Il CD di internet/CD.iso/SOURCE/D/CLISP/_CLISP.TAR/usr/doc/clisp/impnotes.txt

Text File | 1995-01-16 | 87.5 KB | 2,430 lines

                Implementation Notes for CLISP
                ==============================
                Last modified: 8 December 1994.

This implementation is mostly compatible to the standard reference

       Guy L. Steele Jr.: Common Lisp - The Language (1st ed.).
       Digital Press 1984, 465 pages.
       ("CLtL1" for short)

and to the older parts of

       Guy L. Steele Jr.: Common Lisp - The Language (2nd ed.).
       Digital Press 1990, 1032 pages.
       ("CLtL2" for short)


These notes document the differences of the CLISP implementation of Common
Lisp to the standard CLtL1, and some implementation details.

The differences between CLtL1 and CLtL2 are made up of X3J13 votes. CLISP's
position with respect to these votes is listed in cltl2.txt.


                      CHAPTER 1: Introduction
                      -----------------------

No notes.


                       CHAPTER 2: Data Types
                       ---------------------

All the data types are implemented: numbers, characters, symbols, lists,
arrays, hash tables, readtables, packages, pathnames, streams, random
states, structures and functions.

2.1.3.
------

There are four floating point types: short-float, single-float, double-float
and long-float:
                  sign    mantissa   exponent
   short-float    1 bit   16+1 bits   8 bits
   single-float   1 bit   23+1 bits   8 bits   CLISP uses IEEE format
   double-float   1 bit   52+1 bits  11 bits   CLISP uses IEEE format
   long-float     1 bit   >=64 bits  32 bits

The single and double float formats are those of the IEEE standard (1981),
except that CLISP does not support features like +0, -0, +inf, -inf, gradual
underflow, NaN, etc. (Common Lisp does not make use of these features.)

Long floats have variable mantissa length, which is a multiple of 16 (or 32,
depending on the word size of the processor). The default length used when
long floats are read is given by the place (LONG-FLOAT-DIGITS). It can be
set by (SETF (LONG-FLOAT-DIGITS) nnn), where nnn is a positive integer.

2.1.4.
------

Complex numbers can have a real part and an imaginary part of different
types. For example, (SQRT -9.0) evaluates to the number #C(0 3.0), which has
a real part of exactly 0, not only 0.0 (which would mean "approximately 0").
The type specifier for this is (COMPLEX INTEGER SINGLE-FLOAT), and

           (COMPLEX type-of-real-part type-of-imaginary-part)

in general.
The type specifier (COMPLEX type) is equivalent to (COMPLEX type type).

2.2.1.
------

The characters are ordered according to the ASCII encoding.

#ifdef ATARI_CHS
More precisely, CLISP uses the Atari character set:
             $0 $1 $2 $3 $4 $5 $6 $7 $8 $9 $A $B $C $D $E $F
         $00 **             ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
         $10                               ** **
         $20     !  "  #  $  %  &  '  (  )  *  +  ,  -  .  /
         $30  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  :  ;  <  =  >  ?
         $40  @  A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O
         $50  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z  [  \  ]  ^  _
         $60  `  a  b  c  d  e  f  g  h  i  j  k  l  m  n  o
         $70  p  q  r  s  t  u  v  w  x  y  z  {  |  }  ~  
         $80  ╟  ⁿ  Θ  Γ  Σ  α  σ  τ  Ω  δ  Φ  ∩  ε  ∞  ─  ┼
         $90  ╔  µ  ╞  ⌠  ÷  ≥  √  ∙     ╓  ▄  ó  ú  Ñ  ▀
         $A0  ß  φ  ≤  ·  ±  ╤  ¬  ║  ┐     ¼  ╜  ╝  í  ½  ╗
         $B0  π  ⌡  ╪  °        └  ├  ╒  ¿  ┤  +  ╢  ⌐  «
         $C0
         $D0                                         º
         $E0                    ╡
         $F0     ▒              ≈     ░              ▓  │  »
Here ** are control characters, not graphic characters. (The characters left
blank here cannot be represented in this character set).

#endif
#ifdef IBMPC_CHS
More precisely, CLISP uses the IBM PC character set (code page 437):
             $0 $1 $2 $3 $4 $5 $6 $7 $8 $9 $A $B $C $D $E $F
         $00 **                   ** ** ** ** ** ** **  ╢  º
         $10                               ** **
         $20     !  "  #  $  %  &  '  (  )  *  +  ,  -  .  /
         $30  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  :  ;  <  =  >  ?
         $40  @  A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O
         $50  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z  [  \  ]  ^  _
         $60  `  a  b  c  d  e  f  g  h  i  j  k  l  m  n  o
         $70  p  q  r  s  t  u  v  w  x  y  z  {  |  }  ~  
         $80  ╟  ⁿ  Θ  Γ  Σ  α  σ  τ  Ω  δ  Φ  ∩  ε  ∞  ─  ┼
         $90  ╔  µ  ╞  ⌠  ÷  ≥  √  ∙     ╓  ▄  ó  ú  Ñ
         $A0  ß  φ  ≤  ·  ±  ╤  ¬  ║  ┐     ¼  ╜  ╝  í  ½  ╗
         $B0
         $C0
         $D0
         $E0     ▀              ╡
         $F0     ▒              ≈     ░     ╖        ▓
Here ** are control characters, not graphic characters. (The characters left
blank here cannot be represented in this character set).

#endif
#ifdef ISOLATIN_CHS
More precisely, CLISP uses the ISO Latin-1 (ISO 8859-1) character set:
             $0 $1 $2 $3 $4 $5 $6 $7 $8 $9 $A $B $C $D $E $F
         $00 ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
         $10 ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
         $20     !  "  #  $  %  &  '  (  )  *  +  ,  -  .  /
         $30  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  :  ;  <  =  >  ?
         $40  @  A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O
         $50  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z  [  \  ]  ^  _
         $60  `  a  b  c  d  e  f  g  h  i  j  k  l  m  n  o
         $70  p  q  r  s  t  u  v  w  x  y  z  {  |  }  ~
         $80
         $90
         $A0  á  í  ó  ú  ñ  Ñ  ª  º  ¿  ⌐  ¬  ½  ¼  ¡  «  »
         $B0  ░  ▒  ▓  │  ┤  ╡  ╢  ╖  ╕  ╣  ║  ╗  ╝  ╜  ╛  ┐
         $C0  └  ┴  ┬  ├  ─  ┼  ╞  ╟  ╚  ╔  ╩  ╦  ╠  ═  ╬  ╧
         $D0  ╨  ╤  ╥  ╙  ╘  ╒  ╓  ╫  ╪  ┘  ┌  █  ▄  ▌  ▐  ▀
         $E0  α  ß  Γ  π  Σ  σ  µ  τ  Φ  Θ  Ω  δ  ∞  φ  ε  ∩
         $F0  ≡  ±  ≥  ≤  ⌠  ⌡  ÷  ≈  °  ∙  ·  √  ⁿ  ²  ■
Here ** are control characters, not graphic characters. (The characters left
blank here cannot be represented in this character set).

#endif
#ifdef NEXTSTEP_CHS
More precisely, CLISP uses the NextStep character set:
             $0 $1 $2 $3 $4 $5 $6 $7 $8 $9 $A $B $C $D $E $F
         $00 ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
         $10 ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
         $20     !  "  #  $  %  &  '  (  )  *  +  ,  -  .  /
         $30  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  :  ;  <  =  >  ?
         $40  @  A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O
         $50  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z  [  \  ]  ^  _
         $60  `  a  b  c  d  e  f  g  h  i  j  k  l  m  n  o
         $70  p  q  r  s  t  u  v  w  x  y  z  {  |  }  ~
         $80  á  └  ┴  ┬  ├  ─  ┼  ╟  ╚  ╔  ╩  ╦  ╠  ═  ╬  ╧
         $90  ╨  ╤  ╥  ╙  ╘  ╒  ╓  ┘  ┌  █  ▄  ▌  ▐  ╡  ╫  ≈
         $A0  ⌐  í  ó  ú     Ñ     º  ñ        ½
         $B0  «           ╖  ª  ╢              ╗        ¼  ┐
         $C0  ╣     ┤        »        ¿  ▓  ░  ╕  │
         $D0     ▒  ╝  ╜  ╛  α  ß  Γ  π  Σ  σ  τ  Φ  Θ  Ω  δ
         $E0  ∞  ╞  φ  ¬  ε  ∩  ≡  ±     ╪     ║  ≥  ≤  ⌠  ⌡
         $F0  ÷  µ  ∙  ·  √     ⁿ  ²     °     ▀  ■
Here ** are control characters, not graphic characters. (The characters left
blank here cannot be represented in this character set).

#endif
The following are standard characters:
  #\Space               $20
  #\Newline             $0A
The following are semi-standard characters:
  #\Backspace           $08
  #\Tab                 $09
  #\Linefeed            $0A
  #\Page                $0C
  #\Return              $0D
#if defined(ATARI_CHARNAMES) || defined(MSDOS_CHARNAMES)
  #\Rubout              $08
#endif
#if defined(UNIX_CHARNAMES) || defined(AMIGA_CHARNAMES)
  #\Rubout              $7F
#endif

2.2.2.
------

#\Newline is the delimiter between lines.

#if defined(ATARI) || defined(MSDOS)
When writing to a file, #\Newline is converted to CR/LF. (This is the usual
convention on ATARI and DOS.) For example, #\Return #\Newline is written
as CR/CR/LF.
#endif
When reading from a file, CR/LF is converted to #\Newline, and CR not
followed by LF is read as #\Return.

2.2.3.
------

There are the following additional characters with names:
  #\Null                $00
  #\Bell                $07
  #\Escape              $1B

2.2.4.
------

The code of a character is >=0, <256. CHAR-CODE-LIMIT = 256.

There are fonts 0 to 15, and CHAR-FONT-LIMIT = 16. But the system itself
uses only font 0.

The following bits attributes are implemented: :CONTROL, :META, :SUPER,
:HYPER. Therefore CHAR-BITS-LIMIT = 16.
#ifdef KEYBOARD
The system itself uses these bits only to mention special keys and
Control/Alternate/Shift key status on return from
(READ-CHAR *KEYBOARD-INPUT*).
#endif

2.5.
----

The maximum rank (number of dimensions) of an array is 65535 on 16-bit
processors, 4294967295 on 32-bit processors.

2.13.
-----

All the functions built by FUNCTION, COMPILE and the like are atoms. There
are built-in functions written in C, compiled functions (both of type
COMPILED-FUNCTION) and interpreted functions (of type FUNCTION).
The possible function names (CLtL1 p. 59) are symbols and lambda expressions.

2.14.
-----

This is the list of objects whose external representation can not be
meaningfully read in:
  * all structures lacking a keyword constructor.
  * all arrays except strings, if *PRINT-ARRAY* = NIL.
  * #<SYSTEM-FUNCTION name>     built-in function written in C
  * #<FOREIGN-FUNCTION name>    other function written in C
  * #<SPECIAL-FORM name>        special form handler
  * #<COMPILED-CLOSURE name>    compiled function, if *PRINT-CLOSURE* = NIL
  * #<CLOSURE name ...>         interpreted function
  * #<FRAME-POINTER #x...>      pointer to a stack frame
  * #<DISABLED POINTER>         frame pointer which has become invalid on
                                exit from the corresponding BLOCK or TAGBODY
  * #<...-STREAM ...>           stream
  * #<PACKAGE name>             package
  * #<HASH-TABLE #x...>         hash table, if *PRINT-ARRAY* = NIL
  * #<READTABLE #x...>          readtable
  * #<UNBOUND>                  "value" of a symbol without value, "value"
                                of an unsupplied optional or keyword argument
  * #<SPECIAL REFERENCE>        environment marker for variables declared
                                SPECIAL
  * #<DOT>                      internal READ result for "."
  * #<END OF FILE>              internal READ result, when the end of file
                                is reached
  * #<READ-LABEL ...>           intermediate READ result for #n#
  * #<ADDRESS #x...>            machine address, should not occur
  * #<SYSTEM-POINTER #x...>     should not occur

2.15.
-----

The type NUMBER is the disjoint union of the types REAL and COMPLEX. (CLtL
wording: "exhaustive partition")
The type REAL is the disjoint union of the types RATIONAL and FLOAT.
The type RATIONAL is the disjoint union of the types INTEGER and RATIO.
The type INTEGER is the disjoint union of the types FIXNUM and BIGNUM.
The type FLOAT is the disjoint union of the types SHORT-FLOAT, SINGLE-FLOAT,
DOUBLE-FLOAT and LONG-FLOAT.


