\input texinfo    @c -*-texinfo-*-
@c =================================================================== @c
@c    serrano/prgm/project/bigloo/manuals/bigloo.texi                  @c
@c    ------------------------------------------------------------     @c
@c    Author      :  Manuel Serrano                                    @c
@c    Creation    :  Sat Jun 13 08:31:55 1998                          @c
@c    Last change :  Tue Jan 15 14:57:31 2002 (serrano)                @c
@c    ------------------------------------------------------------     @c
@c    The documentation for Bigloo                                     @c
@c =================================================================== @c
@setfilename bigloo.info

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    The version                                                      @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@include version.texi

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Title                                                            @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@comment %**start of header
@set edition @value{bigloovers}
@set update-month @value{bigloodate}
@set update-date @value{update-month}
@set bigloo-url http://www-sop.inria.fr/indes/fp/Bigloo
@set bigloo-mail bigloo@@sophia.inria.fr

@settitle Bigloo @value{edition}
@syncodeindex vr cp
@syncodeindex pg cp
@syncodeindex fn cp
@value{bigloovers}

@footnotestyle separate
@ifinfo
@paragraphindent 2
@end ifinfo
@finalout
@comment %**end of header

@set R5RS @url{@value{bigloo-url}/doc/r5rs.html}
@ifinfo
@c @ref{Top, , , r5rs.info}.
@set R5RS @ref{Top, , , r5rs.info}
@end ifinfo 
@iftex 
@set R5RS @value{[R5RS]}
@end iftex

@c Before release, run C-u C-c C-u C-a (texinfo-all-menus-update with a
@c prefix arg).  This updates the node pointers, which texinfmt.el needs.

@c Set smallbook if printing in smallbook format so the example of the
@c smallbook font is actually written using smallbook; in bigbook, a kludge
@c is used for TeX output.
@c  @smallbook                                                         @c
@c  @set smallbook                                                     @c
@c @@clear smallbook

@c Currently undocumented command, 5 December 1993:
@c
@c nwnode          (Same as node, but no warnings; for `makeinfo'.)

@ifinfo
This file documents Bigloo, a Functional Programming Language.

Copyright (C) 1992-99, 2000-22 Manuel Serrano

@display
This program is free software; you can redistribute it            
and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public        
License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either      
version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.  
                                                                  
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,   
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of    
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the     
GNU General Public License for more details.                      
                                                                  
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public         
License along with this program; if not, write to the Free        
Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston,   
MA 02111-1307, USA. 
@end display
@end ifinfo

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Backward compatibility                                           @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@include oldtexinfo.texi

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    The title page                                                   @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@setchapternewpage odd

@c @ifinfo
@c @shorttitlepage Bigloo
@c @end ifinfo

@ifhtml
<BODY bgcolor="#ffefd5" text="#000000" link="#0000ff"vlink="#551a8b" alink="#ff0000" background="">
@end ifhtml
@titlepage
@c use the new format for titles
@title Bigloo
@subtitle The Programming Language (@value{bigloovers})
@subtitle User manual for version @value{edition}
@subtitle @value{update-month}

@author Manuel Serrano

@c Include the Distribution inside the titlepage so
@c that headings are turned off.

@page
@vskip 0pt plus 1filll
@c This file documents Bigloo, an implementation of an extended version
@c of the Scheme programming language.

@c @unnumbered Copyright

Copyright @copyright{} 1992-99, 2000-02 Manuel Serrano

@display
This program is free software; you can redistribute it            
and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public        
License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either      
version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.  
                                                                  
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,   
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of    
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the     
GNU General Public License for more details.                      
                                                                  
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public         
License along with this program; if not, write to the Free        
Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston,   
MA 02111-1307, USA.    
@end display
@end titlepage

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Dir entry                                                        @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@ifinfo
@dircategory Programming Language
@direntry
* bigloo @value{bigloovers}: (bigloo).  The Bigloo Scheme compiler
@end direntry
@end ifinfo

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    The main menu                                                    @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@ifinfo
@node Top, Acknowledgements, (dir), (dir)
@cindex bigloo

Bigloo @value{bigloovers}, @value{bigloodate}


@display

                                    ,--^, 
                              _ ___/ /|/  
                          ,;'( )__, ) '   
                         ;;  //   L__.    
                         '   \    /  '    
                              ^   ^       


