SCHEME (1)
UMB Scheme ($Revision: 3.2 $)
ORIGIN
University of Massachusetts at Boston
SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
+0.5i 2.0i
UMB Scheme is an implementation of the language described in the
IEEE Standard for the Scheme Programming Language
(December, 1990). It also supports R4RS, relying on Aubrey Jaffer's
Scheme Portable Library (SLIB)
for R4RS macro support.
All syntax, variables and procedures are implemented.
Integers are implemented as fixnums and bignums, rationals as pairs of integers,
(inexact) reals as double-precision floats, and (inexact) complex numbers as
pairs of double-precision floats.
The following files are loaded in order at startup:
If the variable SCHEME_INIT is set in the user's environment by executing
setenv SCHEME_INIT file
then file is loaded.
If SCHEME_INIT is not set and if a file
.scheme
exists in the user's home directory then it is loaded.
The files named as optional arguments are loaded from left to right.
The primitive procedure
edit
may be used for editing files during a scheme session.
(edit filename)
(edit)
Filename is a string object specifying the file to be edited.
If no filename is given then that file that was most recently edited
is assumed.
The editor used is taken from the shell variable, EDITOR, in the
user's environment; if this variable is not set then
vi(1)
is used by default.
The user can make sure EDITOR is always set by putting a setenv in
his
.login
file; e.g.
setenv EDITOR /usr/ucb/emacs
Upon leaving the editor, that file specified by filename is
automatically loaded using the primitive procedure
loadv,
which causes the interpreter output to be sent to the current output port,
normally the user's terminal. If verbose loading is not desired use the
commands
(edits filename)
(edits)
causing filename to be loaded silently by the primitive procedure
load.
Load
and
loadv
can be used to load any file in silent or verbose mode respectively:
(load filename)
(loadv filename).
UMB Scheme has
property lists:
(put symbol property-name object)
(get symbol property-name)
where
property-names
are symbols.
SCHEME PORTABLE LIBRARY
UMB Scheme can access Aubrey Jaffer's
Scheme Portable Library (SLIB).
For documentation on SLIB see either
http://www.cs.indiana.edu/scheme-repository/SCM/slib_toc.html
or
/usr/local/lib/slib/slib.texinfo.
SYSTEM INTERFACE
UMB Scheme supports calls to the underlying system. The call,
(system cmd-string)
where
cmd-string
is a string representing a system command, causes that command to be passed
to the underlying operating system.
And,
(time)
returns the number of seconds since 00:00:00 GMT, Jan. 1, 1970.
DEFMACRO
UMB Scheme supports the standard
defmacro facility.
For example, assuming quasi-quote notation, the definition
(defmacro := (lhs rhs)
`(set! ,lhs ,rhs))
defines a macro := that translates forms like
(:= a b) to (set! a b)
We rely on the Scheme Portable Library (SLIB) to provide R4RS macros;
to load this, type,
(require 'macro)
EVAL and ENVIRONMENTS
We implement environments as first-class Scheme objects and
introduce an explicit
eval
procedure. So,
(current-environment)
produces the environment in which the call was made. and,
(environment? obj)
produces #t iff obj is an environment object and #f otherwise. The
call,
(global-environment obj)
produces #t iff
obj
is the environment object representing the top-level
global
environment and #f otherwise. Environment objects are used by
eval. The call,
(eval obj environment)
explicitly evaluates the
given object in the given environment. For example,
(define env1 (current-environment)) ; => env1
(define env2 nil) ; => env2
(define x 0) ; => x
(define form '(+ x 1)) ; => form
(let ((x 10))
(set! env2 (current-environment))
nil) ; => nil
(define env3 (let ((x 15)) (current-environment))) ; => env3
; Now, here's the rub
(eval form env1) ; => 1
(eval form env2) ; => 11
(eval form env3) ; => 16
The second argument to
eval
is optional, in which case it defaults to the current environment.
For example,
(define x 0) ; => x
(define form '(+ x 1)) ; => form
(eval form) ; => 1
(let ((x 10))
(eval form)) ; => 11
UMB Scheme implements a macro definition defining the
macro form
make-environment,
such that
(make-environment
(define <name1> <expr1>)
...
