This is data-rep.info, produced by makeinfo version 4.0 from
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INFO-DIR-SECTION The Algorithmic Language Scheme
START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
* data-rep: (data-rep).  Data Representation in Guile -- how to use
                         Guile objects in your C code.
END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY

   Data Representation in Guile

   Copyright (C) 1998, 1999, 2000 Free Software Foundation

   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 Free Software Foundation.


File: data-rep.info,  Node: Top,  Next: Data Representation in Scheme,  Prev: (dir),  Up: (dir)

Data Representation in Guile
****************************

   This essay is meant to provide the background necessary to read and
write C code that manipulates Scheme values in a way that conforms to
libguile's interface.  If you would like to write or maintain a
Guile-based application in C or C++, this is the first information you
need.

   In order to make sense of Guile's `SCM_' functions, or read
libguile's source code, it's essential to have a good grasp of how Guile
actually represents Scheme values.  Otherwise, a lot of the code, and
the conventions it follows, won't make very much sense.

   We assume you know both C and Scheme, but we do not assume you are
familiar with Guile's C interface.

* Menu:

* Data Representation in Scheme::       Why things aren't just totally
                                        straightforward, in general terms.
* How Guile does it::                   How to write C code that manipulates
                                        Guile values, with an explanation
                                        of Guile's garbage collector.
* Defining New Types (Smobs)::          How to extend Guile with your own
                                        application-specific datatypes.


File: data-rep.info,  Node: Data Representation in Scheme,  Next: How Guile does it,  Prev: Top,  Up: Top

Data Representation in Scheme
=============================

   Scheme is a latently-typed language; this means that the system
cannot, in general, determine the type of a given expression at compile
time.  Types only become apparent at run time.  Variables do not have
fixed types; a variable may hold a pair at one point, an integer at the
next, and a thousand-element vector later.  Instead, values, not
variables, have fixed types.

   In order to implement standard Scheme functions like `pair?' and
`string?' and provide garbage collection, the representation of every
value must contain enough information to accurately determine its type
at run time.  Often, Scheme systems also use this information to
determine whether a program has attempted to apply an operation to an
inappropriately typed value (such as taking the `car' of a string).

   Because variables, pairs, and vectors may hold values of any type,
Scheme implementations use a uniform representation for values -- a
single type large enough to hold either a complete value or a pointer
to a complete value, along with the necessary typing information.

   The following sections will present a simple typing system, and then
make some refinements to correct its major weaknesses.  However, this is
not a description of the system Guile actually uses.  It is only an
illustration of the issues Guile's system must address.  We provide all
the information one needs to work with Guile's data in *Note How Guile
does it::.

* Menu:

* A Simple Representation::
* Faster Integers::
* Cheaper Pairs::
* Guile Is Hairier::


File: data-rep.info,  Node: A Simple Representation,  Next: Faster Integers,  Prev: Data Representation in Scheme,  Up: Data Representation in Scheme

A Simple Representation
-----------------------

   The simplest way to meet the above requirements in C would be to
represent each value as a pointer to a structure containing a type
indicator, followed by a union carrying the real value.  Assuming that
`SCM' is the name of our universal type, we can write:

     enum type { integer, pair, string, vector, ... };
     
     typedef struct value *SCM;
     
     struct value {
       enum type type;
       union {
         int integer;
         struct { SCM car, cdr; } pair;
         struct { int length; char *elts; } string;
         struct { int length; SCM  *elts; } vector;
         ...
       } value;
     };
   with the ellipses replaced with code for the remaining Scheme types.

   This representation is sufficient to implement all of Scheme's
semantics.  If X is an `SCM' value:
   *   To test if X is an integer, we can write `X->type == integer'.

   *   To find its value, we can write `X->value.integer'.

   *   To test if X is a vector, we can write `X->type == vector'.

   *   If we know X is a vector, we can write
     `X->value.vector.elts[0]' to refer to its first element.

   *   If we know X is a pair, we can write   `X->value.pair.car' to
     extract its car.


File: data-rep.info,  Node: Faster Integers,  Next: Cheaper Pairs,  Prev: A Simple Representation,  Up: Data Representation in Scheme

Faster Integers
---------------

   Unfortunately, the above representation has a serious disadvantage.
In order to return an integer, an expression must allocate a `struct
value', initialize it to represent that integer, and return a pointer to
it.  Furthermore, fetching an integer's value requires a memory
reference, which is much slower than a register reference on most
processors.  Since integers are extremely common, this representation is
too costly, in both time and space.  Integers should be very cheap to
create and manipulate.

   One possible solution comes from the observation that, on many
architectures, structures must be aligned on a four-byte boundary.
(Whether or not the machine actually requires it, we can write our own
allocator for `struct value' objects that assures this is true.)  In
this case, the lower two bits of the structure's address are known to
be zero.

   This gives us the room we need to provide an improved representation
for integers.  We make the following rules:
   * If the lower two bits of an `SCM' value are zero, then the SCM
     value is a pointer to a `struct value', and everything proceeds as
     before.

   * Otherwise, the `SCM' value represents an integer, whose value
     appears in its upper bits.

   Here is C code implementing this convention:
     enum type { pair, string, vector, ... };
     
     typedef struct value *SCM;
     
     struct value {
       enum type type;
       union {
         struct { SCM car, cdr; } pair;
         struct { int length; char *elts; } string;
         struct { int length; SCM  *elts; } vector;
         ...
       } value;
     };
     
     #define POINTER_P(x) (((int) (x) & 3) == 0)
     #define INTEGER_P(x) (! POINTER_P (x))
     
     #define GET_INTEGER(x)  ((int) (x) >> 2)
     #define MAKE_INTEGER(x) ((SCM) (((x) << 2) | 1))

   Notice that `integer' no longer appears as an element of `enum
type', and the union has lost its `integer' member.  Instead, we use
the `POINTER_P' and `INTEGER_P' macros to make a coarse classification
of values into integers and non-integers, and do further type testing
as before.

   Here's how we would answer the questions posed above (again, assume
X is an `SCM' value):
   *   To test if X is an integer, we can write `INTEGER_P (X)'.

   *   To find its value, we can write `GET_INTEGER (X)'.

   *   To test if X is a vector, we can write:
            `POINTER_P (X) && X->type == vector'
       Given the new representation, we must make sure X is truly a
     pointer before we dereference it to determine its complete type.

   *   If we know X is a vector, we can write
     `X->value.vector.elts[0]' to refer to its first element, as
     before.

   *   If we know X is a pair, we can write   `X->value.pair.car' to
     extract its car, just as before.

   This representation allows us to operate more efficiently on integers
than the first.  For example, if X and Y are known to be integers, we
can compute their sum as follows:
     MAKE_INTEGER (GET_INTEGER (X) + GET_INTEGER (Y))
   Now, integer math requires no allocation or memory references.  Most
real Scheme systems actually use an even more efficient representation,
but this essay isn't about bit-twiddling.  (Hint: what if pointers had
`01' in their least significant bits, and integers had `00'?)


File: data-rep.info,  Node: Cheaper Pairs,  Next: Guile Is Hairier,  Prev: Faster Integers,  Up: Data Representation in Scheme

Cheaper Pairs
-------------

   However, there is yet another issue to confront.  Most Scheme heaps
contain more pairs than any other type of object; Jonathan Rees says
that pairs occupy 45% of the heap in his Scheme implementation, Scheme
48.  However, our representation above spends three `SCM'-sized words
per pair -- one for the type, and two for the CAR and CDR.  Is there
any way to represent pairs using only two words?

