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A Guide to the S-Lang Language (v2.2.4)
  John E. Davis <www.jedsoft.org>
  Mar 28, 2011
  ____________________________________________________________

1.  Preface

S-Lang is an interpreted language that was designed from the start to
  be easily embedded into a program to provide it with a powerful
  extension language. Examples of programs that use S-Lang as an
  extension language include the jed text editor and the slrn
  newsreader. Although S-Lang does not exist as a separate application,
  it is distributed with a quite capable program called slsh (``slang-
  shell'') that embeds the interpreter and allows one to execute S-Lang
  scripts, or simply experiment with S-Lang at an interactive prompt.
  Many of the the examples in this document are presented in the context
  of one of the above applications.

S-Lang is also a programmer's library that permits a programmer to
  develop sophisticated platform-independent software. In addition to
  providing the S-Lang interpreter, the library provides facilities for
  screen management, keymaps, low-level terminal I/O, etc. However, this
  document is concerned only with the extension language and does not
  address these other features of the S-Lang library. For information
  about the other components of the library, the reader is referred to
  the S-Lang Library C Programmer's Guide.

1.1.  A Brief History of S-Lang

I first began working on S-Lang sometime during the fall of 1992.  At
  that time I was writing a text editor (jed), which I wanted to endow
  with a macro language. It occurred to me that an application-
  independent language that could be embedded into the editor would
  prove more useful because I could envision embedding it into other
  programs. As a result, S-Lang was born.

S-Lang was originally a stack language that supported a postscript-
  like syntax. For that reason, I named it S-Lang, where the S was
  supposed to emphasize its stack-based nature. About a year later, I
  began to work on a preparser that would allow one unfamiliar with
  stack based languages to make use of a more traditional infix syntax.
  Currently, the syntax of the language resembles C, nevertheless some
  postscript-like features still remain, e.g., the `%' character is
  still used as a comment delimiter.

1.2.  Acknowledgements

Since I first released S-Lang, I have received a lot feedback about
  the library and the language from many people. This has given me the
  opportunity and pleasure to interact with a number of people to make
  the library portable and easy to use. In particular, I would like to
  thank the following individuals:

Luchesar Ionkov for his comments and criticisms of the syntax of the
  language. He was the person who made me realize that the low-level
  byte-code engine should be totally type-independent.  He also improved
  the tokenizer and preparser and impressed upon me that the language
  needed a grammar.

Mark Olesen for his many patches to various aspects of the library and
  his support on AIX. He also contributed a lot to the pre-processing
  (SLprep) routines.

John Burnell for the OS/2 port of the video and keyboard routines. He
  also made value suggestions regarding the interpreter interface.

Darrel Hankerson for cleaning up and unifying some of the code and the
  makefiles.

Dominik Wujastyk who was always willing to test new releases of the
  library.

Michael Elkins for his work on the curses emulation.

Hunter Goatley, Andy Harper, Martin P.J. Zinser, and Jouk Jansen for
  their VMS support.

Dave Sims and Chin Huang for Windows 95 and Windows NT support, and
  Dino Sangoi for the Windows DLL support.

I am also grateful to many other people who send in bug-reports, bug-
  fixes, little enhancements, and suggestions, and so on. Without such
  community involvement, S-Lang would not be as well-tested and stable
  as it is. Finally, I would like to thank my wife for her support and
  understanding while I spent long weekend hours developing the library.

2.  Introduction

S-Lang is a powerful interpreted language that may be embedded into an
  application to make the application extensible. This enables the
  application to be used in ways not envisioned by the programmer, thus
  providing the application with much more flexibility and power.
  Examples of applications that take advantage of the interpreter in
  this way include the jed editor and the slrn newsreader.

2.1.  slsh -- The S-Lang shell

The S-Lang distribution contains a standalone application called slsh
  that may be used for writing S-Lang scripts and full-blown S-Lang
  based applications. For example, the author has used slsh to create a
  mediacenter for his home entertainment system that integrates internet
  radio and tv, podcasts, digital pictures and video, CDs, and so forth.
  The use of slsh in such non-interactive modes is discussed in the
  chapter on ``slsh''.

slsh also may be used interactively and has full access to all
  components of the S-Lang interpreter. With features such as
  customizable command-line editing, history recall and completion, slsh
  is a convenient environment for learning and using the language. In
  fact, as you are reading this manual, it is recommended that you use
  slsh in its interactive mode as an aid to understanding the language.

While a standard S-Lang installation includes slsh, some some binary
  distributions package slsh separately from the S-Lang library, and as
  such must be installed separately. For example, on Debian Linux it can
  be installed via

apt-get install slsh

When called without arguments, slsh will start in interactive mode by
  issuing a (customizable) slsh> prompt and waits for input.  While most
  of the time one would enter S-Lang statements at the prompt, slsh also
  accepts some other commands, most notably help:

slsh> help
          Most commands must end in a semi-colon.
          If a command begins with '!', then the command is passed to the shell.
          Examples: !ls, !pwd, !cd foo, ...
          Special commands:
            help <help-topic>
            apropos <something>
            start_log( <optional-log-file> );
              start logging input to a file (default is slsh.log)
            stop_log();
              stop logging input
            save_input (<optional-file>);
              save all previous input to a file (default: slsh.log)
            quit;

Although the language normally requires variables to be declared
  before use, it is not necessary to do so when using slsh
  interactively. For example, in this document you will see examples
  such as

variable x = [1:10];
           variable y = sin (x^2);

At the slsh command line, the use of the variable keyword in such
  statements is optional:

slsh> x = [1:10]; y = sin(x^2);

As the above example suggests, one use of slsh is as a sophisticated
  calculator. For example,

slsh> sin (1.24) + 3*cos (1.3*PI);
           -0.817572

This is especially true when combined with modules, e.g.,

slsh> require ("fits");
           slsh> require ("histogram");
           slsh> tbl = fit_read_table ("evt1a.fits");
           slsh> engrid = [min(tbl.energy):max(energy):#1024];
           slsh> spectrum = hist1d (tbl.energy[where(tbl.status==0)], engrid);

In this example, the fits module was used to read data from a binary
  file called evt1a.fits, and the histogram module was used to bin the
  data in the energy column into a histogram to create a spectrum. The
  expression involving where filters the data by accepting only those
  energy values whose status is set to 0. The fits and histogram modules
  are not distributed with S-Lang but may be obtained separately-- see
  http://www.jedsoft.org/slang/modules/ for links to them. For more
  information about modules, see the ``Modules'' chapter in this docu-
  ment.

For more information about using slsh, see the chapter on ``slsh''.

2.2.  Language Features

The language features both global and local variables, branching and
  looping constructs, user-defined functions, structures, datatypes, and
  arrays. In addition, there is limited support for pointer types. The
  concise array syntax rivals that of commercial array-based numerical
  computing environments.

2.3.  Data Types and Operators

The language provides built-in support for string, integer (signed and
  unsigned long and short), double precision floating point, and double
  precision complex numbers. In addition, it supports user defined
  structure types, multi-dimensional array types, lists, and associative
  arrays. To facilitate the construction of sophisticated data
  structures such as linked lists and trees, the language also includes
  a ``reference'' type. The reference type provides much of the same
  flexibility as pointers in other languages. Finally, applications
  embedding the interpreter may also provide special application
  specific types, such as the Mark_Type that the jed editor provides.

The language provides standard arithmetic operations such as addition,
  subtraction, multiplication, and division. It also provides support
  for modulo arithmetic as well as operations at the bit level, e.g.,
  exclusive-or. Any binary or unary operator may be extended to work
  with any data type, including user-defined types.  For example, the
  addition operator (+) has been extended to work between string types
  to permit string concatenation.

The binary and unary operators work transparently with array types.
  For example, if a and b are arrays, then a + b produces an array whose
  elements are the result of element by element addition of a and b.
  This permits one to do vector operations without explicitly looping
  over the array indices.

2.4.  Statements and Functions

The S-Lang language supports several types of looping constructs and
  conditional statements. The looping constructs include while,
  do...while, for, forever, loop, foreach, and _for. The conditional
  statements include if, if-then-else, and ifnot.

User defined functions may be defined to return zero, one, or more
  values. Functions that return zero values are similar to
  ``procedures'' in languages such as PASCAL. The local variables of a
  function are always created on a stack allowing one to create
  recursive functions. Parameters to a function are always passed by
  value and never by reference. However, the language supports a
  reference data type that allows one to simulate pass by reference.

Unlike many interpreted languages, S-Lang allows functions to be
  dynamically loaded (function autoloading). It also provides constructs
  specifically designed for error handling and recovery as well as
  debugging aids (e.g., function tracebacks).

Functions and variables may be declared as private belonging to a
  namespace associated with the compilation unit that defines the
  function or variable. The ideas behind the namespace implementation
  stem from the C language and should be quite familiar to any one
  familiar with C.

2.5.  Error Handling

The S-Lang language has a try/throw/catch/finally exception model
  whose semantics are similar to that of other languages. Users may also
  extend the exception class hierarchy with user-defined exceptions. The
  ERROR_BLOCK based exception model of S-Lang 1.x is still supported but
  deprecated.

2.6.  Run-Time Library

Functions that compose the S-Lang run-time library are called
  intrinsics. Examples of S-Lang intrinsic functions available to every
  S-Lang application include string manipulation functions such as
  strcat, strchop, and strcmp. The S-Lang library also provides
  mathematical functions such as sin, cos, and tan; however, not all
  applications enable the use of these intrinsics. For example, to
  conserve memory, the 16 bit version of the jed editor does not provide
  support for any mathematics other than simple integer arithmetic,
  whereas other versions of the editor do support these functions.

Most applications embedding the languages will also provide a set of
  application specific intrinsic functions. For example, the jed editor
  adds over 100 application specific intrinsic functions to the
  language. Consult your application specific documentation to see what
  additional intrinsics are supported.

Operating systems that support dynamic linking allow a slang
  interpreter to dynamically link additional libraries of intrinsic
  functions and variables into the interpreter. Such loadable objects
  are called modules. A separate chapter of this manual is devoted to
  this important feature.

2.7.  Input/Output

The language supports C-like stdio input/output functions such as
  fopen, fgets, fputs, and fclose. In addition it provides two
  functions, message and error, for writing to the standard output
  device and standard error.  Specific applications may provide other
  I/O mechanisms, e.g., the jed editor supports I/O to files via the
  editor's buffers.

2.8.  Obtaining more information about S-Lang

Comprehensive information about the library may be obtained via the
  World Wide Web from http://www.jedsoft.org/slang/. In particular see
  http://www.jedsoft.org/slang/download.html for downloading the latest
  version of the library.

Users with generic questions about the interpreter are encouraged to
  post questions to the Usenet newsgroup alt.lang.s-lang. More specific
  questions relating to the use of S-Lang within some application may be
  better answered in an application-specific forum.  For example, users
  with questions about using S-Lang as embedded in the jed editor are
  more likely to be answered in the comp.editors newsgroup or on the jed
  mailing list. Similarly users with questions concerning slrn will find
  news.software.readers to be a valuable source of information.

Developers who have embedded the interpreter are encouraged to join
  the S-Lang mailing list. To subscribe to the list or just browse the
  archives, visit http://www.jedsoft.org/slang/mailinglists.html.

3.  Overview of the Language

This purpose of this section is to give the reader a feel for the S-
  Lang language, its syntax, and its capabilities. The information and
  examples presented in this section should be sufficient to provide the
  reader with the necessary background to understand the rest of the
  document.

3.1.  Variables and Functions

S-Lang is different from many other interpreted languages in the sense
  that all variables and functions must be declared before they can be
  used.

Variables are declared using the variable keyword, e.g.,

variable x, y, z;

declares three variables, x, y, and z. Note the semicolon at the end
  of the statement. All S-Lang statements must end in a semicolon.

Unlike compiled languages such as C, it is not necessary to specify
  the data type of a S-Lang variable. The data type of a S-Lang variable
  is determined upon assignment. For example, after execution of the
  statements

x = 3;
            y = sin (5.6);
            z = "I think, therefore I am.";

x will be an integer, y will be a double, and z will be a string. In
  fact, it is even possible to re-assign x to a string:

x = "x was an integer, but now is a string";

Finally, one can combine variable declarations and assignments in the
  same statement:

variable x = 3, y = sin(5.6), z = "I think, therefore I am.";

Most functions are declared using the define keyword. A simple example
  is

define compute_average (x, y)
        {
           variable s = x + y;
           return s / 2.0;
        }

which defines a function that simply computes the average of two num-
  bers and returns the result. This example shows that a function con-
  sists of three parts: the function name, a parameter list, and the
  function body.

The parameter list consists of a comma separated list of variable
  names. It is not necessary to declare variables within a parameter
  list; they are implicitly declared. However, all other local variables
  used in the function must be declared. If the function takes no
  parameters, then the parameter list must still be present, but empty:

define go_left_5 ()
             {
                go_left (5);
             }

The last example is a function that takes no arguments and returns no
  value. Some languages such as PASCAL distinguish such objects from
  functions that return values by calling these objects procedures. How-
  ever, S-Lang, like C, does not make such a distinction.

The language permits recursive functions, i.e., functions that call
  themselves. The way to do this in S-Lang is to first declare the
  function using the form:

define function-name ();

It is not necessary to declare a list of parameters when declaring a
  function in this way.

Perhaps the most famous example of a recursive function is the
  factorial function. Here is how to implement it using S-Lang:

define factorial ();   % declare it for recursion

define factorial (n)
            {
               if (n < 2) return 1;
               return n * factorial (n - 1);
            }

This example also shows how to mix comments with code. S-Lang uses the
  `%' character to start a comment and all characters from the comment
  character to the end of the line are ignored.

3.2.  Qualifiers

S-Lang 2.1 introduced support for function qualifiers as a mechanism
  for passing additional information to a function. For example,
  consider a plotting application with a function

define plot (x, y)
             {
                variable linestyle = qualifier ("linestyle", "solid");
                variable color = qualifier ("color", "black");

sys_set_color (color);
                sys_set_linestyle (linestyle);
                sys_plot (x,y);
             }

Here the functions sys_set_linestyle, sys_set_color, and sys_plot are
  hypothetical low-level functions that perform the actual work. This
  function may be called simply as

x = [0:10:0.1];
            plot (x, sin(x));

to produce a solid black line connecting the points. Through the use
  of qualifiers, the color or linestyle may be specified, e.g,,

plot (x, sin(x); linestyle="dashed");

would produce a ``dashed'' black curve, whereas

plot (x, sin(x); linestyle="dotted", color="blue");

would produce a blue ``dotted'' one.

3.3.  Strings

Perhaps the most appealing feature of any interpreted language is that
  it frees the user from the responsibility of memory management. This
  is particularly evident when contrasting how S-Lang handles string
  variables with a lower level language such as C. Consider a function
  that concatenates three strings. An example in S-Lang is:

define concat_3_strings (a, b, c)
       {
          return strcat (a, b, c);
       }

This function uses the built-in strcat function for concatenating two
  or more strings. In C, the simplest such function would look like:

char *concat_3_strings (char *a, char *b, char *c)
            {
               unsigned int len;
               char *result;
               len = strlen (a) + strlen (b) + strlen (c);
               if (NULL == (result = (char *) malloc (len + 1)))
                 exit (1);
               strcpy (result, a);
               strcat (result, b);
               strcat (result, c);
               return result;
            }

Even this C example is misleading since none of the issues of memory
  management of the strings has been dealt with. The S-Lang language
  hides all these issues from the user.

Binary operators have been defined to work with the string data type.
  In particular the + operator may be used to perform string
  concatenation. That is, one can use the + operator as an alternative
  to strcat:

define concat_3_strings (a, b, c)
             {
                return a + b + c;
             }

See the section on ``Strings'' for more information about string vari-
  ables.

3.4.  Referencing and Dereferencing

The unary prefix operator, &, may be used to create a reference to an
  object, which is similar to a pointer in other languages. References
  are commonly used as a mechanism to pass a function as an argument to
  another function as the following example illustrates:

define compute_functional_sum (funct)
         {
            variable i, s;

s = 0;
            for (i = 0; i < 10; i++)
             {
                s += (@funct)(i);
             }
            return s;
         }

variable sin_sum = compute_functional_sum (&sin);
         variable cos_sum = compute_functional_sum (&cos);

Here, the function compute_functional_sum applies the function speci-
  fied by the parameter funct to the first 10 integers and returns the
  sum. The two statements following the function definition show how the
  sin and cos functions may be used.

Note the @ operator in the definition of compute_functional_sum. It is
  known as the dereference operator and is the inverse of the reference
  operator.

Another use of the reference operator is in the context of the fgets
  function. For example,

define read_nth_line (file, n)
             {
                variable fp, line;
                fp = fopen (file, "r");

while (n > 0)
                  {
                     if (-1 == fgets (&line, fp))
                       return NULL;
                     n--;
                  }
                return line;
             }

uses the fgets function to read the nth line of a file.  In particu-
  lar, a reference to the local variable line is passed to fgets, and
  upon return line will be set to the character string read by fgets.

Finally, references may be used as an alternative to multiple return
  values by passing information back via the parameter list.  The
  example involving fgets presented above provided an illustration of
  this. Another example is

define set_xyz (x, y, z)
         {
            @x = 1;
            @y = 2;
            @z = 3;
         }
         variable X, Y, Z;
         set_xyz (&X, &Y, &Z);

which, after execution, results in X set to 1, Y set to 2, and Z set
  to 3. A C programmer will note the similarity of set_xyz to the fol-
  lowing C implementation:

void set_xyz (int *x, int *y, int *z)
             {
                *x = 1;
                *y = 2;
                *z = 3;
             }

3.5.  Arrays

The S-Lang language supports multi-dimensional arrays of all
  datatypes. For example, one can define arrays of references to
  functions as well as arrays of arrays. Here are a few examples of
  creating arrays:

variable A = Int_Type [10];
              variable B = Int_Type [10, 3];
              variable C = [1, 3, 5, 7, 9];

The first example creates an array of 10 integers and assigns it to
  the variable A. The second example creates a 2-d array of 30 integers
  arranged in 10 rows and 3 columns and assigns the result to B. In the
  last example, an array of 5 integers is assigned to the variable C.
  However, in this case the elements of the array are initialized to the
  values specified. This is known as an inline-array.

S-Lang also supports something called a range-array. An example of
  such an array is

variable C = [1:9:2];

This will produce an array of 5 integers running from 1 through 9 in
  increments of 2. Similarly [0:1:#1000] represents a 1000 element
  floating point array of numbers running from 0 to 1 (inclusive).

Arrays are passed by reference to functions and never by value.  This
  permits one to write functions that can initialize arrays.  For
  example,

define init_array (a)
             {
                variable i, imax;

imax = length (a);
                for (i = 0; i < imax; i++)
                  {
                     a[i] = 7;
                  }
             }

variable A = Int_Type [10];
             init_array (A);

creates an array of 10 integers and initializes all its elements to 7.

There are more concise ways of accomplishing the result of the
  previous example. These include:

A = [7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7];
             A = Int_Type [10];  A[[0:9]] = 7;
             A = Int_Type [10];  A[*] = 7;

The second and third methods use an array of indices to index the
  array A. In the second, the range of indices has been explicitly spec-
  ified, whereas the third example uses a wildcard form. See chapter
  ``Arrays'' for more information about array indexing.

Although the examples have pertained to integer arrays, the fact is
  that S-Lang arrays can be of any type, e.g.,

A = Double_Type [10];
             B = Complex_Type [10];
             C = String_Type [10];
             D = Ref_Type [10];

create 10 element arrays of double, complex, string, and reference
  types, respectively. The last example may be used to create an array
  of functions, e.g.,

D[0] = &sin;
             D[1] = &cos;

The language also defines unary, binary, and mathematical operations
  on arrays. For example, if A and B are integer arrays, then A + B is
  an array whose elements are the sum of the elements of A and B. A
  trivial example that illustrates the power of this capability is

variable X, Y;
               X = [0:2*PI:0.01];
               Y = 20 * sin (X);

which is equivalent to the highly simplified C code:

double *X, *Y;
               unsigned int i, n;

n = (2 * PI) / 0.01 + 1;
               X = (double *) malloc (n * sizeof (double));
               Y = (double *) malloc (n * sizeof (double));
               for (i = 0; i < n; i++)
                 {
                   X[i] = i * 0.01;
                   Y[i] = 20 * sin (X[i]);
                 }

3.6.  Lists

A S-Lang list is like an array except that it may contain a
  heterogeneous collection of data, e.g.,

my_list = { 3, 2.9, "foo", &sin };

is a list of four objects, each with a different type. Like an array,
  the elements of a list may be accessed via an index, e.g.,
  x=my_list[2] will result in the assignment of "foo" to x. The most
  important difference between an array and a list is that an array's
  size is fixed whereas a list may grow or shrink. Algorithms that
  require such a data structure may execute many times faster when a
  list is used instead of an array.

3.7.  Structures and User-Defined Types

A structure is similar to an array in the sense that it is a container
  object. However, the elements of an array must all be of the same type
  (or of Any_Type), whereas a structure is heterogeneous. As an example,
  consider

variable person = struct
        {
           first_name, last_name, age
        };
        variable bill = @person;
        bill.first_name = "Bill";
        bill.last_name = "Clinton";
        bill.age = 51;

In this example a structure consisting of the three fields has been
  created and assigned to the variable person. Then an instance of this
  structure has been created using the dereference operator and assigned
  to bill. Finally, the individual fields of bill were initialized. This
  is an example of an anonymous structure.

Note: S-Lang versions 2.1 and higher permit assignment statements
  within the structure definition, e.g.,

variable bill = struct
             {
                first_name = "Bill",
                last_name = "Clinton",
                age = 51
             };

A named structure is really a new data type and may be created using
  the typedef keyword:

typedef struct
             {
                first_name, last_name, age
             }
             Person_Type;

variable bill = @Person_Type;
             bill.first_name = "Bill";
             bill.last_name = "Clinton";
             bill.age = 51;

One advantage of creating a new type is that array elements of such
  types are automatically initialized to instances of the type. For
  example,

People = Person_Type [100];
             People[0].first_name = "Bill";
             People[1].first_name = "Hillary";

may be used to create an array of 100 such objects and initialize the
  first_name fields of the first two elements. In contrast, the form
  using an anonymous would require a separate step to instantiate the
  array elements:
             People = Struct_Type [100];
             People[0] = @person;
             People[0].first_name = "Bill";
             People[1] = @person;
             People[1].first_name = "Hillary";

Another big advantage of a user-defined type is that the binary and
  unary operators may be overloaded onto such types. This is explained
  in more detail below.

The creation and initialization of a structure may be facilitated by a
  function such as

define create_person (first, last, age)
             {
                 variable person = @Person_Type;
                 person.first_name = first;
                 person.last_name = last;
                 person.age = age;
                 return person;
             }
             variable Bill = create_person ("Bill", "Clinton", 51);

Other common uses of structures is the creation of linked lists,
  binary trees, etc. For more information about these and other features
  of structures, see the section on ``Linked Lists''.

3.8.  Namespaces

The language supports namespaces that may be used to control the scope
  and visibility of variables and functions. In addition to the global
  or public namespace, each S-Lang source file or compilation unit has a
  private or anonymous namespace associated with it. The private
  namespace may be used to define symbols that are local to the
  compilation unit and inaccessible from the outside. The language also
  allows the creation of named (non-anonymous or static) namespaces that
  permit access via the namespace operator. See the chapter on
  ``Namespaces'' for more information.

4.  Data Types and Literal Constants

The current implementation of the S-Lang language permits up to 65535
  distinct data types, including predefined data types such as integer
  and floating point, as well as specialized application-specific data
  types. It is also possible to create new data types in the language
  using the typedef mechanism.

Literal constants are objects such as the integer 3 or the string
  "hello". The actual data type given to a literal constant depends upon
  the syntax of the constant. The following sections describe the syntax
  of literals of specific data types.

4.1.  Predefined Data Types

The current version of S-Lang defines integer, floating point,
  complex, and string types. It also defines special purpose data types
  such as Null_Type, DataType_Type, and Ref_Type. These types are
  discussed below.

4.1.1.  Integers

The S-Lang language supports both signed and unsigned characters,
  short integer, long integer, and long long integer types. On most 32
  bit systems, there is no difference between an integer and a long
  integer; however, they may differ on 16 and 64 bit systems.  Generally
  speaking, on a 16 bit system, plain integers are 16 bit quantities
  with a range of -32767 to 32767. On a 32 bit system, plain integers
  range from -2147483648 to 2147483647.

An plain integer literal can be specified in one of several ways:

o  As a decimal (base 10) integer consisting of the characters 0
     through 9, e.g., 127. An integer specified this way cannot begin
     with a leading 0. That is, 0127 is not the same as 127.

o  Using hexadecimal (base 16) notation consisting of the characters 0
     to 9 and A through F. The hexadecimal number must be preceded by
     the characters 0x. For example, 0x7F specifies an integer using
     hexadecimal notation and has the same value as decimal 127.

o  In Octal notation using characters 0 through 7. The Octal number
     must begin with a leading 0. For example, 0177 and 127 represent
     the same integer.

o  In Binary notation using characters 0 and 1 with the 0b prefix. For
     example, 21 may be expressed in binary using 0b10101.

