CS212 Handouts
Swindle Quick Reference

Swindle is an extension to the Scheme language that adds object oriented and typing features.  The features used for CS212 are listed below -- more will be added as you learn them. Consult the Scheme Quick Reference for inquiries about the Scheme language. If you find any mistakes or things that need to be changed/added in this handout, send a message to Brandon.

Notation

Notation used in this handout:

• Things in fixed font are things that are typed in.
• Things in italics are parameters.
• "expr ..." means zero or more expressions.
• "expr₁ expr₂ ..." means one or more expressions.
• "[...]" means an optional syntax.
• Things colored in red are meta-variables (place holders).
• Things colored in blue are examples.

Types

By convention, all types begin with a "<" and end with a ">". There is a hierarchy of types, with various mechanisms for user defined classes. Swindle provides many built in types, to handle numbers, strings, collections of objects, and more:

• <top>
  • <object>
    • <class>
    • <struct>
    • <generic>
    • <method>
  • <primitive>
    • <sequence>
      • <vector>
      • <string>
      • <list>
        • <pair>
        • <null>
    • <symbol>
    • <boolean>
    • <char>
    • <number>
      • <inexact>
      • <complex>
      • <exact>
        • <rational>
          • <integer>
    • <void>
    • <procedure>

Note: the types under <primitive> represent Scheme's primitive types, many of them will not be used.

Class Special Forms

• (defstruct <structure> slot₁...)
  OPTIONAL: (defstruct (<structure> <superclass>) slot₁...)
  Defines a new new structure <structure> (a class derived from <struct>) with given slots. The slots must be a sequence of symbols or symbols with classes. If the optional syntax is used, <structure> inherits the slots from <superclass>. <superclass>'s slots appear, in order, before the slots defined for <structure>. Also, creates auxiliary functions:
  • (structure? x) returns #t if and only if x is an instance-of? <structure>
  • (make-structure val₁...) creates a new instance of <structure>. Each val_i must correspond to <structure>'s slots as they were defined (and be of the right type if specified).
  • (get-structure-slot x) returns the value stored in the slot slot of x. x must be an instance of <structure>.
  • (structure-slot x) is the accessor for the slot slot of x. CS212 students may not use this form until defclass is covered in class.

  (defstruct <point> color (x <integer>) (y <integer>))
  Defines <point> as a structure, with the constructor make-point that requires three arguments - the last two must be integers. Also, defines point? as predicate that identifies <point> instances. Also get accessor functions get-point-color, get-point-x, and get-point-y.

• (defgeneric (name arg...))
  Defines a generic function name with arguments arg. The argument list for defgeneric provides information about how many there are. defgeneric only defines the new function symbol with a new generic object, and a specific number of arguments.
• (defmethod (name arg...) body...)
  Creates a method with the specified types from the arg list and adds it to the generic function name.  The argument list specifies the argument types that will make the generic choose this method. NOTE: if you use defmethod without previously evaluating a defgeneric for the symbol name, then Swindle will automatically create a defgeneric using name and args from the defmethod.
• (lambda (arg...) body...)
  Returns a procedure that takes values as arguments. Each arg is either a symbol or (symbol <type>) -- if no type is specified, <top> is assumed. When applied to values, the values are checked to see if they are the correct type, and if so, evaluates body.
• (defclass <class-name> (super...)
    (slot₁ options)
    ...
    (slot_n options))
  Creates a new type, <class-name>, that inherits from the list of super classes. If the list of super classes is left empty, <class-name> inherits from <top> only.  <class-name> holds information in slot₁ through slot_n, as well as the slots that it inherits from the super class list. Each slot comes with options:
  • :type - this is constrains the values that can be in this slot
  • :initarg - when making a slot, use this to give the slot an initial value
  • :initvalue - if we don't specify a value in make, this is the default
  • :initializer - a function that takes a value, usually ignored, and returns an init value
  • :reader - creates a reader method that reads the contents of a slot
  • :writer - creates a writer method that overwrites the contents of a slot (essentially set!)
  • :accessor - This gives you both a reader and a writer method, the writer takes the form set-x! where x is the argument to this option, also allows the use of (set! x val).
• (make <class-name>
    :initarg₁ val₁
    ...
    :initarg_n val_n)
  This creates an instance of an object of type <class-name>.  For any slot that used the :initarg option-word, you can use that :initarg option-word to give that slot in this instance of <class-name> a value. The order of the :initarg does not matter.
• (singleton x)
  This identifies a class that only x is an instance of, in other word, it specifies all objects that are eq? to x. This is most useful when defining the argument type pairs in a defmethod. For example, the argument pair could be (y (singleton 1)), so the generic function will only be executed if y is 1. A singleton class is the most specific class that any object can be an instance of, in other words, a class cannot inherit from a singleton class. For argument type pairs in a defmethod, (y = 1) is an alternative form to writing (y (singleton 1)).

Other Special Forms

• (defmacro (name args...) body...)
  Defines a macro, name, that when applied, transforms one S-expression to another. body is simply a list of symbols with args placed appropriately, such that it represents the resulting S-expression.
  
  (defmacro (inc! i)
    (list 'set! i (list '1+ i)))
  Defines a macro that destructively increments a variable i by one.

Additional Functions

• (equals? x y)
  Compares x and y, returning #t if they are congruent. The default method uses equal?, so it will return #f for two different (not eq?) objects unless you define a method.
• (instance-of? x <class-name>)
  Returns #t if x is an instance of <class-name> or is a subclass of <class-name>, and returns #f otherwise. This should rarely be used since generic functions with method dispatch should handle this.
• (call-next-method)
  This is an argumentless function call, used within a defmethod that calls the next best fitting defmethod with the same arguments as the defmethod that evaluated call-next-method.
• (inc! x)
  Destructively increments x by 1.
• (dec! x)
  Destructively increments x by 1.
• (echo expr...)
  Displays the result of evaluating each expr separated by spaces. There is a trailing newline. The return value is unspecified.
• (echos expr...)
  Returns a string with the results of evaluating each expr separated by spaces. There is no newline.

Streams

• (cons-stream x y)
  Returns a stream where x is evaluate and the evaluation of y is delayed. Note that cons-stream is a special form and does not evaluate y.
• (heads s)
  Returns the head of the stream s.
• (tails s)
  Forces the evaluation of s's tail, and returns the result.
• (null-stream? s)
  Predicate that returns #t if s is the empty-stream, and #f otherwise.

Last update: 01/19/00 11:35 PM by BRB
Written by Brandon Bray and Eli Barzilay