Eagles Nest BBS 8

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Eagles Nest BBS 8 / Eagles_Nest_Mac_Collection_Disc_8.TOAST / Developer Environments / AllegroCL11 / read me 1.1 < prev

Wrap

Text File | 1987-10-28 | 19.8 KB | 437 lines | [TEXT/CCL ]

Allegro CL release 1.1 Release Notes October 28, 1987 Copyright © Coral Software Corp This document describes changes in Allegro CL 1.1, and includes additions to the printed documentation. Please read the following notes carefully. They provide information which is not given elsewhere. HIGHLIGHTS Many version 1.0 bugs have been fixed in Version 1.1. Perhaps the most important were a bug that caused crashes on 68000-based Macintoshes, and several bugs in hash tables. If you had bugs in version 1.0, please check to make sure that they are fixed in this version. There are a small number of outstanding bugs that we are aware of. These are listed at the end of this file. A comprehensive index has been added to the manual. Definitions of traps and records are no longer built into the system; they are now given as source code. To use traps or records, you should load the corresponding files from the library folder. A good technique is to place (REQUIRE 'TRAPS) and/or (REQUIRE 'RECORDS) at the top of any files which use these definitions. Removing these definitions freed up about 80K more heap space for user programs. The trap definitions now include many Macintosh II traps, including color quickdraw traps. Besides traps and records, code written for version 1.0 should run without alteration in version 1.1. You should not need to recompile your files. Allegro CL now runs in the background under Multifinder. This means that you can perform all Lisp operations--including compiling files--while using another program in the foreground. Several example files have been added. Allegro CL version 1.1 is dedicated to the people who gave us feedback on version 1.0. Thanks! TOOLS The list-definitions dialog no longer performs unnecessary window refreshing. The Apropos menu-item now uses a simpler dialog. To get the functionality of the version 1.0 Apropos dialog, load the file library;Smart-Apropos.lisp. The variables for determining the size and position of the listener were improperly documented in release 1.0. The correct names of the variables are *LISTENER-WINDOW-SIZE* and *LISTENER-WINDOW-POSITION*. FRED When a fred window search causes scrolling, the found text is no longer placed at the top of the window. Instead, there are a number of lines left visible above the found text. The number is determined by the variable *NEXT-SCREEN-CONTEXT-LINES* (which is also used by the fred commands for scrolling from the keyboard). Fred windows now store and display their window-filenames with embedded escape characters. This fixes a problem that came up in version 1.0 when editing files with names which contained exclamation points and semicolons. The functions IN-PACKAGE and EXPORT now work properly with a window's package. There are now three methods for setting a window's package. In addition to the standard mode-line and the function SET-WINDOW-PACKAGE, a window's package will be set if the first expression in the window is an IN-PACKAGE statement. As with a mode-line, this method only works if the expression is there when the window is opened. It does not work by simply making the IN-PACKAGE statement the first form typed into or evaluated from the window. OBJECTS INIT-LIST-DEFAULT is now a macro, as documented. Each KEY argument is evaluated. The EXPRESSIONs are only evaluated if they are used. Examples: (setq args '(:a 1 b 2 :c 3)) (init-list-default args 'b 20 :c 30 :d (+ 4 40) 'e (+ 5 50)) => (:D 44 E 55 :A 1 B 2 :C 3) args => (:A 1 B 2 :C 3) (init-list-default args :a (progn (print "shouldn't") 10) :d (progn (print "should") (+ 4 40))) => "should" ;printed (:D 44 :A 1 B 2 :C 3) ;value returned The root object now maintains an OBJECT-CHILDREN instance variable. The function REMAKE-OBJECT does not propagate the new inheritance path to its children and instances. This is a bug. WINDOWS When WINDOW-DRAW-CONTENTS is called, drawing is clipped to the update-region. the update-region includes areas which the operating system thinks needs to be redrawn (e.g. the portions of a window which have been uncovered). To add an area to the update-region, call the trap _INVALRECT or _INVALRGN. To force redrawing of the entire window, you can use (WITH-PORT WPTR (_INVALRECT :PTR (RREF WPTR WINDOW.PORTRECT))) Note that the traps _INVALRECT and _INVALRGN cause the Macintosh to post an update event. Because update events are handled asynchronously, these traps can immediately force an update. If you wish to invalidate several areas before updating, place the calls in the body of a WITHOUT-INTERRUPTS. Whenever a window is created or uncovered, an update event is posted for the window. The next time events are processed, WINDOW-UPDATE-EVENT-HANDLER