Short, long, long long, and unsigned types may be specified by using
  the proper suffixes: L indicates that the integer is a long integer,
  LL indicates a long long integer, h indicates that the integer is a
  short integer, and U indicates that it is unsigned. For example, 1UL
  specifies an unsigned long integer.

Finally, a character literal may be specified using a notation
  containing a character enclosed in single quotes as 'a'.  The value of
  the character specified this way will lie in the range 0 to 256 and
  will be determined by the ASCII value of the character in quotes. For
  example,

i = '0';

assigns to i the character 48 since the '0' character has an ASCII
  value of 48.

A ``wide'' character (unicode) may be specified using the form
  '\x{y...y}' where y...y are hexadecimal digits. For example,

'\x{12F}'         % Latin Small Letter I With Ogonek;
            '\x{1D7BC}'       % Mathematical Sans-Serif Bold Italic Small Sigma

Any integer may be preceded by a minus sign to indicate that it is a
  negative integer.

4.1.2.  Floating Point Numbers

Single and double precision floating point literals must contain
  either a decimal point or an exponent (or both). Here are examples of
  specifying the same double precision point number:

12.    12.0    12e0   1.2e1   120e-1   .12e2   0.12e2

Note that 12 is not a floating point number since it contains neither
  a decimal point nor an exponent. In fact, 12 is an integer.

One may append the f character to the end of the number to indicate
  that the number is a single precision literal. The following are all
  single precision values:

12.f    12.0f    12e0f   1.2e1f   120e-1f   .12e2f   0.12e2f

4.1.3.  Complex Numbers

The language implements complex numbers as a pair of double precision
  floating point numbers. The first number in the pair forms the real
  part, while the second number forms the imaginary part. That is, a
  complex number may be regarded as the sum of a real number and an
  imaginary number.
  Strictly speaking, the current implementation of the S-Lang does not
  support generic complex literals. However, it does support imaginary
  literals permitting a more generic complex number with a non-zero real
  part to be constructed from the imaginary literal via addition of a
  real number.

An imaginary literal is specified in the same way as a floating point
  literal except that i or j is appended. For example,

12i    12.0i   12e0j

all represent the same imaginary number.

A more generic complex number may be constructed from an imaginary
  literal via addition, e.g.,

3.0 + 4.0i

produces a complex number whose real part is 3.0 and whose imaginary
  part is 4.0.

The intrinsic functions Real and Imag may be used to retrieve the real
  and imaginary parts of a complex number, respectively.

4.1.4.  Strings

A string literal must be enclosed in double quotes as in:

"This is a string".

As described below, the string literal may contain a suffix that spec-
  ifies how the string is to be interpreted, e.g., a string literal such
  as

"$HOME/.jedrc"$

with the '$' suffix will be subject to variable name expansion.

Although there is no imposed limit on the length of a string, single-
  line string literals must be less than 256 characters in length. It is
  possible to construct strings longer than this by string
  concatenation, e.g.,

"This is the first part of a long string"
         + " and this is the second part"

S-Lang version 2.2 introduced support for multi-line string literals.
  There are basic variants supported. The first makes use of the
  backslash at the end of a line to indicate that the string is
  continued onto the next line:

"This is a \
             multi-line string. \
             Note the presence of the \
             backslash character at the end \
             of each of the lines."

The second form of multiline string is delimited by the backquote
  character (`) and does not require backslashes:

`This form does not
              require backslash characters.
              In fact, here the backslash
              character \ has no special
              meaning (unless given the ``Q' suffix`

Note that if a backquote is to appear in such a string, then it must
  be doubled, as illustrated in the above example.

Any character except a newline (ASCII 10) or the null character (ASCII
  0) may appear explicitly in a string literal. However, these
  characters may embedded implicitly using the mechanism described
  below.

The backslash character is a special character and is used to include
  other special characters (such as a newline character) in the string.
  The special characters recognized are:

\"        --  double quote
              \'        --  single quote
              \\        --  backslash
              \a        --  bell character (ASCII 7)
              \t        --  tab character (ASCII 9)
              \n        --  newline character (ASCII 10)
              \e        --  escape character (ASCII 27)
              \xhh      --  byte expressed in HEXADECIMAL notation
              \ooo      --  byte expressed in OCTAL notation
              \dnnn     --  byte expressed in DECIMAL
              \u{h..h}  --  the Unicode character U+h..h
              \x{h..h}  --  the Unicode character U+h..h  [modal]

In the above table, h represents one of the HEXADECIMAL characters
  from the set [0-9A-Fa-f]. It is important to understand the distinc-
  tion between the \x{h..h} and \u{h..h} forms. When using in a string,
  the \u form always expands to the corresponding UTF-8 sequence regard-
  less of the UTF-8 mode. In contrast, when in non-UTF-8 mode, the \x
  form expands to a byte when given two hex characters, or to the corre-
  sponding UTF-8 sequence when used with three or more hex characters.

For example, to include the double quote character as part of the
  string, it must be preceded by a backslash character, e.g.,

"This is a \"quote\"."

Similarly, the next example illustrates how a newline character may be
  included:

"This is the first line\nand this is the second."

Alternatively, slang-2.2 or newer permits

`This is a "quote".`
              `This is the first line
              and this is the second.`

4.1.4.1.  Suffixes

A string literal may be contain a suffix that specifies how the string
  is to be interpreted. The suffix may consist of one or more of the
  following characters:

R  Backslash substitution will not be performed on the string.
        This is the default when using back-quoted strings.

Q  Backslash substitution will be performed on the string. This is
        the default when using strings using the double-quote character.

B  If this suffix is present, the string will be interpreted as a
        binary string (BString_Type).

$  Variable name substitution will be performed on the string.

Not all combinations of the above controls characters are supported,
  nor make sense. For example, a string with the suffix QR will cause a
  parse-error because Q and R have opposing meanings.

4.1.4.1.1.  The Q and R suffixes

These suffixes turn on and off backslash expansion. Unless the R
  suffix is present, all double-quoted string literals will have
  backslash substitution performed. By default, backslash expansion is
  turned off for backquoted strings.

Sometimes it is desirable to turn off backslash expansion for double-
  quoted strings. For example, pathnames on an MSDOS or Windows system
  use the backslash character as a path separator. The R prefix turns
  off backslash expansion, and as a result the following statements are
  equivalent:

file = "C:\\windows\\apps\\slrn.rc";
             file = "C:\\windows\\apps\\slrn.rc"Q;
             file = "C:\windows\apps\slrn.rc"R;
             file = `C:\windows\apps\slrn.rc`;        % slang-2.2 and above

The only exception is that a backslash character is not permitted as
  the last character of a string with the R suffix. That is,

string = "This is illegal\"R;

is not permitted. Without this exception, a string such as

string = "Some characters: \"R, S, T\"";

would not be parsed properly.

4.1.4.1.2.  The $ suffix

If the string contains the $ suffix, then variable name expansion will
  be performed upon names prefixed by a $ character occurring within the
  string, e.g.,

"The value of X is $X and the value of Y is $Y"$.

with variable name substitution to be performed on the names X and Y.
  Such strings may be used as a convenient alternative to the sprintf
  function.

Name expansion is carried out according to the following rules: If the
  string literal occurs in a function, and the name corresponds to a
  variable local to the function, then the string representation of the
  value of that variable will be substituted. Otherwise, if the name
  corresponds to a variable that is local to the compilation unit (i.e.,
  is declared as static or private), then its value's string
  representation will be used. Otherwise, if the name corresponds to a
  variable that exists as a global (public) then its value's string
  representation will be substituted. If the above searches fail and the
  name exists in the environment, then the value of the corresponding
  environment variable will be used.  Otherwise, the variable will
  expand to the empty string.

Consider the following example:

private variable bar = "two";
       putenv ("MYHOME=/home/baz");
       define funct (foo)
       {
         variable bar = 1;
         message ("file: $MYHOME/foo: garage=$MYGARAGE,bar=$bar"$);
       }

When executed, this will produce the message:

file: /home/baz/foo: garage=,bar=1

assuming that MYGARAGE is not defined anywhere.

A name may be enclosed in braces. For example,

"${MYHOME}/foo: bar=${bar}"$

This is useful in cases when the name is followed immediately by other
  characters that may be interpreted as part of the name, e.g.,

variable HELLO="Hello ";
             message ("${HELLO}World"$);

will produce the message "Hello World".

4.1.5.  Null_Type

Objects of type Null_Type can have only one value: NULL. About the
  only thing that you can do with this data type is to assign it to
  variables and test for equality with other objects. Nevertheless,
  Null_Type is an important and extremely useful data type. Its main use
  stems from the fact that since it can be compared for equality with
  any other data type, it is ideal to represent the value of an object
  which does not yet have a value, or has an illegal value.

As a trivial example of its use, consider

define add_numbers (a, b)
        {
           if (a == NULL) a = 0;
           if (b == NULL) b = 0;
           return a + b;
        }
        variable c = add_numbers (1, 2);
        variable d = add_numbers (1, NULL);
        variable e = add_numbers (1,);
        variable f = add_numbers (,);

It should be clear that after these statements have been executed, c
  will have a value of 3. It should also be clear that d will have a
  value of 1 because NULL has been passed as the second parameter. One
  feature of the language is that if a parameter has been omitted from a
  function call, the variable associated with that parameter will be set
  to NULL.  Hence, e and f will be set to 1 and 0, respectively.

The Null_Type data type also plays an important role in the context of
  structures.

4.1.6.  Ref_Type

Objects of Ref_Type are created using the unary reference operator &.
  Such objects may be dereferenced using the dereference operator @. For
  example,

sin_ref = &sin;
             y = (@sin_ref) (1.0);

creates a reference to the sin function and assigns it to sin_ref. The
  second statement uses the dereference operator to call the function
  that sin_ref references.

The Ref_Type is useful for passing functions as arguments to other
  functions, or for returning information from a function via its
  parameter list. The dereference operator may also used to create an
  instance of a structure. For these reasons, further discussion of this
  important type can be found in the section on ``Referencing
  Variables''.

4.1.7.  Array_Type, Assoc_Type, List_Type, and Struct_Type

Variables of type Array_Type, Assoc_Type, List_Type, and Struct_Type
  are known as container objects. They are more complicated than the
  simple data types discussed so far and each obeys a special syntax.
  For these reasons they are discussed in a separate chapters.

4.1.8.  DataType_Type Type

S-Lang defines a type called DataType_Type. Objects of this type have
  values that are type names. For example, an integer is an object of
  type Integer_Type. The literals of DataType_Type include:
            Char_Type            (signed character)
            UChar_Type           (unsigned character)
            Short_Type           (short integer)
            UShort_Type          (unsigned short integer)
            Integer_Type         (plain integer)
            UInteger_Type        (plain unsigned integer)
            Long_Type            (long integer)
            ULong_Type           (unsigned long integer)
            LLong_Type           (long long integer)
            ULLong_Type          (unsigned long long integer)
            Float_Type           (single precision real)
            Double_Type          (double precision real)
            Complex_Type         (complex numbers)
            String_Type          (strings, C strings)
            BString_Type         (binary strings)
            Struct_Type          (structures)
            Ref_Type             (references)
            Null_Type            (NULL)
            Array_Type           (arrays)
            Assoc_Type           (associative arrays/hashes)
            List_Type            (lists)
            DataType_Type        (data types)

as well as the names of any other types that an application defines.

The built-in function typeof returns the data type of its argument,
  i.e., a DataType_Type. For instance typeof(7) returns Integer_Type and
  typeof(Integer_Type) returns DataType_Type. One can use this function
  as in the following example:

if (Integer_Type == typeof (x)) message ("x is an integer");

The literals of DataType_Type have other uses as well. One of the most
  common uses of these literals is to create arrays, e.g.,

x = Complex_Type [100];

creates an array of 100 complex numbers and assigns it to x.

4.1.9.  Boolean Type

Strictly speaking, S-Lang has no separate boolean type; rather it
  represents boolean values as Char_Type objects. In particular, boolean
  FALSE is equivalent to Char_Type 0, and TRUE as any non-zero Char_Type
  value. Since the exact value of TRUE is unspecified, it is unnecessary
  and even pointless to define TRUE and FALSE literals in S-Lang.

4.2.  Typecasting: Converting from one Type to Another

Occasionally, it is necessary to convert from one data type to
  another. For example, if you need to print an object as a string, it
  may be necessary to convert it to a String_Type. The typecast function
  may be used to perform such conversions.  For example, consider

variable x = 10, y;
             y = typecast (x, Double_Type);

After execution of these statements, x will have the integer value 10
  and y will have the double precision floating point value 10.0. If the
  object to be converted is an array, the typecast function will act
  upon all elements of the array. For example,

x = [1:10];       % Array of integers
             y = typecast (x, Double_Type);

will create an array of 10 double precision values and assign it to y.
  One should also realize that it is not always possible to perform a
  typecast. For example, any attempt to convert an Integer_Type to a
  Null_Type will result in a run-time error. Typecasting works only when
  datatypes are similar.

Often the interpreter will perform implicit type conversions as
  necessary to complete calculations. For example, when multiplying an
  Integer_Type with a Double_Type, it will convert the Integer_Type to a
  Double_Type for the purpose of the calculation. Thus, the example
  involving the conversion of an array of integers to an array of
  doubles could have been performed by multiplication by 1.0, i.e.,

x = [1:10];       % Array of integers
             y = 1.0 * x;

The string intrinsic function should be used whenever a string
  representation is needed. Using the typecast function for this purpose
  will usually fail unless the object to be converted is similar to a
  string--- most are not. Moreover, when typecasting an array to
  String_Type, the typecast function acts on each element of the array
  to produce another array, whereas the string function will produce a
  string.

One use of string function is to print the value of an object. This
  use is illustrated in the following simple example:

define print_object (x)
             {
                message (string (x));
             }

Here, the message function has been used because it writes a string to
  the display. If the string function was not used and the message func-
  tion was passed an integer, a type-mismatch error would have resulted.

5.  Identifiers

The names given to variables, functions, and data types are called
  identifiers. There are some restrictions upon the actual characters
  that make up an identifier. An identifier name must start with an
  alphabetic character ([A-Za-z]), an underscore character, or a dollar
  sign. The rest of the characters in the name can be any combination of
  letters, digits, dollar signs, or underscore characters. However, all
  identifiers whose name begins with two underscore characters are
  reserved for internal use by the interpreter and declarations of
  objects with such names should be avoided.

Examples of valid identifiers include:

mary    _3    _this_is_ok
             a7e1    $44   _44$_Three

However, the following are not legal:

7abc   2e0    #xx

In fact, 2e0 actually specifies the double precision number 2.0.

There is no limit to the maximum length of an identifier. For
  practical usage it is wise to limit the length of identifiers to a
  reasonable value.

The following identifiers are reserved by the language for use as
  keywords:

and          andelse      break         case          catch
          continue     define       do            else          ERROR_BLOCK
          exch         EXIT_BLOCK   finally       _for          for
          foreach      forever      !if           if            ifnot
          loop         mod          not           or            orelse
          pop          private      public        return        shl
          shr          static       struct        switch        __tmp
          then         throw        try           typedef       USER_BLOCK0
          USER_BLOCK1  USER_BLOCK2  USER_BLOCK3   USER_BLOCK4   using
          variable     while        xor

6.  Variables

As many of the preceding examples have shown, a variable must be
  declared before it can be used, otherwise an undefined name error will
  be generated. A variable is declared using the variable keyword, e.g,

variable x, y, z;

declares three variables, x, y, and z. This is an example of a vari-
  able declaration statement, and like all statements, it must end in a
  semicolon.

Variables declared this way are untyped and inherit a type upon
  assignment. As such, type-checking of function arguments, etc is
  performed at run-time. For example,

x = "This is a string";
             x = 1.2;
             x = 3;
             x = 2i;

results in x being set successively to a string, a float, an integer,
  and to a complex number (0+2i). Any attempt to use a variable before
  it has acquired a type will result in an uninitialized variable error.

It is legal to put executable code in a variable declaration list.
  That is,

variable x = 1, y = sin (x);

are legal variable declarations. This also provides a convenient way
  of initializing a variable.

Variables are classified as either global or local. A variable
  declared inside a function is said to be local and has no meaning
  outside the function. A variable is said to be global if it was
  declared outside a function. Global variables are further classified
  as being public, static, or private, according to the namespace where
  they were defined. See the chapter on ``Namespaces'' for more
  information about namespaces.

The following global variables are predefined by the language and live
  in the public namespace. They are mainly used as convenience
  variables:

$0 $1 $2 $3 $4 $5 $6 $7 $8 $9

An intrinsic variable is another type of global variable.  Such
  variables have a definite type which cannot be altered.  Variables of
  this type may also be defined to be read-only, or constant variables.
  An example of an intrinsic variable is PI which is a read-only double
  precision variable with a value of approximately
  3.14159265358979323846.

7.  Operators

S-Lang supports a variety of operators that are grouped into three
  classes: assignment operators, binary operators, and unary operators.

An assignment operator is used to assign a value to a variable.  They
  will be discussed more fully in the context of the assignment
  statement in the section on ``Assignment Statements''.

An unary operator acts only upon a single quantity while a binary
  operation is an operation between two quantities. The boolean operator
  not is an example of an unary operator. Examples of binary operators
  include the usual arithmetic operators +, -, *, and /. The operator
  given by - can be either an unary operator (negation) or a binary
  operator (subtraction); the actual operation is determined from the
  context in which it is used.

Binary operators are used in algebraic forms, e.g., a + b.  Unary
  operators fall into one of two classes: postfix-unary or prefix-unary.
  For example, in the expression -x, the minus sign is a prefix-unary
  operator.

All binary and unary operators may be defined for any supported data
  type. For example, the arithmetic plus operator has been extended to
  the String_Type data type to permit concatenation between strings. But
  just because it is possible to define the action of an operator upon a
  data type, it does not mean that all data types support all the binary
  and unary operators.  For example, while String_Type supports the +
  operator, it does not admit the * operator.

7.1.  Unary Operators

The unary operators operate only upon a single operand. They include:
  not, ~, -, @, &, as well as the increment and decrement operators ++
  and --, respectively.

The boolean operator not acts only upon integers and produces 0 if its
  operand is non-zero, otherwise it produces 1.

The bit-level not operator ~ performs a similar function, except that
  it operates on the individual bits of its integer operand.

The arithmetic negation operator - is perhaps the most well-known
  unary operator. It simply reverses the sign of its operand.

The reference (&) and dereference (@) operators will be discussed in
  greater detail in the section on ``Referencing Variables''.
  Similarly, the increment (++) and decrement (--) operators will be
  discussed in the context of the assignment operator.

7.2.  Binary Operators

The binary operators may be grouped according to several classes:
  arithmetic operators, relational operators, boolean operators, and
  bitwise operators.

7.2.1.  Arithmetic Operators

The arithmetic operators include +, -, *, and /, which perform
  addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, respectively. In
  addition to these, S-Lang supports the mod operator, which divides two
  numbers and produces the remainder, as as well as the power operator
  ^.

The data type of the result produced by the use of one of these
  operators depends upon the data types of the binary participants.  If
  they are both integers, the result will be an integer. However, if the
  operands are not of the same type, they will be converted to a common
  type before the operation is performed. For example, if one is a
  floating point type and the other is an integer, the integer will be
  converted to a float. In general, the promotion from one type to
  another is such that no information is lost, if possible. As an
  example, consider the expression 8/5 which indicates division of the
  integer 8 by the integer 5.  The result will be the integer 1 and not
  the floating point value 1.6. However, 8/5.0 will produce 1.6 because
  5.0 is a floating point number.

7.2.2.  Relational Operators

The relational operators are >, >=, <, <=, ==, and !=. These perform
  the comparisons greater than, greater than or equal, less than, less
  than or equal, equal, and not equal, respectively. For most data
  types, the result of the comparison will be a boolean value; however,
  for arrays the result will be an array of boolean values. The section
  on arrays will explain this is greater detail.

Note: For S-Lang versions 2.1 and higher, relational expressions such
  as a<b<=c are defined in the mathematical sense, i.e.,

((a < b) and (b <= c))

Simarily, (a < b <= c < d) is the same as

((a < b) and (b <= c) and (c < d))

and so on. In previous versions of S-Lang, (a<b<c) meant (a<b)<c; how-
  ever this interpretation was not very useful.

7.2.3.  Boolean Operators

S-Lang supports four boolean binary operators: or, and, ||, and &&,
  which for most data types, return a boolean result. In particular, the
  or and || operators return a non-zero value (boolean TRUE) if either
  of their operands are non-zero, otherwise they produce zero (boolean
  FALSE). The and and && operators produce a non-zero value if and only
  if both their operands are non-zero, otherwise they produce zero.

Unlike the operators && and ||, the and and or operators do not
  perform the so-called boolean short-circuit evaluation. For example,
  consider the expression:

(x != 0) and (1/x > 10)

Here, if x were to have a value of zero, a division by zero error
  would occur because even though x!=0 evaluates to zero, the and opera-
  tor is not short-circuited and the 1/x expression would still be eval-
  uated. This problem can be avoided using the short-circuiting && oper-
  ator:

(x != 0) && (1/x > 10)

Another difference between the short-circuiting (&&,||) and the non-
  short-circuiting operators (and,or) is that the short-circuiting forms
  work only with integer or boolean types. In contrast, if either of the
  operands of the and or or operators is an array then a corresponding
  array of boolean values will result. This is explained in more detail
  in the section on arrays.

Note: the short-circuiting operators && and || were first introduced
  in S-Lang 2.1; they are not available in older versions.

7.2.4.  Bitwise Operators

The bitwise binary operators are currently defined for integer
  operands and are used for bit-level operations. Operators that fall in
  this class include &, |, shl, shr, and xor. The & operator performs a
  boolean AND operation between the corresponding bits of the operands.
  Similarly, the | operator performs the boolean OR operation on the
  bits.  The bit-shifting operators shl and shr shift the bits of the
  first operand by the number given by the second operand to the left or
  right, respectively. Finally, the xor performs an EXCLUSIVE-OR
  operation.

These operators are commonly used to manipulate variables whose
  individual bits have distinct meanings. In particular, & is usually
  used to test bits, | can be used to set bits, and xor may be used to
  flip a bit.

As an example of using & to perform tests on bits, consider the
  following: The jed text editor stores some of the information about a
  buffer in a bitmapped integer variable. The value of this variable may
  be retrieved using the jed intrinsic function getbuf_info, which
  actually returns four quantities: the buffer flags, the name of the
  buffer, directory name, and file name. For the purposes of this
  section, only the buffer flags are of interest and can be retrieved
  via a function such as

define get_buffer_flags ()
             {
                variable flags;
                (,,,flags) = getbuf_info ();
                return flags;
             }

The buffer flags object is a bitmapped quantity where the 0th bit
  indicates whether or not the buffer has been modified, the first bit
  indicates whether or not autosave has been enabled for the buffer, and
  so on. Consider for the moment the task of determining if the buffer
  has been modified. This can be determined by looking at the zeroth
  bit: if it is 0 the buffer has not been modified, otherwise it has
  been modified. Thus we can create the function,

define is_buffer_modified ()
            {
               variable flags = get_buffer_flags ();
               return (flags & 1);
            }

where the integer 1 has been used since it is represented as an object
  with all bits unset, except for the zeroth one, which is set. (At this
  point, it should also be apparent that bits are numbered from zero,
  thus an 8 bit integer consists of bits 0 to 7, where 0 is the least
  significant bit and 7 is the most significant one.) Similarly, we can
  create another function

define is_autosave_on ()
            {
               variable flags = get_buffer_flags ();
               return (flags & 2);
            }

to determine whether or not autosave has been turned on for the
  buffer.

The shl operator may be used to form the integer with only the nth bit
  set. For example, 1 shl 6 produces an integer with all bits set to
  zero except the sixth bit, which is set to one. The following example
  exploits this fact:

define test_nth_bit (flags, nth)
            {
               return flags & (1 shl nth);
            }

7.2.5.  The Namespace Operator

The operator -> is used to in conjunction with a namespace to access
  an object within the namespace. For example, if A is the name of a
  namespace containing the variable v, then A->v refers to that
  variable. Namespaces are discussed more fully in the chapter on
  ``Namespaces''.

7.2.6.  Operator Precedence

7.2.7.  Binary Operators and Functions Returning Multiple Values

Care must be exercised when using binary operators with an operand
  that returns multiple values. In fact, the current implementation of
  the S-Lang language will produce incorrect results if both operands of
  a binary expression return multiple values. At most, only one of
  operands of a binary expression can return multiple values, and that
  operand must be the first one, not the second. For example,

define read_line (fp)
           {
              variable line, status;

status = fgets (&line, fp);
              if (status == -1)
                return -1;
              return (line, status);
           }

defines a function, read_line that takes a single argument specifying
  a handle to an open file, and returns one or two values, depending
  upon the return value of fgets. Now consider

while (read_line (fp) > 0)
                 {
                    text = ();
                    % Do something with text
                    .
                    .
                 }

Here the relational binary operator > forms a comparison between one
  of the return values (the one at the top of the stack) and 0. In
  accordance with the above rule, since read_line returns multiple val-
  ues, it must occur as the left binary operand.  Putting it on the
  right as in

while (0 < read_line (fp))    % Incorrect
            {
               text = ();
               % Do something with text
               .
               .
            }

violates the rule and will result in the wrong answer. For this rea-
  son, one should avoid using a function that returns muliple return
  values as a binary operand.

