SISC 1.8.5 Final Released

10/11/2003: SISC 1.8.5 Released

New in this Release
-------------------

* Support for explicit character I/O using arbitrary character sets.
* Support for explicit fast binary I/O.
* Support for arbitrary Scheme/Java streaming data marshalling through 
  a serial I/O port library.  This includes continuation serialization.
* Support for SRFIs 18, 22, 27, 38, 39, 42.  (SISC now supports
  all but four final SRFIs)
* Clean and consistent configuration parameters, compatible with 
  SRFI-39.
* A new extensible type system, allowing pluggable structures and
  programming frameworks that may interoperate consistently on type.
* A rewrite of the Java and the Scheme Object systems and native
  SRFI-9 records, plugging into the type system.
* A cleaner, more functional API for the object systems and generic 
  procedures.
* Support for compiled code libraries which can support both
  function libraries and side-effecting routines. 
* Careful rewrite of Symbol read/write allowing arbitrary symbol
  contents to remain read-write invariant.
* Updates to the command-line syntax and behavior, allowing return
  values to be produced from Scheme code including SRFI-22.
* Numerous bug fixes and consistency improvements.

In addition many evaluation engine improvements have been made for 
additional performance and code clarity.  Finally, the user's manual
"SISC for Seasoned Schemers", has been updated to document the new and 
changed functionality.

About SISC
----------

SISC is an extensible heap-based interpreter of Scheme running on
the Java VM, with an aggressively optimized, lightweight (<200k)
Scheme engine.  SISC handily outperforms all existing Java
interpreters (often by more than an order of magnitude).

In addition, SISC is a complete implementation of the language.
The entire R5RS Scheme standard is supported, no exceptions.  This
includes a full number tower including complex number support,
arbitrary precision integers and floating point numbers, as well as
hygienic R5RS (and syntax-case) macros, proper tail recursion, 
and high-performance first-class continuations (not only the escaping 
continuations of many limited Scheme systems).  SISC also attempts to 
implement the standard as correctly as possible, while still 
providing exceptional performance.

SISC supports and encourages the use of common and portable
Scheme code and APIs, including SLIB support, and support for nearly 
all Scheme Requests For Implementation (SRFIs).

Finally, SISC provides many useful real-world extensions, such as
networking, threading, file manipulation, elegant exception handling, 
an extensible type system, an elegant Java FFI and Scheme Object 
System based on  the type system and generic procedures, a scope 
friendly module system.

Downloads and More Information
------------------------------

Source code, binaries, a comparison of Java Scheme systems, and
SISC documentation can be found on the web at:

    http://sisc.sourceforge.net

Documentation and Support
-------------------------

All of SISC's supported functionality is comprehensively documented 
in "SISC For Seasoned Schemers", a manual for SISC users.  The book 
is available in HTML, PostScript, and Adobe Acrobat formats from
the website.

Support for SISC is available from the sisc-users mailing list 
and the community driven SISC Wiki hosted above, as well as #sisc
on the Freenode IRC network (irc.freenode.net).

Licensing
---------

SISC is Free Software.  It is released simultaneously under the GNU
General Public License (for free-software projects), and the Mozilla
Public License (for commercial entities).  The documentation is
available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

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