This is sly.info, produced by makeinfo version 6.7 from sly.texi.
Written for SLIME Luke Gorrie and others, rewritten by João Távora for
SLY.
This file has been placed in the public domain.
INFO-DIR-SECTION Emacs
START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
* SLY: (sly). Common-Lisp IDE
END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
File: sly.info, Node: Top, Next: Introduction, Up: (dir)
SLY
***
SLY is a Common Lisp IDE for Emacs. This is the manual for version
1.0.42. (Last updated February 28, 2024)
Written for SLIME Luke Gorrie and others, rewritten by João Távora
for SLY.
This file has been placed in the public domain.
* Menu:
* Introduction::
* Getting started::
* A SLY tour for SLIME users::
* Working with source files::
* Common functionality::
* The REPL and other special buffers::
* Customization::
* Tips and Tricks::
* Extensions::
* Credits::
* Key Index::
* Command Index::
* Variable Index::
-- The Detailed Node Listing --
Getting started
* Platforms::
* Downloading::
* Basic setup::
* Running::
* Basic customization::
* Multiple Lisps::
Working with source files
* Evaluation::
* Compilation::
* Autodoc::
* Semantic indentation::
* Reader conditionals::
* Macro-expansion::
Common functionality
* Finding definitions::
* Cross-referencing::
* Completion::
* Interactive objects::
* Documentation::
* Multiple connections::
* Disassembly::
* Recovery::
* Temporary buffers::
* Multi-threading::
The REPL and other special buffers
* REPL::
* Inspector::
* Debugger::
* Trace Dialog::
* Stickers::
The REPL: the "top level"
* REPL commands::
* REPL output::
* REPL backreferences::
The SLY-DB Debugger
* Examining frames::
* Restarts::
* Frame Navigation::
* Miscellaneous::
Customization
* Emacs-side::
* Lisp-side customization::
Emacs-side
* Keybindings::
* Keymaps::
* Defcustom variables::
* Hooks::
Lisp-side (Slynk)
* Communication style::
* Other configurables::
Tips and Tricks
* Connecting to a remote Lisp::
* Loading Slynk faster::
* Auto-SLY::
* REPLs and game loops::
* Controlling SLY from outside Emacs::
Connecting to a remote Lisp
* Setting up the Lisp image::
* Setting up Emacs::
* Setting up pathname translations::
Extensions
* Loading and unloading::
* More contribs::
More contribs
* TRAMP Support::
* Scratch Buffer::
File: sly.info, Node: Introduction, Next: Getting started, Prev: Top, Up: Top
1 Introduction
**************
SLY is Sylvester the Cat's Common Lisp IDE. It extends Emacs with
support for interactive programming in Common Lisp.
The features are centered around an Emacs minor-mode called
'sly-mode', which complements the standard major-mode 'lisp-mode' for
editing Lisp source files. 'sly-mode' adds support for interacting with
a running Common Lisp process for compilation, debugging, documentation
lookup, and so on.
SLY attempts to follow the example of Emacs's own native Emacs-Lisp
environment. Many of the keybindings and interface concepts used to
interact with Emacs's Elisp machine are reused in SLY to interact with
the underlying Common Lisp run-times. Emacs makes requests to these
processes, asking them to compile files or code snippets; deliver
introspection information various objects; or invoke commands or
debugging restarts.
Internally, SLY's user-interface, written in Emacs Lisp, is connected
via sockets to one or more instances of a server program called "Slynk"
that is running in the Lisp processes.
The two sides communicate using a Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
protocol. The Lisp-side server is primarily written in portable Common
Lisp. However, because some non-standard functionality is provided
differently by each Lisp implementation (SBCL, CMUCL, Allegro, etc...)
the Lisp-side server is again split into two parts - portable and
non-portable implementation - which communicate using a well-defined
interface. Each Lisp implementation provides a separate implementation
of that interface, making SLY as a whole readily portable.
SLY is a direct fork of SLIME, the "Superior Lisp Interaction Mode
for Emacs", which itself derived from previous Emacs programs such as
SLIM and ILISP. If you already know SLIME, SLY's closeness to it is
immediately apparent. However, where SLIME has traditionally focused on
the stability of its core functionality, SLY aims for a richer feature
set, a more consistent user interface, and an experience generally
closer to Emacs' own.
To understand the differences between the two projects read SLY's
NEWS.md file. For a hand-on approach to these differences you might
want to *note A SLY tour for SLIME users::.
File: sly.info, Node: Getting started, Next: A SLY tour for SLIME users, Prev: Introduction, Up: Top
2 Getting started
*****************
This chapter tells you how to get SLY up and running.
* Menu:
* Platforms::
* Downloading::
* Basic setup::
* Running::
* Basic customization::
* Multiple Lisps::
File: sly.info, Node: Platforms, Next: Downloading, Up: Getting started
2.1 Supported Platforms
=======================
SLY supports a wide range of operating systems and Lisp implementations.
SLY runs on Unix systems, Mac OSX, and Microsoft Windows. GNU Emacs
versions 24.4 and above are supported. _XEmacs or Emacs 23 are notably
not supported_.
The supported Lisp implementations, roughly ordered from the
best-supported, are:
* CMU Common Lisp (CMUCL), 19d or newer
* Steel Bank Common Lisp (SBCL), 1.0 or newer
* Clozure Common Lisp (CCL), version 1.3 or newer
* LispWorks, version 4.3 or newer
* Allegro Common Lisp (ACL), version 6 or newer
* CLISP, version 2.35 or newer
* Armed Bear Common Lisp (ABCL)
* Scieneer Common Lisp (SCL), version 1.2.7 or newer
* Embedded Common Lisp (ECL)
* ManKai Common Lisp (MKCL)
* Clasp
Most features work uniformly across implementations, but some are
prone to variation. These include the precision of placing
compiler-note annotations, XREF support, and fancy debugger commands
(like "restart frame").
File: sly.info, Node: Downloading, Next: Basic setup, Prev: Platforms, Up: Getting started
2.2 Downloading SLY
===================
By far the easiest method for getting SLY up and running is using Emacs’
package system configured to the popular MELPA repository. This snippet
of code should already be in your configuration:
(add-to-list 'package-archives
'("melpa" . "https://melpa.org/packages/"))
(package-initialize)
You should now be able to issue the command 'M-x package-install',
choose 'sly' and have it be downloaded and installed automatically. If
you don’t find it in the list, ensure you run 'M-x
package-refresh-contents' first.
In other situations, such as when developing SLY itself, you can
access the Git repository directly:
git clone https://github.com/joaotavora/sly.git
If you want to hack on SLY, use Github's _fork_ functionality and
submit a _pull request_. Be sure to first read the CONTRIBUTING.md file
first.
File: sly.info, Node: Basic setup, Next: Running, Prev: Downloading, Up: Getting started
2.3 Basic setup
===============
If you installed SLY from MELPA, it is quite possible that you don’t
need any more configuration, provided that SLY can find a suitable Lisp
executable in your 'PATH' environment variable.
Otherwise, you need to tell it where a Lisp program can be found, so
customize the variable 'inferior-lisp-program' (*note Defcustom
variables::) or add a line like this one to your '~/.emacs' or
'~/.emacs.d/init.el' (*note Emacs Init File::).
(setq inferior-lisp-program "/opt/sbcl/bin/sbcl")
After evaluating this, you should be able to execute 'M-x sly' and be
greeted with a REPL.
If you cloned from the Git repository, you’ll have to add a couple of
more lines to your initialization file configuration:
(add-to-list 'load-path "~/dir/to/cloned/sly")
(require 'sly-autoloads)
File: sly.info, Node: Running, Next: Basic customization, Prev: Basic setup, Up: Getting started
2.4 Running SLY
===============
SLY can either ask Emacs to start its own Lisp subprocesss or connect to
a running process on a local or remote machine.
The first alternative is more common for local development and is
started via 'M-x sly'. The "inferior" Lisp process thus started is told
to load the Lisp-side server known as "Slynk" and then a socket
connection is established between Emacs and Lisp. Finally a REPL buffer
is created where you can enter Lisp expressions for evaluation.
The second alternative uses 'M-x sly-connect'. This assumes that
that a Slynk server is running on some local or remote host, and
listening on a given port. 'M-x sly-connect' prompts the user for these
values, and upon connection the REPL is established.
File: sly.info, Node: Basic customization, Next: Multiple Lisps, Prev: Running, Up: Getting started
2.5 Basic customization
=======================
A big part of Emacs, and Emacs’s extensions, are its near-infinite
customization possibilities. SLY is no exception, because it runs on
both Emacs and the Lisp process, there are layers of Emacs-side
customization and Lisp-side customization. But don’t be put off by
this! SLY tries hard to provide sensible defaults that don’t "hide" any
fanciness beneath layers of complicated code, so that even a setup with
no customization at all exposes SLY’s most important functionality.
Emacs-side customization is usually done via Emacs-lisp code snippets
added to the user’s initialization file, usually '$HOME/.emacs' or
'$HOME/.emacs.d/init.el' (*note Emacs Init File::).
90% of Emacs-lisp customization happens in either "keymaps" or
"hooks" (*note Emacs-side::). Still on the Emacs side, there is also a
separate interface, appropriately called 'customize' (or sometimes just
'custom'), that uses a nicer UI with mouse-clickable buttons to set some
special variables. See *Note Defcustom variables::.
Lisp-side customization is done exclusively via Common Lisp code
snippets added to the user’s '$HOME/.slynkrc' file. See *Note Lisp-side
customization::.
As a preview, take this simple example of a frequently customized
part of SLY: its keyboard shortcuts, known as "keybindings". In the
following snippet 'M-h' is added to 'sly-prefix-map' thus yielding 'C-c
M-h' as a shortcut to the 'sly-documentation-lookup' command.
(eval-after-load 'sly
`(define-key sly-prefix-map (kbd "M-h") 'sly-documentation-lookup))
File: sly.info, Node: Multiple Lisps, Prev: Basic customization, Up: Getting started
2.6 Multiple Lisps
==================
By default, the command 'M-x sly' starts the program specified with
'inferior-lisp-program', a variable that you can customize (*note
Defcustom variables::). However, if you invoke 'M-x sly' with a _prefix
argument_, meaning you type 'C-u M-x sly' then Emacs prompts for the
program which should be started instead.
If you need to do this frequently or if the command involves long
filenames it's more convenient to set the 'sly-lisp-implementations'
variable in your initialization file (*note Emacs Init File::). For
example here we define two programs:
(setq sly-lisp-implementations
'((cmucl ("cmucl" "-quiet"))
(sbcl ("/opt/sbcl/bin/sbcl") :coding-system utf-8-unix)))
Now, if you invoke SLY with a _negative_ prefix argument, 'M-- M-x
sly', you can select a program from that list. When called without a
prefix, either the name specified in 'sly-default-lisp', or the first
item of the list will be used. The elements of the list should look
like
(NAME (PROGRAM PROGRAM-ARGS...) &key CODING-SYSTEM INIT INIT-FUNCTION ENV)
'NAME'
is a symbol and is used to identify the program.
'PROGRAM'
is the filename of the program. Note that the filename can contain
spaces.
'PROGRAM-ARGS'
is a list of command line arguments.
'CODING-SYSTEM'
the coding system for the connection. (*note
sly-net-coding-system::)x
'INIT'
should be a function which takes two arguments: a filename and a
character encoding. The function should return a Lisp expression
as a string which instructs Lisp to start the Slynk server and to
write the port number to the file. At startup, SLY starts the Lisp
process and sends the result of this function to Lisp's standard
input. As default, 'sly-init-command' is used. An example is
shown in *note Loading Slynk faster: init-example.
'INIT-FUNCTION'
should be a function which takes no arguments. It is called after
the connection is established. (See also *note
sly-connected-hook::.)
'ENV'
specifies a list of environment variables for the subprocess. E.g.
(sbcl-cvs ("/home/me/sbcl-cvs/src/runtime/sbcl"
"--core" "/home/me/sbcl-cvs/output/sbcl.core")
:env ("SBCL_HOME=/home/me/sbcl-cvs/contrib/"))
initializes 'SBCL_HOME' in the subprocess.
File: sly.info, Node: A SLY tour for SLIME users, Next: Working with source files, Prev: Getting started, Up: Top
3 A SLY tour for SLIME users
****************************
The chances are that if you’re into Common Lisp, you already know about
SLIME, the project that originated SLY. Itself originating in older
Emacs extensions SLIM and ILISP, SLIME has been around for at least a
decade longer than SLY and is quite an amazing IDE. It's likely that
most Lispers have some experience with it, making it a good idea to
provide, in the shape of a quick tutorial, a hands-on overview of some
of the improvements of SLY over SLIME.
When you start SLY with 'M-x sly' (*note Basic setup::) you are
greeted with its REPL, a common starting point of Lisp hacking sessions.
This has been completely redesigned in SLY: you can spawn multiple REPL
sessions with 'sly-mrepl-new'; copy objects from most places directly
into it (with 'M-RET' and 'M-S-RET'); use powerful incremental history
search (with 'C-r') found in most modern shells; and get real-time
assistance when "backreferecing" previous evaluation values in your Lisp
input.
[image src="images/tutorial-1.png" ]
Starting from the new REPL, let's showcase some of SLY’s features.
Let’s pretend we want to hack an existing Lisp project. We'll pick SLY
itself, or rather its Lisp server, called Slynk. Let's pretend we're
intrigued by the way its "flex"-style completion works. What is flex
completion, you ask? Well, if you're at the REPL you can try it now:
it's a way of 'TAB'-completing (*note Completion::) symbol names based
on educated guesses of a few letters. Thus if we type 'mvbind', SLY
guesses that we probably meant 'multiple-value-bind', and if we type
'domat' it might possibly guess 'cl-ppcre:do-matches'. Let's dig into
the code that makes this happen.
But how? Where to begin, given we know so little about this project?
Well, a good starting point is always the _apropos_ functionality,
which is a 'grep' of sorts, but aware of the symbols loaded in your
Lisp, rather the contents of text files. Furthermore, in SLY,
'sly-apropos' will do a regular-expression-enabled symbol search, which
will help us here since we don't yet know any symbols names of this
mysterious flex feature.
To enable regular expression searches you need the 'CL-PPCRE' library
is loaded (else 'sly-apropos' falls back to regex-less mode). If you
have Quicklisp (https://www.quicklisp.org/beta/) installed (you do,
right?) you need only type '(ql:quickload :cl-ppcre)' now from the
REPL.
Thus, if we want to hack SLY's flex completion, and _don't_ known any
of its symbol's names, we type 'C-c C-d C-z' (the shortcut for 'M-x
sly-apropos-all') and then type in "sly.*flex" at the prompt. We follow
with 'enter' or 'return' (abbreviated 'RET' or 'C-m'). SLY should now
present all Lisp symbols matching your search pattern.
[image src="images/tutorial-2.png" ]
In the 'apropos' buffer, let’s grab the mouse and right-click the
symbol 'SLYNK-COMPLETIONS:FLEX-COMPLETIONS'. We’ll be presented with a
context menu with options for describing the symbol, inspecting it, or
navigating to its source definition. In general, the Lisp-side objects
that SLY presents -- symbols, CLOS objects, function calls, etc... --
are right-clickable buttons with such a context menu (*note Interactive
objects::). For now, let’s navigate to the source definition of the
symbol by choosing "Go To source" from the menu. Alternatively, we
could also have just pressed 'M-.' on the symbol, of course.