7.3.  Mixing Integer and Floating Point Arithmetic

If a binary operation (+, -, * , /) is performed on two integers, the
  result is an integer. If at least one of the operands is a floating
  point value, the other will be converted to a floating point value,
  and a floating point result be produced. For example:

11 / 2           --> 5   (integer)
             11 / 2.0         --> 5.5 (double)
             11.0 / 2         --> 5.5 (double)
             11.0 / 2.0       --> 5.5 (double)

Sometimes to achive the desired result, it is necessary to explicitly
  convert from one data type to another. For example, suppose that a and
  b are integers, and that one wants to compute a/b using floating point
  arithmetic. In such a case, it is necessary to convert at least one of
  the operands to a floating point value using, e.g., the double
  function:

x = a/double(b);

7.4.  Short Circuit Boolean Evaluation

As of S-Lang version 2.1, use of the andelse and orelse have been
  deprecated in favor of the && and || short-circuiting operators.

The boolean operators or and and are not short circuited as they are
  in some languages. S-Lang uses orelse and andelse expressions for
  short circuit boolean evaluation.  However, these are not binary
  operators. Expressions of the form:

expr-1 and expr-2 and ... expr-n

can be replaced by the short circuited version using andelse:
       andelse {expr-1} {expr-2} ... {expr-n}

A similar syntax holds for the orelse operator. For example, consider
  the statement:

if ((x != 0) and (1/x > 10)) do_something ();

Here, if x were to have a value of zero, a division by zero error
  would occur because even though x!=0 evaluates to zero, the and opera-
  tor is not short circuited and the 1/x expression would be evaluated
  causing division by zero. For this case, the andelse expression could
  be used to avoid the problem:

if (andelse
                 {x != 0}
                 {1 / x > 10})  do_something ();

8.  Statements

Loosely speaking, a statement is composed of expressions that are
  grouped according to the syntax or grammar of the language to express
  a complete computation. A semicolon is used to denote the end of a
  statement.

A statement that occurs within a function is executed only during
  execution of the function. However, statements that occur outside the
  context of a function are evaluated immediately.

The language supports several different types of statements such as
  assignment statements, conditional statements, and so forth. These are
  described in detail in the following sections.

8.1.  Variable Declaration Statements

Variable declarations were already discussed in the chapter on
  ``Variables''. For the sake of completeness, a variable declaration is
  a statement of the form

variable variable-declaration-list ;

where the variable-declaration-list is a comma separated list of one
  or more variable names with optional initializations, e.g.,

variable x, y = 2, z;

8.2.  Assignment Statements

Perhaps the most well known form of statement is the assignment
  statement. Statements of this type consist of a left-hand side, an
  assignment operator, and a right-hand side. The left-hand side must be
  something to which an assignment can be performed. Such an object is
  called an lvalue.

The most common assignment operator is the simple assignment operator
  =. Examples of its use include

x = 3;
             x = some_function (10);
             x = 34 + 27/y + some_function (z);
             x = x + 3;

In addition to the simple assignment operator, S-Lang also supports
  the binary assignment operators:

+=   -=   *=    /=   &=   |=

Internally, S-Lang transforms

a += b;

a = a + b;

Likewise a-=b is transformed to a=a-b, a*=b is transformed to a=a*b,
  and so on.

It is extremely important to realize that, in general, a+b is not
  equal to b+a. For example if a and b are strings, then a+b will be the
  string resulting from the concatenation of a and b, which generally is
  not he same as the concatenation of b with a. This means that a+=b may
  not be the same as a=b+a, as the following example illustrates:

a = "hello"; b = "world";
             a += b;                      % a will become "helloworld"
             c = b + a;                   % c will become "worldhelloworld"

Since adding or subtracting 1 from a variable is quite common, S-Lang
  also supports the unary increment and decrement operators ++, and --,
  respectively. That is, for numeric data types,

x = x + 1;
              x += 1;
              x++;

are all equivalent. Similarly,

x = x - 1;
              x -= 1;
              x--;

are also equivalent.

Strictly speaking, ++ and -- are unary operators. When used as x++,
  the ++ operator is said to be a postfix-unary operator. However, when
  used as ++x it is said to be a prefix-unary operator. The current
  implementation does not distinguish between the two forms, thus x++
  and ++x are equivalent. The reason for this equivalence is that
  assignment expressions do not return a value in the S-Lang language as
  they do in C. Thus one should exercise care and not try to write C-
  like code such as

x = 10;
        while (--x) do_something (x);     % Ok in C, but not in S-Lang

The closest valid S-Lang form involves a comma-expression:

x = 10;
             while (x--, x) do_something (x);  % Ok in S-Lang and in C

S-Lang also supports a multiple-assignment statement. It is discussed
  in detail in the section on ``Multiple Assignment Statement''.

8.3.  Conditional and Looping Statements

S-Lang supports a wide variety of conditional and looping statements.
  These constructs operate on statements grouped together in blocks. A
  block is a sequence of S-Lang statements enclosed in braces and may
  contain other blocks. However, a block cannot include function
  declarations. In the following, statement-or-block refers to either a
  single S-Lang statement or to a block of statements, and integer-
  expression is an integer-valued or boolean expression. next-statement
  represents the statement following the form under discussion.

8.3.1.  Conditional Forms

8.3.1.1.  if

The simplest condition statement is the if statement. It follows the
  syntax

if (integer-expression) statement-or-block next-statement

If integer-expression evaluates to a non-zero (boolean TRUE) result,
  then the statement or group of statements implied statement-or-block
  will get executed. Otherwise, control will proceed to next-statement.

An example of the use of this type of conditional statement is

if (x != 0)
                {
                   y = 1.0 / x;
                   if (x > 0) z = log (x);
                }

This example illustrates two if statements where the second if state-
  ment is part of the block of statements that belong to the first.

8.3.1.2.  if-else

Another form of if statement is the if-else statement.  It follows the
  syntax:

if (integer-expression) statement-or-block-1 else statement-or-block-2
       next-statement

Here, if expression evaluates to a non-zero integer, statement-or-
  block-1 will get executed and control will pass on to next-statement.
  However, if expression evaluates to zero, statement-or-block-2 will
  get executed before continuing on to next-statement. A simple example
  of this form is

if (x > 0)
              z = log (x);
            else
              throw DomainError, "x must be positive";

Consider the more complex example:

if (city == "Boston")
              if (street == "Beacon") found = 1;
            else if (city == "Madrid")
              if (street == "Calle Mayor") found = 1;
            else found = 0;

This example illustrates a problem that beginners have with if-else
  statements. Syntactically, this example is equivalent to

if (city == "Boston")
              {
                if (street == "Beacon") found = 1;
                else if (city == "Madrid")
                  {
                    if (street == "Calle Mayor") found = 1;
                    else found = 0;
                  }
              }

although the indentation indicates otherwise. It is important to
  understand the grammar and not be seduced by the indentation!

8.3.1.3.  ifnot

One often encounters if statements similar to

if (integer-expression == 0) statement-or-block

or equivalently,
       if (not(integer-expression)) statement-or-block

The ifnot statement was added to the language to simplify the handling
  of such statements. It obeys the syntax

ifnot (integer-expression) statement-or-block

and is functionally equivalent to

if (not (expression)) statement-or-block

Note: The ifnot keyword was added in version 2.1 and is not supported
  by earlier versions. For compatibility with older code, the !if
  keyword can be used, although its use is deprecated in favor of ifnot.

8.3.1.4.  orelse, andelse

As of S-Lang version 2.1, use of the andelse and orelse have been
  deprecated in favor of the && and || short-circuiting operators.

The syntax for the orelse statement is:

orelse {integer-expression-1} ... {integer-expression-n}

This causes each of the blocks to be executed in turn until one of
  them returns a non-zero integer value. The result of this statement is
  the integer value returned by the last block executed. For example,

orelse { 0 } { 6 } { 2 } { 3 }

returns 6 since the second block is the first to return a non-zero
  result. The last two block will not get executed.

The syntax for the andelse statement is:

andelse {integer-expression-1} ... {integer-expression-n}

Each of the blocks will be executed in turn until one of them returns
  a zero value. The result of this statement is the integer value
  returned by the last block executed. For example,

andelse { 6 } { 2 } { 0 } { 4 }

evaluates to 0 since the third block will be the last to execute.

8.3.1.5.  switch

The switch statement deviates from its C counterpart. The syntax is:

switch (x)
              { ...  :  ...}
                .
                .
              { ...  :  ...}

The `:' operator is a special symbol that in the context of the switch
  statement, causes the top item on the stack to be tested, and if it is
  non-zero, the rest of the block will get executed and control will
  pass out of the switch statement.  Otherwise, the execution of the
  block will be terminated and the process will be repeated for the next
  block. If a block contains no : operator, the entire block is executed
  and control will pass onto the next statement following the switch
  statement.  Such a block is known as the default case.

As a simple example, consider the following:

switch (x)
               { x == 1 : message("Number is one.");}
               { x == 2 : message("Number is two.");}
               { x == 3 : message("Number is three.");}
               { x == 4 : message("Number is four.");}
               { x == 5 : message("Number is five.");}
               { message ("Number is greater than five.");}

Suppose x has an integer value of 3. The first two blocks will termi-
  nate at the `:' character because each of the comparisons with x will
  produce zero. However, the third block will execute to completion.
  Similarly, if x is 7, only the last block will execute in full.

A more familiar way to write the previous example is to make use of
  the case keyword:

switch (x)
               { case 1 : message("Number is one.");}
               { case 2 : message("Number is two.");}
               { case 3 : message("Number is three.");}
               { case 4 : message("Number is four.");}
               { case 5 : message("Number is five.");}
               { message ("Number is greater than five.");}

The case keyword is a more useful comparison operator because it can
  perform a comparison between different data types while using == may
  result in a type-mismatch error. For example,

switch (x)
               { (x == 1) or (x == "one") : message("Number is one.");}
               { (x == 2) or (x == "two") : message("Number is two.");}
               { (x == 3) or (x == "three") : message("Number is three.");}
               { (x == 4) or (x == "four") : message("Number is four.");}
               { (x == 5) or (x == "five") : message("Number is five.");}
               { message ("Number is greater than five.");}

will fail because the == operation is not defined between strings and
  integers. The correct way to write this is to use the case keyword:

switch (x)
               { case 1 or case "one" : message("Number is one.");}
               { case 2 or case "two" : message("Number is two.");}
               { case 3 or case "three" : message("Number is three.");}
               { case 4 or case "four" : message("Number is four.");}
               { case 5 or case "five" : message("Number is five.");}
               { message ("Number is greater than five.");}

8.3.2.  Looping Forms

In this section, the various looping statements are discussed. Each of
  these statements support an optional then clause, which is discussed
  in a separate section below.

8.3.2.1.  while

The while statement follows the syntax

while (integer-expression) statement-or-block [ then statement-or-
       block ] next-statement

It simply causes statement-or-block to get executed as long as inte-
  ger-expression evaluates to a non-zero result. For example,

i = 10;
             while (i)
               {
                 i--;
                 newline ();
               }

will cause the newline function to get called 10 times.  However,

i = -10;
             while (i)
               {
                 i--;
                 newline ();
               }

would loop forever (or until i wraps from the most negative integer
  value to the most positive and then decrements to zero).

If you are a C programmer, do not let the syntax of the language
  seduce you into writing this example as you would in C:

i = 10;
             while (i--) newline ();

Keep in mind that expressions such as i-- do not return a value in S-
  Lang as they do in C. The same effect can be achieved to use a comma
  to separate the expressions as as in

i = 10;
             while (i, i--) newline ();

8.3.2.2.  do...while

The do...while statement follows the syntax

do statement-or-block while (integer-expression); [ then statement-or-
       block ]

The main difference between this statement and the while statement is
  that the do...while form performs the test involving integer-expres-
  sion after each execution of statement-or-block rather than before.
  This guarantees that statement-or-block will get executed at least
  once.

A simple example from the jed editor follows:

bob ();      % Move to beginning of buffer
            do
              {
                 indent_line ();
              }
            while (down (1));

This will cause all lines in the buffer to get indented via the jed
  intrinsic function indent_line.

8.3.2.3.  for

Perhaps the most complex looping statement is the for statement;
  nevertheless, it is a favorite of many C programmers.  This statement
  obeys the syntax

for (init-expression; integer-expression; end-expression) statement-
       or-block [ then statement-or-block ] next-statement

In addition to statement-or-block, its specification requires three
  other expressions. When executed, the for statement evaluates init-
  expression, then it tests integer-expression. If integer-expression
  evaluates to zero, control passes to next-statement. Otherwise, it
  executes statement-or-block as long as integer-expression evaluates to
  a non-zero result. After every execution of statement-or-block, end-
  expression will get evaluated.

This statement is almost equivalent to

init-expression; while (integer-expression) { statement-or-block end-
       expression; }

The reason that they are not fully equivalent involves what happens
  when statement-or-block contains a continue statement.

Despite the apparent complexity of the for statement, it is very easy
  to use. As an example, consider

s = 0;
            for (i = 1; i <= 10; i++) s += i;

which computes the sum of the first 10 integers.

8.3.2.4.  loop

The loop statement simply executes a block of code a fixed number of
  times. It follows the syntax

loop (integer-expression) statement-or-block [ then statement-or-block
       ] next-statement

If the integer-expression evaluates to a positive integer, statement-
  or-block will get executed that many times.  Otherwise, control will
  pass to next-statement.

For example,

loop (10) newline ();

will execute the newline function 10 times.

8.3.2.5.  _for

Like loop, the _for statement simply executes a block of code a fixed
  number times. Unlike the loop statement, the _for loop is useful in
  situations where the loop index is needed. It obeys the syntax

_for loop-variable (first-value, last-value, increment) block [ then
       statement-or-block ] next-statement

Each time through the loop, the loop-variable will take on the succes-
  sive values dictated by the other parameters. The first time through,
  the loop-variable will have the value of first-value.  The second time
  its value will be first-value + increment, and so on. The loop will
  terminate when the value of the loop index exceeds last-value. The
  current implementation requires the control parameters first-value,
  last-value, and increment to be integer-valued expressions.

For example, the _for statement may be used to compute the sum of the
  first ten integers:

s = 0;
            _for i (1, 10, 1)
              s += i;

The execution speed of the _for loop is more than twice as fast as the
  more powerful for loop making it a better choice for many situations.

8.3.2.6.  forever

The forever statement is similar to the loop statement except that it
  loops forever, or until a break or a return statement is executed. It
  obeys the syntax

forever statement-or-block [ then statement-or-block ]

A trivial example of this statement is

n = 10;
            forever
              {
                 if (n == 0) break;
                 newline ();
                 n--;
              }

8.3.2.7.  foreach

The foreach statement is used to loop over one or more statements for
  every element of an object. Most often the object will be a container
  object such as an array, structure, or associative arrays, but it need
  not be.

The simple type of foreach statement obeys the syntax

foreach var (object) statement-or-block [ then statement-or-block ]

Here object can be an expression that evaluates to a value.  Each time
  through the loop the variable var will take on a value that depends
  upon the data type of the object being processed. For container
  objects, var will take on values of successive members of the object.

A simple example is

foreach fruit (["apple", "peach", "pear"])
              process_fruit (fruit);

This example shows that if the container object is an array, then suc-
  cessive elements of the array are assigned to fruit prior to each exe-
  cution cycle. If the container object is a string, then successive
  characters of the string are assigned to the variable.

What actually gets assigned to the variable may be controlled via the
  using form of the foreach statement. This more complex type of foreach
  statement follows the syntax

foreach var ( container-object ) using ( control-list ) statement-or-
       block

The allowed values of control-list will depend upon the type of con-
  tainer object. For associative arrays (Assoc_Type), control-list spec-
  ifies whether keys, values, or both are used. For example,

foreach k (a) using ("keys")
              {
                  .
                  .
              }

results in the keys of the associative array a being successively
  assigned to k. Similarly,

foreach v (a) using ("values")
              {
                  .
                  .
              }

will cause the values to be used. The form

foreach k,v (a) using ("keys", "values")
              {
                  .
                  .
              }

may be used when both keys and values are desired.

Similarly, for linked-lists of structures, one may walk the list via
  code like

foreach s (linked_list) using ("next")
              {
                   .
                   .
              }

This foreach statement is equivalent

s = linked_list;
            while (s != NULL)
              {
                 .
                 .
                s = s.next;
              }

Consult the type-specific documentation for a discussion of the using
  control words, if any, appropriate for a given type.

8.3.3.  break, return, and continue

S-Lang also includes the non-local transfer statements return, break,
  and continue. The return statement causes control to return to the
  calling function while the break and continue statements are used in
  the context of loop structures. Consider:

define fun ()
              {
                 forever
                   {
                      s1;
                      s2;
                      ..
                      if (condition_1) break;
                      if (condition_2) return;
                      if (condition_3) continue;
                      ..
                      s3;
                   }
                 s4;
                 ..
              }

Here, a function fun has been defined that contains a forever loop
  consisting of statements s1, s2,...,s3, and three if statements. As
  long as the expressions condition_1, condition_2, and condition_3
  evaluate to zero, the statements s1, s2,...,s3 will be repeatedly exe-
  cuted. However, if condition_1 returns a non-zero value, the break
  statement will get executed, and control will pass out of the forever
  loop to the statement immediately following the loop, which in this
  case is s4. Similarly, if condition_2 returns a non-zero number, the
  return statement will cause control to pass back to the caller of fun.
  Finally, the continue statement will cause control to pass back to the
  start of the loop, skipping the statement s3 altogether.

8.3.4.  The looping then clause

As mentioned above, all the looping statements support an optional
  then clause. The statements that comprise this clause get executed
  only when the loop has run to completion and was not prematurely
  terminated via a break statement. As an example, consider the
  following:

count = 0;
           max_tries = 20;
           while (count < max_tries)
             {
                if (try_something ())
                  break;

count++;
                % Failed -- try again
             }
           if (count == 20)
             throw RunTimeError, "try_something failed 20 times";

Here, the code makes 20 attempts to perform some task (via the
  try_something function) and if not successful it will throw an excep-
  tion. Compare the above to an equivalent form that makes use of a
  then-clause for the loop statement:

max_tries = 20;
           loop (max_tries)
             {
                if (try_something ())
                  break;
                % Failed -- try again
             }
           then throw RunTimeError, "try_something failed 20 times";

Here, the then statement would get executed only if the loop statement
  has run to completion, i.e., loops 20 times in this case.  This only
  happens if the try_something function fails each time through the
  loop. However, if the try_something function succeeds, then the break
  statement will get executed causing the loop to abort prematurely,
  which would result in the then clause not getting executed.

The use of such a construct can also simplify code such as:

if (some_condition)
            {
               foo_statements;
               if (another_condition)
                 bar_statements;
               else
                 fizzle_statements;
            }
          else fizzle_statements;

In this case the fizzle_statements are duplicated making the code ugly
  and less maintainable. Ideally one would wrap the fizzle_statements in
  a separate function and call it twice.  However, this is not always
  possible or convenient. The duplication can be eliminated by using the
  then form of the loop statement:

loop (some_condition != 0)
            {
               foo_statements;
               if (another_condition)
                 {
                   bar_statements;
                   break;
                 }
            }
          then fizzle_statements;

Here, the expression some_condition != 0 is going to result in either
  0 or 1, causing the code to execute 0 or 1 loops. Since the fiz-
  zle_statements are contained in the then clause, they will get exe-
  cuted only when the requested number of loops executes to completion.
  Executing 0 loops is regarded as successful completion of the loop
  statement. Hence, when some_condition is 0, the fizzle_statements will
  get executed. The fizzle_statements will not get executed only when
  the loop is prematurely terminated, and that will occur when both
  some_condition and another_condition are non-zero.

9.  Functions

There are essentially two classes of functions that may be called from
  the interpreter: intrinsic functions and slang functions.

An intrinsic function is one that is implemented in C or some other
  compiled language and is callable from the interpreter. Nearly all of
  the built-in functions are of this variety. At the moment the basic
  interpreter provides nearly 300 intrinsic functions. Examples include
  the trigonometric functions sin and cos, string functions such as
  strcat, etc. Dynamically loaded modules such as the png and pcre
  modules add additional intrinsic functions.

The other type of function is written in S-Lang and is known simply as
  a ``S-Lang function''. Such a function may be thought of as a group of
  statements that work together to perform a computation.  The
  specification of such functions is the main subject of this chapter.

9.1.  Declaring Functions

Like variables, functions must be declared before they can be used.
  The define keyword is used for this purpose. For example,

define factorial ();

is sufficient to declare a function named factorial. Unlike the vari-
  able keyword used for declaring variables, the define keyword does not
  accept a list of names.

Usually, the above form is used only for recursive functions. In most
  cases, the function name is almost always followed by a parameter list
  and the body of the function:

define function-name (parameter-list) { statement-list }

The function-name is an identifier and must conform to the naming
  scheme for identifiers discussed in the chapter on ``Identifiers''.
  The parameter-list is a comma-separated list of variable names that
  represent parameters passed to the function, and may be empty if no
  parameters are to be passed. The variables in the parameter-list are
  implicitly declared, thus, there is no need to declare them via a
  variable declaration statement. In fact any attempt to do so will
  result in a syntax error.

The body of the function is enclosed in braces and consists of zero or
  more statements (statement-list). While there are no imposed limits
  upon the number statements that may occur within a S-Lang function, it
  is considered poor programming practice if a function contains many
  statements. This notion stems from the belief that a function should
  have a simple, well-defined purpose.

9.2.  Parameter Passing Mechanism

Parameters to a function are always passed by value and never by
  reference. To see what this means, consider

define add_10 (a)
            {
               a = a + 10;
            }
            variable b = 0;
            add_10 (b);

Here a function add_10 has been defined, which when executed, adds 10
  to its parameter. A variable b has also been declared and initialized
  to zero before being passed to add_10. What will be the value of b
  after the call to add_10? If S-Lang were a language that passed param-
  eters by reference, the value of b would be changed to 10.  However,
  S-Lang always passes by value, which means that b will retain its
  value during and after after the function call.

S-Lang does provide a mechanism for simulating pass by reference via
  the reference operator. This is described in greater detail in the
  next section.

If a function is called with a parameter in the parameter list
  omitted, the corresponding variable in the function will be set to
  NULL. To make this clear, consider the function

define add_two_numbers (a, b)
            {
               if (a == NULL) a = 0;
               if (b == NULL) b = 0;
               return a + b;
            }

This function must be called with two parameters. However, either of
  them may omitted by calling the function in one of the following ways:

variable s = add_two_numbers (2,3);
            variable s = add_two_numbers (2,);
            variable s = add_two_numbers (,3);
            variable s = add_two_numbers (,);

The first example calls the function using both parameters, but at
  least one of the parameters was omitted in the other examples. If the
  parser recognizes that a parameter has been omitted by finding a comma
  or right-parenthesis where a value is expected, it will substitute
  NULL for missing value. This means that the parser will convert the
  latter three statements in the above example to:

variable s = add_two_numbers (2, NULL);
       variable s = add_two_numbers (NULL, 3);
       variable s = add_two_numbers (NULL, NULL);

It is important to note that this mechanism is available only for
  function calls that specify more than one parameter. That is,

variable s = add_10 ();

is not equivalent to add_10(NULL). The reason for this is simple: the
  parser can only tell whether or not NULL should be substituted by
  looking at the position of the comma character in the parameter list,
  and only function calls that indicate more than one parameter will use
  a comma. A mechanism for handling single parameter function calls is
  described later in this chapter.

9.3.  Returning Values

The usual way to return values from a function is via the return
  statement. This statement has the simple syntax

return expression-list ;

where expression-list is a comma separated list of expressions.  If a
  function does not return any values, the expression list will be
  empty. A simple example of a function that can return multiple values
  (two in this case) is:

define sum_and_diff (x, y)
               {
                   variable sum, diff;

sum = x + y;  diff = x - y;
                   return sum, diff;
               }

9.4.  Multiple Assignment Statement

In the previous section an example of a function returning two values
  was given. That function can also be written somewhat simpler as:

define sum_and_diff (x, y)
         {
            return x + y, x - y;
         }

This function may be called using

(s, d) = sum_and_diff (12, 5);

After the above line is executed, s will have a value of 17 and the
  value of d will be 7.

