This is Info file ../../info/internals.info, produced by Makeinfo-1.63
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   Copyright (C) 1992 - 1996 Ben Wing.  Copyright (C) 1996 Sun
Microsystems.  Copyright (C) 1994, 1995 Free Software Foundation.
Copyright (C) 1994, 1995 Board of Trustees, University of Illinois.

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   Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of
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   Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this
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File: internals.info,  Node: Specifics of the Event Gathering Mechanism,  Next: Specifics About the Emacs Event,  Prev: Main Loop,  Up: Events and the Event Loop

Specifics of the Event Gathering Mechanism
==========================================

   Here is an approximate diagram of the collection processes at work
in XEmacs, under TTY's (TTY's are simpler than X so we'll look at this
first):

      asynch.      asynch.    asynch.   asynch.                [Collectors in
     kbd events  kbd events   process   process                   the OS]
           |         |         output    output
           |         |           |         |
           |         |           |         |      SIGINT,      [signal handlers
           |         |           |         |      SIGQUIT,        in XEmacs]
           V         V           V         V      SIGWINCH,
          file      file        file      file    SIGALRM
          desc.     desc.       desc.     desc.     |
          (TTY)     (TTY)       (pipe)    (pipe)    |
           |          |          |         |      fake    timeouts
           |          |          |         |      file        |
           |          |          |         |      desc.       |
           |          |          |         |      (pipe)      |
           |          |          |         |        |         |
           |          |          |         |        |         |
           |          |          |         |        |         |
           V          V          V         V        V         V
           ------>-----------<----------------<----------------
                        |
                        |
                        |   [collected using select() in emacs_tty_next_event()
                        |    and converted to the appropriate Emacs event]
                        |
                        |
                        V              (above this line is TTY-specific)
                      Emacs    ------------------------------------------------
                      event    (below this line is the generic event mechanism)
                        |
                        |
     was there      if not, call
     a SIGINT?   emacs_tty_next_event()
         |              |
         |              |
         |              |
         V              V
         --->-------<----
                |
                |        [collected in event_stream_next_event();
                |         SIGINT is converted using maybe_read_quit_event()]
                V
              Emacs
              event
                |
                \---->------>----- maybe_kbd_translate() ---->---\
                                                                 |
                                                                 |
                                                                 |
          command event queue                                    |
                                                      if not from command
       (contains events that were                     event queue, call
       read earlier but not processed,                event_stream_next_event()
       typically when waiting in a                               |
       sit-for, sleep-for, etc. for                              |
      a particular event to be received)                         |
                    |                                            |
                    |                                            |
                    V                                            V
                    ---->------------------------------------<----
                                                    |
                                                    |   [collected in
                                                    |    next_event_internal()]
                                                    |
      unread-     unread-       event from          |
      command-    command-       keyboard       else, call
      events      event           macro      next_event_internal()
        |           |               |               |
        |           |               |               |
        |           |               |               |
        V           V               V               V
        --------->----------------------<------------
                          |
                          |      [collected in `next-event', which may loop
                          |       more than once if the event it gets is on
                          |       a dead frame, device, etc.]
                          |
                          |
                          V
                 feed into top-level event loop,
                 which repeatedly calls `next-event'
                 and then dispatches the event
                 using `dispatch-event'

   Notice the separation between TTY-specific and generic event
mechanism.  When using the Xt-based event loop, the TTY-specific stuff
is replaced but the rest stays the same.

   It's also important to realize that only one different kind of
system-specific event loop can be operating at a time, and must be able
to receive all kinds of events simultaneously.  For the two existing
event loops (implemented in `event-tty.c' and `event-Xt.c',
respectively), the TTY event loop *only* handles TTY consoles, while
the Xt event loop handles *both* TTY and X consoles.  This situation is
different from all of the output handlers, where you simply have one
per console type.

   Here's the Xt Event Loop Diagram (notice that below a certain point,
it's the same as the above diagram):