From the Lisp source buffer that we landed on (probably
'slynk-completion.lisp'), let’s _trace_ the newly found function
'SLYNK-COMPLETIONS:FLEX-COMPLETIONS'. However, instead of using the
regular 'CL:TRACE', we’ll use SLY’s Trace Dialog functionality. This is
how we set it up:
1. first type 'C-c C-t' on the function’s name, or enter that in the
minibuffer prompt;
2. now, open the Trace Dialog in a new window by typing 'C-c T'
(that’s a capital 'T'). We should already see our traced function
under the heading "Traced specs";
3. thirdly, for good measure, let’s also trace the nearby function
'SLYNK-COMPLETIONS::FLEX-SCORE' by also typing 'C-c C-t' on its
name, or just entering it in the minibuffer prompt.
Now let’s return to the REPL by switching to its '*sly-mrepl ...'
buffer or typing 'C-c C-z'. To exercise the code we just traced, let’s
type something like 'desbind', followed by tab, and see if it suggest
'destructuring-bind' as the top match. We could now select some
completion from the list, but instead let's just type 'C-g' to dismiss
the completion, since we wanted to test completion, not write any actual
'destructuring-bind' expression.
Remember the traced functions in the Trace Dialog? Time to see if we
got any traces. let's type 'C-c T' to switch to that buffer, and then
type capital 'G'. This should produce a fair number of traces organized
in a call graph.
[image src="images/tutorial-3.png" ]
We can later learn more about this mode (*note Trace Dialog::), but
for now let’s again pretend we expected the function 'FLEX-SCORE' to
return a wildly different score for 'COMMON-LISP:DESTRUCTURING-BIND'.
In that case we should like to witness said 'FLEX-SCORE' function
respond to any implementation improvements we perform. To do so, it's
useful to be able to surgically re-run that function with those very
same arguments. Let's do this by finding the function call in the Trace
Dialog window, right-clicking it with the mouse and selecting "Copy call
to REPL". Pressing 'M-S-RET' on it should accomplish the same. We are
automatically transported to the REPL again, where the desired function
call has already been typed out for us at the command prompt, awaiting a
confirmation 'RET', which will run the function call:
; The actual arguments passed to trace 15
"desbind"
"COMMON-LISP:DESTRUCTURING-BIND"
(12 13 14 26 27 28 29)
SLYNK-COMPLETION> (slynk-completion::flex-score #v1:0 #v1:1 #v1:2)
0.003030303 (0.30303028%)
SLYNK-COMPLETION>
[image src="images/tutorial-4.png" ]
If those '#v...''s look odd, here’s what’s going on: to copy the call
to the REPL, SLY first copied over its actual arguments, and then wrote
the function using special _backreferences_ to those arguments in the
correct place. These are the '#v4:0' and '#v4:1' bits seen at the
command prompt. If one puts the cursor on them or hovers with the
mouse, this highlights the corresponding object a few lines above in the
buffer. Later, you can also try typing "#v" at the REPL to
incrementally write your own backreferences (*note REPL
backreferences::).
For one final demonstration, let’s now suppose say we are still
intrigued by how that function ('FLEX-SCORE') works internally. So
let's navigate to its definition using 'M-.' again (or just open the
'slynk-completion.lisp' buffer that you probably still have open). The
function’s code might look like this:
(defun flex-score (pattern string indexes)
"Score the match of PATTERN on STRING.
INDEXES as calculated by FLEX-MATCHES"
;; FIXME: hideously naive scoring
(declare (ignore pattern))
(float
(/ 1
(* (length string)
(max 1
(reduce #'+
(loop for (a b) on indexes
while b
collect (- b a 1))))))))
Can this function be working correctly? What do all those
expressions return? Should we reach for good old C-style 'printf'?
Let's try "stickers" instead. SLY's stickers are a form of
non-intrusive function instrumentation that work like carefully crafted
'print' or '(format t ...)'), but are much easier to work with. You can
later read more about them (*note Stickers::), but for now you can just
think of them as colorful labels placed on s-exp’s. Let’s place a bunch
here, like this:
1. on the last line of 'flex-score', place your cursor on the first
open parenthesis of that line (the opening parenthesis of the
expression '(- b a 1)') and press 'C-c C-s C-s';
2. now do the same for the symbol 'indexes' a couple of lines above;
3. again, the same for the expressions '(loop...)', '(reduce...)',
'(max...)', '(length...)', '(*...)', '(/... )' and '(float...)'.
You could have done this in any order, by the way;
Now let’s recompile this definition with 'C-c C-c'. Beside the
minibuffer note something about stickers being "armed" our function
should now look like a rainbow in blue.
[image src="images/tutorial-5.png" ]
Now we return to the SLY REPL, but this time let’s use 'C-c ~'
(that’s 'C-c' followed by "tilde") to do so. This syncs the REPL’s
local package and local directory to the Lisp file that we’re visiting.
This is something not strictly necessary here but generally convenient
when hacking on a system, because you can now call functions from the
file you came from without package-qualification.
Now, to re-run the newly instrumented function, by calling it with
the same arguments. No need to type all that again, because this REPL
supports reverse history i-search, remember? So just type the binding
'C-r' and then type something like 'scor' to search history backwards
and arrive at the function call copied to the REPL earlier. Type 'RET'
once to confirm that's the call your after, and 'RET' again to evaluate
it. Because those '#v...' backreferences are still trained specifically
on those very same function arguments, you can be sure that the function
call is equivalent.
We can now use the 'C-c C-s C-r' to _replay_ the sticker recordings
of this last function call. This is a kind of slow walk-through
conducted in separate navigation window called '*sly-stickers-replay*'
which pops up. There we can see the Lisp value(s) that each sticker
'eval'’ed to each time (or a note if it exited non-locally). We can
navigate recordings with 'n' and 'p', and do the usual things allowed by
interactive objects like inspecting them and returning them to the REPL.
If you need help, toggle help by typing 'h'. There are lots of options
here for navigating stickers, ignoring some stickers, etc. When we’re
done in this window, we press 'q' to quit.
[image src="images/tutorial-6.png" ]
Finally, we declare that we’re finished debugging 'FLEX-MATCHES'.
Even though stickers don’t get saved to the file in any way, we decide
we’re not interested in them anymore. So let’s open the "SLY" menu in
the menu bar, find the "Delete stickers from top-level form" option
under the "Stickers" sub-menu, and click it. Alternatively, we could
have typed 'C-u C-c C-s C-s'.
File: sly.info, Node: Working with source files, Next: Common functionality, Prev: A SLY tour for SLIME users, Up: Top
4 Working with source files
***************************
SLY's commands when editing a Lisp file are provided via
'sly-editing-mode', a minor-mode used in conjunction with Emacs's
'lisp-mode'.
This chapter describes SLY’s commands for editing and working in Lisp
source buffers. There are, of course, more SLY’s commands that also
apply to these buffers (*note Common functionality::), but with very few
exceptions these commands will always be run from a '.lisp' file.
* Menu:
* Evaluation::
* Compilation::
* Autodoc::
* Semantic indentation::
* Reader conditionals::
* Macro-expansion::
File: sly.info, Node: Evaluation, Next: Compilation, Up: Working with source files
4.1 Evaluating code
===================
These commands each evaluate a Common Lisp expression in a different
way. Usually they mimic commands for evaluating Emacs Lisp code. By
default they show their results in the echo area, but a prefix argument
'C-u' inserts the results into the current buffer, while a negative
prefix argument 'M--' sends them to the kill ring.
'C-x C-e'
'M-x sly-eval-last-expression'
Evaluate the expression before point and show the result in the
echo area.
'C-M-x'
'M-x sly-eval-defun'
Evaluate the current toplevel form and show the result in the echo
area. 'C-M-x' treats 'defvar' expressions specially. Normally,
evaluating a 'defvar' expression does nothing if the variable it
defines already has a value. But 'C-M-x' unconditionally resets
the variable to the initial value specified in the 'defvar'
expression. This special feature is convenient for debugging Lisp
programs.
If 'C-M-x' or 'C-x C-e' is given a numeric argument, it inserts the
value into the current buffer, rather than displaying it in the echo
area.
'C-c :'
'M-x sly-interactive-eval'
Evaluate an expression read from the minibuffer.
'C-c C-r'
'M-x sly-eval-region'
Evaluate the region.
'C-c C-p'
'M-x sly-pprint-eval-last-expression'
Evaluate the expression before point and pretty-print the result in
a fresh buffer.
'C-c E'
'M-x sly-edit-value'
Edit the value of a setf-able form in a new buffer '*Edit <form>*'.
The value is inserted into a temporary buffer for editing and then
set in Lisp when committed with 'C-c C-c'.
'C-c C-u'
'M-x sly-undefine-function'
Undefine the function, with 'fmakunbound', for the symbol at point.
'M-x sly-remove-method'
Remove a specific method of a generic function at point.
File: sly.info, Node: Compilation, Next: Autodoc, Prev: Evaluation, Up: Working with source files
4.2 Compiling functions and files
=================================
SLY has fancy commands for compiling functions, files, and packages.
The fancy part is that notes and warnings offered by the Lisp compiler
are intercepted and annotated directly onto the corresponding
expressions in the Lisp source buffer. (Give it a try to see what this
means.)
'C-c C-c'
'M-x sly-compile-defun'
Compile the top-level form at point. The region blinks shortly to
give some feedback which part was chosen.
With (positive) prefix argument the form is compiled with maximal
debug settings ('C-u C-c C-c'). With negative prefix argument it
is compiled for speed ('M-- C-c C-c'). If a numeric argument is
passed set debug or speed settings to it depending on its sign.
The code for the region is executed after compilation. In
principle, the command writes the region to a file, compiles that
file, and loads the resulting code.
This compilation may arm stickers (*note Stickers::).
'C-c C-k'
'M-x sly-compile-and-load-file'
Compile and load the current buffer's source file. If the
compilation step fails, the file is not loaded. It's not always
easy to tell whether the compilation failed: occasionally you may
end up in the debugger during the load step.
With (positive) prefix argument the file is compiled with maximal
debug settings ('C-u C-c C-k'). With negative prefix argument it
is compiled for speed ('M-- C-c C-k'). If a numeric argument is
passed set debug or speed settings to it depending on its sign.
This compilation may arm stickers (*note Stickers::).
'C-c M-k'
'M-x sly-compile-file'
Compile (but don't load) the current buffer's source file.
'C-c C-l'
'M-x sly-load-file'
Load a Lisp file. This command uses the Common Lisp LOAD function.
'M-x sly-compile-region'
Compile the selected region.
This compilation may arm stickers (*note Stickers::).
The annotations are indicated as underlining on source forms. The
compiler message associated with an annotation can be read either by
placing the mouse over the text or with the selection commands below.
'M-n'
'M-x sly-next-note'
Move the point to the next compiler note and displays the note.
'M-p'
'M-x sly-previous-note'
Move the point to the previous compiler note and displays the note.
'C-c M-c'
'M-x sly-remove-notes'
Remove all annotations from the buffer.
'C-x `'
'M-x next-error'
Visit the next-error message. This is not actually a SLY command
but SLY creates a hidden buffer so that most of the Compilation
mode commands (*note (emacs)Compilation Mode::) work similarly for
Lisp as for batch compilers.
File: sly.info, Node: Autodoc, Next: Semantic indentation, Prev: Compilation, Up: Working with source files
4.3 Autodoc
===========
SLY automatically shows information about symbols near the point. For
function names the argument list is displayed, and for global variables,
the value. Autodoc is implemented by means of 'eldoc-mode' of Emacs.
'M-x sly-arglist NAME'
Show the argument list of the function NAME.
'M-x sly-autodoc-mode'
Toggles autodoc-mode on or off according to the argument, and
toggles the mode when invoked without argument.
'M-x sly-autodoc-manually'
Like sly-autodoc, but when called twice, or after sly-autodoc was
already automatically called, display multiline arglist.
If 'sly-autodoc-use-multiline-p' is set to non-nil, allow long
autodoc messages to resize echo area display.
'autodoc-mode' is a SLY extension and can be turned off if you so
wish (*note Extensions::)
File: sly.info, Node: Semantic indentation, Next: Reader conditionals, Prev: Autodoc, Up: Working with source files
4.4 Semantic indentation
========================
SLY automatically discovers how to indent the macros in your Lisp
system. To do this the Lisp side scans all the macros in the system and
reports to Emacs all the ones with '&body' arguments. Emacs then
indents these specially, putting the first arguments four spaces in and
the "body" arguments just two spaces, as usual.
This should "just work." If you are a lucky sort of person you
needn't read the rest of this section.
To simplify the implementation, SLY doesn't distinguish between
macros with the same symbol-name but different packages. This makes it
fit nicely with Emacs's indentation code. However, if you do have
several macros with the same symbol-name then they will all be indented
the same way, arbitrarily using the style from one of their arglists.
You can find out which symbols are involved in collisions with:
(slynk:print-indentation-lossage)
If a collision causes you irritation, don't have a nervous breakdown,
just override the Elisp symbol's 'sly-common-lisp-indent-function'
property to your taste. SLY won't override your custom settings, it
just tries to give you good defaults.
A more subtle issue is that imperfect caching is used for the sake of
performance. (1)
In an ideal world, Lisp would automatically scan every symbol for
indentation changes after each command from Emacs. However, this is too
expensive to do every time. Instead Lisp usually just scans the symbols
whose home package matches the one used by the Emacs buffer where the
request comes from. That is sufficient to pick up the indentation of
most interactively-defined macros. To catch the rest we make a full
scan of every symbol each time a new Lisp package is created between
commands - that takes care of things like new systems being loaded.
You can use 'M-x sly-update-indentation' to force all symbols to be
scanned for indentation information.
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) _Of course_ we made sure it was actually too slow before making
the ugly optimization.
File: sly.info, Node: Reader conditionals, Next: Macro-expansion, Prev: Semantic indentation, Up: Working with source files
4.5 Reader conditional fontification
====================================
SLY automatically evaluates reader-conditional expressions, like
'#+linux', in source buffers and "grays out" code that will be skipped
for the current Lisp connection.
File: sly.info, Node: Macro-expansion, Prev: Reader conditionals, Up: Working with source files
4.6 Macro-expansion commands
============================
'C-c C-m'
'M-x sly-expand-1'
Macroexpand (or compiler-macroexpand) the expression at point once.
If invoked with a prefix argument use macroexpand instead or
macroexpand-1 (or compiler-macroexpand instead of
compiler-macroexpand-1).
'M-x sly-macroexpand-1'
Macroexpand the expression at point once. If invoked with a prefix
argument, use macroexpand instead of macroexpand-1.
'C-c M-m'
'M-x sly-macroexpand-all'
Fully macroexpand the expression at point.
'M-x sly-compiler-macroexpand-1'
Display the compiler-macro expansion of sexp at point.
'M-x sly-compiler-macroexpand'
Repeatedly expand compiler macros of sexp at point.
'M-x sly-format-string-expand'
Expand the format-string at point and display it. With prefix arg,
or if no string at point, prompt the user for a string to expand.
Within a sly macroexpansion buffer some extra commands are provided
(these commands are always available but are only bound to keys in a
macroexpansion buffer).