will be called, which will in turn call WINDOW-DRAW-CONTENTS. The usual version of WINDOW-DRAW-CONTENTS erases the area within the window's update region (which generally means the entire contents of the window). Because event processing occurs asynchonously, WINDOW-UPDATE-EVENT-HANDLER may not be called for some time after the window is created or uncovered (in the default environment, up to 1/3 of a second). This means that drawing performed in the window immediately after the window is created or uncovered may be erased when WINDOW-UPDATE-EVENT-HANDLER is eventually called. To fix this problem, simply call the function EVENT-DISPATCH before drawing into the window. EVENT-DISPATCH forces the processing of any pending events. Note, it is only necessary to call EVENT-DISPATCH when drawing occurs soon after a window is created or uncovered. SET-WINDOW-FONT merges the given font-spec with the window's current font spec. Say a window currently uses the font-spec ("MONACO" 9 :PLAIN :SRCCOPY), Having it (SET-WINDOW-FONT 12) will change it to ("MONACO" 12 :PLAIN :SRCCOPY). In Allegro CL 1.0 it would have changed it to ("CHICAGO" 12 :PLAIN :SRCCOPY). There is a typo on page 6-3, in the Windows chapter. In the example at the bottom of the page, the call to EXIST should be given the argument NIL, rather than no argument. Documentation for supporting the Save and Save As… menu-items has been added to the Windows chapter. It appears on the chapter's last page. The object function WINDOW-HARDCOPY may be defined for any window or class of windows. If a window has a definition of WINDOW-HARDCOPY, then the Print menu-item will be enabled when that window is on top. The WINDOW-HARDCOPY function will be called when the user chooses the Print menu-item. The EXIST function for windows can take a :WPTR init-list option. If given, this should be a pointer to a window record on the Macintosh heap. The new window object will be built around this record. This option can be used to integrate new types of windows (e.g. color windows), into the object system. When this is done, the windows should be created invisibly, and then shown after they are set up. When the user clicks in the zoom-box of a window, the zooming is done by calling WINDOW-ZOOM-EVENT-HANDLER. This function may be shadowed. It takes one argument, which will be 8 if the window is zooming to the default position, and 7 if it is zooming to the alternate position. Grow icons are now drawn correctly in resizable windows. If you wish to explicitly redraw a grow-icon (e.g. after you have drawn over it), you should call the function WINDOW-DRAW-GROW-ICON. When a window is not the active window, WINDOW-DRAW-GROW-ICON erases the rectangle where the grow icon appears. Two object variables constrain the way in which windows may be resized and moved with the mouse. These are WINDOW-GROW-RECT and WINDOW-DRAG-RECT. Both these variables should point to rectangle records (though the data in WINDOW-GROW-RECT is actually used as two points). The two corner points of WINDOW-GROW-RECT determine the minimum and maximum size that the user can grow the window with the mouse. Note that the user can still zoom the window to other sizes, and the other sizes can be set with the function SET-WINDOW-SIZE. The rectangle WINDOW-DRAG-RECT constrains moving the window with the mouse. Whenever the mouse moves outside this rectangle, the gray drag rectangle disappears, indicating that the user is out-of-bounds. Note, this effect is determined by the position of the mouse, not the potential new position of the window. If the user clicks in the right or left side of the title bar, he/she will be able to drag the window within a different range. Most windows do not have an instance variable for these values. Instead, they use the values inherited from the class *WINDOW*. If you wish to constrain a particular class or instance, you must first give it its own copy of the variable by asking it to HAVE the variable. If you just do a SETQ without first doing a have, you will be effecting *WINDOW*'s variables, and all windows will be effected. Because the rectangles used by WINDOW-DRAG-RECT and WINDOW-GROW-RECT are stored on the Macintosh heap, they are not garbage collected. Any instance which has one of the rectangles must dispose of it explicitly. This is most conveniently done by calling DISPOSE-RECORD from within WINDOW-CLOSE. DIALOGS The following function can be used to force the redrawing of a single cell in a table. This often looks much better than redrawing the entire table (which is what happens when you call DIALOG-ITEM-DRAW). It is useful when you change the value of one cell and want to update the table. (defobfun (draw-cell *table-dialog-item*) (cell) (let* ((cell-pos (cell-position cell))) (when cell-pos (with-port (ask my-dialog wptr) (rlet ((cell-rect rect)) (rset cell-rect rect.topleft cell-pos) (rset cell-rect rect.bottomright (add-points