Scheme->C compiler available via FTP

[Joel Bartlett <decwrl.dec.com!bartlett@decwrl.dec.com>]

The Scheme-to-C compiler, Scheme->C, done at Digital Equipment
Corporation's Western Research Laboratory is now available for public
ftp.

The compiler compiles Revised**3 Scheme to C that is then compiled by
the native C compiler for the target machine.  This design results in
a portable system that allows either stand-alone Scheme programs or
programs written in both compiled and interpreted Scheme and other
languages.

The Scheme->C system supports the essentials of Revised**3 and many
of the optionals.  Extensions include "expansion passing style"
macros, a foreign function call capability, and interfaces to X11's
Xlib.  The system does provide call-with-current-continuation.
Numbers are represented internally as 29-bit integers, or 64-bit
floating point values.

The compiler is written in Scheme.  Most of the runtime system
(including an interpreter) is written in Scheme.  The generational
compacting garbage collector and a few other things are written in C.
There is a small (< 100 lines) amount of assembly code.  The system
is known to run on VAX's and DECstation 3100's running Ultrix.  Other
ports should be straightforward.

The system is available for anonymous ftp from 'gatekeeper.dec.com'
[16.1.0.2]. The Scheme->C files are in '/pub/DEC/Scheme-to-C'.  Those
files include:

     README             - overview and copyright notice.
     23feb90.tar.Z      - compressed tar file containing all source
                          and documentation.



Joel Bartlett   bartlett@decwrl.dec.com