   Let us refine the convention we established earlier.  Let us assert
that:
   *   If the bottom two bits of an `SCM' value are `#b00', then   it
     is a pointer, as before.

   *   If the bottom two bits are `#b01', then the upper bits are an
     integer.  This is a bit more restrictive than before.

   *   If the bottom two bits are `#b10', then the value, with the
     bottom   two bits masked out, is the address of a pair.

   Here is the new C code:
     enum type { string, vector, ... };
     
     typedef struct value *SCM;
     
     struct value {
       enum type type;
       union {
         struct { int length; char *elts; } string;
         struct { int length; SCM  *elts; } vector;
         ...
       } value;
     };
     
     struct pair {
       SCM car, cdr;
     };
     
     #define POINTER_P(x) (((int) (x) & 3) == 0)
     
     #define INTEGER_P(x)  (((int) (x) & 3) == 1)
     #define GET_INTEGER(x)  ((int) (x) >> 2)
     #define MAKE_INTEGER(x) ((SCM) (((x) << 2) | 1))
     
     #define PAIR_P(x) (((int) (x) & 3) == 2)
     #define GET_PAIR(x) ((struct pair *) ((int) (x) & ~3))

   Notice that `enum type' and `struct value' now only contain
provisions for vectors and strings; both integers and pairs have become
special cases.  The code above also assumes that an `int' is large
enough to hold a pointer, which isn't generally true.

   Our list of examples is now as follows:
   *   To test if X is an integer, we can write `INTEGER_P   (X)'; this
     is as before.

   *   To find its value, we can write `GET_INTEGER (X)', as   before.

   *   To test if X is a vector, we can write:
            `POINTER_P (X) && X->type == vector'
       We must still make sure that X is a pointer to a `struct
     value' before dereferencing it to find its type.

   *   If we know X is a vector, we can write
     `X->value.vector.elts[0]' to refer to its first element, as
     before.

   *   We can write `PAIR_P (X)' to determine if X is a   pair, and
     then write `GET_PAIR (X)->car' to refer to its   car.

   This change in representation reduces our heap size by 15%.  It also
makes it cheaper to decide if a value is a pair, because no memory
references are necessary; it suffices to check the bottom two bits of
the `SCM' value.  This may be significant when traversing lists, a
common activity in a Scheme system.

   Again, most real Scheme systems use a slighty different
implementation; for example, if GET_PAIR subtracts off the low bits of
`x', instead of masking them off, the optimizer will often be able to
combine that subtraction with the addition of the offset of the
structure member we are referencing, making a modified pointer as fast
to use as an unmodified pointer.


File: data-rep.info,  Node: Guile Is Hairier,  Prev: Cheaper Pairs,  Up: Data Representation in Scheme

Guile Is Hairier
----------------

   We originally started with a very simple typing system -- each object
has a field that indicates its type.  Then, for the sake of efficiency
in both time and space, we moved some of the typing information directly
into the `SCM' value, and left the rest in the `struct value'.  Guile
itself employs a more complex hierarchy, storing finer and finer
gradations of type information in different places, depending on the
object's coarser type.

   In the author's opinion, Guile could be simplified greatly without
significant loss of efficiency, but the simplified system would still be
more complex than what we've presented above.


File: data-rep.info,  Node: How Guile does it,  Next: Defining New Types (Smobs),  Prev: Data Representation in Scheme,  Up: Top

How Guile does it
=================

   Here we present the specifics of how Guile represents its data.  We
don't go into complete detail; an exhaustive description of Guile's
system would be boring, and we do not wish to encourage people to write
code which depends on its details anyway.  We do, however, present
everything one need know to use Guile's data.

* Menu:

* General Rules::
* Garbage Collection::
* Immediates vs. Non-immediates::
* Immediate Datatypes::
* Non-immediate Datatypes::
* Signalling Type Errors::


File: data-rep.info,  Node: General Rules,  Next: Garbage Collection,  Prev: How Guile does it,  Up: How Guile does it

General Rules
-------------

   Any code which operates on Guile datatypes must `#include' the
header file `<libguile.h>'.  This file contains a definition for the
`SCM' typedef (Guile's universal type, as in the examples above), and
definitions and declarations for a host of macros and functions that
operate on `SCM' values.

   All identifiers declared by `<libguile.h>' begin with `scm_' or
`SCM_'.

   The functions described here generally check the types of their
`SCM' arguments, and signal an error if their arguments are of an
inappropriate type.  Macros generally do not, unless that is their
specified purpose.  You must verify their argument types beforehand, as
necessary.

   Macros and functions that return a boolean value have names ending in
`P' or `_p' (for "predicate").  Those that return a negated boolean
value have names starting with `SCM_N'.  For example, `SCM_IMP (X)' is
a predicate which returns non-zero iff X is an immediate value (an
`IM').  `SCM_NCONSP (X)' is a predicate which returns non-zero iff X is
_not_ a pair object (a `CONS').


File: data-rep.info,  Node: Garbage Collection,  Next: Immediates vs. Non-immediates,  Prev: General Rules,  Up: How Guile does it

Garbage Collection
------------------

   Aside from the latent typing, the major source of constraints on a
Scheme implementation's data representation is the garbage collector.
The collector must be able to traverse every live object in the heap, to
determine which objects are not live.

   There are many ways to implement this, but Guile uses an algorithm
called "mark and sweep".  The collector scans the system's global
variables and the local variables on the stack to determine which
objects are immediately accessible by the C code.  It then scans those
objects to find the objects they point to, et cetera.  The collector
sets a "mark bit" on each object it finds, so each object is traversed
only once.  This process is called "tracing".

   When the collector can find no unmarked objects pointed to by marked
objects, it assumes that any objects that are still unmarked will never
be used by the program (since there is no path of dereferences from any
global or local variable that reaches them) and deallocates them.

   In the above paragraphs, we did not specify how the garbage collector
finds the global and local variables; as usual, there are many different
approaches.  Frequently, the programmer must maintain a list of pointers
to all global variables that refer to the heap, and another list
(adjusted upon entry to and exit from each function) of local variables,
for the collector's benefit.

   The list of global variables is usually not too difficult to
maintain, since global variables are relatively rare.  However, an
explicitly maintained list of local variables (in the author's personal
experience) is a nightmare to maintain.  Thus, Guile uses a technique
called "conservative garbage collection", to make the local variable
list unnecessary.

   The trick to conservative collection is to treat the stack as an
ordinary range of memory, and assume that _every_ word on the stack is
a pointer into the heap.  Thus, the collector marks all objects whose
addresses appear anywhere in the stack, without knowing for sure how
that word is meant to be interpreted.

   Obviously, such a system will occasionally retain objects that are
actually garbage, and should be freed.  In practice, this is not a
problem.  The alternative, an explicitly maintained list of local
variable addresses, is effectively much less reliable, due to programmer
error.

   To accomodate this technique, data must be represented so that the
collector can accurately determine whether a given stack word is a
pointer or not.  Guile does this as follows:
   * Every heap object has a two-word header, called a "cell".  Some
     objects, like pairs, fit entirely in a cell's two words; others may
     store pointers to additional memory in either of the words.  For
     example, strings and vectors store their length in the first word,
     and a pointer to their elements in the second.

   * Guile allocates whole arrays of cells at a time, called "heap
     segments".  These segments are always allocated so that the cells
     they contain fall on eight-byte boundaries, or whatever is
     appropriate for the machine's word size.  Guile keeps all cells in
     a heap segment initialized, whether or not they are currently in
     use.

   * Guile maintains a sorted table of heap segments.