cell-pos (cell-size))) (ccl::draw-table-cell cell cell-rect (cell-selected-p cell))))))) *USER-DIALOG-ITEM* holds an abstract class of dialog-items which should be used as the parent of any dialog-item classes created by the programmer. See the icon-dialog-items file for an example. DIALOG-ITEM-CLICK-EVENT-HANDLER is the function called by the event system when the user clicks on a dialog item. This function usually performs mouse- tracking, and (if the mouse is released while still over the dialog-item) calls DIALOG-ITEM-ACTION. See the icon-dialog-items file for an example of the use of this function. PROGRAMMING FRED The variable *CONTROL-X-COMTAB* is bound to the comtab used by the control-x keystroke. Each fred-window maintains an instance variable LAST-COMMAND. Whenever a fred command is run, the special variable *LAST-COMMAND* is bound to the value of this instance variable. A fred command can set the value of the instance variable or check the value of the special variable. In this way a fred command can respond to context (e.g. by doing something different if it is called several times in a row). Most built-in fred commands simply set LAST-COMMAND to NIL. The function GET-SELECTED-STRING returns--as a string--the selection from the topmost fred window. If the topmost fred window has no text selected, nil is returned. Note that this function can take a very long time if an entire large buffer is selected. EVENTS WINDOW-CLICK-EVENT-HANDLER is not called when the user clicks in a control in a window (such as a scroll-bar). Instead, the function WINDOW-CONTROL-CLICK- EVENT-HANDLER is called. If you want to build a window with controls, you should define this function for the window. WINDOW-CONTROL-CLICK-EVENT-HANDLER is not really necessary, and will probably be removed from a future release, but you may need to use it in the mean time. WINDOW-CONTROL-CLICK-EVENT-HANDLER takes four arguments: CONTROL-HANDLE, CODE, WHERE, and MODS. CONTROL-HANDLE is a handle to the control which was clicked. CODE indicates the part of the control which was clicked. WHERE is the mouse position where the click occured. And MODS indicates which modifier keys were held down during the click. The function WINDOW-KEY-EVENT-HANDLER is not called when the command key is held down. This is a bug. DEBUGGING The methods for getting into and out of break loops has been cleaned up. Command-. causes an abort, which throws to top level or up one break level. Command-. is no longer used to enter a break-loop. Command-, causes a break. Command-/ causes a continue. The abort/break/continue functionality is also available through menu-items on on the Eval menu, and through the functions ABORT, BREAK, and CONTINUE. The backtrace dialog no longer displays the addresses of functions (as this information is not usually useful). It does display an A5 offset for annonymous built-in functions. This offset can be helpful when reporting bugs to Coral. The variable *D* used in the backtrace dialog has been renamed *DEBUG-VALUE*. Two special variables control the print-length and print-level used by TRACE. These are *TRACE-PRINT-LENGTH* and *TRACE-PRINT-LEVEL*. They correspond to the variables *PRINT-LENGTH* and *PRINT-LEVEL* except that they control the output of the TRACE function rather than the pretty printer. (See Common Lisp: the Language, page 372). The macro PRINT-DB is used to print out forms and their values. PRINT-DB takes any number of arguments. For each argument, it prints the argument, and prints the result of evaluating the argument (except for string constants, which are only printed once). All information is printed to *ERROR-OUTPUT*. PRINT-DB returns the value of its last argument. It is semantically equivalent to a PROGN with the side affect of printing. PRINT-DB is useful for tracking the values of variables, and flow of control inside programs. STEP is performed in the null lexical environment and current dynamic environment, just like EVAL. If you insert a call to STEP in the middle of a function, beware that arguments to the function and other lexical entities will not be visible inside the body of the STEP form. PASCAL RECORDS Most of the predefined record types described in the manual are no longer predefined. Instead, they are given as source code in the Records.Lisp file in the Library folder. If you need to use records, you may want to look through this file for record definitions. To load all the record definitions, you can evaluate the expression (REQUIRE 'RECORDS). The rectangle record definition is still predefined by Allegro CL. RSET and RREF compile into simply memory accessing functions. They access record definitions at compile time, but not at run time. The same is true of RLET when initial field values are not given. All other record functions use the record definitions at run time. To avoid the need for record definitions at run time, use only RSET, RREF, and the simple