'C-c C-m'
'M-x sly-macroexpand-1-inplace'
Just like sly-macroexpand-1 but the original form is replaced with
the expansion.
'g'
'M-x sly-macroexpand-1-inplace'
The last macroexpansion is performed again, the current contents of
the macroexpansion buffer are replaced with the new expansion.
'q'
'M-x sly-temp-buffer-quit'
Close the expansion buffer.
'C-_'
'M-x sly-macroexpand-undo'
Undo last macroexpansion operation.
File: sly.info, Node: Common functionality, Next: The REPL and other special buffers, Prev: Working with source files, Up: Top
5 Common functionality
**********************
This chapter describes the commands available throughout SLY-enabled
buffers, which are not only Lisp source buffers, but every auxiliary
buffer created by SLY, such as the REPL, Inspector, etc (*note The REPL
and other special buffers::) In general, it’s a good bet that if the
buffer’s name starts with '*sly-...*', these commands and functionality
will be available there.
* Menu:
* Finding definitions::
* Cross-referencing::
* Completion::
* Interactive objects::
* Documentation::
* Multiple connections::
* Disassembly::
* Recovery::
* Temporary buffers::
* Multi-threading::
File: sly.info, Node: Finding definitions, Next: Cross-referencing, Up: Common functionality
5.1 Finding definitions
=======================
One of the most used keybindings across all of SLY is the familiar 'M-.'
binding for 'sly-edit-definition'.
Here's the gist of it: when pressed with the cursor over a symbol
name, that symbol's name definition is looked up by the Lisp process,
thus producing a Lisp source location, which might be a file, or a
file-less buffer. For convenience, a type of "breadcrumb" is left
behind at the original location where 'M-.' was pressed, so that another
keybinding 'M-,' takes the user back to the original location. Thus
multiple 'M-.' trace a path through lisp sources that can be traced back
with an equal number of 'M-,'.
'M-.'
'M-x sly-edit-definition'
Go to the definition of the symbol at point.
'M-,'
'M-*'
'M-x sly-pop-find-definition-stack'
Go back to the point where 'M-.' was invoked. This gives
multi-level backtracking when 'M-.' has been used several times.
'C-x 4 .'
'M-x sly-edit-definition-other-window'
Like 'sly-edit-definition' but switches to the other window to edit
the definition in.
'C-x 5 .'
'M-x sly-edit-definition-other-frame'
Like 'sly-edit-definition' but opens another frame to edit the
definition in.
The behaviour of the 'M-.' binding is sometimes affected by the type
of symbol you are giving it.
* For single functions or variables, 'M-.' immediately switches the
current window's buffer and position to the target 'defun' or
'defvar'.
* For symbols with more than one associated definition, say, generic
functions, the same 'M-.' finds all methods and presents these
results in separate window displaying a special '*sly-xref*' buffer
(*note Cross-referencing::).
File: sly.info, Node: Cross-referencing, Next: Completion, Prev: Finding definitions, Up: Common functionality
5.2 Cross-referencing
=====================
Finding and presenting the definition of a function is actually the most
elementary aspect of broader _cross-referencing_ facilities framework in
SLY. There are other types of questions about the source code relations
that you can ask the Lisp process.(1)
The following keybindings behave much like the 'M-.' keybinding
(*note Finding definitions::): when pressed as is they make a query
about the symbol at point, but with a 'C-u' prefix argument they prompt
the user for a symbol. Importantly, they always popup a transient
'*sly-xref*' buffer in a different window.
'M-?'
'M-x sly-edit-uses'
Find all the references to this symbol, whatever the type of that
reference.
'C-c C-w C-c'
'M-x sly-who-calls'
Show function callers.
'C-c C-w C-w'
'M-x sly-calls-who'
Show all known callees.
'C-c C-w C-r'
'M-x sly-who-references'
Show references to global variable.
'C-c C-w C-b'
'M-x sly-who-binds'
Show bindings of a global variable.
'C-c C-w C-s'
'M-x sly-who-sets'
Show assignments to a global variable.
'C-c C-w C-m'
'M-x sly-who-macroexpands'
Show expansions of a macro.
'M-x sly-who-specializes'
Show all known methods specialized on a class.
There are two further "List callers/callees" commands that operate by
rummaging through function objects on the heap at a low-level to
discover the call graph. They are only available with some Lisp
systems, and are most useful as a fallback when precise XREF information
is unavailable.
'C-c <'
'M-x sly-list-callers'
List callers of a function.
'C-c >'
'M-x sly-list-callees'
List callees of a function.
In the resulting '*sly-xref*' buffer, these commands are available:
'RET'
'M-x sly-show-xref'
Show definition at point in the other window. Do not leave the
'*sly-xref' buffer.
'Space'
'M-x sly-goto-xref'
Show definition at point in the other window and close the
'*sly-xref' buffer.
'C-c C-c'
'M-x sly-recompile-xref'
Recompile definition at point. Uses prefix arguments like
'sly-compile-defun'.
'C-c C-k'
'M-x sly-recompile-all-xrefs'
Recompile all definitions. Uses prefix arguments like
'sly-compile-defun'.
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) This depends on the underlying implementation of some of these
facilities: for systems with no built-in XREF support SLY queries a
portable XREF package, which is taken from the 'CMU AI Repository' and
bundled with SLY.
File: sly.info, Node: Completion, Next: Interactive objects, Prev: Cross-referencing, Up: Common functionality
5.3 Auto-completion
===================
Completion commands are used to complete a symbol or form based on what
is already present at point. Emacs has many completion mechanisms that
SLY tries to mimic as much as possible.
SLY provides two styles of completion. The choice between them
happens in the Emacs customization variable *note
sly-complete-symbol-function::, which can be set to two values, or
methods:
1. 'sly-flex-completions' This method is speculative. It assumes that
the letters you've already typed aren't necessarily an exact prefix
of the symbol you're thinking of. Therefore, any possible
completion that contains these letters, in the order that you have
typed them, is potentially a match. Completion matches are then
sorted according to a score that should reflect the probability
that you really meant that them.
Flex completion implies that the package-qualification needed to
access some symbols is automatically discovered for you. However,
to avoid searching too many symbols unnecessarily, this method
makes some minimal assumptions that you can override: it assumes,
for example, that you don't normally want to complete to fully
qualified internal symbols, but will do so if it finds two
consecutive colons ('::') in your initial pattern. Similarly, it
assumes that if you start a completion on a word starting ':', you
must mean a keyword (a symbol from the keyword package.)
Here are the top results for some typical searches.
CL-USER> (quiloa<TAB>) -> (ql:quickload)
CL-USER> (mvbind<TAB>) -> (multiple-value-bind)
CL-USER> (scan<TAB>) -> (ppcre:scan)
CL-USER> (p::scan<TAB>) -> (ppcre::scanner)
CL-USER> (setf locadirs<TAB>) -> (setf ql:*local-project-directories*)
CL-USER> foobar -> asdf:monolithic-binary-op
2. 'sly-simple-completions' This method uses "classical" completion on
an exact prefix. Although poorer, this is simpler, more
predictable and closer to the default Emacs completion method. You
type a prefix for a symbol reference and SLY let's you choose from
symbols whose beginnings match it exactly.
As an enhancement in SLY over Emacs' built-in completion styles, when
the '*sly-completions*' buffer pops up, some keybindings are momentarily
diverted to it:
'C-n'
'<down>'
'M-x sly-next-completion'
Select the next completion.
'C-p'
'<up>'
'M-x sly-prev-completion'
Select the previous completion.
'tab'
'RET'
'M-x sly-choose-completion'
Choose the currently selected completion and enter it at point.
As soon as the user selects a completion or gives up by pressing
'C-g' or moves out of the symbol being completed, the
'*sly-completions*' buffer is closed.
File: sly.info, Node: Interactive objects, Next: Documentation, Prev: Completion, Up: Common functionality
5.4 Interactive objects
=======================
In many buffers and modes in SLY, there are snippets of text that
represent objects "living" in the Lisp process connected to SLY. These
regions are known in SLY as interactive values or objects. You can tell
these objects from regular text by their distinct "face", is Emacs
parlance for text colour, or decoration. Another way to check if bit of
text is an interactive object is to hover above it with the mouse and
right-click ('<mouse-3>') it: a context menu will appear listing actions
that you can take on that object.
Depending on the mode, different actions may be active for different
types of objects. Actions can also be invoked using keybindings active
only when the cursor is on the button.
'M-RET, ``Copy to REPL'''
Copy the object to the main REPL (*note REPL output:: and *note
REPL backreferences::).
'M-S-RET, ``Copy call to REPL'''
An experimental feature. On some backtrace frames in the Debugger
(*note Debugger::) and Trace Dialog (*note Trace Dialog::), copy
the object to the main REPL. That’s _meta-shift-return_, by the
way, there’s no capital "S".
'.,''Go To Source'''
For function symbols, debugger frames, or traced function calls, go
to the Lisp source, much like with 'M-.'.
'v,''Show Source'''
For function symbols, debugger frames, or traced function calls,
show the Lisp source in another window, but don’t switch to it.
'p,''Pretty Print'''
Pretty print the object in a separate buffer, much like
'sly-pprint-eval-last-expression'.
'i,''Inspect'''
Inspect the object in a separate inspector buffer (*note
Inspector::).
'd,''Describe'''
Describe the object in a separate buffer using Lisp’s
'CL:DESCRIBE'.
File: sly.info, Node: Documentation, Next: Multiple connections, Prev: Interactive objects, Up: Common functionality
5.5 Documentation commands
==========================
SLY's online documentation commands follow the example of Emacs Lisp.
The commands all share the common prefix 'C-c C-d' and allow the final
key to be modified or unmodified (*note Keybindings::.)
'M-x sly-info'
This command should land you in an electronic version of this very
manual that you can read inside Emacs.
'C-c C-d C-d'
'M-x sly-describe-symbol'
Describe the symbol at point.
'C-c C-d C-f'
'M-x sly-describe-function'
Describe the function at point.
'C-c C-d C-a'
'M-x sly-apropos'
Perform an apropos search on Lisp symbol names for a regular
expression match and display their documentation strings. By
default the external symbols of all packages are searched. With a
prefix argument you can choose a specific package and whether to
include unexported symbols.
'C-c C-d C-z'
'M-x sly-apropos-all'
Like 'sly-apropos' but also includes internal symbols by default.
'C-c C-d C-p'
'M-x sly-apropos-package'
Show apropos results of all symbols in a package. This command is
for browsing a package at a high-level. With package-name
completion it also serves as a rudimentary Smalltalk-ish
image-browser.
'C-c C-d C-h'
'M-x sly-hyperspec-lookup'
Lookup the symbol at point in the 'Common Lisp Hyperspec'. This
uses the familiar 'hyperspec.el' to show the appropriate section in
a web browser. The Hyperspec is found either on the Web or in
'common-lisp-hyperspec-root', and the browser is selected by
'browse-url-browser-function'.
Note: this is one case where 'C-c C-d h' is _not_ the same as 'C-c
C-d C-h'.
'C-c C-d ~'
'M-x hyperspec-lookup-format'
Lookup a _format character_ in the 'Common Lisp Hyperspec'.
'C-c C-d #'
'M-x hyperspec-lookup-reader-macro'
Lookup a _reader macro_ in the 'Common Lisp Hyperspec'.
File: sly.info, Node: Multiple connections, Next: Disassembly, Prev: Documentation, Up: Common functionality
5.6 Multiple connections
========================
SLY is able to connect to multiple Lisp processes at the same time. The
'M-x sly' command, when invoked with a prefix argument, will offer to
create an additional Lisp process if one is already running. This is
often convenient, but it requires some understanding to make sure that
your SLY commands execute in the Lisp that you expect them to.
Some SLY buffers are tied to specific Lisp processes. It’s easy read
that from the buffer’s name which will usually be '*sly-<something> for
<connection>*', where 'connection' is the name of the connection.
Each Lisp connection has its own main REPL buffer (*note REPL::), and
all expressions entered or SLY commands invoked in that buffer are sent
to the associated connection. Other buffers created by SLY are
similarly tied to the connections they originate from, including SLY-DB
buffers (*note Debugger::), apropos result listings, and so on. These
buffers are the result of some interaction with a Lisp process, so
commands in them always go back to that same process.
Commands executed in other places, such as 'sly-mode' source buffers,
always use the "default" connection. Usually this is the most recently
established connection, but this can be reassigned via the "connection
list" buffer:
'C-c C-x c'
'M-x sly-list-connections'
Pop up a buffer listing the established connections.
'C-c C-x n'
'M-x sly-next-connection'
Switch to the next Lisp connection by cycling through all
connections.
'C-c C-x p'
'M-x sly-prev-connection'
Switch to the previous Lisp connection by cycling through all
connections.
The buffer displayed by 'sly-list-connections' gives a one-line
summary of each connection. The summary shows the connection's serial
number, the name of the Lisp implementation, and other details of the
Lisp process. The current "default" connection is indicated with an
asterisk.
The commands available in the connection-list buffer are:
'RET'
'M-x sly-goto-connection'
Pop to the REPL buffer of the connection at point.
'd'
'M-x sly-connection-list-make-default'
Make the connection at point the "default" connection. It will
then be used for commands in 'sly-mode' source buffers.
'g'
'M-x sly-update-connection-list'
Update the connection list in the buffer.
'q'
'M-x sly-temp-buffer-quit'
Quit the connection list (kill buffer, restore window
configuration).
'R'
'M-x sly-restart-connection-at-point'
Restart the Lisp process for the connection at point.
'M-x sly-connect'
Connect to a running Slynk server. With prefix argument, asks if
all connections should be closed first.
'M-x sly-disconnect'
Disconnect all connections.
'M-x sly-abort-connection'
Abort the current attempt to connect.
File: sly.info, Node: Disassembly, Next: Recovery, Prev: Multiple connections, Up: Common functionality
5.7 Disassembly commands
========================
'C-c M-d'
'M-x sly-disassemble-symbol'
Disassemble the function definition of the symbol at point.
'C-c C-t'
'M-x sly-toggle-trace-fdefinition'
Toggle tracing of the function at point. If invoked with a prefix
argument, read additional information, like which particular method
should be traced.
'M-x sly-untrace-all'
Untrace all functions.
File: sly.info, Node: Recovery, Next: Temporary buffers, Prev: Disassembly, Up: Common functionality
5.8 Abort/Recovery commands
===========================
'C-c C-b'
'M-x sly-interrupt'
Interrupt Lisp (send 'SIGINT').
'M-x sly-restart-inferior-lisp'
Restart the 'inferior-lisp' process.
'C-c ~'
'M-x sly-mrepl-sync'
Synchronize the current package and working directory from Emacs to
Lisp.
'M-x sly-cd'
Set the current directory of the Lisp process. This also changes
the current directory of the REPL buffer.
'M-x sly-pwd'
Print the current directory of the Lisp process.
File: sly.info, Node: Temporary buffers, Next: Multi-threading, Prev: Recovery, Up: Common functionality
5.9 Temporary buffers
=====================
Some SLY commands create temporary buffers to display their results.
Although these buffers usually have their own special-purpose
major-modes, certain conventions are observed throughout.
Temporary buffers can be dismissed by pressing 'q'. This kills the
buffer and restores the window configuration as it was before the buffer
was displayed. Temporary buffers can also be killed with the usual
commands like 'kill-buffer', in which case the previous window
configuration won't be restored.