   Thus, given any random word W fetched from the stack, Guile's
garbage collector can consult the table to see if W falls within a
known heap segment, and check W's alignment.  If both tests pass, the
collector knows that W is a valid pointer to a cell, intentional or
not, and proceeds to trace the cell.

   Note that heap segments do not contain all the data Guile uses; cells
for objects like vectors and strings contain pointers to other memory
areas.  However, since those pointers are internal, and not shared among
many pieces of code, it is enough for the collector to find the cell,
and then use the cell's type to find more pointers to trace.


File: data-rep.info,  Node: Immediates vs. Non-immediates,  Next: Immediate Datatypes,  Prev: Garbage Collection,  Up: How Guile does it

Immediates vs. Non-immediates
-----------------------------

   Guile classifies Scheme objects into two kinds: those that fit
entirely within an `SCM', and those that require heap storage.

   The former class are called "immediates".  The class of immediates
includes small integers, characters, boolean values, the empty list, the
mysterious end-of-file object, and some others.

   The remaining types are called, not suprisingly, "non-immediates".
They include pairs, procedures, strings, vectors, and all other data
types in Guile.

 - Macro: int SCM_IMP (SCM X)
     Return non-zero iff X is an immediate object.

 - Macro: int SCM_NIMP (SCM X)
     Return non-zero iff X is a non-immediate object.  This is the
     exact complement of `SCM_IMP', above.

     You must use this macro before calling a finer-grained predicate to
     determine X's type.  For example, to see if X is a pair, you must
     write:
          SCM_NIMP (X) && SCM_CONSP (X)
     This is because Guile stores typing information for non-immediate
     values in their cells, rather than in the `SCM' value itself;
     thus, you must determine whether X refers to a cell before looking
     inside it.

     This is somewhat of a pity, because it means that the programmer
     needs to know which types Guile implements as immediates vs.
     non-immediates.  There are (possibly better) representations in
     which `SCM_CONSP' can be self-sufficient.  The immediate type
     predicates do not suffer from this weakness.


File: data-rep.info,  Node: Immediate Datatypes,  Next: Non-immediate Datatypes,  Prev: Immediates vs. Non-immediates,  Up: How Guile does it

Immediate Datatypes
-------------------

   The following datatypes are immediate values; that is, they fit
entirely within an `SCM' value.  The `SCM_IMP' and `SCM_NIMP' macros
will distinguish these from non-immediates; see *Note Immediates vs.
Non-immediates:: for an explanation of the distinction.

   Note that the type predicates for immediate values work correctly on
any `SCM' value; you do not need to call `SCM_IMP' first, to establish
that a value is immediate.  This differs from the non-immediate type
predicates, which work correctly only on non-immediate values; you must
be sure the value is `SCM_NIMP' before applying them.

* Menu:

* Integers::
* Characters::
* Booleans::
* Unique Values::


File: data-rep.info,  Node: Integers,  Next: Characters,  Prev: Immediate Datatypes,  Up: Immediate Datatypes

Integers
........

   Here are functions for operating on small integers, that fit within
an `SCM'.  Such integers are called "immediate numbers", or "INUMs".
In general, INUMs occupy all but two bits of an `SCM'.

   Bignums and floating-point numbers are non-immediate objects, and
have their own, separate accessors.  The functions here will not work on
them.  This is not as much of a problem as you might think, however,
because the system never constructs bignums that could fit in an INUM,
and never uses floating point values for exact integers.

 - Macro: int SCM_INUMP (SCM X)
     Return non-zero iff X is a small integer value.

 - Macro: int SCM_NINUMP (SCM X)
     The complement of SCM_INUMP.

 - Macro: int SCM_INUM (SCM X)
     Return the value of X as an ordinary, C integer.  If X is not an
     INUM, the result is undefined.

 - Macro: SCM SCM_MAKINUM (int I)
     Given a C integer I, return its representation as an `SCM'.  This
     function does not check for overflow.


File: data-rep.info,  Node: Characters,  Next: Booleans,  Prev: Integers,  Up: Immediate Datatypes

Characters
..........

   Here are functions for operating on characters.

 - Macro: int SCM_CHARP (SCM X)
     Return non-zero iff X is a character value.

 - Macro: unsigned int SCM_CHAR (SCM X)
     Return the value of `x' as a C character.  If X is not a Scheme
     character, the result is undefined.

 - Macro: SCM SCM_MAKE_CHAR (int C)
     Given a C character C, return its representation as a Scheme
     character value.


File: data-rep.info,  Node: Booleans,  Next: Unique Values,  Prev: Characters,  Up: Immediate Datatypes

Booleans
........

   Here are functions and macros for operating on booleans.

 - Macro: SCM SCM_BOOL_T
 - Macro: SCM SCM_BOOL_F
     The Scheme true and false values.

 - Macro: int SCM_NFALSEP (X)
     Convert the Scheme boolean value to a C boolean.  Since every
     object in Scheme except `#f' is true, this amounts to comparing X
     to `#f'; hence the name.

 - Macro: SCM SCM_BOOL_NOT (X)
     Return the boolean inverse of X.  If X is not a Scheme boolean,
     the result is undefined.


File: data-rep.info,  Node: Unique Values,  Prev: Booleans,  Up: Immediate Datatypes

Unique Values
.............

   The immediate values that are neither small integers, characters, nor
booleans are all unique values -- that is, datatypes with only one
instance.

 - Macro: SCM SCM_EOL
     The Scheme empty list object, or "End Of List" object, usually
     written in Scheme as `'()'.

 - Macro: SCM SCM_EOF_VAL
     The Scheme end-of-file value.  It has no standard written
     representation, for obvious reasons.

 - Macro: SCM SCM_UNSPECIFIED
     The value returned by expressions which the Scheme standard says
     return an "unspecified" value.

     This is sort of a weirdly literal way to take things, but the
     standard read-eval-print loop prints nothing when the expression
     returns this value, so it's not a bad idea to return this when you
     can't think of anything else helpful.

 - Macro: SCM SCM_UNDEFINED
     The "undefined" value.  Its most important property is that is not
     equal to any valid Scheme value.  This is put to various internal
     uses by C code interacting with Guile.

     For example, when you write a C function that is callable from
     Scheme and which takes optional arguments, the interpreter passes
     `SCM_UNDEFINED' for any arguments you did not receive.

     We also use this to mark unbound variables.

 - Macro: int SCM_UNBNDP (SCM X)
     Return true if X is `SCM_UNDEFINED'.  Apply this to a symbol's
     value to see if it has a binding as a global variable.


File: data-rep.info,  Node: Non-immediate Datatypes,  Next: Signalling Type Errors,  Prev: Immediate Datatypes,  Up: How Guile does it

Non-immediate Datatypes
-----------------------

   A non-immediate datatype is one which lives in the heap, either
because it cannot fit entirely within a `SCM' word, or because it
denotes a specific storage location (in the nomenclature of the
Revised^4 Report on Scheme).

   The `SCM_IMP' and `SCM_NIMP' macros will distinguish these from
immediates; see *Note Immediates vs. Non-immediates::.

   Given a cell, Guile distinguishes between pairs and other
non-immediate types by storing special "tag" values in a non-pair
cell's car, that cannot appear in normal pairs.  A cell with a non-tag
value in its car is an ordinary pair.  The type of a cell with a tag in
its car depends on the tag; the non-immediate type predicates test this
value.  If a tag value appears elsewhere (in a vector, for example),
the heap may become corrupted.

* Menu:

* Non-immediate Type Predicates::  Special rules for using the type
                                        predicates described here.
* Pairs::
* Vectors::
* Procedures::
* Closures::
* Subrs::
* Ports::


File: data-rep.info,  Node: Non-immediate Type Predicates,  Next: Pairs,  Prev: Non-immediate Datatypes,  Up: Non-immediate Datatypes

Non-immediate Type Predicates
.............................

