mirror of
https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/guile.git
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53befeb700
(Not quite finished, the following will be done tomorrow. module/srfi/*.scm module/rnrs/*.scm module/scripts/*.scm testsuite/*.scm guile-readline/* )
191 lines
6.7 KiB
Text
191 lines
6.7 KiB
Text
@c -*-texinfo-*-
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@c This is part of the GNU Guile Reference Manual.
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@c Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004
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@c Free Software Foundation, Inc.
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@c See the file guile.texi for copying conditions.
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@node Preface
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@chapter Preface
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This reference manual documents Guile, GNU's Ubiquitous Intelligent
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Language for Extensions. It describes how to use Guile in many useful
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and interesting ways.
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This is edition @value{MANUAL-EDITION} of the reference manual, and
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corresponds to Guile version @value{VERSION}.
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@menu
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* Manual Layout::
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* Manual Conventions::
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* Contributors::
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* Guile License::
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@end menu
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@node Manual Layout
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@section Layout of this Manual
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The manual is divided into five chapters.
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@table @strong
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@item Chapter 1: Introduction to Guile
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This part provides an overview of what Guile is and how you can use
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it. A whirlwind tour shows how Guile can be used interactively and as
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a script interpreter, how to link Guile into your own applications,
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and how to write modules of interpreted and compiled code for use with
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Guile. Everything introduced here is documented again and in full by
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the later parts of the manual. This part also explains how to obtain
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and install new versions of Guile, and how to report bugs effectively.
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@item Chapter 2: Programming in Scheme
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This part provides an overview over programming in Scheme with Guile.
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It covers how to invoke the @code{guile} program from the command-line
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and how to write scripts in Scheme. It also gives an introduction
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into the basic ideas of Scheme itself and to the various extensions
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that Guile offers beyond standard Scheme.
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@item Chapter 3: Programming in C
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This part provides an overview of how to use Guile in a C program. It
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discusses the fundamental concepts that you need to understand to
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access the features of Guile, such as dynamic types and the garbage
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collector. It explains in a tutorial like manner how to define new
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data types and functions for the use by Scheme programs.
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@item Chapter 4: Guile API Reference
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This part of the manual documents the Guile @acronym{API} in
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functionality-based groups with the Scheme and C interfaces presented
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side by side.
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@item Chapter 5: Guile Modules
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Describes some important modules, distributed as part of the Guile
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distribution, that extend the functionality provided by the Guile
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Scheme core.
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@end table
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@node Manual Conventions
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@section Conventions used in this Manual
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We use some conventions in this manual.
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@itemize @bullet
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@item
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For some procedures, notably type predicates, we use @dfn{iff} to mean
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``if and only if''. The construct is usually something like: `Return
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@var{val} iff @var{condition}', where @var{val} is usually
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``@nicode{#t}'' or ``non-@nicode{#f}''. This typically means that
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@var{val} is returned if @var{condition} holds, and that @samp{#f} is
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returned otherwise. To clarify: @var{val} will @strong{only} be
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returned when @var{condition} is true.
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@cindex iff
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@item
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In examples and procedure descriptions and all other places where the
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evaluation of Scheme expression is shown, we use some notation for
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denoting the output and evaluation results of expressions.
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The symbol @samp{@result{}} is used to tell which value is returned by
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an evaluation:
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@lisp
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(+ 1 2)
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@result{} 3
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@end lisp
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Some procedures produce some output besides returning a value. This
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is denoted by the symbol @samp{@print{}}.
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@lisp
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(begin (display 1) (newline) 'hooray)
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@print{} 1
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@result{} hooray
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@end lisp
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As you can see, this code prints @samp{1} (denoted by
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@samp{@print{}}), and returns @code{hooray} (denoted by
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@samp{@result{}}). Do not confuse the two.
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@c Add other conventions here.
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@end itemize
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@node Contributors
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@section Contributors to this Manual
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The Guile reference and tutorial manuals were written and edited
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largely by Mark Galassi and Jim Blandy. In particular, Jim wrote the
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original tutorial on Guile's data representation and the C API for
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accessing Guile objects.
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Significant portions were contributed by Gary Houston (contributions
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to POSIX system calls and networking, expect, I/O internals and
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extensions, slib installation, error handling) and Tim Pierce
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(sections on script interpreter triggers, alists, function tracing).
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Tom Lord contributed a great deal of material with early Guile
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snapshots; although most of this text has been rewritten, all of it
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was important, and some of the structure remains.
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Aubrey Jaffer wrote the SCM Scheme implementation and manual upon
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which the Guile program and manual are based. Some portions of the
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SCM and SLIB manuals have been included here verbatim.
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Since Guile 1.4, Neil Jerram has been maintaining and improving the
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reference manual. Among other contributions, he wrote the Basic
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Ideas chapter, developed the tools for keeping the manual in sync
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with snarfed libguile docstrings, and reorganized the structure so as
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to accommodate docstrings for all Guile's primitives.
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Martin Grabmueller has made substantial contributions throughout the
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reference manual in preparation for the Guile 1.6 release, including
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filling out a lot of the documentation of Scheme data types, control
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mechanisms and procedures. In addition, he wrote the documentation
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for Guile's SRFI modules and modules associated with the Guile REPL.
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@node Guile License
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@section The Guile License
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@cindex copying
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@cindex GPL
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@cindex LGPL
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@cindex license
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Guile is Free Software. Guile is copyrighted, not public domain, and
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there are restrictions on its distribution or redistribution, but
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these restrictions are designed to permit everything a cooperating
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person would want to do.
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@itemize @bullet
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@item
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The Guile library (libguile) and supporting files are published under
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the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License version 3 or later.
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See the files @file{COPYING.LESSER} and @file{COPYING}.
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@item
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The Guile readline module is published under the terms of the GNU
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General Public License version 3 or later. See the file @file{COPYING}.
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@item
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The manual you're now reading is published under the terms of the GNU
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Free Documentation License (@pxref{GNU Free Documentation License}).
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@end itemize
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C code linking to the Guile library is subject to terms of that
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library. Basically such code may be published on any terms, provided
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users can re-link against a new or modified version of Guile.
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C code linking to the Guile readline module is subject to the terms of
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that module. Basically such code must be published on Free terms.
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Scheme level code written to be run by Guile (but not derived from
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Guile itself) is not resticted in any way, and may be published on any
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terms. We encourage authors to publish on Free terms.
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You must be aware there is no warranty whatsoever for Guile. This is
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described in full in the licenses.
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@c Local Variables:
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@c TeX-master: "guile.texi"
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@c End:
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