NAME

       ecl - Embeddable Common LISP

SYNOPSIS

       ecl [-dir dir] [-load file] [-eval expr]
           [-compile file
               [-o ofile] [-c [cfile]] [-h [hfile]] [-data [datafile]] [-s] [-q]]

DESCRIPTION

       ECL stands for Embeddable Common-Lisp.  The ECL project is an effort to modernize Giuseppe
       Attardi's ECL environment to produce an implementation of the Common-Lisp  language  which
       complies to the ANSI X3J13 definition of the language.

       The current ECL implementation features:

       •      A bytecodes compiler and interpreter.

       •      A translator to C.

       •      An interface to foreign functions.

       •      A dynamic loader.

       •      The possibility to build standalone executables.

       •      The Common-Lisp Object System (CLOS).

       •      Conditions and restarts for handling errors.

       •      Sockets as ordinary streams.

       •      The Gnu Multiprecision library for fast bignum operations.

       •      A simple conservative mark & sweep garbage collector.

       •      The Boehm-Weiser garbage collector.

       ecl without any argument gives you the interactive lisp.

OPTIONS

       -shell file
                 Executes the given file and exits, without providing a read-eval-print loop.  If
                 you  want   to   use   lisp   as   a   scripting   language,   you   can   write
                 #!${exec_prefix}/bin/ecl  -shell  on  the first line of the file to be executed,
                 and then ECL will be automatically invoked.

       -norc     Do not try to load the file ~/.eclrc at startup.

       -dir      Use dir as system directory.

       -load file
                 Loads file before entering the read-eval-print loop.

       -eval expr
                 Evaluates expr before entering the read-eval-print loop.

       -compile file
                 Translates file to C and invokes the  local  C  compiler  to  produce  a  shared
                 library with .fas as extension per default.

       -o ofile  When compiling file name the resulting shared library ofile.

       -c cfile  When  compiling  name  the  intermediary  C  file  cfile  and  do  not delete it
                 afterwards.

       -h hfile  When compiling name the intermediary  C  header  hfile  and  do  not  delete  it
                 afterwards.

       -data [datafile]
                 Dumps  compiler  data into datafile or, if not supplied, into a file named after
                 the source file, but with .data as extension.

       -s        Produce a linkable object file. It cannot be loaded with load,  but  it  can  be
                 used to build libraries or standalone executable programs.

       -q        Produce less notes when compiling.

       The options -load, -shell, and -eval may appear any number of times, and they are combined
       and processed from left to right.

AUTHORS

       The original version was developed by Giuseppe Attardi starting from the Kyoto Common Lisp
       implementation  by Taiichi Yuasa and Masami Hagiya.  The current maintainer of ECL is Juan
       Jose Garcia Ripoll, who can be reached at the ECL mailing list.

FILES

       ~/.ecl, ~/.eclrc
              Default initialization files loaded at startup unless the option -norc is provided.
              (if they exist).

SEE ALSO

              ANSI Common Lisp standard X3.226-1994

              The Common Lisp HyperSpec

BUGS

       Probably some. Report them!