NAME

       elk, scheme-elk - extensible Scheme interpreter

SYNOPSIS

       elk [ -l file ] [ -h KBytes ] [ -p load-path ] [ -g ] [ -i ] [ -v type ] [[ -- ] args]

       elk...

DESCRIPTION

       Elk  (Extension  Language  Kit) is a Scheme implementation designed as a general extension
       language for applications written  in  C  or  C++.   Normally,  Elk  is  linked  with  the
       application it serves, but a stand-alone version of the Scheme interpreter is installed as
       well (usually under the name elk).  This interpreter, together with  the  standard  Scheme
       toplevel,  Elk  can  be  used  as  an  ordinary,  stand-alone implementation of the Scheme
       language.

       When called without the  -l  option,  Elk  loads  the  standard  “toplevel”  to  start  an
       interactive  session.   When  called  with  -l file, the contents of the specified file is
       loaded instead.  If a `-' is given as a filename argument, Elk loads from standard input.

       The option -p load-path can be used to override the standard load-path.  The argument is a
       colon-separated  list  of  directories.  If this option is not present and the environment
       variable ELK_LOADPATH is defined, the value of this variable is  used  to  initialize  the
       load-path.   The  value  of  ELK_LOADPATH  has  the  same format as the argument to the -p
       option.

       The -h KBytes option is used to specify a non-standard heap size.  The default  heap  size
       is 512 KBytes.

       If  the  option -i is specified, symbols are mapped to lower case.  Normally, Elk is case-
       sensitive.

       The -g option causes the interpreter to run the garbage  collector  each  time  memory  is
       allocated  on  the  heap.   This  is useful for writers of extensions who want to test the
       garbage collect behavior of an extension.  Running Elk with the -g  option  is  likely  to
       reveal GC-related bugs in extensions (such as not properly protected local objects), as it
       triggers a garbage collection each time an object is allocated on the Scheme heap.  A  dot
       is written to standard output each time a garbage collection is performed when -g has been
       specified.

       When called with one or  more  -v  type  (``verbose'')  options,  the  interpreter  prints
       additional  informational  messages to standard output, depending on the value of the type
       argument.  If type is load, the linker command and options are printed each time an object
       file  is  loaded;  if type is init, the names of extension initialization and finalization
       functions are printed as they are called.

       The remaining args are put into a list of strings, and the Scheme  variable  command-line-
       args  is  bound to this list in the global environment.  If arguments could be interpreted
       as options, `--´ can be used to indicate the end of the options.

FILES

       $TMPDIR/ldXXXXXX           Temporary files

AUTHOR

       Oliver Laumann