces declarations to be used by the compiler
(currently the interpreter ignores the declarations). This form
can only appear where a `define' form is acceptable. Declarations
are lexically scoped in the same way as macros. The following
declarations are accepted by the compiler:
`(DIALECT)'
Use the given dialect's semantics. DIALECT can be:
`ieee-scheme' or `r4rs-scheme'.
`(STRATEGY)'
Select block compilation or separate compilation. In block
compilation, the compiler assumes that global variables
defined in the current file that are not mutated in the file
will never be mutated. STRATEGY can be: `block' or
`separate'.
`([not] inline)'
Allow (or disallow) inlining of user procedures.
`([not] inline-primitives PRIMITIVE...)'
The given primitives should (or should not) be inlined if
possible (all primitives if none specified).
`(inlining-limit N)'
Select the degree to which the compiler inlines user
procedures. N is the upper-bound, in percent, on code
expansion that will result from inlining. Thus, a value of
300 indicates that the size of the program will not grow by
more than 300 percent (i.e. it will be at most 4 times the
size of the original). A value of 0 disables inlining. The
size of a program is the total number of subexpressions it
contains (i.e. the size of an expression is one plus the size
of its immediate subexpressions). The following conditions
must hold for a procedure to be inlined: inlining the
procedure must not cause the size of the call site to grow
more than specified by the inlining limit, the site of
definition (the `define' or `lambda') and the call site must
be declared as `(inline)', and the compiler must be able to
find the definition of the procedure referred to at the call
site (if the procedure is bound to a global variable, the
definition site must have a `(block)' declaration). Note
that inlining usually causes much less code expansion than
specified by the inlining limit (an expansion around 10% is
common for N=350).
`([not] lambda-lift)'
Lambda-lift (or don't lambda-lift) locally defined procedures.
`([not] constant-fold)'
Allow (or disallow) constant-folding of primitive procedures.
`([not] standard-bindings VAR...)'
The given global variables are known (or not known) to be
equal to the value defined for them in the dialect (all
variables defined in the standard if none specified).
`([not] extended-bindings VAR...)'
The given global variables are known (or not known) to be
equal to the value defined for them in the runtime system
(all variables defined in the runtime if none specified).
`([not] run-time-bindings VAR...)'
The given global variables will be tested at run time to see
if they are equal to the value defined for them in the
runtime system (all variables defined in the runtime if none
specified).
`([not] safe)'
Generate (or don't generate) code that will prevent fatal
errors at run time. Note that in `safe' mode certain
semantic errors will not be checked as long as they can't
crash the system. For example the primitive `char=?' may
disregard the type of its arguments in `safe' as well as `not
safe' mode.
`([not] interrupts-enabled)'
Generate (or don't generate) interrupt checks. Interrupt
checks are used to detect user interrupts and also to check
for stack overflows. Interrupt checking should not be turned
off casually.
`(NUMBER-TYPE PRIMITIVE...)'
Numeric arguments and result of the specified primitives are
known to be of the given type (all primitives if none
specified). NUMBER-TYPE can be: `generic', `fixnum', or
`flonum'.
`(MOSTLY-NUMBER-TYPE PRIMITIVE...)'
Numeric arguments and result of the specified primitives are
expected to be most often of the given type (all primitives
if none specified). MOSTLY-NUMBER-TYPE can be:
`mostly-generic', `mostly-fixnum', `mostly-fixnum-flonum',
`mostly-flonum', or `mostly-flonum-fixnum'.
The default declarations used by the compiler are equivalent to:
(declare
(ieee-scheme)
(separate)
(inline)
(inline-primitives)
(inlining-limit 350)
(constant-fold)
(lambda-lift)
(not standard-bindings)
(not extended-bindings)
(run-time-bindings)
(safe)
(interrupts-enabled)
(generic)
(mostly-fixnum-flonum)
)
These declarations are compatible with the semantics of R5RS
Scheme. Typically used declarations that enhance performance, at
the cost of violating the R5RS Scheme semantics, are:
`(standard-bindings)', `(block)', `(not safe)' and `(fixnum)'.
6.4 Undocumented extensions
===========================
The procedures in this section are not yet documented.
-- procedure: print [`port:' PORT] OBJ...
-- procedure: println [`port:' PORT] OBJ...
-- procedure: make-thread-group [NAME [THREAD-GROUP]]
-- procedure: thread-group? OBJ
-- procedure: thread-group-name THREAD-GROUP
-- procedure: thread-group-parent THREAD-GROUP
-- procedure: thread-group-resume! THREAD-GROUP
-- procedure: thread-group-suspend! THREAD-GROUP
-- procedure: thread-group-terminate! THREAD-GROUP
-- procedure: thread-suspend! THREAD
-- procedure: thread-resume! THREAD
-- procedure: thread-thread-group THREAD
-- special form: define-type-of-thread name field...
-- procedure: thread-init! THREAD THUNK [NAME [THREAD-GROUP]]
-- procedure: initialized-thread-exception? OBJ
-- procedure: initialized-thread-exception-procedure EXC
-- procedure: initialized-thread-exception-arguments EXC
-- procedure: uninitialized-thread-exception? OBJ
-- procedure: uninitialized-thread-exception-procedure EXC
-- procedure: uninitialized-thread-exception-arguments EXC
-- procedure: process-pid PROCESS-PORT
-- procedure: process-status PROCESS-PORT [TIMEOUT [TIMEOUT-VAL]]
-- procedure: unterminated-process-exception? OBJ
-- procedure: unterminated-process-exception-procedure EXC
-- procedure: unterminated-process-exception-arguments EXC
-- procedure: timeout->time TIMEOUT
-- procedure: open-dummy
-- procedure: port-settings-set! PORT SETTINGS
-- procedure: input-port-bytes-buffered PORT
-- procedure: input-port-characters-buffered PORT
-- procedure: nonempty-input-port-character-buffer-exception? OBJ
-- procedure: nonempty-input-port-character-buffer-exception-arguments
EXC
-- procedure: nonempty-input-port-character-buffer-exception-procedure
EXC
-- procedure: repl-input-port
-- procedure: repl-output-port
-- procedure: console-port
-- procedure: current-user-interrupt-handler [HANDLER]
-- procedure: primordial-exception-handler EXC
-- procedure: err-code->string CODE
-- procedure: foreign-address FOREIGN
-- procedure: foreign-release! FOREIGN
-- procedure: foreign-released? FOREIGN
-- procedure: invalid-hash-number-exception? OBJ
-- procedure: invalid-hash-number-exception-procedure EXC
-- procedure: invalid-hash-number-exception-arguments EXC
-- procedure: network-info NETWORK
-- procedure: network-info? OBJ
-- procedure: network-info-name NETWORK-INFO
-- procedure: network-info-net NETWORK-INFO
-- procedure: network-info-aliases NETWORK-INFO
-- procedure: protocol-info PROTOCOL
-- procedure: protocol-info? OBJ
-- procedure: protocol-info-name PROTOCOL-INFO
-- procedure: protocol-info-number PROTOCOL-INFO
-- procedure: protocol-info-aliases PROTOCOL-INFO
-- procedure: service-info SERVICE [PROTOCOL]
-- procedure: service-info? OBJ
-- procedure: service-info-name SERVICE-INFO
-- procedure: service-info-port SERVICE-INFO
-- procedure: service-info-protocol SERVICE-INFO
-- procedure: service-info-aliases SERVICE-INFO
-- procedure: tcp-client-peer-socket-info TCP-CLIENT-PORT
-- procedure: tcp-client-self-socket-info TCP-CLIENT-PORT
-- procedure: socket-info? OBJ
-- procedure: socket-info-address SOCKET-INFO
-- procedure: socket-info-family SOCKET-INFO
-- procedure: socket-info-port-number SOCKET-INFO
-- procedure: six.make-array ...
-- procedure: system-version
-- procedure: system-version-string
-- procedure: touch OBJ
-- procedure: tty? OBJ
-- procedure: tty-history TTY
-- procedure: tty-history-set! TTY HISTORY
-- procedure: tty-max-history-length-set! TTY N
-- procedure: tty-paren-balance-duration-set! TTY DURATION
-- procedure: tty-text-attributes-set! TTY ATTRIBUTES
-- procedure: tty-mode-set! TTY MODE
-- procedure: tty-type-set! TTY TYPE
-- procedure: with-input-from-port PORT THUNK
-- procedure: with-output-to-port PORT THUNK
-- procedure: input-port-char-position PORT
-- procedure: output-port-char-position PORT
-- procedure: open-event-queue N
-- procedure: main ...
7 Modules
*********
TO DO!
8 Characters and strings
************************
Gambit supports the Unicode character encoding standard
(ISO/IEC-10646-1). Scheme characters can be any of the characters in
the 16 bit subset of Unicode known as UCS-2. Scheme strings can
contain any character in UCS-2. Source code can also contain any
character in UCS-2. However, to read such source code properly `gsi'
and `gsc' must be told which character encoding to use for reading the
source code (i.e. UTF-8, UCS-2, or UCS-4). This can be done by
specifying the runtime option `-:f' when `gsi' and `gsc' are started.
8.1 Extensions to character procedures
======================================
-- procedure: char->integer CHAR
-- procedure: integer->char N
The procedure `char->integer' returns the Unicode encoding of the
character CHAR.
The procedure `integer->char' returns the character whose Unicode
encoding is the exact integer N.
For example:
> (char->integer #\!)
33
> (integer->char 65)
#\A
> (integer->char (char->integer #\u1234))
#\u1234
-- procedure: char=? CHAR1...
-- procedure: char CHAR1...
-- procedure: char>? CHAR1...
-- procedure: char<=? CHAR1...
-- procedure: char>=? CHAR1...
-- procedure: char-ci=? CHAR1...
-- procedure: char-ci CHAR1...
-- procedure: char-ci>? CHAR1...
-- procedure: char-ci<=? CHAR1...
-- procedure: char-ci>=? CHAR1...
These procedures take any number of arguments including no
argument. This is useful to test if the elements of a list are
sorted in a particular order. For example, testing that the list
of characters `lst' is sorted in nondecreasing order can be done
with the call `(apply char lst)'.
8.2 Extensions to string procedures
===================================
-- procedure: string=? STRING1...
-- procedure: string STRING1...
-- procedure: string>? STRING1...
-- procedure: string<=? STRING1...
-- procedure: string>=? STRING1...
-- procedure: string-ci=? STRING1...
-- procedure: string-ci STRING1...
-- procedure: string-ci>? STRING1...
-- procedure: string-ci<=? STRING1...
-- procedure: string-ci>=? STRING1...
These procedures take any number of arguments including no
argument. This is useful to test if the elements of a list are
sorted in a particular order. For example, testing that the list
of strings `lst' is sorted in nondecreasing order can be done with
the call `(apply string lst)'.
9 Numbers
*********
9.1 Extensions to numeric procedures
====================================
-- procedure: = Z1...
-- procedure: < X1...
-- procedure: > X1...
-- procedure: <= X1...
-- procedure: >= X1...
These procedures take any number of arguments including no
argument. This is useful to test if the elements of a list are
sorted in a particular order. For example, testing that the list
of numbers `lst' is sorted in nondecreasing order can be done with
the call `(apply < lst)'.
9.2 IEEE floating point arithmetic
==================================
To better conform to IEEE floating point arithmetic the standard
numeric tower is extended with these special inexact reals:
`+inf.0'
positive infinity
`-inf.0'
negative infinity
`+nan.0'
"not a number"
`-0.'
negative zero (`0.' is the positive zero)
The infinities and "not a number" are reals (i.e. `(real? +inf.0)'
is `#t') but are not rational (i.e. `(rational? +inf.0)' is `#f').
Both zeros are numerically equal (i.e. `(= -0. 0.)' is `#t') but are
not equivalent (i.e. `(eqv? -0. 0.)' and `(equal? -0. 0.)' are `#f').
All numerical comparisons with "not a number", including `(= +nan.0
+nan.0)', are `#f'.
9.3 Integer square root and nth root
====================================
-- procedure: integer-sqrt N
This procedure returns the integer part of the square root of the
nonnegative exact integer N.
For example:
> (integer-sqrt 123)
11
-- procedure: integer-nth-root N1 N2
This procedure returns the integer part of N1 raised to the power
1/N2, where N1 is a nonnegative exact integer and N2 is a positive
exact integer.
For example:
> (integer-nth-root 100 3)
4
9.4 Bitwise-operations on exact integers
========================================
The procedures defined in this section are compatible with the
withdrawn "Integer Bitwise-operation Library SRFI" (SRFI 33). Note
that some of the procedures specified in SRFI 33 are not provided.
Most procedures in this section are specified in terms of the binary
representation of exact integers. The two's complement representation
is assumed where an integer is composed of an infinite number of bits.
The upper section of an integer (the most significant bits) are either
an infinite sequence of ones when the integer is negative, or they are
an infinite sequence of zeros when the integer is nonnegative.
-- procedure: arithmetic-shift N1 N2
This procedure returns N1 shifted to the left by N2 bits, that is
`(floor (* N1 (expt 2 N2)))'. Both N1 and N2 must be exact
integers.
For example:
> (arithmetic-shift 1000 7) ; n1=...0000001111101000
128000
> (arithmetic-shift 1000 -6) ; n1=...0000001111101000
15
> (arithmetic-shift -23 -3) ; n1=...1111111111101001
-3
-- procedure: bitwise-merge N1 N2 N3
This procedure returns an exact integer whose bits combine the bits
from N2 and N3 depending on N1. The bit at index I of the result
depends only on the bits at index I in N1, N2 and N3: it is equal
to the bit in N2 when the bit in N1 is 0 and it is equal to the
bit in N3 when the bit in N1 is 1. All arguments must be exact
integers.
For example:
> (bitwise-merge -4 -11 10) ; ...11111100 ...11110101 ...00001010
9
> (bitwise-merge 12 -11 10) ; ...00001100 ...11110101 ...00001010
-7
-- procedure: bitwise-and N...
This procedure returns the bitwise "and" of the exact integers
N.... The value -1 is returned when there are no arguments.
For example:
> (bitwise-and 6 12) ; ...00000110 ...00001100
4
> (bitwise-and 6 -4) ; ...00000110 ...11111100
4
> (bitwise-and -6 -4) ; ...11111010 ...11111100
-8
> (bitwise-and)
-1
-- procedure: bitwise-ior N...
This procedure returns the bitwise "inclusive-or" of the exact
integers N.... The value 0 is returned when there are no
arguments.
For example:
> (bitwise-ior 6 12) ; ...00000110 ...00001100
14
> (bitwise-ior 6 -4) ; ...00000110 ...11111100
-2
> (bitwise-ior -6 -4) ; ...11111010 ...11111100
-2
> (bitwise-ior)
0
-- procedure: bitwise-xor N...
This procedure returns the bitwise "exclusive-or" of the exact
integers N.... The value 0 is returned when there are no
arguments.
For example:
> (bitwise-xor 6 12) ; ...00000110 ...00001100
10
> (bitwise-xor 6 -4) ; ...00000110 ...11111100
-6
> (bitwise-xor -6 -4) ; ...11111010 ...11111100
6
> (bitwise-xor)
0
-- procedure: bitwise-not N
This procedure returns the bitwise complement of the exact integer
N.
For example:
> (bitwise-not 3) ; ...00000011
-4
> (bitwise-not -1) ; ...11111111
0
-- procedure: bit-count N
This procedure returns the bit count of the exact integer N. If N
is nonnegative, the bit count is the number of 1 bits in the two's
complement representation of N. If N is negative, the bit count
is the number of 0 bits in the two's complement representation of
N.
For example:
> (bit-count 0) ; ...00000000
0
> (bit-count 1) ; ...00000001
1
> (bit-count 2) ; ...00000010
1
> (bit-count 3) ; ...00000011
2
> (bit-count 4) ; ...00000100
1
> (bit-count -23) ; ...11101001
3
-- procedure: integer-length N
This procedure returns the bit length of the exact integer N. If
N is a positive integer the bit length is one more than the index
of the highest 1 bit (the least significant bit is at index 0).
If N is a negative integer the bit length is one more than the
index of the highest 0 bit. If N is zero, the bit length is 0.
For example:
> (integer-length 0) ; ...00000000
0
> (integer-length 1) ; ...00000001
1
> (integer-length 2) ; ...00000010
2
> (integer-length 3) ; ...00000011
2
> (integer-length 4) ; ...00000100
3
> (integer-length -23) ; ...11101001
5
-- procedure: bit-set? N1 N2
This procedure returns a boolean indicating if the bit at index N1
of N2 is set (i.e. equal to 1) or not. Both N1 and N2 must be
exact integers, and N1 must be nonnegative.
For example:
> (map (lambda (i) (bit-set? i -23)) ; ...11101001
'(7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0))
(#t #t #t #f #t #f #f #t)
-- procedure: any-bits-set? N1 N2
This procedure returns a boolean indicating if the bitwise and of
N1 and N2 is different from zero or not. This procedure is
implemented more efficiently than the naive definition:
(define (any-bits-set? n1 n2) (not (zero? (bitwise-and n1 n2))))
For example:
> (any-bits-set? 5 10) ; ...00000101 ...00001010
#f
> (any-bits-set? -23 32) ; ...11101001 ...00100000
#t
-- procedure: all-bits-set? N1 N2
This procedure returns a boolean indicating if the bitwise and of
N1 and N2 is equal to N1 or not. This procedure is implemented
more efficiently than the naive definition:
(define (all-bits-set? n1 n2) (= n1 (bitwise-and n1 n2)))
For example:
> (all-bits-set? 1 3) ; ...00000001 ...00000011
#t
> (all-bits-set? 7 3) ; ...00000111 ...00000011
#f
-- procedure: first-bit-set N
This procedure returns the bit index of the least significant bit
of N equal to 1 (which is also the number of 0 bits that are below
the least significant 1 bit). This procedure returns `-1' when N
is zero.
For example:
> (first-bit-set 24) ; ...00011000
3
> (first-bit-set 0) ; ...00000000
-1
-- procedure: extract-bit-field N1 N2 N3
-- procedure: test-bit-field? N1 N2 N3
-- procedure: clear-bit-field N1 N2 N3
-- procedure: replace-bit-field N1 N2 N3 N4
-- procedure: copy-bit-field N1 N2 N3 N4
These procedures operate on a bit-field which is N1 bits wide
starting at bit index N2. All arguments must be exact integers
and N1 and N2 must be nonnegative.
The procedure `extract-bit-field' returns the bit-field of N3
shifted to the right so that the least significant bit of the
bit-field is the least significant bit of the result.
The procedure `test-bit-field?' returns `#t' if any bit in the
bit-field of N3 is equal to 1, otherwise `#f' is returned.
The procedure `clear-bit-field' returns N3 with all bits in the
bit-field replaced with 0.
The procedure `replace-bit-field' returns N4 with the bit-field
replaced with the least-significant N1 bits of N3.