     asynch. asynch. asynch. asynch.                 [Collectors in
      kbd     kbd    process process                    the OS]
     events  events  output  output
       |       |       |       |
       |       |       |       |     asynch. asynch.   [Collectors in the
       |       |       |       |       X        X       OS and X Window System]
       |       |       |       |     events  events
       |       |       |       |       |        |
       |       |       |       |       |        |
       |       |       |       |       |        |    SIGINT,   [signal handlers
       |       |       |       |       |        |    SIGQUIT,     in XEmacs]
       |       |       |       |       |        |    SIGWINCH,
       |       |       |       |       |        |    SIGALRM
       |       |       |       |       |        |       |
       |       |       |       |       |        |       |
       |       |       |       |       |        |       |      timeouts
       |       |       |       |       |        |       |          |
       |       |       |       |       |        |       |          |
       |       |       |       |       |        |       V          |
       V       V       V       V       V        V      fake        |
      file    file    file    file    file     file    file        |
      desc.   desc.   desc.   desc.   desc.    desc.   desc.       |
      (TTY)   (TTY)   (pipe)  (pipe) (socket) (socket) (pipe)      |
       |       |       |       |       |        |       |          |
       |       |       |       |       |        |       |          |
       |       |       |       |       |        |       |          |
       V       V       V       V       V        V       V          V
       --->----------------------------------------<---------<------
            |              |               |
            |              |               |   [collected using select() in
            |              |               |   _XtWaitForSomething(), called
            |              |               |   from XtAppProcessEvent(), called
            |              |               |   in emacs_Xt_next_event();
            |              |               |   dispatched to various callbacks]
            |              |               |
            |              |               |
       emacs_Xt_        p_s_callback(),    |   [popup_selection_callback]
       event_handler()  x_u_v_s_callback(),|   [x_update_vertical_scrollbar_
            |           x_u_h_s_callback(),|    callback]
            |           search_callback()  |   [x_update_horizontal_scrollbar_
            |              |               |    callback]
            |              |               |
            |              |               |
       enqueue_Xt_       signal_special_   |
       dispatch_event()  Xt_user_event()   |
       [maybe multiple     |               |
        times, maybe 0     |               |
        times]             |               |
            |            enqueue_Xt_       |
            |            dispatch_event()  |
            |              |               |
            |              |               |
            V              V               |
            -->----------<--               |
                   |                       |
                   |                       |
                dispatch             Xt_what_callback()
                event                  sets flags
                queue                      |
                   |                       |
                   |                       |
                   |                       |
                   |                       |
                   ---->-----------<--------
                        |
                        |
                        |     [collected and converted as appropriate in
                        |            emacs_Xt_next_event()]
                        |
                        |
                        V              (above this line is Xt-specific)
                      Emacs    ------------------------------------------------
                      event    (below this line is the generic event mechanism)
                        |
                        |
     was there      if not, call
     a SIGINT?   emacs_Xt_next_event()
         |              |
         |              |
         |              |
         V              V
         --->-------<----
                |
                |        [collected in event_stream_next_event();
                |         SIGINT is converted using maybe_read_quit_event()]
                V
              Emacs
              event
                |
                \---->------>----- maybe_kbd_translate() -->-----\
                                                                 |
                                                                 |
                                                                 |
          command event queue                                    |
                                                      if not from command
       (contains events that were                     event queue, call
       read earlier but not processed,                event_stream_next_event()
       typically when waiting in a                               |
       sit-for, sleep-for, etc. for                              |
      a particular event to be received)                         |
                    |                                            |
                    |                                            |
                    V                                            V
                    ---->----------------------------------<------
                                                    |
                                                    |   [collected in
                                                    |    next_event_internal()]
                                                    |
      unread-     unread-       event from          |
      command-    command-       keyboard       else, call
      events      event           macro      next_event_internal()
        |           |               |               |
        |           |               |               |
        |           |               |               |
        V           V               V               V
        --------->----------------------<------------
                          |
                          |      [collected in `next-event', which may loop
                          |       more than once if the event it gets is on
                          |       a dead frame, device, etc.]
                          |
                          |
                          V
                 feed into top-level event loop,
                 which repeatedly calls `next-event'
                 and then dispatches the event
                 using `dispatch-event'


File: internals.info,  Node: Specifics About the Emacs Event,  Next: The Event Stream Callback Routines,  Prev: Specifics of the Event Gathering Mechanism,  Up: Events and the Event Loop

Specifics About the Emacs Event
===============================


File: internals.info,  Node: The Event Stream Callback Routines,  Next: Other Event Loop Functions,  Prev: Specifics About the Emacs Event,  Up: Events and the Event Loop

The Event Stream Callback Routines
==================================


File: internals.info,  Node: Other Event Loop Functions,  Next: Converting Events,  Prev: The Event Stream Callback Routines,  Up: Events and the Event Loop

Other Event Loop Functions
==========================

   `detect_input_pending()' and `input-pending-p' look for input by
calling `event_stream->event_pending_p' and looking in
`[V]unread-command-event' and the `command_event_queue' (they do not
check for an executing keyboard macro, though).

   `discard-input' cancels any command events pending (and any keyboard
macros currently executing), and puts the others onto the
`command_event_queue'.  There is a comment about a "race condition",
which is not a good sign.

   `next-command-event' and `read-char' are higher-level interfaces to
`next-event'.  `next-command-event' gets the next "command" event (i.e.
keypress, mouse event, or menu selection), calling dispatch-event on
any others.  `read-char' calls `next-command-event' and uses
`event_to_character()' to return the ASCII equivalent.