   As mentioned in *Note Garbage Collection::, all non-immediate objects
start with a "cell", or a pair of words.  Furthermore, all type
information that distinguishes one kind of non-immediate from another is
stored in the cell.  The type information in the `SCM' value indicates
only that the object is a non-immediate; all finer distinctions require
one to examine the cell itself, usually with the appropriate type
predicate macro.

   The type predicates for non-immediate objects generally assume that
their argument is a non-immediate value.  Thus, you must be sure that a
value is `SCM_NIMP' first before passing it to a non-immediate type
predicate.  Thus, the idiom for testing whether a value is a cell or not
is:
     SCM_NIMP (X) && SCM_CONSP (X)


File: data-rep.info,  Node: Pairs,  Next: Vectors,  Prev: Non-immediate Type Predicates,  Up: Non-immediate Datatypes

Pairs
.....

   Pairs are the essential building block of list structure in Scheme.
A pair object has two fields, called the "car" and the "cdr".

   It is conventional for a pair's CAR to contain an element of a list,
and the CDR to point to the next pair in the list, or to contain
`SCM_EOL', indicating the end of the list.  Thus, a set of pairs
chained through their CDRs constitutes a singly-linked list.  Scheme
and libguile define many functions which operate on lists constructed
in this fashion, so although lists chained through the CARs of pairs
will work fine too, they may be less convenient to manipulate, and
receive less support from the community.

   Guile implements pairs by mapping the CAR and CDR of a pair directly
into the two words of the cell.

 - Macro: int SCM_CONSP (SCM X)
     Return non-zero iff X is a Scheme pair object.  The results are
     undefined if X is an immediate value.

 - Macro: int SCM_NCONSP (SCM X)
     The complement of SCM_CONSP.

 - Macro: void SCM_NEWCELL (SCM INTO)
     Allocate a new cell, and set INTO to point to it.  This macro
     expands to a statement, not an expression, and INTO must be an
     lvalue of type SCM.

     This is the most primitive way to allocate a cell; it is quite
     fast.

     The CAR of the cell initially tags it as a "free cell".  If the
     caller intends to use it as an ordinary cons, she must store
     ordinary SCM values in its CAR and CDR.

     If the caller intends to use it as a header for some other type,
     she must store an appropriate magic value in the cell's CAR, to
     mark it as a member of that type, and store whatever value in the
     CDR that type expects.  You should generally not do this, unless
     you are implementing a new datatype, and thoroughly understand the
     code in `<libguile/tags.h>'.

 - Function: SCM scm_cons (SCM CAR, SCM CDR)
     Allocate ("CONStruct") a new pair, with CAR and CDR as its
     contents.

   The macros below perform no typechecking.  The results are undefined
if CELL is an immediate.  However, since all non-immediate Guile
objects are constructed from cells, and these macros simply return the
first element of a cell, they actually can be useful on datatypes other
than pairs.  (Of course, it is not very modular to use them outside of
the code which implements that datatype.)

 - Macro: SCM SCM_CAR (SCM CELL)
     Return the CAR, or first field, of CELL.

 - Macro: SCM SCM_CDR (SCM CELL)
     Return the CDR, or second field, of CELL.

 - Macro: void SCM_SETCAR (SCM CELL, SCM X)
     Set the CAR of CELL to X.

 - Macro: void SCM_SETCDR (SCM CELL, SCM X)
     Set the CDR of CELL to X.

 - Macro: SCM SCM_CAAR (SCM CELL)
 - Macro: SCM SCM_CADR (SCM CELL)
 - Macro: SCM SCM_CDAR (SCM CELL) ...
 - Macro: SCM SCM_CDDDDR (SCM CELL)
     Return the CAR of the CAR of CELL, the CAR of the CDR of CELL, et
     cetera.


File: data-rep.info,  Node: Vectors,  Next: Procedures,  Prev: Pairs,  Up: Non-immediate Datatypes

Vectors, Strings, and Symbols
.............................

   Vectors, strings, and symbols have some properties in common.  They
all have a length, and they all have an array of elements.  In the case
of a vector, the elements are `SCM' values; in the case of a string or
symbol, the elements are characters.

   All these types store their length (along with some tagging bits) in
the CAR of their header cell, and store a pointer to the elements in
their CDR.  Thus, the `SCM_CAR' and `SCM_CDR' macros are (somewhat)
meaningful when applied to these datatypes.

 - Macro: int SCM_VECTORP (SCM X)
     Return non-zero iff X is a vector.  The results are undefined if X
     is an immediate value.

 - Macro: int SCM_STRINGP (SCM X)
     Return non-zero iff X is a string.  The results are undefined if X
     is an immediate value.

 - Macro: int SCM_SYMBOLP (SCM X)
     Return non-zero iff X is a symbol.  The results are undefined if X
     is an immediate value.

 - Macro: int SCM_LENGTH (SCM X)
     Return the length of the object X.  The results are undefined if X
     is not a vector, string, or symbol.

 - Macro: SCM * SCM_VELTS (SCM X)
     Return a pointer to the array of elements of the vector X.  The
     results are undefined if X is not a vector.

 - Macro: char * SCM_CHARS (SCM X)
     Return a pointer to the characters of X.  The results are
     undefined if X is not a symbol or a string.

   There are also a few magic values stuffed into memory before a
symbol's characters, but you don't want to know about those.  What
cruft!


File: data-rep.info,  Node: Procedures,  Next: Closures,  Prev: Vectors,  Up: Non-immediate Datatypes

Procedures
..........

   Guile provides two kinds of procedures: "closures", which are the
result of evaluating a `lambda' expression, and "subrs", which are C
functions packaged up as Scheme objects, to make them available to
Scheme programmers.

   (There are actually other sorts of procedures: compiled closures, and
continuations; see the source code for details about them.)

 - Function: SCM scm_procedure_p (SCM X)
     Return `SCM_BOOL_T' iff X is a Scheme procedure object, of any
     sort.  Otherwise, return `SCM_BOOL_F'.


File: data-rep.info,  Node: Closures,  Next: Subrs,  Prev: Procedures,  Up: Non-immediate Datatypes

Closures
........

   [FIXME: this needs to be further subbed, but texinfo has no
subsubsub]

   A closure is a procedure object, generated as the value of a
`lambda' expression in Scheme.  The representation of a closure is
straightforward -- it contains a pointer to the code of the lambda
expression from which it was created, and a pointer to the environment
it closes over.

   In Guile, each closure also has a property list, allowing the system
to store information about the closure.  I'm not sure what this is used
for at the moment -- the debugger, maybe?

 - Macro: int SCM_CLOSUREP (SCM X)
     Return non-zero iff X is a closure.  The results are undefined if
     X is an immediate value.

 - Macro: SCM SCM_PROCPROPS (SCM X)
     Return the property list of the closure X.  The results are
     undefined if X is not a closure.

 - Macro: void SCM_SETPROCPROPS (SCM X, SCM P)
     Set the property list of the closure X to P.  The results are
     undefined if X is not a closure.

 - Macro: SCM SCM_CODE (SCM X)
     Return the code of the closure X.  The results are undefined if X
     is not a closure.

     This function should probably only be used internally by the
     interpreter, since the representation of the code is intimately
     connected with the interpreter's implementation.

 - Macro: SCM SCM_ENV (SCM X)
     Return the environment enclosed by X.  The results are undefined
     if X is not a closure.