                     CHAPTER 3: Scope and Extent
                     ---------------------------

is implemented as described.


                      CHAPTER 4: Type Specifiers
                      --------------------------

4.4.
----

The CLtL2 type specifier (EQL object) denotes the singleton set {object}.

4.5.
----

The general form of the COMPLEX type specifier is
(COMPLEX type-of-real-part type-of-imaginary-part).
The type specifier (COMPLEX type) is equivalent to (COMPLEX type type).

4.6.
----

The CLtL2 type specifier (REAL low high) denotes the real numbers between low
and high.

4.7.
----

DEFTYPE lambda lists are subject to destructuring (nested lambda lists are
allowed, as in DEFMACRO) and may contain a &WHOLE marker, but no
&ENVIRONMENT marker.

4.9.
----

The possible results of TYPE-OF are:
 CONS
 SYMBOL NULL
 FIXNUM BIGNUM RATIO SHORT-FLOAT SINGLE-FLOAT DOUBLE-FLOAT LONG-FLOAT COMPLEX
 CHARACTER
 (ARRAY element-type dimensions), (SIMPLE-ARRAY element-type dimensions)
 (VECTOR T size), (SIMPLE-VECTOR size)
 (STRING size), (SIMPLE-STRING size)
 (BIT-VECTOR size), (SIMPLE-BIT-VECTOR size)
 FUNCTION COMPILED-FUNCTION
 STREAM PACKAGE HASH-TABLE READTABLE PATHNAME LOGICAL-PATHNAME RANDOM-STATE
 BYTE LOAD-TIME-EVAL SYMBOL-MACRO READ-LABEL FRAME-POINTER SYSTEM-INTERNAL
 ADDRESS (should not occur)
 any other symbol (structure types or CLOS classes)
 a class (CLOS classes without proper name)


                       CHAPTER 5: Program Structure
                       ----------------------------

5.1.3.
------

In addition to the 24 special forms listed on p. 57 (CLtL2: p. 73), the
CLtL2 special forms LOCALLY, SYMBOL-MACROLET, LOAD-TIME-VALUE are implemented,
and the macros
PSETQ, PROG1, PROG2, WHEN, UNLESS, COND, MULTIPLE-VALUE-LIST,
MULTIPLE-VALUE-BIND, MULTIPLE-VALUE-SETQ, AND, OR
are implemented as special forms.

Constants may not be bound dynamically or lexically.

5.2.2.
------

LAMBDA-LIST-KEYWORDS =
    (&OPTIONAL &REST &KEY &ALLOW-OTHER-KEYS &AUX &BODY &WHOLE &ENVIRONMENT)

LAMBDA-PARAMETERS-LIMIT is 65536 on 16-bit processors, 4294967296 on 32-bit
processors.

5.3.
----

DEFUN and DEFMACRO are allowed in non-toplevel positions.
As an example, consider the definition of GENSYM:
(let ((gensym-prefix "G")
      (gensym-count 1))
  (defun gensym (&optional (x nil s))
    (when s
      (cond ((stringp x) (setq gensym-prefix x))
            ((integerp x)
             (if (minusp x)
               (error "~S: index ~S is negative" 'gensym x)
               (setq gensym-count x)
            ))
            (t (error "~S: argument ~S of wrong type" 'gensym x))
    ) )
    (prog1
      (make-symbol
        (concatenate 'string
          gensym-prefix
          (write-to-string gensym-count :base 10 :radix nil)
      ) )
      (incf gensym-count)
) )

5.3.2.
------

(PROCLAIM '(SPECIAL var)) declarations may not be undone. The same holds
for DEFVAR, DEFPARAMETER and DEFCONSTANT declarations.

It is an error if a DEFCONSTANT variable is bound at the moment the
DEFCONSTANT is executed, but DEFCONSTANT does not check this.

Constants may not be bound dynamically or lexically.

5.3.3.
------

EVAL-WHEN also accepts the situations (NOT EVAL) and (NOT COMPILE).


                      CHAPTER 6: Predicates
                      ---------------------

6.2.2.
------

REALP returns T is its argument is a real number, NIL otherwise.

COMPILED-FUNCTION-P returns T on built-in functions written in C, compiled
functions and special form handlers. Therefore COMPILED-FUNCTION is not a
subtype of FUNCTION.

6.3.
----

EQ compares characters and fixnums as EQL does. No unnecessary copies are
made of characters and numbers. Nevertheless, one should use EQL.

(let ((x y)) (eq x x)) always returns T, regardless of y.

6.4.
----

AND and OR are implemented as special forms and, as such, rather efficient.


                      CHAPTER 7: Control Structure
                      ----------------------------

7.1.1.
------

#ifdef IMMUTABLE
Attempts to modify read-only data will signal an error. Program text and
quoted constants loaded from files are considered read-only data. This check
is only performed for conses and arrays, not for user-defined data types.

#endif
(FUNCTION symbol) returns the local function definition established by FLET
or LABELS, if it exists, otherwise the global function definition.

The CLtL2 place (FDEFINITION function-name) is implemented.

(SPECIAL-FORM-P symbol) returns NIL or T. If it returns T, then
(SYMBOL-FUNCTION symbol) returns the (useless) special form handler.

7.1.2.
------

PSETQ is implemented as a special form and, as such, rather efficient.

7.2.
----

(SETF (SYMBOL-FUNCTION symbol) object) requires object to be either a
function, a SYMBOL-FUNCTION return value or a lambda expression. A lambda
expression is thereby immediately converted to a function.

SETF also accepts places yielding multiple values.

Additional places:

* FUNCALL:
  (SETF (FUNCALL #'symbol ...) object) and
  (SETF (FUNCALL 'symbol ...) object)
  are equivalent to (SETF (symbol ...) object).

* GET-DISPATCH-MACRO-CHARACTER:
  (SETF (GET-DISPATCH-MACRO-CHARACTER ...) ...)
  performs a SET-DISPATCH-MACRO-CHARACTER.

* LONG-FLOAT-DIGITS:
  (SETF (LONG-FLOAT-DIGITS) digits) sets the default mantissa length of long
  floats to digits bits.

* VALUES:
  (SETF (VALUES place1 ... placek) form)
  is approximately equivalent to
     (MULTIPLE-VALUE-BIND (dummy1 ... dummyk) form
       (SETF place1 dummy1 ... placek dummyk)
       (VALUES dummy1 ... dummyk)
     )
  Example:
    (SETF (VALUES A B) (VALUES B A)) interchanges the values of A and B.

* VALUES-LIST:
  (SETF (VALUES-LIST list) form)  is equivalent to
  (VALUES-LIST (SETF list (MULTIPLE-VALUE-LIST form)))

&KEY markers in DEFSETF lambda lists are supported, but the corresponding
keywords must appear literally in the program text.

(GET-SETF-METHOD form &optional env) and
(GET-SETF-METHOD-MULTIPLE-VALUE form &optional env)
receives as optional argument the environment necessary for macro expansions.
In DEFINE-SETF-METHOD lambda lists, one can specify &ENVIRONMENT and a
variable, which will be bound to the environment. This environment should be
passed to all calls of GET-SETF-METHOD and GET-SETF-METHOD-MULTIPLE-VALUE.
If this is done, even local macros will be interpreted as places correctly.

7.3.
----

CALL-ARGUMENTS-LIMIT is 65536 on 16-bit processors, 4294967296 on 32-bit
processors.

7.4.
----

PROG1 and PROG2 are implemented as special forms and, as such, rather
efficient.

7.5.
----

The CLtL2 special form SYMBOL-MACROLET is implemented.

The macro DEFINE-SYMBOL-MACRO establishes symbol macros with global scope
(as opposed to symbol macros defined with SYMBOL-MACROLET, which have local
scope): (DEFINE-SYMBOL-MACRO symbol expansion). Calling BOUNDP, SYMBOL-VALUE
or MAKUNBOUND on symbols defined as symbol macros is not allowed.

If using the optional package MACROS3:
  The macros LETF and LETF* are like LET and LET*, resp., except that they
  can bind places, even places with multiple values.
  Example:
  (LETF (((VALUES A B) form)) ...)
    is equivalent to
    (MULTIPLE-VALUE-BIND (A B) form ...)
  (LETF (((FIRST L) 7)) ...)
    is approximately equivalent to
    (LET* ((#:G1 L) (#:G2 (FIRST #:G1)))
      (UNWIND-PROTECT (PROGN (SETF (FIRST #:G1) 7) ...)
                      (SETF (FIRST #:G1) #:G2)
    ) )

7.6.
----

WHEN, UNLESS, COND are implemented as special forms and, as such, rather
efficient.

7.8.4.
------

The function MAPCAP is like MAPCAN, except that it concatenates the
resulting lists with APPEND instead of NCONC:
  (MAPCAP fun x1 ... xn) == (apply #'append (mapcar fun x1 ... xn))
(Actually a bit more efficient that this would be.)

The function MAPLAP is like MAPCON, except that it concatenates the
resulting lists with APPEND instead of NCONC:
  (MAPLAP fun x1 ... xn) = (apply #'append (maplist fun x1 ... xn))
(Actually a bit more efficient that this would be.)

7.9.1.
------

MULTIPLE-VALUES-LIMIT = 128

MULTIPLE-VALUE-LIST, MULTIPLE-VALUE-BIND, MULTIPLE-VALUE-SETQ are
implemented as special forms and, as such, rather efficient.

The macro NTH-VALUE:
(NTH-VALUE n form) returns the (n+1)st value (n>=0) of form.


                        CHAPTER 8: Macros
                        -----------------

8.3.
----

The CLtL2 macro DESTRUCTURING-BIND is implemented. It does not perform full
error checking.


                     CHAPTER 9: Declarations
                     -----------------------

9.1.
----

The CLtL2 macro DECLAIM is implemented.

9.2.
----

The declarations (TYPE type var ...), (FTYPE type fun ...),
(FUNCTION name arglist result-type), (OPTIMIZE (quality value) ...)
are ignored by the interpreter and the compiler.

The CLtL2 declaration (OPTIMIZE (DEBUG ...)) is legal.

Additional declarations:

* The declaration (COMPILE) has the effect that the current form is compiled
  prior to execution.
  Examples:
  (LOCALLY (DECLARE (COMPILE)) form)
  executes a compiled version of form.
  (let ((x 0))
    (flet ((inc () (declare (compile)) (incf x))
           (dec () (decf x)))
      (values #'inc #'dec)
  ) )
  returns two functions. The first is compiled and increments x, the second
  is interpreted (slower) and decrements the same x.

9.3.
----

The type assertion (THE value-type form) enforces a type check in
interpreted code. No type check is done in compiled code.

If using the optional package MACROS3:
(ETHE value-type form) enforces a type check in both interpreted and
compiled code.