Pressing 'RET' is supposed to "do the most obvious useful thing."
For instance, in an apropos buffer this prints a full description of the
symbol at point, and in an XREF buffer it displays the source code for
the reference at point. This convention is inherited from Emacs's own
buffers for apropos listings, compilation results, etc.
Temporary buffers containing Lisp symbols use 'sly-mode' in addition
to any special mode of their own. This makes the usual SLY commands
available for describing symbols, looking up function definitions, and
so on.
Initial focus of those "description" buffers depends on the variable
'sly-description-autofocus'. If 'nil' (the default), description
buffers do not receive focus automatically, and vice versa.
File: sly.info, Node: Multi-threading, Prev: Temporary buffers, Up: Common functionality
5.10 Multi-threading
====================
If the Lisp system supports multi-threading, SLY spawns a new thread for
each request, e.g., 'C-x C-e' creates a new thread to evaluate the
expression. An exception to this rule are requests from the REPL: all
commands entered in the REPL buffer are evaluated in a dedicated REPL
thread.
You can see a listing of the threads for the current connection with
the command 'M-x sly-list-threads', or 'C-c C-x t'. This pops open a
'*sly-threads*' buffer, where some keybindings to control threads are
active, if you know what you are doing. The most useful is probably 'k'
to kill a thread, but type 'C-h m' in that buffer to get a full listing.
Some complications arise with multi-threading and special variables.
Non-global special bindings are thread-local, e.g., changing the value
of a let bound special variable in one thread has no effect on the
binding of the variables with the same name in other threads. This
makes it sometimes difficult to change the printer or reader behaviour
for new threads. The variable 'slynk:*default-worker-thread-bindings*'
was introduced for such situations: instead of modifying the global
value of a variable, add a binding the
'slynk:*default-worker-thread-bindings*'. E.g., with the following
code, new threads will read floating point values as doubles by default:
(push '(*read-default-float-format* . double-float)
slynk:*default-worker-thread-bindings*).
File: sly.info, Node: The REPL and other special buffers, Next: Customization, Prev: Common functionality, Up: Top
6 The REPL and other special buffers
************************************
* Menu:
* REPL::
* Inspector::
* Debugger::
* Trace Dialog::
* Stickers::
File: sly.info, Node: REPL, Next: Inspector, Up: The REPL and other special buffers
6.1 The REPL: the "top level"
=============================
SLY uses a custom Read-Eval-Print Loop (REPL, also known as a "top
level", or listener):
* Conditions signalled in REPL expressions are debugged with the
integrated SLY debugger.
* Return values are interactive values (*note Interactive objects::)
distinguished from printed output by separate Emacs faces (colors).
* Output from the Lisp process is inserted in the right place, and
doesn't get mixed up with user input.
* Multiple REPLs are possible in the same Lisp connection. This is
useful for performing quick one-off experiments in different
packages or directories without disturbing the state of an existing
REPL.
* The REPL is a central hub for much of SLY's functionality, since
objects examined in the inspector (*note Inspector::), debugger
(*note Debugger::), and other extensions can be returned there.
Switching to the REPL from anywhere in a SLY buffer is a very common
task. One way to do it is to find the '*sly-mrepl...*' buffer in
Emacs’s buffer list, but there are other ways to reach a REPL.
'C-c C-z'
'M-x sly-mrepl'
Start or select an existing main REPL buffer.
'M-x sly-mrepl-new'
Start a new secondary REPL session, prompting for a nickname.
'C-c ~'
'M-x sly-mrepl-sync'
Go to the REPL, switching package and default directory as
applicable. More precisely the Lisp variables '*package*' and
'*default-pathname-defaults*' are affected by the location where
the command was issued. In a specific position of a '.lisp' file,
for instance the current package and that file’s directory are
chosen.
* Menu:
* REPL commands::
* REPL output::
* REPL backreferences::
File: sly.info, Node: REPL commands, Next: REPL output, Up: REPL
6.1.1 REPL commands
-------------------
'RET'
'M-x sly-mrepl-return'
Evaluate the expression at prompt and return the result.
'TAB'
'M-x sly-mrepl-indent-and-complete-symbol'
Indent the current line. If line already indented complete the
symbol at point (*note Completion::). If there is not symbol at
point show the argument list of the most recently enclosed function
or macro in the minibuffer.
'M-p'
'M-x sly-mrepl-previous-input-or-button'
When at the current prompt, fetches previous input from the
history, otherwise jumps to the previous interactive value (*note
Interactive objects::) representing a Lisp object.
'M-n'
'M-x sly-mrepl-next-input-or-button'
When at the current prompt, fetches next input from the history,
otherwise jumps to the previous interactive value representing a
Lisp object.
'C-r'
'M-x isearch-backward'
This regular Emacs keybinding, when invoked at the current REPL
prompt, starts a special transient mode turning the prompt into the
string "History-isearch backward". While in this mode, the user
can compose a string used to search backwards through history, and
reverse the direction of search by pressing 'C-s'. When invoked
outside the current REPL prompt, does a normal text search through
the buffer contents.
'C-c C-b'
'M-x sly-interrupt'
Interrupts the current thread of the inferior-lisp process.
For convenience this function is also bound to 'C-c C-c'.
'C-M-p'
'M-x sly-button-backward'
Jump to the previous interactive value representing a Lisp object.
'C-M-n'
'M-x sly-button-forward'
Jump to the next interactive value representing a Lisp object.
'C-c C-o'
'M-x sly-mrepl-clear-recent-output'
Clear output between current and last REPL prompts, keeping
results.
'C-c M-o'
'M-x sly-mrepl-clear-repl'
Clear the whole REPL of output and results.
File: sly.info, Node: REPL output, Next: REPL backreferences, Prev: REPL commands, Up: REPL
6.1.2 REPL output
-----------------
REPLs wouldn’t be much use if they just took user input and didn’t print
anything back. In SLY the output printed to the REPL can come from four
different places:
* A function’s return values. One line per return value is printed.
Each line of printed text, called a REPL result, persists after
more expressions are evaluated, and is actually a button (*note
Interactive objects::) presenting the Lisp-side object. You can,
for instance, inspect it (*note Inspector::) or re-return it to
right before the current command prompt so that you may conjure it
up again, as usual in Lisp REPLs, with the special variable '*'.
In the SLY REPL, in addition to the '*', '**' and '***' special
variables, return values can also be accessed through a special
backreference (*note REPL backreferences::).
* An object may be copied to the REPL from some other part in SLY,
such as the Inspector (*note Inspector::), Debugger (*note
Debugger::), etc. using the familiar 'M-RET' binding, or by
selecting "Copy to REPL" from the context menu of an interactive
object. Aside from not having been produced by the evaluation of a
Lisp form in the REPL, these objects behaves exactly like a REPL
result.
* The characters printed to the standard Lisp streams
'*standard-output*', '*error-output*' and '*trace-output*' as a
_synchronous_ and direct result of the evaluation of an expression
in the REPL.
* The characters printed to the standard Lisp streams
'*standard-output*', '*error-output*' and '*trace-output*' printed,
perhaps _asynchronously_, from others threads, for instance. This
feature is optional and controlled by the variable
'SLYNK:*GLOBALLY-REDIRECT-IO*'.
For advanced users, there are some Lisp-side Slynk variables affecting
the way Slynk transmits REPL output to SLY.
'SLYNK:*GLOBALLY-REDIRECT-IO*'
This variable controls the global redirection of the the standard
streams ('*standard-output*', etc) to the REPL in Emacs. The
default value is ':started-from-emacs', which means that
redirection should only take place upon 'M-x sly' invocations.
When 't', global redirection happens even for sessions started with
'M-x sly-connect', meaning output may be diverted from wherever you
started the Lisp server originally.
When 'NIL' these streams are only temporarily redirected to Emacs
using dynamic bindings while handling requests, meaning you only
see output caused by the commands you issued to the REPL.
Note that '*standard-input*' is currently never globally redirected
into Emacs, because it can interact badly with the Lisp's native
REPL by having it try to read from the Emacs one.
Also note that secondary REPLs (those started with 'sly-mrepl-new')
don’t receive any redirected output.
'SLYNK:*USE-DEDICATED-OUTPUT-STREAM*'
This variable controls whether to use a separate socket solely for
Lisp to send printed output to Emacs through, which is more
efficient than sending the output in protocol messages to Emacs.
The default value is ':started-from-emacs', which means that the
socket should only be established upon 'M-x sly' invocations. When
't', it's established even for sessions started with 'M-x
sly-connect'. When 'NIL' usual protocol messages are used for
sending input to the REPL.
Notice that using a dedicated output stream makes it more difficult
to communicate to a Lisp running on a remote host via SSH (*note
Connecting to a remote Lisp::). If you connect via 'M-x
sly-connect', the default ':started-from-emacs' value should ensure
this isn't a problem.
'SLYNK:*DEDICATED-OUTPUT-STREAM-PORT*'
When '*USE-DEDICATED-OUTPUT-STREAM*' is 't' the stream will be
opened on this port. The default value, '0', means that the stream
will be opened on some random port.
'SLYNK:*DEDICATED-OUTPUT-STREAM-BUFFERING*'
For efficiency, some Lisps backends wait until a certain conditions
are met in a Lisp character stream before flushing that stream’s
contents, thus sending it to the SLY REPL. Be advised that this
sometimes works poorly on some implementations, so it’s probably
best to leave alone. Possible values are 'nil' (no buffering), 't'
(enable buffering) or ':line' (enable buffering on EOL)
File: sly.info, Node: REPL backreferences, Prev: REPL output, Up: REPL
6.1.3 REPL backreferences
-------------------------
In a regular Lisp REPL, the objects produced by evaluating expressions
at the command prompt can usually be referenced in future commands using
the special variables '*', '**' and '***'. This is also true of the SLY
REPL, but it also provides a different way to re-conjure these objects
through a special Lisp reader macro character available only in the
REPL. The macro character, which is '#v' by default takes, in a terse
syntax, two indexes specifying the precise objects in all of the SLY
REPL’s recorded history.
Consider this fragment of a REPL session:
; Cleared REPL history
CL-USER> (values 'a 'b 'c)
A
B
C
CL-USER> (list #v0)
(A)
CL-USER> (list #v0:1 #v0:2)
(B C)
CL-USER> (append #v1:0 #v2:0)
(A B C)
CL-USER>
Admittedly, while useful, this doesn’t seem terribly easy to use at
first sight. There are a couple of reasons, however, that should make
it worth considering:
* Backreference annotation and highlighting
As soon as the SLY REPL detects that you have pressed '#v', all the
REPL results that can possibly be referenced are temporarily
annotated on their left with two special numbers. These numbers
are in the syntax accepted by the '#v' macro-character, namely
'#vENTRY-IDX:VALUE-IDX'.
Furthermore, as soon as you type a number for 'ENTRY-IDX', only
that entries values remain highlighted. Then, as you finish the
entry with 'VALUE-IDX', only that exact object remains highlighted.
If you make a mistake (say, by typing a letter or an invalid
number) while composing '#v' syntax, SLY lets you know by painting
the backreference red.
Highlighting also happens when you place the cursor over existing
valid '#v' expressions.
* Returning functions calls
An experimental feature in SLY allows copying _function calls_ to
the REPL from the Debugger (*note Debugger::) and the Trace Dialog
(*note Trace Dialog::). In those buffers, pressing keybinding
'M-S-RET' over objects that represent function calls will copy the
_call_, and not the object, to the REPL. This works by first
copying over the argument objects in order to the REPL results, and
then composing an input line that includes the called function's
name and backreferences to those arguments (*note REPL
backreferences::).
Naturally, this call isn't _exactly_ the same because it doesn’t
evaluate in the same dynamic environment as the original one. But
it's a useful debug technique because backreferences are stable
(1), so repeating that very same function call with the very same
arguments is just a matter of textually copying the previous
expression into the command prompt, no matter how far ago it
happened. And that, in turn, is as easy as using 'C-r' and some
characters (*note REPL commands::) to arrive and repeat the desired
REPL history entry.
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) until you clear the REPL’s output, that is
File: sly.info, Node: Inspector, Next: Debugger, Prev: REPL, Up: The REPL and other special buffers
6.2 The Inspector
=================
The SLY inspector is a Emacs-based alternative to the standard 'INSPECT'
function. The inspector presents objects in Emacs buffers using a
combination of plain text, hyperlinks to related objects.
The inspector can easily be specialized for the objects in your own
programs. For details see the 'inspect-for-emacs' generic function in
'slynk-backend.lisp'.
'C-c I'
'M-x sly-inspect'
Inspect the value of an expression entered in the minibuffer.
The standard commands available in the inspector are:
'RET'
'M-x sly-inspector-operate-on-point'
If point is on a value then recursively call the inspector on that
value. If point is on an action then call that action.
'D'
'M-x sly-inspector-describe-inspectee'
Describe the slot at point.
'e'
'M-x sly-inspector-eval'
Evaluate an expression in the context of the inspected object. The
variable '*' will be bound to the inspected object.
'v'
'M-x sly-inspector-toggle-verbose'
Toggle between verbose and terse mode. Default is determined by
'slynk:*inspector-verbose*'.
'l'
'M-x sly-inspector-pop'
Go back to the previous object (return from 'RET').
'n'
'M-x sly-inspector-next'
The inverse of 'l'. Also bound to 'SPC'.
'g'
'M-x sly-inspector-reinspect'
Reinspect.
'h'
'M-x sly-inspector-history'
Show the previously inspected objects.
'q'
'M-x sly-inspector-quit'
Dismiss the inspector buffer.
'>'
'M-x sly-inspector-fetch-all'
Fetch all inspector contents and go to the end.
'M-RET'
'M-x sly-mrepl-copy-part-to-repl'
Store the value under point in the variable '*'. This can then be
used to access the object in the REPL.
'TAB, M-x forward-button'
'S-TAB, M-x backward-button'
Jump to the next and previous inspectable object respectively.
File: sly.info, Node: Debugger, Next: Trace Dialog, Prev: Inspector, Up: The REPL and other special buffers
6.3 The SLY-DB Debugger
=======================
SLY has a custom Emacs-based debugger called SLY-DB. Conditions
signalled in the Lisp system invoke SLY-DB in Emacs by way of the Lisp
'*DEBUGGER-HOOK*'.
SLY-DB pops up a buffer when a condition is signalled. The buffer
displays a description of the condition, a list of restarts, and a
backtrace. Commands are offered for invoking restarts, examining the
backtrace, and poking around in stack frames.
* Menu:
* Examining frames::
* Restarts::
* Frame Navigation::
* Miscellaneous::
File: sly.info, Node: Examining frames, Next: Restarts, Up: Debugger
6.3.1 Examining frames
----------------------
Commands for examining the stack frame at point.
't'
'M-x sly-db-toggle-details'
Toggle display of local variables and 'CATCH' tags.
'v'
'M-x sly-db-show-frame-source'
View the frame's current source expression. The expression is
presented in the Lisp source file's buffer.
'e'
'M-x sly-db-eval-in-frame'
Evaluate an expression in the frame. The expression can refer to
the available local variables in the frame.
'd'
'M-x sly-db-pprint-eval-in-frame'
Evaluate an expression in the frame and pretty-print the result in
a temporary buffer.