File: internals.info,  Node: Converting Events,  Next: Dispatching Events; The Command Builder,  Prev: Other Event Loop Functions,  Up: Events and the Event Loop

Converting Events
=================

   `character_to_event()', `event_to_character()',
`event-to-character', and `character-to-event' convert between ASCII
characters and keypresses corresponding to the characters.  If the
event was not a keypress, `event_to_character()' returns -1 and
`event-to-character' returns `nil'.  These functions convert between
ASCII representation and the split-up event representation (keysym plus
mod keys).


File: internals.info,  Node: Dispatching Events; The Command Builder,  Prev: Converting Events,  Up: Events and the Event Loop

Dispatching Events; The Command Builder
=======================================

   Not yet documented.


File: internals.info,  Node: Evaluation; Stack Frames; Bindings,  Next: Symbols and Variables,  Prev: Events and the Event Loop,  Up: Top

Evaluation; Stack Frames; Bindings
**********************************

* Menu:

* Evaluation::
* Dynamic Binding; The specbinding Stack; Unwind-Protects::
* Simple Special Forms::
* Catch and Throw::


File: internals.info,  Node: Evaluation,  Next: Dynamic Binding; The specbinding Stack; Unwind-Protects,  Up: Evaluation; Stack Frames; Bindings

Evaluation
==========

   `Feval()' evaluates the form (a Lisp object) that is passed to it.
Note that evaluation is only non-trivial for two types of objects:
symbols and conses.  Under normal circumstances (i.e. not mocklisp) a
symbol is evaluated simply by calling symbol-value on it and returning
the value.

   Evaluating a cons means calling a function.  First, `eval' checks to
see if garbage-collection is necessary, and calls `Fgarbage_collect()'
if so.  It then increases the evaluation depth by 1 (`lisp_eval_depth',
which is always less than `max_lisp_eval_depth') and adds an element to
the linked list of `struct backtrace''s (`backtrace_list').  Each such
structure contains a pointer to the function being called plus a list
of the function's arguments.  Originally these values are stored
unevalled, and as they are evaluated, the backtrace structure is
updated.  Garbage collection pays attention to the objects pointed to
in the backtrace structures (garbage collection might happen while a
function is being called or while an argument is being evaluated, and
there could easily be no other references to the arguments in the
argument list; once an argument is evaluated, however, the unevalled
version is not needed by eval, and so the backtrace structure is
changed).

   At this point, the function to be called is determined by looking at
the car of the cons (if this is a symbol, its function definition is
retrieved and the process repeated).  The function should then consist
of either a Lisp_Subr (built-in function), a Lisp_Compiled object, or a
cons whose car is the symbol `autoload', `macro', `lambda', or
`mocklisp'.

   If the function is a Lisp_Subr, the lisp object points to a struct
Lisp_Subr (created by `DEFUN()'), which contains a pointer to the C
function, a minimum and maximum number of arguments (possibly the
special constants `MANY' or `UNEVALLED'), a pointer to the symbol
referring to that subr, and a couple of other things.  If the subr
wants its arguments `UNEVALLED', they are passed raw as a list.
Otherwise, an array of evaluated arguments is created and put into the
backtrace structure, and either passed whole (`MANY') or each argument
is passed as a C argument.

   If the function is a Lisp_Compiled object or a lambda,
`apply_lambda()' is called.  If the function is a macro, [..... fill
in] is done.  If the function is an autoload, `do_autoload()' is called
to load the definition and then eval starts over [explain this more].
If the function is a mocklisp, `ml_apply()' is called.

   When `Feval' exits, the evaluation depth is reduced by one, the
debugger is called if appropriate, and the current backtrace structure
is removed from the list.

   `apply_lambda()' is passed a function, a list of arguments, and a
flag indicating whether to evaluate the arguments.  It creates an array
of (possibly) evaluated arguments and fixes up the backtrace structure,
just like eval does.  Then it calls `funcall_lambda()'.

   `funcall_lambda()' goes through the formal arguments to the function
and binds them to the actual arguments, checking for `&rest' and
`&optional' symbols in the formal arguments and making sure the number
of actual arguments is correct.  Then either progn or byte-code is
called to actually execute the body and return a value.

   `Ffuncall()' implements Lisp `funcall'.  `(funcall fun x1 x2 x3
...)' is equivalent to `(eval (list fun (quote x1) (quote x2) (quote
x3) ...))'.  `Ffuncall()' contains its own code to do the evaluation,
however, and is almost identical to eval.

   `Fapply()' implements Lisp `apply', which is very similar to funcall
except that if the last argument is a list, the result is the same as
if each of the arguments in the list had been passed separately.
`Fapply()' does some business to expand the last argument if it's a
list, then calls `Ffuncall()' to do the work.