The procedure `copy-bit-field' returns N4 with the bit-field
replaced with the (same index and size) bit-field in N3.
For example:
> (extract-bit-field 5 2 -37) ; ...11011011
22
> (test-bit-field? 5 2 -37) ; ...11011011
#t
> (test-bit-field? 1 2 -37) ; ...11011011
#f
> (clear-bit-field 5 2 -37) ; ...11011011
-125
> (replace-bit-field 5 2 -6 -37) ; ...11111010 ...11011011
-21
> (copy-bit-field 5 2 -6 -37) ; ...11111010 ...11011011
-5
9.5 Fixnum specific operations
==============================
-- procedure: fixnum? OBJ
-- procedure: fx* N1...
-- procedure: fx+ N1...
-- procedure: fx- N1 N2...
-- procedure: fx< N1...
-- procedure: fx<= N1...
-- procedure: fx= N1...
-- procedure: fx> N1...
-- procedure: fx>= N1...
-- procedure: fxand N1...
-- procedure: fxarithmetic-shift N1 N2
-- procedure: fxarithmetic-shift-left N1 N2
-- procedure: fxarithmetic-shift-right N1 N2
-- procedure: fxbit-count N
-- procedure: fxbit-set? N1 N2
-- procedure: fxeven? N
-- procedure: fxfirst-bit-set N
-- procedure: fxif N1 N2 N3
-- procedure: fxior N1...
-- procedure: fxlength N
-- procedure: fxmax N1 N2...
-- procedure: fxmin N1 N2...
-- procedure: fxmodulo N1 N2
-- procedure: fxnegative? N
-- procedure: fxnot N
-- procedure: fxodd? N
-- procedure: fxpositive? N
-- procedure: fxquotient N1 N2
-- procedure: fxremainder N1 N2
-- procedure: fxwrap* N1...
-- procedure: fxwrap+ N1...
-- procedure: fxwrap- N1 N2...
-- procedure: fxwraparithmetic-shift N1 N2
-- procedure: fxwraparithmetic-shift-left N1 N2
-- procedure: fxwraplogical-shift-right N1 N2
-- procedure: fxwrapquotient N1 N2
-- procedure: fxxor N1...
-- procedure: fxzero? N
-- procedure: fixnum-overflow-exception? OBJ
-- procedure: fixnum-overflow-exception-procedure EXC
-- procedure: fixnum-overflow-exception-arguments EXC
Fixnum-overflow-exception objects are raised by some of the fixnum
specific procedures when the result is larger than can fit in a
fixnum. The parameter EXC must be a fixnum-overflow-exception
object.
The procedure `fixnum-overflow-exception?' returns `#t' when OBJ
is a fixnum-overflow-exception object and `#f' otherwise.
The procedure `fixnum-overflow-exception-procedure' returns the
procedure that raised EXC.
The procedure `fixnum-overflow-exception-arguments' returns the
list of arguments of the procedure that raised EXC.
For example:
> (define (handler exc)
(if (fixnum-overflow-exception? exc)
(list (fixnum-overflow-exception-procedure exc)
(fixnum-overflow-exception-arguments exc))
'not-fixnum-overflow-exception))
> (with-exception-catcher
handler
(lambda () (fx* 100000 100000)))
(# (100000 100000))
9.6 Flonum specific operations
==============================
-- procedure: flonum? OBJ
-- procedure: fixnum->flonum N
-- procedure: fl* X1...
-- procedure: fl+ X1...
-- procedure: fl- X1 X2...
-- procedure: fl/ X1 X2
-- procedure: fl< X1...
-- procedure: fl<= X1...
-- procedure: fl= X1...
-- procedure: fl> X1...
-- procedure: fl>= X1...
-- procedure: flabs X
-- procedure: flacos X
-- procedure: flasin X
-- procedure: flatan X
-- procedure: flatan Y X
-- procedure: flceiling X
-- procedure: flcos X
-- procedure: fldenominator X
-- procedure: fleven? X
-- procedure: flexp X
-- procedure: flexpt X Y
-- procedure: flfinite? X
-- procedure: flfloor X
-- procedure: flinfinite? X
-- procedure: flinteger? X
-- procedure: fllog X
-- procedure: flmax X1 X2...
-- procedure: flmin X1 X2...
-- procedure: flnan? X
-- procedure: flnegative? X
-- procedure: flnumerator X
-- procedure: flodd? X
-- procedure: flpositive? X
-- procedure: flround X
-- procedure: flsin X
-- procedure: flsqrt X
-- procedure: fltan X
-- procedure: fltruncate X
-- procedure: flzero? X
9.7 Pseudo random numbers
=========================
The procedures and variables defined in this section are compatible
with the "Sources of Random Bits SRFI" (SRFI 27). The implementation
is based on Pierre L'Ecuyer's MRG32k3a pseudo random number generator.
At the heart of SRFI 27's interface is the random source type which
encapsulates the state of a pseudo random number generator. The state
of a random source object changes every time a pseudo random number is
generated from this random source object.
-- variable: default-random-source
The global variable `default-random-source' is bound to the random
source object which is used by the `random-integer' and
`random-real' procedures.
-- procedure: random-integer N
This procedure returns a pseudo random exact integer in the range
0 to N-1. The random source object in the global variable
`default-random-source' is used to generate this number. The
parameter N must be a positive exact integer.
For example:
> (random-integer 100)
24
> (random-integer 100)
2
> (random-integer 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000)
6143360270902284438072426748425263488507
-- procedure: random-real
This procedure returns a pseudo random inexact real between, but
not including, 0 and 1. The random source object in the global
variable `default-random-source' is used to generate this number.
For example:
> (random-real)
.24230672079133753
> (random-real)
.02317001922506932
-- procedure: make-random-source
This procedure returns a new random source object initialized to a
predetermined state (to initialize to a pseudo random state the
procedure `random-source-randomize!' should be called).
For example:
> (define rs (make-random-source))
> ((random-source-make-integers rs) 10000000)
8583952
-- procedure: random-source? OBJ
This procedure returns `#t' when OBJ is a random source object and
`#f' otherwise.
For example:
> (random-source? default-random-source)
#t
> (random-source? 123)
#f
-- procedure: random-source-state-ref RANDOM-SOURCE
-- procedure: random-source-state-set! RANDOM-SOURCE STATE
The procedure `random-source-state-ref' extracts the state of the
random source object RANDOM-SOURCE and returns a vector containing
the state.
The procedure `random-source-state-set!' restores the state of the
random source object RANDOM-SOURCE to STATE which must be a vector
returned from a call to the procedure `random-source-state-ref'.
For example:
> (define s (random-source-state-ref default-random-source))
> (random-integer 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000)
7583880188903074396261960585615270693321
> (random-source-state-set! default-random-source s)
> (random-integer 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000)
7583880188903074396261960585615270693321
-- procedure: random-source-randomize! RANDOM-SOURCE
-- procedure: random-source-pseudo-randomize! RANDOM-SOURCE I J
These procedures change the state of the random source object
RANDOM-SOURCE. The procedure `random-source-randomize!' sets the
random source object to a state that depends on the current time
(which for typical uses can be considered to randomly initialize
the state). The procedure `random-source-pseudo-randomize!' sets
the random source object to a state that is determined only by the
current state and the nonnegative exact integers I and J. For
both procedures the value returned is unspecified.
For example:
> (define s (random-source-state-ref default-random-source))
> (random-source-pseudo-randomize! default-random-source 5 99)
> (random-integer 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000)
9816755163910623041601722050112674079767
> (random-source-state-set! default-random-source s)
> (random-source-pseudo-randomize! default-random-source 5 99)
> (random-integer 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000)
9816755163910623041601722050112674079767
> (random-source-pseudo-randomize! default-random-source 5 99)
> (random-integer 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000)
9816755163910623041601722050112674079767
> (random-source-state-set! default-random-source s)
> (random-source-randomize! default-random-source)
> (random-integer 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000)
2271441220851914333384493143687768110622
> (random-source-state-set! default-random-source s)
> (random-source-randomize! default-random-source)
> (random-integer 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000)
6247966138948323029033944059178072366895
-- procedure: random-source-make-integers RANDOM-SOURCE
This procedure returns a procedure for generating pseudo random
exact integers using the random source object RANDOM-SOURCE. The
returned procedure accepts a single parameter N, a positive exact
integer, and returns a pseudo random exact integer in the range 0
to N-1.
For example:
> (define rs (make-random-source))
> (define ri (random-source-make-integers rs))
> (ri 10000000)
8583952
> (ri 10000000)
2879793
-- procedure: random-source-make-reals RANDOM-SOURCE
This procedure returns a procedure for generating pseudo random
inexact reals using the random source object RANDOM-SOURCE. The
returned procedure accepts no parameters and returns a pseudo
random inexact real between, but not including, 0 and 1.
For example:
> (define rs (make-random-source))
> (define rr (random-source-make-reals rs))
> (rr)
.857402537562821
> (rr)
.2876463473845367
10 Homogeneous vectors
**********************
Homogeneous vectors are vectors containing raw numbers of the same type
(signed or unsigned exact integers or inexact reals). There are 10
types of homogeneous vectors: `s8vector' (vector of exact integers in
the range -2^7 to 2^7-1), `u8vector' (vector of exact integers in the
range 0 to 2^8-1), `s16vector' (vector of exact integers in the range
-2^15 to 2^15-1), `u16vector' (vector of exact integers in the range 0
to 2^16-1), `s32vector' (vector of exact integers in the range -2^31 to
2^31-1), `u32vector' (vector of exact integers in the range 0 to
2^32-1), `s64vector' (vector of exact integers in the range -2^63 to
2^63-1), `u64vector' (vector of exact integers in the range 0 to
2^64-1), `f32vector' (vector of 32 bit floating point numbers), and
`f64vector' (vector of 64 bit floating point numbers).
The lexical syntax of homogeneous vectors is specified in *Note
Homogeneous vector syntax::.
The procedures available for homogeneous vectors, listed below, are
the analog of the normal vector/string procedures for each of the
homogeneous vector types.
-- procedure: s8vector? OBJ
-- procedure: make-s8vector K [FILL]
-- procedure: s8vector EXACT-INT8...
-- procedure: s8vector-length S8VECTOR
-- procedure: s8vector-ref S8VECTOR K
-- procedure: s8vector-set! S8VECTOR K EXACT-INT8
-- procedure: s8vector->list S8VECTOR
-- procedure: list->s8vector LIST-OF-EXACT-INT8
-- procedure: s8vector-fill! S8VECTOR FILL
-- procedure: s8vector-copy S8VECTOR
-- procedure: s8vector-append S8VECTOR...
-- procedure: subs8vector S8VECTOR START END
-- procedure: u8vector? OBJ
-- procedure: make-u8vector K [FILL]
-- procedure: u8vector EXACT-INT8...
-- procedure: u8vector-length U8VECTOR
-- procedure: u8vector-ref U8VECTOR K
-- procedure: u8vector-set! U8VECTOR K EXACT-INT8
-- procedure: u8vector->list U8VECTOR
-- procedure: list->u8vector LIST-OF-EXACT-INT8
-- procedure: u8vector-fill! U8VECTOR FILL
-- procedure: u8vector-copy U8VECTOR
-- procedure: u8vector-append U8VECTOR...
-- procedure: subu8vector U8VECTOR START END
-- procedure: s16vector? OBJ
-- procedure: make-s16vector K [FILL]
-- procedure: s16vector EXACT-INT16...
-- procedure: s16vector-length S16VECTOR
-- procedure: s16vector-ref S16VECTOR K
-- procedure: s16vector-set! S16VECTOR K EXACT-INT16
-- procedure: s16vector->list S16VECTOR
-- procedure: list->s16vector LIST-OF-EXACT-INT16
-- procedure: s16vector-fill! S16VECTOR FILL
-- procedure: s16vector-copy S16VECTOR
-- procedure: s16vector-append S16VECTOR...
-- procedure: subs16vector S16VECTOR START END
-- procedure: u16vector? OBJ
-- procedure: make-u16vector K [FILL]
-- procedure: u16vector EXACT-INT16...
-- procedure: u16vector-length U16VECTOR
-- procedure: u16vector-ref U16VECTOR K
-- procedure: u16vector-set! U16VECTOR K EXACT-INT16
-- procedure: u16vector->list U16VECTOR
-- procedure: list->u16vector LIST-OF-EXACT-INT16
-- procedure: u16vector-fill! U16VECTOR FILL
-- procedure: u16vector-copy U16VECTOR
-- procedure: u16vector-append U16VECTOR...
-- procedure: subu16vector U16VECTOR START END
-- procedure: s32vector? OBJ
-- procedure: make-s32vector K [FILL]
-- procedure: s32vector EXACT-INT32...
-- procedure: s32vector-length S32VECTOR
-- procedure: s32vector-ref S32VECTOR K
-- procedure: s32vector-set! S32VECTOR K EXACT-INT32
-- procedure: s32vector->list S32VECTOR
-- procedure: list->s32vector LIST-OF-EXACT-INT32
-- procedure: s32vector-fill! S32VECTOR FILL
-- procedure: s32vector-copy S32VECTOR
-- procedure: s32vector-append S32VECTOR...
-- procedure: subs32vector S32VECTOR START END
-- procedure: u32vector? OBJ
-- procedure: make-u32vector K [FILL]
-- procedure: u32vector EXACT-INT32...
-- procedure: u32vector-length U32VECTOR
-- procedure: u32vector-ref U32VECTOR K
-- procedure: u32vector-set! U32VECTOR K EXACT-INT32
-- procedure: u32vector->list U32VECTOR
-- procedure: list->u32vector LIST-OF-EXACT-INT32
-- procedure: u32vector-fill! U32VECTOR FILL
-- procedure: u32vector-copy U32VECTOR
-- procedure: u32vector-append U32VECTOR...
-- procedure: subu32vector U32VECTOR START END
-- procedure: s64vector? OBJ
-- procedure: make-s64vector K [FILL]
-- procedure: s64vector EXACT-INT64...
-- procedure: s64vector-length S64VECTOR
-- procedure: s64vector-ref S64VECTOR K
-- procedure: s64vector-set! S64VECTOR K EXACT-INT64
-- procedure: s64vector->list S64VECTOR
-- procedure: list->s64vector LIST-OF-EXACT-INT64
-- procedure: s64vector-fill! S64VECTOR FILL
-- procedure: s64vector-copy S64VECTOR
-- procedure: s64vector-append S64VECTOR...
-- procedure: subs64vector S64VECTOR START END
-- procedure: u64vector? OBJ
-- procedure: make-u64vector K [FILL]
-- procedure: u64vector EXACT-INT64...
-- procedure: u64vector-length U64VECTOR
-- procedure: u64vector-ref U64VECTOR K
-- procedure: u64vector-set! U64VECTOR K EXACT-INT64
-- procedure: u64vector->list U64VECTOR
-- procedure: list->u64vector LIST-OF-EXACT-INT64
-- procedure: u64vector-fill! U64VECTOR FILL
-- procedure: u64vector-copy U64VECTOR
-- procedure: u64vector-append U64VECTOR...
-- procedure: subu64vector U64VECTOR START END
-- procedure: f32vector? OBJ
-- procedure: make-f32vector K [FILL]
-- procedure: f32vector INEXACT-REAL...
-- procedure: f32vector-length F32VECTOR
-- procedure: f32vector-ref F32VECTOR K
-- procedure: f32vector-set! F32VECTOR K INEXACT-REAL
-- procedure: f32vector->list F32VECTOR
-- procedure: list->f32vector LIST-OF-INEXACT-REAL
-- procedure: f32vector-fill! F32VECTOR FILL
-- procedure: f32vector-copy F32VECTOR
-- procedure: f32vector-append F32VECTOR...
-- procedure: subf32vector F32VECTOR START END
-- procedure: f64vector? OBJ
-- procedure: make-f64vector K [FILL]
-- procedure: f64vector INEXACT-REAL...
-- procedure: f64vector-length F64VECTOR
-- procedure: f64vector-ref F64VECTOR K
-- procedure: f64vector-set! F64VECTOR K INEXACT-REAL
-- procedure: f64vector->list F64VECTOR
-- procedure: list->f64vector LIST-OF-INEXACT-REAL
-- procedure: f64vector-fill! F64VECTOR FILL
-- procedure: f64vector-copy F64VECTOR
-- procedure: f64vector-append F64VECTOR...
-- procedure: subf64vector F64VECTOR START END
For example:
> (define v (u8vector 10 255 13))
> (u8vector-set! v 2 99)
> v
#u8(10 255 99)
> (u8vector-ref v 1)
255
> (u8vector->list v)
(10 255 99)
-- procedure: object->u8vector OBJ [ENCODER]
-- procedure: u8vector->object U8VECTOR [DECODER]
The procedure `object->u8vector' returns a u8vector that contains
the sequence of bytes that encodes the object OBJ. The procedure
`u8vector->object' decodes the sequence of bytes contained in the
u8vector U8VECTOR, which was produced by the procedure
`object->u8vector', and reconstructs an object structurally equal
to the original object. In other words the procedures
`object->u8vector' and `u8vector->object' respectively perform
serialization and deserialization of Scheme objects. Note that
some objects are non-serializable (e.g. threads, wills, some types
of ports, and any object containing a non-serializable object).
The optional ENCODER and DECODER parameters are single parameter
procedures which default to the identity function. The ENCODER
procedure is called during serialization. As the serializer walks
through OBJ, it calls the ENCODER procedure on each sub-object X
that is encountered. The ENCODER transforms the object X into an
object Y that will be serialized instead of X. Similarly the
DECODER procedure is called during deserialization. When an
object Y is encountered, the DECODER procedure is called to
transform it into the object X that is the result of
deserialization.
The ENCODER and DECODER procedures are useful to customize the
serialized representation of objects. In particular, it can be
used to define the semantics of serializing objects, such as
threads and ports, that would otherwise not be serializable. The
DECODER procedure is typically the inverse of the ENCODER
procedure, i.e. `(DECODER (ENCODER X))' = `X'.
For example:
> (define (make-adder x) (lambda (y) (+ x y)))
> (define f (make-adder 10))
> (define a (object->u8vector f))
> (define b (u8vector->object a))
> (u8vector-length a)
1639
> (f 5)
15
> (b 5)
15
> (pp b)
(lambda (y) (+ x y))
11 Hashing and weak references
******************************
11.1 Hashing
============
-- procedure: object->serial-number OBJ
-- procedure: serial-number->object N [DEFAULT]
All Scheme objects are uniquely identified with a serial number
which is a nonnegative exact integer. The `object->serial-number'
procedure returns the serial number of object OBJ. This serial
number is only allocated the first time the `object->serial-number'
procedure is called on that object. Objects which do not have an
external textual representation that can be read by the `read'
procedure, use an external textual representation that includes a
serial number of the form `#N'. Consequently, the procedures
`write', `pretty-print', etc will call the `object->serial-number'
procedure to get the serial number, and this may cause the serial
number to be allocated.
