cmucl is a free, high-performance implementation of the Common Lisp programming language, which runs on most major Unix platforms. It mainly conforms to the ANSI Common Lisp Standard. cmucl features a sophisticated native-code compiler, a foreign function interface, a graphical source-level debugger, an interface to the X11 Window System, and an Emacs-like editor.

Keywords: lisp, Common Lisp, manual, compiler, programming language implementation, programming environment

This manual is based on CMU Technical Report CMU-CS-92-161, edited by Robert A. MacLachlan, dated July 1992.

• Contents
• Introduction
  • Distribution and Support
  • Command Line Options
  • Credits
• Design Choices and Extensions
  • Data Types
    • Integers
    • Floats
      • IEEE Special Values
      • Negative Zero
      • Denormalized Floats
      • Floating Point Exceptions
      • Floating Point Rounding Mode
      • Accessing the Floating Point Modes
    • Extended Floats
    • Characters
    • Array Initialization
    • Hash tables
  • Default Interrupts for Lisp
  • Implementation-Specific Packages
  • Hierarchical Packages
    • Introduction
    • Relative Package Names
    • Compatibility with ANSI Common Lisp
      • Changes to cl:find-package
      • Using Hierarchical Packages without Modifying cl:find-package
  • Package Locks
    • Rationale
    • Disabling package locks
  • The Editor
  • Garbage Collection
    • GC Parameters
    • Generational GC
    • Weak Pointers
    • Finalization
  • Describe
  • The Inspector
    • The Graphical Interface
    • The TTY Inspector
  • Load
  • The Reader
    • Reader Extensions
    • Reader Parameters
  • Stream Extensions
  • Simple Streams
  • Running Programs from Lisp
    • Process Accessors
  • Saving a Core Image
  • Pathnames
    • Unix Pathnames
    • Wildcard Pathnames
    • Logical Pathnames
    • Search Lists
    • Predefined Search-Lists
    • Search-List Operations
    • Search List Example
  • Filesystem Operations
    • Wildcard Matching
    • File Name Completion
    • Miscellaneous Filesystem Operations
  • Time Parsing and Formatting
  • Random Number Generation
    • MT-19937 Generator
  • Lisp Threads
  • Lisp Library
  • Generalized Function Names
  • CLOS
    • Primary Method Errors
    • Slot Type Checking
    • Slot Access Optimization
      • slot-boundp Declaration
      • inline Declaration
      • Automatic Method Recompilation
    • Inlining Methods in Effective Methods
    • Effective Method Precomputation
    • Sealing
    • Method Tracing and Profiling
    • Misc
  • Differences from ANSI Common Lisp
    • Extensions
  • Function Wrappers
  • Dynamic-Extent Declarations
    • &rest argument lists
    • Closures
    • list, list*, and cons
  • Modular Arithmetic
  • Extension to REQUIRE
  • Localization
    • Dictionary
    • Example Usage
  • Static Arrays
• The Debugger
  • Debugger Introduction
  • The Command Loop
  • Stack Frames
    • Stack Motion
    • How Arguments are Printed
    • Function Names
    • Funny Frames
    • Debug Tail Recursion
    • Unknown Locations and Interrupts
  • Variable Access
    • Variable Value Availability
    • Note On Lexical Variable Access
  • Source Location Printing
    • How the Source is Found
    • Source Location Availability
  • Compiler Policy Control
  • Exiting Commands
  • Information Commands
  • Breakpoint Commands
    • Breakpoint Example
  • Function Tracing
    • Encapsulation Functions
    • Tracing Examples
  • Specials
• The Compiler
  • Compiler Introduction
  • Calling the Compiler
  • Compilation Units
    • Undefined Warnings
  • Interpreting Error Messages
    • The Parts of the Error Message
    • The Original and Actual Source
    • The Processing Path
    • Error Severity
    • Errors During Macroexpansion
    • Read Errors
    • Error Message Parameterization
  • Types in Python
    • Compile Time Type Errors
    • Precise Type Checking
    • Weakened Type Checking
  • Getting Existing Programs to Run
  • Compiler Policy
    • The Optimize Declaration
    • The Optimize-Interface Declaration
  • Open Coding and Inline Expansion
• Advanced Compiler Use and Efficiency Hints
  • Advanced Compiler Introduction
    • Types
    • Optimization
    • Function Call
    • Representation of Objects
    • Writing Efficient Code
  • More About Types in Python
    • More Types Meaningful
    • Canonicalization
    • Member Types
    • Union Types
    • The Empty Type
    • Function Types
    • The Values Declaration
    • Structure Types
    • The Freeze-Type Declaration
    • Type Restrictions
    • Type Style Recommendations
  • Type Inference
    • Variable Type Inference