The most general form of the multiple assignment statement is

( var_1, var_2, ..., var_n ) = expression;

Here expression is an arbitrary expression that leaves n items on the
  stack, and var_k represents an l-value object (permits assignment).
  The assignment statement removes those values and assigns them to the
  specified variables.  Usually, expression is a call to a function that
  returns multiple values, but it need not be. For example,

(s,d) = (x+y, x-y);

produces results that are equivalent to the call to the sum_and_diff
  function. Another common use of the multiple assignment statement is
  to swap values:

(x,y) = (y,x);
            (a[i], a[j], a[k]) = (a[j], a[k], a[i]);

If an l-value is omitted from the list, then the corresponding value
  will be removed fro the stack. For example,

(s, ) = sum_and_diff (9, 4);

assigns the sum of 9 and 4 to s and the difference (9-4) is removed
  from the stack. Similarly,

() = fputs ("good luck", fp);

causes the return value of the fputs function to be discarded.

It is possible to create functions that return a variable number of
  values instead of a fixed number. Although such functions are
  discouraged, it is easy to cope with them. Usually, the value at the
  top of the stack will indicate the actual number of return values. For
  such functions, the multiple assignment statement cannot directly be
  used. To see how such functions can be dealt with, consider the
  following function:

define read_line (fp)
            {
               variable line;
               if (-1 == fgets (&line, fp))
                 return -1;
               return (line, 0);
            }

This function returns either one or two values, depending upon the
  return value of fgets. Such a function may be handled using:

status = read_line (fp);
             if (status != -1)
               {
                  s = ();
                  .
                  .
               }

In this example, the last value returned by read_line is assigned to
  status and then tested. If it is non-zero, the second return value is
  assigned to s. In particular note the empty set of parenthesis in the
  assignment to s. This simply indicates that whatever is on the top of
  the stack when the statement is executed will be assigned to s.

9.5.  Referencing Variables

One can achieve the effect of passing by reference by using the
  reference (&) and dereference (@) operators. Consider again the add_10
  function presented in the previous section.  This time it is written
  as:

define add_10 (a)
            {
               @a = @a + 10;
            }
            variable b = 0;
            add_10 (&b);

The expression &b creates a reference to the variable b and it is the
  reference that gets passed to add_10.  When the function add_10 is
  called, the value of the local variable a will be a reference to the
  variable b. It is only by dereferencing this value that b can be
  accessed and changed. So, the statement @a=@a+10 should be read as
  ``add 10 to the value of the object that a references and assign the
  result to the object that a references''.

The reader familiar with C will note the similarity between references
  in S-Lang and pointers in C.

References are not limited to variables. A reference to a function may
  also be created and passed to other functions. As a simple example
  from elementary calculus, consider the following function which
  returns an approximation to the derivative of another function at a
  specified point:

define derivative (f, x)
            {
               variable h = 1e-6;
               return ((@f)(x+h) - (@f)(x)) / h;
            }
            define x_squared (x)
            {
               return x^2;
            }
            dydx = derivative (&x_squared, 3);

When the derivative function is called, the local variable f will be a
  reference to the x_squared function. The x_squared function is called
  is called with the specified parameters by dereferencing f with the
  dereference operator.

9.6.  Functions with a Variable Number of Arguments

S-Lang functions may be called with a variable number of arguments.  A
  natural example of such functions is the strcat function, which takes
  one or more string arguments and returns the concatenated result. An
  example of different sort is the strtrim function which moves both
  leading and trailing whitespace from a string. In this case, when
  called with one argument (the string to be ``trimmed''), the
  characters that are considered to be whitespace are those in the
  character-set that have the whitespace property (space, tab, newline,
  ...). However, when called with two arguments, the second argument may
  be used to specify the characters that are to be considered as
  whitespace. The strtrim function exemplifies a class of variadic
  functions where the additional arguments are used to pass optional
  information to the function. Another more flexible and powerful way of
  passing optional information is through the use of qualifiers, which
  is the subject of the next section.

When a S-Lang function is called with parameters, those parameters are
  placed on the run-time stack. The function accesses those parameters
  by removing them from the stack and assigning them to the variables in
  its parameter list. This details of this operation are for the most
  part hidden from the programmer. But what happens when the number of
  parameters in the parameter list is not equal to the number of
  parameters passed to the function? If the number passed to the
  function is less than what the function expects, a StackUnderflow
  error could result as the function tries to remove items from the
  stack. If the number passed is greater than the number in the
  parameter list, then the extras will remain on the stack. The latter
  feature makes it possible to write functions that take a variable
  number of arguments.

Consider the add_10 example presented earlier. This time it is written

define add_10 ()
            {
               variable x;
               x = ();
               return x + 10;
            }
            variable s = add_10 (12);  % ==> s = 22;

For the uninitiated, this example looks as if it is destined for dis-
  aster. The add_10 function appears to accept zero arguments, yet it
  was called with a single argument. On top of that, the assignment to x
  might look a bit strange. The truth is, the code presented in this
  example makes perfect sense, once you realize what is happening.

First, consider what happens when add_10 is called with the parameter
  12. Internally, 12 is pushed onto the stack and then the function
  called. Now, consider the function add_10 itself. In it, x is a local
  variable.  The strange looking assignment `x=()' causes whatever is on
  the top of the stack to be assigned to x. In other words, after this
  statement, the value of x will be 12, since 12 is at the top of the
  stack.

A generic function of the form

define function_name (x, y, ..., z)
           {
              .
              .
           }

is transformed internally by the parser to something akin to

define function_name ()
           {
              variable x, y, ..., z;
              z = ();
              .
              .
              y = ();
              x = ();
              .
              .
           }

before further parsing. (The add_10 function, as defined above, is
  already in this form.) With this knowledge in hand, one can write a
  function that accepts a variable number of arguments. Consider the
  function:

define average_n (n)
           {
              variable x, y;
              variable s;

if (n == 1)
                {
                   x = ();
                   s = x;
                }
              else if (n == 2)
                {
                   y = ();
                   x = ();
                   s = x + y;
                }
              else throw NotImplementedError;

return s / n;
          }
          variable ave1 = average_n (3.0, 1);        % ==> 3.0
          variable ave2 = average_n (3.0, 5.0, 2);   % ==> 4.0

Here, the last argument passed to average_n is an integer reflecting
  the number of quantities to be averaged. Although this example works
  fine, its principal limitation is obvious: it only supports one or two
  values. Extending it to three or more values by adding more else if
  constructs is rather straightforward but hardly worth the effort.
  There must be a better way, and there is:

define average_n (n)
          {
             variable s, x;
             s = 0;
             loop (n)
               {
                  x = ();    % get next value from stack
                  s += x;
               }
             return s / n;
          }

The principal limitation of this approach is that one must still pass
  an integer that specifies how many values are to be averaged.  Fortu-
  nately, a special variable exists that is local to every function and
  contains the number of values that were passed to the function.  That
  variable has the name _NARGS and may be used as follows:

define average_n ()
     {
        variable x, s = 0;

if (_NARGS == 0)
          usage ("ave = average_n (x, ...);");

loop (_NARGS)
          {
             x = ();
             s += x;
          }
        return s / _NARGS;
     }

Here, if no arguments are passed to the function, the usage function
  will generate a UsageError exception along with a simple message indi-
  cating how to use the function.

9.7.  Qualifiers

One way to pass optional information to a function is to do so using
  the variable arguments mechanism described in the previous section.
  However, a much more powerful mechanism is through the use of
  qualifiers, which were added in version 2.1.

To illustrate the use of qualifiers, consider a graphics application
  that defines a function called plot that plots a set of (x,y) values
  specified as 1-d arrays:

plot(x,y);

Suppose that when called in the above manner, the application will
  plot the data as black points. But instead of black points, one might
  want to plot the data using a red diamond as the plot symbol.  It
  would be silly to have a separate function such as plot_red_diamond
  for this purpose. A much better way to achieve this functionality is
  through the use of qualifiers:

plot(x,y ; color="red", symbol="diamond");

Here, a single semicolon is used to separate the argument-list proper
  (x,y) from the list of qualifiers. In this case, the qualifiers are
  ``color'' and ``symbol''. The order of the qualifiers in unimportant;
  the function could just as well have been called with the symbol qual-
  ifier listed first.

Now consider the implementation of the plot function:

define plot (x, y)
      {
         variable color = qualifier ("color", "black");
         variable symbol = qualifier ("symbol", "point");
         variable symbol_size = qualifier ("size", 1.0);
            .
            .
      }

Note that the qualifiers are not handled in the parameter list; rather
  they are handled in the function body using the qualifier function,
  which is used to obtain the value of the qualifier. The second argu-
  ment to the qualifier function specifies the default value to be used
  if the function was not called with the specified qualifier. Also note
  that the variable associated with the qualifier need not have the same
  name as the qualifier.

A qualifier need not have a value--- its mere presence may be used to
  enable or disable a feature or trigger some action. For example,

plot (x, y; connect_points);

specifies a qualifier called connect_points that indicates that a line
  should be drawn between the data points. The presence of such a quali-
  fier can be detected using the qualifier_exists function:

define plot (x,y)
            {
                .
                .
              variable connect_points = qualifier_exists ("connect_points");
                .
                .
            }

Sometimes it is useful for a function to pass the qualifiers that it
  has received to other functions. Suppose that the plot function calls
  draw_symbol to plot the specified symbol at a particular location and
  that it requires the symbol attibutes to be specified using
  qualifiers. Then the plot function might look like:

define plot (x, y)
      {
         variable color = qualifier ("color", "black");
         variable symbol = qualifier ("symbol", "point");
         variable symbol_size = qualifier ("size", 1.0);
            .
            .
         _for i (0, length(x)-1, 1)
           draw_symbol (x[i],y[i]
                        ;color=color, size=symbol_size, symbol=symbol);
            .
            .
      }

The problem with this approach is that it does not scale well: the
  plot function has to be aware of all the qualifiers that the draw_sym-
  bol function takes and explicitly pass them. In many cases this can be
  quite cumbersome and error prone. Rather it is better to simply pass
  the qualifiers that were passed to the plot function on to the
  draw_symbol function. This may be achieved using the __qualifiers
  function. The __qualifiers function returns the list of qualifiers in
  the form of a structure whose field names are the same as the quali-
  fier names. In fact, the use of this function can simplify the imple-
  mentation of the plot function, which may be coded more simply as

define plot (x, y)
           {
              variable i;
              _for i (0, length(x)-1, 1)
                draw_symbol (x[i],y[i] ;; __qualifiers());
           }

Note the syntax is slightly different. The two semicolons indicate
  that the qualifiers are specified not as name-value pairs, but as a
  structure. Using a single semicolon would have created a qualifier
  called __qualifiers, which is not what was desired.

As alluded to above an added benefit of this approach is that the plot
  function does not need to know nor care about the qualifiers supported
  by draw_symbol. When called as

plot (x, y; symbol="square", size=2.0, fill=0.8);

the fill qualifier would get passed to the draw_symbol function to
  specify the ``fill'' value to be used when creating the symbol.

9.8.  Exit-Blocks

An exit-block is a set of statements that get executed when a
  functions returns. They are very useful for cleaning up when a
  function returns via an explicit call to return from deep within a
  function.

An exit-block is created by using the EXIT_BLOCK keyword according to
  the syntax

EXIT_BLOCK { statement-list }

where statement-list represents the list of statements that comprise
  the exit-block. The following example illustrates the use of an exit-
  block:

define simple_demo ()
             {
                variable n = 0;

EXIT_BLOCK { message ("Exit block called."); }

forever
                 {
                   if (n == 10) return;
                   n++;
                 }
             }

Here, the function contains an exit-block and a forever loop.  The
  loop will terminate via the return statement when n is 10. Before it
  returns, the exit-block will get executed.

A function can contain multiple exit-blocks, but only the last one
  encountered during execution will actually get used. For example,

define simple_demo (n)
             {
                EXIT_BLOCK { return 1; }

if (n != 1)
                  {
                     EXIT_BLOCK { return 2; }
                  }
                return;
             }

If 1 is passed to this function, the first exit-block will get exe-
  cuted because the second one would not have been encountered during
  the execution. However, if some other value is passed, the second
  exit-block would get executed. This example also illustrates that it
  is possible to explicitly return from an exit-block, but nested exit-
  blocks are illegal.

9.9.  Handling Return Values from a Function

The most important rule to remember in calling a function is that if
  the function returns a value, the caller must do something with it.
  While this might sound like a trivial statement it is the number one
  issue that trips-up novice users of the language.

To elaborate on this point further, consider the fputs function, which
  writes a string to a file descriptor. This function can fail when,
  e.g., a disk is full, or the file is located on a network share and
  the network goes down, etc.

S-Lang supports two mechanisms that a function may use to report a
  failure: raising an exception, returning a status code. The latter
  mechanism is used by the S-Lang fputs function. i.e., it returns a
  value to indicate whether or not is was successful. Many users
  familiar with this function either seem to forget this fact, or assume
  that the function will succeed and not bother handling the return
  value. While some languages silently remove such values from the
  stack, S-Lang regards the stack as a dynamic data structure that
  programs can utilize. As a result, the value will be left on the S-
  Lang stack and can cause problems later on.

There are a number of correct ways of ``doing something'' with the
  return value from a function. Of course the recommended procedure is
  to use the return value as it was meant to be used. In the case of
  fputs, the proper thing to do is to check the return value, e.g.,

if (-1 == fputs ("good luck", fp))
              {
                 % Handle the error
              }

Other acceptable ways to ``do something'' with the return value
  include assigning it to a dummy variable,

dummy = fputs ("good luck", fp);

or simply ``popping'' it from the stack:

fputs ("good luck", fp);  pop();

The latter mechanism can also be written as

() = fputs ("good luck", fp);

The last form is a special case of the multiple assignment statement,
  which was discussed earlier. Since this form is simpler than assigning
  the value to a dummy variable or explicitly calling the pop function,
  it is recommended over the other two mechanisms. Finally, this form
  has the redeeming feature that it presents a visual reminder that the
  function is returning a value that is not being used.
  10.  Namespaces

By default, all global variables and functions are defined in the
  global or public namespace. In addition to the global namespace, every
  compilation unit (e.g., a file containing S-Lang code) has a private,
  or anonymous namespace. The private namespace is used when one wants
  to restrict the usage of one or more functions or variables to the
  compilation unit that defines them without worrying about objects with
  the same names defined elsewhere.

Objects are declared as belonging to the private namespace using the
  private declaration keyword. Similarly if a variable is declared using
  the public qualifier, it will be placed in the public namespace. For
  example,

private variable i;
           public variable j;

defines a variable called i in the private namespace and one called j
  in the public namespace.

The implements function may be used to create a new namespace of a
  specified name and have it associated with the compilation unit.
  Objects may be placed into this namespace space using the static
  keyword, e.g.,

static variable X;
           static define foo () {...}

For this reason, such a namespace will be called the static namespace
  associated with the compilation unit. Such objects may be accessed
  from outside the local compilation unit using the namespace operator
  -> in conjunction with the name of the namespace.

Since it is possible for three namespaces (private, static, public) to
  be associated with a compilation unit, it is important to understand
  how names are resolved by the parser. During the compilation stage,
  symbols are looked up according to the current scope. If in a
  function, the local variables of the function are searched first. Then
  the search proceeds with symbols in the private namespace, followed by
  those in the static namespace associated with the compilation unit (if
  any), and finally with the public namespace. If after searching the
  public namespace the symbol has not been resolved, an
  UndefinedNameError exception will result.

In addition to using the implements function, there are other ways to
  associate a namespace with a compilation unit. One is via the optional
  namespace argument of the evalfile function. For example,

() = evalfile ("foo.sl", "bar");

will cause foo.sl to be loaded and associated with a namespace called
  bar. Then any static symbols of foo.sl may accessed using the bar->
  prefix.

It is important to note that if a static namespace has been associated
  with the compilation unit, then any symbols in that unit declared
  without an namespace qualifier will be placed in the static namespace.
  Otherwise such symbols will be placed in the public namespace, and any
  symbols declared as static will be placed in the private namespace.

To illustrate these concepts, consider the following example:

% foo.sl
          variable X = 1;
          static variable Y;
          private variable Z;
          public define set_Y (y) { Y = y; }
          static define set_z (z) { Z = z; }

If foo.sl is loaded via

() = evalfile ("foo.sl");

then no static namespace will be associated with it. As a result, X
  will be placed in the public namespace since it was declared with no
  namespace qualifier. Also Y and set_z will be placed in the private
  namespace since no static namespace has been associated with the file.
  In this scenario there will be no way to get at the Z variable from
  outside of foo.sl since both it and the function that accesses it
  (set_z) are placed in the private namespace.

On the other hand, suppose that the file is loaded using a namespace
  argument:

() = evalfile ("foo.sl", "foo");

In this case X, Y, and get_z will be placed in the foo namespace.
  These objects may be accessed from outside foo.sl using the foo-> pre-
  fix, e.g.,

foo->set_z (3.0);
           if (foo->X == 2) foo->Y = 1;

Because a file may be loaded with or without a namespace attached to
  it, it is a good idea to avoid using the static qualifier. To see
  this, consider again the above example but this time without the use
  of the static qualifier:

% foo.sl
      variable X = 1;
      variable Y;
      private variable Z;
      public define set_Y (y) { Y = y; }
      define set_z (z) { Z = z; }

When loaded without a namespace argument, the variable Z will remain
  in the private namespace, but the set_z function will be put in the
  public namespace. Previously set_z was put in the private namespace
  making both it and Z inaccessible.

11.  Arrays

An array is a container object that can contain many values of one
  data type. Arrays are very useful objects and are indispensable for
  certain types of programming. The purpose of this chapter is to
  describe how arrays are defined and used in the S-Lang language.

11.1.  Creating Arrays

The S-Lang language supports multi-dimensional arrays of all data
  types. Since the Array_Type is a data type, one can even have arrays
  of arrays. To create a multi-dimensional array of SomeType and assign
  to some variable, use:

a = SomeType [dim0, dim1, ..., dimN];

Here dim0, dim1, ... dimN specify the size of the individual dimen-
  sions of the array. The current implementation permits arrays to con-
  tain as many as 7 dimensions. When a numeric array is created, all its
  elements are initialized to zero.  The initialization of other array
  types depend upon the data type, e.g., the elements in String_Type and
  Struct_Type arrays are initialized to NULL.

As a concrete example, consider

a = Integer_Type [10];

which creates a one-dimensional array of 10 integers and assigns it to
  a.  Similarly,

b = Double_Type [10, 3];

creates a 30 element array of double precision numbers arranged in 10
  rows and 3 columns, and assigns it to b.

11.1.1.  Range Arrays

There is a more convenient syntax for creating and initializing 1-d
  arrays. For example, to create an array of ten integers whose elements
  run from 1 through 10, one may simply use:

a = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10];

Similarly,

b = [1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0, 7.0, 8.0, 9.0, 10.0];

specifies an array of ten doubles.

An even more compact way of specifying a numeric array is to use a
  range-array. For example,

a = [0:9];

specifies an array of 10 integers whose elements range from 0 through
  9. The syntax for the most general form of range array is given by

[first-value : last-value : increment]

where the increment is optional and defaults to 1. This creates an
  array whose first element is first-value and whose successive values
  differ by increment. last-value sets an upper limit upon the last
  value of the array as described below.

If the range array [a:b:c] is integer valued, then the interval
  specified by a and b is closed. That is, the kth element of the array
  x_k is given by x_k=a+kc and satisfies a<=x_k<=b. Hence, the number of
  elements in an integer range array is given by the expression 1 + (b-
  a)/c.

The situation is somewhat more complicated for floating point range
  arrays. The interval specified by a floating point range array [a:b:c]
  is semi-open such that b is not contained in the interval. In
  particular, the kth element of [a:b:c] is given by x_k=a+kc such that
  a<=x_k<b when c>=0, and b<x_k<=a otherwise. The number of elements in
  the array is one greater than the largest k that satisfies the open
  interval constraint.

In contrast, a range-array expressed in the form [a:b:#n] represents
  an array of exactly n elements running from a to b inclusive. It is
  equivalent to a+[0:n-1]*(b-a)/(n-1).

Here are a few examples that illustrate the above comments:

[1:5:1]         ==> [1,2,3,4,5]
              [1.0:5.0:1.0]   ==> [1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0]
              [5:1:-1]        ==> [5,4,3,2,1]
              [5.0:1.0:-1.0]  ==> [5.0, 4.0, 3.0, 2.0];
              [1:1]           ==> [1]
              [1.0:1.0]       ==> []
              [1.0:1.0001]    ==> [1.0]
              [1:-3]          ==> []
              [0:1:#5]        ==> [0.0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.0]
              [0:-1:#3]       ==> [0.0, -0.5, -1.0]

Currently Int_Type is the only integer type supported by range
  arrays--- arbitrary integer types will be supported in a future
  version. This means that [1h:5h] will not produce an array of
  Short_Type, rather it will produce an Int_Type array. However,
  [1h,2h,3h,4h,5h] will produce an array of Short_Type integers.

11.1.2.  Creating arrays via the dereference operator

Another way to create an array is to apply the dereference operator @
  to the DataType_Type literal Array_Type. The actual syntax for this
  operation resembles a function call

variable a = @Array_Type (data-type, integer-array);

where data-type is of type DataType_Type and integer-array is a 1-d
  array of integers that specify the size of each dimension. For exam-
  ple,

variable a = @Array_Type (Double_Type, [10, 20]);

will create a 10 by 20 array of doubles and assign it to a. This
  method of creating arrays derives its power from the fact that it is
  more flexible than the methods discussed in this section. It is par-
  ticularly useful for creating arrays during run-time in situations
  where the data-type can vary.

11.2.  Reshaping Arrays

It is sometimes useful to change the `shape' of an array using the
  reshape function. For example, a 1-d 10 element array may be reshaped
  into a 2-d array consisting of 5 rows and 2 columns. The only
  restriction on the operation is that the arrays must be commensurate.
  The reshape function follows the syntax

reshape (array-name, integer-array);

where array-name specifies the array to be reshaped to the dimensions
  given by integer-array, a 1-dimensional array of integers. It is
  important to note that this does not create a new array, it simply
  reshapes the existing array. Thus,

variable a = Double_Type [100];
            reshape (a, [10, 10]);

turns a into a 10 by 10 array, as well as any other variables attached
  to the array.

The _reshape function works like reshape except that it creates a new
  array instead of changing the shape of an existing array:

new_a = _reshape (a, [10,10]);

11.3.  Simple Array Indexing

An individual element of an array may be referred to by its index. For
  example, a[0] specifies the zeroth element of the one dimensional
  array a, and b[3,2] specifies the element in the third row and second
  column of the two dimensional array b. As in C, array indices are
  numbered from 0. Thus if a is a one-dimensional array of ten integers,
  the last element of the array is given by a[9].  Using a[10] would
  result in an IndexError exception.

A negative index may be used to index from the end of the array, with
  a[-1] referring to the last element of a.  Similarly, a[-2] refers to
  the next to the last element, and so on.

One may use the indexed value like any other variable. For example, to
  set the third element of an integer array to 6, use

a[2] = 6;

Similarly, that element may be used in an expression, such as

y = a[2] + 7;

Unlike other S-Lang variables which inherit a type upon assignment,
  array elements already have a type and any attempt to assign a value
  with an incompatible type will result in a TypeMismatchError excep-
  tion. For example, it is illegal to assign a string value to an inte-
  ger array.

One may use any integer expression to index an array. A simple example
  that computes the sum of the elements of a 10 element 1-d array is

variable i, s;
             s = 0;
             for (i = 0; i < 10; i++) s += a[i];

(In practice, do not carry out sums this way--- use the sum function
  instead, which is much simpler and faster, i.e., s=sum(a)).

11.4.  Indexing Multiple Elements with Ranges

Unlike many other languages, S-Lang permits arrays to be indexed by
  other integer arrays. Suppose that a is a 1-d array of 10 doubles. Now
  consider:

i = [6:8];
             b = a[i];

Here, i is a 1-dimensional range array of three integers with i[0]
  equal to 6, i[1] equal to 7, and i[2] equal to 8. The statement b =
  a[i]; will create a 1-d array of three doubles and assign it to b.
  The zeroth element of b, b[0] will be set to the sixth element of a,
  or a[6], and so on. In fact, these two simple statements are equiva-
  lent to

b = Double_Type [3];
            b[0] = a[6];
            b[1] = a[7];
            b[2] = a[8];

except that using an array of indices is not only much more conve-
  nient, but executes much faster.

More generally, one may use an index array to specify which elements
  are to participate in a calculation. For example, consider

a = Double_Type [1000];
            i = [0:499];
            j = [500:999];
            a[i] = -1.0;
            a[j] = 1.0;

This creates an array of 1000 doubles and sets the first 500 elements
  to -1.0 and the last 500 to 1.0. Actually, one may do away with the i
  and j variables altogether and use

a = Double_Type [1000];
            a[[0:499]] = -1.0;
            a[[500:999]] = 1.0;

It is important to note that the syntax requires the use of the double
  square brackets, and in particular that a[[0:499]] is not the same as
  a[0:499]. In fact, the latter will generate a syntax error.