The `serial-number->object' procedure takes an exact integer
argument N and returns the object whose serial number is N. If no
object currently exists with that serial number, DEFAULT is
returned if it is specified, otherwise an
unbound-serial-number-exception object is raised. The reader
defines the following abbreviation for calling
`serial-number->object': the syntax `#N', where N is a sequence of
decimal digits and it is not followed by ``='' or ``#'', is
equivalent to the list `(serial-number->object N)'.
For example:
> (define z (list (lambda (x) (* x x)) (lambda (y) (/ 1 y))))
> z
(# #)
> (#3 10)
1/10
> '(#3 10)
((serial-number->object 3) 10)
> car
#
> (#4 z)
#
-- procedure: unbound-serial-number-exception? OBJ
-- procedure: unbound-serial-number-exception-procedure EXC
-- procedure: unbound-serial-number-exception-arguments EXC
Unbound-serial-number-exception objects are raised by the procedure
`serial-number->object' when no object currently exists with that
serial number. The parameter EXC must be an
unbound-serial-number-exception object.
The procedure `unbound-serial-number-exception?' returns `#t' when
OBJ is a unbound-serial-number-exception object and `#f' otherwise.
The procedure `unbound-serial-number-exception-procedure' returns
the procedure that raised EXC.
The procedure `unbound-serial-number-exception-arguments' returns
the list of arguments of the procedure that raised EXC.
For example:
> (define (handler exc)
(if (unbound-serial-number-exception? exc)
(list (unbound-serial-number-exception-procedure exc)
(unbound-serial-number-exception-arguments exc))
'not-unbound-serial-number-exception))
> (with-exception-catcher
handler
(lambda () (serial-number->object 1000)))
(#object> (1000))
-- procedure: symbol-hash SYMBOL
The `symbol-hash' procedure returns the hash number of the symbol
SYMBOL. The hash number is a small exact integer (fixnum). When
SYMBOL is an interned symbol the value returned is the same as
`(string=?-hash (symbol->string SYMBOL))'.
For example:
> (symbol-hash 'car)
444471047
-- procedure: keyword-hash KEYWORD
The `keyword-hash' procedure returns the hash number of the
keyword KEYWORD. The hash number is a small exact integer
(fixnum). When KEYWORD is an interned keyword the value returned
is the same as `(string=?-hash (keyword->string KEYWORD))'.
For example:
> (keyword-hash car:)
444471047
-- procedure: string=?-hash STRING
The `string=?-hash' procedure returns the hash number of the
string STRING. The hash number is a small exact integer (fixnum).
For any two strings S1 and S2, `(string=? S1 S2)' implies `(=
(string=?-hash S1) (string=?-hash S2))'.
For example:
> (string=?-hash "car")
444471047
-- procedure: string-ci=?-hash STRING
The `string-ci=?-hash' procedure returns the hash number of the
string STRING. The hash number is a small exact integer (fixnum).
For any two strings S1 and S2, `(string-ci=? S1 S2)' implies `(=
(string-ci=?-hash S1) (string-ci=?-hash S2))'.
For example:
> (string-ci=?-hash "CaR")
444471047
-- procedure: eq?-hash OBJ
The `eq?-hash' procedure returns the hash number of the object
OBJ. The hash number is a small exact integer (fixnum). For any
two objects O1 and O2, `(eq? O1 O2)' implies `(= (eq?-hash O1)
(eq?-hash O2))'.
For example:
> (eq?-hash #t)
536870910
-- procedure: eqv?-hash OBJ
The `eqv?-hash' procedure returns the hash number of the object
OBJ. The hash number is a small exact integer (fixnum). For any
two objects O1 and O2, `(eqv? O1 O2)' implies `(= (eqv?-hash O1)
(eqv?-hash O2))'.
For example:
> (eqv?-hash 1.5)
496387656
-- procedure: equal?-hash OBJ
The `equal?-hash' procedure returns the hash number of the object
OBJ. The hash number is a small exact integer (fixnum). For any
two objects O1 and O2, `(equal? O1 O2)' implies `(= (equal?-hash
O1) (equal?-hash O2))'.
For example:
> (equal?-hash (list 1 2 3))
442438567
11.2 Weak references
====================
The garbage collector is responsible for reclaiming objects that are no
longer needed by the program. This is done by analyzing the
reachability graph of all objects from the roots (i.e. the global
variables, the runnable threads, permanently allocated objects such as
procedures defined in a compiled file, nonexecutable wills, etc). If a
root or a reachable object X contains a reference to an object Y then Y
is reachable. As a general rule, unreachable objects are reclaimed by
the garbage collector.
There are two types of references: strong references and weak
references. Most objects, including pairs, vectors, records and
closures, contain strong references. An object X is "strongly
reachable" if there is a path from the roots to X that traverses only
strong references. Weak references only occur in wills and tables.
There are two types of weak references: will-weak references and
table-weak references. If all paths from the roots to an object Y
traverse at least one table-weak reference, then Y will be reclaimed by
the garbage collector. The will-weak references are used for
finalization and are explained in the next section.
11.2.1 Wills
------------
The following procedures implement the "will" data type. Will objects
provide support for finalization. A will is an object that contains a
will-weak reference to a TESTATOR object (the object attached to the
will), and a strong reference to an ACTION procedure which is a one
parameter procedure which is called when the will is executed.
-- procedure: make-will TESTATOR ACTION
-- procedure: will? OBJ
-- procedure: will-testator WILL
-- procedure: will-execute! WILL
The `make-will' procedure creates a will object with the given
TESTATOR object and ACTION procedure. The `will?' procedure tests
if OBJ is a will object. The `will-testator' procedure gets the
testator object attached to the WILL. The `will-execute!'
procedure executes WILL.
A will becomes "executable" when its TESTATOR object is not
strongly reachable (i.e. the TESTATOR object is either unreachable
or only reachable using paths from the roots that traverse at
least one weak reference). Some objects, including symbols, small
exact integers (fixnums), booleans and characters, are considered
to be always strongly reachable.
When the runtime system detects that a will has become executable
the current computation is interrupted, the will's testator is set
to `#f' and the will's action procedure is called with the will's
testator as the sole argument. Currently only the garbage
collector detects when wills become executable but this may change
in future versions of Gambit (for example the compiler could
perform an analysis to infer will executability at compile time).
The garbage collector builds a list of all executable wills.
Shortly after a garbage collection, the action procedures of these
wills will be called. The link from the will to the action
procedure is severed when the action procedure is called.
Note that the testator object will not be reclaimed during the
garbage collection that determined executability of the will. It
is only when an object is not reachable from the roots that it is
reclaimed by the garbage collector.
A remarkable feature of wills is that an action procedure can
"resurrect" an object. An action procedure could for example
assign the testator object to a global variable or create a new
will with the same testator object.
For example:
> (define a (list 123))
> (set-cdr! a a) ; create a circular list
> (define b (vector a))
> (define c #f)
> (define w
(let ((obj a))
(make-will obj
(lambda (x) ; x will be eq? to obj
(display "executing action procedure")
(newline)
(set! c x)))))
> (will? w)
#t
> (car (will-testator w))
123
> (##gc)
> (set! a #f)
> (##gc)
> (set! b #f)
> (##gc)
executing action procedure
> (will-testator w)
#f
> (car c)
123
11.2.2 Tables
-------------
The following procedures implement the "table" data type. Tables are
heterogenous structures whose elements are indexed by keys which are
arbitrary objects. Tables are similar to association lists but are
abstract and the access time for large tables is typically smaller.
Each key contained in the table is bound to a value. The length of the
table is the number of key/value bindings it contains. New key/value
bindings can be added to a table, the value bound to a key can be
changed, and existing key/value bindings can be removed.
The references to the keys can either be all strong or all table-weak
and the references to the values can either be all strong or all
table-weak. The garbage collector removes key/value bindings from a
table when 1) the key is a table-weak reference and the key is
unreachable or only reachable using paths from the roots that traverse
at least one table-weak reference, or 2) the value is a table-weak
reference and the value is unreachable or only reachable using paths
from the roots that traverse at least one table-weak reference.
Key/value bindings that are removed by the garbage collector are
reclaimed immediately.
Although there are several possible ways of implementing tables, the
current implementation uses hashing with open-addressing. This is
space efficient and provides constant-time access. Hash tables are
automatically resized to maintain the load within specified bounds.
The load is the number of active entries (the length of the table)
divided by the total number of entries in the hash table.
Tables are parameterized with a key comparison procedure. By default
the `equal?' procedure is used, but `eq?', `eqv?', `string=?',
`string-ci=?', or a user defined procedure can also be used. To
support arbitrary key comparison procedures, tables are also
parameterized with a hashing procedure accepting a key as its single
parameter and returning a fixnum result. The hashing procedure HASH
must be consistent with the key comparison procedure TEST, that is, for
any two keys K1 and K2 in the table, `(TEST K1 K2)' implies `(= (HASH
K1) (HASH K2))'. A default hashing procedure consistent with the key
comparison procedure is provided by the system. The default hashing
procedure generally gives good performance when the key comparison
procedure is `eq?', `eqv?', `equal?', `string=?', and `string-ci=?'.
However, for user defined key comparison procedures, the default
hashing procedure always returns 0. This degrades the performance of
the table to a linear search.
Tables can be compared for equality using the `equal?' procedure.
Two tables `X' and `Y' are considered equal by `equal?' when they have
the same weakness attributes, the same key comparison procedure, the
same hashing procedure, the same length, and for all the keys `K' in
`X', `(equal? (table-ref X K) (table-ref Y K))'.
-- procedure: make-table [`size:' SIZE] [`init:' INIT] [`weak-keys:'
WEAK-KEYS] [`weak-values:' WEAK-VALUES] [`test:' TEST]
[`hash:' HASH] [`min-load:' MIN-LOAD] [`max-load:' MAX-LOAD]
The procedure `make-table' returns a new table. The optional
keyword parameters specify various parameters of the table.
The SIZE parameter is a nonnegative exact integer indicating the
expected length of the table. The system uses SIZE to choose an
appropriate initial size of the hash table so that it does not
need to be resized too often.
The INIT parameter indicates a value that is associated to keys
that are not in the table. When INIT is not specified, no value
is associated to keys that are not in the table.
The WEAK-KEYS and WEAK-VALUES parameters are extended booleans
indicating respectively whether the keys and values are table-weak
references (true) or strong references (false). By default the
keys and values are strong references.
The TEST parameter indicates the key comparison procedure. The
default key comparison procedure is `equal?'. The key comparison
procedures `eq?', `eqv?', `equal?', `string=?', and `string-ci=?'
are special because the system will use a reasonably good hash
procedure when none is specified.
The HASH parameter indicates the hash procedure. This procedure
must accept a single key parameter, return a fixnum, and be
consistent with the key comparison procedure. When HASH is not
specified, a default hash procedure is used. The default hash
procedure is reasonably good when the key comparison procedure is
`eq?', `eqv?', `equal?', `string=?', or `string-ci=?'.
The MIN-LOAD and MAX-LOAD parameters are real numbers that
indicate the minimum and maximum load of the table respectively.
The table is resized when adding or deleting a key/value binding
would bring the table's load outside of this range. The MIN-LOAD
parameter must be no less than 0.05 and the MAX-LOAD parameter
must be no greater than 0.95. Moreover the difference between
MIN-LOAD and MAX-LOAD must be at least 0.20. When MIN-LOAD is not
specified, the value 0.45 is used. When MAX-LOAD is not
specified, the value 0.90 is used.
For example:
> (define t (make-table))
> (table? t)
#t
> (table-length t)
0
> (table-set! t (list 1 2) 3)
> (table-set! t (list 4 5) 6)
> (table-ref t (list 1 2))
3
> (table-length t)
2
-- procedure: table? OBJ
The procedure `table?' returns `#t' when OBJ is a table and `#f'
otherwise.
For example:
> (table? (make-table))
#t
> (table? 123)
#f
-- procedure: table-length TABLE
The procedure `table-length' returns the number of key/value
bindings contained in the table TABLE.
For example:
> (define t (make-table weak-keys: #t))
> (define x (list 1 2))
> (define y (list 3 4))
> (table-set! t x 111)
> (table-set! t y 222)
> (table-length t)
2
> (table-set! t x)
> (table-length t)
1
> (##gc)
> (table-length t)
1
> (set! y #f)
> (##gc)
> (table-length t)
0
-- procedure: table-ref TABLE KEY [DEFAULT]
The procedure `table-ref' returns the value bound to the object
KEY in the table TABLE. When KEY is not bound and DEFAULT is
specified, DEFAULT is returned. When DEFAULT is not specified but
an INIT parameter was specified when TABLE was created, INIT is
returned. Otherwise an unbound-table-key-exception object is
raised.
For example:
> (define t1 (make-table init: 999))
> (table-set! t1 (list 1 2) 3)
> (table-ref t1 (list 1 2))
3
> (table-ref t1 (list 4 5))
999
> (table-ref t1 (list 4 5) #f)
#f
> (define t2 (make-table))
> (table-ref t2 (list 4 5))
*** ERROR IN (console)@7.1 -- Unbound table key
(table-ref '#
'(4 5))
-- procedure: table-set! TABLE KEY [VALUE]
The procedure `table-set!' binds the object KEY to VALUE in the
table TABLE. When VALUE is not specified, if TABLE contains a
binding for KEY then the binding is removed from TABLE. The
procedure `table-set!' returns an unspecified value.
For example:
> (define t (make-table))
> (table-set! t (list 1 2) 3)
> (table-set! t (list 4 5) 6)
> (table-set! t (list 4 5))
> (table-set! t (list 7 8))
> (table-ref t (list 1 2))
3
> (table-ref t (list 4 5))
*** ERROR IN (console)@7.1 -- Unbound table key
(table-ref '#
'(4 5))
-- procedure: table-search PROC TABLE
The procedure `table-search' searches the table TABLE for a
key/value binding for which the two argument procedure PROC
returns a non false result. For each key/value binding visited by
`table-search' the procedure PROC is called with the key as the
first argument and the value as the second argument. The
procedure `table-search' returns the first non false value
returned by PROC, or `#f' if PROC returned `#f' for all key/value
bindings in TABLE.
The order in which the key/value bindings are visited is
unspecified and may vary from one call of `table-search' to the
next. While a call to `table-search' is being performed on TABLE,
it is an error to call any of the following procedures on TABLE:
`table-ref', `table-set!', `table-search', `table-for-each', and
`table->list'. It is also an error to compare with `equal?'
(directly or indirectly with `member', `assoc', `table-ref', etc.)
an object that contains TABLE. All these procedures may cause
TABLE to be reordered and resized. This restriction allows a more
efficient iteration over the key/value bindings.
For example:
> (define square (make-table))
> (table-set! square 2 4)
> (table-set! square 3 9)
> (table-search (lambda (k v) (and (odd? k) v)) square)
9
-- procedure: table-for-each PROC TABLE
The procedure `table-for-each' calls the two argument procedure
PROC for each key/value binding in the table TABLE. The procedure
PROC is called with the key as the first argument and the value as
the second argument. The procedure `table-for-each' returns an
unspecified value.
The order in which the key/value bindings are visited is
unspecified and may vary from one call of `table-for-each' to the
next. While a call to `table-for-each' is being performed on
TABLE, it is an error to call any of the following procedures on
TABLE: `table-ref', `table-set!', `table-search',
`table-for-each', and `table->list'. It is also an error to
compare with `equal?' (directly or indirectly with `member',
`assoc', `table-ref', etc.) an object that contains TABLE. All
these procedures may cause TABLE to be reordered and resized.
This restriction allows a more efficient iteration over the
key/value bindings.
For example:
> (define square (make-table))
> (table-set! square 2 4)
> (table-set! square 3 9)
> (table-for-each (lambda (k v) (write (list k v)) (newline)) square)
(2 4)
(3 9)
-- procedure: table->list TABLE
The procedure `table->list' returns an association list containing
the key/value bindings in the table TABLE. Each key/value binding
yields a pair whose car field is the key and whose cdr field is
the value bound to that key. The order of the bindings in the
list is unspecified.
For example:
> (define square (make-table))
> (table-set! square 2 4)
> (table-set! square 3 9)
> (table->list square)
((3 . 9) (2 . 4))
-- procedure: list->table LIST [`size:' SIZE] [`init:' INIT]
[`weak-keys:' WEAK-KEYS] [`weak-values:' WEAK-VALUES]
[`test:' TEST] [`hash:' HASH] [`min-load:' MIN-LOAD]
[`max-load:' MAX-LOAD]
The procedure `list->table' returns a new table containing the
key/value bindings in the association list LIST. The optional
keyword parameters specify various parameters of the table and have
the same meaning as for the `make-table' procedure.
Each element of LIST is a pair whose car field is a key and whose
cdr field is the value bound to that key. If a key appears more
than once in LIST (tested using the table's key comparison
procedure) it is the first key/value binding in LIST that has
precedence.
For example:
> (define t (list->table '((b . 2) (a . 1) (c . 3) (a . 4))))
> (table->list t)
((a . 1) (b . 2) (c . 3))
-- procedure: unbound-table-key-exception? OBJ
-- procedure: unbound-table-key-exception-procedure EXC
-- procedure: unbound-table-key-exception-arguments EXC
Unbound-table-key-exception objects are raised by the procedure
`table-ref' when the key does not have a binding in the table.
The parameter EXC must be an unbound-table-key-exception object.
The procedure `unbound-table-key-exception?' returns `#t' when OBJ
is a unbound-table-key-exception object and `#f' otherwise.
The procedure `unbound-table-key-exception-procedure' returns the
procedure that raised EXC.
The procedure `unbound-table-key-exception-arguments' returns the
list of arguments of the procedure that raised EXC.
For example:
> (define t (make-table))
> (define (handler exc)
(if (unbound-table-key-exception? exc)
(list (unbound-table-key-exception-procedure exc)
(unbound-table-key-exception-arguments exc))
'not-unbound-table-key-exception))
> (with-exception-catcher
handler
(lambda () (table-ref t '(1 2))))
(# (#
(1 2)))
-- procedure: table-copy TABLE
The procedure `table-copy' returns a new table containing the same
key/value bindings as TABLE and the same table parameters (i.e.
hash procedure, key comparison procedure, key and value weakness,
etc).
For example:
> (define t (list->table '((b . 2) (a . 1) (c . 3))))
> (define x (table-copy t))
> (table-set! t 'b 99)
> (table->list t)
((a . 1) (b . 99) (c . 3))
> (table->list x)
((a . 1) (b . 2) (c . 3))
12 Records
**********
-- special form: define-structure name field...
Record data types similar to Pascal records and C `struct' types
can be defined using the `define-structure' special form. The
identifier name specifies the name of the new data type. The
structure name is followed by K identifiers naming each field of
the record. The `define-structure' expands into a set of
definitions of the following procedures:
* `make-name' - A K argument procedure which constructs a new
record from the value of its K fields.