     This function should probably only be used internally by the
     interpreter, since the representation of the environment is
     intimately connected with the interpreter's implementation.


File: data-rep.info,  Node: Subrs,  Next: Ports,  Prev: Closures,  Up: Non-immediate Datatypes

Subrs
.....

   [FIXME: this needs to be further subbed, but texinfo has no
subsubsub]

   A subr is a pointer to a C function, packaged up as a Scheme object
to make it callable by Scheme code.  In addition to the function
pointer, the subr also contains a pointer to the name of the function,
and information about the number of arguments accepted by the C
fuction, for the sake of error checking.

   There is no single type predicate macro that recognizes subrs, as
distinct from other kinds of procedures.  The closest thing is
`scm_procedure_p'; see *Note Procedures::.

 - Macro: char * SCM_SNAME (X)
     Return the name of the subr X.  The results are undefined if X is
     not a subr.

 - Function: SCM scm_make_gsubr (char *NAME, int REQ, int OPT, int
          REST, SCM (*FUNCTION)())
     Create a new subr object named NAME, based on the C function
     FUNCTION, make it visible to Scheme the value of as a global
     variable named NAME, and return the subr object.

     The subr object accepts REQ required arguments, OPT optional
     arguments, and a REST argument iff REST is non-zero.  The C
     function FUNCTION should accept `REQ + OPT' arguments, or `REQ +
     OPT + 1' arguments if `rest' is non-zero.

     When a subr object is applied, it must be applied to at least REQ
     arguments, or else Guile signals an error.  FUNCTION receives the
     subr's first REQ arguments as its first REQ arguments.  If there
     are fewer than OPT arguments remaining, then FUNCTION receives the
     value `SCM_UNDEFINED' for any missing optional arguments.  If RST
     is non-zero, then any arguments after the first `REQ + OPT' are
     packaged up as a list as passed as FUNCTION's last argument.

     Note that subrs can actually only accept a predefined set of
     combinations of required, optional, and rest arguments.  For
     example, a subr can take one required argument, or one required
     and one optional argument, but a subr can't take one required and
     two optional arguments.  It's bizarre, but that's the way the
     interpreter was written.  If the arguments to `scm_make_gsubr' do
     not fit one of the predefined patterns, then `scm_make_gsubr' will
     return a compiled closure object instead of a subr object.


File: data-rep.info,  Node: Ports,  Prev: Subrs,  Up: Non-immediate Datatypes

Ports
.....

   Haven't written this yet, 'cos I don't understand ports yet.


File: data-rep.info,  Node: Signalling Type Errors,  Prev: Non-immediate Datatypes,  Up: How Guile does it

Signalling Type Errors
----------------------

   Every function visible at the Scheme level should aggressively check
the types of its arguments, to avoid misinterpreting a value, and
perhaps causing a segmentation fault.  Guile provides some macros to
make this easier.

 - Macro: void SCM_ASSERT (int TEST, SCM OBJ, int POSITION, char *SUBR)
     If TEST is zero, signal an error, attributed to the subroutine
     named SUBR, operating on the value OBJ.  The POSITION value
     determines exactly what sort of error to signal.

     If POSITION is a string, `SCM_ASSERT' raises a "miscellaneous"
     error whose message is that string.

     Otherwise, POSITION should be one of the values defined below.

 - Macro: int SCM_ARG1
 - Macro: int SCM_ARG2
 - Macro: int SCM_ARG3
 - Macro: int SCM_ARG4
 - Macro: int SCM_ARG5
     Signal a "wrong type argument" error.  When used as the POSITION
     argument of `SCM_ASSERT', `SCM_ARGN' claims that OBJ has the wrong
     type for the N'th argument of SUBR.

     The only way to complain about the type of an argument after the
     fifth is to use `SCM_ARGn', defined below, which doesn't specify
     which argument is wrong.  You could pass your own error message to
     `SCM_ASSERT' as the POSITION, but then the error signalled is a
     "miscellaneous" error, not a "wrong type argument" error.  This
     seems kludgy to me.

 - Macro: int SCM_ARGn
     As above, but does not specify which argument's type is incorrect.

 - Macro: int SCM_WNA
     Signal an error complaining that the function received the wrong
     number of arguments.

     Interestingly, the message is attributed to the function named by
     OBJ, not SUBR, so OBJ must be a Scheme string object naming the
     function.  Usually, Guile catches these errors before ever
     invoking the subr, so we don't run into these problems.

 - Macro: int SCM_OUTOFRANGE
     Signal an error complaining that OBJ is "out of range" for SUBR.


File: data-rep.info,  Node: Defining New Types (Smobs),  Prev: How Guile does it,  Up: Top

Defining New Types (Smobs)
==========================

   "Smobs" are Guile's mechanism for adding new non-immediate types to
the system.(1)  To define a new smob type, the programmer provides
Guile with some essential information about the type -- how to print
it, how to garbage collect it, and so on -- and Guile returns a fresh
type tag for use in the CAR of new cells.  The programmer can then use
`scm_make_gsubr' to make a set of C functions that create and operate
on these objects visible to Scheme code.

   (You can find a complete version of the example code used in this
section in the Guile distribution, in `doc/example-smob'.  That
directory includes a makefile and a suitable `main' function, so you
can build a complete interactive Guile shell, extended with the
datatypes described here.)

* Menu:

* Describing a New Type::
* Creating Instances::
* Typechecking::
* Garbage Collecting Smobs::
* A Common Mistake In Allocating Smobs::
* Garbage Collecting Simple Smobs::
* A Complete Example::

   ---------- Footnotes ----------

   (1) The term "smob" was coined by Aubrey Jaffer, who says it comes
from "small object", referring to the fact that only the CDR and part
of the CAR of a smob's cell are available for use.


File: data-rep.info,  Node: Describing a New Type,  Next: Creating Instances,  Prev: Defining New Types (Smobs),  Up: Defining New Types (Smobs)

Describing a New Type
---------------------

   To define a new type, the programmer must write four functions to
manage instances of the type:

`mark'
     Guile will apply this function to each instance of the new type it
     encounters during garbage collection.  This function is
     responsible for telling the collector about any other
     non-immediate objects the object refers to.  The default smob mark
     function is to not mark any data.  *Note Garbage Collecting
     Smobs::, for more details.

`free'
     Guile will apply this function to each instance of the new type it
     could not find any live pointers to.  The function should release
     all resources held by the object and return the number of bytes
     released.  This is analagous to the Java finalization method- it
     is invoked at an unspecified time (when garbage collection occurs)
     after the object is dead.  The default free function frees the
     smob data (if the size of the struct passed to
     `scm_make_smob_type' or `scm_make_smob_type_mfpe' is non-zero)
     using `scm_must_free' and returns the size of that struct.  *Note
     Garbage Collecting Smobs::, for more details.

`print'
     Guile will apply this function to each instance of the new type to
     print the value, as for `display' or `write'.  The function should
     write a printed representation of EXP on PORT, in accordance with
     the parameters in PSTATE.  (For more information on print states,
     see *Note Ports::.)  The default print function prints `#<NAME
     ADDRESS>' where `NAME' is the first argument passed to
     `scm_make_smob_type' or `scm_make_smob_type_mfpe'.

`equalp'
     If Scheme code asks the `equal?' function to compare two instances
     of the same smob type, Guile calls this function.  It should return
     `SCM_BOOL_T' if A and B should be considered `equal?', or
     `SCM_BOOL_F' otherwise.  If `equalp' is `NULL', `equal?' will
     assume that two instances of this type are never `equal?' unless
     they are `eq?'.