                         CHAPTER 10: Symbols
                         -------------------

No notes.


                         CHAPTER 11: Packages
                         --------------------

11.6.
-----

The package SYSTEM has the nicknames "SYS" and, additionally, "COMPILER".

The CLtL2 packages
* COMMON-LISP with nickname "CL" and
* COMMON-LISP-USER with nickname "CL-USER"
are implemented. The package COMMON-LISP exports only those symbols
from the proposed ANSI CL draft that are actually implemented.

11.7.
-----

The CLtL2 macro DEFPACKAGE is implemented.

11.8.
-----

The function REQUIRE receives as optional argument either a pathname or a
list of pathnames: files to be loaded if the required module is not already
in memory.


                           CHAPTER 12: Numbers
                           -------------------

The single and double float formats are those of the IEEE standard (1981),
except that CLISP does not support features like +0, -0, +inf, -inf, gradual
underflow, NaN, etc. (Common Lisp does not make use of these features.)

The default number of mantissa bits in long floats is given by the place
(LONG-FLOAT-DIGITS).
Example: (SETF (LONG-FLOAT-DIGITS) 3322) sets the default precision of long
floats to 1000 decimal digits.

12.1.
-----

Complex numbers can have a real part and an imaginary part of different
types. If the imaginary part is EQL to 0, the number is automatically
converted to a real number. (Cf. CLtL1 p. 195)
This has the advantage that  (let ((x (sqrt -9.0))) (* x x))
- instead of evaluting to #C(-9.0 0.0), with x = #C(0.0 3.0) -
evaluates to #C(-9.0 0) = -9.0, with x = #C(0 3.0).

Coercions on operations involving different types:
The result of an arithmetic operation whose arguments are of different float
types is rounded to the float format of the shortest (least precise) of the
arguments.
    rational -> long float -> double float -> single float -> short float
(in contrast to CLtL1 p. 195!)
Rationale:
  See it mathematically. Add intervals:
  {1.0 +/- 1e-8} + {1.0 +/- 1e-16} = {2.0 +/- 1e-8}
  So, if we add 1.0s0 and 1.0d0, we should get 2.0s0.
Shortly:
  Do not suggest accuracy of a result by giving it a precision that is
  greater than its accuracy.
Example:
  (- (+ 1.7 pi) pi)  should not return  1.700000726342836417234L0,
  it should return 1.7f0 (or 1.700001f0 if there were rounding errors).
Experience:
  If in a computation using thousands of short floats, a long float (like pi)
  happens to be used, the long precision should not propagate throughout all
  the intermediate values. Otherwise, the long result would look precise,
  but its accuracy is only that of a short float; furthermore much
  computation time would be lost by calculating with long floats when only
  short floats would be needed.

When rational numbers are to be converted to floats (due to FLOAT, COERCE,
SQRT or a transcendental function), the result type is given by the variable
*DEFAULT-FLOAT-FORMAT*.

The macro WITHOUT-FLOATING-POINT-UNDERFLOW:
  (without-floating-point-underflow {form}*)
executes the forms, with errors of type FLOATING-POINT-UNDERFLOW inhibited.
Floating point operations will silently return zero instead of signalling
an error of type FLOATING-POINT-UNDERFLOW.

12.4.
-----

(LCM), called without arguments, returns 1, which is the neutral element of
composition with LCM.

(! n) returns the factorial of n, n a nonnegative integer.

(EXQUO x y) returns the quotient x/y of two integers x,y, and checks that it
is an integer. (This is more efficient than /.)

(XGCD x1 ... xn) returns the values g, c1, ..., cn, where
g is the greatest common divisor of the integers x1,...,xn,
and c1,...,cn are integer coefficients such that
  g = (GCD x1 ... xn) = (+ (* c1 x1) ... (* cn xn))

12.5.1.
-------

(EXPT base exponent) is not very precise if exponent has large absolute
value.

(LOG number base) signals an error if base = 1.

12.5.2.
-------

The value of PI is a long float with the precision given by
(LONG-FLOAT-DIGITS). When this precision is changed, the value of PI is
automatically recomputed. Therefore PI is a variable, not a constant.

12.6.
-----

FLOAT-RADIX always returns 2.

(FLOAT-DIGITS number digits) coerces `number' (a real number) to a floating
point number with at least `digits' mantissa digits. The following holds:
   (>= (FLOAT-DIGITS (FLOAT-DIGITS number digits)) digits)

12.7.
-----

BOOLE-CLR   =  0
BOOLE-SET   = 15
BOOLE-1     = 10
BOOLE-2     = 12
BOOLE-C1    =  5
BOOLE-C2    =  3
BOOLE-AND   =  8
BOOLE-IOR   = 14
BOOLE-XOR   =  6
BOOLE-EQV   =  9
BOOLE-NAND  =  7
BOOLE-NOR   =  1
BOOLE-ANDC1 =  4
BOOLE-ANDC2 =  2
BOOLE-ORC1  = 13
BOOLE-ORC2  = 11

12.10.
------

MOST-POSITIVE-FIXNUM = 2^24-1 = 16777215
MOST-NEGATIVE-FIXNUM = -2^24 = -16777216

Together with PI, the other long float constants MOST-POSITIVE-LONG-FLOAT,
LEAST-POSITIVE-LONG-FLOAT, LEAST-NEGATIVE-LONG-FLOAT,
MOST-NEGATIVE-LONG-FLOAT, LONG-FLOAT-EPSILON, LONG-FLOAT-NEGATIVE-EPSILON
are recomputed whenever (LONG-FLOAT-DIGITS) is changed. They are variables,
not constants.


                         CHAPTER 13: Characters
                         ----------------------

See first above: 2.2.

13.1.
-----

CHAR-CODE-LIMIT = 256
CHAR-FONT-LIMIT = 16
CHAR-BITS-LIMIT = 16

13.2.
-----

String-chars are those characters with font = 0 and bits = 0.

The graphic characters have been described above.

The standard characters are #\Newline and those graphic characters with a
code between 32 and 126 (inclusive).

The alphabetic characters are these string-chars:
             ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
             abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
and the international alphabetic characters from the character set:
             ╟ⁿΘΓΣαστΩδΦ∩ε∞─┼╔µ╞⌠÷≥√∙ ╓▄▀ßφ≤·±╤¬║π⌡╪°└├╒ etc.

The functions CHAR-EQUAL, CHAR-NOT-EQUAL, CHAR-LESSP, CHAR-GREATERP,
CHAR-NOT-GREATERP, CHAR-NOT-LESSP ignore bits and font attributes of their
arguments.

13.4.
-----

The string chars that are not graphic chars and the space character have
names:
#ifdef ATARI_CHARNAMES
  (code-char #x00) = #\Null
  (code-char #x05) = #\Code5
  (code-char #x06) = #\Code6
  (code-char #x07) = #\Bell
  (code-char #x08) = #\Backspace = #\Rubout
  (code-char #x09) = #\Tab
  (code-char #x0A) = #\Newline = #\Linefeed
  (code-char #x0B) = #\Code11
  (code-char #x0C) = #\Page
  (code-char #x0D) = #\Return
  (code-char #x1A) = #\Code26
  (code-char #x1B) = #\Escape
  (code-char #x20) = #\Space
#endif
#ifdef AMIGA_CHARNAMES
  (code-char #x00) = #\Null
  (code-char #x01) = #\Code1
  (code-char #x02) = #\Code2
  (code-char #x03) = #\Code3
  (code-char #x04) = #\Code4
  (code-char #x05) = #\Code5
  (code-char #x06) = #\Code6
  (code-char #x07) = #\Bell = #\Bel
  (code-char #x08) = #\Backspace = #\Bs
  (code-char #x09) = #\Tab = #\Ht
  (code-char #x0A) = #\Newline = #\Linefeed = #\Lf
  (code-char #x0B) = #\Vt
  (code-char #x0C) = #\Page = #\Ff
  (code-char #x0D) = #\Return = #\Cr
  (code-char #x0E) = #\So
  (code-char #x0F) = #\Si
  (code-char #x10) = #\Code16
  (code-char #x11) = #\Code17
  (code-char #x12) = #\Code18
  (code-char #x13) = #\Code19
  (code-char #x14) = #\Code20
  (code-char #x15) = #\Code21
  (code-char #x16) = #\Code22
  (code-char #x17) = #\Code23
  (code-char #x18) = #\Code24
  (code-char #x19) = #\Code25
  (code-char #x1A) = #\Code26
  (code-char #x1B) = #\Escape = #\Esc
  (code-char #x1C) = #\Code28
  (code-char #x1D) = #\Code29
  (code-char #x1E) = #\Code30
  (code-char #x1F) = #\Code31
  (code-char #x20) = #\Space
  (code-char #x7F) = #\Rubout
  (code-char #x9B) = #\Csi
#endif
#ifdef MSDOS_CHARNAMES
  (code-char #x00) = #\Null
  (code-char #x07) = #\Bell
  (code-char #x08) = #\Backspace = #\Rubout
  (code-char #x09) = #\Tab
  (code-char #x0A) = #\Newline = #\Linefeed
  (code-char #x0B) = #\Code11
  (code-char #x0C) = #\Page
  (code-char #x0D) = #\Return
  (code-char #x1A) = #\Code26
  (code-char #x1B) = #\Escape
  (code-char #x20) = #\Space
#endif
#ifdef UNIX_CHARNAMES
  (code-char #x00) = #\Null = #\Nul
  (code-char #x01) = #\Soh
  (code-char #x02) = #\Stx
  (code-char #x03) = #\Etx
  (code-char #x04) = #\Eot
  (code-char #x05) = #\Enq
  (code-char #x06) = #\Ack
  (code-char #x07) = #\Bell = #\Bel
  (code-char #x08) = #\Backspace = #\Bs
  (code-char #x09) = #\Tab = #\Ht
  (code-char #x0A) = #\Newline = #\Nl = #\Linefeed
  (code-char #x0B) = #\Vt
  (code-char #x0C) = #\Page = #\Np
  (code-char #x0D) = #\Return = #\Cr
  (code-char #x0E) = #\So
  (code-char #x0F) = #\Si
  (code-char #x10) = #\Dle
  (code-char #x11) = #\Dc1
  (code-char #x12) = #\Dc2
  (code-char #x13) = #\Dc3
  (code-char #x14) = #\Dc4
  (code-char #x15) = #\Nak
  (code-char #x16) = #\Syn
  (code-char #x17) = #\Etb
  (code-char #x18) = #\Can
  (code-char #x19) = #\Em
  (code-char #x1A) = #\Sub
  (code-char #x1B) = #\Escape = #\Esc
  (code-char #x1C) = #\Fs
  (code-char #x1D) = #\Gs
  (code-char #x1E) = #\Rs
  (code-char #x1F) = #\Us
  (code-char #x20) = #\Space = #\Sp
  (code-char #x7F) = #\Rubout = #\Delete = #\Del
#endif

13.5.
-----

CHAR-CONTROL-BIT = 1
CHAR-META-BIT    = 2
CHAR-SUPER-BIT   = 4
CHAR-HYPER-BIT   = 8


                         CHAPTER 14: Sequences
                         ---------------------

14.1.
-----

The result of NREVERSE is always EQ to the argument. NREVERSE on a vector
swaps pairs of elements. NREVERSE on a list swaps the first and the last
element and reverses the list chaining between them.

14.2.
-----

For iteration through a sequence, a macro DOSEQ, analogous to DOLIST, may be
used instead of MAP :
  (doseq (var seqform [resultform]) {declaration}* {tag|statement}* )

The CLtL2 function MAP-INTO is implemented.

14.3.
-----

REMOVE, REMOVE-IF, REMOVE-IF-NOT, REMOVE-DUPLICATES return their argument
unchanged, if no element has to be removed.

