Bigloo

The Bigloo Programming Language

The Bigloo programming language is a strict-parenthetical-function programming language. It belongs to the Lisp programming language family, and more specifically, it is a descendant of the Scheme programming language. Its design is governed by one rule: enabling Scheme-based programming style where C(++) is usually required.

Bigloo aims at being a practical programming language and a practical programming environment. For it offers features usually presented by traditional programming languages but seldom supported by functional programming languages. Bigloo compiles modules. It delivers small and fast stand alone binary executables. Bigloo enables full connections with C programs, or with Java programs, if you choose the JVM backend.

The Bigloo C backend is ported to:

• Linux (x86, x86/64, and arm)
• MacOS X
• Android
• Windows WSL

Some projects implemented using Bigloo:

• hop
• php tools

Example 1: Bigloo and C

Bigloo makes it easy to share code with C. In that example, the result of the fib Bigloo function operating on Bigloo fixnum numbers will be passed to the standard printf C function. This example also give a flavor of Bigloo's module.

(module fib
   (extern (macro printf::int (::string ::string ::long) "printf"))
   (main main))

(define (main x)
   (let ((arg (if (pair? (cdr x)) (cadr x) "30")))
      (printf "fib(%s)=%ld\n" arg (fib (string->integer arg)))))

(define (fib x)
   (if (<fx x 2)
       1
       (+fx (fib (-fx x 1)) (fib (-fx x 2)))))

This Bigloo program can be turned into a binary executable with:

$ bigloo fib.scm -o fib
$ ./fib 30

Example 2: Multi-Threading

This second example illustrate the use of libraries, multi-threading, and objects. Pthreads are accessed via the Bigloo pthread library as declared in the module declaration. Threads are instances of the pthread class. Once instantiate they can be spawned and synchronized. Bigloo supports the traditional smorgasbord of locking and synchronization primtives.

(module fib-mt
   (extern (macro printf::int (::string ::string ::long) "printf"))
   (library pthread)
   (main main))

(define (main x)
   (let ((arg (if (pair? (cdr x)) (cadr x) "30")))
      (printf "fib(%s)=%ld\n" arg (fib-mt (string->integer arg)))))

(define (fib-mt x)
   (+fx (thread-join!
           (thread-start-joinable!
              (instantiate::pthread
                 (body (lambda () (fib (-fx x 1)))))))
      (thread-join!
         (thread-start-joinable!
            (instantiate::pthread
               (body (lambda () (fib (-fx x 2)))))))))

(define (fib x)
   (if (<fx x 2)
       1
       (+fx (fib (-fx x 1)) (fib (-fx x 2)))))

To compile and run this program, simply use:

$ bigloo fib-mt.scm -o fib-mt
$ ./fib-mt 30

Example 3: Using Libraries

The third example. hardly more complex, shows how to use builtin libraries to build an efficient music player decoding .flac on the fly.

(module musicplay
   (library multimedia pthread alsa pulseaudio flac)
   (main main))

(define (main args)
   (let* ((pcm (instantiate::alsa-snd-pcm
                  (device "default")))
          (decoder (instantiate::flac-alsadecoder
                      (mimetypes '("audio/flac" "application/x-flac"))))
          (player (instantiate::alsamusic
                     (onstate (lambda (o s) (print "status " s)))
                     (onerror (lambda (o e) (print "error " e)))
                     (decoders (list decoder))
                     (pcm pcm))))
      (music-volume-set! player 80)
      (music-playlist-clear! player)
      (for-each (lambda (p) (music-playlist-add! player p)) (cdr args))
      (music-play player)))

To compile and run this program, simply use:

$ bigloo flac.scm -o flac
$ ./flac sample1.flac sample2.flac sample3.flac

This toy example rests on five builtin libraries to decode the flac format, to control the audio card and to play the music. This player is highly efficient. This player is highly efficient. It has been used in production on small ARM 200Mhz using only 64MB. Today, installed on a Raspberry PI, it will deliver more performance than needed to implement of high quality music streaming system.