SLIME and Swank: Graphical REPL
SLIME, the Superior Lisp Interaction Mode for Emacs, is an Emacs mode for developing Lisp applications. – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SLIME
SLIME uses a backend called Swank that is loaded into Lisp to turn Emacs into a featured REPL along with an IDE for lisp use.
Running the Swank Server
If you already know SLIME and have it setup then all that's needed is to run a server and M-x slime-connect to it from emacs.
At the command line: gerbil swank AKA gxswank
gxswank: The Gerbil Swank Daemon
Usage: gxswank [option ...]
Options:
-g --global-env use the user global env even in local package context
-a --address <host> The IP or hostname to listen on [default: localhost]
-p --port <port> The port number on which the Swank server listens for connections [default: 4005]
-d --dont-close <dont-close> If true. keep the socket accepting for more than one connection. Any other value makes it only accept once. [default: false]
-h --help display help
From the REPL: std/ide/swank#create-server
$ gerbil
Gerbil v0.19-178-gec4ff997 on Gambit v4.9.6-208-g2686dd61
> (import (prefix-in :std/ide/swank swank-))
> (def swank-port (+ 10000 (random-integer 55535)))
> (swank-create-server port: swank-port)
#<thread #20>
> Running Swank Server on localhost:45657
The create-server function
Minimal Emacs setup
There are some developers that (gasp) don't use Emacs as their primary go to application. Having said that even without using the editor portion the REPL itself is useful and continues to grow into a wonderful interface to Gerbil.
If you already use emacs it may be as simple as adding the following to your init file.
(use-package slime
:hook ((gerbil-mode . slime-mode)))
(defun gerbil-slime-init-function (file encoding)
(format "(begin (import (prefix-in :std/ide/swank swank-))
(let ((port (+ 10000 (random-integer 55535))))
(swank-create-server port: port)
(with-output-to-file %S (cut write port))))\n\n"
file))
(cl-defun gerbil-slime-start
(&key (program "/opt/gerbil/current/bin/gerbil") program-args
directory
(coding-system slime-net-coding-system)
(init 'gerbil-slime-init-function)
(name 'gerbil)
(buffer "*inferior-gerbil*")
init-function
env)
"Start a Gerbil process and connect to it.
This function is intended for programmatic use if `gerbil-slime' is not
flexible enough.
PROGRAM and PROGRAM-ARGS are the filename and argument strings
for the subprocess.
INIT is a function that should return a string to load and start
Swank. The function will be called with the PORT-FILENAME and ENCODING as
arguments. INIT defaults to `gerbil-slime-init-command'.
CODING-SYSTEM a symbol for the coding system. The default is
slime-net-coding-system
ENV environment variables for the subprocess (see `process-environment').
INIT-FUNCTION function to call right after the connection is established.
BUFFER the name of the buffer to use for the subprocess.
NAME a symbol to describe the Lisp implementation
DIRECTORY change to this directory before starting the process.
"
(let ((args (list :program program :program-args program-args :buffer buffer
:coding-system coding-system :init init :name name
:init-function init-function :env env)))
(slime-check-coding-system coding-system)
(when (slime-bytecode-stale-p)
(slime-urge-bytecode-recompile))
(let ((proc (slime-maybe-start-lisp program program-args env
directory buffer)))
(slime-inferior-connect proc args)
(pop-to-buffer (process-buffer proc)))))
(defun gerbil-slime (&optional command coding-system)
"Start an inferior^_superior Lisp and connect to its Swank server."
(interactive)
(slime-setup)
(gerbil-slime-start))
Or you could download it and put it in your load-path.