Goldfish Scheme

Make Scheme as easy to use and practical as Python!

Goldfish Scheme is a Scheme interpreter with the following features:

• R7RS-small compatible
• Python-like standard library
• Small and fast

Simplicity is Beauty

Goldfish Scheme still follows the same principle of simplicity as S7 Scheme. Currently, Goldfish Scheme only depends on S7 Scheme, tbox and C++ standard library defined in C++ 98.

Just like S7 Scheme, src/goldfish.hpp and src/goldfish.cpp are the only key source code needed to build the goldfish interpreter binary.

Standard Library

Python-like standard library

Library	Description	Example functions
(liii base)	Basic routines	==, !=, display*
(liii case)	Pattern matching	case*
(liii error)	Python like Errors	os-error to raise 'os-error just like OSError in Python
(liii string)	String Library	string-join
(liii check)	Test framework based on SRFI-78	check, check-catch
(liii list)	List Library	list-view, fold
(liii stack)	Stack Library	stack-pop!, stack-push!
(liii hash-table)	Hash Table Library	hash-table-empty?, hash-table-contains?
(liii sys)	Library looks like Python sys module	argv
(liii os)	Library looks like Python os module	getenv, mkdir
(liii path)	Path Library	path-dir?, path-file?
(liii uuid)	UUID generation	uuid4

SRFI

Library	Status	Description
(srfi srfi-1)	Part	List Library
(srfi srfi-8)	Complete	Provide receive
(srfi srfi-9)	Complete	Provide define-record-type
(srfi srfi-13)	Complete	String Library
(srfi srfi-16)	Complete	Provide case-lambda
(srfi srfi-39)	Complete	Parameter objects
(srfi srfi-78)	Part	Lightweigted Test Framework
(srfi srfi-125)	Part	Hash Table
(srfi srfi-133)	Part	Vector
(srfi srfi-216)	Part	SICP

R7RS Standard Libraries

Library	Description
(scheme base)	Base library
(scheme case-lambda)	Provide case-lambda
(scheme file)	File operations
(scheme time)	Time library

Installation

Goldfish Scheme is bundled in Mogan Research (since v1.2.8), just install Mogan Research to install Goldfish Scheme.

Besides the Goldfish Scheme interpreter, a nice structured Goldfish Scheme REPL is availabe in Mogan Research.

The following guide will help you build and install Goldfish step by step.

GNU/Linux

Here are commandlines to build it on Debian bookworm:

sudo apt install xmake git unzip curl g++
git clone https://gitee.com/LiiiLabs/goldfish.git
# git clone https://github.com/LiiiLabs/goldfish.git
cd goldfish
xmake b goldfish
bin/goldfish --version

You can also install it to /opt:

sudo xmake i -o /opt/goldfish --root
/opt/goldfish/bin/goldfish

For uninstallation, just:

sudo rm -rf /opt/goldfish

Commandlinefu

This section assumes you have executed xmake b goldfish sucessfully and bin/goldfish is available.

Zero Option

Without any options, it will print the help message:

> bin/goldfish 
Goldfish Scheme 17.10.0 by LiiiLabs
--version       display version
-e              -e '(+ 1 2)'
-l FILE         Load the scheme code on path
FILE            Load the scheme code on path and print the evaluated result

Version Option

--version will print the Goldfish Scheme version and the underlying S7 Scheme version:

> bin/goldfish --version
Goldfish Scheme 17.10.0 by LiiiLabs
based on S7 Scheme 10.11 (2-July-2024)

Mode Option

-m helps you specify the standard libray mode.

• default: -m default is the equiv of -m liii
• liii: Goldfish Scheme with (liii base) and (liii error)
• sicp: S7 Scheme with (scheme base) and (srfi sicp)
• r7rs: S7 Scheme with (scheme base)
• s7: S7 Scheme without any extra library

Other Options

-e helps you evaluate the scheme code on the fly:

> bin/goldfish -e "(+ 1 2)"
3
> bin/goldfish -e "(begin (import (srfi srfi-1)) (first (list 1 2 3)))"
1
> bin/goldfish -e "(begin (import (liii sys)) (display (argv)) (newline))" 1 2 3
("bin/goldfish" "-e" "(begin (import (liii sys)) (display (argv)) (newline))" "1" "2" 3)
#\newline

-l helps you load the FILE:

> bin/goldfish -l tests/demo_error.scm 

;car argument, (), is nil but should be a pair
;    (list)
;    tests/demo_error.scm, line 1, position: 10
; (list)

> bin/goldfish -l tests/demo_no_error.scm
> bin/goldfish -l tests/demo_argv.scm 1 2 3
("bin/goldfish" "tests/demo_argv.scm" "1" "2" "3")

If no options provided, it will load the FILE and print the eval result:

> bin/goldfish  tests/demo_no_error.scm 
tests/demo_no_error.scm => 3
> bin/goldfish  tests/demo_error.scm 

;car argument, (), is nil but should be a pair
;    (list)
;    tests/demo_error.scm, line 1, position: 10
; (list)

tests/demo_error.scm => wrong-type-arg
> bin/goldfish tests/demo_argv.scm 1 2 3
("bin/goldfish" "tests/demo_argv.scm" "1" "2" "3")
tests/demo_argv.scm => #\newline

Notice, the FILE and the eval result are separated by =>.

Versioning

Goldfish Scheme x.y.z means that it is using the tbox x, based on S7 Scheme y, and z is the patch version. To clarify, the second version of Goldfish Scheme is 17.10.1, it means that it is using tbox 1.7.x, based on S7 Scheme 10.x, the patch version is 1.

Why we created Goldfish Scheme

Goldfish Scheme is implemented to overcome the defects of S7 Scheme:

1. Distribute the ready-to-use Goldfish Scheme interpreter and structured REPL on Linux/macOS/Windows
2. Try to implement the R7RS-small standard
3. Try to provide the useful SRFI in R7RS library format

License

Goldfish Scheme is licensed under Apache 2.0, some of the code snippets which are derived from the S7 Scheme repo and SRFI have been explicited claimed in the related source files.