   `apply1()', `call0()', `call1()', `call2()', and `call3()' call a
function, passing it the argument(s) given (the arguments are given as
separate C arguments rather than being passed as an array).  `apply1()'
uses `apply' while the others use `funcall'.


File: internals.info,  Node: Dynamic Binding; The specbinding Stack; Unwind-Protects,  Next: Simple Special Forms,  Prev: Evaluation,  Up: Evaluation; Stack Frames; Bindings

Dynamic Binding; The specbinding Stack; Unwind-Protects
=======================================================

     struct specbinding
     {
       Lisp_Object symbol, old_value;
       Lisp_Object (*func) (Lisp_Object); /* for unwind-protect */
     };

   `struct specbinding' is used for local-variable bindings and
unwind-protects.  `specpdl' holds an array of `struct specbinding''s,
`specpdl_ptr' points to the beginning of the free bindings in the
array, `specpdl_size' specifies the total number of binding slots in
the array, and `max_specpdl_size' specifies the maximum number of
bindings the array can be expanded to hold.  `grow_specpdl()' increases
the size of the specpdl array, multiplying its size by 2 but never
exceeding max_specpdl_size (except that if this number is less than
400, it is first set to 400).

   `specbind()' binds a symbol to a value and is used for local
variables and `let' forms.  The symbol and its old value (which might
be `Qunbound', indicating no prior value) are recorded in the specpdl
array, and `specpdl_size' is increased by 1.

   `record_unwind_protect()' implements an "unwind-protect", which,
when placed around a section of code, ensures that some specified
cleanup routine will be executed even if the code exits abnormally
(e.g. through a throw or quit).  `record_unwind_protect()' simply adds
a new specbinding to the specpdl array and stores the appropriate
information in it.  The cleanup routine can either be a C function,
which is stored in the `func' field, or a progn form, which is stored in
the `old_value' field.

   `unbind_to()' removes specbindings from the specpdl array until the
specified position is reached.  The specbinding can be one of three
types:

  1. an unwind-protect with a C cleanup function (`func' is not 0 -
     `old_value' holds an argument to be passed to the function);

  2. an unwind-protect with a Lisp form (`func' is 0 and `symbol' is
     `nil' - `old_value' holds the form to be executed with
     `Fprogn()'); or

  3. a local-variable binding (`func' is 0 and `symbol' is not `nil' -
     `old_value' holds the old value, which is stored as the symbol's
     value).


File: internals.info,  Node: Simple Special Forms,  Next: Catch and Throw,  Prev: Dynamic Binding; The specbinding Stack; Unwind-Protects,  Up: Evaluation; Stack Frames; Bindings

Simple Special Forms
====================

   `or', `and', `if', `cond', `progn', `prog1', `prog2', `setq',
`quote', `function', `let*', `let', `while'

   All of these are very simple and work as expected, calling `Feval()'
or `Fprogn()' as necessary and (in the case of `let' and `let*') using
`specbind()' to create bindings and `unbind_to()' to undo the bindings
when finished.  Note that these functions do a lot of `GCPRO'ing to
protect their arguments from garbage collection because they call
`Feval()' (*note Garbage Collection::.).


File: internals.info,  Node: Catch and Throw,  Prev: Simple Special Forms,  Up: Evaluation; Stack Frames; Bindings

Catch and Throw
===============

     struct catchtag
     {
       Lisp_Object tag;
       Lisp_Object val;
       struct catchtag *next;
       struct gcpro *gcpro;
       jmp_buf jmp;
       struct backtrace *backlist;
       int lisp_eval_depth;
       int pdlcount;
     };

   `catch' is a Lisp function that places a catch around a body of
code.  A catch is a means of non-local exit from the code.  When a catch
is created, a tag is specified, and executing a `throw' to this tag
will exit from the body of code caught with this tag, and its value will
be the value given in the call to `throw'.  If there is no such call,
the code will be executed normally.

   Information pertaining to a catch is held in a `struct catchtag',
which is placed at the head of a linked list pointed to by `catchlist'.
`internal_catch()' is passed a C function to call (`Fprogn()' when
Lisp `catch' is called) and arguments to give it, and places a catch
around the function.  Each `struct catchtag' is held in the stack frame
of the `internal_catch()' instance that created the catch.

   `internal_catch()' is fairly straightforward.  It stores into the
`struct catchtag' the tag name and the current values of
`backtrace_list', `lisp_eval_depth', `gcprolist', and the offset into
the specpdl array, sets a jump point with `_setjmp()' (storing the jump
point into the `struct catchtag'), and calls the function.  Control
will return to `internal_catch()' either when the function exits
normally or through a `_longjmp()' to this jump point.  In the latter
case, `throw' will store the value to be returned into the `struct
catchtag' before jumping.  When it's done, `internal_catch()' removes
the `struct catchtag' from the catchlist and returns the proper value.