   To actually register the new smob type, call `scm_make_smob_type':

 - Function: long scm_make_smob_type (const char *name, scm_sizet size)
     This function implements the standard way of adding a new smob
     type, named NAME, with instance size SIZE, to the system.  The
     return value is a tag that is used in creating instances of the
     type.  If SIZE is 0, then no memory will be allocated when
     instances of the smob are created, and nothing will be freed by
     the default free function.  Default values are provided for mark,
     free, print, and, equalp, as described above.  If you want to
     customize any of these functions, the call to `scm_make_smob_type'
     should be immediately followed by calls to one or several of
     `scm_set_smob_mark', `scm_set_smob_free', `scm_set_smob_print',
     and/or `scm_set_smob_equalp'.

   Each of the below `scm_set_smob_XXX' functions registers a smob
special function for a given type.  Each function is intended to be used
only zero or one time per type, and the call should be placed
immediately following the call to `scm_make_smob_type'.

 - Function: void scm_set_smob_mark (long tc, SCM (*mark) (SCM))
     This function sets the smob marking procedure for the smob type
     specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
     `scm_make_smob_type'.

 - Function: void scm_set_smob_free (long tc, scm_sizet (*free) (SCM))
     This function sets the smob freeing procedure for the smob type
     specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
     `scm_make_smob_type'.

 - Function: void scm_set_smob_print (long tc, int (*print)
          (SCM,SCM,scm_print_state*))
     This function sets the smob printing procedure for the smob type
     specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
     `scm_make_smob_type'.

 - Function: void scm_set_smob_equalp (long tc, SCM (*equalp) (SCM,SCM))
     This function sets the smob equality-testing predicate for the
     smob type specified by the tag TC. TC is the tag returned by
     `scm_make_smob_type'.

   Instead of using `scm_make_smob_type' and calling each of the
individual `scm_set_smob_XXX' functions to register each special
function independently, you can use `scm_make_smob_type_mfpe' to
register all of the special functions at once as you create the smob
type(1):

 - Function: long scm_make_smob_type_mfpe(const char *name, scm_sizet
          size, SCM (*mark) (SCM), scm_sizet (*free) (SCM), int
          (*print) (SCM, SCM, scm_print_state*), SCM (*equalp) (SCM,
          SCM))
     This function invokes `scm_make_smob_type' on its first two
     arguments to add a new smob type named NAME, with instance size
     SIZE to the system.  It also registers the MARK, FREE, PRINT,
     EQUALP smob special functions for that new type.  Any of these
     parameters can be `NULL' to have that special function use the
     default behaviour for guile.  The return value is a tag that is
     used in creating instances of the type.  If SIZE is 0, then no
     memory will be allocated when instances of the smob are created,
     and nothing will be freed by the default free function.

   For example, here is how one might declare and register a new type
representing eight-bit grayscale images:
     #include <libguile.h>
     
     long image_tag;
     
     void
     init_image_type ()
     {
       image_tag = scm_make_smob_type_mfpe ("image",sizeof(struct image),
     				       mark_image, free_image, print_image, NULL);
     }

   ---------- Footnotes ----------

   (1) Warning: There is an ongoing discussion among the developers
which may result in deprecating `scm_make_smob_type_mfpe' in next
release of Guile.


File: data-rep.info,  Node: Creating Instances,  Next: Typechecking,  Prev: Describing a New Type,  Up: Defining New Types (Smobs)

Creating Instances
------------------

   Like other non-immediate types, smobs start with a cell whose CAR
contains typing information, and whose `cdr' is free for any use.  For
smobs, the `cdr' stores a pointer to the internal C structure holding
the smob-specific data.  To create an instance of a smob type following
these standards, you should use `SCM_NEWSMOB':

 - Macro: void SCM_NEWSMOB(SCM value,long tag,void *data)
     Make VALUE contain a smob instance of the type with tag TAG and
     smob data DATA.  VALUE must be previously declared as C type `SCM'.

   Since it is often the case (e.g., in smob constructors) that you will
create a smob instance and return it, there is also a slightly
specialized macro for this situation:

 - Macro: fn_returns SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB(long tab, void *data)
     This macro expands to a block of code that creates a smob instance
     of the type with tag TAG and smob data DATA, and returns that
     `SCM' value.  It should be the last piece of code in a block.

   Guile provides the following functions for managing memory, which are
often helpful when implementing smobs:

 - Function: char * scm_must_malloc (long LEN, char *WHAT)
     Allocate LEN bytes of memory, using `malloc', and return a pointer
     to them.

     If there is not enough memory available, invoke the garbage
     collector, and try once more.  If there is still not enough,
     signal an error, reporting that we could not allocate WHAT.

     This function also helps maintain statistics about the size of the
     heap.

 - Function: char * scm_must_realloc (char *ADDR, long OLEN, long LEN,
          char *WHAT)
     Resize (and possibly relocate) the block of memory at ADDR, to
     have a size of LEN bytes, by calling `realloc'.  Return a pointer
     to the new block.

     If there is not enough memory available, invoke the garbage
     collector, and try once more.  If there is still not enough,
     signal an error, reporting that we could not allocate WHAT.

     The value OLEN should be the old size of the block of memory at
     ADDR; it is only used for keeping statistics on the size of the
     heap.

 - Function: void scm_must_free (char *ADDR)
     Free the block of memory at ADDR, using `free'.  If ADDR is zero,
     signal an error, complaining of an attempt to free something that
     is already free.

     This does no record-keeping; instead, the smob's `free' function
     must take care of that.

     This function isn't usually sufficiently different from the usual
     `free' function to be worth using.

   Continuing the above example, if the global variable `image_tag'
contains a tag returned by `scm_newsmob', here is how we could
construct a smob whose CDR contains a pointer to a freshly allocated
`struct image':

     struct image {
       int width, height;
       char *pixels;
     
       /* The name of this image */
       SCM name;
     
       /* A function to call when this image is
          modified, e.g., to update the screen,
          or SCM_BOOL_F if no action necessary */
       SCM update_func;
     };
     
     SCM
     make_image (SCM name, SCM s_width, SCM s_height)
     {
       struct image *image;
       int width, height;
     
       SCM_ASSERT (SCM_NIMP (name) && SCM_STRINGP (name), name,
                   SCM_ARG1, "make-image");
       SCM_ASSERT (SCM_INUMP (s_width),  s_width,  SCM_ARG2, "make-image");
       SCM_ASSERT (SCM_INUMP (s_height), s_height, SCM_ARG3, "make-image");
     
       width = SCM_INUM (s_width);
       height = SCM_INUM (s_height);
     
       image = (struct image *) scm_must_malloc (sizeof (struct image), "image");
       image->width = width;
       image->height = height;
       image->pixels = scm_must_malloc (width * height, "image pixels");
       image->name = name;
       image->update_func = SCM_BOOL_F;
     
       SCM_RETURN_NEWSMOB (image_tag, image);
     }


File: data-rep.info,  Node: Typechecking,  Next: Garbage Collecting Smobs,  Prev: Creating Instances,  Up: Defining New Types (Smobs)

Typechecking
------------

   Functions that operate on smobs should aggressively check the types
of their arguments, to avoid misinterpreting some other datatype as a
smob, and perhaps causing a segmentation fault.  Fortunately, this is
pretty simple to do.  The function need only verify that its argument
is a non-immediate, whose CAR is the type tag returned by `scm_newsmob'.