Index-arrays are not contrained to be one-dimensional arrays. Suppose
  that I represents a multidimensional index array, and that A is the
  array to be indexed. Then what does A[I] represent?  Its value will be
  an array of the same type as A, but with the dimensionality of I. For
  example,

a = 1.0*[1:10];
      i = _reshape ([4,5,6,7,8,9], [2,3]);

defines a to be a 10 element array of doubles, and i to be 2x3 array
  of integers. Then a[i] will be a 2x3 array of doubles with elements:

a[4]   a[5]   a[6]
           a[7]   a[8]   a[9]

Often, it is convenient to use a ``rubber'' range to specify indices.
  For example, a[[500:]] specifies all elements of a whose index is
  greater than or equal to 500. Similarly, a[[:499]] specifies the first
  500 elements of a.  Finally, a[[:]] specifies all the elements of a.
  The latter form may also be written as a[*].

One should be careful when using index arrays with negative elements.
  As pointed out above, a negative index is used to index from the end
  of the array. That is, a[-1] refers to the last element of a. How
  should a[[[0:-1]] be interpreted?

In version 1 of the interpreter, when used in an array indexing
  context, a construct such as [0:-1] was taken to mean from the first
  element through the last. While this might seem like a convenient
  shorthand, in retrospect it was a bad idea.  For this reason, the
  meaning of a ranges over negative valued indices was changed in
  version 2 of the interpreter as follows: First the index-range gets
  expanded to an array of indices according to the rules for range
  arrays described above. Then if any of the resulting indices are
  negative, they are interpreted as indices from the end of the array.
  For example, if a is an array of 10 elements, then a[[-2:3]] is first
  expanded to a[[-2,-1,0,1,2,3]], and then to the 6 element array

[ a[8], a[9], a[0], a[1], a[2], a[3] ]

So, what does a[[0:-1]] represent in the new interpretation?  Since
  [0:-1] expands to an empty array, a[[0:-1]] will also produce an empty
  array.

Indexing of multidimensional arrays using ranges works similarly.
  Suppose a is a 100 by 100 array of doubles. Then the expression a[0,
  *] specifies all elements in the zeroth row. Similarly, a[*, 7]
  specifies all elements in the seventh column. Finally, a[[3:5],[6:12]]
  specifies the 3 by 7 region consisting of rows 3, 4, and 5, and
  columns 6 through 12 of a.

Before leaving this section, a few examples are presented to
  illustrate some of these points.

The ``trace'' of a matrix is an important concept that occurs
  frequently in linear algebra. The trace of a 2d matrix is given by the
  sum of its diagonal elements. Consider the creation of a function that
  computes the trace of such a matrix.

The most straightforward implementation of such a function uses an
  explicit loop:
             define array_trace (a, n)
             {
                variable s = 0, i;
                for (i = 0; i < n; i++) s += a[i, i];
                return s;
             }

Better yet is to recognize that the diagonal elements of an n by n
  array are given by an index array I with elements 0, n+1, 2*n+2, ...,
  n*n-1, or more precisely as

[0:n*n-1:n+1]

Hence the above may be written more simply as

define array_trace (a, n)
            {
               return sum (a[[0:n*n-1:n+1]]);
            }

The following example creates a 10 by 10 integer array, sets its
  diagonal elements to 5, and then computes the trace of the array:

a = Integer_Type [10, 10];
             a[[0:99:11]] = 5;
             the_trace = array_trace(a, 10);

In the previous examples, the size of the array was passed as an
  additional argument. This is unnecessary because the size may be
  obtained from array itself by using the array_shape function. For
  example, the following function may be used to obtain the indices of
  the diagonal element of an array:

define diag_indices (a)
            {
               variable dims = array_shape (a);
               if (length (dims) != 2)
                 throw InvalidParmError, "Expecting a 2d array";
               if (dims[0] != dims[1])
                 throw InvalidParmError, "Expecting a square array";
               variable n = dims[0];
               return [0:n*(n-1):n+1];
            }

Using this function, the trace function may be written more simply as

define array_trace (a)
       {
          return sum (a[diag_indices(a)]);
       }

Another example of this technique is a function that creates an n by n
  unit matrix:

define unit_matrix (n)
             {
                variable a = Int_Type[n, n];
                a[diag_indices(a)] = 1;
                return a;
             }

11.5.  Arrays and Variables

When an array is created and assigned to a variable, the interpreter
  allocates the proper amount of space for the array, initializes it,
  and then assigns to the variable a reference to the array. So, a
  variable that represents an array has a value that is really a
  reference to the array. This has several consequences, most good and
  some bad. It is believed that the advantages of this representation
  outweigh the disadvantages.  First, we shall look at the positive
  aspects.

When a variable is passed to a function, it is always the value of the
  variable that gets passed. Since the value of a variable representing
  an array is a reference, a reference to the array gets passed. One
  major advantage of this is rather obvious: it is a fast and efficient
  way to pass the array. This also has another consequence that is
  illustrated by the function

define init_array (a)
             {
                variable i;
                variable n = length(a);
                _for i (0, n-1, 1)
                  a[i] = some_function (i);
             }

where some_function is a function that generates a scalar value to
  initialize the ith element. This function can be used in the following
  way:

variable X = Double_Type [100000];
             init_array (X);

Since the array is passed to the function by reference, there is no
  need to make a separate copy of the 100000 element array. As pointed
  out above, this saves both execution time and memory. The other
  salient feature to note is that any changes made to the elements of
  the array within the function will be manifested in the array outside
  the function. Of course, in this case this is a desirable side-effect.

To see the downside of this representation, consider:

a = Double_Type [10];
             b = a;
             a[0] = 7;

What will be the value of b[0]? Since the value of a is really a ref-
  erence to the array of ten doubles, and that reference was assigned to
  b, b also refers to the same array. Thus any changes made to the ele-
  ments of a, will also be made implicitly to b.

This begs the question: If the assignment of a variable attached to an
  an array to another variable results in the assignment of the same
  array, then how does one make separate copies of the array? There are
  several answers including using an index array, e.g., b = a[*];
  however, the most natural method is to use the dereference operator:

a = Double_Type [10];
             b = @a;
             a[0] = 7;

In this example, a separate copy of a will be created and assigned to
  b. It is very important to note that S-Lang never implicitly derefer-
  ences an object. So, one must explicitly use the dereference operator.
  This means that the elements of a dereferenced array are not them-
  selves dereferenced. For example, consider dereferencing an array of
  arrays, e.g.,

a = Array_Type [2];
             a[0] = Double_Type [10];
             a[1] = Double_Type [10];
             b = @a;

In this example, b[0] will be a reference to the array that a[0] ref-
  erences because a[0] was not explicitly dereferenced.

11.6.  Using Arrays in Computations

Many functions and operations work transparently with arrays.  For
  example, if a and b are arrays, then the sum a + b is an array whose
  elements are formed from the sum of the corresponding elements of a
  and b. A similar statement holds for all other binary and unary
  operations.

Let's consider a simple example. Suppose, that we wish to solve a set
  of n quadratic equations whose coefficients are given by the 1-d
  arrays a, b, and c. In general, the solution of a quadratic equation
  will be two complex numbers. For simplicity, suppose that all we
  really want is to know what subset of the coefficients, a, b, c,
  correspond to real-valued solutions. In terms of for loops, we can
  write:

index_array = Char_Type [n];
            _for i (0, n-1, 1)
              {
                 d = b[i]^2 - 4 * a[i] * c[i];
                 index_array [i] = (d >= 0.0);
              }

In this example, the array index_array will contain a non-zero value
  if the corresponding set of coefficients has a real-valued solution.
  This code may be written much more compactly and with more clarity as
  follows:

index_array = ((b^2 - 4 * a * c) >= 0.0);

Moreover, it executes about 20 times faster than the version using an
  explicit loop.

S-Lang has a powerful built-in function called where. This function
  takes an array of boolean values and returns an array of indices that
  correspond to where the elements of the input array are non-zero. The
  utility of this simple operation cannot be overstated. For example,
  suppose a is a 1-d array of n doubles, and it is desired to set all
  elements of the array whose value is less than zero to zero. One way
  is to use a for loop:

_for i (0, n-1, 1)
              if (a[i] < 0.0) a[i] = 0.0;

If n is a large number, this statement can take some time to execute.
  The optimal way to achieve the same result is to use the where func-
  tion:

a[where (a < 0.0)] = 0;

Here, the expression (a < 0.0) returns a boolean array whose dimen-
  sions are the same size as a but whose elements are either 1 or 0,
  according to whether or not the corresponding element of a is less
  than zero. This array of zeros and ones is then passed to the where
  function, which returns a 1-d integer array of indices that indicate
  where the elements of a are less than zero. Finally, those elements of
  a are set to zero.

Consider once more the example involving the set of n quadratic
  equations presented above. Suppose that we wish to get rid of the
  coefficients of the previous example that generated non-real
  solutions. Using an explicit for loop requires code such as:

nn = 0;
            _for i (0, n-1, 1)
              if (index_array [i]) nn++;

tmp_a = Double_Type [nn];
            tmp_b = Double_Type [nn];
            tmp_c = Double_Type [nn];

j = 0;
            _for i (0, n-1, 1)
              {
                 if (index_array [i])
                   {
                      tmp_a [j] = a[i];
                      tmp_b [j] = b[i];
                      tmp_c [j] = c[i];
                      j++;
                   }
              }
            a = tmp_a;
            b = tmp_b;
            c = tmp_c;

Not only is this a lot of code, making it hard to digest, but it is
  also clumsy and error-prone. Using the where function, this task is
  trivial and executes in a fraction of the time:

i = where (index_array != 0);
            a = a[i];
            b = b[i];
            c = c[i];

Most of the examples up till now assumed that the dimensions of the
  array were known. Although the intrinsic function length may be used
  to get the total number of elements of an array, it cannot be used to
  get the individual dimensions of a multi-dimensional array. The
  array_shape function may be used to determine the dimensionality of an
  array. It may be used to determine the number of rows of an array as
  follows:

define num_rows (a)
            {
               return array_shape (a)[0];
            }

The number of columns may be obtained in a similar manner:

define num_cols (a)
       {
          variable dims = array_shape (a);
          if (length(dims) > 1) return dims[1];
          return 1;
       }

The array_shape function may also be used to create an array that has
  the same number of dimensions as another array:

define make_int_array (a)
            {
               return @Array_Type (Int_Type, array_shape (a));
            }

Finally, the array_info function may be used to get additional
  information about an array, such as its data type and size.

11.7.  Arrays of Arrays: A Cautionary Note

Sometimes it is desirable to create an array of arrays. For example,

a = Array_Type[3];
            a[0] = [1:10];
            a[1] = [1:100];
            a[2] = [1:1000];

will produce an array of the 3 arrays [1:10], [1:100], and [1:1000].
  Index arrays may be used to access elements of an array of arrays:
  a[[1,2]] will produce an array of arrays that consists of the elements
  a[1] and a[2]. However, it is important to note that setting the ele-
  ments of an array of arrays via an index array does not work as one
  might naively expect. Consider the following:

b = Array_Type[3];
            b[*] = a[[2,1,0]];

where a is the array of arrays given in the previous example.  The
  reader might expect b to have elements b[0]=a[2], b[1]=a[1], and
  b[2]=a[0], and be surprised to learn that b[0]=b[1]=b[2]=a[[2,1,0]].
  The reason for this is that, by definition, b is an array of arrays,
  and even though a[[2,1,0]] is an array of arrays, it is first and
  foremost an array, and it is that array that is assigned to the ele-
  ments of b.

12.  Associative Arrays

An associative array differs from an ordinary array in the sense that
  its size is not fixed and that it is indexed by a string, called the
  key. For example, consider:

A = Assoc_Type [Int_Type];
              A["alpha"] = 1;
              A["beta"] = 2;
              A["gamma"] = 3;

Here, A has been assigned to an associative array of integers
  (Int_Type) and then three keys were been added to the array.

As the example suggests, an associative array may be created using one
  of the following forms:

Assoc_Type [type] Assoc_Type [type, default-value] Assoc_Type []

The last form returns an un-typed associative array capable of storing
  values of any type.

The form involving a default-value is useful for associating a default
  value with non-existent array members. This feature is explained in
  more detail below.

There are several functions that are specially designed to work with
  associative arrays. These include:

o  assoc_get_keys, which returns an ordinary array of strings
     containing the keys of the array.

o  assoc_get_values, which returns an ordinary array of the values of
     the associative array. If the associative array is un-typed, then
     an array of Any_Type objects will be returned.

o  assoc_key_exists, which can be used to determine whether or not a
     key exists in the array.

o  assoc_delete_key, which may be used to remove a key (and its value)
     from the array.

To illustrate the use of an associative array, consider the problem of
  counting the number of repeated occurrences of words in a list.  Let
  the word list be represented as an array of strings given by
  word_list. The number of occurrences of each word may be stored in an
  associative array as follows:

a = Assoc_Type [Int_Type];
            foreach word (word_list)
              {
                 if (0 == assoc_key_exists (a, word))
                   a[word] = 0;
                 a[word]++;  % same as a[word] = a[word] + 1;
              }

Note that assoc_key_exists was necessary to determine whether or not a
  word was already added to the array in order to properly initialize
  it. However, by creating the associative array with a default value of
  0, the above code may be simplified to

variable a, word;
            a = Assoc_Type [Int_Type, 0];
            foreach word (word_list)
              a[word]++;

Associative arrays are extremely useful and have may other
  applications. Whenever there is a one to one mapping between a string
  and some object, one should always consider using an associative array
  to represent the mapping. To illustrate this point, consider the
  following code fragment:

define call_function (name, arg)
             {
                if (name == "foo") return foo (arg);
                if (name == "bar") return bar (arg);
                  .
                  .
                if (name == "baz") return baz (arg);
                throw InvalidParmError;
             }

This represents a mapping between names and functions. Such a mapping
  may be written in terms of an associative array as follows:

private define invalid_fun (arg) { throw InvalidParmError; }
             Fun_Map = Assoc_Type[Ref_Type, &invalid_fun];
             define add_function (name, fun)
             {
                Fun_Map[name] = fun;
             }
             add_function ("foo", &foo);
             add_function ("bar", &bar);
                .
                .
             add_function ("baz", &baz);
             define call_function (name, arg)
             {
                return (@Fun_Map[name])(arg);
             }

The most redeeming feature of the version involving the series of if
  statements is that it is easy to understand. However, the version
  involving the associative array has two significant advantages over
  the former. Namely, the function lookup will be much faster with a
  time that is independent of the item being searched, and it is exten-
  sible in the sense that additional functions may be added at run-time,
  e.g.,

add_function ("bing", &bing);

13.  Structures and User-Defined Types

A structure is a heterogeneous container object, i.e., it is an object
  with elements whose values do not have to be of the same data type.
  The elements or fields of a structure are named, and one accesses a
  particular field of the structure via the field name. This should be
  contrasted with an array whose values are of the same type, and whose
  elements are accessed via array indices.

A user-defined data type is a structure with a fixed set of fields
  defined by the user.

13.1.  Defining a Structure

The struct keyword is used to define a structure. The syntax for this
  operation is:

struct {field-name-1, field-name-2, ... field-name-N};

This creates and returns a structure with N fields whose names are
  specified by field-name-1, field-name-2, ..., field-name-N. When a
  structure is created, the values of its fields are initialized to
  NULL.

For example,

variable t = struct { city_name, population, next };

creates a structure with three fields and assigns it to the variable
  t.

Alternatively, a structure may be created by dereferencing
  Struct_Type. Using this technique, the above structure may be created
  using one of the two forms:

t = @Struct_Type ("city_name", "population", "next");
             t = @Struct_Type (["city_name", "population", "next"]);

This approach is useful when creating structures dynamically where one
  does not know the name of the fields until run-time.

Like arrays, structures are passed around by reference. Thus, in the
  above example, the value of t is a reference to the structure. This
  means that after execution of

u = t;

both t and u refer to the same underlying structure, since only the
  reference was copied by the assignment. To actually create a new copy
  of the structure, use the dereference operator, e.g.,

variable u = @t;

It create new structure whose field names are identical to the old and
  copies the field values to the new structure. If any of the values are
  objects that are passed by reference, then only the references will be
  copied. In other words,

t = struct{a};
             t.a = [1:10];
             u = @t;

will produce a structure u that references the same array as t.

13.2.  Accessing the Fields of a Structure

The dot (.) operator is used to specify the particular field of
  structure. If s is a structure and field_name is a field of the
  structure, then s.field_name specifies that field of s. This
  specification can be used in expressions just like ordinary variables.
  Again, consider

t = struct { city_name, population, next };

described in the last section. Then,

t.city_name = "New York";
            t.population = 13000000;
            if (t.population > 200) t = t.next;

are all valid statements involving the fields of t.

13.3.  Linked Lists

One of the most important uses of structures is the creation of
  dynamic data structures such as linked-lists.  A linked-list is simply
  a chain of structures that are linked together such that one structure
  in the chain is the value of a field of the previous structure in the
  chain. To be concrete, consider the structure discussed earlier:

t = struct { city_name, population, next };

and suppose that it is desired to create a linked-list of such objects
  to store population data.  The purpose of the next field is to provide
  the link to the next structure in the chain. Suppose that there exists
  a function, read_next_city, that reads city names and populations from
  a file. Then the list may be created using:

define create_population_list ()
            {
               variable city_name, population, list_root, list_tail;
               variable next;

list_root = NULL;
               while (read_next_city (&city_name, &population))
                 {
                    next = struct {city_name, population, next };

next.city_name = city_name;
                    next.population = population;
                    next.next = NULL;

if (list_root == NULL)
                      list_root = next;
                    else
                      list_tail.next = next;

list_tail = next;
                 }
               return list_root;
            }

In this function, the variables list_root and list_tail represent the
  beginning and end of the list, respectively. As long as read_next_city
  returns a non-zero value, a new structure is created, initialized, and
  then appended to the list via the next field of the list_tail struc-
  ture. On the first time through the loop, the list is created via the
  assignment to the list_root variable.

This function may be used as follows:

Population_List = create_population_list ();
           if (Population_List == NULL)
             throw RunTimeError, "List is empty";

Other functions may be created that manipulate the list. Here is one
  that finds the city with the largest population:

define get_largest_city (list)
      {
         variable largest;

largest = list;
         while (list != NULL)
           {
              if (list.population > largest.population)
                largest = list;
              list = list.next;
           }
         return largest.city_name;
      }

vmessage ("%s is the largest city in the list",
                 get_largest_city (Population_List));

The get_largest_city is a typical example of how one traverses a lin-
  ear linked-list by starting at the head of the list and successively
  moves to the next element of the list via the next field.

In the previous example, a while loop was used to traverse the linked
  list. It is also possible to use a foreach loop for this:

define get_largest_city (list)
           {
              variable largest, elem;

largest = list;
              foreach elem (list)
                {
                   if (elem.population > largest.population)
                     largest = elem;
                }
              return largest.city_name;
           }

Here a foreach loop has been used to walk the list via its next field.
  If the field name linking the elements was not called next, then it
  would have been necessary to use the using form of the foreach state-
  ment. For example, if the field name implementing the linked list was
  next_item, then

foreach item (list) using ("next_item")
              {
                 .
                 .
              }

would have been used. In other words, unless otherwise indicated via
  the using clause, foreach walks the list using a field named next by
  default.

Now consider a function that sorts the list according to population.
  To illustrate the technique, a bubble-sort will be used, not because
  it is efficient (it is not), but because it is simple, intuitive, and
  provides another example of structure manipulation:

define sort_population_list (list)
           {
              variable changed;
              variable node, next_node, last_node;
              do
                {
                   changed = 0;
                   node = list;
                   next_node = node.next;
                   last_node = NULL;
                   while (next_node != NULL)
                     {
                        if (node.population < next_node.population)
                          {
                             % swap node and next_node
                             node.next = next_node.next;
                             next_node.next = node;
                             if (last_node != NULL)
                               last_node.next = next_node;

if (list == node) list = next_node;
                             node = next_node;
                             next_node = node.next;
                             changed++;
                          }
                        last_node = node;
                        node = next_node;
                        next_node = next_node.next;
                     }
                }
              while (changed);

return list;
           }

Note the test for equality between list and node, i.e.,

if (list == node) list = next_node;

It is important to appreciate the fact that the values of these vari-
  ables are references to structures, and that the comparison only com-
  pares the references and not the actual structures they reference. If
  it were not for this, the algorithm would fail.

13.4.  Defining New Types

A user-defined data type may be defined using the typedef keyword. In
  the current implementation, a user-defined data type is essentially a
  structure with a user-defined set of fields. For example, in the
  previous section a structure was used to represent a city/population
  pair. We can define a data type called Population_Type to represent
  the same information:

typedef struct
             {
                city_name,
                population
             } Population_Type;

This data type can be used like all other data types. For example, an
  array of Population_Type types can be created,

variable a = Population_Type[10];

and `populated' via expressions such as

a[0].city_name = "Boston";
             a[0].population = 2500000;

The new type Population_Type may also be used with the typeof func-
  tion:

if (Population_Type == typeof (a))
               city = a.city_name;

The dereference @ may be used to create an instance of the new type:

a = @Population_Type;
            a.city_name = "Calcutta";
            a.population = 13000000;

Another feature that user-defined types possess is that the action of
  the binary and unary operations may be defined for them.  This idea is
  discussed in more detail below.

13.5.  Operator Overloading

The binary and unary operators may be extended to user-defined types.
  To illustrate how this works, consider a data type that represents a
  vector in 3-space:

typedef struct { x, y, z } Vector_Type;

and a function that instantiates such an object:

define vector_new (x, y, z)
           {
              variable v = @Vector_Type;
              v.x = double(x); v.y = double(y); v.z = double(z);
              return v;
           }

This function may be used to define a function that adds two vectors
  together:

define vector_add (v1, v2)
           {
              return vector_new (v1.x+v2.x, v1.y+v2.y, v1.z+v2.z);
           }

Using these functions, three vectors representing the points (2,3,4),
  (6,2,1), and (-3,1,-6) may be created using

V1 = vector_new (2,3,4);
          V2 = vector_new (6,2,1);
          V3 = vector_new (-3,1,-6);

and then added together via

V4 = vector_add (V1, vector_add (V2, V3));

The problem with the last statement is that it is not a very natural
  way to express the addition of three vectors. It would be far better
  to extend the action of the binary + operator to the Vector_Type
  objects and then write the above sum more simply as

V4 = V1 + V2 + V3;

The __add_binary function defines the result of a binary operation
  between two data types:

__add_binary (op, result-type, funct, typeA,typeB);

Here, op is a string representing any one of the binary operators
  ("+", "-", "*", "/", "==",...), and funct is reference to a function
  that carries out the binary operation between objects of types typeA
  and typeB to produce an object of type result-type.

This function may be used to extend the + operator to Vector_Type
  objects:

__add_binary ("+", Vector_Type, &vector_add, Vector_Type, Vector_Type);

Similarly the subtraction and equality operators may be extended to
  Vector_Type via

define vector_minus (v1, v2)
           {
              return vector_new (v1.x-v2.x, v1.y-v2.y, v1.z-v2.z);
           }
           __add_binary ("-", Vector_Type, &vector_minus, Vector_Type, Vector_Type);

define vector_eqs (v1, v2)
           {
              return (v1.x==v2.x) and (v1.y==v2.y) and (v1.z==v2.z);
           }
           __add_binary ("==", Char_Type, &vector_eqs, Vector_Type, Vector_Type);

permitting a statement such as

if (V2 != V1) V3 = V2 - V1;

The - operator is also an unary operator that is customarily used to
  change the sign of an object. Unary operations may be extended to Vec-
  tor_Type objects using the __add_unary function:

define vector_chs (v)
          {
             return vector_new (-v.x, -v.y, -v.z);
          }
          __add_unary ("-", Vector_Type, &vector_chs, Vector_Type);

A trivial example of the use of the unary minus is V4 = -V2.

It is interesting to consider the extension of the multiplication
  operator * to Vector_Type. A vector may be multiplied by a scalar to
  produce another vector. This can happen in two ways as reflected by
  the following functions:

define vector_scalar_mul (v, a)
     {
        return vector_new (a*v.x, a*v.y, a*v.z);
     }
     define scalar_vector_mul (a, v)
     {
        return vector_new (a*v.x, a*v.y, a*v.z);
     }

Here a represents the scalar, which can be any object that may be mul-
  tiplied by a Double_Type, e.g., Int_Type, Float_Type, etc. Instead of
  using multiple statements involving __add_binary to define the action
  of Int_Type+Vector_Type, Float_Type+Vector_Type, etc, a single state-
  ment using Any_Type to represent a ``wildcard'' type may be used:

__add_binary ("*", Vector_Type, &vector_scalar_mul, Vector_Type, Any_Type);
          __add_binary ("*", Vector_Type, &scalar_vector_mul, Any_Type, Vector_Type);

There are a couple of natural possibilities for Vector_Type*Vec-
  tor_Type: The cross-product defined by

define crossprod (v1, v2)
          {
             return vector_new (v1.y*v2.z-v1.z*v2.y,
                                v1.z*v2.x-v1.x*v2.z,
                                v1.x*v2.y-v1.y*v2.x);
          }

and the dot-product:

define dotprod (v1, v2)
          {
             return v1.x*v2.x + v1.y*v2.y + v1.z*v2.z;
          }

The binary * operator between two vector types may be defined to be
  just one of these functions--- it cannot be extended to both.  If the
  dot-product is chosen then one would use

__add_binary ("*", Double_Type, &dotprod, Vector_Type_Type, Vector_Type);

Just because it is possible to define the action of a binary or unary
  operator on an user-defined type, it is not always wise to do so. A
  useful rule of thumb is to ask whether defining a particular operation
  leads to more readable and maintainable code. For example, simply
  looking at

c = a + b;

in isolation one can easily overlook the fact that a function such as
  vector_add may be getting executed. Moreover, in cases where the
  action is ambiguous such as Vector_Type*Vector_Type it may not be
  clear what

c = a*b;

means unless one knows exactly what choice was made when extending the
  * operator to the types. For this reason it may be wise to leave Vec-
  tor_Type*Vector_Type undefined and use ``old-fashioned'' function
  calls such as

c = dotprod (a, b);
          d = crossprod (a, b);

to avoid the ambiguity altogether.