@end display
@end ifinfo

@menu
* Acknowledgements::               Brief history and helpers
* Overview::                       A brief summary of Bigloo facilities
* Modules::                        Modules description
* Core Language::                  Syntax, expressions and definitions
* DSSSL Support::                  DSSSL keyword and optional arguments
* Standard Library::               The Bigloo standard library
* Pattern Matching::               Non linear Bigloo pattern matching
* Fast search::                    Fast string search algorithms.
* Structures and Records::         Various Record data types.
* Object System::                  Documentation for the Bigloo object layer
* Regular Parsing::                Pre-compiled regular grammars
* Lalr Parsing::                   Pre-compiled Lalr grammars
* Posix Regular Expressions::      Posix Regular Expressions
* Command Line Parsing::           Parsing binaries command line invocation
* Cryptography::                   Cryptography 
* Errors Assertions and Traces::   Bigloo error handling and Bigloo assertions
* Threads::                        Bigloo multi-threading
* Database::                       Database access
* Multimedia::                     Multimedia programming
* Mail::                           Mail related technologies
* Text::                           Text processing facilities
* CSV::                            Spreadsheet parsers
* Web::                            Web Programming tools
* Eval::                           Use of the interpreter
* Macro Expansion::                The two available macro schemes
* Parameters::                     Controlling the global programs behaviors
* Explicit Typing::                Improving the compiler's code quality
* C Interface::                    Interfacing to C
* Java Interface::                 Interfacing to Java
* SRFIs::                          SRFIs supported by Bigloo 
* Bigloo Libraries::               Creating and using your own libraries
* Extending the Runtime System::   Adding new primitive data types
* Compiler Description::           Interfacing with the compiler
* Cross Compilation::              Compiling for different platforms
* User Extensions::                User compiler extensions
* Bee::                            The Bigloo development environment
* Global Index::                   Global Bigloo document index
* Library Index::                  Index for forms, functions and variables
* Bibliography::
@end menu

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Acknowledgements                                                 @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@node Acknowledgements, Overview, Top, Top
@comment  node-name,  next,  previous,  up
@unnumbered Acknowledgements
@cindex Acknowledgements

Bigloo has been developed at Inria-Rocquencourt by the Icsla team from 1991
to 1994, at the University of Montreal in 1995 and at Digital's Western
Research laboratory in 1996, University of Geneva during 1997 and from the
end of 1997 at the University of Nice.

I would like to express my gratitude to @emph{Hans J. Boehm} for his Garbage
Collector [BoehmWeiser88, Boehm91], @emph{Jean-Marie Geffroy} for his
pattern-matching compiler [QueinnecGeffroy92], @emph{Dominique Boucher} for his
Lalr grammar compiler, @emph{William Clinger} for his syntax expansion
implementation and @emph{Dorai Sitaram} for his contribution with the
@code{pregexp} package and its documentation. I also
especially thank @emph{Christian Queinnec} for all his useful remarks, help,
suggestions and teaching.

Other people have helped me by providing useful remarks, bug fixes
or code improvements. I thank all of them and especially @emph{Luc Moreau}, 
@emph{John Gerard Malecki}, @emph{David Halls} and @emph{David Gurr}.

I thank @emph{Barrie Stott} for his help in making much of the documentation
more idiomatic. Of course, any remaining errors are still mine.

This release of Bigloo may still contain bugs. If you notice
any, please forgive me and send a mail message to the following
address: @email{@value{bigloo-mail}}.

@ifhtml
New versions may be found at @url{@value{bigloo-url}}.
@end ifhtml

This is Bigloo documentation version @value{bigloovers}, @w{@value{update-date}}.

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Bye                                                              @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@ifhtml
@chapter Table of contents
@contents
@summarycontents
@end ifhtml

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Overview                                                         @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c @node Overview, Program Structure, Copying, Top
@node Overview, Modules, Acknowledgements, Top
@comment  node-name,  next,  previous,  up
@chapter Overview of Bigloo
@cindex Overview of Bigloo

Bigloo is an implementation of an extended version of the Scheme
programming language. Without its extensions Bigloo does not entirely
conform to Scheme as defined in the Revised(5) Report on on the
Algorithmic Language Scheme (henceforth R5RS) (@value{R5RS}).
The two reasons are:

@itemize @bullet
@item Bigloo produces C files. C code uses the C stack, so some
programs can't be properly tail recursive. Nevertheless all
simple tail recursions are compiled without stack consumption.

@item Alternatively, Bigloo may produce JVM (Java Virtual Machine byte code)
class files. These classes may use regular Java classes.

@item Bigloo is a module compiler. It compiles modules into `.o' or `.class'
files that must be linked together to produce stand alone executable programs
or JVM jar files.
@end itemize

However, we designed Bigloo to be as close as possible to the
R5RS. Hence, when Bigloo includes a feature that is extracted from
Scheme and implemented as normal, this feature is only mentioned in this
document and not fully described.

