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- TinyScheme would not exist if it wasn't for MiniScheme. I had just
- written the HTTP server for Ovrimos SQL Server, and I was lamenting the
- lack of a scripting language. Server-side Javascript would have been the
- preferred solution, had there been a Javascript interpreter I could
- lay my hands on. But there weren't. Perl would have been another solution,
- but it was probably ten times bigger that the program it was supposed to
- be embedded in. There would also be thorny licencing issues.
-
- So, the obvious thing to do was find a trully small interpreter. Forth
- was a language I had once quasi-implemented, but the difficulty of
- handling dynamic data and the weirdness of the language put me off. I then
- looked around for a LISP interpreter, the next thing I knew was easy to
- implement. Alas, the LeLisp I knew from my days in UPMC (Universite Pierre
- et Marie Curie) had given way to Common Lisp, a megalith of a language!
- Then my search lead me to Scheme, a language I knew was very orthogonal
- and clean. When I found Mini-Scheme, a single C file of some 2400 loc, I
- fell in love with it! What if it lacked floating-point numbers and
- strings! The rest, as they say, is history.
-
- Below are the original credits. Don't email Akira KIDA, the address has
- changed.
-
- ---------- Mini-Scheme Interpreter Version 0.85 ----------
- coded by Atsushi Moriwaki (11/5/1989)
- E-MAIL : moriwaki@kurims.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp
- THIS SOFTWARE IS IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN
- ------------------------------------
- This software is completely free to copy, modify and/or re-distribute.
- But I would appreciate it if you left my name on the code as the author.
- This version has been modified by R.C. Secrist.
- Mini-Scheme is now maintained by Akira KIDA.
- This is a revised and modified version by Akira KIDA.
- current version is 0.85k4 (15 May 1994)
- Please send suggestions, bug reports and/or requests to:
- <SDI00379@niftyserve.or.jp>
- Features compared to MiniSCHEME
- -------------------------------
- All code is now reentrant. Interpreter state is held in a 'scheme'
- struct, and many interpreters can coexist in the same program, possibly
- in different threads. The user can specify user-defined memory allocation
- primitives. (see "Programmer's Reference")
- The reader is more consistent.
- Strings, characters and flonums are supported. (see "Types")
- Files being loaded can be nested up to some depth.
- R5RS I/O is there, plus String Ports. (see "Scheme Reference","I/O")
- Vectors exist.
- As a standalone application, it supports command-line arguments.
- (see "Standalone")
- Running out of memory is now handled.
- The user can add foreign functions in C. (see "Foreign Functions")
- The code has been changed slightly, core functions have been moved
- to the library, behavior has been aligned with R5RS etc.
- Support has been added for user-defined error recovery.
- (see "Error Handling")
- Support has been added for modular programming.
- (see "Colon Qualifiers - Packages")
- To enable this, EVAL has changed internally, and can
- now take two arguments, as per R5RS. Environments are supported.
- (see "Colon Qualifiers - Packages")
- Promises are now evaluated once only.
- (macro (foo form) ...) is now equivalent to (macro foo (lambda(form) ...))
- The reader can be extended using new #-expressions
- (see "Reader extensions")
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