mes/doc/ANNOUNCE-0.3

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Subject: on bootstrapping: first Mes 0.3 released
I am pleased to announce the first release of Mes: 0.3, representing
152 commits over 3 months since the second status report[1].
* About
Mes aims to create an entirely source-based bootstrapping path. The
target is to [have GuixSD] boostrap from a minimal, easily inspectable
binary --that should be readable as source-- into something close to
R6RS Scheme.
As bootstrapping is presumably easiest and probably most fun with
Scheme, the next step for Mes is mescc: a C compiler/linker to
boostrap into GNU Gcc and GNU Guile, possibly via Tiny-CC.
It currently has an interpreter written in C (mes) with Garbage
Collector (Jam Scraper), a library of loadable Scheme modules with
test suite just barely enough to support a simple REPL (repl.mes)
and a proof-of-concept c-compiler (mescc.mes) that produces an elf
from the simplest of C files.
Mes is inspired by The Maxwell Equations of Software: LISP-1.5[2]
-- John McCarthy page 13
* Download
git clone https://gitlab.com/janneke/mes
wget https://gitlab.com/janneke/mes/repository/archive.tar.gz?ref=v0.3 -O mes-0.3.tar.gz
Mes runs from the source tree and can also be built, packaged and
installed in Guix[SD] by the usual
guix package -f guix.scm
* Changes in 0.3 since 0.2
** Core
*** Number-based rather than pointer-based cells.
*** Garbage collector aka Jam scraper.
A variant on SICP's stop and copy Garbage Collector (Jam Scraper?)
algorithm has been implemented.
*** The reader has been moved to Scheme.
** Language
*** Simple loadable modules.
*** Srfi-9 and match use handwritten syntax-rules (mes-use-module (mes syntax)).
*** Optional syntax-case using psyntax (mes-use-module (mes psyntax)).
** Noteworthy bug fixes
*** Srfi-0 has been fixed.
* Changes in 0.2 since 0.1
** Core
*** Names of symbols and strings are list of characters [WAS: c-string].
*** Sc-expand from pre-R6RS's psyntax has been integrated.
*** Undefined variable error now shows the name of the undefined variable.
*** There is now only one SCM type for builtin functions.
*** Macro expansion has been cleaned-up.
** Language
*** Mes now provides a subset of R6RS.
*** Mes now provides syntax-case.
*** Mes now provides `load'.
** Noteworthy bug fixes
*** Using values as second parameter of builtin function yields first value.
*** Quoted internals (e.g. 'if 'lambda) are now symbols.
*** Syntax error now exits.
*** Make+Bash voodoo has been replaced by build-aux/mes-snarf.scm.
*** Apply now accepts multiple list arguments.
*** Apply of character, inernal, number, string is an error.
*** Quasisyntax reading
* Changes in 0.1 (since progress report #2)
** Core
*** expand_macro is now a separate function.
*** A smaller core can now compiled using BOOT=1.
The smaller core does not provide define, define-macro, or quasiquote;
these are provided from a Scheme version of implemented eval/apply.
** Language
*** Mes now provides a subset of R5RS.
*** Mes now provides let-syntax.
*** Mes now provides match.
*** Mes now provides quasisyntax, unsyntax and unsyntax-splicing.
** User interface
*** Mes now provides a REPL, run:
scripts/repl.mes
*** Mes compiler can be run as a script:
scripts/mescc.mes doc/examples/main.c
*** Macro expansion can be inspected in the REPL, e.g.:
,expand (and 0 1)
** Noteworthy bug fixes
*** Performance: scripts/mescc.mes now takes 2s to compile main.c (was 1'20").
*** Symbols are now truly unique.
* '(), #t, #f are no longer symbols.
Greetings,
Jan
[1] https://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/guile-user/2016-09/msg00061.html
[2] http://www.softwarepreservation.org/projects/LISP/book/LISP%25201.5%2520Programmers%2520Manual.pdf