    • Local Function Type Inference
    • Global Function Type Inference
    • Operation Specific Type Inference
    • Dynamic Type Inference
    • Type Check Optimization
  • Source Optimization
    • Let Optimization
    • Constant Folding
    • Unused Expression Elimination
    • Control Optimization
    • Unreachable Code Deletion
    • Multiple Values Optimization
    • Source to Source Transformation
    • Style Recommendations
  • Tail Recursion
    • Tail Recursion Exceptions
  • Local Call
    • Self-Recursive Calls
    • Let Calls
    • Closures
    • Local Tail Recursion
    • Return Values
  • Block Compilation
    • Block Compilation Semantics
    • Block Compilation Declarations
    • Compiler Arguments
    • Practical Difficulties
    • Context Declarations
    • Context Declaration Example
  • Inline Expansion
    • Inline Expansion Recording
    • Semi-Inline Expansion
    • The Maybe-Inline Declaration
  • Byte Coded Compilation
  • Object Representation
    • Think Before You Use a List
    • Structure Representation
    • Arrays
    • Vectors
    • Bit-Vectors
    • Hashtables
  • Numbers
    • Descriptors
    • Non-Descriptor Representations
    • Variables
    • Generic Arithmetic
    • Fixnums
    • Word Integers
    • Floating Point Efficiency
      • Signed Zeroes and Special Functions
    • Specialized Arrays
    • Specialized Structure Slots
    • Interactions With Local Call
    • Representation of Characters
  • General Efficiency Hints
    • Compile Your Code
    • Avoid Unnecessary Consing
    • Complex Argument Syntax
    • Mapping and Iteration
    • Trace Files and Disassembly
  • Efficiency Notes
    • Type Uncertainty
    • Efficiency Notes and Type Checking
    • Representation Efficiency Notes
    • Verbosity Control
  • Profiling
    • Profile Interface
    • Profiling Techniques
    • Nested or Recursive Calls
    • Clock resolution
    • Profiling overhead
    • Additional Timing Utilities
    • A Note on Timing
    • Benchmarking Techniques
• UNIX Interface
  • Reading the Command Line
  • Useful Variables
  • Lisp Equivalents for C Routines
  • Type Translations
  • System Area Pointers
  • Unix System Calls
  • File Descriptor Streams
  • Unix Signals
    • Changing Signal Handlers
    • Examples of Signal Handlers
• Event Dispatching with SERVE-EVENT
  • Object Sets
  • The SERVE-EVENT Function
  • Using SERVE-EVENT with Unix File Descriptors
  • Using SERVE-EVENT with the CLX Interface to X
    • Without Object Sets
    • With Object Sets
  • A SERVE-EVENT Example
    • Without Object Sets Example
    • With Object Sets Example
• Alien Objects
  • Introduction to Aliens
  • Alien Types
    • Defining Alien Types
    • Alien Types and Lisp Types
    • Alien Type Specifiers
    • The C-Call Package
  • Alien Operations
    • Alien Access Operations
    • Alien Coercion Operations
    • Alien Dynamic Allocation
  • Alien Variables
    • Local Alien Variables
    • External Alien Variables
  • Alien Data Structure Example
  • Loading Unix Object Files
  • Alien Function Calls
    • The alien-funcall Primitive
    • The def-alien-routine Macro
    • def-alien-routine Example
    • Calling Lisp from C
    • Callback Example
    • Accessing Lisp Arrays
  • Step-by-Step Alien Example
• Interprocess Communication under LISP
  • The REMOTE Package
    • Connecting Servers and Clients
    • Remote Evaluations
    • Remote Objects
  • The WIRE Package
    • Untagged Data
    • Tagged Data
    • Making Your Own Wires
  • Out-Of-Band Data
• Networking Support
  • Byte Order Converters
  • Domain Name Services (DNS)
  • Binding to Interfaces
  • Accepting Connections
  • Connecting
  • Out-of-Band Data
  • Unbound Sockets, Socket Options, and Closing Sockets
  • Unix Datagrams
  • Errors
• Debugger Programmer’s Interface
  • DI Exceptional Conditions
    • Debug-conditions
    • Debug-errors
  • Debug-variables
  • Frames
  • Debug-functions
  • Debug-blocks
  • Breakpoints
  • Code-locations
  • Debug-sources
  • Source Translation Utilities
• Cross-Referencing Facility
  • Populating the cross-reference database
  • Querying the cross-reference database
  • Example usage
  • Limitations of the cross-referencing facility
• Internationalization
  • Changes
    • Design Choices
    • Characters
    • Strings
  • External Formats
    • Available External Formats
    • Composing External Formats
  • Dictionary
    • Variables
    • Characters
    • Strings
    • Sequences
    • Reader
    • Printer
    • Miscellaneous
      • Files
      • Utilities
  • Writing External Formats
    • External Formats
    • Composing External Formats
• Function Index
• Variable Index
• Type Index
• Concept Index