DELETE, DELETE-IF, DELETE-IF-NOT, DELETE-DUPLICATES destructively modify
their argument: If the argument is a list, the CDR parts are modified. If
the argument is a vector with fill pointer, the fill pointer is lowered and
the remaining elements are compacted below the new fill pointer.

14.5.
-----

SORT and STABLE-SORT have two additional keywords :START and :END :
  (SORT sequence predicate &key :key :start :end)
  (STABLE-SORT sequence predicate &key :key :start :end)

SORT and STABLE-SORT are identical. They implement the mergesort algorithm.


                         CHAPTER 15: Lists
                         -----------------

15.4.
-----

SUBLIS and NSUBLIS apply the :KEY argument to the nodes of the cons tree and
not to the keys of the alist.


                      CHAPTER 16: Hash Tables
                      -----------------------

16.1.
-----

MAKE-HASH-TABLE has an additional keyword :INITIAL-CONTENTS :
  (MAKE-HASH-TABLE &key :test :initial-contents :size :rehash-size
                        :rehash-threshold)
The :INITIAL-CONTENTS argument is an alist that is used to initialize the
new hash table.
The :REHASH-THRESHOLD argument is ignored.

For iteration through a hash table, a macro DOHASH, analogous to DOLIST, can
be used instead of MAPHASH :
  (dohash (key-var value-var hash-table-form [resultform])
    {declaration}* {tag|statement}*
  )


                     CHAPTER 17: Arrays
                     ------------------

17.1.
-----

MAKE-ARRAY can return specialized arrays for the element types
(UNSIGNED-BYTE 2), (UNSIGNED-BYTE 4), (UNSIGNED-BYTE 8), (UNSIGNED-BYTE 16),
(UNSIGNED-BYTE 32) and of course BIT and STRING-CHAR.

ARRAY-RANK-LIMIT is 65536 on 16-bit processors, 4294967296 on 32-bit
processors.

ARRAY-DIMENSION-LIMIT  = 2^24 = 16777216
ARRAY-TOTAL-SIZE-LIMIT = 2^24 = 16777216

17.6.
-----

An array to which another array is displaced should not be shrunk (using
ADJUST-ARRAY) in such a way that the other array points into void space.
This is not checked at the time ADJUST-ARRAY is called!


                       CHAPTER 18: Strings
                       -------------------

18.2.
-----

String comparison is based on the function CHAR<=. Therefore diphtongs do
not obey the usual national rules. Example: "o" < "oe" < "z" < "÷".


                        CHAPTER 19: Structures
                        ----------------------

19.5.
-----

The :PRINT-FUNCTION option should contain a lambda expression
  (lambda (structure stream depth) (declare (ignore depth)) ...)
This lambda expression names a function whose task is to output the external
representation of structure onto the stream. This may be done by outputting
text onto the stream using WRITE-CHAR, WRITE-STRING, WRITE, PRIN1, PRINC,
PRINT, PPRINT, FORMAT and the like. The following rules must be obeyed:
* The value of *PRINT-ESCAPE* must be respected.
* The value of *PRINT-PRETTY* should not and cannot be respected, since the
  pretty-print mechanism is not accessible from outside.
* The value of *PRINT-CIRCLE* need not to be respected. This is managed by
  the system. (But the print-circle mechanism handles only those objects that
  are (direct or indirect) components of structure.)
* The value of *PRINT-LEVEL* is respected by
  WRITE, PRIN1, PRINC, PRINT, PPRINT, FORMAT ~A, FORMAT ~S, FORMAT ~W and
  FORMAT ~D,~B,~O,~X,~R,~F,~E,~G,~$ with not-numerical arguments.
  Therefore the print-level mechanism works automatically if only these
  functions are used for outputting objects and if they are not called on
  objects with nesting level > 1. (The print-level mechanism does not
  recognize how many parentheses you have output. It only counts how many
  times it was called recursively.)
* The value of *PRINT-LENGTH* must be respected, especially if you are
  outputting an arbitrary number of components.
* The value of *PRINT-READABLY* must be respected. Remember that the values
  of *PRINT-ESCAPE*, *PRINT-LEVEL*, *PRINT-LENGTH* don't matter if
  *PRINT-READABLY* is true.
  The value of *PRINT-READABLY* is respected by PRINT-UNREADABLE-OBJECT,
  WRITE, PRIN1, PRINC, PRINT, PPRINT, FORMAT ~A, FORMAT ~S, FORMAT ~W and
  FORMAT ~D,~B,~O,~X,~R,~F,~E,~G,~$ with not-numerical arguments.
  Therefore *PRINT-READABLY* will be respected automatically if only these
  functions are used for outputting objects.
* You need not bother about the values of *PRINT-BASE*, *PRINT-RADIX*,
  *PRINT-CASE*, *PRINT-GENSYM*, *PRINT-ARRAY*, *PRINT-CLOSURE*, *PRINT-RPARS*.

The :INHERIT option is exactly like :INCLUDE except that it doesn't create
new accessors for the inherited slots. Use this option to avoid the problems
that occur when using the same :CONC-NAME for the new and the inherited
structure.


                       CHAPTER 20: The Evaluator
                       -------------------------

As in Scheme, the Macro (THE-ENVIRONMENT) returns the current lexical
environment. This works only in interpreted code and is not compilable!

(EVAL-ENV form [env]) evaluates a form in a given lexical environment, just
if the form had been part of the program text that environment came from.


                         CHAPTER 21: Streams
                         -------------------

21.1.
-----

#ifdef GNU_READLINE
Input through *TERMINAL-IO* uses the GNU readline library. Arrow keys can be
used to move within the input history. The Tab key completes the symbol's
name that is being typed.
See readline.dvi for a complete description of the key bindings.
The GNU readline library is not used if standard input and standard output do
not both refer to the same terminal.

#endif
#ifdef KEYBOARD
*TERMINAL-IO* is not the only stream that communicates directly with the
user: During execution of the body of a (WITH-KEYBOARD . body) form,
*KEYBOARD-INPUT* is the stream that reads the keystrokes from the keyboard.
It returns every keystroke in detail, as character with the following bits:
#if defined(ATARI) || defined(MSDOS) || defined(AMIGAOS)
  HYPER        if a non-standard key. These are:
#ifdef ATARI
                 function keys, cursor keypad, numeric keypad, Delete key.
#endif
#ifdef MSDOS
                 function keys, cursor keypads, numeric keypad.
#endif
#ifdef AMIGAOS
                 function keys, cursor keypad.
#endif
#endif
  CHAR-CODE    the Ascii code for standard keys,
               for non-standard keys:
#ifdef ATARI
                 F1 -> #\F1, ..., F9 -> #\F9, F10 -> #\F10,
                 Help -> #\Help, Undo -> #\Undo,
                 Insert -> #\Insert, Delete -> #\Delete,
                 ClrHome -> #\Home,
                 Arrow keys -> #\Up, #\Down, #\Left, #\Right.
#endif
#ifdef MSDOS
                 F1 -> #\F1, ..., F10 -> #\F10, F11 -> #\F11, F12 -> #\F12,
                 Insert -> #\Insert, Delete -> #\Delete,
                 Home -> #\Home, End -> #\End, PgUp -> #\PgUp, PgDn -> #\PgDn,
                 Arrow keys -> #\Up, #\Down, #\Left, #\Right.
#endif
#ifdef UNIX
                 F1 -> #\F1, ..., F10 -> #\F10, F11 -> #\F11, F12 -> #\F12,
                 Insert -> #\Insert, Delete -> #\Delete, Center -> #\Center,
                 Home -> #\Home, End -> #\End, PgUp -> #\PgUp, PgDn -> #\PgDn,
                 Arrow keys -> #\Up, #\Down, #\Left, #\Right.
#endif
#ifdef AMIGAOS
                 F1 -> #\F1, ..., F9 -> #\F9, F10 -> #\F10,
                 Help -> #\Help,
                 Arrow keys -> #\Up, #\Down, #\Left, #\Right.
#endif
#if defined(ATARI) || defined(MSDOS) || defined(AMIGAOS)
  SUPER        if pressed together with Shift key(s) and if the keystroke
               would have been an other without Shift.
#endif
  CONTROL      if pressed together with the Control key.
#if defined(ATARI) || defined(MSDOS)
  META         if pressed together with the Alternate key.
#endif
This keyboard input is not echoed on the screen.
During execution of a (WITH-KEYBOARD . body) form, no input from *TERMINAL-IO*
or any synonymous stream should be requested.
#ifdef ATARI
The stream *KEYBOARD-INPUT* is used by *TERMINAL-IO*.
#endif
#endif
#ifdef PRINTER_ATARI

The stream *PRINTER-OUTPUT* outputs characters to the printer. When the
printer is not ready, it is waited for, upto a delay of *PRINTER-TIMEOUT*
times 0.005 sec. (which defaults to 5 sec.).
Use WITH-OUTPUT-TO-PRINTER preferrably, for portability.
#endif

21.2.
-----

The macro WITH-OUTPUT-TO-PRINTER
       (with-output-to-printer (var) {declaration}* {form}*)
binds the variable var to an output stream that sends its output to the
printer.
#ifdef PIPES

(MAKE-PIPE-INPUT-STREAM command) returns an input stream that will supply the
output from the execution of the given operating system command.
See also (SHELL command).

(MAKE-PIPE-OUTPUT-STREAM command) returns an output stream that will pass its
output as input to the execution of the given operating system command.
See also (SHELL command).
#ifdef PIPES2

(MAKE-PIPE-IO-STREAM command) returns three values. The first value is a
bidirectional stream that will simultaneously pass its output as input to
the execution of the given operating system command and supply the output
from this command as input. The second and third value will be the input
stream and the output stream that make up the I/O stream, respectively.
Note that they must be closed individually.
Warning: Improper use of this function can lead to deadlocks. You use it at
your own risk!
A deadlock occurs if the command and your program either both try to read
read from each other at the same time or both try to write to each other at
the same time. To avoid deadlocks, it is recommended that you fix a protocol
between the command and your program and avoid any hidden buffering: Use
READ-CHAR, READ-CHAR-NO-HANG, LISTEN instead of READ-LINE and READ on the
input side, and complete every output operation by a FINISH-OUTPUT. The same
cautions must apply to the called command as well.
See also (SHELL command).
#endif
#endif
#ifdef GENERIC_STREAMS

Generic streams are user programmable streams. The programmer interface:

  (MAKE-GENERIC-STREAM controller) returns a generic stream.

  (GENERIC-STREAM-CONTROLLER stream)
     returns a private object to which generic stream methods dispatch.
     The typical usage is to retrieve the object originally provided by the
     user in MAKE-GENERIC-STREAM.

  (GENERIC-STREAM-P stream)
    determines whether a stream is a generic stream, returning T if it is,
    NIL otherwise.

In order to specify the behaviour of a generic stream, the user must define
CLOS methods on the following CLOS generic functions. The function
GENERIC-STREAM-XYZ corresponds to the Common Lisp function XYZ. They all
take a controller and some number of arguments.

  (GENERIC-STREAM-READ-CHAR    controller)
  (GENERIC-STREAM-READ-BYTE    controller)
         These generic functions should return NIL at end of file.
         Takes one argument, the controller object.
  (GENERIC-STREAM-LISTEN       controller)
         Returns -1 for EOF, 0 for character pending, and 1 for none.
         Takes one argument, the controller object.
  (GENERIC-STREAM-WRITE-CHAR   controller ch)
         First argument is the controller object.
         Second argument is the character to be written.
  (GENERIC-STREAM-WRITE-BYTE   controller by)
         First argument is the controller object.
         Second argument is the integer to be written.
  (GENERIC-STREAM-WRITE-STRING controller string start len)
         Called with argument list (controller string start len),
         this function shall write
           (subseq (the string string) start (+ start len))
         First argument is the controller object.
  (GENERIC-STREAM-CLEAR-INPUT   controller)
  (GENERIC-STREAM-CLEAR-OUTPUT  controller)
  (GENERIC-STREAM-FINISH-OUTPUT controller)
  (GENERIC-STREAM-FORCE-OUTPUT  controller)
  (GENERIC-STREAM-CLOSE         controller)
         Takes one argument, the controller object.
#endif

21.3.
-----

CLOSE ignores its :ABORT argument.


