README file for Gambit
                      ======================

Quick-install instructions for a typical installation
-----------------------------------------------------

    git clone https://github.com/gambit/gambit.git
    cd gambit
    ./configure
    make -j8
    make check
    make doc
    sudo make install

Detailed installation instructions are given in the file "INSTALL.txt".


General information
-------------------

Gambit includes a Scheme interpreter and a Scheme compiler which can
be used to build standalone executables.  Because the compiler
generates portable C code it is fairly easy to port to any platform
with a decent C compiler.

The Gambit system conforms to the R4RS, R5RS and IEEE Scheme standards.
The full numeric tower is implemented, including: infinite precision
integers (bignums), rationals, inexact reals (floating point numbers),
and complex numbers.  Gambit supports a number of extensions to the
standards including:

 - an optimizing compiler
   - with several powerful transformations (automatic function inlining,
     speculative inlining of primitives, partial evaluation, etc)
   - that generates properly tail-recursive portable C code
 - a scalable thread system that can handle millions of concurrent threads
 - an I/O system fully integrated with the thread system that supports
   - regular files
   - ttys (terminals and serial ports)
   - sockets (client and server, with TCP or UDP)
   - directories
   - processes
   - pipes
 - an infix syntax extension (SIX) that allows mixing code in the
   standard prefix syntax with code in a C-like syntax
 - the following SRFIs:
    - SRFI 0 (Feature-based conditional expansion construct)
    - SRFI 4 (Homogeneous numeric vector datatypes)
    - SRFI 6 (Basic String Ports)
    - SRFI 8 (RECEIVE: Binding to multiple values)
    - SRFI 9 (Defining Record Types)
    - SRFI 18 (Multithreading support)
    - SRFI 21 (Real-time multithreading support)
    - SRFI 22 (Running Scheme Scripts on Unix)
    - SRFI 23 (Error reporting mechanism)
    - SRFI 27 (Sources of Random Bits)
    - SRFI 39 (Parameter objects)
 - a REPL/debugger with
    - a continuation inspection facility (i.e. "backtrace")
    - a single-stepping mode
    - error messages with location of error (file, line, and column number)
    - emacs compatible line-editing with history
 - very efficient bignum implementation
 - a foreign function interface for C
 - a memory management system that grows and shrinks the heap based on
   the program's needs
 - a linker that builds standalone executables and shared libraries
 - dynamic loading of compiled modules and libraries (supported on many
   platforms)
 - Unicode support for characters, strings, I/O and source code
 - object finalization
 - pretty printing
 - keyword objects
 - optional and keyword parameters (with the syntax and semantics of DSSSL)
 - configurable reader with control over case sensitivity
 - write/read invariance of symbols, e.g. (string->symbol "B;123") => |B;123|
 - write/read invariance of floating point numbers
 - unhygienic macros
 - and many other things!

The user manual for the Gambit system is available in PDF format
(the file "doc/gambit.pdf"), in HTML format (the file
"doc/gambit.html"), in text format (the file "doc/gambit.txt") and
in "info" format (the files "doc/gambit.info*").

The Gambit mailing list (gambit-list@iro.umontreal.ca) is a good
place to ask questions about Gambit.

The latest official release of the system and other helpful documents
related to Gambit can be obtained from the Gambit wiki at:

  http://gambitscheme.org

|Linux and OS X|Windows|
|:--:|:--:|
|[![Build Status: Linux and OS X](https://travis-ci.org/gambit/gambit.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/gambit/gambit)|[![Build Status: Windows](https://ci.appveyor.com/api/projects/status/github/gambit/gambit?branch=master&svg=true)](https://ci.appveyor.com/project/feeley/gambit/branch/master)|

[![Join the chat at https://gitter.im/gambit/gambit](https://badges.gitter.im/Join%20Chat.svg)](https://gitter.im/gambit/gambit?utm_source=badge&utm_medium=badge&utm_campaign=pr-badge&utm_content=badge)
[![tip for next commit](http://prime4commit.com/projects/121.svg)](http://prime4commit.com/projects/121)

The Gambit Scheme system is a complete, portable, efficient and
reliable implementation of the Scheme programming language.

The latest official release of the system and other helpful documents
related to Gambit can be obtained from the Gambit wiki at:

  http://gambitscheme.org


Quick-install instructions for a typical installation
=====================================================

    git clone https://github.com/gambit/gambit.git
    cd gambit
    ./configure
    make -j8
    make check
    make doc
    sudo make install

Detailed installation instructions are given in the file "INSTALL.txt".