* `name?' - A procedure which tests if its single argument is
of the given record type.
* `name-field' - For each field, a procedure taking as its
single argument a value of the given record type and returning
the content of the corresponding field of the record.
* `name-field-set!' - For each field, a two argument procedure
taking as its first argument a value of the given record
type. The second argument gets assigned to the corresponding
field of the record and the void object is returned.
Record data types have a printed representation that includes the
name of the type and the name and value of each field. Record
data types can not be read by the `read' procedure.
For example:
> (define-structure point x y color)
> (define p (make-point 3 5 'red))
> p
#
> (point-x p)
3
> (point-color p)
red
> (point-color-set! p 'black)
> p
#
13 Threads
**********
Gambit supports the execution of multiple Scheme threads. These
threads are managed entirely by Gambit's runtime and are not related to
the host operating system's threads. Gambit's runtime does not
currently take advantage of multiprocessors (i.e. at most one thread is
running).
13.1 Introduction
=================
Multithreading is a paradigm that is well suited for building complex
systems such as: servers, GUIs, and high-level operating systems.
Gambit's thread system offers mechanisms for creating threads of
execution and for synchronizing them. The thread system also supports
features which are useful in a real-time context, such as priorities,
priority inheritance and timeouts.
The thread system provides the following data types:
* Thread (a virtual processor which shares object space with all
other threads)
* Mutex (a mutual exclusion device, also known as a lock and binary
semaphore)
* Condition variable (a set of blocked threads)
13.2 Thread objects
===================
A "running thread" is a thread that is currently executing. A
"runnable thread" is a thread that is ready to execute or running. A
thread is "blocked" if it is waiting for a mutex to become unlocked, an
I/O operation to become possible, the end of a "sleep" period, etc. A
"new thread" is a thread that has been allocated but has not yet been
initialized. An "initialized thread" is a thread that can be made
runnable. A new thread becomes runnable when it is started by calling
`thread-start!'. A "terminated thread" is a thread that can no longer
become runnable (but "deadlocked threads" are not considered
terminated). The only valid transitions between the thread states are
from new to initialized, from initialized to runnable, between runnable
and blocked, and from any state except new to terminated as indicated in
the following diagram:
unblock
start <-------
NEW -------> INITIALIZED -------> RUNNABLE -------> BLOCKED
\ | block /
\ v /
+-----> TERMINATED <----+
Each thread has a "base priority", which is a real number (where a
higher numerical value means a higher priority), a "priority boost",
which is a nonnegative real number representing the priority increase
applied to a thread when it blocks, and a "quantum", which is a
nonnegative real number representing a duration in seconds.
Each thread has a "specific field" which can be used in an
application specific way to associate data with the thread (some thread
systems call this "thread local storage").
Each thread has a "mailbox" which is used for inter-thread
communication.
13.3 Mutex objects
==================
A mutex can be in one of four states: "locked" (either "owned" or "not
owned") and "unlocked" (either "abandoned" or "not abandoned").
An attempt to lock a mutex only succeeds if the mutex is in an
unlocked state, otherwise the current thread will wait. A mutex in the
locked/owned state has an associated "owner thread", which by
convention is the thread that is responsible for unlocking the mutex
(this case is typical of critical sections implemented as "lock mutex,
perform operation, unlock mutex"). A mutex in the locked/not-owned
state is not linked to a particular thread.
A mutex becomes locked when a thread locks it using the
`mutex-lock!' primitive. A mutex becomes unlocked/abandoned when the
owner of a locked/owned mutex terminates. A mutex becomes
unlocked/not-abandoned when a thread unlocks it using the
`mutex-unlock!' primitive.
The mutex primitives do not implement "recursive mutex semantics".
An attempt to lock a mutex that is locked implies that the current
thread waits even if the mutex is owned by the current thread (this can
lead to a deadlock if no other thread unlocks the mutex).
Each mutex has a "specific field" which can be used in an
application specific way to associate data with the mutex.
13.4 Condition variable objects
===============================
A condition variable represents a set of blocked threads. These blocked
threads are waiting for a certain condition to become true. When a
thread modifies some program state that might make the condition true,
the thread unblocks some number of threads (one or all depending on the
primitive used) so they can check if the condition is now true. This
allows complex forms of interthread synchronization to be expressed more
conveniently than with mutexes alone.
Each condition variable has a "specific field" which can be used in
an application specific way to associate data with the condition
variable.
13.5 Fairness
=============
In various situations the scheduler must select one thread from a set of
threads (e.g. which thread to run when a running thread blocks or
expires its quantum, which thread to unblock when a mutex becomes
unlocked or a condition variable is signaled). The constraints on the
selection process determine the scheduler's "fairness". The selection
depends on the order in which threads become runnable or blocked and on
the "priority" attached to the threads.
The definition of fairness requires the notion of time ordering,
i.e. "event A occured before event B". For the purpose of establishing
time ordering, the scheduler uses a clock with a discrete, usually
variable, resolution (a "tick"). Events occuring in a given tick can
be considered to be simultaneous (i.e. if event A occured before event
B in real time, then the scheduler will claim that event A occured
before event B unless both events fall within the same tick, in which
case the scheduler arbitrarily chooses a time ordering).
Each thread T has three priorities which affect fairness; the "base
priority", the "boosted priority", and the "effective priority".
* The "base priority" is the value contained in T's "base priority"
field (which is set with the `thread-base-priority-set!'
primitive).
* T's "boosted flag" field contains a boolean that affects T's
"boosted priority". When the boosted flag field is false, the
boosted priority is equal to the base priority, otherwise the
boosted priority is equal to the base priority plus the value
contained in T's "priority boost" field (which is set with the
`thread-priority-boost-set!' primitive). The boosted flag field is
set to false when a thread is created, when its quantum expires,
and when "thread-yield!" is called. The boosted flag field is set
to true when a thread blocks. By carefully choosing the base
priority and priority boost, relatively to the other threads, it
is possible to set up an interactive thread so that it has good
I/O response time without being a CPU hog when it performs long
computations.
* The "effective priority" is equal to the maximum of T's boosted
priority and the effective priority of all the threads that are
blocked on a mutex owned by T. This "priority inheritance" avoids
priority inversion problems that would prevent a high priority
thread blocked at the entry of a critical section to progress
because a low priority thread inside the critical section is
preempted for an arbitrary long time by a medium priority thread.
Let P(T) be the effective priority of thread T and let R(T) be the
most recent time when one of the following events occurred for thread
T, thus making it runnable: T was started by calling `thread-start!', T
called `thread-yield!', T expired its quantum, or T became unblocked.
Let the relation NL(T1,T2), "T1 no later than T2", be true if
P(T1)
R(T2), and false otherwise. The
scheduler will schedule the execution of threads in such a way that
whenever there is at least one runnable thread, 1) within a finite time
at least one thread will be running, and 2) there is never a pair of
runnable threads T1 and T2 for which NL(T1,T2) is true and T1 is not
running and T2 is running.
A thread T expires its quantum when an amount of time equal to T's
quantum has elapsed since T entered the running state and T did not
block, terminate or call `thread-yield!'. At that point T exits the
running state to allow other threads to run. A thread's quantum is
thus an indication of the rate of progress of the thread relative to
the other threads of the same priority. Moreover, the resolution of
the timer measuring the running time may cause a certain deviation from
the quantum, so a thread's quantum should only be viewed as an
approximation of the time it can run before yielding to another thread.
Threads blocked on a given mutex or condition variable will unblock
in an order which is consistent with decreasing priority and increasing
blocking time (i.e. the highest priority thread unblocks first, and
among equal priority threads the one that blocked first unblocks first).
13.6 Memory coherency
=====================
Read and write operations on the store (such as reading and writing a
variable, an element of a vector or a string) are not atomic. It is an
error for a thread to write a location in the store while some other
thread reads or writes that same location. It is the responsibility of
the application to avoid write/read and write/write races through
appropriate uses of the synchronization primitives.
Concurrent reads and writes to ports are allowed. It is the
responsibility of the implementation to serialize accesses to a given
port using the appropriate synchronization primitives.
13.7 Timeouts
=============
All synchronization primitives which take a timeout parameter accept
three types of values as a timeout, with the following meaning:
* a time object represents an absolute point in time
* an exact or inexact real number represents a relative time in
seconds from the moment the primitive was called
* `#f' means that there is no timeout
When a timeout denotes the current time or a time in the past, the
synchronization primitive claims that the timeout has been reached only
after the other synchronization conditions have been checked. Moreover
the thread remains running (it does not enter the blocked state). For
example, `(mutex-lock! m 0)' will lock mutex `m' and return `#t' if `m'
is currently unlocked, otherwise `#f' is returned because the timeout
is reached.
13.8 Primordial thread
======================
The execution of a program is initially under the control of a single
thread known as the "primordial thread". The primordial thread has an
unspecified base priority, priority boost, boosted flag, quantum, name,
specific field, dynamic environment, `dynamic-wind' stack, and
exception-handler. All threads are terminated when the primordial
thread terminates (normally or not).
13.9 Procedures
===============
-- procedure: current-thread
This procedure returns the current thread. For example:
> (current-thread)
#
> (eq? (current-thread) (current-thread))
#t
-- procedure: thread? OBJ
This procedure returns `#t' when OBJ is a thread object and `#f'
otherwise.
For example:
> (thread? (current-thread))
#t
> (thread? 'foo)
#f
-- procedure: make-thread THUNK [NAME [THREAD-GROUP]]
This procedure creates and returns an initialized thread. This
thread is not automatically made runnable (the procedure
`thread-start!' must be used for this). A thread has the
following fields: base priority, priority boost, boosted flag,
quantum, name, specific, end-result, end-exception, and a list of
locked/owned mutexes it owns. The thread's execution consists of
a call to THUNK with the "initial continuation". This
continuation causes the (then) current thread to store the result
in its end-result field, abandon all mutexes it owns, and finally
terminate. The `dynamic-wind' stack of the initial continuation
is empty. The optional NAME is an arbitrary Scheme object which
identifies the thread (useful for debugging); it defaults to an
unspecified value. The specific field is set to an unspecified
value. The optional THREAD-GROUP indicates which thread group
this thread belongs to; it defaults to the thread group of the
current thread. The base priority, priority boost, and quantum of
the thread are set to the same value as the current thread and the
boosted flag is set to false. The thread's mailbox is initially
empty. The thread inherits the dynamic environment from the
current thread. Moreover, in this dynamic environment the
exception-handler is bound to the "initial exception-handler"
which is a unary procedure which causes the (then) current thread
to store in its end-exception field an uncaught-exception object
whose "reason" is the argument of the handler, abandon all mutexes
it owns, and finally terminate.
For example:
> (make-thread (lambda () (write 'hello)))
#
> (make-thread (lambda () (write 'world)) 'a-name)
#
-- procedure: thread-name THREAD
This procedure returns the name of the THREAD. For example:
> (thread-name (make-thread (lambda () #f) 'foo))
foo
-- procedure: thread-specific THREAD
-- procedure: thread-specific-set! THREAD OBJ
The `thread-specific' procedure returns the content of the
THREAD's specific field.
The `thread-specific-set!' procedure stores OBJ into the THREAD's
specific field and returns an unspecified value.
For example:
> (thread-specific-set! (current-thread) "hello")
> (thread-specific (current-thread))
"hello"
-- procedure: thread-base-priority THREAD
-- procedure: thread-base-priority-set! THREAD PRIORITY
The procedure `thread-base-priority' returns a real number which
corresponds to the base priority of the THREAD.
The procedure `thread-base-priority-set!' changes the base
priority of the THREAD to PRIORITY and returns an unspecified
value. The PRIORITY must be a real number.
For example:
> (thread-base-priority-set! (current-thread) 12.3)
> (thread-base-priority (current-thread))
12.3
-- procedure: thread-priority-boost THREAD
-- procedure: thread-priority-boost-set! THREAD PRIORITY-BOOST
The procedure `thread-priority-boost' returns a real number which
corresponds to the priority boost of the THREAD.
The procedure `thread-priority-boost-set!' changes the priority
boost of the THREAD to PRIORITY-BOOST and returns an unspecified
value. The PRIORITY-BOOST must be a nonnegative real.
For example:
> (thread-priority-boost-set! (current-thread) 2.5)
> (thread-priority-boost (current-thread))
2.5
-- procedure: thread-quantum THREAD
-- procedure: thread-quantum-set! THREAD QUANTUM
The procedure `thread-quantum' returns a real number which
corresponds to the quantum of the THREAD.
The procedure `thread-quantum-set!' changes the quantum of the
THREAD to QUANTUM and returns an unspecified value. The QUANTUM
must be a nonnegative real. A value of zero selects the smallest
quantum supported by the implementation.
For example:
> (thread-quantum-set! (current-thread) 1.5)
> (thread-quantum (current-thread))
1.5
> (thread-quantum-set! (current-thread) 0)
> (thread-quantum (current-thread))
0.
-- procedure: thread-start! THREAD
This procedure makes THREAD runnable and returns the THREAD. The
THREAD must be an initialized thread.
For example:
> (let ((t (thread-start! (make-thread (lambda () (write 'a))))))
(write 'b)
(thread-join! t))
ab> or ba>
NOTE: It is useful to separate thread creation and thread
activation to avoid the race condition that would occur if the
created thread tries to examine a table in which the current
thread stores the created thread. See the last example of the
`thread-terminate!' procedure which contains mutually recursive
threads.
-- procedure: thread-yield!
This procedure causes the current thread to exit the running state
as if its quantum had expired and returns an unspecified value.
For example:
; a busy loop that avoids being too wasteful of the CPU
(let loop ()
(if (mutex-lock! m 0) ; try to lock m but don't block
(begin
(display "locked mutex m")
(mutex-unlock! m))
(begin
(do-something-else)
(thread-yield!) ; relinquish rest of quantum
(loop))))
-- procedure: thread-sleep! TIMEOUT
This procedure causes the current thread to wait until the timeout
is reached and returns an unspecified value. This blocks the
thread only if TIMEOUT represents a point in the future. It is an
error for TIMEOUT to be `#f'.
For example:
; a clock with a gradual drift:
(let loop ((x 1))
(thread-sleep! 1)
(write x)
(loop (+ x 1)))
; a clock with no drift:
(let ((start (time->seconds (current-time)))
(let loop ((x 1))
(thread-sleep! (seconds->time (+ x start)))
(write x)
(loop (+ x 1))))
-- procedure: thread-terminate! THREAD
This procedure causes an abnormal termination of the THREAD. If
the THREAD is not already terminated, all mutexes owned by the
THREAD become unlocked/abandoned and a terminated-thread-exception
object is stored in the THREAD's end-exception field. If THREAD
is the current thread, `thread-terminate!' does not return.
Otherwise `thread-terminate!' returns an unspecified value; the
termination of the THREAD will occur at some point between the
calling of `thread-terminate!' and a finite time in the future
(an explicit thread synchronization is needed to detect
termination, see `thread-join!').
For example:
(define (amb thunk1 thunk2)
(let ((result #f)
(result-mutex (make-mutex))
(done-mutex (make-mutex)))
(letrec ((child1
(make-thread
(lambda ()
(let ((x (thunk1)))
(mutex-lock! result-mutex #f #f)
(set! result x)
(thread-terminate! child2)
(mutex-unlock! done-mutex)))))
(child2
(make-thread
(lambda ()
(let ((x (thunk2)))
(mutex-lock! result-mutex #f #f)
(set! result x)
(thread-terminate! child1)
(mutex-unlock! done-mutex))))))
(mutex-lock! done-mutex #f #f)
(thread-start! child1)
(thread-start! child2)
(mutex-lock! done-mutex #f #f)
result)))
NOTE: This operation must be used carefully because it terminates a
thread abruptly and it is impossible for that thread to perform any
kind of cleanup. This may be a problem if the thread is in the
middle of a critical section where some structure has been put in
an inconsistent state. However, another thread attempting to
enter this critical section will raise an
abandoned-mutex-exception object because the mutex is
unlocked/abandoned. This helps avoid observing an inconsistent
state. Clean termination can be obtained by polling, as shown in
the example below.
For example:
(define (spawn thunk)
(let ((t (make-thread thunk)))
(thread-specific-set! t #t)
(thread-start! t)
t))
(define (stop! thread)
(thread-specific-set! thread #f)
(thread-join! thread))
(define (keep-going?)
(thread-specific (current-thread)))
(define count!
(let ((m (make-mutex))
(i 0))
(lambda ()
(mutex-lock! m)
(let ((x (+ i 1)))
(set! i x)
(mutex-unlock! m)
x))))
(define (increment-forever!)
(let loop () (count!) (if (keep-going?) (loop))))
(let ((t1 (spawn increment-forever!))
(t2 (spawn increment-forever!)))
(thread-sleep! 1)
(stop! t1)
(stop! t2)
(count!)) ==> 377290
-- procedure: thread-join! thread [TIMEOUT [TIMEOUT-VAL]]
This procedure causes the current thread to wait until the THREAD
terminates (normally or not) or until the timeout is reached if
TIMEOUT is supplied. If the timeout is reached, THREAD-JOIN!
returns TIMEOUT-VAL if it is supplied, otherwise a
join-timeout-exception object is raised. If the THREAD terminated
normally, the content of the end-result field is returned,
otherwise the content of the end-exception field is raised.
For example:
(let ((t (thread-start! (make-thread (lambda () (expt 2 100))))))
(do-something-else)
(thread-join! t)) ==> 1267650600228229401496703205376
(let ((t (thread-start! (make-thread (lambda () (raise 123))))))
(do-something-else)
(with-exception-handler
(lambda (exc)
(if (uncaught-exception? exc)
(* 10 (uncaught-exception-reason exc))
99999))
(lambda ()
(+ 1 (thread-join! t))))) ==> 1231
(define thread-alive?
(let ((unique (list 'unique)))
(lambda (thread)
; Note: this procedure raises an exception if
; the thread terminated abnormally.
(eq? (thread-join! thread 0 unique) unique))))
(define (wait-for-termination! thread)
(let ((eh (current-exception-handler)))
(with-exception-handler
(lambda (exc)
(if (not (or (terminated-thread-exception? exc)
(uncaught-exception? exc)))
(eh exc))) ; unexpected exceptions are handled by eh
(lambda ()
; The following call to thread-join! will wait until the
; thread terminates. If the thread terminated normally
; thread-join! will return normally. If the thread
; terminated abnormally then one of these two exception
; objects is raised by thread-join!:
; - terminated-thread-exception object
; - uncaught-exception object
(thread-join! thread)
#f)))) ; ignore result of thread-join!
-- procedure: thread-send THREAD MSG
Each thread has a mailbox which stores messages delivered to the
thread in the order delivered.
The procedure `thread-send' adds the message MSG at the end of the
mailbox of thread THREAD and returns an unspecified value.