   `Fthrow()' goes up through the catchlist until it finds one with a
matching tag.  It then calls `unbind_catch()' to restore everything to
what it was when the appropriate catch was set, stores the return value
in the `struct catchtag', and jumps (with `_longjmp()') to its jump
point.

   `unbind_catch()' removes all catches from the catchlist until it
finds the correct one.  Some of the catches might have been placed for
error-trapping, and if so, the appropriate entries on the handlerlist
must be removed (see "errors").  `unbind_catch()' also restores the
values of `gcprolist', `backtrace_list', and `lisp_eval', and calls
`unbind_to()' to undo any specbindings created since the catch.


File: internals.info,  Node: Symbols and Variables,  Next: Buffers and Textual Representation,  Prev: Evaluation; Stack Frames; Bindings,  Up: Top

Symbols and Variables
*********************

* Menu:

* Introduction to Symbols::
* Obarrays::
* Symbol Values::


File: internals.info,  Node: Introduction to Symbols,  Next: Obarrays,  Up: Symbols and Variables

Introduction to Symbols
=======================

   A symbol is basically just an object with four fields: a name (a
string), a value (some Lisp object), a function (some Lisp object), and
a property list (usually a list of alternating keyword/value pairs).
What makes symbols special is that there is usually only one symbol with
a given name, and the symbol is referred to by name.  This makes a
symbol a convenient way of calling up data by name, i.e. of implementing
variables. (The variable's value is stored in the "value slot".)
Similarly, functions are referenced by name, and the definition of the
function is stored in a symbol's "function slot".  This means that
there can be a distinct function and variable with the same name.  The
property list is used as a more general mechanism of associating
additional values with particular names, and once again the namespace is
independent of the function and variable namespaces.


File: internals.info,  Node: Obarrays,  Next: Symbol Values,  Prev: Introduction to Symbols,  Up: Symbols and Variables

Obarrays
========

   The identity of symbols with their names is accomplished through a
structure called an obarray, which is just a poorly-implemented hash
table mapping from strings to symbols whose name is that string. (I say
"poorly implemented" because an obarray appears in Lisp as a vector
with some hidden fields rather than as its own opaque type.  This is an
Emacs Lisp artifact that should be fixed.)

   Obarrays are implemented as a vector of some fixed size (which should
be a prime for best results), where each "bucket" of the vector
contains one or more symbols, threaded through a hidden `next' field in
the symbol.  Lookup of a symbol in an obarray, and adding a symbol to
an obarray, is accomplished through standard hash-table techniques.

   The standard Lisp function for working with symbols and obarrays is
`intern'.  This looks up a symbol in an obarray given its name; if it's
not found, a new symbol is automatically created with the specified
name, added to the obarray, and returned.  This is what happens when the
Lisp reader encounters a symbol (or more precisely, encounters the name
of a symbol) in some text that it is reading.  There is a standard
obarray called `obarray' that is used for this purpose, although the
Lisp programmer is free to create his own obarrays and `intern' symbols
in them.

   Note that, once a symbol is in an obarray, it stays there until
something is done about it, and the standard obarray `obarray' always
stays around, so once you use any particular variable name, a
corresponding symbol will stay around in `obarray' until you exit
XEmacs.

   Note that `obarray' itself is a variable, and as such there is a
symbol in `obarray' whose name is `"obarray"' and which contains
`obarray' as its value.

   Note also that this call to `intern' occurs only when in the Lisp
reader, not when the code is executed (at which point the symbol is
already around, stored as such in the definition of the function).

   You can create your own obarray using `make-vector' (this is
horrible but is an artifact) and intern symbols into that obarray.
Doing that will result in two or more symbols with the same name.
However, at most one of these symbols is in the standard `obarray': You
cannot have two symbols of the same name in any particular obarray.
Note that you cannot add a symbol to an obarray in any fashion other
than using `intern': i.e. you can't take an existing symbol and put it
in an existing obarray.  Nor can you change the name of an existing
symbol. (Since obarrays are vectors, you can violate the consistency of
things by storing directly into the vector, but let's ignore that
possibility.)

   Usually symbols are created by `intern', but if you really want, you
can explicitly create a symbol using `make-symbol', giving it some
name.  The resulting symbol is not in any obarray (i.e. it is
"uninterned"), and you can't add it to any obarray.  Therefore its
primary purpose is as a carrier of information. (Cons cells could
probably be used just as well.)

   You can also use `intern-soft' to look up a symbol but not create a
new one, and `unintern' to remove a symbol from an obarray.  This
returns the removed symbol. (Remember: You can't put the symbol back
into any obarray.) Finally, `mapatoms' maps over all of the symbols in
an obarray.