   For example, here is a simple function that operates on an image
smob, and checks the type of its argument.  We also present an expanded
version of the `init_image_type' function, to make `clear_image' and
the image constructor function `make_image' visible to Scheme code.
     SCM
     clear_image (SCM image_smob)
     {
       int area;
       struct image *image;
     
       SCM_ASSERT ((SCM_NIMP (image_smob)
                    && SCM_CAR (image_smob) == image_tag),
                   image_smob, SCM_ARG1, "clear-image");
     
       image = (struct image *) SCM_CDR (image_smob);
       area = image->width * image->height;
       memset (image->pixels, 0, area);
     
       /* Invoke the image's update function.  */
       if (image->update_func != SCM_BOOL_F)
         scm_apply (image->update_func, SCM_EOL, SCM_EOL);
     
       return SCM_UNSPECIFIED;
     }
     
     
     void
     init_image_type ()
     {
       image_tag = scm_newsmob (&image_funs);
     
       scm_make_gsubr ("make-image", 3, 0, 0, make_image);
       scm_make_gsubr ("clear-image", 1, 0, 0, clear_image);
     }

   Note that checking types is a little more complicated during garbage
collection; see the description of `SCM_GCTYP16' in *Note Garbage
Collecting Smobs::.


File: data-rep.info,  Node: Garbage Collecting Smobs,  Next: A Common Mistake In Allocating Smobs,  Prev: Typechecking,  Up: Defining New Types (Smobs)

Garbage Collecting Smobs
------------------------

   Once a smob has been released to the tender mercies of the Scheme
system, it must be prepared to survive garbage collection.  Guile calls
the `mark' and `free' functions of the `scm_smobfuns' structure to
manage this.

   As described before (*note Garbage Collection::), every object in the
Scheme system has a "mark bit", which the garbage collector uses to
tell live objects from dead ones.  When collection starts, every
object's mark bit is clear.  The collector traces pointers through the
heap, starting from objects known to be live, and sets the mark bit on
each object it encounters.  When it can find no more unmarked objects,
the collector walks all objects, live and dead, frees those whose mark
bits are still clear, and clears the mark bit on the others.

   The two main portions of the collection are called the "mark phase",
during which the collector marks live objects, and the "sweep phase",
during which the collector frees all unmarked objects.

   The mark bit of a smob lives in its CAR, along with the smob's type
tag.  When the collector encounters a smob, it sets the smob's mark bit,
and uses the smob's type tag to find the appropriate `mark' function
for that smob: the one listed in that smob's `scm_smobfuns' structure.
It then calls the `mark' function, passing it the smob as its only
argument.

   The `mark' function is responsible for marking any other Scheme
objects the smob refers to.  If it does not do so, the objects' mark
bits will still be clear when the collector begins to sweep, and the
collector will free them.  If this occurs, it will probably break, or at
least confuse, any code operating on the smob; the smob's `SCM' values
will have become dangling references.

   To mark an arbitrary Scheme object, the `mark' function may call
this function:

 - Function: void scm_gc_mark (SCM X)
     Mark the object X, and recurse on any objects X refers to.  If X's
     mark bit is already set, return immediately.

   Thus, here is how we might write the `mark' function for the image
smob type discussed above:
     SCM
     mark_image (SCM image_smob)
     {
       /* Mark the image's name and update function.  */
       struct image *image = (struct image *) SCM_CDR (image_smob);
     
       scm_gc_mark (image->name);
       scm_gc_mark (image->update_func);
     
       return SCM_BOOL_F;
     }

   Note that, even though the image's `update_func' could be an
arbitrarily complex structure (representing a procedure and any values
enclosed in its environment), `scm_gc_mark' will recurse as necessary
to mark all its components.  Because `scm_gc_mark' sets an object's
mark bit before it recurses, it is not confused by circular structures.

   As an optimization, the collector will mark whatever value is
returned by the `mark' function; this helps limit depth of recursion
during the mark phase.  Thus, the code above could also be written as:
     SCM
     mark_image (SCM image_smob)
     {
       /* Mark the image's name and update function.  */
       struct image *image = (struct image *) SCM_CDR (image_smob);
     
       scm_gc_mark (image->name);
       return image->update_func;
     }

   Finally, when the collector encounters an unmarked smob during the
sweep phase, it uses the smob's tag to find the appropriate `free'
function for the smob.  It then calls the function, passing it the smob
as its only argument.

   The `free' function must release any resources used by the smob.
However, it need not free objects managed by the collector; the
collector will take care of them.  The return type of the `free'
function should be `scm_sizet', an unsigned integral type; the `free'
function should return the number of bytes released, to help the
collector maintain statistics on the size of the heap.

   Here is how we might write the `free' function for the image smob
type:
     scm_sizet
     free_image (SCM image_smob)
     {
       struct image *image = (struct image *) SCM_CDR (image_smob);
       scm_sizet size = image->width * image->height + sizeof (*image);
     
       free (image->pixels);
       free (image);
     
       return size;
     }

   During the sweep phase, the garbage collector will clear the mark
bits on all live objects.  The code which implements a smob need not do
this itself.

   There is no way for smob code to be notified when collection is
complete.

   Note that, since a smob's mark bit lives in its CAR, along with the
smob's type tag, the technique for checking the type of a smob described
in *Note Typechecking:: will not necessarily work during GC.  If you
need to find out whether a given object is a particular smob type
during GC, use the following macro:

 - Macro: void SCM_GCTYP16 (SCM X)
     Return the type bits of the smob X, with the mark bit clear.

     Use this macro instead of `SCM_CAR' to check the type of a smob
     during GC.  Usually, only code called by the smob's `mark' function
     need worry about this.

   It is usually a good idea to minimize the amount of processing done
during garbage collection; keep `mark' and `free' functions very
simple.  Since collections occur at unpredictable times, it is easy for
any unusual activity to interfere with normal code.


File: data-rep.info,  Node: A Common Mistake In Allocating Smobs,  Next: Garbage Collecting Simple Smobs,  Prev: Garbage Collecting Smobs,  Up: Defining New Types (Smobs)

A Common Mistake In Allocating Smobs
------------------------------------

   When constructing new objects, you must be careful that the garbage
collector can always find any new objects you allocate.  For example,
suppose we wrote the `make_image' function this way:

     SCM
     make_image (SCM name, SCM s_width, SCM s_height)
     {
       struct image *image;
       SCM image_smob;
       int width, height;
     
       SCM_ASSERT (SCM_NIMP (name) && SCM_STRINGP (name), name,
                   SCM_ARG1, "make-image");
       SCM_ASSERT (SCM_INUMP (s_width),  s_width,  SCM_ARG2, "make-image");
       SCM_ASSERT (SCM_INUMP (s_height), s_height, SCM_ARG3, "make-image");
     
       width = SCM_INUM (s_width);
       height = SCM_INUM (s_height);
     
       image = (struct image *) scm_must_malloc (sizeof (struct image), "image");
       image->width = width;
       image->height = height;
       image->pixels = scm_must_malloc (width * height, "image pixels");
     
       /* THESE TWO LINES HAVE CHANGED: */
       image->name = scm_string_copy (name);
       image->update_func = scm_make_gsubr (...);
     
       SCM_NEWCELL (image_smob);
       SCM_SETCDR (image_smob, image);
       SCM_SETCAR (image_smob, image_tag);
     
       return image_smob;
     }

   This code is incorrect.  The calls to `scm_string_copy' and
`scm_make_gsubr' allocate fresh objects.  Allocating any new object may
cause the garbage collector to run.  If `scm_make_gsubr' invokes a
collection, the garbage collector has no way to discover that
`image->name' points to the new string object; the `image' structure is
not yet part of any Scheme object, so the garbage collector will not
traverse it.  Since the garbage collector cannot find any references to
the new string object, it will free it, leaving `image' pointing to a
dead object.

