1.1 Layout of this Manual

The manual is divided into five chapters.

Chapter 1: Introduction to Guile

This part provides an overview of what Guile is and how you can use it. A whirlwind tour shows how Guile can be used interactively and as a script interpreter, how to link Guile into your own applications, and how to write modules of interpreted and compiled code for use with Guile. Everything introduced here is documented again and in full by the later parts of the manual. This part also explains how to obtain and install new versions of Guile, and how to report bugs effectively.

Chapter 2: Programming in Scheme

This part provides an overview over programming in Scheme with Guile. It covers how to invoke the guile program from the command-line and how to write scripts in Scheme. It also gives an introduction into the basic ideas of Scheme itself and to the various extensions that Guile offers beyond standard Scheme.

Chapter 3: Programming in C

This part provides an overview of how to use Guile in a C program. It discusses the fundamental concepts that you need to understand to access the features of Guile, such as dynamic types and the garbage collector. It explains in a tutorial like manner how to define new data types and functions for the use by Scheme programs.

Chapter 4: Guile API Reference

This part of the manual documents the Guile API in functionality-based groups with the Scheme and C interfaces presented side by side.

Chapter 5: Guile Modules

Describes some important modules, distributed as part of the Guile distribution, that extend the functionality provided by the Guile Scheme core.