File: internals.info,  Node: Symbol Values,  Prev: Obarrays,  Up: Symbols and Variables

Symbol Values
=============

   The value field of a symbol normally contains a Lisp object.
However, a symbol can be "unbound", meaning that it logically has no
value.  This is internally indicated by storing a special Lisp object,
called "the unbound marker" and stored in the global variable
`Qunbound'.  The unbound marker is of a special Lisp object type called
"symbol-value-magic".  It is impossible for the Lisp programmer to
directly create or access any object of this type.

   *You must not let any "symbol-value-magic" object escape to the Lisp
level.*  Printing any of these objects will cause the message `INTERNAL
EMACS BUG' to appear as part of the print representation.  (You may see
this normally when you call `debug_print()' from the debugger on a Lisp
object.) If you let one of these objects escape to the Lisp level, you
will violate a number of assumptions contained in the C code and make
the unbound marker not function right.

   When a symbol is created, its value field (and function field) are
set to `Qunbound'.  The Lisp programmer can restore these conditions
later using `makunbound' or `fmakunbound', and can query to see whether
the value of function fields are "bound" (i.e. have a value other than
`Qunbound') using `boundp' and `fboundp'.  The fields are set to a
normal Lisp object using `set' (or `setq') and `fset'.

   Other symbol-value-magic objects are used as special markers to
indicate variables that have non-normal properties.  This includes any
variables that are tied into C variables (setting the variable magically
sets some global variable in the C code, and likewise for retrieving the
variable's value), variables that magically tie into slots in the
current buffer, variables that are buffer-local, etc.  The
symbol-value-magic object is stored in the value cell in place of a
normal object, and the code to retrieve a symbol's value (i.e.
`symbol-value') knows how to do special things with them.  This means
that you should not just fetch the value cell directly if you want a
symbol's value.

   The exact workings of this are rather complex and involved and are
well-documented in comments in `buffer.c', `symbols.c', and `lisp.h'.


File: internals.info,  Node: Buffers and Textual Representation,  Next: MULE Character Sets and Encodings,  Prev: Symbols and Variables,  Up: Top

Buffers and Textual Representation
**********************************

* Menu:

* Introduction to Buffers::     A buffer holds a block of text such as a file.
* A Buffer's Text::            Representation of the text in a buffer.
* Buffer Lists::                Keeping track of all buffers.
* Markers and Extents::         Tagging locations within a buffer.
* Bufbytes and Emchars::        Representation of individual characters.
* The Buffer Object::           The Lisp object corresponding to a buffer.


File: internals.info,  Node: Introduction to Buffers,  Next: A Buffer's Text,  Up: Buffers and Textual Representation

Introduction to Buffers
=======================

   A buffer is logically just a Lisp object that holds some text.  In
this, it is like a string, but a buffer is optimized for frequent
insertion and deletion, while a string is not.  Furthermore:

  1. Buffers are "permanent" objects, i.e. one you create them, they
     remain around, and need to be explicitly deleted before they go
     away.

  2. Each buffer has a unique name, which is a string.  Buffers are
     normally referred to by name.  In this respect, they are like
     symbols.

  3. Buffers have a default insertion position, called "point".
     Inserting text (unless you explicitly give a position) goes at
     point, and moves point forward past the text.  This is what is
     going on when you type text into Emacs.

  4. Buffers have lots of extra properties associated with them.

  5. Buffers can be "displayed".  What this means is that there exist a
     number of "windows", which are objects that correspond to some
     visible section of your display, and each window has an associated
     buffer, and the current contents of the buffer are shown in that
     section of the display.  The redisplay mechanism (which takes care
     of doing this) knows how to look at the text of a buffer and come
     up with some reasonable way of displaying this.  Many of the
     properties of a buffer control how the buffer's text is displayed.

  6. One buffer is distinguished and called the "current buffer".  It is
     stored in the variable `current_buffer'.  Buffer operations operate
     on this buffer by default.  When you are typing text into a
     buffer, the buffer you are typing into is always `current_buffer'.
     Switching to a different window changes the current buffer.  Note
     that Lisp code can temporarily change the current buffer using
     `set-buffer' (often enclosed in a `save-excursion' so that the
     former current buffer gets restored when the code is finished).
     However, calling `set-buffer' will NOT cause a permanent change in
     the current buffer.  The reason for this is that the top-level
     event loop sets current buffer to the buffer of the selected
     window, each time it finishes executing a user command.

   Make sure you understand the distinction between "current buffer"
and "buffer of the selected window", and the distinction between
"point" of the current buffer and "window-point" of the selected
window. (This latter distinction is explained in detail in the section
on windows.)