'D'
'M-x sly-db-disassemble'
Disassemble the frame's function. Includes information such as the
instruction pointer within the frame.
'i'
'M-x sly-db-inspect-in-frame'
Inspect the result of evaluating an expression in the frame.
'C-c C-c'
'M-x sly-db-recompile-frame-source'
Recompile frame. 'C-u C-c C-c' for recompiling with maximum debug
settings.
File: sly.info, Node: Restarts, Next: Frame Navigation, Prev: Examining frames, Up: Debugger
6.3.2 Invoking restarts
-----------------------
'a'
'M-x sly-db-abort'
Invoke the 'ABORT' restart.
'q'
'M-x sly-db-quit'
"Quit" - For SLY evaluation requests, invoke a restart which
restores to a known program state. For errors in other threads,
*Note *SLY-DB-QUIT-RESTART*::.
'c'
'M-x sly-db-continue'
Invoke the 'CONTINUE' restart.
'0 ... 9'
'M-x sly-db-invoke-restart-n'
Invoke a restart by number.
Restarts can also be invoked by pressing 'RET' or 'Mouse-2' on them
in the buffer.
File: sly.info, Node: Frame Navigation, Next: Miscellaneous, Prev: Restarts, Up: Debugger
6.3.3 Navigating between frames
-------------------------------
'n, M-x sly-db-down'
'p, M-x sly-db-up'
Move between frames.
'M-n, M-x sly-db-details-down'
'M-p, M-x sly-db-details-up'
Move between frames "with sugar": hide the details of the original
frame and display the details and source code of the next. Sugared
motion makes you see the details and source code for the current
frame only.
'>'
'M-x sly-db-end-of-backtrace'
Fetch the entire backtrace and go to the last frame.
'<'
'M-x sly-db-beginning-of-backtrace'
Go to the first frame.
File: sly.info, Node: Miscellaneous, Prev: Frame Navigation, Up: Debugger
6.3.4 Miscellaneous Commands
----------------------------
'r'
'M-x sly-db-restart-frame'
Restart execution of the frame with the same arguments it was
originally called with. (This command is not available in all
implementations.)
'R'
'M-x sly-db-return-from-frame'
Return from the frame with a value entered in the minibuffer.
(This command is not available in all implementations.)
'B'
'M-x sly-db-break-with-default-debugger'
Exit SLY-DB and debug the condition using the Lisp system's default
debugger.
'C'
'M-x sly-db-inspect-condition'
Inspect the condition currently being debugged.
':'
'M-x sly-interactive-eval'
Evaluate an expression entered in the minibuffer.
'A'
'M-x sly-db-break-with-system-debugger'
Attach debugger (e.g. gdb) to the current lisp process.
File: sly.info, Node: Trace Dialog, Next: Stickers, Prev: Debugger, Up: The REPL and other special buffers
6.4 Trace Dialog
================
The SLY Trace Dialog, in package 'sly-trace-dialog', is a tracing
facility, similar to Common Lisp's 'trace', but interactive rather than
purely textual.
You use it just like you would regular 'trace': after tracing a
function, calling it causes interesting information about that
particular call to be reported.
However, instead of printing the trace results to the the
'*trace-output*' stream (usually the REPL), the SLY Trace Dialog
collects and stores them in your Lisp environment until, on user's
request, they are fetched into Emacs and displayed in a dialog-like
interactive view.
After starting up SLY, SLY's Trace Dialog installs a _Trace_ menu in
the menu-bar of any 'sly-mode' buffer and adds two new commands, with
respective key-bindings:
'C-c C-t'
'M-x sly-trace-dialog-toggle-trace'
If point is on a symbol name, toggle tracing of its function
definition. If point is not on a symbol, prompt user for a
function.
With a 'C-u' prefix argument, and if your lisp implementation
allows it, attempt to decipher lambdas, methods and other
complicated function signatures.
The function is traced for the SLY Trace Dialog only, i.e. it is
not found in the list returned by Common Lisp's 'trace'.
'C-c T'
'M-x sly-trace-dialog'
Pop to the interactive Trace Dialog buffer associated with the
current connection (*note Multiple connections::).
Consider the (useless) program:
(defun foo (n) (if (plusp n) (* n (bar (1- n))) 1))
(defun bar (n) (if (plusp n) (* n (foo (1- n))) 1))
After tracing both 'foo' and 'bar' with 'C-c M-t', calling call '(foo
2)' and moving to the trace dialog with 'C-c T', we are presented with
this buffer.
Traced specs (2) [refresh]
[untrace all]
[untrace] common-lisp-user::bar
[untrace] common-lisp-user::foo
Trace collection status (3/3) [refresh]
[clear]
0 - common-lisp-user::foo
| > 2
| < 2
1 `--- common-lisp-user::bar
| > 1
| < 1
2 `-- common-lisp-user::foo
> 0
< 1
The dialog is divided into sections displaying the functions already
traced, the trace collection progress and the actual trace tree that
follow your program's logic. The most important key-bindings in this
buffer are:
'g'
'M-x sly-trace-dialog-fetch-status'
Update information on the trace collection and traced specs.
'G'
'M-x sly-trace-dialog-fetch-traces'
Fetch the next batch of outstanding (not fetched yet) traces. With
a 'C-u' prefix argument, repeat until no more outstanding traces.
'C-k'
'M-x sly-trace-dialog-clear-fetched-traces'
Prompt for confirmation, then clear all traces, both fetched and
outstanding.
The arguments and return values below each entry are interactive
buttons. Clicking them opens the inspector (*note Inspector::).
Invoking 'M-RET' ('sly-trace-dialog-copy-down-to-repl') returns them to
the REPL for manipulation (*note REPL::). The number left of each entry
indicates its absolute position in the calling order, which might differ
from display order in case multiple threads call the same traced
function.
'sly-trace-dialog-hide-details-mode' hides arguments and return
values so you can concentrate on the calling logic. Additionally,
'sly-trace-dialog-autofollow-mode' will automatically display additional
detail about an entry when the cursor moves over it.
File: sly.info, Node: Stickers, Prev: Trace Dialog, Up: The REPL and other special buffers
6.5 Stickers
============
SLY Stickers, implemented as the 'sly-stickers' contrib (*note
Extensions::), is a tool for "live" code annotations. It's an
alternative to the 'print' or 'break' statements you add to your code
when debugging.
Contrary to these techniques, "stickers" are non-intrusive, meaning
that saving your file doesn't save your debug code along with it.
Here's the general workflow:
* In Lisp source files, using 'C-c C-s C-s' or 'M-x
sly-stickers-dwim' places a sticker on any Lisp form. Stickers can
exist inside other stickers.
[image src="images/stickers-1-placed-stickers.png" ]
* Stickers are "armed" when a definition or a file is compiled with
the familiar 'C-c C-c' ('M-x sly-compile-defun') or 'C-c C-k' ('M-x
sly-compile-file') commands. An armed sticker changes color from
the default grey background to a blue background.
[image src="images/stickers-2-armed-stickers.png" ]
From this point on, when the Lisp code is executed, the results of
evaluating the underlying forms are captured in the Lisp side. Stickers
help you examine your program's behaviour in three ways:
1. 'C-c C-s C-r' (or 'M-x sly-stickers-replay') interactively walks
the user through recordings in the order that they occurred. In
the created '*sly-stickers-replay*' buffer, type 'h' for a list of
keybindings active in that buffer.
[image src="images/stickers-3-replay-stickers.png" ]
2. To step through stickers as your code is executed, ensure that
"breaking stickers" are enabled via 'M-x
sly-stickers-toggle-break-on-stickers'. Whenever a sticker-covered
expression is reached, the debugger comes up with useful restarts
and interactive for the values produced. You can tweak this
behaviour by setting the Lisp-side variable
'SLYNK-STICKERS:*BREAK-ON-STICKERS*' to a list with the elements
':before' and ':after', making SLY break before a sticker, after
it, or both.
[image src="images/stickers-4-breaking-stickers.png" ]
3. 'C-c C-s S' ('M-x sly-stickers-fetch') populates the sticker
overlay with the latest captured results, called "recordings". If
a sticker has captured any recordings, it will turn green,
otherwise it will turn red. A sticker whose Lisp expression has
caused a non-local exit, will be also be marked with a special
face.
[image src="images/stickers-5-fetch-recordings.png" ]
At any point, stickers can be removed with the same
'sly-stickers-dwim' keybinding, by placing the cursor at the beginning
of a sticker. Additionally adding prefix arguments to
'sly-stickers-dwim' increase its scope, so 'C-u C-c C-s C-s' will remove
all stickers from the current function and 'C-u C-u C-c C-s C-s' will
remove all stickers from the current file.
Stickers can be nested inside other stickers, so it is possible to
record the value of an expression inside another expression which is
also annotated.
Stickers are interactive parts just like any other part in SLY that
represents Lisp-side objects, so they can be inspected and returned to
the REPL, for example. To move through the stickers with the keyboard
use the existing keybindings to move through compilation notes ('M-p'
and 'M-n') or use 'C-c C-s p' and 'C-c C-s n'
('sly-stickers-prev-sticker' and 'sly-stickers-next-sticker').
There are some caveats when using SLY Stickers:
* Stickers on unevaluated forms (such as 'let' variable bindings, or
other constructs) are rejected, though the function is still
compiled as usual. To let the user know about this, these stickers
remain grey, and are marked as "disarmed". A message also appears
in the echo area.
* Stickers placed on expressions inside backquoted expressions in
macros are always armed, even though they may come to provoke a
runtime error when the macro's expansion is run. Think of this
when setting a sticker inside a macro definition.
File: sly.info, Node: Customization, Next: Tips and Tricks, Prev: The REPL and other special buffers, Up: Top
7 Customization
***************
* Menu:
* Emacs-side::
* Lisp-side customization::
File: sly.info, Node: Emacs-side, Next: Lisp-side customization, Up: Customization
7.1 Emacs-side
==============
* Menu:
* Keybindings::
* Keymaps::
* Defcustom variables::
* Hooks::
File: sly.info, Node: Keybindings, Next: Keymaps, Up: Emacs-side
7.1.1 Keybindings
-----------------
In general we try to make our key bindings fit with the overall Emacs
style.
We never bind 'C-h' anywhere in a key sequence. This is because
Emacs has a built-in default so that typing a prefix followed by 'C-h'
will display all bindings starting with that prefix, so 'C-c C-d C-h'
will actually list the bindings for all documentation commands. This
feature is just a bit too useful to clobber!
"Are you deliberately spiting Emacs's brilliant online help
facilities? The gods will be angry!"
This is a brilliant piece of advice. The Emacs online help facilities
are your most immediate, up-to-date and complete resource for keybinding
information. They are your friends:
'C-h k <key>'
'describe-key' "What does this key do?"
Describes current function bound to '<key>' for focus buffer.
'C-h b'
'describe-bindings' "Exactly what bindings are available?"
Lists the current key-bindings for the focus buffer.
'C-h m'
'describe-mode' "Tell me all about this mode"
Shows all the available major mode keys, then the minor mode keys,
for the modes of the focus buffer.
'C-h l'
'view-lossage' "Woah, what key chord did I just do?"
Shows you the literal sequence of keys you've pressed in order.
For example, you can add one of the following to your Emacs init file
(usually '~/.emacs' or '~/.emacs.d/init.el', but *note Init File:
(emacs)Init File.).
(eval-after-load 'sly
`(define-key sly-prefix-map (kbd "M-h") 'sly-documentation-lookup))
SLY comes bundled with many extensions (called "contribs" for
historical reasons, *note Extensions::) which you can customize just
like SLY's code. To make 'C-c C-c' clear the last REPL prompt's output,
for example, use
(eval-after-load 'sly-mrepl
`(define-key sly-mrepl-mode-map (kbd "C-c C-k")
'sly-mrepl-clear-recent-output))
File: sly.info, Node: Keymaps, Next: Defcustom variables, Prev: Keybindings, Up: Emacs-side
7.1.2 Keymaps
-------------
Emacs’s keybindings "live" in keymap variables. To customize a
particular binding and keep it from trampling on other important keys
you should do it in one of SLY's keymaps. The following non-exhaustive
list of SLY-related keymaps is just a reference: the manual will go over
each associated functionality in detail.
'sly-doc-map'
Keymap for documentation commands (*note Documentation::) in
SLY-related buffers, accessible by the 'C-c C-d' prefix.
'sly-who-map'
Keymap for cross-referencing ("who-calls") commands (*note
Cross-referencing::) in SLY-related buffers, accessible by the 'C-c
C-w' prefix.
'sly-selector-map'
A keymap for SLY-related functionality that should be available in
globally in all Emacs buffers (not just SLY-related buffers).
'sly-mode-map'
A keymap for functionality available in all SLY-related buffers.
'sly-editing-mode-map'
A keymap for SLY functionality available in Lisp source files.
'sly-popup-buffer-mode-map'
A keymap for functionality available in the temporary "popup"
buffers that SLY displays (*note Temporary buffers::)
'sly-apropos-mode-map'
A keymap for functionality available in the temporary SLY "apropos"
buffers (*note Documentation::).
'sly-xref-mode-map'
A keymap for functionality available in the temporary 'xref'
buffers used by cross-referencing commands (*note
Cross-referencing::).
'sly-macroexpansion-minor-mode-map'
A keymap for functionality available in the temporary buffers used
for macroexpansion presentation (*note Macro-expansion::).
'sly-db-mode-map'
A keymap for functionality available in the debugger buffers used
to debug errors in the Lisp process (*note Debugger::).
'sly-thread-control-mode-map'
A keymap for functionality available in the SLY buffers dedicated
to controlling Lisp threads (*note Multi-threading::).
'sly-connection-list-mode-map'
A keymap for functionality available in the SLY buffers dedicated
to managing multiple Lisp connections (*note Multiple
connections::).
'sly-inspector-mode-map'
A keymap for functionality available in the SLY buffers dedicated
to inspecting Lisp objects (*note Inspector::).
'sly-mrepl-mode-map'
A keymap for functionality available in SLY’s REPL buffers (*note
REPL::).
'sly-trace-dialog-mode-map'
A keymap for functionality available in SLY’s "Trace Dialog"
buffers (*note Trace Dialog::).
File: sly.info, Node: Defcustom variables, Next: Hooks, Prev: Keymaps, Up: Emacs-side
7.1.3 Defcustom variables
-------------------------
The Emacs part of SLY can be configured with the Emacs 'customize'
system, just use 'M-x customize-group sly RET'. Because the customize
system is self-describing, we only cover a few important or obscure
configuration options here in the manual.
'sly-truncate-lines'
The value to use for 'truncate-lines' in line-by-line summary
buffers popped up by SLY. This is 't' by default, which ensures
that lines do not wrap in backtraces, apropos listings, and so on.
It can however cause information to spill off the screen.
'sly-complete-symbol-function'
The function to use for completion of Lisp symbols. Two completion
styles are available: 'sly-simple-completions' and
'sly-flex-completions' (*note Completion::).
'sly-filename-translations'
This variable controls filename translation between Emacs and the
Lisp system. It is useful if you run Emacs and Lisp on separate
machines which don't share a common file system or if they share
the filesystem but have different layouts, as is the case with
SMB-based file sharing.
'sly-net-coding-system'
If you want to transmit Unicode characters between Emacs and the
Lisp system, you should customize this variable. E.g., if you use
SBCL, you can set:
(setq sly-net-coding-system 'utf-8-unix)
To actually display Unicode characters you also need appropriate
fonts, otherwise the characters will be rendered as hollow boxes.