Finally, the __add_string function may be used to define the string
  representation of an object. Examples involving the string
  representation include:

message ("The value is " + string (V));
           vmessage ("The result of %S+%S is %S", V1, V1, V1+V2);
           str = "The value of V is $V"$;

For the Vector_Type one might want to use the string represention gen-
  erated by

define vector_string (v)
          {
             return sprintf ("(%S,%S,%S)", v.x, v.y, v.z);
          }
          __add_string (Vector_Type, &vector_string);

14.  Lists

Sometimes it is desirable to utilize an object that has many of the
  properties of an array, but can also easily grow or shrink upon
  demand. The List_Type object has such properties.

An empty list may be created either by the list_new function or more
  simply using curly braces, e.g.,

list = {};

More generally a list of objects may be created by simply enclosing
  them in braces. For example,

list = { "hello", 7, 3.14, {&sin, &cos}}

specifies a list of 4 elements, where the last element is also a list.
  The number of items in a list may be obtained using the length func-
  tion. For the above list, length(list) will return 4.

One may examine the contents of the list using an array index
  notation. For the above example, list[0] refers to the zeroth element
  of the list ("hello" in this case). Similarly,

list[1] = [1,2,3];

changes the first element of the list (7) to the array [1,2,3].  Also
  as the case for arrays one may index from the end of the list using
  negative indices, e.g., list[-1] refers to the last element of the
  list.

The functions list_insert and list_append may be used to add items to
  a list. In particular, list_insert(list,obj,nth) will insert the
  object obj into the list at the nth position. Similarly,
  list_append(list,obj,nth) will insert the object obj into the list
  right after nth position. If

list = { "hello", 7, 3.14, {&sin, &cos}}

then

list_insert (list, 0, "hi");
          list_append (list, 0, "there");
          list_insert (list, -1, "before");
          list_append (list, -1, "after");

will result in the list

{"hi", "there", "hello", 7, 3.14, "before", {&sin,&cos}, "after"}

One might be tempted to use

list = {"hi", list};

to insert "hi" at the head of the list. However, this simply creates a
  new list of two items: hi and the original list.

Items may be removed from a list via the list_delete function, which
  deletes the item from the specified position and shrinks the list. In
  the context of the above example,

list_delete (list, 2);

will shrink the list to

{"hi", "there", 7, 3.14, "before", {&sin,&cos}, "after"}

Another way of removing items from the list is to use the list_pop
  function. The main difference between it and list_delete is that
  list_pop returns the deleted item.  For example,

item = list_pop (list, -2);

would reduce the list to

{"hi", "there", 7, 3.14, "before", "after"}

and assign {&sin,&cos} to item. If the position parameter to list_pop
  is left unspecified, then the position will default to the zeroth,
  i.e., list_pop(list) is equaivalent to list_pop(list,0).

To copy a list, use the dereference operator @:

new_list = @list;

Keep in mind that this does not perform a so-called deep copy. If any
  of the elements of the list are objects that are assigned by refer-
  ence, only the references will be copied.

The list_reverse function may be used to reverse the elements of a
  list. Note that this does not create a new list. To create new list
  that is the reverse of another, copy the original using the
  dereference operator (@) and reverse that, i.e.,

new_list = list_reverse (@list);

15.  Error Handling

All non-trivial programs or scripts must be deal with the possibility
  of run-time errors. In fact, one sign of a seasoned programmer is that
  such a person pays particular attention to error handling. This
  chapter presents some techniques for handling errors using S-Lang.
  First the traditional method of using return values to indicate errors
  will be discussed. Then attention will turn to S-Lang's more powerful
  exception handling mechanisms.

15.1.  Traditional Error Handling

The simplist and perhaps most common mechanism for signaling a failure
  or error in a function is for the function to return an error code,
  e.g.,

define write_to_file (file, str)
           {
              variable fp = fopen (file, "w");
              if (fp == NULL)
                return -1;
              if (-1 == fputs (str, fp))
                return -1;
              if (-1 == fclose (fp))
                return -1;
              return 0;
           }

Here, the write_to_file function returns 0 if successful, or -1 upon
  failure. It is up to the calling routine to check the return value of
  write_to_file and act accordingly. For instance:

if (-1 == write_to_file ("/tmp/foo", "bar"))
              {
                 () = fprintf (stderr, "Write failed\n");
                 exit (1);
              }

The main advantage of this technique is in its simplicity. The
  weakness in this approach is that the return value must be checked for
  every function that returns information in this way. A more subtle
  problem is that even minor changes to large programs can become
  unwieldy. To illustrate the latter aspect, consider the following
  function which is supposed to be so simple that it cannot fail:

define simple_function ()
            {
                do_something_simple ();
                more_simple_stuff ();
            }

Since the functions called by simple_function are not supposed to
  fail, simple_function itself cannot fail and there is no return value
  for its callers to check:

define simple ()
            {
                simple_function ();
                another_simple_function ();
            }

Now suppose that the function do_something_simple is changed in some
  way that could cause it to fail from time to time. Such a change could
  be the result of a bug-fix or some feature enhancement.  In the tradi-
  tional error handling approach, the function would need to be modified
  to return an error code. That error code would have to be checked by
  the calling routine simple_function and as a result, it can now fail
  and must return an error code. The obvious effect is that a tiny
  change in one function can be felt up the entire call chain. While
  making the appropriate changes for a small program can be a trivial
  task, for a large program this could be a major undertaking opening
  the possibility of introducing additional errors along the way. In a
  nutshell, this is a code maintenance issue. For this reason, a veteran
  programmer using this approach to error handling will consider such
  possibilities from the outset and allow for error codes the first time
  regardless of whether the functions can fail or not, e.g.,

define simple_function ()
            {
                if (-1 == do_something_simple ())
                  return -1;
                if (-1 == more_simple_stuff ())
                  return -1;
                return 0;
            }
            define simple ()
            {
                if (-1 == simple_function ())
                  return -1;
                if (-1 == another_simple_function ())
                  return -1;
                return 0;
            }

Although latter code containing explicit checks for failure is more
  robust and more easily maintainable than the former, it is also less
  readable. Moreover, since return values are now checked the code will
  execute somewhat slower than the code that lacks such checks.  There
  is also no clean separation of the error handling code from the other
  code. This can make it difficult to maintain if the error handling
  semantics of a function change. The next section discusses another
  approach to error handling that tries to address these issues.

15.2.  Error Handling through Exceptions

This section describes S-Lang's exception model.  The idea is that
  when a function encounters an error, instead of returning an error
  code, it simply gives up and throws an exception. This idea will be
  fleshed out in what follows.

15.2.1.  Introduction to Exceptions

Consider the write_to_file function used in the previous section but
  adapted to throw an exception:

define write_to_file (file, str)
           {
              variable fp = fopen (file, "w");
              if (fp == NULL)
                throw OpenError;
              if (-1 == fputs (str, fp))
                throw WriteError;
              if (-1 == fclose (fp))
                throw WriteError;
           }

Here the throw statement has been used to generate the appropriate
  exception, which in this case is either an OpenError exception or a
  WriteError exception. Since the function now returns nothing (no error
  code), it may be called as

write_to_file ("/tmp/foo", "bar");
            next_statement;

As long as the write_to_file function encounters no errors, control
  passes from write_to_file to next_statement.

Now consider what happens when the function encounters an error. For
  concreteness assume that the fopen function failed causing
  write_to_file to throw the OpenError exception. The write_to_file
  function will stop execution after executing the throw statement and
  return to its caller. Since no provision has been made to handle the
  exception, next_statement will not execute and control will pass to
  the previous caller on the call stack. This process will continue
  until the exception is either handled or until control reaches the
  top-level at which point the interpreter will terminate. This process
  is known as unwinding of the call stack.

An simple exception handler may be created through the use of a try-
  catch statement, such as

try
        {
          write_to_file ("/tmp/foo", "bar");
        }
       catch OpenError:
        {
           message ("*** Warning: failed to open /tmp/foo.");
        }
       next_statement;

The above code works as follows: First the statement (or statements)
  inside the try-block are executed. As long as no exception occurs,
  once they have executed, control will pass on to next_statement, skip-
  ping the catch statement(s).

If an exception occurs while executing the statements in the try-
  block, any remaining statements in the block will be skipped and
  control will pass to the ``catch'' portion of the exception handler.
  This may consist of one or more catch statements and an optional
  finally statement. Each catch statement specifies a list of exceptions
  it will handle as well as the code that is to be excecuted when a
  matching exception is caught. If a matching catch statement is found
  for the exception, the exception will be cleared and the code
  associated with the catch statement will get executed.  Control will
  then pass to next_statement (or first to the code in an optional
  finally block).

Catch-statements are tested against the exception in the order that
  they appear. Once a matching catch statement is found, the search will
  terminate. If no matching catch-statement is found, an optional
  finally block will be processed, and the call-stack will continue to
  unwind until either a matching exception handler is found or the
  interpreter terminates.

In the above example, an exception handler was established for the
  OpenError exception. The error handling code for this exception will
  cause a warning message to be displayed. Execution will resume at
  next_statement.

Now suppose that write_to_file successfully opened the file, but that
  for some reason, e.g., a full disk, the actual write operation failed.
  In such a case, write_to_file will throw a WriteError exception
  passing control to the caller. The file will remain on the disk but
  not fully written. An exception handler can be added for WriteError
  that removes the file:

try
             {
               write_to_file ("/tmp/foo", "bar");
             }
            catch OpenError:
             {
                message ("*** Warning: failed to open /tmp/foo.");
             }
            catch WriteError:
             {
                () = remove ("/tmp/foo");
                message ("*** Warning: failed to write to /tmp/foo");
             }
            next_statement;

Here the exception handler for WriteError uses the remove intrinsic
  function to delete the file and then issues a warning message. Note
  that the remove intrinsic uses the traditional error handling mecha-
  nism--- in the above example its return status has been discarded.

Above it was assumed that failure to write to the file was not
  critical allowing a warning message to suffice upon failure. Now
  suppose that it is important for the file to be written but that it is
  still desirable for the file to be removed upon failure. In this
  scenario, next_statement should not get executed upon failure. This
  can be achieved as follows:

try
             {
               write_to_file ("/tmp/foo", "bar");
             }
            catch WriteError:
             {
                () = remove ("/tmp/foo");
                throw WriteError;
             }
            next_statement;

Here the exception handler for WriteError removes the file and then
  re-throws the exception.

15.2.2.  Obtaining information about the exception

When an exception is generated, an exception object is thrown. The
  object is a structure containing the following fields:

error
        The exception error code (Int_Type).

descr
        A brief description of the error (String_Type).

file
        The filename containing the code that generated the exception
        (String_Type).

line
        The line number where the exception was thrown (Int_Type).

function
        The name of the currently executing function, or NULL if at top-
        level (String_Type).

message
        A text message that may provide more information about the
        exception (String_Type).

object
        A user-defined object.

If it is desired to have information about the exception, then an
  alternative form of the try statement must be used:

try (e)
       {
          % try-block code
       }
       catch SomeException: { code ... }

If an exception occurs while executing the code in the try-block, then
  the variable e will be assigned the value of the exception object. As
  a simple example, suppose that the file foo.sl consists of:

define invert_x (x)
            {
               if (x == 0)
                 throw DivideByZeroError;
               return 1/x;
            }

and that the code is called using

try (e)
            {
               y = invert_x (0);
            }
            catch DivideByZeroError:
            {
               vmessage ("Caught %s, generated by %s:%d\n",
                         e.descr, e.file, e.line);
               vmessage ("message: %s\nobject: %S\n",
                         e.message, e.object);
               y = 0;
            }

When this code is executed, it will generate the message:

Caught Divide by Zero, generated by foo.sl:5
            message: Divide by Zero
            object: NULL

In this case, the value of the message field was assigned a default
  value. The reason that the object field is NULL is that no object was
  specified when the exception was generated.  In order to throw an
  object, a more complex form of throw statement must be used:

throw exception-name [, message [, object ] ]

where the square brackets indicate optional parameters

To illustrate this form, suppose that invert_x is modified to accept
  an array object:

private define invert_x(x)
      {
         variable i = where (x == 0);
         if (length (i))
           throw DivideByZeroError,
                 "Array contains elements that are zero", i;
         return 1/x;
      }

In this case, the message field of the exception object will contain
  the string "Array contains elements that are zero" and the object
  field will be set to the indices of the zero elements.

15.2.3.  The finally block

The full form of the try-catch statement obeys the following syntax:

try [(opt-e)] { try-block-statements } catch Exception-List-1: {
       catch-block-1-statements } .  .  catch Exception-List-N: { catch-
       block-N-statements } [ finally { finally-block-statements } ]

Here an exception-list is simply a list of exceptions such as:

catch OSError, RunTimeError:

The last clause of a try-statement is the finally-block, which is
  optional and is introduced using the finally keyword. If the try-
  statement contains no catch-clauses, then it must specify a finally-
  clause, otherwise a syntax error will result.

If the finally-clause is present, then its corresponding statements
  will be executed regardless of whether an exception occurs. If an
  exception occurs while executing the statements in the try-block, then
  the finally-block will execute after the code in any of the catch-
  blocks. The finally-clause is useful for freeing any resources (file
  handles, etc) allocated by the try-block regardless of whether an
  exception has occurred.

15.2.4.  Creating new exceptions: the Exception Hierarchy

The following table gives the class hierarchy for the built-in
  exceptions.

AnyError
        OSError
           MallocError
           ImportError
        ParseError
           SyntaxError
           DuplicateDefinitionError
           UndefinedNameError
        RunTimeError
           InvalidParmError
           TypeMismatchError
           UserBreakError
           StackError
              StackOverflowError
              StackUnderflowError
           ReadOnlyError
           VariableUnitializedError
           NumArgsError
           IndexError
           UsageError
           ApplicationError
           InternalError
           NotImplementedError
           LimitExceededError
           MathError
              DivideByZeroError
              ArithOverflowError
              ArithUnderflowError
              DomainError
           IOError
              WriteError
              ReadError
              OpenError
           DataError
           UnicodeError
           InvalidUTF8Error
           UnknownError

The above table shows that the root class of all exceptions is
  AnyError. This means that a catch block for AnyError will catch any
  exception. The OSError, ParseError, and RunTimeError exceptions are
  subclasses of the AnyError class. Subclasses of OSError include
  MallocError, and ImportError. Hence a handler for the OSError
  exception will catch MallocError but not ParseError since the latter
  is not a subclass of OSError.

The user may extend this tree with new exceptions using the
  new_exception function. This function takes three arguments:

new_exception (exception-name, baseclass, description);

The exception-name is the name of the exception, baseclass represents
  the node in the exception hierarchy where it is to be placed, and
  description is a string that provides a brief description of the
  exception.

For example, suppose that you are writing some code that processes
  numbers stored in a binary format. In particular, assume that the
  format specifies that data be stored in a specific byte-order, e.g.,
  in big-endian form. Then it might be useful to extend the DataError
  exception with EndianError. This is easily accomplished via

new_exception ("EndianError", DataError, "Invalid byte-ordering");

This will create a new exception object called EndianError subclassed
  on DataError, and code that catches the DataError exception will addi-
  tionally catch the EndianError exception.

16.  Loading Files: evalfile, autoload, and require

17.  Modules

17.1.  Introduction

A module is a shared object that may be dynamically linked into the
  interpreter at run-time to provide the interpreter with additional
  intrinsic functions and variables. Several modules are distributed
  with the stock version of the S-Lang library, including a pcre module
  that allows the interpreter to make use of the Perl Compatible Regular
  Expression library, a png module that allows the interpreter to easily
  read and write PNG files, and a rand module for producing random
  numbers.  There are also a number of modules for the interpreter that
  are not distributed with the library. See
  http://www.jedsoft.org/slang/modules/ for links to some of those.

17.2.  Using Modules

In order to make use of a module, it must first be ``imported'' into
  the interpreter. There are two ways to go about this. One is to use
  the import function to dynamically link-in the specified module, e.g.,

import ("pcre");

will dynamically link to the pcre module and make its symbols avail-
  able to the interpreter using the active namespace.  However, this is
  not the preferred method for loading a module.

Module writers are encouraged to distribute a module with a file of S-
  Lang code that performs the actual import of the module. Rather than a
  user making direct use of the import function, the preferred method of
  loading the modules is to load that file instead. For example the pcre
  module is distributed with a file called pcre.sl that contains little
  more than the import("pcre") statement. To use the pcre module, load
  pcre.sl, e.g.,

require ("pcre");

The main advantage of this approach to loading a module is that the
  functionality provided by the module may be split between intrinsic
  functions in the module proper, and interpreted functions contained in
  the .sl file. In such a case, loading the module via import would only
  provide partial functionality. The png module provides a simple
  example of this concept. The current version of the png module
  consists of a couple intrinsic functions (png_read and png_write)
  contained in the shared object (png-module.so), and a number of other
  interpreted S-Lang functions defined in png.sl. Using the import
  statement to load the module would miss the latter set of functions.

In some cases, the symbols in a module may conflict with symbols that
  are currently defined by the interpreter. In order to avoid the
  conflict, it may be necessary to load the module into its own
  namespace and access its symbols via the namespace prefix. For
  example, the GNU Scientific Library Special Function module, gslsf,
  defines a couple hundred functions, some with common names such as
  zeta. In order to avoid any conflict, it is recommended that the
  symbols from such a module be imported into a separate namespace. This
  may be accomplished by specifying the namespace as a second argument
  to the require function, e.g.,

require ("gslsf", "gsl");
              .
              .
           y = gsl->zeta(x);

This form requires that the module's symbols be accessed via the
  namespace qualifier "gsl->".

18.  File Input/Output

S-Lang provides built-in support for two different I/O facilities.
  The simplest interface is modeled upon the C language stdio interface
  and consists of functions such as fopen, fgets, etc. The other
  interface is modeled on a lower level POSIX interface consisting of
  functions such as open, read, etc. In addition to permitting more
  control, the lower level interface permits one to access network
  objects as well as disk files.

For reading data formatted in text files, e.g., columns of numbers,
  then do not overlook the high-level routines in the slsh library. In
  particular, the readascii function is quite flexible and can read data
  from text files that are formatted in a variety of ways.  For data
  stored in a standard binary format such as HDF or FITS, then the
  corresponding modules should be used.

18.1.  Input/Output via stdio

18.1.1.  Stdio Overview

The stdio interface consists of the following functions:

o  fopen: opens a file for reading or writing.

o  fclose: closes a file opened by fopen.

o  fgets: reads a line from a file.

o  fputs: writes text to a file.

o  fprintf: writes formatted text to a file.

o  fwrite: writes one of more objects to a file.

o  fread: reads a specified number of objects from a file.

o  fread_bytes: reads a specified number of bytes from a file and
     returns them as a string.

o  feof: tests if a file pointer is at the end of the file.

o  ferror: tests whether or not the stream associated with a file has
     an error.

o  clearerr: clears the end-of-file and error indicators for a stream.

o  fflush, forces all buffered data associated with a stream to be
     written out.

o  ftell: queries the file position indicator a the stream.

o  fseek: sets the position of a file position indicator of the
     stream.

o  fgetslines: reads all the lines from a text file and returns them
     as an array of strings.

In addition, the interface supports the popen and pclose functions on
  systems where the corresponding C functions are available.

Before reading or writing to a file, it must first be opened using the
  fopen function. The only exceptions to this rule involve use of the
  pre-opened streams: stdin, stdout, and stderr. fopen accepts two
  arguments: a file name and a string argument that indicates how the
  file is to be opened, e.g., for reading, writing, update, etc. It
  returns a File_Type stream object that is used as an argument to all
  other functions of the stdio interface. Upon failure, it returns NULL.
  See the reference manual for more information about fopen.

18.1.2.  Stdio Examples

In this section, some simple examples of the use of the stdio
  interface is presented. It is important to realize that all the
  functions of the interface return something, and that return value
  must be handled in some way by the caller.

The first example involves writing a function to count the number of
  lines in a text file. To do this, we shall read in the lines, one by
  one, and count them:

define count_lines_in_file (file)
           {
              variable fp, line, count;

fp = fopen (file, "r");    % Open the file for reading
              if (fp == NULL)
                throw OpenError, "$file failed to open"$;

count = 0;
              while (-1 != fgets (&line, fp))
                count++;

() = fclose (fp);
              return count;
           }

Note that &line was passed to the fgets function. When fgets returns,
  line will contain the line of text read in from the file. Also note
  how the return value from fclose was handled (discarded in this case).

Although the preceding example closed the file via fclose, there is no
  need to explicitly close a file because the interpreter will
  automatically close a file when it is no longer referenced. Since the
  only variable to reference the file is fp, it would have automatically
  been closed when the function returned.

Suppose that it is desired to count the number of characters in the
  file instead of the number of lines. To do this, the while loop could
  be modified to count the characters as follows:

while (-1 != fgets (&line, fp))
               count += strlen (line);

The main difficulty with this approach is that it will not work for
  binary files, i.e., files that contain null characters. For such
  files, the file should be opened in binary mode via
             fp = fopen (file, "rb");

and then the data read using the fread function:

while (-1 != fread (&line, Char_Type, 1024, fp))
                  count += length (line);

The fread function requires two additional arguments: the type of
  object to read (Char_Type in the case), and the number of such objects
  to be read. The function returns the number of objects actually read
  in the form of an array of the specified type, or -1 upon failure.

Sometimes it is more convenient to obtain the data from a file in the
  form of a character string instead of an array of characters. The
  fread_bytes function may be used in such situations. Using this
  function, the equivalent of the above loop is

while (-1 != fread_bytes (&line, 1024, fp))
                  count += bstrlen (line);

The foreach construct also works with File_Type objects.  For example,
  the number of characters in a file may be counted via

foreach ch (fp) using ("char")
              count++;

Similarly, one can count the number of lines using:

foreach line (fp) using ("line")
             {
                num_lines++;
                count += strlen (line);
             }

Often one is not interested in trailing whitespace in the lines of a
  file. To have trailing whitespace automatically stripped from the
  lines as they are read in, use the "wsline" form, e.g.,

foreach line (fp) using ("wsline")
             {
                 .
                 .
             }

Finally, it should be mentioned that none of these examples should be
  used to count the number of bytes in a file when that information is
  more readily accessible by another means. For example, it is
  preferable to get this information via the stat_file function:

define count_chars_in_file (file)
            {
               variable st;

st = stat_file (file);
               if (st == NULL)
                 throw IOError, "stat_file failed";
               return st.st_size;
            }

18.2.  POSIX I/O

18.3.  Advanced I/O techniques

The previous examples illustrate how to read and write objects of a
  single data-type from a file, e.g.,

num = fread (&a, Double_Type, 20, fp);

would result in a Double_Type[num] array being assigned to a if suc-
  cessful. However, suppose that the binary data file consists of num-
  bers in a specified byte-order. How can one read such objects with the
  proper byte swapping? The answer is to use the fread_bytes function to
  read the objects as a (binary) character string and then unpack the
  resulting string into the specified data type, or types. This process
  is facilitated using the pack and unpack functions.

The pack function follows the syntax

BString_Type pack (format-string, item-list);

and combines the objects in the item-list according to format-string
  into a binary string and returns the result.  Likewise, the unpack
  function may be used to convert a binary string into separate data
  objects:

(variable-list) = unpack (format-string, binary-string);

The format string consists of one or more data-type specification
  characters, and each may be followed by an optional decimal length
  specifier. Specifically, the data-types are specified according to the
  following table:

c     char
       C     unsigned char
       h     short
       H     unsigned short
       i     int
       I     unsigned int
       l     long
       L     unsigned long
       j     16 bit int
       J     16 unsigned int
       k     32 bit int
       K     32 bit unsigned int
       f     float
       d     double
       F     32 bit float
       D     64 bit float
       s     character string, null padded
       S     character string, space padded
       z     character string, null padded
       x     a null pad character

A decimal length specifier may follow the data-type specifier. With
  the exception of the s and S specifiers, the length specifier indi-
  cates how many objects of that data type are to be packed or unpacked
  from the string. When used with the s or S specifiers, it indicates
  the field width to be used. If the length specifier is not present,
  the length defaults to one.