   A correct implementation might say, instead:
       image->name = SCM_BOOL_F;
       image->update_func = SCM_BOOL_F;
     
       SCM_NEWCELL (image_smob);
       SCM_SETCDR (image_smob, image);
       SCM_SETCAR (image_smob, image_tag);
     
       image->name = scm_string_copy (name);
       image->update_func = scm_make_gsubr (...);
     
       return image_smob;

   Now, by the time we allocate the new string and function objects,
`image_smob' points to `image'.  If the garbage collector scans the
stack, it will find a reference to `image_smob' and traverse `image',
so any objects `image' points to will be preserved.


File: data-rep.info,  Node: Garbage Collecting Simple Smobs,  Next: A Complete Example,  Prev: A Common Mistake In Allocating Smobs,  Up: Defining New Types (Smobs)

Garbage Collecting Simple Smobs
-------------------------------

   It is often useful to define very simple smob types -- smobs which
have no data to mark, other than the cell itself, or smobs whose CDR is
simply an ordinary Scheme object, to be marked recursively.  Guile
provides some functions to handle these common cases; you can use these
functions as your smob type's `mark' function, if your smob's structure
is simple enough.

   If the smob refers to no other Scheme objects, then no action is
necessary; the garbage collector has already marked the smob cell
itself.  In that case, you can use zero as your mark function.

 - Function: SCM scm_markcdr (SCM X)
     Mark the references in the smob X, assuming that X's CDR contains
     an ordinary Scheme object, and X refers to no other objects.  This
     function simply returns X's CDR.

 - Function: scm_sizet scm_free0 (SCM X)
     Do nothing; return zero.  This function is appropriate for smobs
     that use either zero or `scm_markcdr' as their marking functions,
     and refer to no heap storage, including memory managed by `malloc',
     other than the smob's header cell.


File: data-rep.info,  Node: A Complete Example,  Prev: Garbage Collecting Simple Smobs,  Up: Defining New Types (Smobs)

A Complete Example
------------------

   Here is the complete text of the implementation of the image
datatype, as presented in the sections above.  We also provide a
definition for the smob's `print' function, and make some objects and
functions static, to clarify exactly what the surrounding code is using.

   As mentioned above, you can find this code in the Guile
distribution, in `doc/example-smob'.  That directory includes a
makefile and a suitable `main' function, so you can build a complete
interactive Guile shell, extended with the datatypes described here.)

     /* file "image-type.c" */
     
     #include <stdlib.h>
     #include <libguile.h>
     
     static long image_tag;
     
     struct image {
       int width, height;
       char *pixels;
     
       /* The name of this image */
       SCM name;
     
       /* A function to call when this image is
          modified, e.g., to update the screen,
          or SCM_BOOL_F if no action necessary */
       SCM update_func;
     };
     
     static SCM
     make_image (SCM name, SCM s_width, SCM s_height)
     {
       struct image *image;
       SCM image_smob;
       int width, height;
     
       SCM_ASSERT (SCM_NIMP (name) && SCM_STRINGP (name), name,
                   SCM_ARG1, "make-image");
       SCM_ASSERT (SCM_INUMP (s_width),  s_width,  SCM_ARG2, "make-image");
       SCM_ASSERT (SCM_INUMP (s_height), s_height, SCM_ARG3, "make-image");
     
       width = SCM_INUM (s_width);
       height = SCM_INUM (s_height);
     
       image = (struct image *) scm_must_malloc (sizeof (struct image), "image");
       image->width = width;
       image->height = height;
       image->pixels = scm_must_malloc (width * height, "image pixels");
       image->name = name;
       image->update_func = SCM_BOOL_F;
     
       SCM_NEWCELL (image_smob);
       SCM_SETCDR (image_smob, image);
       SCM_SETCAR (image_smob, image_tag);
     
       return image_smob;
     }
     
     static SCM
     clear_image (SCM image_smob)
     {
       int area;
       struct image *image;
     
       SCM_ASSERT ((SCM_NIMP (image_smob)
                    && SCM_CAR (image_smob) == image_tag),
                   image_smob, SCM_ARG1, "clear-image");
     
       image = (struct image *) SCM_CDR (image_smob);
       area = image->width * image->height;
       memset (image->pixels, 0, area);
     
       /* Invoke the image's update function.  */
       if (image->update_func != SCM_BOOL_F)
         scm_apply (image->update_func, SCM_EOL, SCM_EOL);
     
       return SCM_UNSPECIFIED;
     }
     
     static SCM
     mark_image (SCM image_smob)
     {
       struct image *image = (struct image *) SCM_CDR (image_smob);
     
       scm_gc_mark (image->name);
       return image->update_func;
     }
     
     static scm_sizet
     free_image (SCM image_smob)
     {
       struct image *image = (struct image *) SCM_CDR (image_smob);
       scm_sizet size = image->width * image->height + sizeof (struct image);
     
       free (image->pixels);
       free (image);
     
       return size;
     }
     
     static int
     print_image (SCM image_smob, SCM port, scm_print_state *pstate)
     {
       struct image *image = (struct image *) SCM_CDR (image_smob);
     
       scm_puts ("#<image ", port);
       scm_display (image->name, port);
       scm_puts (">", port);
     
       /* non-zero means success */
       return 1;
     }
     
     static scm_smobfuns image_funs = {
       mark_image, free_image, print_image, 0
     };
     
     void
     init_image_type ()
     {
       image_tag = scm_newsmob (&image_funs);
     
       scm_make_gsubr ("clear-image", 1, 0, 0, clear_image);
       scm_make_gsubr ("make-image", 3, 0, 0, make_image);
     }

   Here is a sample build and interaction with the code from the
`example-smob' directory, on the author's machine:

     zwingli:example-smob$ make CC=gcc
     gcc `guile-config compile`   -c image-type.c -o image-type.o
     gcc `guile-config compile`   -c myguile.c -o myguile.o
     gcc image-type.o myguile.o `guile-config link` -o myguile
     zwingli:example-smob$ ./myguile
     guile> make-image
     #<primitive-procedure make-image>
     guile> (define i (make-image "Whistler's Mother" 100 100))
     guile> i
     #<image Whistler's Mother>
     guile> (clear-image i)
     guile> (clear-image 4)
     ERROR: In procedure clear-image in expression (clear-image 4):
     ERROR: Wrong type argument in position 1: 4
     ABORT: (wrong-type-arg)
     
     Type "(backtrace)" to get more information.
     guile>



Tag Table:
Node: Top1057
Node: Data Representation in Scheme2390
Node: A Simple Representation4089
Node: Faster Integers5488
Node: Cheaper Pairs8957
Node: Guile Is Hairier12254
Node: How Guile does it13030
Node: General Rules13688
Node: Garbage Collection14883
Node: Immediates vs. Non-immediates18986
Node: Immediate Datatypes20635
Node: Integers21491
Node: Characters22600
Node: Booleans23135
Node: Unique Values23742
Node: Non-immediate Datatypes25284
Node: Non-immediate Type Predicates26479
Node: Pairs27438
Node: Vectors30449
Node: Procedures32112
Node: Closures32754
Node: Subrs34496
Node: Ports36867
Node: Signalling Type Errors37026
Node: Defining New Types (Smobs)39104
Ref: Defining New Types (Smobs)-Footnote-140248
Node: Describing a New Type40440
Ref: Describing a New Type-Footnote-146168
Node: Creating Instances46321
Node: Typechecking50383
Node: Garbage Collecting Smobs52178
Node: A Common Mistake In Allocating Smobs57613
Node: Garbage Collecting Simple Smobs60271
Node: A Complete Example61589

End Tag Table