case of RLET. These operations are also the most efficient. Compiled files which use these operations can be loaded and run in a system that contains no record definitions. The complex case of RLET (where initial values are given) can easily be changed into the simple case. For example (rlet ((r :rect :topleft #@(10 10) :bottomright #@(100 100))) . . . ) would become (rlet ((r :rect)) (rset r rect.topleft #@(10 10)) (rset r rect.bottomright #@(100 100)) . . .) SYSTEM INTERFACE The definitions for Macintosh traps are no longer compiled into Allegro CL. If you need to call traps directly, you should load the file Traps.Lisp in the Library folder. You may want to selectively comment-out portions of this file, to avoid loading lots of traps you don't need. Loading the entire file uses up about 50K of heap space. The simplest way to include trap definitions is to evaluate the form (REQUIRE 'TRAPS). Macintosh traps return boolean values as fixnums. This fixnum will have bit 8 turned on if the boolean value is true. For example (LOGBITP 8 (_BUTTON :WORD)) will return true if the mouse-button is held down. When passing boolean values to the Macintosh operating system, use -1 as true, and 0 as false. The function documented as %inc-pointer is actually named %inc-ptr. After disposing of Macintosh pointers, it is important to zero all Lisp variables holding the pointer (e.g. by setting them to NIL). If the Macintosh and Lisp heaps resize, dead pointers may begin pointing into active pages in the Lisp heap. This will confuse the garbage collector and probably cause a crash. FILES When LOAD is passed a filename with no type, it checks for the existence of the file with no type before checking for files with a .lisp or .fasl added to the file name. In the past LOAD always merged with .lisp and .fasl, so that it was impossible to load files with no type. The :directory keyword to the function CHOOSE-NEW-FILE-DIALOG can specify a filename as well as a directory. This filename is used as the default filename when the dialog is displayed. The variable *OPEN-FILE-STREAMS* is bound to a list of all currently open files. This list is useful for closing all open files. IMPLEMENTATION NOTES The search performed by APROPOS is case sensitive. This means that when APROPOS is given a string as an argument, the string should generally be all upper-case (unless you know that you are looking for a symbol containing lower-case letters). The Apropos dialog available from the Tools menu automatically upcases the entered string. *WARN-IF-REDEFINE-KERNEL* determines whether warnings are issued when built-in non-object functions are redefined. If it is NIL, no warning is given. This variable should usually be non-NIL, but may be bound to NIL when redefining such functions as SHORT-SITE-NAME. *WARN-IF-REDEFINE* is still used for user functions and built-in object functions. The function UNCOMPILE-FUNCTION returns the definition of a compiled function. This definition is only available if the function was compiled with *SAVE-DEFINITIONS* non-NIL. MANUAL The manual now includes a glossary, a comprehensive index, and tabs for dividing chapters. Several typos have been fixed. MISCELLEANOUS If the cursor is hidden when a garbage collection occurs, the cursor is auto- matically shown. You don't have to jiggle the mouse. Functions for calling Macintosh printer drivers have been exported. These functions correspond to the high-level functions described in Inside Macintosh (except that they have '%_' prepended to their names). %_PROPEN %_PRCLOSE %_PRINTDEFAULT %_PRVALIDATE %_PRSTLDIALOG %_PRJOBDIALOG %_PRJOBMERGE %_PROPENDOC %_PROPENPAGE %_PRCLOSEPAGE %_PRCLOSEDOC %_PRPICFILE In addition, the function GET-PRINT-RECORD has been exported. This function can only be called after %_PROPEN has been called and before %_PRCLOSE has been called. It returns a handle to print record (described in Inside Macintosh). Note: all print manager hacking must be surrounded by a call to WITHOUT-INTERRUPTS. This is true because Lisp event processing interferes with the print manager. The unfortunate side-effect is that such code is difficult to debug. The function HARDCOPY-FILE takes a single argument, which should be a pathname to a text file. It opens a window to the file, prints the window, and closes the window. For example: (HARDCOPY-FILE (CHOOSE-FILE-DIALOG :MAC-FILE-TYPE :TEXT)) KNOWN BUGS If code running from the Listener is interruped by a mouse event which in turn causes an error, (CONTINUE) goes to top level rather than resuming the listener code. In FORMAT to synonym string of standard output, ~& casues stack overflow. Definitions of the form (DEF PKG:FOO ...) or (DEF PKG::FOO) are not properly recognized by EDIT-DEFINITION. Imbalanced parentheses inside a semicolon comment will confuse the backward matching parentheses feature. The function MAKUNBOUND-ALL does not unbind non-object variables. It just sets them to NIL.