                     CHAPTER 22: Input/Output
                     ------------------------

22.1.2.
-------

A "reserved token", i.e. a token that has potential number syntax but cannot
be interpreted as a number, is interpreted as symbol when being read. (CLtL1
p. 341)

When a token with package markers is read, then (CLtL1 p. 343/344) no
checking is done whether the package part and the symbol-name part do not
have number syntax. (What's the purpose of this check?) So we consider
tokens like USER:: or :1 or LISP::4711 or 21:3 as symbols.

22.1.3.
-------

The backquote read macro also works when nested. Example:
 (eval ``(,#'(lambda () ',a) ,#'(lambda () ',b)))
 = (eval `(list #'(lambda () ',a) #'(lambda () ',b)))
 = (eval (list 'list (list 'function (list 'lambda nil (list 'quote a)))
                     (list 'function (list 'lambda nil (list 'quote b)))
   )     )

Multiple backquote combinations like ,,@ or ,@,@ are not implemented. Their
use would be confusing anyway.

22.1.4.
-------

#\ allows inputting characters of arbitrary code: #\Code231 yields the
character (code-char 231.).

Additional read dispatch macros:
* #Y is used to read compiled functions.
* #" is used to read pathnames:
     #"test.lsp" is the value of (pathname "test.lsp")
#if defined(ATARI) || defined(MSDOS)
     As in all strings, backslashes must be written twice here:
     #"A:\\programs\\test.lsp"
#endif

22.1.5.
-------

Is it impossible to get the read macro function of a dispatch macro
character like #\# using GET-MACRO-CHARACTER.

The CLtL2 place READTABLE-CASE is implemented. The possible values of
(READTABLE-CASE readtable) are :UPCASE, :DOWNCASE and :PRESERVE.

22.1.6.
-------

In absence of SYS::WRITE-FLOAT, floating point numbers are output in radix 2.

If *PRINT-READABLY* is true, *READ-DEFAULT-FLOAT-FORMAT* has no influence on
the way floating point numbers are printed.

Pathnames are written according to the syntax #"namestring" if
*PRINT-ESCAPE* /= NIL. If *PRINT-ESCAPE* = NIL, only the namestring is
printed.

*PRINT-CASE* controls the output not only of symbols, but also of characters
and some #<...> objects.

#ifndef AMIGAOS
*PRINT-PRETTY* is initially = NIL.
#else
*PRINT-PRETTY* is initially = NIL but set to T in config.lsp. This makes
unbuffered screen output much faster.
#endif

*PRINT-ARRAY* is initially = T.

An additional variable *PRINT-CLOSURE* controls whether compiled and
interpreted functions (closures) are output in detailed form. If
*PRINT-CLOSURE* /= NIL, compiled closures are output in #Y syntax the reader
understands. *PRINT-CLOSURE* is initially = NIL.

An additional variable *PRINT-RPARS* controls the output of right (closing)
parentheses. If *PRINT-RPARS* /= NIL, closing parentheses which don't fit
onto the same line as the the corresponding opening parenthesis are output
just below their corresponding opening parenthesis, in the same column.
*PRINT-RPARS* is initially = T.

22.2.1.
-------

The function READ-CHAR-SEQUENCE performs multiple READ-CHAR operations:
(READ-CHAR-SEQUENCE sequence stream [:start] [:end]) fills the
subsequence of sequence specified by :start and :end with characters
consecutively read from stream. It returns the index of the first element
of sequence that was not updated (= end or < end if the stream reached its
end).
This function is especially efficient if sequence is a string and stream is
a file stream with element type STRING-CHAR, a pipe stream or a string input
stream.

22.2.2.
-------

The function READ-BYTE-SEQUENCE performs multiple READ-BYTE operations:
(READ-BYTE-SEQUENCE sequence stream [:start] [:end]) fills the
subsequence of sequence specified by :start and :end with integers
consecutively read from stream. It returns the index of the first element
of sequence that was not updated (= end or < end if the stream reached its
end).
This function is especially efficient if sequence is a
(VECTOR (UNSIGNED-BYTE 8)) and stream is a file stream with element type
(UNSIGNED-BYTE 8) or a pipe stream.

22.3.1.
-------

The functions WRITE and WRITE-TO-STRING have an additional keyword :CLOSURE
that can be used to bind *PRINT-CLOSURE*.

The CLtL2 macro PRINT-UNREADABLE-OBJECT is implemented.

The function WRITE-CHAR-SEQUENCE performs multiple WRITE-CHAR operations:
(WRITE-CHAR-SEQUENCE sequence stream [:start] [:end]) outputs the characters
of the subsequence of sequence specified by :start and :end to stream.
It returns sequence.
This function is especially efficient if sequence is a string and stream is
a file stream with element type STRING-CHAR or a pipe stream.

22.3.2.
-------

The function WRITE-BYTE-SEQUENCE performs multiple WRITE-BYTE operations:
(WRITE-BYTE-SEQUENCE sequence stream [:start] [:end]) outputs the integers
of the subsequence of sequence specified by :start and :end to stream.
It returns sequence.
This function is especially efficient if sequence is a
(VECTOR (UNSIGNED-BYTE 8)) and stream is a file stream with element type
(UNSIGNED-BYTE 8) or a pipe stream.

22.3.3.
-------

The FORMAT option ~W is analogous to ~A and ~S, but avoids binding of
*PRINT-ESCAPE*. (FORMAT stream "~W" object) is equivalent to
(WRITE object :stream stream).

FORMAT ~R and FORMAT ~:R can output only integers in the range |n| < 10^66.
The output is in English, according to the American conventions, and these
conventions are identical to the British conventions only in the range
|n| < 10^9.

FORMAT ~:@C does not output the character itself, only the instruction how
to type the character.

For FORMAT ~E and FORMAT ~G, the value of *READ-DEFAULT-FLOAT-FORMAT* doesn't
matter if *PRINT-READABLY* is true.

FORMAT ~T can determine the current column of any stream.


                    CHAPTER 23: File System Interface
                    ---------------------------------

23.1.
-----

For most operations, pathnames denoting files and pathnames denoting
directories can not be used interchangeably.
#if defined(PATHNAME_UNIX) || defined(PATHNAME_AMIGAOS)
For example, #"FOO/BAR" denotes the file BAR in the directory FOO, while
#"FOO/BAR/" denotes the subdirectory BAR of the directory FOO.
#endif
This is especially important for the functions DIRECTORY, DIR, CD, MAKE-DIR,
DELETE-DIR.

The minimum filename syntax that may be used portably is:
  "xxx"       for a file with name xxx,
  "xxx.yy"    for a file with name xxx and type yy,
  ".yy"       for a pathname with type yy and no name specified.
Hereby xxx denote 1 to 8 characters, and yy denote 1 to 3 characters, each of
which being either alphanumerical or the underscore #\_.
Other properties of pathname syntax vary between operating systems.

23.1.1.
-------

#ifdef PATHNAME_ATARI
Pathname components:
HOST          always NIL
DEVICE        NIL or :WILD or "A"|...|"Z"
DIRECTORY     (disknumber startpoint . subdirs) where
               disknumber = NIL or the serial number of the diskette,
               startpoint = :RELATIVE | :ABSOLUTE
               subdirs = () | (subdir . subdirs)
               subdir = :CURRENT (means ".") or
               subdir = :PARENT (means "..") or
               subdir = :WILD-INFERIORS (means "...", all subdirectories) or
               subdir = (name . type)
                name = :WILD or a simple string with 8 characters maximum
                type = :WILD or a simple string with 3 characters maximum
NAME          NIL or :WILD or a simple string with 8 characters maximum
TYPE          NIL or :WILD or a simple string with 3 characters maximum
VERSION       always NIL (may also be specified as :WILD or :NEWEST)

When a pathname is to be fully specified (no wildcards), that means that
no :WILD, :WILD-INFERIORS is allowed, and NAME = NIL may not be allowed either.

External notation:  A123456:\sub1.typ\sub2.typ\name.typ
using defaults:             \sub1.typ\sub2.typ\name.typ
or                                             name.typ
or                        *:\sub1.typ\*.*\name.*
or similar.
#endif
#ifdef PATHNAME_MSDOS
Pathname components:
HOST          always NIL
DEVICE        NIL or :WILD or "A"|...|"Z"
DIRECTORY     (startpoint . subdirs) where
               startpoint = :RELATIVE | :ABSOLUTE
               subdirs = () | (subdir . subdirs)
               subdir = :CURRENT (means ".") or
               subdir = :PARENT (means "..") or
               subdir = :WILD-INFERIORS (means "...", all subdirectories) or
               subdir = (name . type)
                name = :WILD or a simple string with 8 characters maximum
                type = :WILD or a simple string with 3 characters maximum
NAME          NIL or :WILD or a simple string with 8 characters maximum
TYPE          NIL or :WILD or a simple string with 3 characters maximum
VERSION       always NIL (may also be specified as :WILD or :NEWEST)

When a pathname is to be fully specified (no wildcards), that means that
no :WILD, :WILD-INFERIORS is allowed, and NAME = NIL may not be allowed either.

External notation:        A:\sub1.typ\sub2.typ\name.typ
using defaults:             \sub1.typ\sub2.typ\name.typ
or                                             name.typ
or                        *:\sub1.typ\*.*\name.*
or similar.
Instead of '\' one may use '/', as usual for DOS calls.
#endif
#ifdef PATHNAME_AMIGAOS
Pathname components:
HOST          always NIL
DEVICE        NIL or a simple string
DIRECTORY     (startpoint . subdirs) where
               startpoint = :RELATIVE | :ABSOLUTE
               subdirs = () | (subdir . subdirs)
               subdir = :WILD-INFERIORS (means "**" or "...", all subdirectories) or
               subdir = :PARENT (means "/" instead of "subdir/") or
               subdir = simple string, may contain wildcard characters ? and *
NAME          NIL or
              simple string, may contain wildcard characters ? and *
              (may also be specified as :WILD)
TYPE          NIL or
              simple string, may contain wildcard characters ? and *
              (may also be specified as :WILD)
VERSION       always NIL (may also be specified as :WILD or :NEWEST)

Constraint: startpoint = :RELATIVE only if device = NIL. If the device is
specified, the pathname must be absolute!

A filename from AMIGAOS is split into name and type according to the
following rule:
  if there is no '.' in the filename, then the name is everything, type = NIL;
  if there is a '.', then name is the part before and type the part after
     the last dot.

Case is ignored in the strings on comparison. No case conversions are
performed.

When a pathname is to be fully specified (no wildcards), that means that
no :WILD, :WILD-INFERIORS is allowed, no wildcard characters are allowed in
the strings, and NAME = NIL may not be allowed either.

External notation:      dev:sub1.typ/sub2.typ/name.typ
using defaults:             sub1.typ/sub2.typ/name.typ
or                                            name.typ
or                          sub1.typ/**/sub3.typ/x*.lsp
or similar.