@section SRFI

The Bigloo version @value{bigloovers} supports the following SRFIs:

@itemize @bullet
@item @code{srfi-0} (conditional execution).
@item @code{srfi-2} (AND-LET*: an AND with local bindings, a guarded LET* special form).
@item @code{srfi-6} (Basic String Ports).
@item @code{srfi-8} (Binding to multiple values).
@item @code{srfi-9} (@emph{Records} specification).
@item @code{srfi-18} (Multithreading support). 
@item @code{srfi-22} (script interpreter invocation). 
@item @code{srfi-28} (Basic Format Strings). 
@item @code{srfi-30} (Multi-line comments).
@end itemize

@section Separate compilation

To allow and stimulate separate compilation, Bigloo compiles
modules instead of entire programs. A module is composed of
a module declaration and a module body, where a module body can be
thought of as an incomplete Scheme program. 

Bigloo strictly enforces variable bindings. That is, it is illegal in a
body to refer to unbound variables.

In a module declaration, some variables can be declared to be
immutable functions. For such variables, the compiler can then check
if the number of arguments for some function calls are correct or
not. When an arity mismatch is detected, Bigloo signals an error and
aborts the compilation process.

@section C interface

The goal of the design of Bigloo is to allow the merging of high and low
level programming. This means that Bigloo is designed to be fully connected
to the already existing outside world of C.

This connection has two components: a function call interface and a data
storage interface. Bigloo code is able to call C code and vice versa; Bigloo
data storage is accessible from C and vice versa. There are no frontiers
between the Bigloo and C worlds. See @ref{C Interface} for details.

@section Java interface

Since release 2.3, Bigloo is able to produce Java Virtual Machine byte
codes in addition to C code. By producing class files, it is possible
to connect Scheme code and Java code in the same spirit as the Scheme and
C connection.

This connection has two components: a function call interface and a data
storage interface. Bigloo code is able to call Java code and vice versa;
Bigloo data storage is accessible from Java and vice versa. There are no
frontiers between the Bigloo and Java worlds. See @ref{Java Interface} for 
extra details.

@section Object language

Since release 1.9, Bigloo has included an object system. This
system belongs to the @sc{Clos} [Bobrow et al. 88] object
system family but whose design has been mainly inspired by
C. Queinnec's @sc{Meroon} [Queinnec93]. It
is based on @emph{ad-hoc} polymorphism (generic functions and methods),
uses single inheritance and mono-dispatch, and provides the user with
introspection facilities.

@section Threads

Since release 2.4d, Bigloo supports multi-threading. It fully supports
posix threads (preemptive threads) and fair threads (cooperative
threads).

@section SQL

Since release 2.7b, Bigloo includes a SQL binding. Namely, the C Bigloo
runtime system can access the facilities offered by SQLite
(@url{http://www.sqlite.org/}).


@section Type annotations

Type information, related to variable or function definitions, can be added
to the source code. If no type information is provided, runtime checks will
be introduced by the compiler to ensure normal execution, provided that the
user has not used compilation flags to prevents this. If type information is
added, the compiler statically type checks the program and refuses ones that
prove to be incorrect.

@section Unicode support

Bigloo supports UCS-2 Character encoding and also provides conversion
functions between UTF-8 and UCS-2. It still maintains traditional
ISO-LATIN1 characters and strings.

@section DSSSL

Bigloo helps the DSSSL programmer by supporting keywords, named constants
and keyword functions.

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    The modules                                                      @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@include modules.texi

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Core language                                                    @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@include core.texi

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Dsssl                                                            @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@include dsssl.texi

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Standard library                                                 @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@include stdlib.texi

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Pattern matching                                                 @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@include match.texi

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    search                                                           @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@include search.texi

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Structures                                                       @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@include struct.texi

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Object                                                           @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@include object.texi

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    rgc                                                              @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@include rgc.texi

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Lalr                                                             @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@include lalr.texi
 
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Pregexp                                                          @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@include pregexp.texi
 
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Command Line Parsing                                             @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@include cmdline.texi

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Cryptography                                                     @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@include cryptography.texi

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Error handling                                                   @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@include error.texi

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Fair threads                                                     @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@include thread.texi

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Database                                                         @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@include database.texi
 
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Multimedia                                                       @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@include multimedia.texi
 
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Mail                                                             @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@include mail.texi
 
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Text                                                             @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@include text.texi
 
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Csv                                                              @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@include csv.texi
 
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Web                                                              @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@include web.texi
 
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Eval                                                             @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@include eval.texi

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Macro                                                            @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@include macro.texi

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Params                                                           @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@include params.texi

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Typing                                                           @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@include typing.texi

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Foreign interface                                                @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@include foreign.texi

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Java interface                                                   @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@include java.texi

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Library                                                          @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@include library.texi

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Custom                                                           @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@include custom.texi

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Srfi                                                             @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@include srfi.texi

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Compiler                                                         @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@include compiler.texi
@include option.texi

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Cross Compilation                                                @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@include cross.texi

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Extension                                                        @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@include extension.texi

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Bee                                                              @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@include bee.texi

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Index                                                            @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@node Global Index, Library Index, Bee, Top
@comment  node-name,  next,  previous,  up
@chapter Global Index

@printindex cp

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Library Index                                                    @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@node Library Index, Bibliography, Global Index, Top
@comment  node-name,  next,  previous,  up
@chapter Library Index

@printindex pg

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Bibliography                                                     @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@node Bibliography, , Library Index, Top
@unnumbered Bibliography

@itemize @bullet
@item [Bobrow et al. 88]
D. Bobrow, L. DeMichiel, R. Gabriel, S. Keene, G. Kiczales and D. Moon.
@samp{Common lisp object system specification.}
In @emph{special issue}, number 23 in @sc{Sigplan} Notices, September 1988.


@item [BoehmWeiser88]
H.J. Boehm and M. Weiser.
@samp{Garbage collection in an unco-@-operative environment.}
@emph{Software---Practice and Experience}, 
18(9):807--820, Sept-@-ember 1988.

@item [Boehm91]
H.J. Boehm.
@samp{Space efficient conservative garbage collection.}
In @emph{Conference on Programming Language Design and Implementation}, 
number 28, 6 in @sc{Sigplan} Notices, pages 197--206, 1991.

@item [Caml-light]
P. Weis and X. Leroy.
@samp{Le langage CAML}.
@emph{InterEditions, Paris, 1993.}

@item [Dsssl96]
@ ISO/IEC.
@samp{Information technology, Processing Languages, Document
Style Semantics and Specification Languages (dsssl).}
@emph{Technical Report 10179 :1996(E), ISO, 1996.}

@item [Dybvig et al. 86]
K. Dybvig, D. Friedman, and C. Haynes.
@samp{Expansion-passing style: Beyond conventional macros.}
In @emph{Conference on Lisp and Functional Programming}, 
pages 143--150, 1986.

@item [Gallesio95]
E. Gallesio.
@samp{STk Reference Manual.}
Technical Report RT 95-31a, 
I3S-CNRS/University of Nice--Sophia Antipolis, July 1995.

@item [IsoC] 
ISO/IEC.
@samp{9899 programming language --- C.}
@emph{Technical Report DIS 9899, ISO, July 1990.}

@item [Les75]
M.E. Lesk.
@samp{Lex --- a lexical analyzer generator.}
Computing Science Technical Report 39~39, AT&T Bell Laboratories,
Murray Hill, N.J., 1975.

@item [Queinnec93]
C. Queinnec.
@samp{Designing @sc{meroon} v3.}
In @emph{Workshop on Object-Oriented Programming in Lisp}, 1993.

@item [QueinnecGeffroy92]
C. Queinnec and J-M. Geffroy.
@samp{Partial evaluation applied to symbolic pattern matching with
intelligent backtrack.}
In M. Billaud, P. Casteran, MM. Corsini, K. Musumbu, and A. Rauzy:
Editors, @emph{Workshop on Static Analysis}, 
number 81-82 in bigre, pages 109--117, Bordeaux (France), September 1992.

@item [R5RS]
R Kelsey, W. Clinger and J. Rees: Editors.
@samp{The Revised(5) Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme}.
 
@item [Stallman95]
R. Stallman.
@samp{Using and Porting GNU CC.}
for version 2.7.2 ISBN 1-882114-66-3, Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA, November 1995.

@item [SerranoWeis94]
M. Serrano and P. Weis. 
@samp{1+1=1: an optimizing Caml compiler.}
In @emph{ACM SIGPLAN} Workshop on ML and its Applications,
pages 101--111, Orlando (Florida, USA), June 1994. ACM SIGPLAN, INRIA RR 2265.

@item [Steele90]
G. Steele.
@samp{COMMON LISP (The language)}.
@emph{Digital Press (DEC)}, Burlington MA (USA), 2nd edition, 1990.

@end itemize

@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@c    Bye                                                              @c
@c ------------------------------------------------------------------- @c
@iftex
@chapter Table of contents
@contents
@summarycontents
@end iftex
 
@bye