For example:
> (thread-send (current-thread) 111)
> (thread-send (current-thread) 222)
> (thread-receive)
111
> (thread-receive)
222
-- procedure: thread-receive [TIMEOUT [DEFAULT]]
-- procedure: thread-mailbox-next [TIMEOUT [DEFAULT]]
-- procedure: thread-mailbox-rewind
-- procedure: thread-mailbox-extract-and-rewind
To allow a thread to examine the messages in its mailbox without
removing them from the mailbox, each thread has a "mailbox cursor"
which normally points to the last message accessed in the mailbox.
When a mailbox cursor is rewound using the procedure
`thread-mailbox-rewind' or `thread-mailbox-extract-and-rewind' or
`thread-receive', the cursor does not point to a message, but the
next call to `thread-receive' and `thread-mailbox-next' will set
the cursor to the oldest message in the mailbox.
The procedure `thread-receive' advances the mailbox cursor of the
current thread to the next message, removes that message from the
mailbox, rewinds the mailbox cursor, and returns the message. When
TIMEOUT is not specified, the current thread will wait until a
message is available in the mailbox. When TIMEOUT is specified
and DEFAULT is not specified, a mailbox-receive-timeout-exception
object is raised if the timeout is reached before a message is
available. When TIMEOUT is specified and DEFAULT is specified,
DEFAULT is returned if the timeout is reached before a message is
available.
The procedure `thread-mailbox-next' behaves like `thread-receive'
except that the message remains in the mailbox and the mailbox
cursor is not rewound.
The procedures `thread-mailbox-rewind' or
`thread-mailbox-extract-and-rewind' rewind the mailbox cursor of
the current thread so that the next call to `thread-mailbox-next'
and `thread-receive' will access the oldest message in the
mailbox. Additionally the procedure
`thread-mailbox-extract-and-rewind' will remove from the mailbox
the message most recently accessed by a call to
`thread-mailbox-next'. When `thread-mailbox-next' has not been
called since the last call to `thread-receive' or
`thread-mailbox-rewind' or `thread-mailbox-extract-and-rewind', a
call to `thread-mailbox-extract-and-rewind' only resets the mailbox
cursor (no message is removed).
For example:
> (thread-send (current-thread) 111)
> (thread-receive 1 999)
111
> (thread-send (current-thread) 222)
> (thread-send (current-thread) 333)
> (thread-mailbox-next 1 999)
222
> (thread-mailbox-next 1 999)
333
> (thread-mailbox-next 1 999)
999
> (thread-mailbox-extract-and-rewind)
> (thread-receive 1 999)
222
> (thread-receive 1 999)
999
-- procedure: mailbox-receive-timeout-exception? OBJ
-- procedure: mailbox-receive-timeout-exception-procedure EXC
-- procedure: mailbox-receive-timeout-exception-arguments EXC
Mailbox-receive-timeout-exception objects are raised by the
procedures `thread-receive' and `thread-mailbox-next' when a
timeout expires before a message is available and no default value
is specified. The parameter EXC must be a
mailbox-receive-timeout-exception object.
The procedure `mailbox-receive-timeout-exception?' returns `#t'
when OBJ is a mailbox-receive-timeout-exception object and `#f'
otherwise.
The procedure `mailbox-receive-timeout-exception-procedure'
returns the procedure that raised EXC.
The procedure `mailbox-receive-timeout-exception-arguments'
returns the list of arguments of the procedure that raised EXC.
For example:
> (define (handler exc)
(if (mailbox-receive-timeout-exception? exc)
(list (mailbox-receive-timeout-exception-procedure exc)
(mailbox-receive-timeout-exception-arguments exc))
'not-mailbox-receive-timeout-exception))
> (with-exception-catcher
handler
(lambda () (thread-receive 1)))
(# (1))
-- procedure: mutex? OBJ
This procedure returns `#t' when OBJ is a mutex object and `#f'
otherwise.
For example:
> (mutex? (make-mutex))
#t
> (mutex? 'foo)
#f
-- procedure: make-mutex [NAME]
This procedure returns a new mutex in the unlocked/not-abandoned
state. The optional NAME is an arbitrary Scheme object which
identifies the mutex (useful for debugging); it defaults to an
unspecified value. The mutex's specific field is set to an
unspecified value.
For example:
> (make-mutex)
#
> (make-mutex 'foo)
#
-- procedure: mutex-name MUTEX
Returns the name of the MUTEX. For example:
> (mutex-name (make-mutex 'foo))
foo
-- procedure: mutex-specific MUTEX
-- procedure: mutex-specific-set! MUTEX OBJ
The `mutex-specific' procedure returns the content of the MUTEX's
specific field.
The `mutex-specific-set!' procedure stores OBJ into the MUTEX's
specific field and returns an unspecified value.
For example:
> (define m (make-mutex))
> (mutex-specific-set! m "hello")
> (mutex-specific m)
"hello"
> (define (mutex-lock-recursively! mutex)
(if (eq? (mutex-state mutex) (current-thread))
(let ((n (mutex-specific mutex)))
(mutex-specific-set! mutex (+ n 1)))
(begin
(mutex-lock! mutex)
(mutex-specific-set! mutex 0))))
> (define (mutex-unlock-recursively! mutex)
(let ((n (mutex-specific mutex)))
(if (= n 0)
(mutex-unlock! mutex)
(mutex-specific-set! mutex (- n 1)))))
> (mutex-lock-recursively! m)
> (mutex-lock-recursively! m)
> (mutex-lock-recursively! m)
> (mutex-specific m)
2
-- procedure: mutex-state MUTEX
Thos procedure returns information about the state of the MUTEX.
The possible results are:
* thread T: the MUTEX is in the locked/owned state and thread T
is the owner of the MUTEX
* symbol `not-owned': the MUTEX is in the locked/not-owned state
* symbol `abandoned': the MUTEX is in the unlocked/abandoned
state
* symbol `not-abandoned': the MUTEX is in the
unlocked/not-abandoned state
For example:
(mutex-state (make-mutex)) ==> not-abandoned
(define (thread-alive? thread)
(let ((mutex (make-mutex)))
(mutex-lock! mutex #f thread)
(let ((state (mutex-state mutex)))
(mutex-unlock! mutex) ; avoid space leak
(eq? state thread))))
-- procedure: mutex-lock! MUTEX [TIMEOUT [THREAD]]
This procedure locks MUTEX. If the MUTEX is currently locked, the
current thread waits until the MUTEX is unlocked, or until the
timeout is reached if TIMEOUT is supplied. If the timeout is
reached, `mutex-lock!' returns `#f'. Otherwise, the state of the
MUTEX is changed as follows:
* if THREAD is `#f' the MUTEX becomes locked/not-owned,
* otherwise, let T be THREAD (or the current thread if THREAD
is not supplied),
* if T is terminated the MUTEX becomes unlocked/abandoned,
* otherwise MUTEX becomes locked/owned with T as the owner.
After changing the state of the MUTEX, an
abandoned-mutex-exception object is raised if the MUTEX was
unlocked/abandoned before the state change, otherwise
`mutex-lock!' returns `#t'. It is not an error if the MUTEX is
owned by the current thread (but the current thread will have to
wait).
For example:
; an implementation of a mailbox object of depth one; this
; implementation does not behave well in the presence of forced
; thread terminations using thread-terminate! (deadlock can occur
; if a thread is terminated in the middle of a put! or get! operation)
(define (make-empty-mailbox)
(let ((put-mutex (make-mutex)) ; allow put! operation
(get-mutex (make-mutex))
(cell #f))
(define (put! obj)
(mutex-lock! put-mutex #f #f) ; prevent put! operation
(set! cell obj)
(mutex-unlock! get-mutex)) ; allow get! operation
(define (get!)
(mutex-lock! get-mutex #f #f) ; wait until object in mailbox
(let ((result cell))
(set! cell #f) ; prevent space leaks
(mutex-unlock! put-mutex) ; allow put! operation
result))
(mutex-lock! get-mutex #f #f) ; prevent get! operation
(lambda (msg)
(case msg
((put!) put!)
((get!) get!)
(else (error "unknown message"))))))
(define (mailbox-put! m obj) ((m 'put!) obj))
(define (mailbox-get! m) ((m 'get!)))
; an alternate implementation of thread-sleep!
(define (sleep! timeout)
(let ((m (make-mutex)))
(mutex-lock! m #f #f)
(mutex-lock! m timeout #f)))
; a procedure that waits for one of two mutexes to unlock
(define (lock-one-of! mutex1 mutex2)
; this procedure assumes that neither mutex1 or mutex2
; are owned by the current thread
(let ((ct (current-thread))
(done-mutex (make-mutex)))
(mutex-lock! done-mutex #f #f)
(let ((t1 (thread-start!
(make-thread
(lambda ()
(mutex-lock! mutex1 #f ct)
(mutex-unlock! done-mutex)))))
(t2 (thread-start!
(make-thread
(lambda ()
(mutex-lock! mutex2 #f ct)
(mutex-unlock! done-mutex))))))
(mutex-lock! done-mutex #f #f)
(thread-terminate! t1)
(thread-terminate! t2)
(if (eq? (mutex-state mutex1) ct)
(begin
(if (eq? (mutex-state mutex2) ct)
(mutex-unlock! mutex2)) ; don't lock both
mutex1)
mutex2))))
-- procedure: mutex-unlock! MUTEX [CONDITION-VARIABLE [TIMEOUT]]
This procedure unlocks the MUTEX by making it
unlocked/not-abandoned. It is not an error to unlock an unlocked
mutex and a mutex that is owned by any thread. If
CONDITION-VARIABLE is supplied, the current thread is blocked and
added to the CONDITION-VARIABLE before unlocking MUTEX; the thread
can unblock at any time but no later than when an appropriate call
to `condition-variable-signal!' or `condition-variable-broadcast!'
is performed (see below), and no later than the timeout (if
TIMEOUT is supplied). If there are threads waiting to lock this
MUTEX, the scheduler selects a thread, the mutex becomes
locked/owned or locked/not-owned, and the thread is unblocked.
`mutex-unlock!' returns `#f' when the timeout is reached,
otherwise it returns `#t'.
NOTE: The reason the thread can unblock at any time (when
CONDITION-VARIABLE is supplied) is that the scheduler, when it
detects a serious problem such as a deadlock, must interrupt one of
the blocked threads (such as the primordial thread) so that it can
perform some appropriate action. After a thread blocked on a
condition-variable has handled such an interrupt it would be wrong
for the scheduler to return the thread to the blocked state,
because any calls to `condition-variable-broadcast!' during the
interrupt will have gone unnoticed. It is necessary for the
thread to remain runnable and return from the call to
`mutex-unlock!' with a result of `#t'.
NOTE: `mutex-unlock!' is related to the "wait" operation on
condition variables available in other thread systems. The main
difference is that "wait" automatically locks MUTEX just after the
thread is unblocked. This operation is not performed by
`mutex-unlock!' and so must be done by an explicit call to
`mutex-lock!'. This has the advantages that a different timeout
and exception-handler can be specified on the `mutex-lock!' and
`mutex-unlock!' and the location of all the mutex operations is
clearly apparent.
For example:
(let loop ()
(mutex-lock! m)
(if (condition-is-true?)
(begin
(do-something-when-condition-is-true)
(mutex-unlock! m))
(begin
(mutex-unlock! m cv)
(loop))))
-- procedure: condition-variable? OBJ
This procedure returns `#t' when OBJ is a condition-variable
object and `#f' otherwise.
For example:
> (condition-variable? (make-condition-variable))
#t
> (condition-variable? 'foo)
#f
-- procedure: make-condition-variable [NAME]
This procedure returns a new empty condition variable. The
optional NAME is an arbitrary Scheme object which identifies the
condition variable (useful for debugging); it defaults to an
unspecified value. The condition variable's specific field is set
to an unspecified value.
For example:
> (make-condition-variable)
#
-- procedure: condition-variable-name CONDITION-VARIABLE
This procedure returns the name of the CONDITION-VARIABLE. For
example:
> (condition-variable-name (make-condition-variable 'foo))
foo
-- procedure: condition-variable-specific CONDITION-VARIABLE
-- procedure: condition-variable-specific-set! CONDITION-VARIABLE OBJ
The `condition-variable-specific' procedure returns the content of
the CONDITION-VARIABLE's specific field.
The `condition-variable-specific-set!' procedure stores OBJ into
the CONDITION-VARIABLE's specific field and returns an unspecified
value.
For example:
> (define cv (make-condition-variable))
> (condition-variable-specific-set! cv "hello")
> (condition-variable-specific cv)
"hello"
-- procedure: condition-variable-signal! CONDITION-VARIABLE
This procedure unblocks a thread blocked on the CONDITION-VARIABLE
(if there is at least one) and returns an unspecified value.
For example:
; an implementation of a mailbox object of depth one; this
; implementation behaves gracefully when threads are forcibly
; terminated using thread-terminate! (an abandoned-mutex-exception
; object will be raised when a put! or get! operation is attempted
; after a thread is terminated in the middle of a put! or get!
; operation)
(define (make-empty-mailbox)
(let ((mutex (make-mutex))
(put-condvar (make-condition-variable))
(get-condvar (make-condition-variable))
(full? #f)
(cell #f))
(define (put! obj)
(mutex-lock! mutex)
(if full?
(begin
(mutex-unlock! mutex put-condvar)
(put! obj))
(begin
(set! cell obj)
(set! full? #t)
(condition-variable-signal! get-condvar)
(mutex-unlock! mutex))))
(define (get!)
(mutex-lock! mutex)
(if (not full?)
(begin
(mutex-unlock! mutex get-condvar)
(get!))
(let ((result cell))
(set! cell #f) ; avoid space leaks
(set! full? #f)
(condition-variable-signal! put-condvar)
(mutex-unlock! mutex))))
(lambda (msg)
(case msg
((put!) put!)
((get!) get!)
(else (error "unknown message"))))))
(define (mailbox-put! m obj) ((m 'put!) obj))
(define (mailbox-get! m) ((m 'get!)))
-- procedure: condition-variable-broadcast! CONDITION-VARIABLE
This procedure unblocks all the thread blocked on the
CONDITION-VARIABLE and returns an unspecified value.
For example:
(define (make-semaphore n)
(vector n (make-mutex) (make-condition-variable)))
(define (semaphore-wait! sema)
(mutex-lock! (vector-ref sema 1))
(let ((n (vector-ref sema 0)))
(if (> n 0)
(begin
(vector-set! sema 0 (- n 1))
(mutex-unlock! (vector-ref sema 1)))
(begin
(mutex-unlock! (vector-ref sema 1) (vector-ref sema 2))
(semaphore-wait! sema))))
(define (semaphore-signal-by! sema increment)
(mutex-lock! (vector-ref sema 1))
(let ((n (+ (vector-ref sema 0) increment)))
(vector-set! sema 0 n)
(if (> n 0)
(condition-variable-broadcast! (vector-ref sema 2)))
(mutex-unlock! (vector-ref sema 1))))
14 Dynamic environment
**********************
The "dynamic environment" is the structure which allows the system to
find the value returned by the standard procedures `current-input-port'
and `current-output-port'. The standard procedures
`with-input-from-file' and `with-output-to-file' extend the dynamic
environment to produce a new dynamic environment which is in effect for
the dynamic extent of the call to the thunk passed as their last
argument. These procedures are essentially special purpose dynamic
binding operations on hidden dynamic variables (one for
`current-input-port' and one for `current-output-port'). Gambit
generalizes this dynamic binding mechanism to allow the user to
introduce new dynamic variables, called "parameter objects", and
dynamically bind them. The parameter objects implemented by Gambit are
compatible with the specification of the "Parameter objects SRFI" (SRFI
39).
One important issue is the relationship between the dynamic
environments of the parent and child threads when a thread is created.
Each thread has its own dynamic environment that is accessed when
looking up the value bound to a parameter object by that thread. When
a thread's dynamic environment is extended it does not affect the
dynamic environment of other threads. When a thread is created it is
given a dynamic environment whose bindings are inherited from the
parent thread. In this inherited dynamic environment the parameter
objects are bound to the same cells as the parent's dynamic environment
(in other words an assignment of a new value to a parameter object is
visible in the other thread).
Another important issue is the interaction between the
`dynamic-wind' procedure and dynamic environments. When a thread
creates a continuation, the thread's dynamic environment and the
`dynamic-wind' stack are saved within the continuation (an alternate
but equivalent point of view is that the `dynamic-wind' stack is part
of the dynamic environment). When this continuation is invoked the
required `dynamic-wind' before and after thunks are called and the
saved dynamic environment is reinstated as the dynamic environment of
the current thread. During the call to each required `dynamic-wind'
before and after thunk, the dynamic environment and the `dynamic-wind'
stack in effect when the corresponding `dynamic-wind' was executed are
reinstated. Note that this specification precisely defines the
semantics of calling `call-with-current-continuation' or invoking a
continuation within a before or after thunk. The semantics are well
defined even when a continuation created by another thread is invoked.
Below is an example exercising the subtleties of this semantics.
(with-output-to-file
"foo"
(lambda ()
(let ((k (call-with-current-continuation
(lambda (exit)
(with-output-to-file
"bar"
(lambda ()
(dynamic-wind
(lambda ()
(write '(b1))
(force-output))
(lambda ()
(let ((x (call-with-current-continuation
(lambda (cont) (exit cont)))))
(write '(t1))
(force-output)
x))
(lambda ()
(write '(a1))
(force-output)))))))))
(if k
(dynamic-wind
(lambda ()
(write '(b2))
(force-output))
(lambda ()
(with-output-to-file
"baz"
(lambda ()
(write '(t2))
(force-output)
; go back inside (with-output-to-file "bar" ...)
(k #f))))
(lambda ()
(write '(a2))
(force-output)))))))
The following actions will occur when this code is executed:
`(b1)(a1)' is written to "bar", `(b2)' is then written to "foo", `(t2)'
is then written to "baz", `(a2)' is then written to "foo", and finally
`(b1)(t1)(a1)' is written to "bar".
-- procedure: make-parameter OBJ [FILTER]
The dynamic environment is composed of two parts: the "local
dynamic environment" and the "global dynamic environment". There
is a single global dynamic environment, and it is used to lookup
parameter objects that can't be found in the local dynamic
environment.
The `make-parameter' procedure returns a new "parameter object".
The FILTER argument is a one argument conversion procedure. If it
is not specified, FILTER defaults to the identity function.
The global dynamic environment is updated to associate the
parameter object to a new cell. The initial content of the cell
is the result of applying the conversion procedure to OBJ.
A parameter object is a procedure which accepts zero or one
argument. The cell bound to a particular parameter object in the
dynamic environment is accessed by calling the parameter object.
When no argument is passed, the content of the cell is returned.
When one argument is passed the content of the cell is updated
with the result of applying the parameter object's conversion
procedure to the argument. Note that the conversion procedure can
be used for guaranteeing the type of the parameter object's
binding and/or to perform some conversion of the value.
