Description #
Guile (GNU Ubiquitous Intelligent Language for Extensions) is the official extension language of the GNU Project, based on Scheme, a minimalist dialect of Lisp. It allows programs to be scripted or extended with powerful functional features.
History #
Guile was introduced in 1993 as part of the GNU Project by Tom Lord and later developed by the Free Software Foundation. Its goal was to provide a consistent embeddable language for GNU software, replacing Emacs Lisp and similar internal DSLs.
Hello World Code #
(display "Hello, World!")
(newline)How to Run #
Option 1: Online
Try in any Scheme-compatible REPL (e.g., https://replit.com/languages/scheme)
Option 2: Local
Install Guile:
sudo apt install guile-3.0Run the REPL:
guilePaste:
(display "Hello, World!") (newline)Key Concepts #
- Based on Scheme, a Lisp family language
- Interpreted via the Guile VM
- Supports functional programming and macros
- Embeddable in C applications
- Dynamically typed
- Tail recursion optimization
- Supports modules, continuations, and delimited control
- Compiles to bytecode
- Used in GnuCash, LilyPond, and GNOME tools
- Fully open-source under GPL
Try It Online #
https://replit.com/languages/scheme
Fun Facts #
- Guile is used in GNU tools like Make, Bash, and GnuCash to add programmability.
- Supports advanced features like delimited continuations and hygienic macros.
- Guile can also be used as a standalone scripting language for general-purpose use.