If you are using Allegro CL and GNU Emacs, you can also use
'emacs-mule-unix' as coding system. GNU Emacs has often nicer
fonts for the latter encoding. (Different encodings can be used
for different Lisps, see *note Multiple Lisps::.)
'sly-keep-buffers-on-connection-close'
This variable holds a list of keywords indicating SLY buffer types
that should be kept around when a connection closes. For example,
if the variable's value includes ':mrepl' (which is the default),
REPL buffer is kept around while all other stale buffers (debugger,
inspector, etc..) are automatically killed.
The following customization variables affect the behaviour of the
REPL (*note REPL::):
'sly-mrepl-shortcut'
The key to use to trigger the REPL's "comma shortcut". We
recommend you keep the default setting which is the comma (',')
key, since there's special logic in the REPL to discern if you're
typing a comma inside a backquoted list or not.
'sly-mrepl-prompt-formatter'
Holds a function that can be set from your Emacs init file (*note
Init File: (emacs)Init File.) to change the way the prompt is
rendered. It takes a number of arguments describing the prompt and
should return a propertized Elisp string. See the default value,
'sly-mrepl-default-prompt', for how to implement such a prompt.
'sly-mrepl-history-file-name'
Holds a string designating the file to use for keeping the shared
REPL histories persistently. The default is to use a hidden file
named '.sly-mrepl-history' in the user's home directory.
'sly-mrepl-prevent-duplicate-history'
A symbol. If non-nil, prevent duplicate entries in input history.
If the non-nil value is the symbol 'move', the previously occuring
entry is moved to a more recent spot.
'sly-mrepl-eli-like-history-navigation'
If non-NIL, navigate history like in ELI, Franz's Common Lisp IDE
for Emacs.
File: sly.info, Node: Hooks, Prev: Defcustom variables, Up: Emacs-side
7.1.4 Hooks
-----------
'sly-mode-hook'
This hook is run each time a buffer enters 'sly-mode'. It is most
useful for setting buffer-local configuration in your Lisp source
buffers. An example use is to enable 'sly-autodoc-mode' (*note
Autodoc::).
'sly-connected-hook'
This hook is run when SLY establishes a connection to a Lisp
server. An example use is to pop to a new REPL.
'sly-db-hook'
This hook is run after SLY-DB is invoked. The hook functions are
called from the SLY-DB buffer after it is initialized. An example
use is to add 'sly-db-print-condition' to this hook, which makes
all conditions debugged with SLY-DB be recorded in the REPL buffer.
File: sly.info, Node: Lisp-side customization, Prev: Emacs-side, Up: Customization
7.2 Lisp-side (Slynk)
=====================
The Lisp server side of SLY (known as "Slynk") offers several variables
to configure. The initialization file '~/.slynk.lisp' is automatically
evaluated at startup and can be used to set these variables.
* Menu:
* Communication style::
* Other configurables::
File: sly.info, Node: Communication style, Next: Other configurables, Up: Lisp-side customization
7.2.1 Communication style
-------------------------
The most important configurable is 'SLYNK:*COMMUNICATION-STYLE*', which
specifies the mechanism by which Lisp reads and processes protocol
messages from Emacs. The choice of communication style has a global
influence on SLY's operation.
The available communication styles are:
'NIL'
This style simply loops reading input from the communication socket
and serves SLY protocol events as they arise. The simplicity means
that the Lisp cannot do any other processing while under SLY's
control.
':FD-HANDLER'
This style uses the classical Unix-style "'select()'-loop." Slynk
registers the communication socket with an event-dispatching
framework (such as 'SERVE-EVENT' in CMUCL and SBCL) and receives a
callback when data is available. In this style requests from Emacs
are only detected and processed when Lisp enters the event-loop.
This style is simple and predictable.
':SIGIO'
This style uses "signal-driven I/O" with a 'SIGIO' signal handler.
Lisp receives requests from Emacs along with a signal, causing it
to interrupt whatever it is doing to serve the request. This style
has the advantage of responsiveness, since Emacs can perform
operations in Lisp even while it is busy doing other things. It
also allows Emacs to issue requests concurrently, e.g. to send one
long-running request (like compilation) and then interrupt that
with several short requests before it completes. The disadvantages
are that it may conflict with other uses of 'SIGIO' by Lisp code,
and it may cause untold havoc by interrupting Lisp at an awkward
moment.
':SPAWN'
This style uses multiprocessing support in the Lisp system to
execute each request in a separate thread. This style has similar
properties to ':SIGIO', but it does not use signals and all
requests issued by Emacs can be executed in parallel.
The default request handling style is chosen according to the
capabilities of your Lisp system. The general order of preference is
':SPAWN', then ':SIGIO', then ':FD-HANDLER', with 'NIL' as a last
resort. You can check the default style by calling
'SLYNK-BACKEND::PREFERRED-COMMUNICATION-STYLE'. You can also override
the default by setting 'SLYNK:*COMMUNICATION-STYLE*' in your Slynk init
file (*note Lisp-side customization::).
File: sly.info, Node: Other configurables, Prev: Communication style, Up: Lisp-side customization
7.2.2 Other configurables
-------------------------
These Lisp variables can be configured via your '~/.slynk.lisp' file:
'SLYNK:*CONFIGURE-EMACS-INDENTATION*'
This variable controls whether indentation styles for
'&body'-arguments in macros are discovered and sent to Emacs. It
is enabled by default.
'SLYNK:*GLOBAL-DEBUGGER*'
When true (the default) this causes '*DEBUGGER-HOOK*' to be
globally set to 'SLYNK:SLYNK-DEBUGGER-HOOK' and thus for SLY to
handle all debugging in the Lisp image. This is for debugging
multithreaded and callback-driven applications.
'SLYNK:*SLY-DB-QUIT-RESTART*'
This variable names the restart that is invoked when pressing 'q'
(*note sly-db-quit::) in SLY-DB. For SLY evaluation requests this
is _unconditionally_ bound to a restart that returns to a safe
point. This variable is supposed to customize what 'q' does if an
application's thread lands into the debugger (see
'SLYNK:*GLOBAL-DEBUGGER*').
(setf slynk:*sly-db-quit-restart* 'sb-thread:terminate-thread)
'SLYNK:*BACKTRACE-PRINTER-BINDINGS*'
'SLYNK:*MACROEXPAND-PRINTER-BINDINGS*'
'SLYNK:*SLY-DB-PRINTER-BINDINGS*'
'SLYNK:*SLYNK-PPRINT-BINDINGS*'
These variables can be used to customize the printer in various
situations. The values of the variables are association lists of
printer variable names with the corresponding value. E.g., to
enable the pretty printer for formatting backtraces in SLY-DB, you
can use:
(push '(*print-pretty* . t) slynk:*sly-db-printer-bindings*).
The fact that most SLY output (in the REPL for instance, *note
REPL::) uses 'SLYNK:*SLYNK-PPRINT-BINDINGS*' may surprise you if
you expected it to use a global setting for, say, '*PRINT-LENGTH*'.
The rationale for this decision is that output is a very basic
feature of SLY, and it should keep operating normally even if you
(mistakenly) set absurd values for some '*PRINT-...*' variable.
You, of course, override this protection:
(setq slynk:*slynk-pprint-bindings*
(delete '*print-length*
slynk:*slynk-pprint-bindings* :key #'car))
'SLYNK:*STRING-ELISION-LENGTH*'
'SLYNK:*STRING-ELISION-LENGTH*'
This variable controls the maximum length of strings before their
pretty printed representation in the Inspector, Debugger, REPL, etc
is elided. Don't set this variable directly, create a binding for
this variable in 'SLYNK:*SLYNK-PPRINT-BINDINGS*' instead.
'SLYNK:*ECHO-NUMBER-ALIST*'
'SLYNK:*PRESENT-NUMBER-ALIST*'
These variables hold function designators used for displaying
numbers when SLY presents them in its interface.
The difference between the two functions is that
'*PRESENT-NUMBER-ALIST*', if non-nil, overrides
'*ECHO-NUMBER-ALIST*' in the context of the REPL, Trace Dialog and
Stickers (see *note REPL::, *note Trace Dialog:: and *note
Stickers::), while the latter is used for commands like 'C-x C-e'
or the inspector (see *note Evaluation::, *note Inspector::).
If in doubt, use '*ECHO-NUMBER-ALIST*'.
Both variables have the same structure: each element in the alist
takes the form '(TYPE . FUNCTIONS)', where 'TYPE' is a type
designator and 'FUNCTIONS' is a list of function designators for
displaying that number in SLY. Each function takes the number as a
single argument and returns a string, or nil, if that particular
representation is to be disregarded.
Additionally if a given function chooses to return 't' as its
optional second value, then all the remaining functions following
it in the list are disregarded.
For integer numbers, the default value of this variable holds
function designators that echo an integer number in its binary,
hexadecimal and octal representation. However, if your application
is using integers to represent Unix Epoch Times you can use this
function to display a human-readable time whenever you evaluate an
integer.
(defparameter *day-names* '("Monday" "Tuesday" "Wednesday"
"Thursday" "Friday" "Saturday"
"Sunday"))
(defun fancy-unix-epoch-time (integer)
"Format INTEGER as a Unix Epoch Time if within 10 years from now."
(let ((now (get-universal-time))
(tenyears (encode-universal-time 0 0 0 1 1 1910 0))
(unix-to-universal
(+ integer
(encode-universal-time 0 0 0 1 1 1970 0))))
(when (< (- now tenyears) unix-to-universal (+ now tenyears))
(multiple-value-bind
(second minute hour date month year day-of-week dst-p tz)
(decode-universal-time unix-to-universal)
(declare (ignore dst-p))
(format nil "~2,'0d:~2,'0d:~2,'0d on ~a, ~d/~2,'0d/~d (GMT~@d)"
hour minute second (nth day-of-week *day-names*)
month date year (- tz))))))
(pushnew 'fancy-unix-epoch-time
(cdr (assoc 'integer slynk:*echo-number-alist*)))
42 ; => 42 (6 bits, #x2A, #o52, #b101010)
1451404675 ; => 1451404675 (15:57:55 on Tuesday, 12/29/2015 (GMT+0), 31 bits, #x5682AD83)
'SLYNK-APROPOS:*PREFERRED-APROPOS-MATCHER*'
This variable holds a function used for performing apropos
searches. It defaults to 'SLYNK-APROPOS:MAKE-FLEX-MATCHER', but
can also be set to 'SLYNK-APROPOS:MAKE-CL-PPCRE-MATCHER' (to use a
regex-able matcher) or 'SLYNK-APROPOS:MAKE-PLAIN-MATCHER', for
example.
'SLYNK:*LOG-EVENTS*'
Setting this variable to 't' causes all protocol messages exchanged
with Emacs to be printed to '*TERMINAL-IO*'. This is useful for
low-level debugging and for observing how SLY works "on the wire."
The output of '*TERMINAL-IO*' can be found in your Lisp system's
own listener, usually in the buffer '*inferior-lisp*'.
File: sly.info, Node: Tips and Tricks, Next: Extensions, Prev: Customization, Up: Top
8 Tips and Tricks
*****************
* Menu:
* Connecting to a remote Lisp::
* Loading Slynk faster::
* Auto-SLY::
* REPLs and game loops::
* Controlling SLY from outside Emacs::
File: sly.info, Node: Connecting to a remote Lisp, Next: Loading Slynk faster, Up: Tips and Tricks
8.1 Connecting to a remote Lisp
===============================
One of the advantages of the way SLY is implemented is that we can
easily run the Emacs side ('sly.el' and friends) on one machine and the
Lisp backend (Slynk) on another. The basic idea is to start up Lisp on
the remote machine, load Slynk and wait for incoming SLY connections.
On the local machine we start up Emacs and tell SLY to connect to the
remote machine. The details are a bit messier but the underlying idea
is that simple.
* Menu:
* Setting up the Lisp image::
* Setting up Emacs::
* Setting up pathname translations::
File: sly.info, Node: Setting up the Lisp image, Next: Setting up Emacs, Up: Connecting to a remote Lisp
8.1.1 Setting up the Lisp image
-------------------------------
The easiest way to load Slynk "standalone" (i.e. without having 'M-x
sly' start a Lisp that is subsidiary to a particular Emacs), is to load
the ASDF system definition for Slynk.
Make sure the path to the directory containing Slynk's '.asd' file is
in 'ASDF:*CENTRAL-REGISTRY*'. This file lives in the 'slynk'
subdirectory of SLY. Type:
(push #p"/path/to/sly/slynk/" ASDF:*CENTRAL-REGISTRY*)
(asdf:require-system :slynk)
inside a running Lisp image(1).
Now all we need to do is startup our Slynk server. A working example
uses the default settings:
(slynk:create-server)
This creates a "one-connection-only" server on port 4005 using the
preferred communication style for your Lisp system. The following
parameters to 'slynk:create-server' can be used to change that
behaviour:
':PORT'
Port number for the server to listen on (default: 4005).
':DONT-CLOSE'
Boolean indicating if the server will continue to accept
connections after the first one (default: 'NIL'). For
"long-running" Lisp processes to which you want to be able to
connect from time to time, specify ':dont-close t'
':STYLE'
See *Note Communication style::.
So a more complete example will be
(slynk:create-server :port 4006 :dont-close t)
Finally, since section we're going to be tunneling our connection via
SSH(2) we'll only have one port open we must tell Slynk's REPL contrib
(see REPL) to not use an extra connection for output, which it will do
by default.
(setf slynk:*use-dedicated-output-stream* nil)
(3)
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) SLY also SLIME's old-style 'slynk-loader.lisp' loader which does
the same thing, but ASDF is preferred
(2) there is a way to connect without an SSH tunnel, but it has the
side-effect of giving the entire world access to your Lisp image, so
we're not going to talk about it
(3) Alternatively, a separate tunnel for the port set in
'slynk:*dedicated-output-stream-port*' can also be used if a dedicated
output is essential.
File: sly.info, Node: Setting up Emacs, Next: Setting up pathname translations, Prev: Setting up the Lisp image, Up: Connecting to a remote Lisp
8.1.2 Setting up Emacs
----------------------
Now we need to create the tunnel between the local machine and the
remote machine. Assuming a UNIX command-line, this can be done with:
ssh -L4005:localhost:4005 youruser@remote.example.com
This incantation creates a SSH tunnel between the port 4005 on our
local machine and the port 4005 on the remote machine, where 'youruser'
is expected to have an account. (1).
Finally we start SLY with 'sly-connect' instead of the usual 'sly':
M-x sly-connect RET RET
The 'RET RET' sequence just means that we want to use the default
host ('localhost') and the default port ('4005'). Even though we're
connecting to a remote machine the SSH tunnel fools Emacs into thinking
it's actually 'localhost'.
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) By default Slynk listens for incoming connections on port 4005,
had we passed a ':port' parameter to 'slynk:create-server' we'd be using
that port number instead
File: sly.info, Node: Setting up pathname translations, Prev: Setting up Emacs, Up: Connecting to a remote Lisp
8.1.3 Setting up pathname translations
--------------------------------------
One of the main problems with running slynk remotely is that Emacs
assumes the files can be found using normal filenames. if we want
things like 'sly-compile-and-load-file' ('C-c C-k') and
'sly-edit-definition' ('M-.') to work correctly we need to find a way to
let our local Emacs refer to remote files.