For example:
> (define radix (make-parameter 10))
> (radix)
10
> (radix 2)
> (radix)
2
> (define prompt
(make-parameter
123
(lambda (x)
(if (string? x)
x
(object->string x)))))
> (prompt)
"123"
> (prompt "$")
> (prompt)
"$"
> (define write-shared
(make-parameter
#f
(lambda (x)
(if (boolean? x)
x
(error "only booleans are accepted by write-shared")))))
> (write-shared 123)
*** ERROR IN ##make-parameter -- only booleans are accepted by write-shared
-- special form: parameterize ((procedure value)...) body
The `parameterize' form, evaluates all procedure and value
expressions in an unspecified order. All the procedure
expressions must evaluate to procedures, either parameter objects
or procedures accepting zero and one argument. Then, for each
procedure p and in an unspecified order:
* If p is a parameter object a new cell is created,
initialized, and bound to the parameter object in the local
dynamic environment. The value contained in the cell is the
result of applying the parameter object's conversion
procedure to value. The resulting dynamic environment is
then used for processing the remaining bindings (or the
evaluation of body if there are no other bindings).
* Otherwise p will be used according to the following protocol:
we say that the call `(p)' "gets p's value" and that the call
`(p x)' "sets p's value to x". First, the `parameterize'
form gets p's value and saves it in a local variable. It
then sets p's value to value. It then processes the
remaining bindings (or evaluates body if there are no other
bindings). Then it sets p's value to the saved value. These
steps are performed in a `dynamic-wind' so that it is
possible to use continuations to jump into and out of the body
(i.e. the `dynamic-wind''s before thunk sets p's value to
value and the after thunk sets p's value to the saved value).
The result(s) of the `parameterize' form are the result(s) of the
body.
Note that using procedures instead of parameter objects may lead to
unexpected results in multithreaded programs because the before and
after thunks of the `dynamic-wind' are not called when control
switches between threads.
For example:
> (define radix (make-parameter 2))
> (define prompt
(make-parameter
123
(lambda (x)
(if (string? x)
x
(object->string x)))))
> (radix)
2
> (parameterize ((radix 16)) (radix))
16
> (radix)
2
> (define (f n) (number->string n (radix)))
> (f 10)
"1010"
> (parameterize ((radix 8)) (f 10))
"12"
> (parameterize ((radix 8) (prompt (f 10))) (prompt))
"1010"
> (define p
(let ((x 1))
(lambda args
(if (null? args) x (set! x (car args))))))
> (let* ((a (p))
(b (parameterize ((p 2)) (list (p))))
(c (p)))
(list a b c))
(1 (2) 1)
15 Exceptions
*************
15.1 Exception-handling
=======================
Gambit's exception-handling model is inspired from the withdrawn
"Exception Handling SRFI" (SRFI 12), the "Multithreading support SRFI"
(SRFI 18), and the "Exception Handling for Programs SRFI" (SRFI 34).
The two fundamental operations are the dynamic binding of an exception
handler (i.e. the procedure `with-exception-handler') and the
invocation of the exception handler (i.e. the procedure `raise').
All predefined procedures which check for errors (including type
errors, memory allocation errors, host operating-system errors, etc)
report these errors using the exception-handling system (i.e. they
"raise" an exception that can be handled in a user-defined exception
handler). When an exception is raised and the exception is not handled
by a user-defined exception handler, the predefined exception handler
will display an error message (if the primordial thread raised the
exception) or the thread will silently terminate with no error message
(if it is not the primordial thread that raised the exception). This
default behavior can be changed through the `-:d' runtime option (*note
Runtime options::).
Predefined procedures normally raise exceptions by performing a
tail-call to the exception handler (the exceptions are "complex"
procedures such as `eval', `compile-file', `read', `write', etc). This
means that the continuation of the exception handler and of the REPL
that may be started due to this is normally the continuation of the
predefined procedure that raised the exception. By exiting the REPL
with the `,(c EXPRESSION)' command it is thus possible to resume the
program as though the call to the predefined procedure returned the
value of EXPRESSION. For example:
> (define (f x) (+ (car x) 1))
> (f 2) ; typo... we meant to say (f '(2))
*** ERROR IN f, (console)@1.18 -- (Argument 1) PAIR expected
(car 2)
1> ,(c 2)
3
-- procedure: current-exception-handler [NEW-EXCEPTION-HANDLER]
The parameter object `current-exception-handler' is bound to the
current exception-handler. Calling this procedure with no argument
returns the current exception-handler and calling this procedure
with one argument sets the current exception-handler to
NEW-EXCEPTION-HANDLER.
For example:
> (current-exception-handler)
#
> (current-exception-handler (lambda (exc) (pp exc) 999))
> (/ 1 0)
#
999
-- procedure: with-exception-handler HANDLER THUNK
Returns the result(s) of calling THUNK with no arguments. The
HANDLER, which must be a procedure, is installed as the current
exception-handler in the dynamic environment in effect during the
call to THUNK. Note that the dynamic environment in effect during
the call to HANDLER has HANDLER as the exception-handler.
Consequently, an exception raised during the call to HANDLER may
lead to an infinite loop.
For example:
> (with-exception-handler
(lambda (e) (write e) 5)
(lambda () (+ 1 (* 2 3) 4)))
11
> (with-exception-handler
(lambda (e) (write e) 5)
(lambda () (+ 1 (* 'foo 3) 4)))
#10
> (with-exception-handler
(lambda (e) (write e 9))
(lambda () (+ 1 (* 'foo 3) 4)))
INFINITE LOOP
-- procedure: with-exception-catcher HANDLER THUNK
Returns the result(s) of calling THUNK with no arguments. A new
exception-handler is installed as the current exception-handler in
the dynamic environment in effect during the call to THUNK. This
new exception-handler will call the HANDLER, which must be a
procedure, with the exception object as an argument and with the
same continuation as the call to `with-exception-catcher'. This
implies that the dynamic environment in effect during the call to
HANDLER is the same as the one in effect at the call to
`with-exception-catcher'. Consequently, an exception raised
during the call to HANDLER will not lead to an infinite loop.
For example:
> (with-exception-catcher
(lambda (e) (write e) 5)
(lambda () (+ 1 (* 2 3) 4)))
11
> (with-exception-catcher
(lambda (e) (write e) 5)
(lambda () (+ 1 (* 'foo 3) 4)))
#5
> (with-exception-catcher
(lambda (e) (write e 9))
(lambda () (+ 1 (* 'foo 3) 4)))
*** ERROR IN (console)@7.1 -- (Argument 2) OUTPUT PORT expected
(write '# 9)
-- procedure: raise OBJ
This procedure tail-calls the current exception-handler with OBJ
as the sole argument. If the exception-handler returns, the
continuation of the call to `raise' is invoked.
For example:
> (with-exception-handler
(lambda (exc)
(pp exc)
100)
(lambda ()
(+ 1 (raise "hello"))))
"hello"
101
-- procedure: abort OBJ
-- procedure: noncontinuable-exception? OBJ
-- procedure: noncontinuable-exception-reason EXC
The procedure `abort' calls the current exception-handler with OBJ
as the sole argument. If the exception-handler returns, the
procedure `abort' will be tail-called with a
noncontinuable-exception object, whose reason field is OBJ, as
sole argument.
Noncontinuable-exception objects are raised by the `abort'
procedure when the exception-handler returns. The parameter EXC
must be a noncontinuable-exception object.
The procedure `noncontinuable-exception?' returns `#t' when OBJ is
a noncontinuable-exception object and `#f' otherwise.
The procedure `noncontinuable-exception-reason' returns the
argument of the call to `abort' that raised EXC.
For example:
> (call-with-current-continuation
(lambda (k)
(with-exception-handler
(lambda (exc)
(pp exc)
(if (noncontinuable-exception? exc)
(k (list (noncontinuable-exception-reason exc)))
100))
(lambda ()
(+ 1 (abort "hello"))))))
"hello"
#
("hello")
15.2 Exception objects related to memory management
===================================================
-- procedure: heap-overflow-exception? OBJ
Heap-overflow-exception objects are raised when the allocation of
an object would cause the heap to use more memory space than is
available.
The procedure `heap-overflow-exception?' returns `#t' when OBJ is
a heap-overflow-exception object and `#f' otherwise.
For example:
> (define (handler exc)
(if (heap-overflow-exception? exc)
exc
'not-heap-overflow-exception))
> (with-exception-catcher
handler
(lambda ()
(define (f x) (f (cons 1 x)))
(f '())))
#
-- procedure: stack-overflow-exception? OBJ
Stack-overflow-exception objects are raised when the allocation of
a continuation frame would cause the heap to use more memory space
than is available.
The procedure `stack-overflow-exception?' returns `#t' when OBJ is
a stack-overflow-exception object and `#f' otherwise.
For example:
> (define (handler exc)
(if (stack-overflow-exception? exc)
exc
'not-stack-overflow-exception))
> (with-exception-catcher
handler
(lambda ()
(define (f) (+ 1 (f)))
(f)))
#
15.3 Exception objects related to the host environment
======================================================
-- procedure: os-exception? OBJ
-- procedure: os-exception-procedure EXC
-- procedure: os-exception-arguments EXC
-- procedure: os-exception-code EXC
-- procedure: os-exception-message EXC
Os-exception objects are raised by procedures which access the host
operating-system's services when the requested operation fails.
The parameter EXC must be a os-exception object.
The procedure `os-exception?' returns `#t' when OBJ is a
os-exception object and `#f' otherwise.
The procedure `os-exception-procedure' returns the procedure that
raised EXC.
The procedure `os-exception-arguments' returns the list of
arguments of the procedure that raised EXC.
The procedure `os-exception-code' returns an exact integer error
code that can be converted to a string by the `err-code->string'
procedure. Note that the error code is operating-system dependent.
The procedure `os-exception-message' returns `#f' or a string
giving details of the exception in a human-readable form.
For example:
> (define (handler exc)
(if (os-exception? exc)
(list (os-exception-procedure exc)
(os-exception-arguments exc)
(err-code->string (os-exception-code exc))
(os-exception-message exc))
'not-os-exception))
> (with-exception-catcher
handler
(lambda () (host-info "x.y.z")))
(# ("x.y.z") "Unknown host" #f)
-- procedure: no-such-file-or-directory-exception? OBJ
-- procedure: no-such-file-or-directory-exception-procedure EXC
-- procedure: no-such-file-or-directory-exception-arguments EXC
No-such-file-or-directory-exception objects are raised by
procedures which access the filesystem (such as `open-input-file'
and `directory-files') when the path specified can't be found on
the filesystem. The parameter EXC must be a
no-such-file-or-directory-exception object.
The procedure `no-such-file-or-directory-exception?' returns `#t'
when OBJ is a no-such-file-or-directory-exception object and `#f'
otherwise.
The procedure `no-such-file-or-directory-exception-procedure'
returns the procedure that raised EXC.
The procedure `no-such-file-or-directory-exception-arguments'
returns the list of arguments of the procedure that raised EXC.
For example:
> (define (handler exc)
(if (no-such-file-or-directory-exception? exc)
(list (no-such-file-or-directory-exception-procedure exc)
(no-such-file-or-directory-exception-arguments exc))
'not-no-such-file-or-directory-exception))
> (with-exception-catcher
handler
(lambda () (with-input-from-file "nofile" read)))
(# ("nofile" #))
-- procedure: unbound-os-environment-variable-exception? OBJ
-- procedure: unbound-os-environment-variable-exception-procedure EXC
-- procedure: unbound-os-environment-variable-exception-arguments EXC
Unbound-os-environment-variable-exception objects are raised when
an unbound operating-system environment variable is accessed by the
procedures `getenv' and `setenv'. The parameter EXC must be an
unbound-os-environment-variable-exception object.
The procedure `unbound-os-environment-variable-exception?' returns
`#t' when OBJ is an unbound-os-environment-variable-exception
object and `#f' otherwise.
The procedure `unbound-os-environment-variable-exception-procedure'
returns the procedure that raised EXC.
The procedure `unbound-os-environment-variable-exception-arguments'
returns the list of arguments of the procedure that raised EXC.
For example:
> (define (handler exc)
(if (unbound-os-environment-variable-exception? exc)
(list (unbound-os-environment-variable-exception-procedure exc)
(unbound-os-environment-variable-exception-arguments exc))
'not-unbound-os-environment-variable-exception))
> (with-exception-catcher
handler
(lambda () (getenv "DOES_NOT_EXIST")))
(# ("DOES_NOT_EXIST"))
15.4 Exception objects related to threads
=========================================
-- procedure: scheduler-exception? OBJ
-- procedure: scheduler-exception-reason EXC
Scheduler-exception objects are raised by the scheduler when some
operation requested from the host operating system failed (e.g.
checking the status of the devices in order to wake up threads
waiting to perform I/O on these devices). The parameter EXC must
be a scheduler-exception object.
The procedure `scheduler-exception?' returns `#t' when OBJ is a
scheduler-exception object and `#f' otherwise.
The procedure `scheduler-exception-reason' returns the
os-exception object that describes the failure detected by the
scheduler.
-- procedure: deadlock-exception? OBJ
Deadlock-exception objects are raised when the scheduler discovers
that all threads are blocked and can make no further progress. In
that case the scheduler unblocks the primordial-thread and forces
it to raise a deadlock-exception object.
The procedure `deadlock-exception?' returns `#t' when OBJ is a
deadlock-exception object and `#f' otherwise.
For example:
> (define (handler exc)
(if (deadlock-exception? exc)
exc
'not-deadlock-exception))
> (with-exception-catcher
handler
(lambda () (read (open-vector))))
#
-- procedure: abandoned-mutex-exception? OBJ
Abandoned-mutex-exception objects are raised when the current
thread locks a mutex that was owned by a thread which terminated
(see `mutex-lock!').
The procedure `abandoned-mutex-exception?' returns `#t' when OBJ
is a abandoned-mutex-exception object and `#f' otherwise.
For example:
> (define (handler exc)
(if (abandoned-mutex-exception? exc)
exc
'not-abandoned-mutex-exception))
> (with-exception-catcher
handler
(lambda ()
(let ((m (make-mutex)))
(thread-join!
(thread-start!
(make-thread
(lambda () (mutex-lock! m)))))
(mutex-lock! m))))
#
-- procedure: join-timeout-exception? OBJ
-- procedure: join-timeout-exception-procedure EXC
-- procedure: join-timeout-exception-arguments EXC
Join-timeout-exception objects are raised when a call to the
`thread-join!' procedure reaches its timeout before the target
thread terminates and a timeout-value parameter is not specified.
The parameter EXC must be a join-timeout-exception object.
The procedure `join-timeout-exception?' returns `#t' when OBJ is a
join-timeout-exception object and `#f' otherwise.
The procedure `join-timeout-exception-procedure' returns the
procedure that raised EXC.
The procedure `join-timeout-exception-arguments' returns the list
of arguments of the procedure that raised EXC.
For example:
> (define (handler exc)
(if (join-timeout-exception? exc)
(list (join-timeout-exception-procedure exc)
(join-timeout-exception-arguments exc))
'not-join-timeout-exception))
> (with-exception-catcher
handler
(lambda ()
(thread-join!
(thread-start!
(make-thread
(lambda () (thread-sleep! 10))))
5)))
(# (# 5))
-- procedure: started-thread-exception? OBJ
-- procedure: started-thread-exception-procedure EXC
-- procedure: started-thread-exception-arguments EXC
Started-thread-exception objects are raised when the target thread
of a call to the procedure `thread-start!' is already started. The
parameter EXC must be a started-thread-exception object.
The procedure `started-thread-exception?' returns `#t' when OBJ is
a started-thread-exception object and `#f' otherwise.
The procedure `started-thread-exception-procedure' returns the
procedure that raised EXC.
The procedure `started-thread-exception-arguments' returns the
list of arguments of the procedure that raised EXC.
For example:
> (define (handler exc)
(if (started-thread-exception? exc)
(list (started-thread-exception-procedure exc)
(started-thread-exception-arguments exc))
'not-started-thread-exception))
> (with-exception-catcher
handler
(lambda ()
(let ((t (make-thread (lambda () (expt 2 1000)))))
(thread-start! t)
(thread-start! t))))
(# (#))
-- procedure: terminated-thread-exception? OBJ
-- procedure: terminated-thread-exception-procedure EXC
-- procedure: terminated-thread-exception-arguments EXC
Terminated-thread-exception objects are raised when the
`thread-join!' procedure is called and the target thread has
terminated as a result of a call to the `thread-terminate!'
procedure. The parameter EXC must be a
terminated-thread-exception object.
The procedure `terminated-thread-exception?' returns `#t' when OBJ
is a terminated-thread-exception object and `#f' otherwise.
The procedure `terminated-thread-exception-procedure' returns the
procedure that raised EXC.
The procedure `terminated-thread-exception-arguments' returns the
list of arguments of the procedure that raised EXC.
For example:
> (define (handler exc)
(if (terminated-thread-exception? exc)
(list (terminated-thread-exception-procedure exc)
(terminated-thread-exception-arguments exc))
'not-terminated-thread-exception))
> (with-exception-catcher
handler
(lambda ()
(thread-join!
(thread-start!
(make-thread
(lambda () (thread-terminate! (current-thread))))))))
(# (#))
-- procedure: uncaught-exception? OBJ
-- procedure: uncaught-exception-procedure EXC
-- procedure: uncaught-exception-arguments EXC
-- procedure: uncaught-exception-reason EXC
Uncaught-exception objects are raised when an object is raised in a
thread and that thread does not handle it (i.e. the thread
terminated because it did not catch an exception it raised). The
parameter EXC must be an uncaught-exception object.
The procedure `uncaught-exception?' returns `#t' when OBJ is an
uncaught-exception object and `#f' otherwise.
The procedure `uncaught-exception-procedure' returns the procedure
that raised EXC.
The procedure `uncaught-exception-arguments' returns the list of
arguments of the procedure that raised EXC.
The procedure `uncaught-exception-reason' returns the object that
was raised by the thread and not handled by that thread.
For example:
> (define (handler exc)
(if (uncaught-exception? exc)
(list (uncaught-exception-procedure exc)
(uncaught-exception-arguments exc)
(uncaught-exception-reason exc))
'not-uncaught-exception))
> (with-exception-catcher
handler
(lambda ()
(thread-join!
(thread-start!
(make-thread
(lambda () (open-input-file "data" 99)))))))
(#
(#)
#)
15.5 Exception objects related to C-interface
=============================================
-- procedure: cfun-conversion-exception? OBJ
-- procedure: cfun-conversion-exception-procedure EXC
-- procedure: cfun-conversion-exception-arguments EXC
-- procedure: cfun-conversion-exception-code EXC
-- procedure: cfun-conversion-exception-message EXC
Cfun-conversion-exception objects are raised by the C-interface
when converting between the Scheme representation and the C
representation of a value during a call from Scheme to C. The
parameter EXC must be a cfun-conversion-exception object.
The procedure `cfun-conversion-exception?' returns `#t' when OBJ
is a cfun-conversion-exception object and `#f' otherwise.