Formal specification of the external notation:
  ch ::= any character except ':','/' and '*','?'
  name ::= {ch}+
  device ::= [ <empty> | ':' | name ':' ]
             ; empty = current device, relative to current directory
             ; ':'   = current device, absolute (relative to root for disks)
             ; name ':' = specified device, absolute (relative to root for disks)
  subdir ::= [ <empty> | name ]                ; empty means parent directory
  pathname ::= device { subdir '/' }* name

Examples:
String       Device    Directory                our pathname
------       ------    ---------                --------------
'c:foo'      'C',     device->foo               "c" (:ABSOLUTE "foo")
'c:foo/'     'C',     device->foo               "c" (:ABSOLUTE "foo")
'c:foo/bar'  'C',     device->foo->bar          "c" (:ABSOLUTE "foo" "bar")
'c:/foo'     'C',     device->up->foo           "c" (:ABSOLUTE :PARENT "foo")
'c:'         'C',     device                    "c" (:ABSOLUTE)
':foo'       current, device->root->foo         NIL (:ABSOLUTE "foo")
'foo'        current, device->foo               NIL (:RELATIVE "foo")
'/foo'       current, device->up->foo           NIL (:RELATIVE :PARENT "foo")
'//foo/bar'  current, device->up->up->foo->bar  NIL (:RELATIVE :PARENT :PARENT "foo" "bar")
''           current, device                    NIL (:RELATIVE)

Appending a '/' to a path string that is non-empty and does not end with ':'
or '/' does not change its meaning. This '/' must be appended before another
non-empty component can be appended.
But appending a '/' to a path string that is empty or ends with ':' or '/'
means going up to the parent directory!
We interpret any path string that is empty or ends with ':' or '/' as
pathname of a directory (with name = NIL and type = NIL).
#endif
#ifdef PATHNAME_UNIX
Pathname components:
HOST          always NIL
DEVICE        always NIL
DIRECTORY     (startpoint . subdirs) where
               startpoint = :RELATIVE | :ABSOLUTE
               subdirs = () | (subdir . subdirs)
               subdir = :WILD-INFERIORS (means "**" or "...", all subdirectories) or
               subdir = simple string, may contain wildcard characters ? and *
NAME          NIL or
              simple string, may contain wildcard characters ? and *
              (may also be specified as :WILD)
TYPE          NIL or
              simple string, may contain wildcard characters ? and *
              (may also be specified as :WILD)
VERSION       always NIL (may also be specified as :WILD or :NEWEST)

A UNIX filename is split into name and type according to the following rule:
  if there is no '.' in the filename, then the name is everything, type = NIL;
  if there is a '.', then name is the part before and type the part after
     the last dot.

When a pathname is to be fully specified (no wildcards), that means that
no :WILD, :WILD-INFERIORS is allowed, no wildcard characters are allowed in
the strings, and NAME = NIL may not be allowed either.

External notation:   server:sub1.typ/sub2.typ/name.typ
using defaults:             sub1.typ/sub2.typ/name.typ
or                                            name.typ
or                          sub1.typ/**/sub3.typ/x*.lsp
or similar.
#endif
#ifdef PATHNAME_OS2
Pathname components:
HOST          always NIL
DEVICE        NIL or :WILD or "A"|...|"Z"
DIRECTORY     (startpoint . subdirs) where
               startpoint = :RELATIVE | :ABSOLUTE
               subdirs = () | (subdir . subdirs)
               subdir = :WILD-INFERIORS (means "**" or "...", all subdirectories) or
               subdir = simple string, may contain wildcard characters ? and *
NAME          NIL or
              simple string, may contain wildcard characters ? and *
              (may also be specified as :WILD)
TYPE          NIL or
              simple string, may contain wildcard characters ? and *
              (may also be specified as :WILD)
VERSION       always NIL (may also be specified as :WILD or :NEWEST)

An OS/2 filename is split into name and type according to the following rule:
  if there is no '.' in the filename, then the name is everything, type = NIL;
  if there is a '.', then name is the part before and type the part after
     the last dot.

When a pathname is to be fully specified (no wildcards), that means that
no :WILD, :WILD-INFERIORS is allowed, no wildcard characters are allowed in
the strings, and NAME = NIL may not be allowed either.

External notation:       A:\sub1.typ\sub2.typ\name.typ
using defaults:            \sub1.typ\sub2.typ\name.typ
or                                            name.typ
or                       *:\sub1.typ\**\sub3.typ\x*.lsp
or similar.
Instead of '\' one may use '/', as usual for DOS calls.
#endif
#ifdef PATHNAME_NOEXT

The wildcard characters: '*' matches any sequence of characters, '?' matches
any one character.
#endif
#ifdef PATHNAME_NOEXT

Due to the name/type splitting rule, there are pathnames that can't result
from PARSE-NAMESTRING. To get a pathname whose type contains a dot or whose
name contains a dot and whose type is NIL, MAKE-PATHNAME must be used.
Example: (MAKE-PATHNAME :NAME ".profile").
#endif

23.1.2.
-------

External notation of pathnames (cf. PARSE-NAMESTRING and NAMESTRING),
of course without spaces, [,],{,}:
#ifdef PATHNAME_ATARI
 [ [drivespec]         a letter '*'|'A'|...|'Z'|'a'|...|'z'
   [Seriennummer]      an integer >=0, <2^24 in decimal notation
   :
 ]
 { name [. type] \ }   each one a subdirectory
 [ name [. type] ]     filename with type (extension)

Name and type may be character sequences of any length (consisting of
alphanumeric characters and '-', '_'). They are shortened to 8 resp. 3
characters and converted to upper case. A single '*' is allowed for :WILD.
#endif
#ifdef PATHNAME_MSDOS
 [ [drivespec]         a letter '*'|'A'|...|'Z'|'a'|...|'z'
   :
 ]
 { name [. type] \ }   each one a subdirectory, '\' may be replaced by '/'
 [ name [. type] ]     filename with type (extension)

Name and type may be character sequences of any length (consisting of
alphanumeric characters and '-', '_'). They are shortened to 8 resp. 3
characters and converted to upper case. A single '*' is allowed for :WILD.
#endif
#ifdef PATHNAME_AMIGAOS
see above.
#endif
#ifdef PATHNAME_UNIX
 [ / ]                 / denotes absolute pathnames
 { name / }            each one a subdirectory
 [ name [. type] ]     filename with type (extension)

Name and type may be character sequences of any length (consisting of
printing ASCII characters, except '/').
#endif
#ifdef PATHNAME_OS2
 [ [drivespec]         a letter '*'|'A'|...|'Z'|'a'|...|'z'
   :
 ]
 { name [. type] \ }   each one a subdirectory, '\' may be replaced by '/'
 [ name [. type] ]     filename with type (extension)

Name and type may be character sequences of any length (consisting of
printing ASCII characters, except '/', '\', ':').
#endif

NAMESTRING has an optional flag argument: (NAMESTRING pathname T) returns an
external notation suitable for passing to the operating system or other
programs.
#if !defined(USER_HOMEDIR)

The function USER-HOMEDIR-PATHNAME is not implemented.
#if defined(MSDOS) || defined(ATARI)
If you really need that function, you might define it like this:
  (DEFUN USER-HOMEDIR-PATHNAME (&OPTIONAL HOST)
    (DECLARE (IGNORE HOST))
    (OR (SYSTEM::GETENV "HOME") "\\")
  )
#endif
#endif

23.1.4.
-------

The CLtL2 functions WILD-PATHNAME-P, PATHNAME-MATCH-P and TRANSLATE-PATHNAME
are implemented.

PATHNAME-MATCH-P does not interpret missing components as wild.

TRANSLATE-PATHNAME has two additional keywords:
  (TRANSLATE-PATHNAME source from-wildname to-wildname &key :all :merge)
If :ALL is specified and non-NIL, a list of all resulting pathnames,
corresponding to all matches of (PATHNAME-MATCH-P source from-wildname),
is returned. If :MERGE is specified and NIL, unspecified pieces of to-pathname
are not replaced by corresponding pieces of source.

23.1.5.
-------

#ifndef LOGICAL_PATHNAMES
The function COMPILE-FILE-PATHNAME is implemented.
#endif
#ifdef LOGICAL_PATHNAMES
The functions LOGICAL-PATHNAME, TRANSLATE-LOGICAL-PATHNAME,
LOGICAL-PATHNAME-TRANSLATIONS, (SETF LOGICAL-PATHNAME-TRANSLATIONS),
LOAD-LOGICAL-PATHNAME-TRANSLATIONS, COMPILE-FILE-PATHNAME are implemented.

RENAME-FILE always returns a non-logical pathname as its first value.

23.1.6.
-------

(PARSE-NAMESTRING string [host [defaults]]) returns a logical pathname only
if host is a logical host or host is NIL and defaults is a logical pathname.
To construct a logical pathname from a string, the function LOGICAL-PATHNAME
can be used.

(MERGE-PATHNAMES string [defaults]) returns a logical pathname only if
defaults is a logical pathname. To construct a logical pathname from a string,
the function LOGICAL-PATHNAME can be used.
#endif

23.2.
-----

#ifdef HANDLES
The file streams returned by OPEN are buffered for regular files and
unbuffered for special files.
#else
The file streams returned by OPEN are always buffered.
#endif

23.3.
-----

FILE-AUTHOR always returns NIL.
#if defined(ATARI) || defined(MSDOS)

FILE-POSITION works on any file stream. When a Newline is output to resp.
input from a file stream, its file position is increased by 2 since Newline
is encoded as CR/LF in the file.
#endif

23.4.
-----

LOAD has two additional keywords :ECHO and :COMPILING.
(LOAD filename &key :verbose :print :echo :if-does-not-exist :compiling)
:VERBOSE T   causes LOAD to emit a short message that a file is being loaded.
             The default is *LOAD-VERBOSE*, which is initially = T.
:PRINT T     causes LOAD to print the value of each form.
             The default is *LOAD-PRINT*, which is initially = NIL.
:ECHO T      causes the input from the file to be echoed to *STANDARD-OUTPUT*
             (normally to the screen). Should there be an error in the file,
             you can see at one glance where it is.
             The default is *LOAD-ECHO*, which is initially = NIL.
:COMPILING T causes each form read to be compiled on the fly. The compiled
             code is executed at once and - in contrast to COMPILE-FILE -
             not written to a file.

The CLtL2 variables *LOAD-PATHNAME* and *LOAD-TRUENAME* are implemented.

The variable *LOAD-PATHS* contains a list of directories where program files
are searched - additionally to the specified or current directory - by LOAD,
REQUIRE, COMPILE-FILE.

23.5.
-----

(DIRECTORY [pathname [:full] [:circle]]) can run in two modes:
* If pathname contains no name or type component, a list of all matching
  directories is produced.
* Otherwise a list of all matching files is returned. If the :FULL argument
  is /= NIL, this contains additional information: for each matching file
  you get a list of at least four elements
  (file-pathname file-truename file-write-date-as-decoded-time file-length).
#ifdef UNIX
If the :CIRCLE argument is /= NIL, the function avoids endless loops that
may result from symbolic links.
#endif

(DIR [pathname]) is like DIRECTORY, but displays the pathnames instead of
returning them. (DIR) shows the contents of the current directory.

#if defined(PATHNAME_UNIX) || defined(PATHNAME_AMIGAOS)
(CD [pathname]) manages the current directory.
#else
(CD [pathname]) manages the current device and the current directory.
#endif
(CD pathname) sets it, (CD) returns it.
#ifdef PATHNAME_ATARI
Note that this current directory is handled inside Lisp. When you call
programs, they will not know about this current directory. We don't modify
GEMDOS' current directory.
#endif

(DEFAULT-DIRECTORY) is equivalent to (CD), (SETF (DEFAULT-DIRECTORY) pathname)
is equivalent to (CD pathname).

(MAKE-DIR directory-pathname) creates a new subdirectory.

(DELETE-DIR directory-pathname) removes an (empty) subdirectory.
#ifdef ATARI

(EXECUTE programfile [args [space]])  executes an external program. Its name
is programfile. args is the string of arguments (also called "command tail")
and defaults to "". space is the amount of memory (in bytes) that is to be
placed at the program's disposal. The default for space is the bare minimum
the program may need, but this guess is often too low.
#endif
#if defined(UNIX) || defined(MSDOS)

(EXECUTE programfile arg1 arg2 ...)  executes an external program. Its name
is programfile. It is given the strings arg1, arg2, ... as arguments.
#endif
#ifdef AMIGAOS

(EXECUTE command)  executes a given command using the operating system's shell.
#endif
#ifdef HAVE_SHELL

(SHELL [command])  calls the operating system's shell.
(SHELL) calls the shell for interactive use. (SHELL command) calls the shell
only for execution of the one given command.
#endif
#ifdef PIPES2

The functions RUN-SHELL-COMMAND and RUN-PROGRAM are a general interface to
SHELL and the above:
  (RUN-SHELL-COMMAND command [:input] [:output] [:if-output-exists])
    runs a shell command.
  (RUN-PROGRAM program [:arguments] [:input] [:output] [:if-output-exists])
    runs an external program.
The command argument     specifies the shell command.
The program argument     specifies the program. The directories listed in the
                         PATH environment veriable will be searched for it.
The :arguments argument  specifies a list of arguments (strings) that are
                         given to the program.
The :input argument      specifies where the program's input is to come from:
                         either :TERMINAL (the standard input) or :STREAM
                         (a Lisp stream to be created) or a pathname (an
                         input file) or NIL (no input at all).
The :output argument     specifies where the program's output is to be sent
                         to: either :TERMINAL (the standard output) or :STREAM
                         (a Lisp stream to be created) or a pathname (an
                         output file) or NIL (ignore the output).
The :if-output-exists argument specifies what to do if the :output file
                         already exists. The possible values are :overwrite,
                         :append, :error, with the same meaning as for OPEN.
If :STREAM was specified for :input or :output, a Lisp stream is returned.
If :STREAM was specified for :input and :output, three Lisp streams are
returned, as for the function MAKE-PIPE-IO-STREAM. This use of RUN-PROGRAM
can cause deadlocks, see MAKE-PIPE-IO-STREAM.
#endif


                        CHAPTER 24: Errors
                        ------------------

24.1.
-----

When an error occurred, you are in a break loop. You can evaluate forms as
usual. The HELP command (or help key if there is one) lists the available
debugging commands.


                  CHAPTER 25: Miscellaneous Features
                  ----------------------------------

25.1.
-----

The compiler can be called not only by the functions COMPILE, COMPILE-FILE
and DISASSEMBLE, also by the declaration (COMPILE).

(COMPILE-FILE input-file [:output-file] [:listing]
                         [:warnings] [:verbose] [:print])
compiles a file to bytecode.
    input-file                should be a pathname/string/symbol.
The :output-file argument     should be NIL or T or a pathname/string/symbol
                              or an output-stream. The default is T.
The :listing argument         should be NIL or T or a pathname/string/symbol
                              or an output-stream. The default is NIL.
The :warnings argument        specifies whether warnings should also appear
                              on the screen.
The :verbose argument         specifies whether error messages should also
                              appear on the screen.
The :print argument           specifies whether an indication which forms are
                              being compiled should appear on the screen.
The variables *COMPILE-WARNINGS*, *COMPILE-VERBOSE*, *COMPILE-PRINT* provide
defaults for the :warnings, :verbose, :print keyword arguments, respectively.

The CLtL2 variables *COMPILE-FILE-PATHNAME* and *COMPILE-FILE-TRUENAME* are
implemented.

The CLtL2 special form LOAD-TIME-VALUE is implemented. (LOAD-TIME-VALUE form)
is like (QUOTE #,form) except that the former can be generated by macros.

The CLtL2 function FUNCTION-LAMBDA-EXPRESSION is implemented.
(FUNCTION-LAMBDA-EXPRESSION function) returns information about the source
of an interpreted function: lambda-expression, lexical environment, name.

25.2.
-----

No on-line documentation is available for the system functions (yet).

25.3.
-----

(TRACE fun ...) makes the functions fun, ... traced. Syntax of fun:
Either a symbol:
       symbol
or a list of a symbol and some keywords and arguments (which must come in
pairs!):
       (symbol
         [:suppress-if form]   ; no trace output as long as form is true
         [:step-if form]       ; invokes the stepper as soon as form is true
         [:pre form]           ; evaluates form before calling the function
         [:post form]          ; evaluates form after return from the function
         [:pre-break-if form]  ; goes into the break loop before calling the
                               ; function if form is true
         [:post-break-if form] ; goes into the break loop after return from
                               ; the function if form is true
         [:pre-print form]     ; prints the values of form before calling the
                               ; function
         [:post-print form]    ; prints the values of form after return from
                               ; the function
         [:print form]         ; prints the values of form both before
                               ; calling and after return from the function
       )
In all these forms you can access
  the function itself               as *TRACE-FUNCTION*,
  the arguments to the function     as *TRACE-ARGS*,
  the function/macro call as form   as *TRACE-FORM*,
and after return from the function
  the list of return values from the function call  as *TRACE-VALUES*,
and you can leave the function call with specified values by using RETURN.

TRACE and UNTRACE are also applicable to functions (SETF symbol) and to macros,
but not to locally defined functions and macros.

The function INSPECT is not implemented.

The function ROOM can only be called without arguments. It returns two values:
the number of bytes currently occupied by Lisp objects, and the number of
bytes that can be allocated before the next regular garbage collection occurs.

The function ED calls the external editor specified by the variable *EDITOR*
(see config.lsp).
#if defined(ATARI) || defined(MSDOS) || defined(UNIX)
If using the optional package EDITOR:
  ED behaves like this only if the variable *USE-ED* is NIL.
  Otherwise ED uses an Emacs-like screen editor with multiple windows.
#endif

The function UNCOMPILE does the converse of COMPILE: (UNCOMPILE function-name)
reverts an interpreted function that has been entered or loaded in the same
session and then compiled back to its interpreted form.

25.4.1.
-------

#ifndef TIME_UNIX
The variable *DEFAULT-TIME-ZONE* contains the default time zone used by
ENCODE-UNIVERSAL-TIME and DECODE-UNIVERSAL-TIME. It is initially set to -1
(which means 1 hour east of Greenwich, i.e. Mid European Time).

#endif
The timezone in a decoded time must not necessarily be an integer, but (as
float or rational number) it should be a multiple of 1/4.

#ifdef TIME_ATARI
INTERNAL-TIME-UNITS-PER-SECOND = 200.
#endif
#ifdef TIME_MSDOS
INTERNAL-TIME-UNITS-PER-SECOND = 100.
#endif
#ifdef TIME_AMIGAOS
INTERNAL-TIME-UNITS-PER-SECOND = 50.
#endif
#ifdef TIME_UNIX
INTERNAL-TIME-UNITS-PER-SECOND = 1000000.
#endif

25.4.2.
-------

#if defined(UNIX) && !defined(UNIX_LINUX)
The functions SHORT-SITE-NAME, LONG-SITE-NAME should be defined in a site-
specific CONFIG.LSP file.
#else
The functions MACHINE-TYPE, MACHINE-VERSION, MACHINE-INSTANCE and
SHORT-SITE-NAME, LONG-SITE-NAME should be defined by every user in his
site-specific CONFIG.LSP file.
#endif

The variable *FEATURES* initially contains the symbols
   CLISP            ; this implementation
   COMMON-LISP
   CLTL1
   INTERPRETER
   COMPILER
#ifdef LOGICAL_PATHNAMES
   LOGICAL-PATHNAMES
#endif
   LOOP
   CLOS
   ATARI            ; if hardware = Atari ST/TT and operating system = TOS
   AMIGA            ; if hardware = Amiga and operating system = Exec/AmigaDOS
   DOS              ; if hardware = PC (clone) and operating system = DOS
   OS/2             ; if hardware = PC (clone) and operating system = OS/2
   PC386            ; if hardware = PC (clone) with a 386/486
   UNIX             ; if                            operating system = Unix
                    ;                               (yes, in this case the
                    ;                               hardware is irrelevant!)


                           CHAPTER 26: Loop
                           ----------------

The CLtL2 macros LOOP and LOOP-FINISH are implemented.


                 CHAPTER 28: Common Lisp Object System
                 -------------------------------------

To use CLOS, do (USE-PACKAGE "CLOS").

The functions
  SLOT-VALUE, SLOT-BOUNDP, SLOT-MAKUNBOUND, SLOT-EXISTS-P,
  FIND-CLASS, (SETF FIND-CLASS), CLASS-OF, CALL-NEXT-METHOD, NEXT-METHOD-P,
  CLASS-NAME, (SETF CLASS-NAME), NO-APPLICABLE-METHOD, NO-NEXT-METHOD,
  FIND-METHOD, ADD-METHOD, REMOVE-METHOD, COMPUTE-APPLICABLE-METHODS,
  METHOD-QUALIFIERS, FUNCTION-KEYWORDS, SLOT-MISSING, SLOT-UNBOUND,
  PRINT-OBJECT, DESCRIBE-OBJECT, MAKE-INSTANCE, INITIALIZE-INSTANCE,
  REINITIALIZE-INSTANCE, SHARED-INITIALIZE,
the macros
  WITH-SLOTS, WITH-ACCESSORS, DEFCLASS, DEFMETHOD, DEFGENERIC,
  GENERIC-FUNCTION, GENERIC-FLET, GENERIC-LABELS,
the classes
  STANDARD-CLASS, STRUCTURE-CLASS, BUILT-IN-CLASS, STANDARD-OBJECT,
  STANDARD-GENERIC-FUNCTION, STANDARD-METHOD and all predefined classes,
and the method combination
  STANDARD
are implemented.

Deviations from CLtL2 chapter 28:

DEFCLASS : It *is* required that the superclasses of a class be defined before
the DEFCLASS form for the class is evaluated.

The REAL type is added to the predefined classes listed in table 28-1.

Only STANDARD method combination is implemented.

When CALL-NEXT-METHOD is called with arguments, the rule that the ordered
set of applicable methods must be the same as for the original arguments
is not enforced by the implementation.

CALL-NEXT-METHOD and NEXT-METHOD-P are local macros, not local functions.
Use #'(lambda () (call-next-method)) instead of #'call-next-method if you
really need it as a function.

There is a generic function NO-PRIMARY-METHOD (analogous to
NO-APPLICABLE-METHOD) which is called when a generic function of the class
STANDARD-GENERIC-FUNCTION is invoked and no primary method on that generic
function is applicable.

GENERIC-FLET and GENERIC-LABELS are implemented as macros, not as special
forms.

The function ENSURE-GENERIC-FUNCTION is not implemented.

ADD-METHOD can put methods into other generic functions than the one the method
came from.

PRINT-OBJECT and DESCRIBE-OBJECT are only called on objects of type
STANDARD-OBJECT.

DESCRIBE-OBJECT should not call DESCRIBE recursively as this would produce
more information than is likely to be useful to a human reader.

DOCUMENTATION still has the CLtL1 implementation.

User-defined method combination is not supported.
The sections 28.1.7.3., 28.1.7.4., the macros DEFINE-METHOD-COMBINATION,
CALL-METHOD and the functions INVALID-METHOD-ERROR, METHOD-COMBINATION-ERROR,
METHOD-QUALIFIERS are not implemented.

The special form WITH-ADDED-METHODS is not implemented.

Redefining classes is not supported.
The sections 28.1.10., 28.1.10.1., 28.1.10.2., 28.1.10.3., 28.1.10.4. and the
function UPDATE-INSTANCE-FOR-REDEFINED-CLASS are not implemented.

Changing the class of a given instance is not supported.
The sections 28.1.11., 28.1.11.1., 28.1.11.2., 28.1.11.3. and the functions
CHANGE-CLASS, UPDATE-INSTANCE-FOR-DIFFERENT-CLASS, MAKE-INSTANCES-OBSOLETE are
not implemented.


                        CHAPTER 29: Conditions
                        ----------------------

29.4.1.
-------

The default condition type for conditions created by SIGNAL is
SIMPLE-CONDITION, not SIMPLE-ERROR.

29.4.7.
-------

In RESTART-CASE clauses the argument list can also be specified after the
keyword/value pairs instead of before them. The syntax therefore is
  (RESTART-CASE form {restart-clause}*)
with
  restart-clause ::=   (restart-name arglist {keyword value}* {form}*)
                     | (restart-name {keyword value}* arglist {form}*)

The macro WITH-RESTARTS is like RESTART-CASE, except that the forms are
specified after the restart clauses instead of before them, and the
restarts created are not implicitly associated to any condition.
  (WITH-RESTARTS ({restart-clause}*) {form}*)
is therefore equivalent to (RESTART-CASE (PROGN {form}*) {restart-clause}*).

29.4.8.
-------

COMPUTE-RESTARTS and FIND-RESTART behave as specified in dpANS: If the
optional condition argument is not NIL, only restarts associated with that
condition and restarts associated to no condition at all are considered.
Therefore the effect of associating a restart to a condition is not to
activate it, but to hide it from other conditions. This makes the syntax
dependent implicit association performed by RESTART-CASE nearly obsolete.

29.4.9.
-------

The default condition type for conditions created by WARN is SIMPLE-WARNING,
not SIMPLE-ERROR.


               CHAPTER 90: Platform independent Extensions
               -------------------------------------------

90.1. Saving an Image
---------------------

The function (SAVEINITMEM [filename [:quiet] [:init-function]]) saves the
running CLISP's memory to a file. The filename defaults to "lispinit.mem".
If the :QUIET argument is not NIL, the startup banner and the good-bye
message will be suppressed. The :INIT-FUNCTION argument specifies a function
that will be executed at startup of the saved image.

90.2. Quitting Lisp
-------------------

The functions (EXIT [errorp]), (QUIT [errorp]) and (BYE [errorp])
- all synonymous - terminate CLISP. If errorp is not NIL, CLISP aborts with
error status, i.e. the environment is informed that the CLISP session didn't
succeed.

90.3. The Language
------------------

The language CLISP uses to communicate with the user can be either
ENGLISH or DEUTSCH (i.e. german) or FRANCAIS (i.e. french). The macros
ENGLISH, DEUTSCH, FRANCAIS and LANGUAGE-CASE produce code that depends on
the language:
(ENGLISH english-form DEUTSCH deutsch-form FRANCAIS francais-form)
- and all permutations of this - evaluates all of english-form, deutsch-form,
francais-form in no particular order and returns the evaluation result
corresponding to the user language.
(LANGUAGE-CASE {clause}*) executes the clause (analogous to CASE) that
corresponds to the user language.
The language itself is the value of
(ENGLISH 'ENGLISH DEUTSCH 'DEUTSCH FRANCAIS 'FRANCAIS).


                  CHAPTER 91: The Debugger and Stepper
                  ------------------------------------

The debugger may be invoked through the functions INVOKE-DEBUGGER, BREAK,
SIGNAL, ERROR, CERROR, WARN. The stepper is invoked through the macro STEP.
Debugger and stepper execute subordinate READ - EVAL - PRINT loops (called
"break loops") which are analogous to the main READ - EVAL - PRINT loop except
for the prompt and the set of available commands. Commands must be typed
literally, without surrounding quotes or white space.

Commands common to the main loop, the debugger and the stepper:
  Help       prints a list of available commands.

Commands common to the debugger and the stepper:
  Abort      and
  Unwind     abort to the next most recent READ - EVAL - PRINT loop.

The stack is organized into frames and other stack elements. Usually every
invocation of an interpreted function and every evaluation of an interpreted
form corresponds to one stack frame. Special forms such as LET, LET*,
UNWIND-PROTECT and CATCH produce special kinds of stack frames.

In a break loop there is a current stack frame, which is initially the most
recent stack frame but can be moved using the debugger commands Up and Down.

Evaluation of forms in a break loop occurs in the lexical environment of the
current stack frame but in the dynamic environment of the debugger's caller.
This means that to inspect or modify a lexical variable all you have to do
is to move to the current stack frame just below the frame that corresponds
to the form or the function call that binds that variable.

There is a current "stack mode" which defines in how much detail the stack
is shown by the stack related debugger commands.

Commands common to the debugger and the stepper:
  Mode-1      sets the current mode to 1: all the stack elements are
              considered. This mode is fine for debugging compiled functions.
  Mode-2      sets the current mode to 2: all the frames are considered.
  Mode-3      sets the current mode to 3: only lexical frames (frames that
              correspond to special forms that modify the lexical environment)
              are considered.
  Mode-4      sets the current mode to 4 (the default): only EVAL and APPLY
              frames are considered. Every evaluation of a form in the
              interpreter corresponds to an EVAL frame.
  Mode-5      sets the current mode to 5: only APPLY frames are considered.
              Every invocation of an interpreted function corresponds to one
              APPLY frame.
  Where       shows the current stack frame.
  Up          goes up one frame, i.e. to the caller if in mode-5
  Down        does down one frame, i.e. to the callee if in mode-5
  Top         goes to top frame, i.e. to the top-level form if in mode-4
  Bottom      goes to bottom (most recent) frame, i.e. most probably to the
              form or function that caused the debugger to be entered.
  Backtrace   lists the stack in current mode, bottom frame first, top frame
              last.
  Backtrace-1 lists the stack in mode 1.
  Backtrace-2 lists the stack in mode 2.
  Backtrace-3 lists the stack in mode 3.
  Backtrace-4 lists the stack in mode 4.
  Backtrace-5 lists the stack in mode 5.
If the current stack frame is an EVAL or APPLY frame, the following commands
are available as well:
  Break+      sets a breakpoint in the current frame. When the corresponding
              form or function will be left, the debugger will be entered
              again, with the variable *TRACE-VALUES* containing a list of
              its values.
  Break-      removes a breakpoint from the current frame.
  Redo        re-evaluates the corresponding form or function call. This
              command can be used to restart parts of a computation without
              aborting it entirely.
  Return      leaves the current frame. You will be prompted for the
              return values.

Commands specific to the debugger:
  Continue    continues evaluation of the program.

Commands specific to the stepper:
  Step        step into a form: evaluate this form in single step mode
  Next        step over a form: evaluate this form at once
  Over        step over this level: evaluate at once up to the next return
  Continue    switch off single step mode, continue evaluation

The stepper is usually used like this: If some form returns a strange value
or results in an error, call  (STEP form)  and navigate using the commands
Step  and  Next  until you reach the form you regard as responsible. If you
are too fast (execute Next once and get the error), there is no way back; you
have to restart the entire stepper session. If you are too slow (stepped into
a function or a form which certainly is OK), a couple of Next commands or one
Over command will help.

#if defined(SCREEN) || defined(AMIGAOS)

                CHAPTER 99: Platform specific Extensions
                ----------------------------------------

#if 0
99.1. The Editor
----------------

#endif
#if defined(SCREEN) || defined(AMIGAOS)
99.2. Random Screen Access
--------------------------

(SCREEN:MAKE-WINDOW)
  returns a "window stream". As long as this stream is open, the terminal
  is in cbreak/noecho mode. *TERMINAL-IO* shouldn't be used for input or
  output during this time. (Use WITH-KEYBOARD and *KEYBOARD-INPUT* instead.)

(SCREEN:WITH-WINDOW . body)
  binds SCREEN:*WINDOW* to a window stream and executes body. The stream is
  guaranteed to be closed when the body is left. During its execution,
  *TERMINAL-IO* shouldn't be used, as above.

(SCREEN:WINDOW-SIZE window-stream)
  returns the window's size, as two values:
  height (= Ymax+1) and width (= Xmax+1).

(SCREEN:WINDOW-CURSOR-POSITION window-stream)
  returns the position of the cursor in the window, as two values:
  line (>=0, <=Ymax, 0 means top), column (>=0, <=Xmax, 0 means left margin).

(SCREEN:SET-WINDOW-CURSOR-POSITION window-stream line column)
  sets the position of the cursor in the window.

(SCREEN:CLEAR-WINDOW window-stream)
  clears the window's contents and puts the cursor in the upper left corner.

(SCREEN:CLEAR-WINDOW-TO-EOT window-stream)
  clears the window's contents from the cursor position to the end of window.

(SCREEN:CLEAR-WINDOW-TO-EOL window-stream)
  clears the window's contents from the cursor position to the end of line.

(SCREEN:DELETE-WINDOW-LINE window-stream)
  removes the cursor's line, moves the lines below it up by one line and
  clears the window's last line.

(SCREEN:INSERT-WINDOW-LINE window-stream)
  inserts a line at the cursor's line, moving the lines below it down by
  one line.

(SCREEN:HIGHLIGHT-ON window-stream)
  switches highlighted output on.

(SCREEN:HIGHLIGHT-OFF window-stream)
  switches highlighted output off.

(SCREEN:WINDOW-CURSOR-ON window-stream)
  makes the cursor visible, a cursor block in most implementations.

(SCREEN:WINDOW-CURSOR-OFF window-stream)
  makes the cursor invisible, in implementations where this is possible.

#endif
#ifdef AMIGAOS
99.3. ARexx
-----------

CLISP comes with a small yet extensible and powerful ARexx interface.

(REXX-DO-COMMAND "return address()" :STRING T :RESULT T) tells you the
name of the CLISP ARexx port. The default extension for CLISP ARexx
scripts is "cl".

(REXX-DO-COMMAND command &KEY :string :result :token :io)
  -> (RC &OPTIONAL RESULT), or NIL on failure

(REXX-RUN-COMMAND command &KEY :string :token)
  -> T, or NIL on failure

(REXX-SEND-COMMAND command &KEY :string :result :token :io :async)
  -> arexx-msg-handle, or NIL on failure

(REXX-WAIT-SENT-COMMAND arexx-msg-handle)
  -> (RC &OPTIONAL RESULT), or NIL on failure

(REXX-LOOP)
  -> no return

Command may be a string denoting a command with optional arguments or a
vector of strings thus denoting an ARexx function call. The first
element in the vector is the function name, the others are the up to 15
arguments.

ARexx server mode: Like Ispell, Csh and SKsh, you can run it in server
mode by calling (REXX-LOOP). You can then only exit with the ARexx
exit-loop.cl script.

Restrictions: Currently CLISP is not able to wait for input from
several sources, e.g. both a console and ARexx, at the same time.

#endif
#ifdef AMIGAOS
99.9. Other
-----------

To have *DEBUG-IO* and *ERROR-OUTPUT* point to separate console windows
(thus keeping your standard console window clean from error messages)
you can use
  (SETQ *ERROR-OUTPUT*
    (SETQ *DEBUG-IO*
      (OPEN "CON:0/0/500/300/CLISP-Debugger/AUTO/CLOSE" :DIRECTION :IO)
  ) )
at startup.

#endif
#endif

Authors:
--------

        Bruno Haible                    Michael Stoll
        Augartenstra▀e 40               Gallierweg 39
    D - 76137 Karlsruhe             D - 53117 Bonn
        Germany                         Germany

Email:  [e-mail]