There are, mainly, two ways to do this. The first is to mount, using
NFS or similar, the remote machine's hard disk on the local machine's
file system in such a fashion that a filename like
'/opt/project/source.lisp' refers to the same file on both machines.
Unfortunately NFS is usually slow, often buggy, and not always feasible.
Fortunately we have an ssh connection and Emacs' 'tramp-mode' can do the
rest. (See *note TRAMP User Manual: (tramp)Top.)
What we do is teach Emacs how to take a filename on the remote
machine and translate it into something that tramp can understand and
access (and vice versa). Assuming the remote machine's host name is
'remote.example.com', 'cl:machine-instance' returns "remote" and we
login as the user "user" we can use 'sly-tramp' contrib to setup the
proper translations by simply doing:
(add-to-list 'sly-filename-translations
(sly-create-filename-translator
:machine-instance "remote"
:remote-host "remote.example.com"
:username "user"))
File: sly.info, Node: Loading Slynk faster, Next: Auto-SLY, Prev: Connecting to a remote Lisp, Up: Tips and Tricks
8.2 Loading Slynk faster
========================
In this section, a technique to load Slynk faster on South Bank Common
Lisp (SBCL) is presented. Similar setups should also work for other
Lisp implementations.
A pre-canned solution that automates this technique was developed by
Pierre Neidhardt (https://gitlab.com/ambrevar/lisp-repl-core-dumper).
For SBCL, we recommend that you create a custom core file with socket
support and POSIX bindings included because those modules take the most
time to load. To create such a core, execute the following steps:
shell$ sbcl
* (mapc 'require '(sb-bsd-sockets sb-posix sb-introspect sb-cltl2 asdf))
* (save-lisp-and-die "sbcl.core-for-sly")
After that, add something like this to your '~/.emacs' or
'~/.emacs.d/init.el' (*note Emacs Init File::):
(setq sly-lisp-implementations '((sbcl ("sbcl" "--core"
"sbcl.core-for-sly"))))
For maximum startup speed you can include the Slynk server directly
in a core file. The disadvantage of this approach is that the setup is
a bit more involved and that you need to create a new core file when you
want to update SLY or SBCL. The steps to execute are:
shell$ sbcl
* (load ".../sly/slynk-loader.lisp")
* (slynk-loader:dump-image "sbcl.core-with-slynk")
Then add this to the Emacs initializion file:
(setq sly-lisp-implementations
'((sbcl ("sbcl" "--core" "sbcl.core-with-slynk")
:init (lambda (port-file _)
(format "(slynk:start-server %S)\n" port-file)))))
File: sly.info, Node: Auto-SLY, Next: REPLs and game loops, Prev: Loading Slynk faster, Up: Tips and Tricks
8.3 Connecting to SLY automatically
===================================
To make SLY connect to your lisp whenever you open a lisp file just add
this to your '~/.emacs' or '~/.emacs.d/init.el' (*note Emacs Init
File::):
(add-hook 'sly-mode-hook
(lambda ()
(unless (sly-connected-p)
(save-excursion (sly)))))
File: sly.info, Node: REPLs and game loops, Next: Controlling SLY from outside Emacs, Prev: Auto-SLY, Up: Tips and Tricks
8.4 REPLs and "Game Loops"
==========================
When developing Common Lisp video games or graphical applications, a
REPL (*note REPL::) is just as useful as anywhere else. But it is often
the case that one needs to control exactly the timing of REPL requests
and ensure they do not interfere with the "game loop". In other
situations, the choice of communication style (*note Communication
style::) to the Slynk server may invalidate simultaneous multi-threaded
operation of REPL and game loop.
Instead of giving up on the REPL or using a complicated solution,
SLY's REPL can be built into your game loop by using a couple of Slynk
Common Lisp functions, 'SLYNK-MREPL:SEND-PROMPT' and
'SLYNK:PROCESS-REQUESTS'.
(defun my-repl-aware-game-loop ()
(loop initially
(princ "Starting our game")
(slynk-mrepl:send-prompt)
for i from 0
do (with-simple-restart (abort "Skip rest of this game loop iteration")
(when (zerop (mod i 10))
(fresh-line)
(princ "doing high-priority 3D game loop stuff"))
(sleep 0.1)
;; When you're ready to serve a potential waiting
;; REPL request, just do this non-blocking thing:
(with-simple-restart (abort "Abort this game REPL evaluation")
(slynk:process-requests t)))))
Note that this function is to be called _from the REPL_, and will
enter kind of "sub-REPL" inside it. It'll likely "just work" in this
situation. However, if you need you need to call this from anywhere
else (like, say, another thread), you must additionally arrange for the
variable 'SLYNK-API:*CHANNEL*' to be bound to the value it is bound to
in whatever SLY REPL you wish to interact with your game.
File: sly.info, Node: Controlling SLY from outside Emacs, Prev: REPLs and game loops, Up: Tips and Tricks
8.5 Controlling SLY from outside Emacs
======================================
If your application has a non-SLY, non-Emacs user interface (graphical
or otherwise), you can use it to exert some control over SLY
functionality, such as its REPL (*note REPL::) and inspector (*note
Inspector::). This requires that you first set, in Emacs, variable
'sly-enable-evaluate-in-emacs' to non-nil. As the name suggests, it
lets outside Slynk servers evaluate code in your Elisp runtime. It is
set to 'nil' by default for security purposes.
Once you've done that, you can call
'SLYNK-MREPL:COPY-TO-REPL-IN-EMACS' from your CL code with some objects
you'd like to manipulate in the REPL. Then you can have this code run
from some UI event handler:
(lambda ()
(slynk-mrepl:copy-to-repl-in-emacs
(list 42 'foo)
:blurb "Just a forty-two and a foo"))
And see those objects pop up in your REPL for inspection and
manipulation.
You can also use the functions 'SLYNK:INSPECT-IN-EMACS',
'SLYNK:ED-IN-EMACS', and in general, any exported function ending in
'IN-EMACS'. See their docstrings for details.
File: sly.info, Node: Extensions, Next: Credits, Prev: Tips and Tricks, Up: Top
9 Extensions
************
* Menu:
* Loading and unloading:: More contribs::
* More contribs::
Extensions, also known as "contribs" are Emacs packages that extend
SLY’s functionality. Contrasting with its ancestor SLIME (*note
Introduction::), most contribs bundled with SLY are active by default,
since they are a decent way to split SLY into pluggable modules. The
auto-documentation (*note Autodoc::), trace (*note Trace Dialog::) and
Stickers (*note Stickers::) are contribs enabled by default, for
example.
Usually, contribs differ from regular Emacs plugins in that they are
partly written in Emacs-lisp and partly in Common Lisp. The former is
usually the UI that queries the latter for information and then presents
it to the user. SLIME used to load all the contribs’ Common Lisp code
upfront, but SLY takes care to loading these two parts at the correct
time. In this way, developers can write third-party contribs that live
independently of SLY perhaps even in different code repositories. The
'sly-macrostep' contrib (<https://github.com/joaotavora/sly-macrostep>)
is one such example.
A special 'sly-fancy' contrib package is the only one loaded by
default. You might never want to fiddle with it (it is the one that
contains the default extensions), but if you find that you don't like
some package or you are having trouble with a package, you can modify
your setup a bit. Generally, you set the variable 'sly-contribs' with
the list of package-names that you want to use. For example, a setup to
load only the 'sly-scratch' and 'sly-mrepl' packages looks like:
;; _Setup load-path and autoloads_
(add-to-list 'load-path "~/dir/to/cloned/sly")
(require 'sly-autoloads)
;; _Set your lisp system and some contribs_
(setq inferior-lisp-program "/opt/sbcl/bin/sbcl")
(setq sly-contribs '(sly-scratch sly-mrepl))
After starting SLY, the commands of both packages should be
available.
File: sly.info, Node: Loading and unloading, Next: More contribs, Up: Extensions
9.1 Loading and unloading "on the fly"
======================================
We recommend that you setup the 'sly-contribs' variable _before_
starting SLY via 'M-x sly', but if you want to enable more contribs
_after_ you that, you can set new 'sly-contribs' variable to another
value and call 'M-x sly-setup' or 'M-x sly-enable-contrib'. Note this
though:
* If you've removed contribs from the list they won't be unloaded
automatically.
* If you have more than one SLY connection currently active, you must
manually repeat the 'sly-setup' step for each of them.
Short of restarting Emacs, a reasonable way of unloading contribs is
by calling an Emacs Lisp function whose name is obtained by adding
'-unload' to the contrib's name, for every contrib you wish to unload.
So, to remove 'sly-mrepl', you must call 'sly-mrepl-unload'. Because
the unload function will only, if ever, unload the Emacs Lisp side of
the contrib, you may also need to restart your lisps.
File: sly.info, Node: More contribs, Prev: Loading and unloading, Up: Extensions
9.2 More contribs
=================
* Menu:
* TRAMP Support::
* Scratch Buffer::
File: sly.info, Node: TRAMP Support, Next: Scratch Buffer, Up: More contribs
9.2.1 TRAMP
-----------
The package 'sly-tramp' provides some functions to set up filename
translations for TRAMP. (*note Setting up pathname translations::)
File: sly.info, Node: Scratch Buffer, Prev: TRAMP Support, Up: More contribs
9.2.2 Scratch Buffer
--------------------
The SLY scratch buffer, in contrib package 'sly-scratch', imitates
Emacs' usual '*scratch*' buffer. If 'sly-scratch-file' is set, it is
used to back the scratch buffer, making it persistent. The buffer is
like any other Lisp buffer, except for the command bound to 'C-j'.
'C-j'
'M-x sly-eval-print-last-expression'
Evaluate the expression sexp before point and insert a printed
representation of the return values into the current buffer.
'M-x sly-scratch'
Create a '*sly-scratch*' buffer. In this buffer you can enter Lisp
expressions and evaluate them with 'C-j', like in Emacs's
'*scratch*' buffer.
File: sly.info, Node: Credits, Next: Key Index, Prev: Extensions, Up: Top
10 Credits
**********
_The soppy ending..._
Hackers of the good hack
========================
SLY is a fork of SLIME which is itself an Extension of SLIM by Eric
Marsden. At the time of writing, the authors and code-contributors of
SLY are:
Helmut Eller João Távora Luke Gorrie
Tobias C. Rittweiler Stas Boukarev Marco Baringer
Matthias Koeppe Nikodemus Siivola Alan Ruttenberg
Attila Lendvai Luís Borges de Dan Barlow
Oliveira
Andras Simon Martin Simmons Geo Carncross
Christophe Rhodes Peter Seibel Mark Evenson
Juho Snellman Douglas Crosher Wolfgang Jenkner
R Primus Javier Olaechea Edi Weitz
Zach Shaftel James Bielman Daniel Kochmanski
Terje Norderhaug Vladimir Sedach Juan Jose Garcia
Ripoll
Alexander Artemenko Spenser Truex Nathan Trapuzzano
Brian Downing Mark Jeffrey Cunningham
Espen Wiborg Paul M. Rodriguez Masataro Asai
Jan Moringen Sébastien Villemot Samuel Freilich
Raymond Toy Pierre Neidhardt Phil Hargett
Paulo Madeira Kris Katterjohn Jonas Bernoulli
Ivan Shvedunov Gábor Melis Francois-Rene Rideau
Christophe Junke Bozhidar Batsov Bart Botta
Wilfredo Tianxiang Xiong Syohei YOSHIDA
Velázquez-Rodríguez
Stefan Monnier Rommel MARTINEZ Pavel Kulyov
Paul A. Patience Olof-Joachim Frahm Mike Clarke
Michał Herda Mark H. David Mario Lang
Manfred Bergmann Leo Liu Koga Kazuo
Jon Oddie John Stracke Joe Robertson
Grant Shangreaux Graham Dobbins Eric Timmons
Douglas Katzman Dmitry Igrishin Dmitrii Korobeinikov
Deokhwan Kim Denis Budyak Chunyang Xu
Cayman Angelo Rossi Andrew Kirkpatrick
... not counting the bundled code from 'hyperspec.el', 'CLOCC', and
the 'CMU AI Repository'.
Many people on the 'sly-devel' mailing list have made non-code
contributions to SLY. Life is hard though: you gotta send code to get
your name in the manual. ':-)'
Thanks!
=======
We're indebted to the good people of 'common-lisp.net' for their hosting
and help, and for rescuing us from "Sourceforge hell."
Implementors of the Lisps that we support have been a great help.
We'd like to thank the CMUCL maintainers for their helpful answers,
Craig Norvell and Kevin Layer at Franz providing Allegro CL licenses for
SLY development, and Peter Graves for his help to get SLY running with
ABCL.
Most of all we're happy to be working with the Lisp implementors
who've joined in the SLY development: Dan Barlow and Christophe Rhodes
of SBCL, Gary Byers of OpenMCL, and Martin Simmons of LispWorks. Thanks
also to Alain Picard and Memetrics for funding Martin's initial work on
the LispWorks backend!