With the exception of c, C, s, S, z, and x, each of these may be
  prefixed by a character that indicates the byte-order of the object:

>    big-endian order (network order)
            <    little-endian order
            =    native byte-order

The default is to use the native byte order.

Here are a few examples that should make this more clear:

a = pack ("cc", 'A', 'B');         % ==> a = "AB";
            a = pack ("c2", 'A', 'B');         % ==> a = "AB";
            a = pack ("xxcxxc", 'A', 'B');     % ==> a = "\0\0A\0\0B";
            a = pack ("h2", 'A', 'B');         % ==> a = "\0A\0B" or "\0B\0A"
            a = pack (">h2", 'A', 'B');        % ==> a = "\0\xA\0\xB"
            a = pack ("<h2", 'A', 'B');        % ==> a = "\0B\0A"
            a = pack ("s4", "AB", "CD");       % ==> a = "AB\0\0"
            a = pack ("s4s2", "AB", "CD");     % ==> a = "AB\0\0CD"
            a = pack ("S4", "AB", "CD");       % ==> a = "AB  "
            a = pack ("S4S2", "AB", "CD");     % ==> a = "AB  CD"

When unpacking, if the length specifier is greater than one, then an
  array of that length will be returned. In addition, trailing
  whitespace and null characters are stripped when unpacking an object
  given by the S specifier. Here are a few examples:

(x,y) = unpack ("cc", "AB");         % ==> x = 'A', y = 'B'
      x = unpack ("c2", "AB");             % ==> x = ['A', 'B']
      x = unpack ("x<H", "\0\xAB\xCD");    % ==> x = 0xCDABuh
      x = unpack ("xxs4", "a b c\0d e f");  % ==> x = "b c\0"
      x = unpack ("xxS4", "a b c\0d e f");  % ==> x = "b c"

18.3.1.  Example: Reading /var/log/wtmp

Consider the task of reading the Unix system file /var/log/utmp, which
  contains login records about who logged onto the system. This file
  format is documented in section 5 of the online Unix man pages, and
  consists of a sequence of entries formatted according to the C
  structure utmp defined in the utmp.h C header file. The actual details
  of the structure may vary from one version of Unix to the other. For
  the purposes of this example, consider its definition under the Linux
  operating system running on an Intel 32 bit processor:

struct utmp {
              short ut_type;              /* type of login */
              pid_t ut_pid;               /* pid of process */
              char ut_line[12];           /* device name of tty - "/dev/" */
              char ut_id[2];              /* init id or abbrev. ttyname */
              time_t ut_time;             /* login time */
              char ut_user[8];            /* user name */
              char ut_host[16];           /* host name for remote login */
              long ut_addr;               /* IP addr of remote host */
           };

On this system, pid_t is defined to be an int and time_t is a long.
  Hence, a format specifier for the pack and unpack functions is easily
  constructed to be:

"h i S12 S2 l S8 S16 l"

However, this particular definition is naive because it does not allow
  for structure padding performed by the C compiler in order to align
  the data types on suitable word boundaries. Fortunately, the intrinsic
  function pad_pack_format may be used to modify a format by adding the
  correct amount of padding in the right places.  In fact, pad_pack_for-
  mat applied to the above format on an Intel-based Linux system pro-
  duces the result:

"h x2 i S12 S2 x2 l S8 S16 l"

Here we see that 4 bytes of padding were added.

The other missing piece of information is the size of the structure.
  This is useful because we would like to read in one structure at a
  time using the fread function. Knowing the size of the various data
  types makes this easy; however it is even easier to use the
  sizeof_pack intrinsic function, which returns the size (in bytes) of
  the structure described by the pack format.

So, with all the pieces in place, it is rather straightforward to
  write the code:

variable format, size, fp, buf;

typedef struct
           {
              ut_type, ut_pid, ut_line, ut_id,
              ut_time, ut_user, ut_host, ut_addr
           } UTMP_Type;

format = pad_pack_format ("h i S12 S2 l S8 S16 l");
           size = sizeof_pack (format);

define print_utmp (u)
           {

() = fprintf (stdout, "%-16s %-12s %-16s %s\n",
                           u.ut_user, u.ut_line, u.ut_host, ctime (u.ut_time));
           }

fp = fopen ("/var/log/utmp", "rb");
          if (fp == NULL)
            throw OpenError, "Unable to open utmp file";

() = fprintf (stdout, "%-16s %-12s %-16s %s\n",
                                 "USER", "TTY", "FROM", "LOGIN@");

variable U = @UTMP_Type;

while (-1 != fread (&buf, Char_Type, size, fp))
            {
              set_struct_fields (U, unpack (format, buf));
              print_utmp (U);
            }

() = fclose (fp);

A few comments about this example are in order. First of all, note
  that a new data type called UTMP_Type was created, although this was
  not really necessary. The file was opened in binary mode, but this too
  was optional because under a Unix system where there is no distinction
  between binary and text modes. The print_utmp function does not print
  all of the structure fields. Finally, last but not least, the return
  values from fprintf and fclose were handled by discarding them.

19.  slsh

slsh, also known as the S-Lang shell, is an application that is
  included in the stock S-Lang distribution. As some binary
  distributions include slsh as a separate package it must be installed
  separately, e.g.,

apt-get install slsh

on Debian Linux systems. The use of slsh in its interactive mode was
  discussed briefly in the ``Introduction''. This chapter concentrates
  on the use of slsh for writing executable S-Lang scripts.

19.1.  Running slsh

When run the --help command-line argument, slsh displays a brief usage
  message:

# slsh --help
          Usage: slsh [OPTIONS] [-|file [args...]]
           --help           Print this help
           --version        Show slsh version information
           -e string        Execute 'string' as S-Lang code
           -g               Compile with debugging code, tracebacks, etc
           -n               Don't load personal init file
           --init file      Use this file instead of ~/.slshrc
           --no-readline    Do not use readline
           -i               Force interactive input
           -t               Test mode.  If slsh_main exists, do not call it
           -v               Show verbose loading messages
           -Dname           Define "name" as a preprocessor symbol

Note: - and -i are mutually exclusive

Default search path: /usr/local/share/slsh

When started with no arguments, slsh will start in interactive mode
  and take input from the terminal. As the usage message indicates slsh
  loads a personal initialization file called .slshrc (on non-Unix
  systems, this file is called slsh.rc). The contents of this file must
  be valid S-Lang code, but are otherwise arbitrary.  One use of this
  file is to define commonly used functions and to setup personal search
  paths.

slsh will run in non-interactive mode when started with a file (also
  known as a ``script'') as its first (non-option) command-line
  argument. The rest of the arguments on the command line serve as
  arguments for the script. The next section deals with the use of the
  cmdopt routines for parsing those arguments.

slsh will read the script and feed it to the S-Lang interpreter for
  execution. If the script defines a public function called slsh_main,
  then slsh will call it after the script has been loaded. In this
  sense, slsh_main is analogous to main in C or C++.

A typical slsh script is be structured as

#!/usr/bin/env slsh
             .
             .
          define slsh_main ()
          {
             .
             .
          }

The first line of the script Unix-specific and should be familiar to
  Unix users. Typically, the code before slsh_main will load any
  required modules or packages, and define other functions to be used by
  the script.

Although the use of slsh_main is not required, its use is strongly
  urged for several reasons. In addition to lending uniformity to S-Lang
  scripts, slsh_main is well supported by the S-Lang debugger (sldb) and
  the S-Lang profiler (slprof), which look for slsh_main as a starting
  point for script execution.  Also as scripts necessarily do something
  (otherwise they have no use), slsh's -t command-line option may be
  used to turn off the automatic execution of slsh_main. This allows the
  syntax of the entire script to be checked for errors instead of
  running it.

19.2.  Command line processing

The script's command-line arguments are availble to it via the __argc
  and __argv intrinsic variables. Any optional arguments represented by
  these variables may be parsed using slsh's cmdopt routines.

As a useful illustration, consider the script that the author uses to
  rip tracks from CDs to OGG encoded files. The name of the script is
  cd2ogg.sl. Running the script without arguments causes it to issue a
  usage message:

Usage: cd2ogg.sl [options] device
          Options:
           --help                 This help
           --work DIR             Use DIR as working dir [/tmp/29848]
           --root DIR             Use DIR/GENRE as root for final output [/data/CDs]
           --genre GENRE          Use GENRE for output dir
           --no-rip               Skip rip stage
           --no-normalize         Skip normalizing stage
           --no-encode            Don't encode to ogg
           --albuminfo PERFORMER/TITLE
                                  Use PERFORMER/TITLE if audio.cddb is absent

As the message shows, some of the options require an argument while
  others do not. The cd2ogg.sl script looks like:

#!/usr/bin/env slsh
     require ("cmdopt");
        .
        .
     private define exit_usage ()
     {
        () = fprintf (stderr, "Usage: %s [options] device\n",
                      path_basename (__argv[0]));
        () = fprintf (stderr, "Options:\n");
           .
           .
        exit (1);
     }

private define parse_album_info (albuminfo)
     {
        ...
     }

define slsh_main ()
     {
        variable genre = NULL;
        variable no_rip = 0;
        variable no_normalize = 0;
        variable no_encode = 0;

variable opts = cmdopt_new ();
        opts.add ("help", &exit_usage);
        opts.add ("device", &CD_Device; type="str");
        opts.add ("work", &Work_Dir; type="str");
        opts.add ("root", &Root_Dir; type="str");
        opts.add ("genre", &genre; type="str");
        opts.add ("albuminfo", &parse_album_info; type="str");
        opts.add ("no-normalize", &no_normalize);
        opts.add ("no-encode", &no_encode);
        variable i = opts.process (__argv, 1);
        if (i + 1 != __argc)
          exit_usage ();
        CD_Device = __argv[i];
           .
           .
     }

There are several points that one should take from the above example.
  First, to use the cmdopt interface it is necessary to load it.  This
  is accomplished using the require statement. Second, the above example
  uses cmdopt's object-oriented style interface through the use of the
  add and process methods of the cmdopt object created by the call to
  cmdopt_new. Third, two of the command line options make use of
  callback functions: the exit_usage function will get called when
  --help appears on the command line, and the parse_album_info function
  will get called to handle the --albuminfo option. Options such as
  --no-encode do not take a value and the presence of such an option on
  the command line causes the variable associated with the option to be
  set to 1. Other options such as --genre will cause the variable
  associated with them to be set of the value specified on the command-
  line. Finally, the process method returns the index of __argv that
  corresponds to ``non-option'' argument. In this case, for proper usage
  of the script, that argument would correspond to device representing
  the CD drive.

For more information about the cmdopt interface, see the documentation
  for cmdopt_add:
           slsh> help cmdopt_add

20.  Debugging

There are several ways to debug a S-Lang script. When the interpreter
  encounters an uncaught exception, it can generate a traceback report
  showing where the error occurred and the values of local variables in
  the function call stack frames at the time of the error. Often just
  knowing where the error occurs is all that is required to correct the
  problem. More subtle bugs may require a deeper analysis to diagnose
  the problem. While one can insert the appropriate print statements in
  the code to get some idea about what is going on, it may be simpler to
  use the interactive debugger.

20.1.  Tracebacks

When the value of the _traceback variable is non-zero, the interpreter
  will generate a traceback report when it encounters an error. This
  variable may be set by putting the line

_traceback = 1;

at the top of the suspect file. If the script is running in slsh, then
  invoking slsh using the -g option will enable tracebacks:

slsh -g myscript.sl

If _traceback is set to a positive value, the values of local
  variables will be printed in the traceback report. If set to a
  negative integer, the values of the local variables will be absent.

Here is an example of a traceback report:

Traceback: error
           ***string***:1:verror:Run-Time Error
           /grandpa/d1/src/jed/lib/search.sl:78:search_generic_search:Run-Time Error
           Local Variables:
                 String_Type prompt = "Search forward:"
                 Integer_Type dir = 1
                 Ref_Type line_ok_fun = &_function_return_1
                 String_Type str = "ascascascasc"
                 Char_Type not_found = 1
                 Integer_Type cs = 0
           /grandpa/d1/src/jed/lib/search.sl:85:search_forward:Run-Time Error

There are several ways to read this report; perhaps the simplest is to
  read it from the bottom. This report says that on line 85 in search.sl
  the search_forward function called the search_generic_search function.
  On line 78 it called the verror function, which in turn called error.
  The search_generic_search function contains 6 local variables whose
  values at the time of the error are given by the traceback output. The
  above example shows that a local variable called "not_found" had a
  Char_Type value of 1 at the time of the error.

20.2.  Using the sldb debugger

The interpreter contains a number of hooks that support a debugger.
  sldb consists of a set of functions that use these hooks to implement
  a simple debugger. Although written for slsh, the debugger may be used
  by other S-Lang interpreters that permit the loading of slsh library
  files. The examples presented here are given in the context of slsh.

In order to use the debugger, the code to to be debugged must be
  loaded with debugging info enabled. This can be in done several ways,
  depending upon the application embedding the interpreter.

For applications that support a command line, the simplest way to
  access the debugger is to use the sldb function with the name of the
  file to be debugged:

require ("sldb");
          sldb ("foo.sl");

When called without an argument, sldb will prompt for input.  This can
  be useful for setting or removing breakpoints.

Another mechanism to access the debugger is to put

require ("sldb");
          sldb_enable ();

at the top of the suspect file. Any files loaded by the file will also
  be compiled with debugging support, making it unnecessary to add this
  to all files.

If the file contains any top-level executable statements, the debugger
  will display the line to be executed and prompt for input.  If the
  file does not contain any executable statements, the debugger will not
  be activated until one of the functions in the file is executed.

As a concrete example, consider the following contrived slsh script
  called buggy.sl:

define divide (a, b, i)
      {
         return a[i] / b;
      }
      define slsh_main ()
      {
         variable x = [1:5];
         variable y = x*x;
         variable i;
         _for i (0, length(x), 1)
           {
              variable z = divide (x, y, i);
              () = fprintf (stdout, "%g/%g = %g", x[i], y[i], z);
           }
      }

Running this via

slsh buggy.sl

yields

Expecting Double_Type, found Array_Type
           ./buggy.sl:13:slsh_main:Type Mismatch

More information may be obtained by using slsh's -g option to cause a
  traceback report to be printed:

slsh -g buggy.sl
           Expecting Double_Type, found Array_Type
           Traceback: fprintf
           ./buggy.sl:13:slsh_main:Type Mismatch
           Local variables for slsh_main:
                Array_Type x = Integer_Type[5]
                Array_Type y = Integer_Type[5]
                Integer_Type i = 0
                Array_Type z = Integer_Type[5]
           Error encountered while executing slsh_main

From this one can see that the problem is that z is an array and not a
  scalar as expected.

To run the program under debugger control, startup slsh and load the
  file using the sldb function:

slsh> sldb ("./buggy.sl");

Note the use of "./" in the filename. This may be necessary if the
  file is not in the slsh search path.

The above command causes execution to stop with the following
  displayed:

slsh_main at ./buggy.sl:9
           9    variable x = [1:5];
           (sldb)

This shows that the debugger has stopped the script at line 9 of
  buggy.sl and is waiting for input. The print function may be used to
  print the value of an expression or variable. Using it to display the
  value of x yields

(sldb) print x
           Caught exception:Variable Uninitialized Error
           (sldb)

This is because x has not yet been assigned a value and will not be
  until line 9 has been executed. The next command may be used to exe-
  cute the current line and stop at the next one:

(sldb) next
           10    variable y = x*x;
           (sldb)

The step command functions almost the same as next, except when a
  function call is involved. In such a case, the next command will step
  over the function call but step will cause the debugger to enter the
  function and stop there.

Now the value of x may be displayed using the print command:

(sldb) print x
           Integer_Type[5]
           (sldb) print x[0]
           1
           (sldb) print x[-1]
           5
           (sldb)

The list command may be used to get a list of the source code around
  the current line:

(sldb) list
      5     return a[i] / b;
      6  }
      7  define slsh_main ()
      8  {
      9     variable x = [1:5];
      10    variable y = x*x;
      11    variable i;
      12    _for i (0, length(x), 1)
      13      {
      14      variable z = divide (x, y, i);
      15      () = fprintf (stdout, "%g/%g = %g", x[i], y[i], z);

The break function may be used to set a breakpoint. For example,

(sldb) break 15
           breakpoint #1 set at ./buggy.sl:15

will set a break point at the line 15 of the current file.

The cont command may be used to continue execution until the next
  break point:

(sldb) cont
           Breakpoint 1, slsh_main
               at ./buggy.sl:15
           15      () = fprintf (stdout, "%g/%g = %g", x[i], y[i], z);
           (sldb)

Using the next command produces:

Received Type Mismatch error.  Entering the debugger
           15      () = fprintf (stdout, "%g/%g = %g", x[i], y[i], z);

This shows that during the execution of line 15, a TypeMismatchError
  was generated. Let's see what caused it:

(sldb) print x[i]
           1
           (sldb) print y[i]
           1
           (sldb) print z
           Integer_Type[5]

This shows that the problem was caused by z being an array and not a
  scalar--- something that was already known from the traceback report.
  Now let's see why it is not a scalar. Start the program again and set
  a breakpoint in the divide function:

slsh_main at ./buggy.sl:9
           9    variable x = [1:5];
           (sldb) break divide
           breakpoint #1 set at divide
           (sldb) cont
           Breakpoint 1, divide
           at ./buggy.sl:5
           5    return a[i] / b;
           (sldb)

The values of a[i]/b and b may be printed:

(sldb) print a[i]/b
           Integer_Type[5]
           (sldb) print b
           Integer_Type[5]

From this it is easy to see that z is an array because b is an array.
  The fix for this is to change line 5 to

z = a[i]/b[i];

The debugger supports several other commands. For example, the up and
  down commands may be used to move up and down the stack-frames, and
  where command may be used to display the stack-frames. These commands
  are useful for examining the variables in the other frames:

(sldb) where
           #0 ./buggy.sl:5:divide
           #1 ./buggy.sl:14:slsh_main
           (sldb) up
           #1 ./buggy.sl:14:slsh_main
           14      variable z = divide (x, y, i);
           (sldb) print x
           Integer_Type[5]
           (sldb) down
           #0 ./buggy.sl:5:divide
           5    return a[i] / b;
           (sldb) print z
           Integer_Type[5]

On some operating systems, the debugger's watchfpu command may be used
  to help isolate floating point exceptions. Consider the following
  example:

define solve_quadratic (a, b, c)
       {
          variable d = b^2 - 4.0*a*c;
          variable x = -b + sqrt (d);
          return x / (2.0*a);
       }
       define print_root (a, b, c)
       {
          vmessage ("%f %f %f %f\n", a, b, c, solve_quadratic (a,b,c));
       }
       print_root (1,2,3);

Running it via slsh produces:

1.000000 2.000000 3.000000 nan

Now run it in the debugger:

<top-level> at ./example.sl:12
            11 print_root (1,2,3);
            (sldb) watchfpu FE_INVALID
            (sldb) cont
            *** FPU exception bits set: FE_INVALID
            Entering the debugger.
            solve_quadratic at ./t.sl:4
            4    variable x = -b + sqrt (d);

This shows the the NaN was produced on line 4.

The watchfpu command may be used to watch for the occurrence of any
  combination of the following exceptions

FE_DIVBYZERO
            FE_INEXACT
            FE_INVALID
            FE_OVERFLOW
            FE_UNDERFLOW

by the bitwise-or operation of the desired combination. For instance,
  to track both FE_INVALID and FE_OVERFLOW, use:

(sldb) watchfpu FE_INVALID | FE_OVERFLOW

21.  Profiling

21.1.  Introduction

This chapter deals with the subject of writing efficient S-Lang code,
  and using the S-Lang profiler to isolate places in the code that could
  benefit from optimization.

The most important consideration in writing efficient code is the
  choice of algorithm. A poorly optimized good algorithm will almost
  always execute faster than a highly optimized poor algorithm. In
  choosing an algorithm, it is also important to choose the right data
  structures for its implementation. As a simple example, consider the
  task of counting words. Any algorithm would involve a some sort of
  table with word/number pairs. Such a table could be implemented using
  a variety of data structures, e.g., as a pair of arrays or lists
  representing the words and corresponding numbers, as an array of
  structures, etc. But in this case, the associative array is ideally
  suited to the task:

a = Assoc_Type[Int_Type, 0];
          while (get_word (&word))
            a[word]++;

Note the conciseness of the above code. It is important to appreciate
  the fact that S-Lang is a byte-compiled interpreter that executes
  statements much slower than that of a language that compiles to
  machine code. The overhead of the processing of byte-codes by the
  interpreter may be used to roughly justify the rule of thumb that the
  smaller the code is, the faster it will run.

When possible, always take advantage of S-Lang's powerful array
  facilities. For example, consider the act of clipping an array by
  setting all values greater than 10 to 10. Rather than coding this as

n = length(a);
           for (i = 0; i < n; i++)
             if (a[i] > 10) a[i] = 10;

it should be written as

a[where(a>10)] = 10;

Finally, do not overlook the specialized modules that are available
  for S-Lang.

21.2.  Using the profiler

slprof is an executable slsh script that implements a standalone
  profiler for slsh scripts. The script is essentially a front-end for a
  set of interpreter hooks defined in a file called profile.sl, which
  may be used by any application embedding S-Lang. The use of the
  profiler will first be demonstrated in the context of slprof, and
  after that follows a discussion of how to use profile.sl for other S-
  Lang applications.

(To be completed...)

22.  Regular Expressions

The S-Lang library includes a regular expression (RE) package that may
  be used by an application embedding the library. The RE syntax should
  be familiar to anyone acquainted with regular expressions. In this
  section the syntax of the S-Lang regular expressions is discussed.

NOTE: At the moment, the S-Lang regular expressions do not support
  UTF-8 encoded strings. The S-Lang library will most likely migrate to
  the use of the PCRE regular expression library, deprecating the use of
  the S-Lang REs in the process. For these reasons, the user is
  encouraged to make use of the pcre module if possible.

22.1.  S-Lang RE Syntax

A regular expression specifies a pattern to be matched against a
  string, and has the property that the contcatenation of two REs is
  also a RE.

The S-Lang library supports the following standard regular
  expressions:

.                 match any character except newline
          *                 matches zero or more occurrences of previous RE
          +                 matches one or more occurrences of previous RE
          ?                 matches zero or one occurrence of previous RE
          ^                 matches beginning of a line
          $                 matches end of line
          [ ... ]           matches any single character between brackets.
                            For example, [-02468] matches `-' or any even digit.
                            and [-0-9a-z] matches `-' and any digit between 0 and 9
                            as well as letters a through z.
          \<                Match the beginning of a word.
          \>                Match the end of a word.
          $ ... $
          \1, \2, ..., \9   Matches the match specified by nth $ ... $
                            expression.

In addition the following extensions are also supported:

\c                turn on case-sensitivity (default)
          \C                turn off case-sensitivity
          \d                match any digit
          \e                match ESC char

Here are some simple examples:

"^int " matches the "int " at the beginning of a line.

"\<money\>" matches "money" but only if it appears as a separate word.

"^$" matches an empty line.

A more complex pattern is

"$\<[a-zA-Z]+\>$[ ]+\1\>"

which matches any word repeated consecutively. Note how the grouping
  operators $ and $ are used to define the text matched by the
  enclosed regular expression, and then subsequently referred to \1.

Finally, remember that when used in string literals either in the S-
  Lang language or in the C language, care must be taken to "double-up"
  the '\' character since both languages treat it as an escape
  character.

22.2.  Differences between S-Lang and egrep REs

There are several differences between S-Lang regular expressions and,
  e.g., egrep regular expressions.

The most notable difference is that the S-Lang regular expressions do
  not support the OR operator | in expressions. This means that "a|b" or
  "a\|b" do not have the meaning that they have in regular expression
  packages that support egrep-style expressions.

The other main difference is that while S-Lang regular expressions
  support the grouping operators $ and $, they are only used as a
  means of specifying the text that is matched. That is, the expression

"@$[a-z]*$@.*@\1@"

matches "xxx@abc@silly@abc@yyy", where the pattern \1 matches the text
  enclosed by the $ and $ expressions. However, in the current imple-
  mentation, the grouping operators are not used to group regular
  expressions to form a single regular expression. Thus expression such
  as "$hello$*" is not a pattern to match zero or more occurrences of
  "hello" as it is in e.g., egrep.

One question that comes up from time to time is why doesn't S-Lang
  simply employ some posix-compatible regular expression library. The
  simple answer is that, at the time of this writing, none exists that
  is available across all the platforms that the S-Lang library supports
  (Unix, VMS, OS/2, win32, win16, BEOS, MSDOS, and QNX) and can be
  distributed under both the GNU licenses. It is particularly important
  that the library and the interpreter support a common set of regular
  expressions in a platform independent manner.

A.  S-Lang 2 Interpreter NEWS

This chapter describes features that were added to various 2.0
  releases. For a much more complete and detailed list of changes, see
  the changes.txt file that is distributed with the library.

A.1.  What's new for S-Lang 2.2

o  The ternary expression was added:

expression = condition ? val1 : val2

If condition is non-zero, then expression = val1, otherwise expression
  = val2.

o  The break and condition statements support an optional integer that
     indicates how many loop levels the statement affects, e.g., the
     break statement in

while (1)
            {
              loop (10)
                {
                  break 2;
                }
            }

will cause both loops to be terminated.

o  Multiline strings have been added:

"This is a \
           multiline \
           string"

`This is
           another multiline
           string that
           does not require
           a \ for continuation`

o  List_Type objects may be indexed using an array of indices instead
     of just a single scalar index.

The following intrinsic function were added in version 2.2:

sumsq
        Equivalent to sum(x*x).

expm1
        More accurate version of exp(x)-1 for x near 0.

log1p
        More accurate version of log(1+x) for x near 0.

list_to_array
        Creates an array from a list.

string_matches
        A convenient alternative to the string_match and
        string_match_nth functions.

_close
        Close an integer descriptor.

_fileno
        Returns the descriptor as an integer.

dup2_fd
        Duplicates a file descriptor via the dup2 POSIX function.

getsid, killpg, getpriority, setpriority
        These functions correspond to the corresponding POSIX functions.

ldexp, frexp
        If x == a*2^b, where 0.5<=a<1.0 then (a,b)=frexp(x), and
        x=ldexp(a,b).

The following functions have been enhanced:

hypot
        If given a single array argument X, it returns the equivalent of
        sqrt(sum(X*X).

polynom
        The calling interface to this function was changed and support
        added for arrays.

The following modules were added to version 2.2:

zlib
        A module that wraps the popular z compression library.

fork
        A module that wraps the fork, exec*, and waitpid functions.

sysconf
        A module that implements interfaces to the POSIX sysconf,
        pathconf, and confstr functions.

The following library files and functions were add to slsh:

process.sl
        The code in this file utilizes the fork module to implement the
        new_process function, which allows the caller to easily create
        and communicate with subprocesses and pipelines.

A.2.  What's new for S-Lang 2.1

o  Short circuiting boolean operators || and && have been added to the
     languange. The use of orelse and andelse constructs are nolonger
     necessary nor encouraged.
  o  Qualifiers have been added to the language as a convenient and
     powerful mechanism to pass optional information to functions.

o  Structure definitions allow embeded assignemnts, e.g,

s = struct {foo = 3, bar = "hello" };

o  Comparison expressions such as a<b<c are now interpretered as
     (a<b)and(b<c).

o  The ifnot keyword was added as an alternative to !if. The use of
     !if has been deprecated.

o  Looping constructs now support a "then" clause that will get
     executed if the loop runs to completion, e.g.,

loop (20)
              {
                 if (this ())
                   break;  % The then clause will NOT get executed
              }
            then do_that ();

Note: then is now a reserved word.

o  A floating point array of exactly N elements may be created using
     the form [a:b:#N], where the elements are uniformly spaced and run
     from a to b, inclusive.

o  References to array elements and structure fields are now
     supported, e.g., &A[3], &s.foo.

o  An exception may be rethrown by calling "throw" without any
     arguments:

try { something (); }
           catch AnyError: { do_this (); throw; }

The following intrinsic function were added in version 2.1:

wherenot(x)
        Equivalent to where (not(x))

_$(str)
        Evaluates strings with embedded "dollar" variables, e.g.,
        _$("$TERM").

__push_list/__pop_list
        Push list items onto the stack

prod(x)
        Computes the product of an array a[0]*a[1]*...

minabs(x), maxabs(x)
        Equivalent to min(abs(x)) and max(abs(x)), resp.

getpgrp, setgid, getpgid
        Get and set the process group ids (Unix).

setsid
        Create a new session (Unix).

The following modules were added to version 2.1:

iconv
        Performs character-set conversion using the iconv library.

onig
        A regular expression module using oniguruma RE library.

The following library files and functions were add to slsh:

readascii
        A flexible and power ascii (as opposed to binary) data file
        reader.

cmdopt
        A set of functions that vastly simplify the parsing of command
        line options.

Also a history and completion mechanism was added to the S-Lang
  readline interface, and as a result, slsh now supports history and
  command/file completion.

A.3.  What's new for S-Lang 2.0

Here is a brief list of some of the new features and improvements in
  S-Lang 2.0.

o  slsh, the generic S-Lang interpreter, now supports and interactive
     command-line mode with readline support.

o  Native support for Unicode via UTF-8 throughout the library.

o  A List_Type object has been added to the language, e.g.,

x = {1, 2.7, "foo", [1:10]};

will create a (heterogeneous) list of 4 elements.

o  A much improved exception handling model.

o  Variable expansion within string literals:

file = "$HOME/src/slang-$VERSION/"$;

o  Operator overloading for user-defined types.  For example it is
     possible to define a meaning to X+Y where X and Y are defined as
           typedef struct { x, y, z } Vector;
           define vector (x,y,z) { variable v = @Vector; v.x=x; v.y=y; v.z=z;}
           X = vector (1,2,3);
           Y = vector (4,5,6);

o  Syntactic sugar for objected-oriented style method calls.  S-Lang 1
     code such as

(@s.method)(s, args);

may be written much more simply as

s.method(args);

This should make "object-oriented" code somewhat more readable.  See
  also the next section if your code uses constructs such as

@s.method(args);

because it is not supported by S-Lang 2.

o  More intrinsic functions including math functions such as hypot,
     atan2, floor, ceil, round, isnan, isinf, and many more.

o  Support for long long integers.

X = 18446744073709551615ULL;

o  Large file support

o  Performance improvements. The S-Lang 2 interpreter is about 20
     percent faster for many operations than the previous version.

o  Better debugging support including an interactive debugger. See the
     section on ``Using the sldb debugger'' for more information.

See the relevent chapters in in the manual for more information.

A.4.  Upgrading to S-Lang 2

For the most part S-Lang 2 is backwards-compatible with S-Lang 1.
  However there are a few important differences that need to be
  understood before upgrading to version 2.

++ and -- operators in function calls
        Previously the ++ and {--} operators were permitted in a
        function argument list, e.g.,

some_function (x++, x);

Such uses are flagged as syntax errors and need to be changed to

x++; some_function (x);

Array indexing of strings
        Array indexing of strings uses byte-semantics and not character-
        semantics. This distinction is important only if UTF-8 mode is
        in effect. If you use array indexing with functions that use
        character semantics, then your code may not work properly in
        UTF-8 mode. For example, one might have used

i = is_substr (a, b);
               if (i) c = a[[0:i-2]];

to extract that portion of a that preceeds the occurrence of b in
     a. This may nolonger work in UTF-8 mode where bytes and characters
     are not generally the same. The correct way to write the above is
     to use the substr function since it uses character semantics:

i = is_substr (a, b);
               if (i) c = substr (a, 1, i-1);

Array indexing with negative integer ranges
        Previously the interpretation of a range array was context
        sensitive. In an indexing situation [0:-1] was used to index
        from the first through the last element of an array, but outside
        this context, [0:-1] was an empty array. For S-Lang 2, the
        meaning of such arrays is always the same regardless of the
        context. Since by itself [0:-1] represents an empty array,
        indexing with such an array will also produce an empty array.
        The behavior of scalar indices has not changed: A[-1] still
        refers to the last element of the array.

Range arrays with an implied endpoint make sense only in
        indexing situations. Hence the value of the endpoint can be
        inferred from the context. Such arrays include [*], [:-1], etc.

Code that use index-ranges with negative valued indices such as

B = A[[0:-2]];    % Get all but the last element of A

will have to be changed to use an array with an implied endpoint:

B = A[[:-2]];     % Get all but the last element of A

Similarly, code such as

B = A[[-3:-1]];   % Get the last 3 elements of A

must be changed to

B = A[[-3:]];

Dereferencing function members of a structure
        Support for the non-parenthesized form of function member
        dereferencing has been dropped. Code such as

@s.foo(args);

will need to be changed to use the parenthesized form:

(@s.foo)(args);

The latter form will work in both S-Lang 1 and S-Lang 2.

If your code passes the structure as the first argument of the
     method call, e.g.,

(@s.foo)(s, moreargs);

then it may be changed to

s.foo (moreargs);

However, this objected-oriented form of method calling is not sup-
     ported by S-Lang 1.

ERROR_BLOCKS
        Exception handling via ERROR_BLOCKS is still supported but
        deprecated. If your code uses ERROR_BLOCKS it should be changed
        to use the new exception handling model. For example, code that
        looks like:

ERROR_BLOCK { cleanup_after_error (); }
                 do_something ();
                    .
                    .

should be changed to:

variable e;
                 try (e)
                   {
                      do_something ();
                        .
                        .
                   }
                 catch RunTimeError:
                   {
                      cleanup_after_error ();
                      throw e.error, e.message;
                   }

Code that makes use of EXECUTE_ERROR_BLOCK

ERROR_BLOCK { cleanup_after_error (); }
                 do_something ();
                    .
                    .
                 EXECUTE_ERROR_BLOCK;

should be changed to make use of a finally clause:

variable e;
                 try (e)
                   {
                      do_something ();
                        .
                        .
                   }
                 finally
                   {
                      cleanup_after_error ();
                   }

It is not possible to emulate the complete semantics of the
     _clear_error function. However, those semantics are flawed and
     fixing the problems associated with the use of _clear_error was one
     of the primary reasons for the new exception handling model. The
     main problem with the _clear_error method is that it causes
     execution to resume at the byte-code following the code that
     triggered the error. As such, _clear_error defines no absolute
     resumption point. In contrast, the try-catch exception model has
     well-defined points of execution. With the above caveats, code such
     as

ERROR_BLOCK { cleanup_after_error (); _clear_error ();}
                 do_something ();
                    .
                    .

should be changed to:

variable e;
                 try (e)
                   {
                      do_something ();
                        .
                        .
                   }
                 catch RunTimeError:
                   {
                      cleanup_after_error ();
                   }

And code using _clear_error in conjunction with EXE-
     CUTE_ERROR_BLOCK:

ERROR_BLOCK { cleanup_after_error (); _clear_error ();}
                 do_something ();
                    .
                    .
                 EXECUTE_ERROR_BLOCK;

should be changed to:

variable e;
            try (e)
              {
                 do_something ();
                   .
                   .
              }
            catch RunTimeError:
              {
                 cleanup_after_error ();
              }
            finally:
              {
                 cleanup_after_error ();
              }

fread
        When reading Char_Type and UChar_Type objects the S-Lang 1
        version of fread returned a binary string (BString_Type if the
        number of characters read was greater than one, or a U/Char_Type
        if the number read was one. In other words, the resulting type
        depended upon how many bytes were read with no way to predict
        the resulting type in advance. In contrast, when reading, e.g,
        Int_Type objects, fread returned an Int_Type when it read one
        integer, or an array of Int_Type if more than one was read.  For
        S-Lang 2, the behavior of fread with respect to UChar_Type and
        Char_Type types was changed to have the same semantics as the
        other data types.

The upshot is that code that used

nread = fread (&str, Char_Type, num_wanted, fp)

will no longer result in str being a BString_Type if nread > 1.
     Instead, str will now become a Char_Type[nread] object. In order to
     read a specified number of bytes from a file in the form of a
     string, use the fread_bytes function:

#if (_slang_version >= 20000)
                 nread = fread_bytes (&str, num_wanted, fp);
                 #else
                 nread = fread (&str, Char_Type, num_wanted, fp)
                 #endif

The above will work with both versions of the interpreter.

strtrans
        The strtrans function has been changed to support Unicode. One
        ramification of this is that when mapping from one range of
        characters to another, the length of the ranges must now be
        equal.

str_delete_chars
        This function was changed to support unicode character classes.
        Code such as

y = str_delete_chars (x, "\\a");

is now implies the deletion of all alphabetic characters from x.
     Previously it meant to delete the backslashes and as from from x.
     Use

y = str_delete_chars (x, "\\\\a");

to achieve the latter.

substr, is_substr, strsub
        These functions use character-semantics and not byte-semantics.
        The distinction is important in UTF-8 mode. If you use array
        indexing in conjunction with these functions, then read on.

B.  Copyright

The S-Lang library is distributed under the terms of the GNU General
  Public License.

B.1.  The GNU Public License

GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
                              Version 2, June 1991

Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
                              59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307  USA
        Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
        of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.

Preamble

The licenses for most software are designed to take away your freedom
  to share and change it. By contrast, the GNU General Public License is
  intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free soft-
  ware--to make sure the software is free for all its users. This Gen-
  eral Public License applies to most of the Free Software Foundation's
  software and to any other program whose authors commit to using it.
  (Some other Free Software Foundation software is covered by the GNU
  Library General Public License instead.) You can apply it to your pro-
  grams, too.

When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not
  price. Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you
  have the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge for
  this service if you wish), that you receive source code or can get it
  if you want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it
  in new free programs; and that you know you can do these things.

To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid
  anyone to deny you these rights or to ask you to surrender the rights.
  These restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for you if
  you distribute copies of the software, or if you modify it.

For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether
  gratis or for a fee, you must give the recipients all the rights that
  you have. You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the
  source code. And you must show them these terms so they know their
  rights.

We protect your rights with two steps: (1) copyright the software, and
  (2) offer you this license which gives you legal permission to copy,
  distribute and/or modify the software.

Also, for each author's protection and ours, we want to make certain
  that everyone understands that there is no warranty for this free
  software. If the software is modified by someone else and passed on,
  we want its recipients to know that what they have is not the
  original, so that any problems introduced by others will not reflect
  on the original authors' reputations.

Finally, any free program is threatened constantly by software
  patents. We wish to avoid the danger that redistributors of a free
  program will individually obtain patent licenses, in effect making the
  program proprietary. To prevent this, we have made it clear that any
  patent must be licensed for everyone's free use or not licensed at
  all.

The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and
  modification follow.

GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
          TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION

0. This License applies to any program or other work which contains a
  notice placed by the copyright holder saying it may be distributed
  under the terms of this General Public License. The "Program", below,
  refers to any such program or work, and a "work based on the Program"
  means either the Program or any derivative work under copyright law:
  that is to say, a work containing the Program or a portion of it,
  either verbatim or with modifications and/or translated into another
  language. (Hereinafter, translation is included without limitation in
  the term "modification".) Each licensee is addressed as "you".

Activities other than copying, distribution and modification are not
  covered by this License; they are outside its scope. The act of
  running the Program is not restricted, and the output from the Program
  is covered only if its contents constitute a work based on the Program
  (independent of having been made by running the Program).  Whether
  that is true depends on what the Program does.

1. You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program's source
  code as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you conspicuously
  and appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate copyright notice
  and disclaimer of warranty; keep intact all the notices that refer to
  this License and to the absence of any warranty; and give any other
  recipients of the Program a copy of this License along with the
  Program.

You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and
  you may at your option offer warranty protection in exchange for a
  fee.

2. You may modify your copy or copies of the Program or any portion of
  it, thus forming a work based on the Program, and copy and distribute
  such modifications or work under the terms of Section 1 above,
  provided that you also meet all of these conditions:

a) You must cause the modified files to carry prominent notices
      stating that you changed the files and the date of any change.

b) You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in
      whole or in part contains or is derived from the Program or any
      part thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all third
      parties under the terms of this License.

c) If the modified program normally reads commands interactively
      when run, you must cause it, when started running for such
      interactive use in the most ordinary way, to print or display an
      announcement including an appropriate copyright notice and a
      notice that there is no warranty (or else, saying that you provide
      a warranty) and that users may redistribute the program under
      these conditions, and telling the user how to view a copy of this
      License.  (Exception: if the Program itself is interactive but
      does not normally print such an announcement, your work based on
      the Program is not required to print an announcement.)

These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole. If identifi-
  able sections of that work are not derived from the Program, and can
  be reasonably considered independent and separate works in themselves,
  then this License, and its terms, do not apply to those sections when
  you distribute them as separate works. But when you distribute the
  same sections as part of a whole which is a work based on the Program,
  the distribution of the whole must be on the terms of this License,
  whose permissions for other licensees extend to the entire whole, and
  thus to each and every part regardless of who wrote it.

Thus, it is not the intent of this section to claim rights or contest
  your rights to work written entirely by you; rather, the intent is to
  exercise the right to control the distribution of derivative or
  collective works based on the Program.

In addition, mere aggregation of another work not based on the Program
  with the Program (or with a work based on the Program) on a volume of
  a storage or distribution medium does not bring the other work under
  the scope of this License.

3. You may copy and distribute the Program (or a work based on it,
  under Section 2) in object code or executable form under the terms of
  Sections 1 and 2 above provided that you also do one of the following:

a) Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable
           source code, which must be distributed under the terms of Sections
           1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or,

b) Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three
           years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your
           cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete
           machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to be
           distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium
           customarily used for software interchange; or,

c) Accompany it with the information you received as to the offer
           to distribute corresponding source code.  (This alternative is
           allowed only for noncommercial distribution and only if you
           received the program in object code or executable form with such
           an offer, in accord with Subsection b above.)

The source code for a work means the preferred form of the work for
  making modifications to it. For an executable work, complete source
  code means all the source code for all modules it contains, plus any
  associated interface definition files, plus the scripts used to con-
  trol compilation and installation of the executable. However, as a
  special exception, the source code distributed need not include any-
  thing that is normally distributed (in either source or binary form)
  with the major components (compiler, kernel, and so on) of the operat-
  ing system on which the executable runs, unless that component itself
  accompanies the executable.

If distribution of executable or object code is made by offering
  access to copy from a designated place, then offering equivalent
  access to copy the source code from the same place counts as
  distribution of the source code, even though third parties are not
  compelled to copy the source along with the object code.

4. You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Program
  except as expressly provided under this License. Any attempt otherwise
  to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Program is void, and
  will automatically terminate your rights under this License.  However,
  parties who have received copies, or rights, from you under this
  License will not have their licenses terminated so long as such
  parties remain in full compliance.

5. You are not required to accept this License, since you have not
  signed it. However, nothing else grants you permission to modify or
  distribute the Program or its derivative works. These actions are
  prohibited by law if you do not accept this License. Therefore, by
  modifying or distributing the Program (or any work based on the
  Program), you indicate your acceptance of this License to do so, and
  all its terms and conditions for copying, distributing or modifying
  the Program or works based on it.

6. Each time you redistribute the Program (or any work based on the
  Program), the recipient automatically receives a license from the
  original licensor to copy, distribute or modify the Program subject to
  these terms and conditions. You may not impose any further
  restrictions on the recipients' exercise of the rights granted herein.
  You are not responsible for enforcing compliance by third parties to
  this License.

7. If, as a consequence of a court judgment or allegation of patent
  infringement or for any other reason (not limited to patent issues),
  conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order, agreement or
  otherwise) that contradict the conditions of this License, they do not
  excuse you from the conditions of this License. If you cannot
  distribute so as to satisfy simultaneously your obligations under this
  License and any other pertinent obligations, then as a consequence you
  may not distribute the Program at all. For example, if a patent
  license would not permit royalty-free redistribution of the Program by
  all those who receive copies directly or indirectly through you, then
  the only way you could satisfy both it and this License would be to
  refrain entirely from distribution of the Program.

If any portion of this section is held invalid or unenforceable under
  any particular circumstance, the balance of the section is intended to
  apply and the section as a whole is intended to apply in other
  circumstances.

It is not the purpose of this section to induce you to infringe any
  patents or other property right claims or to contest validity of any
  such claims; this section has the sole purpose of protecting the
  integrity of the free software distribution system, which is
  implemented by public license practices. Many people have made
  generous contributions to the wide range of software distributed
  through that system in reliance on consistent application of that
  system; it is up to the author/donor to decide if he or she is willing
  to distribute software through any other system and a licensee cannot
  impose that choice.

This section is intended to make thoroughly clear what is believed to
  be a consequence of the rest of this License.

8. If the distribution and/or use of the Program is restricted in
  certain countries either by patents or by copyrighted interfaces, the
  original copyright holder who places the Program under this License
  may add an explicit geographical distribution limitation excluding
  those countries, so that distribution is permitted only in or among
  countries not thus excluded. In such case, this License incorporates
  the limitation as if written in the body of this License.

9. The Free Software Foundation may publish revised and/or new
  versions of the General Public License from time to time. Such new
  versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may
  differ in detail to address new problems or concerns.

Each version is given a distinguishing version number. If the Program
  specifies a version number of this License which applies to it and
  "any later version", you have the option of following the terms and
  conditions either of that version or of any later version published by
  the Free Software Foundation. If the Program does not specify a
  version number of this License, you may choose any version ever
  published by the Free Software Foundation.

10. If you wish to incorporate parts of the Program into other free
  programs whose distribution conditions are different, write to the
  author to ask for permission. For software which is copyrighted by the
  Free Software Foundation, write to the Free Software Foundation; we
  sometimes make exceptions for this. Our decision will be guided by the
  two goals of preserving the free status of all derivatives of our free
  software and of promoting the sharing and reuse of software generally.

NO WARRANTY

11. BECAUSE THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO WARRANTY
       FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW.  EXCEPT WHEN
       OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES
       PROVIDE THE PROGRAM "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED
       OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
       MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  THE ENTIRE RISK AS
       TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU.  SHOULD THE
       PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING,
       REPAIR OR CORRECTION.

12. IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING
       WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND/OR
       REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES,
       INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING
       OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED
       TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY
       YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER
       PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE
       POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS

How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs
  If you develop a new program, and you want it to be of the greatest
  possible use to the public, the best way to achieve this is to make it
  free software which everyone can redistribute and change under these
  terms.

To do so, attach the following notices to the program. It is safest to
  attach them to the start of each source file to most effectively
  convey the exclusion of warranty; and each file should have at least
  the "copyright" line and a pointer to where the full notice is found.

<one line to give the program's name and a brief idea of what it does.>
           Copyright (C) 19yy  <name of author>

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
           it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
           the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
           (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
           but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
           MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
           GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
           along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
           Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307  USA

Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper
  mail.

If the program is interactive, make it output a short notice like this
  when it starts in an interactive mode:

Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) 19yy name of author
           Gnomovision comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details type `show w'.
           This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it
           under certain conditions; type `show c' for details.

The hypothetical commands `show w' and `show c' should show the appro-
  priate parts of the General Public License. Of course, the commands
  you use may be called something other than `show w' and `show c'; they
  could even be mouse-clicks or menu items--whatever suits your program.

You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or
  your school, if any, to sign a "copyright disclaimer" for the program,
  if necessary. Here is a sample; alter the names:

Yoyodyne, Inc., hereby disclaims all copyright interest in the program
         `Gnomovision' (which makes passes at compilers) written by James Hacker.

<signature of Ty Coon>, 1 April 1989
         Ty Coon, President of Vice

This General Public License does not permit incorporating your program
  into proprietary programs. If your program is a subroutine library,
  you may consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary applica-
  tions with the library. If this is what you want to do, use the GNU
  Library General Public License instead of this License.

B.2.  The Unicode Inc. Copyright

This software makes use of the Unicode tables published by Unicode,
  Inc under the following terms:

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person
            obtaining a copy of the Unicode data files and any associated
            documentation (the "Data Files") or Unicode software and any
            associated documentation (the "Software") to deal in the Data Files
            or Software without restriction, including without limitation the
            rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, and/or sell
            copies of the Data Files or Software, and to permit persons to whom
            the Data Files or Software are furnished to do so, provided that (a)
            the above copyright notice(s) and this permission notice appear with
            all copies of the Data Files or Software, (b) both the above
            copyright notice(s) and this permission notice appear in associated
            documentation, and (c) there is clear notice in each modified Data
            File or in the Software as well as in the documentation associated
            with the Data File(s) or Software that the data or software has been
            modified.

THE DATA FILES AND SOFTWARE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY
            OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE
            WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
            NONINFRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTY RIGHTS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
            COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR HOLDERS INCLUDED IN THIS NOTICE BE LIABLE FOR
            ANY CLAIM, OR ANY SPECIAL INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, OR ANY
            DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS,
            WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS
            ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE
            OF THE DATA FILES OR SOFTWARE.

Except as contained in this notice, the name of a copyright holder
            shall not be used in advertising or otherwise to promote the sale,
            use or other dealings in these Data Files or Software without prior
            written authorization of the copyright holder.

Name	Type	Size	Owner/Group	Permission	Last Modified	Actions
.	dir	-	root/root	drwxr-xr-x	2016-12-12 07:36:57
..	dir	-	root/root	drwxr-xr-x	2026-01-08 03:32:36
COPYING	file	17.58 KB	root/root	-rw-r--r--	2011-04-11 02:37:07
NEWS	file	10.02 KB	root/root	-rw-r--r--	2011-04-11 02:37:07
README	file	1.13 KB	root/root	-rw-r--r--	2011-04-11 02:37:07
changes.txt	file	162.07 KB	root/root	-rw-r--r--	2011-04-11 02:37:07
grammar.txt	file	2.72 KB	root/root	-rw-r--r--	2011-04-11 02:37:07
slang.txt	file	258.23 KB	root/root	-rw-r--r--	2011-04-11 02:37:07
slangfun.txt	file	263.73 KB	root/root	-rw-r--r--	2011-04-11 02:37:07