The procedure `cfun-conversion-exception-procedure' returns the
procedure that raised EXC.
The procedure `cfun-conversion-exception-arguments' returns the
list of arguments of the procedure that raised EXC.
The procedure `cfun-conversion-exception-code' returns an exact
integer error code that can be converted to a string by the
`err-code->string' procedure.
The procedure `cfun-conversion-exception-message' returns `#f' or
a string giving details of the exception in a human-readable form.
For example:
$ cat test1.scm
(define weird
(c-lambda (char-string) nonnull-char-string
"___result = ___arg1;"))
$ gsc test1.scm
$ gsi
Gambit Version 4.0 beta 20
> (load "test1")
"/Users/feeley/gambit/doc/test1.o1"
> (weird "hello")
"hello"
> (define (handler exc)
(if (cfun-conversion-exception? exc)
(list (cfun-conversion-exception-procedure exc)
(cfun-conversion-exception-arguments exc)
(err-code->string (cfun-conversion-exception-code exc))
(cfun-conversion-exception-message exc))
'not-cfun-conversion-exception))
> (with-exception-catcher
handler
(lambda () (weird 'not-a-string)))
(#
(not-a-string)
"(Argument 1) Can't convert to C char-string"
#f)
> (with-exception-catcher
handler
(lambda () (weird #f)))
(#
(#f)
"Can't convert result from C nonnull-char-string"
#f)
-- procedure: sfun-conversion-exception? OBJ
-- procedure: sfun-conversion-exception-procedure EXC
-- procedure: sfun-conversion-exception-arguments EXC
-- procedure: sfun-conversion-exception-code EXC
-- procedure: sfun-conversion-exception-message EXC
Sfun-conversion-exception objects are raised by the C-interface
when converting between the Scheme representation and the C
representation of a value during a call from C to Scheme. The
parameter EXC must be a sfun-conversion-exception object.
The procedure `sfun-conversion-exception?' returns `#t' when OBJ
is a sfun-conversion-exception object and `#f' otherwise.
The procedure `sfun-conversion-exception-procedure' returns the
procedure that raised EXC.
The procedure `sfun-conversion-exception-arguments' returns the
list of arguments of the procedure that raised EXC.
The procedure `sfun-conversion-exception-code' returns an exact
integer error code that can be converted to a string by the
`err-code->string' procedure.
The procedure `sfun-conversion-exception-message' returns `#f' or
a string giving details of the exception in a human-readable form.
For example:
$ cat test2.scm
(c-define (f str) (nonnull-char-string) int "f" ""
(string->number str))
(define t1 (c-lambda () int "___result = f (\"123\");"))
(define t2 (c-lambda () int "___result = f (0);"))
(define t3 (c-lambda () int "___result = f (\"1.5\");"))
$ gsc test2.scm
$ gsi
Gambit Version 4.0 beta 20
> (load "test2")
"/u/feeley/test2.o1"
> (t1)
123
> (define (handler exc)
(if (sfun-conversion-exception? exc)
(list (sfun-conversion-exception-procedure exc)
(sfun-conversion-exception-arguments exc)
(err-code->string (sfun-conversion-exception-code exc))
(sfun-conversion-exception-message exc))
'not-sfun-conversion-exception))
> (with-exception-catcher handler t2)
(#
()
"(Argument 1) Can't convert from C nonnull-char-string"
#f)
> (with-exception-catcher handler t3)
(# () "Can't convert result to C int" #f)
-- procedure: multiple-c-return-exception? OBJ
Multiple-c-return-exception objects are raised by the C-interface
when a C to Scheme procedure call returns and that call's stack
frame is no longer on the C stack because the call has already
returned, or has been removed from the C stack by a `longjump'.
The procedure `multiple-c-return-exception?' returns `#t' when OBJ
is a multiple-c-return-exception object and `#f' otherwise.
For example:
$ cat test3.scm
(c-define (f str) (char-string) scheme-object "f" ""
(pp (list 'entry 'str= str))
(let ((k (call-with-current-continuation (lambda (k) k))))
(pp (list 'exit 'k= k))
k))
(define scheme-to-c-to-scheme-and-back
(c-lambda (char-string) scheme-object
"___result = f (___arg1);"))
$ gsc test3.scm
$ gsi
Gambit Version 4.0 beta 20
> (load "test3")
"/Users/feeley/gambit/doc/test3.o1"
> (define (handler exc)
(if (multiple-c-return-exception? exc)
exc
'not-multiple-c-return-exception))
> (with-exception-catcher
handler
(lambda ()
(let ((c (scheme-to-c-to-scheme-and-back "hello")))
(pp c)
(c 999))))
(entry str= "hello")
(exit k= #)
#
(exit k= 999)
#
15.6 Exception objects related to the reader
============================================
-- procedure: datum-parsing-exception? OBJ
-- procedure: datum-parsing-exception-kind EXC
-- procedure: datum-parsing-exception-parameters EXC
-- procedure: datum-parsing-exception-readenv EXC
Datum-parsing-exception objects are raised by the reader (i.e. the
`read' procedure) when the input does not conform to the grammar
for datum. The parameter EXC must be a datum-parsing-exception
object.
The procedure `datum-parsing-exception?' returns `#t' when OBJ is
a datum-parsing-exception object and `#f' otherwise.
The procedure `datum-parsing-exception-kind' returns a symbol
denoting the kind of parsing error that was encountered by the
reader when it raised EXC. Here is a table of the possible return
values:
`datum-or-eof-expected' Datum or EOF expected
`datum-expected' Datum expected
`improperly-placed-dot' Improperly placed dot
`incomplete-form-eof-reached' Incomplete form, EOF reached
`incomplete-form' Incomplete form
`character-out-of-range' Character out of range
`invalid-character-name' Invalid '#\' name
`illegal-character' Illegal character
`s8-expected' Signed 8 bit exact integer
expected
`u8-expected' Unsigned 8 bit exact integer
expected
`s16-expected' Signed 16 bit exact integer
expected
`u16-expected' Unsigned 16 bit exact integer
expected
`s32-expected' Signed 32 bit exact integer
expected
`u32-expected' Unsigned 32 bit exact integer
expected
`s64-expected' Signed 64 bit exact integer
expected
`u64-expected' Unsigned 64 bit exact integer
expected
`inexact-real-expected' Inexact real expected
`invalid-hex-escape' Invalid hexadecimal escape
`invalid-escaped-character' Invalid escaped character
`open-paren-expected' '(' expected
`invalid-token' Invalid token
`invalid-sharp-bang-name' Invalid '#!' name
`duplicate-label-definition' Duplicate definition for label
`missing-label-definition' Missing definition for label
`illegal-label-definition' Illegal definition of label
`invalid-infix-syntax-character' Invalid infix syntax character
`invalid-infix-syntax-number' Invalid infix syntax number
`invalid-infix-syntax' Invalid infix syntax
The procedure `datum-parsing-exception-parameters' returns a list
of the parameters associated with the parsing error that was
encountered by the reader when it raised EXC.
For example:
> (define (handler exc)
(if (datum-parsing-exception? exc)
(list (datum-parsing-exception-kind exc)
(datum-parsing-exception-parameters exc))
'not-datum-parsing-exception))
> (with-exception-catcher
handler
(lambda ()
(with-input-from-string "(s #\\pace)" read)))
(invalid-character-name ("pace"))
15.7 Exception objects related to evaluation and compilation
============================================================
-- procedure: expression-parsing-exception? OBJ
-- procedure: expression-parsing-exception-kind EXC
-- procedure: expression-parsing-exception-parameters EXC
-- procedure: expression-parsing-exception-source EXC
Expression-parsing-exception objects are raised by the evaluator
and compiler (i.e. the procedures `eval', `compile-file', etc)
when the input does not conform to the grammar for expression. The
parameter EXC must be a expression-parsing-exception object.
The procedure `expression-parsing-exception?' returns `#t' when
OBJ is a expression-parsing-exception object and `#f' otherwise.
The procedure `expression-parsing-exception-kind' returns a symbol
denoting the kind of parsing error that was encountered by the
evaluator or compiler when it raised EXC. Here is a table of the
possible return values:
`id-expected' Identifier expected
`ill-formed-namespace' Ill-formed namespace
`ill-formed-namespace-prefix' Ill-formed namespace prefix
`namespace-prefix-must-be-string' Namespace prefix must be a string
`macro-used-as-variable' Macro name can't be used as a
variable
`ill-formed-macro-transformer' Macro transformer must be a
lambda expression
`reserved-used-as-variable' Reserved identifier can't be used
as a variable
`ill-formed-special-form' Ill-formed special form
`cannot-open-file' Can't open file
`filename-expected' Filename expected
`ill-placed-define' Ill-placed 'define'
`ill-placed-**include' Ill-placed '##include'
`ill-placed-**define-macro' Ill-placed '##define-macro'
`ill-placed-**declare' Ill-placed '##declare'
`ill-placed-**namespace' Ill-placed '##namespace'
`ill-formed-expression' Ill-formed expression
`unsupported-special-form' Interpreter does not support
`ill-placed-unquote' Ill-placed 'unquote'
`ill-placed-unquote-splicing' Ill-placed 'unquote-splicing'
`parameter-must-be-id' Parameter must be an identifier
`parameter-must-be-id-or-default' Parameter must be an identifier
or default binding
`duplicate-parameter' Duplicate parameter in parameter
list
`ill-placed-dotted-rest-parameter' Ill-placed dotted rest parameter
`parameter-expected-after-rest' #!rest must be followed by a
parameter
`ill-formed-default' Ill-formed default binding
`ill-placed-optional' Ill-placed #!optional
`ill-placed-rest' Ill-placed #!rest
`ill-placed-key' Ill-placed #!key
`key-expected-after-rest' #!key expected after rest
parameter
`ill-placed-default' Ill-placed default binding
`duplicate-variable-definition' Duplicate definition of a variable
`empty-body' Body must contain at least one
expression
`variable-must-be-id' Defined variable must be an
identifier
`else-clause-not-last' Else clause must be last
`ill-formed-selector-list' Ill-formed selector list
`duplicate-variable-binding' Duplicate variable in bindings
`ill-formed-binding-list' Ill-formed binding list
`ill-formed-call' Ill-formed procedure call
`ill-formed-cond-expand' Ill-formed 'cond-expand'
`unfulfilled-cond-expand' Unfulfilled 'cond-expand'
The procedure `expression-parsing-exception-parameters' returns a
list of the parameters associated with the parsing error that was
encountered by the evaluator or compiler when it raised EXC.
For example:
> (define (handler exc)
(if (expression-parsing-exception? exc)
(list (expression-parsing-exception-kind exc)
(expression-parsing-exception-parameters exc))
'not-expression-parsing-exception))
> (with-exception-catcher
handler
(lambda ()
(eval '(+ do 1))))
(reserved-used-as-variable (do))
-- procedure: unbound-global-exception? OBJ
-- procedure: unbound-global-exception-variable EXC
-- procedure: unbound-global-exception-code EXC
-- procedure: unbound-global-exception-rte EXC
Unbound-global-exception objects are raised when an unbound global
variable is accessed. The parameter EXC must be an
unbound-global-exception object.
The procedure `unbound-global-exception?' returns `#t' when OBJ is
an unbound-global-exception object and `#f' otherwise.
The procedure `unbound-global-exception-variable' returns a symbol
identifying the unbound global variable.
For example:
> (define (handler exc)
(if (unbound-global-exception? exc)
(list 'variable= (unbound-global-exception-variable exc))
'not-unbound-global-exception))
> (with-exception-catcher
handler
(lambda () foo))
(variable= foo)
15.8 Exception objects related to type checking
===============================================
-- procedure: type-exception? OBJ
-- procedure: type-exception-procedure EXC
-- procedure: type-exception-arguments EXC
-- procedure: type-exception-arg-num EXC
-- procedure: type-exception-type-id EXC
Type-exception objects are raised when a primitive procedure is
called with an argument of incorrect type (i.e. when a run time
type-check fails). The parameter EXC must be a type-exception
object.
The procedure `type-exception?' returns `#t' when OBJ is a
type-exception object and `#f' otherwise.
The procedure `type-exception-procedure' returns the procedure
that raised EXC.
The procedure `type-exception-arguments' returns the list of
arguments of the procedure that raised EXC.
The procedure `type-exception-arg-num' returns the position of the
argument whose type is incorrect. Position 1 is the first
argument.
The procedure `type-exception-type-id' returns an identifier of
the type expected. The type-id can be a symbol, such as `number'
and `string-or-nonnegative-fixnum', or a record type descriptor.
For example:
> (define (handler exc)
(if (type-exception? exc)
(list (type-exception-procedure exc)
(type-exception-arguments exc)
(type-exception-arg-num exc)
(type-exception-type-id exc))
'not-type-exception))
> (with-exception-catcher
handler
(lambda () (vector-ref '#(a b c) 'foo)))
(# (#(a b c) foo) 2 exact-integer)
> (with-exception-catcher
handler
(lambda () (time->seconds 'foo)))
(#seconds> (foo) 1 #)
-- procedure: range-exception? OBJ
-- procedure: range-exception-procedure EXC
-- procedure: range-exception-arguments EXC
-- procedure: range-exception-arg-num EXC
Range-exception objects are raised when a numeric parameter is not
in the allowed range. The parameter EXC must be a range-exception
object.
The procedure `range-exception?' returns `#t' when OBJ is a
range-exception object and `#f' otherwise.
The procedure `range-exception-procedure' returns the procedure
that raised EXC.
The procedure `range-exception-arguments' returns the list of
arguments of the procedure that raised EXC.
The procedure `range-exception-arg-num' returns the position of
the argument which is not in the allowed range. Position 1 is the
first argument.
For example:
> (define (handler exc)
(if (range-exception? exc)
(list (range-exception-procedure exc)
(range-exception-arguments exc)
(range-exception-arg-num exc))
'not-range-exception))
> (with-exception-catcher
handler
(lambda () (string-ref "abcde" 10)))
(# ("abcde" 10) 2)
-- procedure: divide-by-zero-exception? OBJ
-- procedure: divide-by-zero-exception-procedure EXC
-- procedure: divide-by-zero-exception-arguments EXC
Divide-by-zero-exception objects are raised when a division by
zero is attempted. The parameter EXC must be a
divide-by-zero-exception object.
The procedure `divide-by-zero-exception?' returns `#t' when OBJ is
a divide-by-zero-exception object and `#f' otherwise.
The procedure `divide-by-zero-exception-procedure' returns the
procedure that raised EXC.
The procedure `divide-by-zero-exception-arguments' returns the
list of arguments of the procedure that raised EXC.
For example:
> (define (handler exc)
(if (divide-by-zero-exception? exc)
(list (divide-by-zero-exception-procedure exc)
(divide-by-zero-exception-arguments exc))
'not-divide-by-zero-exception))
> (with-exception-catcher
handler
(lambda () (/ 5 0 7)))
(# (5 0 7))
-- procedure: improper-length-list-exception? OBJ
-- procedure: improper-length-list-exception-procedure EXC
-- procedure: improper-length-list-exception-arguments EXC
-- procedure: improper-length-list-exception-arg-num EXC
Improper-length-list-exception objects are raised by the `map' and
`for-each' procedures when they are called with two or more list
arguments and the lists are not of the same length. The parameter
EXC must be an improper-length-list-exception object.
The procedure `improper-length-list-exception?' returns `#t' when
OBJ is an improper-length-list-exception object and `#f' otherwise.
The procedure `improper-length-list-exception-procedure' returns
the procedure that raised EXC.
The procedure `improper-length-list-exception-arguments' returns
the list of arguments of the procedure that raised EXC.
The procedure `improper-length-list-exception-arg-num' returns the
position of the argument whose length is the shortest. Position 1
is the first argument.
For example:
> (define (handler exc)
(if (improper-length-list-exception? exc)
(list (improper-length-list-exception-procedure exc)
(improper-length-list-exception-arguments exc)
(improper-length-list-exception-arg-num exc))
'not-improper-length-list-exception))
> (with-exception-catcher
handler
(lambda () (map + '(1 2) '(3) '(4 5))))
(# (# (1 2) (3) (4 5)) 3)
15.9 Exception objects related to procedure call
================================================
-- procedure: wrong-number-of-arguments-exception? OBJ
-- procedure: wrong-number-of-arguments-exception-procedure EXC
-- procedure: wrong-number-of-arguments-exception-arguments EXC
Wrong-number-of-arguments-exception objects are raised when a
procedure is called with the wrong number of arguments. The
parameter EXC must be a wrong-number-of-arguments-exception object.
The procedure `wrong-number-of-arguments-exception?' returns `#t'
when OBJ is a wrong-number-of-arguments-exception object and `#f'
otherwise.
The procedure `wrong-number-of-arguments-exception-procedure'
returns the procedure that raised EXC.
The procedure `wrong-number-of-arguments-exception-arguments'
returns the list of arguments of the procedure that raised EXC.
For example:
> (define (handler exc)
(if (wrong-number-of-arguments-exception? exc)
(list (wrong-number-of-arguments-exception-procedure exc)
(wrong-number-of-arguments-exception-arguments exc))
'not-wrong-number-of-arguments-exception))
> (with-exception-catcher
handler
(lambda () (open-input-file "data" 99)))
(# ("data" 99))
-- procedure: number-of-arguments-limit-exception? OBJ
-- procedure: number-of-arguments-limit-exception-procedure EXC
-- procedure: number-of-arguments-limit-exception-arguments EXC
Number-of-arguments-limit-exception objects are raised by the
`apply' procedure when the procedure being called is passed more
than 8192 arguments. The parameter EXC must be a
number-of-arguments-limit-exception object.
The procedure `number-of-arguments-limit-exception?' returns `#t'
when OBJ is a number-of-arguments-limit-exception object and `#f'
otherwise.
The procedure `number-of-arguments-limit-exception-procedure'
returns the target procedure of the call to `apply' that raised
EXC.
The procedure `number-of-arguments-limit-exception-arguments'
returns the list of arguments of the target procedure of the call
to `apply' that raised EXC.
For example:
> (define (iota n) (if (= n 0) '() (cons n (iota (- n 1)))))
> (define (handler exc)
(if (number-of-arguments-limit-exception? exc)
(list (number-of-arguments-limit-exception-procedure exc)
(length (number-of-arguments-limit-exception-arguments exc)))
'not-number-of-arguments-limit-exception))
> (with-exception-catcher
handler
(lambda () (apply + 1 2 3 (iota 8190))))
(# 8193)
-- procedure: nonprocedure-operator-exception? OBJ
-- procedure: nonprocedure-operator-exception-operator EXC
-- procedure: nonprocedure-operator-exception-arguments EXC
-- procedure: nonprocedure-operator-exception-code EXC
-- procedure: nonprocedure-operator-exception-rte EXC
Nonprocedure-operator-exception objects are raised when a procedure
call is executed and the operator position is not a procedure. The
parameter EXC must be an nonprocedure-operator-exception object.