File: sly.info, Node: Key Index, Next: Command Index, Prev: Credits, Up: Top
Key (Character) Index
*********************
[index ]
* Menu:
* 0 ... 9: Restarts. (line 22)
* :: Miscellaneous. (line 28)
* <: Frame Navigation. (line 23)
* >: Inspector. (line 61)
* > <1>: Frame Navigation. (line 19)
* a: Restarts. (line 8)
* A: Miscellaneous. (line 31)
* B: Miscellaneous. (line 19)
* c: Restarts. (line 18)
* C: Miscellaneous. (line 24)
* C-c :: Evaluation. (line 34)
* C-c <: Cross-referencing. (line 57)
* C-c >: Cross-referencing. (line 61)
* C-c C-b: Recovery. (line 8)
* C-c C-b <1>: REPL commands. (line 46)
* C-c C-c: Compilation. (line 14)
* C-c C-c <1>: Cross-referencing. (line 77)
* C-c C-c <2>: Examining frames. (line 38)
* C-c C-d #: Documentation. (line 58)
* C-c C-d C-a: Documentation. (line 24)
* C-c C-d C-d: Documentation. (line 16)
* C-c C-d C-f: Documentation. (line 20)
* C-c C-d C-h: Documentation. (line 43)
* C-c C-d C-p: Documentation. (line 36)
* C-c C-d C-z: Documentation. (line 32)
* C-c C-d ~: Documentation. (line 54)
* C-c C-k: Compilation. (line 30)
* C-c C-k <1>: Cross-referencing. (line 82)
* C-c C-l: Compilation. (line 48)
* C-c C-m: Macro-expansion. (line 8)
* C-c C-m <1>: Macro-expansion. (line 37)
* C-c C-o: REPL commands. (line 63)
* C-c C-p: Evaluation. (line 42)
* C-c C-r: Evaluation. (line 38)
* C-c C-t: Disassembly. (line 12)
* C-c C-t <1>: Trace Dialog. (line 26)
* C-c C-u: Evaluation. (line 53)
* C-c C-w C-b: Cross-referencing. (line 36)
* C-c C-w C-c: Cross-referencing. (line 24)
* C-c C-w C-m: Cross-referencing. (line 44)
* C-c C-w C-r: Cross-referencing. (line 32)
* C-c C-w C-s: Cross-referencing. (line 40)
* C-c C-w C-w: Cross-referencing. (line 28)
* C-c C-x c: Multiple connections. (line 31)
* C-c C-x n: Multiple connections. (line 35)
* C-c C-x p: Multiple connections. (line 40)
* C-c C-z: REPL. (line 29)
* C-c E: Evaluation. (line 47)
* C-c I: Inspector. (line 16)
* C-c M-c: Compilation. (line 69)
* C-c M-d: Disassembly. (line 8)
* C-c M-k: Compilation. (line 44)
* C-c M-m: Macro-expansion. (line 19)
* C-c M-o: REPL commands. (line 69)
* C-c T: Trace Dialog. (line 39)
* C-c ~: Recovery. (line 15)
* C-c ~ <1>: REPL. (line 36)
* C-j: Scratch Buffer. (line 13)
* C-k: Trace Dialog. (line 83)
* C-M-n: REPL commands. (line 58)
* C-M-p: REPL commands. (line 53)
* C-M-x: Evaluation. (line 20)
* C-n: Completion. (line 55)
* C-p: Completion. (line 60)
* C-r: REPL commands. (line 35)
* C-x 4 .: Finding definitions. (line 30)
* C-x 5 .: Finding definitions. (line 35)
* C-x C-e: Evaluation. (line 14)
* C-x `: Compilation. (line 73)
* C-_: Macro-expansion. (line 51)
* d: Multiple connections. (line 57)
* D: Inspector. (line 27)
* d <1>: Examining frames. (line 24)
* D <1>: Examining frames. (line 29)
* e: Inspector. (line 31)
* e <1>: Examining frames. (line 19)
* g: Macro-expansion. (line 42)
* g <1>: Multiple connections. (line 62)
* g <2>: Inspector. (line 49)
* g <3>: Trace Dialog. (line 76)
* G: Trace Dialog. (line 79)
* h: Inspector. (line 53)
* i: Examining frames. (line 34)
* l: Inspector. (line 41)
* M-,: Finding definitions. (line 25)
* M-.: Finding definitions. (line 20)
* M-?: Cross-referencing. (line 19)
* M-n: Compilation. (line 61)
* M-n <1>: REPL commands. (line 28)
* M-n <2>: Frame Navigation. (line 12)
* M-p: Compilation. (line 65)
* M-p <1>: REPL commands. (line 21)
* M-p <2>: Frame Navigation. (line 12)
* M-RET: Inspector. (line 65)
* n: Inspector. (line 45)
* n <1>: Frame Navigation. (line 8)
* p: Frame Navigation. (line 8)
* q: Macro-expansion. (line 47)
* q <1>: Multiple connections. (line 66)
* q <2>: Inspector. (line 57)
* q <3>: Restarts. (line 12)
* R: Multiple connections. (line 71)
* r: Miscellaneous. (line 8)
* R <1>: Miscellaneous. (line 14)
* RET: Cross-referencing. (line 67)
* RET <1>: Multiple connections. (line 53)
* RET <2>: REPL commands. (line 8)
* RET <3>: Inspector. (line 22)
* S-TAB: Inspector. (line 70)
* Space: Cross-referencing. (line 72)
* t: Examining frames. (line 10)
* tab: Completion. (line 65)
* TAB: REPL commands. (line 13)
* TAB <1>: Inspector. (line 70)
* v: Inspector. (line 36)
* v <1>: Examining frames. (line 14)
File: sly.info, Node: Command Index, Next: Variable Index, Prev: Key Index, Up: Top
Command and Function Index
**************************
[index ]
* Menu:
* backward-button: Inspector. (line 70)
* forward-button: Inspector. (line 70)
* hyperspec-lookup-format: Documentation. (line 54)
* hyperspec-lookup-reader-macro: Documentation. (line 58)
* isearch-backward: REPL commands. (line 35)
* next-error: Compilation. (line 73)
* sly-abort-connection: Multiple connections. (line 81)
* sly-apropos: Documentation. (line 24)
* sly-apropos-all: Documentation. (line 32)
* sly-apropos-package: Documentation. (line 36)
* sly-arglist NAME: Autodoc. (line 11)
* sly-autodoc-manually: Autodoc. (line 17)
* sly-autodoc-mode: Autodoc. (line 14)
* sly-button-backward: REPL commands. (line 53)
* sly-button-forward: REPL commands. (line 58)
* sly-calls-who: Cross-referencing. (line 28)
* sly-cd: Recovery. (line 19)
* sly-choose-completion: Completion. (line 65)
* sly-compile-and-load-file: Compilation. (line 30)
* sly-compile-defun: Compilation. (line 14)
* sly-compile-file: Compilation. (line 44)
* sly-compile-region: Compilation. (line 51)
* sly-compiler-macroexpand: Macro-expansion. (line 25)
* sly-compiler-macroexpand-1: Macro-expansion. (line 22)
* sly-connect: Multiple connections. (line 74)
* sly-connection-list-make-default: Multiple connections. (line 57)
* sly-db-abort: Restarts. (line 8)
* sly-db-beginning-of-backtrace: Frame Navigation. (line 23)
* sly-db-break-with-default-debugger: Miscellaneous. (line 19)
* sly-db-break-with-system-debugger: Miscellaneous. (line 31)
* sly-db-continue: Restarts. (line 18)
* sly-db-details-down: Frame Navigation. (line 12)
* sly-db-details-up: Frame Navigation. (line 12)
* sly-db-disassemble: Examining frames. (line 29)
* sly-db-down: Frame Navigation. (line 8)
* sly-db-end-of-backtrace: Frame Navigation. (line 19)
* sly-db-eval-in-frame: Examining frames. (line 19)
* sly-db-inspect-condition: Miscellaneous. (line 24)
* sly-db-inspect-in-frame: Examining frames. (line 34)
* sly-db-invoke-restart-n: Restarts. (line 22)
* sly-db-pprint-eval-in-frame: Examining frames. (line 24)
* sly-db-quit: Restarts. (line 12)
* sly-db-recompile-frame-source: Examining frames. (line 38)
* sly-db-restart-frame: Miscellaneous. (line 8)
* sly-db-return-from-frame: Miscellaneous. (line 14)
* sly-db-show-frame-source: Examining frames. (line 14)
* sly-db-toggle-details: Examining frames. (line 10)
* sly-db-up: Frame Navigation. (line 8)
* sly-describe-function: Documentation. (line 20)
* sly-describe-symbol: Documentation. (line 16)
* sly-disassemble-symbol: Disassembly. (line 8)
* sly-disconnect: Multiple connections. (line 78)
* sly-edit-definition: Finding definitions. (line 20)
* sly-edit-definition-other-frame: Finding definitions. (line 35)
* sly-edit-definition-other-window: Finding definitions. (line 30)
* sly-edit-uses: Cross-referencing. (line 19)
* sly-edit-value: Evaluation. (line 47)
* sly-eval-defun: Evaluation. (line 20)
* sly-eval-last-expression: Evaluation. (line 14)
* sly-eval-print-last-expression: Scratch Buffer. (line 13)
* sly-eval-region: Evaluation. (line 38)
* sly-expand-1: Macro-expansion. (line 8)
* sly-format-string-expand: Macro-expansion. (line 28)
* sly-goto-connection: Multiple connections. (line 53)
* sly-goto-xref: Cross-referencing. (line 72)
* sly-hyperspec-lookup: Documentation. (line 43)
* sly-info: Documentation. (line 11)
* sly-inspect: Inspector. (line 16)
* sly-inspector-describe-inspectee: Inspector. (line 27)
* sly-inspector-eval: Inspector. (line 31)
* sly-inspector-fetch-all: Inspector. (line 61)
* sly-inspector-history: Inspector. (line 53)
* sly-inspector-next: Inspector. (line 45)
* sly-inspector-operate-on-point: Inspector. (line 22)
* sly-inspector-pop: Inspector. (line 41)
* sly-inspector-quit: Inspector. (line 57)
* sly-inspector-reinspect: Inspector. (line 49)
* sly-inspector-toggle-verbose: Inspector. (line 36)
* sly-interactive-eval: Evaluation. (line 34)
* sly-interactive-eval <1>: Miscellaneous. (line 28)
* sly-interrupt: Recovery. (line 8)
* sly-interrupt <1>: REPL commands. (line 46)
* sly-list-callees: Cross-referencing. (line 61)
* sly-list-callers: Cross-referencing. (line 57)
* sly-list-connections: Multiple connections. (line 31)
* sly-load-file: Compilation. (line 48)
* sly-macroexpand-1: Macro-expansion. (line 14)
* sly-macroexpand-1-inplace: Macro-expansion. (line 37)
* sly-macroexpand-1-inplace <1>: Macro-expansion. (line 42)
* sly-macroexpand-all: Macro-expansion. (line 19)
* sly-macroexpand-undo: Macro-expansion. (line 51)
* sly-mrepl: REPL. (line 29)
* sly-mrepl-clear-recent-output: REPL commands. (line 63)
* sly-mrepl-clear-repl: REPL commands. (line 69)
* sly-mrepl-copy-part-to-repl: Inspector. (line 65)
* sly-mrepl-indent-and-complete-symbol: REPL commands. (line 13)
* sly-mrepl-new: REPL. (line 32)
* sly-mrepl-next-input-or-button: REPL commands. (line 28)
* sly-mrepl-previous-input-or-button: REPL commands. (line 21)
* sly-mrepl-return: REPL commands. (line 8)
* sly-mrepl-sync: Recovery. (line 15)
* sly-mrepl-sync <1>: REPL. (line 36)
* sly-next-completion: Completion. (line 55)
* sly-next-connection: Multiple connections. (line 35)
* sly-next-note: Compilation. (line 61)
* sly-pop-find-definition-stack: Finding definitions. (line 25)
* sly-pprint-eval-last-expression: Evaluation. (line 42)
* sly-prev-completion: Completion. (line 60)
* sly-prev-connection: Multiple connections. (line 40)
* sly-previous-note: Compilation. (line 65)
* sly-pwd: Recovery. (line 23)
* sly-recompile-all-xrefs: Cross-referencing. (line 82)
* sly-recompile-xref: Cross-referencing. (line 77)
* sly-remove-method: Evaluation. (line 56)
* sly-remove-notes: Compilation. (line 69)
* sly-restart-connection-at-point: Multiple connections. (line 71)
* sly-restart-inferior-lisp: Recovery. (line 11)
* sly-scratch: Scratch Buffer. (line 17)
* sly-show-xref: Cross-referencing. (line 67)
* sly-temp-buffer-quit: Macro-expansion. (line 47)
* sly-temp-buffer-quit <1>: Multiple connections. (line 66)
* sly-toggle-trace-fdefinition: Disassembly. (line 12)
* sly-trace-dialog: Trace Dialog. (line 39)
* sly-trace-dialog-clear-fetched-traces: Trace Dialog. (line 83)
* sly-trace-dialog-fetch-status: Trace Dialog. (line 76)
* sly-trace-dialog-fetch-traces: Trace Dialog. (line 79)
* sly-trace-dialog-toggle-trace: Trace Dialog. (line 26)
* sly-undefine-function: Evaluation. (line 53)
* sly-untrace-all: Disassembly. (line 17)
* sly-update-connection-list: Multiple connections. (line 62)
* sly-who-binds: Cross-referencing. (line 36)
* sly-who-calls: Cross-referencing. (line 24)
* sly-who-macroexpands: Cross-referencing. (line 44)
* sly-who-references: Cross-referencing. (line 32)
* sly-who-sets: Cross-referencing. (line 40)
* sly-who-specializes: Cross-referencing. (line 47)
File: sly.info, Node: Variable Index, Prev: Command Index, Up: Top
Variable and Concept Index
**************************
[index ]
* Menu:
* ASCII: Defcustom variables. (line 29)
* Character Encoding: Defcustom variables. (line 29)
* Compilation: Compilation. (line 6)
* Compiling Functions: Compilation. (line 12)
* Completion: Completion. (line 6)
* Contribs: Extensions. (line 11)
* Contributions: Extensions. (line 11)
* Debugger: Debugger. (line 6)
* Extensions: Extensions. (line 11)
* LATIN-1: Defcustom variables. (line 29)
* Listener: REPL. (line 6)
* Macros: Macro-expansion. (line 6)
* Plugins: Extensions. (line 11)
* Symbol Completion: Completion. (line 6)
* TRAMP: TRAMP Support. (line 6)
* Unicode: Defcustom variables. (line 29)
* UTF-8: Defcustom variables. (line 29)
Tag Table:
Node: Top294
Node: Introduction2281
Node: Getting started4600
Node: Platforms4911
Node: Downloading6011
Node: Basic setup7011
Node: Running7944
Node: Basic customization8808
Node: Multiple Lisps10524
Node: A SLY tour for SLIME users13019
Node: Working with source files23905
Node: Evaluation24633
Node: Compilation26547
Node: Autodoc29400
Node: Semantic indentation30342
Ref: Semantic indentation-Footnote-132449
Node: Reader conditionals32544
Node: Macro-expansion32920
Node: Common functionality34552
Node: Finding definitions35323
Node: Cross-referencing37153
Ref: Cross-referencing-Footnote-139545
Node: Completion39773
Node: Interactive objects42765
Node: Documentation44681
Node: Multiple connections46715
Node: Disassembly49666
Node: Recovery50198
Node: Temporary buffers50821
Node: Multi-threading52237
Node: The REPL and other special buffers53805
Node: REPL54078
Node: REPL commands55930
Node: REPL output57945
Node: REPL backreferences62550
Ref: REPL backreferences-Footnote-165702
Node: Inspector65755
Node: Debugger67701
Node: Examining frames68358
Node: Restarts69442
Ref: sly-db-quit69648
Node: Frame Navigation70067
Node: Miscellaneous70751
Node: Trace Dialog71660
Node: Stickers75444
Node: Customization79558
Node: Emacs-side79761
Node: Keybindings79953
Ref: describe-key80755
Ref: describe-bindings80882
Ref: describe-mode81013
Ref: view-lossage81185
Ref: Emacs Init File81321
Node: Keymaps81953
Node: Defcustom variables84590
Ref: sly-complete-symbol-function85279
Ref: sly-net-coding-system85827
Node: Hooks88186
Ref: sly-connected-hook88534
Node: Lisp-side customization88977
Node: Communication style89375
Node: Other configurables91902
Ref: *SLY-DB-QUIT-RESTART*92609
Node: Tips and Tricks98143
Node: Connecting to a remote Lisp98417
Node: Setting up the Lisp image99124
Ref: Setting up the Lisp image-Footnote-1100911
Ref: Setting up the Lisp image-Footnote-2101022
Ref: Setting up the Lisp image-Footnote-3101196
Node: Setting up Emacs101349
Ref: Setting up Emacs-Footnote-1102303
Node: Setting up pathname translations102473
Node: Loading Slynk faster104050
Ref: init-example105527
Node: Auto-SLY105749
Node: REPLs and game loops106230
Node: Controlling SLY from outside Emacs108197
Node: Extensions109442
Node: Loading and unloading111489
Node: More contribs112565
Node: TRAMP Support112736
Node: Scratch Buffer112979
Ref: sly-scratch113105
Node: Credits113738
Node: Key Index117007
Node: Command Index125626
Node: Variable Index135722
End Tag Table
Local Variables:
coding: utf-8
End: