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44 lines
2.4 KiB
Text
44 lines
2.4 KiB
Text
@page
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@node Libguile Intro
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@chapter Using Guile as an Extension Language
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The chapters in this part of the manual explain how to use Guile as a
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powerful application extension language.
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An important change for the 1.6.x series of Guile releases is that the
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GH interface is now deprecated. For the reasoning behind this decision,
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see @xref{GH deprecation}. The GH interface will continue to be
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supported for the 1.6.x and 1.8.x release series, but will be dropped
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thereafter, so developers are encouraged to switch progressively to the
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scm interface. The last chapter in this part of the manual (@pxref{GH})
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documents both how to use GH and how to switch from GH to scm.
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The Guile developers believe that clarification of the GH vs. scm
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debate, and the consequent deprecation of the GH interface, are in the
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long term interests of the project. However it does create an
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unfortunate situation for developers who want to start a project using
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Guile and so read the manual to find out how to proceed. They will
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discover that the GH interface, although quite well documented, is
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deprecated, but that there is almost no adequate documentation for its
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theoretical replacement, the scm interface. Moreover, the scm interface
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still has the odd few rough edges which need smoothing down.
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Therefore, although deprecated, it is quite OK to continue to use the GH
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interface if you feel uncomfortable with the `scm_' interface as it
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stands today. By the time that support for GH is dropped, we plan to
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have thoroughly documented the `scm_' interface, and to have enhanced it
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such that conversion from GH to the `scm_' interface will be very
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straightforward, and probably mostly automated.
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As far as documentation of the scm interface is concerned, the current
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position is that it is a bit confused, but that the situation should
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improve rapidly once the 1.6.0 release is out. The plan is to refocus
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the bulk of Part II, currently ``Guile Scheme'', as the ``Guile API
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Reference'' so that it covers both Scheme and C interfaces. (This makes
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sense because almost all of Guile's primitive procedures on the Scheme
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level --- e.g. @code{memq} --- are also available as C level primitives
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in the scm interface --- e.g. @code{scm_memq}.) There will then remain
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a certain amount of Scheme-specific (such as the ``Basic Ideas''
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chapter) and C-specific documentation (such as SMOB usage and
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interaction with the garbage collector) to collect into corresponding
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chapters.
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