(define <namen> <exprn>))
defines a new environment, composed of the current environment
augmented by a new nested frame comprised of the given definitions.
Of course,
(make-environment)
without any definitions has the same effect as
(current-environment)
DEBUGGING
UMB Scheme has a simple debugger. Throughout a session one is
in one of two modes:
top-level mode
or
debugging mode.
In general, one works in top-level mode. If the debugger has been turned on,
an error raised during an evaluation (or an explicit call to break) causes a
break
which puts the user into debugging mode. The user can place explicit calls
to break or error in his code:
(break obj ...) ; Print the objects and break the evaluation.
(error obj ...) ; Print the objects and raise an error.
In debugging mode, certain primitives apply for finding the cause of the offense.
Notice that syntax errors cause a
reset
returning the user to top-level mode. When the debugger is turned off, all
errors simply cause a reset to top-level mode.
(debug) ; turn on the debugger
(debug-off) ; turn off the debugger.
NB: When the debugger is turned on, UMB Scheme is no longer properly
tail-recursive as required by the language definition. For this reason,
the debugger is turned
off
by default. One can insure the debugger is always turned on by putting a
call to debug in the Scheme Init file (e.g. .scheme).
Any scheme expression may be evaluated in debugging mode. It is evaluated
in the environment that existed when the break occurred in the top level
computation; this makes it easy to find the bindings for local variables.
In addition, the following primitives apply.
(reset) ; Return to the top-level read-eval-print loop.
Control-D ; Typing Control-D causes a (reset).
(show-env) ; Show the bindings of all local environments.
(show-env k) ; Show-env for only the k most recent frames.
(show-globals) ; Show bindings for all user-defined globals.
(show-proc-env proc) ; Show a procedure's environment.
(how symbol) ; Show the expression causing symbol's binding.
(where) ; Show an enumerated backtrace of the
; computation being debugged.
(where k) ; Show the most recent k steps of the backtrace.
(go obj) ; Resume the computation being debugged,
; substituting the value of obj for the most recent
; step (as indicated by a call to where).
(go k obj) ; Likewise, but obj is substituted for the k-th step
; as enumerated in the backtrace by (where).
Tracing a procedure involves interrupting evaluation when either the procedure
is about to be applied or the procedure is about to return with a value.
Upon such an interruption, the call or the returned value is printed, and
the user is put in debugging mode.
(trace proc ...) ; Trace named procedures.
(trace) ; Trace all procedures.
(untrace proc ...) ; Cancel tracing for named procedures.
(untrace) ; Cancel tracing for all procedures.
Control-D ; Resume the computation interrupted in the trace.
Stepping through a computation involves interrupting evaluation at every k-th
expression, for a given k. The expression in question is printed and the
user is put in debugging mode.
(step k) ; Interrupt evaluation at every k-th expression.
(step 0) ; Inhibit stepping altogether.
Control-D ; Resume the evaluation broken in the stepping.
Notice that, when stepping or tracing is in effect, any one of a number of
events (the application of a procedure or the k-th expression being reached)
will interrupt evaluation. Since typing
Control-D resumes the interrupted computation, one can step through such a
computation by repeatedly typing Control-D.
Finally, errors or explicit calls to break arising while in debugging mode
simply leave the user in debugging mode. Unlike some other implementations,
UMB Scheme does not support nested debugging sessions. (Keep it simple.)
FILES
/usr/lib/ubm-scheme/prelude.scheme
/usr/lib/umb-scheme/SLIB-for-umb-scheme.init
/usr/local/lib/slib/*
SEE ALSO
COPYING
Copyright (C) 1988, 1990 William R Campbell
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.
AUTHOR
William Campbell, University of Massachusetts at Boston,
with help from Karl Berry,Barbara Dixey,
Ira Gerstein, Mary Glaser, Kathy Hargreaves, Bill McCabe, Long Nguyen,
Susan Quina,
Jeyashree Sivasubram, Bela Sohoni and Thang Quoc Tran.
BUGS
No doubt, there are bugs. Please report them to bill@cs.umb.edu.
|