File: internals.info,  Node: A Buffer's Text,  Next: Buffer Lists,  Prev: Introduction to Buffers,  Up: Buffers and Textual Representation

A Buffer's Text
===============

   The text in a buffer consists of a sequence of zero or more
characters.  A "character" is an integer that logically represents a
letter, number, space, or other unit of text.  Most of the characters
that you will typically encounter belong to the ASCII set of characters,
but there are also characters for various sorts of accented letters,
special symbols, Chinese and Japanese ideograms (i.e. Kanji, Katakana,
etc.), Cyrillic and Greek letters, etc.  The actual number of possible
characters is quite large.

   For now, we can view a character as some non-negative integer that
has some shape that defines how it typically appears (e.g. as an
uppercase A). (The exact way in which a character appears depends on
the font of the character.) The internal type of characters in the C
code is an Emchar; this is just an int, but using a symbolic type makes
the code clearer.

   Between every character in a buffer is a "buffer position" or
"character position".  We can speak of the character before or after a
particular buffer position, and when you insert a character at a
particular position, all characters after that position end up at new
positions.  When we speak of the character "at" a position, we really
mean the character after the position.  (This schizophrenia between a
buffer position being "between" a character and "on" a character is
rampant in Emacs.)

   Buffer positions are numbered starting at 1.  This means that
position 1 is before the first character, and position 0 is not valid.
If there are N characters in a buffer, then buffer position N+1 is
after the last one, and position N+2 is not valid.

   The internal makeup of the Emchar integer varies depending on whether
we have compiled with MULE support.  If not, the Emchar integer is an
8-bit integer with possible values from 0 - 255.  0 - 127 are the
standard ASCII characters, while 128 - 255 are the characters from the
ISO-8859-1 character set.  If we have compiled with MULE support, an
Emchar is a 19-bit integer, with the various bits having meanings
according to a complex scheme that will be detailed later.  The
characters numbered 0 - 255 still have the same meanings as for the
non-MULE case, though.

   Internally, the text in a buffer is represented in a fairly simple
fashion: as a contiguous array of bytes, with a "gap" of some size in
the middle.  Although the gap is of some substantial size in bytes,
there is no text contained within it: From the perspective of the text
in the buffer, it does not exist.  The gap logically sits at some buffer
position, between two characters (or possibly at the beginning or end of
the buffer).  Insertion of text in a buffer at a particular position is
always accomplished by first moving the gap to that position (i.e.
through some block moving of text), then writing the text into the
beginning of the gap, thereby shrinking the gap.  If the gap shrinks
down to nothing, a new gap is created. (What actually happens is that a
new gap is "created" at the end of the buffer's text, which requires
nothing more than changing a couple of indices; then the gap is "moved"
to the position where the insertion needs to take place by moving up in
memory all the text after that position.)  Similarly, deletion occurs
by moving the gap to the place where the text is to be deleted, and
then simply expanding the gap to include the deleted text.
("Expanding" and "shrinking" the gap as just described means just that
the internal indices that keep track of where the gap is located are
changed.)

   Note that the total amount of memory allocated for a buffer text
never decreases while the buffer is live.  Therefore, if you load up a
20-megabyte file and then delete all but one character, there will be a
20-megabyte gap, which won't get any smaller (except by inserting
characters back again).  Once the buffer is killed, the memory allocated
for the buffer text will be freed, but it will still be sitting on the
heap, taking up virtual memory, and will not be released back to the
operating system. (However, if you have compiled XEmacs with rel-alloc,
the situation is different.  In this case, the space *will* be released
back to the operating system.  However, this tends to effect a
noticeable speed penalty.)

   Astute readers may notice that the text in a buffer is represented as
an array of *bytes*, while (at least in the MULE case) an Emchar is a
19-bit integer, which clearly cannot fit in a byte.  This means (of
course) that the text in a buffer uses a different representation from
an Emchar: specifically, the 19-bit Emchar becomes a series of one to
four bytes.  The conversion between these two representations is complex
and will be described later.

   In the non-MULE case, everything is very simple: An Emchar is an
8-bit value, which fits neatly into one byte.

   If we are given a buffer position and want to retrieve the character
at that position, we need to follow these steps:

  1. Pretend there's no gap, and convert the buffer position into a
     "byte index" that indexes to the appropriate byte in the buffer's
     stream of textual bytes.  By convention, byte indices begin at 1,
     just like buffer positions.  In the non-MULE case, byte indices
     and buffer positions are identical, since one character equals one
     byte.

  2. Convert the byte index into a "memory index", which takes the gap
     into account.  The memory index is a direct index into the block of
     memory that stores the text of a buffer.  This basically just
     involves checking to see if the byte index is past the gap, and if
     so, adding the size of the gap to it.  By convention, memory
     indices begin at 1, just like buffer positions and byte indices,
     and when referring to the position that is "at" the gap, we always
     use the memory position at the *beginning*, not at the end, of the
     gap.