The procedure `nonprocedure-operator-exception?' returns `#t' when
OBJ is an nonprocedure-operator-exception object and `#f'
otherwise.
The procedure `nonprocedure-operator-exception-operator' returns
the value in operator position of the procedure call that raised
EXC.
The procedure `nonprocedure-operator-exception-arguments' returns
the list of arguments of the procedure call that raised EXC.
For example:
> (define (handler exc)
(if (nonprocedure-operator-exception? exc)
(list (nonprocedure-operator-exception-operator exc)
(nonprocedure-operator-exception-arguments exc))
'not-nonprocedure-operator-exception))
> (with-exception-catcher
handler
(lambda () (11 22 33)))
(11 (22 33))
-- procedure: unknown-keyword-argument-exception? OBJ
-- procedure: unknown-keyword-argument-exception-procedure EXC
-- procedure: unknown-keyword-argument-exception-arguments EXC
Unknown-keyword-argument-exception objects are raised when a
procedure accepting keyword arguments is called and one of the
keywords supplied is not among those that are expected. The
parameter EXC must be an unknown-keyword-argument-exception object.
The procedure `unknown-keyword-argument-exception?' returns `#t'
when OBJ is an unknown-keyword-argument-exception object and `#f'
otherwise.
The procedure `unknown-keyword-argument-exception-procedure'
returns the procedure that raised EXC.
The procedure `unknown-keyword-argument-exception-arguments'
returns the list of arguments of the procedure that raised EXC.
For example:
> (define (handler exc)
(if (unknown-keyword-argument-exception? exc)
(list (unknown-keyword-argument-exception-procedure exc)
(unknown-keyword-argument-exception-arguments exc))
'not-unknown-keyword-argument-exception))
> (with-exception-catcher
handler
(lambda () ((lambda (#!key (foo 5)) foo) bar: 11)))
(# (bar: 11))
-- procedure: keyword-expected-exception? OBJ
-- procedure: keyword-expected-exception-procedure EXC
-- procedure: keyword-expected-exception-arguments EXC
Keyword-expected-exception objects are raised when a procedure
accepting keyword arguments is called and a nonkeyword was supplied
where a keyword was expected. The parameter EXC must be an
keyword-expected-exception object.
The procedure `keyword-expected-exception?' returns `#t' when OBJ
is an keyword-expected-exception object and `#f' otherwise.
The procedure `keyword-expected-exception-procedure' returns the
procedure that raised EXC.
The procedure `keyword-expected-exception-arguments' returns the
list of arguments of the procedure that raised EXC.
For example:
> (define (handler exc)
(if (keyword-expected-exception? exc)
(list (keyword-expected-exception-procedure exc)
(keyword-expected-exception-arguments exc))
'not-keyword-expected-exception))
> (with-exception-catcher
handler
(lambda () ((lambda (#!key (foo 5)) foo) 11 22)))
(# (11 22))
15.10 Other exception objects
=============================
-- procedure: error-exception? OBJ
-- procedure: error-exception-message EXC
-- procedure: error-exception-parameters EXC
-- procedure: error MESSAGE OBJ...
Error-exception objects are raised when the `error' procedure is
called. The parameter EXC must be an error-exception object.
The procedure `error-exception?' returns `#t' when OBJ is an
error-exception object and `#f' otherwise.
The procedure `error-exception-message' returns the first argument
of the call to `error' that raised EXC.
The procedure `error-exception-parameters' returns the list of
arguments, starting with the second argument, of the call to
`error' that raised EXC.
The `error' procedure raises an error-exception object whose
message field is MESSAGE and parameters field is the list of
values OBJ....
For example:
> (define (handler exc)
(if (error-exception? exc)
(list (error-exception-message exc)
(error-exception-parameters exc))
'not-error-exception))
> (with-exception-catcher
handler
(lambda () (error "unexpected object:" 123)))
("unexpected object:" (123))
16 Host environment
*******************
The host environment is the set of resources, such as the filesystem,
network and processes, that are managed by the operating system within
which the Scheme program is executing. This chapter specifies how the
host environment can be accessed from within the Scheme program.
In this chapter we say that the Scheme program being executed is a
process, even though the concept of process does not exist in some
operating systems supported by Gambit (e.g. MSDOS).
16.1 Handling of file names
===========================
Gambit uses a naming convention for files that is compatible with the
one used by the host environment but extended to allow referring to the
"home directory" of the current user or some specific user and the
"Gambit installation directory".
A "path" is a string that denotes a file, for example
`"src/readme.txt"'. Each component of a path is separated by a `/'
under UNIX and Mac OS X and by a `/' or `\' under MSDOS and Microsoft
Windows. A leading separator indicates an absolute path under UNIX,
Mac OS X, MSDOS and Microsoft Windows. A path which does not contain a
path separator is relative to the "current working directory" on all
operating systems. A volume specifier such as `C:' may prefix a file
name under MSDOS and Microsoft Windows.
The rest of this section uses `/' to represent the path separator.
A path which starts with the characters `~~/' denotes a file in the
Gambit installation directory. This directory is normally
`/usr/local/Gambit-C/version' under UNIX and Mac OS X and
`C:/Gambit-C/version' under MSDOS and Microsoft Windows. To override
this binding under UNIX, Mac OS X, MSDOS and Microsoft Windows, use the
`-:=' runtime option or define the `GAMBCOPT' environment variable.
A path which starts with the characters `~/' denotes a file in the
user's home directory. The user's home directory is contained in the
`HOME' environment variable under UNIX, Mac OS X, MSDOS and Microsoft
Windows. Under MSDOS and Microsoft Windows, if the `HOME' environment
variable is not defined, the environment variables `HOMEDRIVE' and
`HOMEPATH' are concatenated if they are defined. If this fails to
yield a home directory, the Gambit installation directory is used
instead.
A path which starts with the characters `~USERNAME/' denotes a file
in the home directory of the given user. Under UNIX and Mac OS X this
is found using the password file. There is no equivalent under MSDOS
and Microsoft Windows.
-- procedure: current-directory [NEW-CURRENT-DIRECTORY]
The parameter object `current-directory' is bound to the current
working directory. Calling this procedure with no argument returns
the absolute "normalized path" of the directory and calling this
procedure with one argument sets the directory to
NEW-CURRENT-DIRECTORY. The initial binding of this parameter
object is the current working directory of the current process.
The path returned by `current-directory' always contains a trailing
directory separator. Modifications of the parameter object do not
change the current working directory of the current process (i.e.
that is accessible with the UNIX `getcwd()' function and the
Microsoft Windows `GetCurrentDirectory' function). It is an error
to mutate the string returned by `current-directory'.
For example under UNIX:
> (current-directory)
"/Users/feeley/gambit/doc/"
> (current-directory "..")
> (current-directory)
"/Users/feeley/gambit/"
> (path-expand "foo" "~~")
"/usr/local/Gambit-C/4.0b20/foo"
> (parameterize ((current-directory "~~")) (path-expand "foo"))
"/usr/local/Gambit-C/4.0b20/foo"
-- procedure: path-expand PATH [ORIGIN-DIRECTORY]
The procedure `path-expand' takes the path of a file or directory
and returns an expanded path, which is an absolute path when PATH
or ORIGIN-DIRECTORY are absolute paths. The optional
ORIGIN-DIRECTORY parameter, which defaults to the current working
directory, is the directory used to resolve relative paths.
Components of the paths PATH and ORIGIN-DIRECTORY need not exist.
For example under UNIX:
> (path-expand "foo")
"/Users/feeley/gambit/doc/foo"
> (path-expand "~/foo")
"/Users/feeley/foo"
> (path-expand "~~/foo")
"/usr/local/Gambit-C/4.0b20/foo"
> (path-expand "../foo")
"/Users/feeley/gambit/doc/../foo"
> (path-expand "foo" "")
"foo"
> (path-expand "foo" "/tmp")
"/tmp/foo"
> (path-expand "this/file/does/not/exist")
"/Users/feeley/gambit/doc/this/file/does/not/exist"
> (path-expand "")
"/Users/feeley/gambit/doc/"
-- procedure: path-normalize PATH [ALLOW-RELATIVE? [ORIGIN-DIRECTORY]]
The procedure `path-normalize' takes a path of a file or directory
and returns its normalized path. The optional ORIGIN-DIRECTORY
parameter, which defaults to the current working directory, is the
directory used to resolve relative paths. All components of the
paths PATH and ORIGIN-DIRECTORY must exist, except possibly the
last component of PATH. A normalized path is a path containing no
redundant parts and which is consistent with the current structure
of the filesystem. A normalized path of a directory will always
end with a path separator (i.e. `/', `\', or `:' depending on the
operating system). The optional ALLOW-RELATIVE? parameter, which
defaults to `#f', indicates if the path returned can be expressed
relatively to ORIGIN-DIRECTORY: a `#f' requests an absolute path,
the symbol `shortest' requests the shortest of the absolute and
relative paths, and any other value requests the relative path.
The shortest path is useful for interaction with the user because
short relative paths are typically easier to read than long
absolute paths.
For example under UNIX:
> (path-expand "../foo")
"/Users/feeley/gambit/doc/../foo"
> (path-normalize "../foo")
"/Users/feeley/gambit/foo"
> (path-normalize "this/file/does/not/exist")
*** ERROR IN (console)@3.1 -- No such file or directory
(path-normalize "this/file/does/not/exist")
-- procedure: path-extension PATH
-- procedure: path-strip-extension PATH
-- procedure: path-directory PATH
-- procedure: path-strip-directory PATH
-- procedure: path-strip-trailing-directory-separator PATH
-- procedure: path-volume PATH
-- procedure: path-strip-volume PATH
These procedures extract various parts of a path, which need not
be a normalized path. The procedure `path-extension' returns the
file extension (including the period) or the empty string if there
is no extension. The procedure `path-strip-extension' returns the
path with the extension stripped off. The procedure
`path-directory' returns the file's directory (including the last
path separator) or the empty string if no directory is specified
in the path. The procedure `path-strip-directory' returns the
path with the directory stripped off. The procedure
`path-strip-trailing-directory-separator' returns the path with
the directory separator stripped off if one is at the end of the
path. The procedure `path-volume' returns the file's volume
(including the last path separator) or the empty string if no
volume is specified in the path. The procedure
`path-strip-volume' returns the path with the volume stripped off.
For example under UNIX:
> (path-extension "/tmp/foo")
""
> (path-extension "/tmp/foo.txt")
".txt"
> (path-strip-extension "/tmp/foo.txt")
"/tmp/foo"
> (path-directory "/tmp/foo.txt")
"/tmp/"
> (path-strip-directory "/tmp/foo.txt")
"foo.txt"
> (path-strip-trailing-directory-separator "/usr/local/bin/")
"/usr/local/bin"
> (path-strip-trailing-directory-separator "/usr/local/bin")
"/usr/local/bin"
> (path-volume "/tmp/foo.txt")
""
> (path-volume "C:/tmp/foo.txt")
"" ; result is "C:" under Microsoft Windows
> (path-strip-volume "C:/tmp/foo.txt")
"C:/tmp/foo.txt" ; result is "/tmp/foo.txt" under Microsoft Windows
16.2 Filesystem operations
==========================
-- procedure: create-directory PATH-OR-SETTINGS
This procedure creates a directory. The argument PATH-OR-SETTINGS
is either a string denoting a filesystem path or a list of port
settings which must contain a `path:' setting. Here are the
settings allowed:
* `path:' STRING
This setting indicates the location of the directory to
create in the filesystem. There is no default value for this
setting.
* `permissions:' 12-BIT-EXACT-INTEGER
This setting controls the UNIX permissions that will be
attached to the file if it is created. The default value of
this setting is `#o777'.
For example:
> (create-directory "newdir")
> (create-directory "newdir")
*** ERROR IN (console)@2.1 -- File exists
(create-directory "newdir")
-- procedure: create-fifo PATH-OR-SETTINGS
This procedure creates a FIFO. The argument PATH-OR-SETTINGS is
either a string denoting a filesystem path or a list of port
settings which must contain a `path:' setting. Here are the
settings allowed:
* `path:' STRING
This setting indicates the location of the FIFO to create in
the filesystem. There is no default value for this setting.
* `permissions:' 12-BIT-EXACT-INTEGER
This setting controls the UNIX permissions that will be
attached to the file if it is created. The default value of
this setting is `#o666'.
For example:
> (create-fifo "fifo")
> (define a (open-input-file "fifo"))
> (define b (open-output-file "fifo"))
> (display "1 22 333" b)
> (force-output b)
> (read a)
1
> (read a)
22
-- procedure: create-link SOURCE-PATH DESTINATION-PATH
This procedure creates a hard link between SOURCE-PATH and
DESTINATION-PATH. The argument SOURCE-PATH must be a string
denoting the path of an existing file. The argument
DESTINATION-PATH must be a string denoting the path of the link to
create.
-- procedure: create-symbolic-link SOURCE-PATH DESTINATION-PATH
This procedure creates a symbolic link between SOURCE-PATH and
DESTINATION-PATH. The argument SOURCE-PATH must be a string
denoting the path of an existing file. The argument
DESTINATION-PATH must be a string denoting the path of the
symbolic link to create.
-- procedure: rename-file SOURCE-PATH DESTINATION-PATH
This procedure renames the file SOURCE-PATH to DESTINATION-PATH.
The argument SOURCE-PATH must be a string denoting the path of an
existing file. The argument DESTINATION-PATH must be a string
denoting the new path of the file.
-- procedure: copy-file SOURCE-PATH DESTINATION-PATH
This procedure copies the file SOURCE-PATH to DESTINATION-PATH.
The argument SOURCE-PATH must be a string denoting the path of an
existing file. The argument DESTINATION-PATH must be a string
denoting the path of the file to create.
-- procedure: delete-file PATH
This procedure deletes the file PATH. The argument PATH must be a
string denoting the path of an existing file.
-- procedure: delete-directory PATH
This procedure deletes the directory PATH. The argument PATH must
be a string denoting the path of an existing directory.
-- procedure: directory-files [PATH-OR-SETTINGS]
This procedure returns the list of the files in a directory. The
argument PATH-OR-SETTINGS is either a string denoting a filesystem
path to a directory or a list of settings which must contain a
`path:' setting. If it is not specified, PATH-OR-SETTINGS
defaults to the current directory (the value bound to the
`current-directory' parameter object). Here are the settings
allowed:
* `path:' STRING
This setting indicates the location of the directory in the
filesystem. There is no default value for this setting.
* `ignore-hidden:' ( `#f' | `#t' | `dot-and-dot-dot' )
This setting controls whether hidden-files will be returned.
Under UNIX and Mac OS X hidden-files are those that start
with a period (such as `.', `..', and `.profile'). Under
Microsoft Windows hidden files are the `.' and `..' entries
and the files whose "hidden file" attribute is set. A
setting of `#f' will enumerate all the files. A setting of
`#t' will only enumerate the files that are not hidden. A
setting of `dot-and-dot-dot' will enumerate all the files
except for the `.' and `..' hidden files. The default value
of this setting is `#t'.
For example:
> (directory-files)
("complex" "README" "simple")
> (directory-files "../include")
("config.h" "config.h.in" "gambit.h" "makefile" "makefile.in")
> (directory-files (list path: "../include" ignore-hidden: #f))
("." ".." "config.h" "config.h.in" "gambit.h" "makefile" "makefile.in")
16.3 Shell command execution
============================
-- procedure: shell-command COMMAND
The procedure `shell-command' calls up the shell to execute
COMMAND which must be a string. This procedure returns the exit
status of the shell in the form that the C library's `system'
routine returns.
For example under UNIX:
> (shell-command "ls -sk f*.scm")
4 fact.scm 4 fib.scm
0
16.4 Process termination
========================
-- procedure: exit [STATUS]
The procedure `exit' causes the process to terminate with the
status STATUS which must be an exact integer in the range 0 to
255. If it is not specified, STATUS defaults to 0.
For example under UNIX:
$ gsi
Gambit Version 4.0 beta 20
> (exit 42)
$ echo $?
42
16.5 Command line arguments
===========================
-- procedure: command-line
This procedure returns a list of strings corresponding to the
command line arguments, including the program file name as the
first element of the list. When the interpreter executes a Scheme
script, the list returned by `command-line' contains the script's
absolute path followed by the remaining command line arguments.
For example under UNIX:
$ gsi -:d -e "(pretty-print (command-line))"
("gsi" "-e" "(pretty-print (command-line))")
$ cat foo
#!/usr/local/Gambit-C/current/bin/gsi-script
(pretty-print (command-line))
$ ./foo 1 2 "3 4"
("/u/feeley/./foo" "1" "2" "3 4")
16.6 Environment variables
==========================
-- procedure: getenv NAME [DEFAULT]
-- procedure: setenv NAME [NEW-VALUE]
The procedure `getenv' returns the value of the environment
variable NAME of the current process. Variable names are denoted
with strings. A string is returned if the environment variable is
bound, otherwise DEFAULT is returned if it is specified, otherwise
an exception is raised.
The procedure `setenv' changes the binding of the environment
variable NAME to NEW-VALUE which must be a string. If NEW-VALUE
is not specified the binding is removed.
For example under UNIX:
> (getenv "HOME")
"/Users/feeley"
> (getenv "DOES_NOT_EXIST" #f)
#f
> (setenv "DOES_NOT_EXIST" "it does now")
> (getenv "DOES_NOT_EXIST" #f)
"it does now"
> (setenv "DOES_NOT_EXIST")
> (getenv "DOES_NOT_EXIST" #f)
#f
> (getenv "DOES_NOT_EXIST")
*** ERROR IN (console)@7.1 -- Unbound OS environment variable
(getenv "DOES_NOT_EXIST")
16.7 Measuring time
===================
Procedures are available for measuring real time (aka "wall" time) and
cpu time (the amount of time the cpu has been executing the process).
The resolution of the real time and cpu time clock is operating system
dependent. Typically the resolution of the cpu time clock is rather
coarse (measured in "ticks" of 1/60th or 1/100th of a second). Real
time is internally computed relative to some arbitrary point in time
using floating point numbers, which means that there is a gradual loss
of resolution as time elapses. Moreover, some operating systems report
time in number of ticks using a 32 bit integer so the value returned by
the time related procedures may wraparound much before any significant
loss of resolution occurs (for example 2.7 years if ticks are 1/50th of
a second).
-- procedure: current-time
-- procedure: time? OBJ
-- procedure: time->seconds TIME
-- procedure: seconds->time X
The procedure `current-time' returns a "time object" representing
the current point in real time.
The procedure `time?' returns `#t' when OBJ is a time object and
`#f' otherwise.
The procedure `time->seconds' converts the time object TIME into
an inexact real number representing the number of seconds elapsed
since the "epoch" (which is 00:00:00 Coordinated Universal Time
01-01-1970).
The procedure `seconds->time' converts the real number X
representing the number of seconds elapsed since the "epoch" into a
time object.
For example:
> (current-time)
#