  3. Fetch the appropriate bytes at the determined memory position.

  4. Convert these bytes into an Emchar.

   In the non-Mule case, (3) and (4) boil down to a simple one-byte
memory access.

   Note that we have defined three types of positions in a buffer:

  1. "buffer positions" or "character positions", typedef `Bufpos'

  2. "byte indices", typedef `Bytind'

  3. "memory indices", typedef `Memind'

   All three typedefs are just ints, but defining them this way makes
things a lot clearer.

   Most code works with buffer positions.  In particular, all Lisp code
that refers to text in a buffer uses buffer positions.  Lisp code does
not know that byte indices or memory indices exist.

   Finally, we have a typedef for the bytes in a buffer.  This is a
`Bufbyte', which is an unsigned char.  Referring to them as Bufbytes
underscores the fact that we are working with a string of bytes in the
internal Emacs buffer representation rather than in one of a number of
possible alternative representations (e.g. EUC-coded text, etc.).


File: internals.info,  Node: Buffer Lists,  Next: Markers and Extents,  Prev: A Buffer's Text,  Up: Buffers and Textual Representation

Buffer Lists
============

   Recall earlier that buffers are "permanent" objects, i.e.  that they
remain around until explicitly deleted.  This entails that there is a
list of all the buffers in existence.  This list is actually an
assoc-list (mapping from the buffer's name to the buffer) and is stored
in the global variable `Vbuffer_alist'.

   The order of the buffers in the list is important: the buffers are
ordered approximately from most-recently-used to least-recently-used.
Switching to a buffer using `switch-to-buffer', `pop-to-buffer', etc.
and switching windows using `other-window', etc.  usually brings the
new current buffer to the front of the list.  `switch-to-buffer',
`other-buffer', etc. look at the beginning of the list to find an
alternative buffer to suggest.  You can also explicitly move a buffer
to the end of the list using `bury-buffer'.

   In addition to the global ordering in `Vbuffer_alist', each frame
has its own ordering of the list.  These lists always contain the same
elements as in `Vbuffer_alist' although possibly in a different order.
`buffer-list' normally returns the list for the selected frame.  This
allows you to work in separate frames without things interfering with
each other.

   The standard way to look up a buffer given a name is `get-buffer',
and the standard way to create a new buffer is `get-buffer-create',
which looks up a buffer with a given name, creating a new one if
necessary.  These operations correspond exactly with the symbol
operations `intern-soft' and `intern', respectively.  You can also
force a new buffer to be created using `generate-new-buffer', which
takes a name and (if necessary) makes a unique name from this by
appending a number, and then creates the buffer.  This is basically
like the symbol operation `gensym'.


File: internals.info,  Node: Markers and Extents,  Next: Bufbytes and Emchars,  Prev: Buffer Lists,  Up: Buffers and Textual Representation

Markers and Extents
===================

   Among the things associated with a buffer are things that are
logically attached to certain buffer positions.  This can be used to
keep track of a buffer position when text is inserted and deleted, so
that it remains at the same spot relative to the text around it; to
assign properties to particular sections of text; etc.  There are two
such objects that are useful in this regard: they are "markers" and
"extents".

   A "marker" is simply a flag placed at a particular buffer position,
which is moved around as text is inserted and deleted.  Markers are
used for all sorts of purposes, such as the `mark' that is the other
end of textual regions to be cut, copied, etc.

   An "extent" is similar to two markers plus some associated
properties, and is used to keep track of regions in a buffer as text is
inserted and deleted, and to add properties (e.g. fonts) to particular
regions of text.  The external interface of extents is explained
elsewhere.

   The important thing here is that markers and extents simply contain
buffer positions in them as integers, and every time text is inserted or
deleted, these positions must be updated.  In order to minimize the
amount of shuffling that needs to be done, the positions in markers and
extents (there's one per marker, two per extent) and stored in Meminds.
This means that they only need to be moved when the text is physically
moved in memory; since the gap structure tries to minimize this, it also
minimizes the number of marker and extent indices that need to be
adjusted.  Look in `insdel.c' for the details of how this works.

   One other important distinction is that markers are "temporary"
while extents are "permanent".  This means that markers disappear as
soon as there are no more pointers to them, and correspondingly, there
is no way to determine what markers are in a buffer if you are just
given the buffer.  Extents remain in a buffer until they are detached
(which could happen as a result of text being deleted) or the buffer is
deleted, and primitives do exist to enumerate the extents in a buffer.


File: internals.info,  Node: Bufbytes and Emchars,  Next: The Buffer Object,  Prev: Markers and Extents,  Up: Buffers and Textual Representation

Bufbytes and Emchars
====================

   Not yet documented.

