(guile.info.gz) Simple Data Types
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21 Simple Generic Data Types
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This chapter describes those of Guile's simple data types which are
primarily used for their role as items of generic data. By "simple" we
mean data types that are not primarily used as containers to hold other
data -- i.e. pairs, lists, vectors and so on. For the documentation of
such "compound" data types, see Compound Data Types.
One of the great strengths of Scheme is that there is no
straightforward distinction between "data" and "functionality". For
example, Guile's support for dynamic linking could be described
* either in a "data-centric" way, as the behaviour and properties of
the "dynamically linked object" data type, and the operations that
may be applied to instances of this type
* or in a "functionality-centric" way, as the set of procedures that
constitute Guile's support for dynamic linking, in the context of
the module system.
The contents of this chapter are, therefore, a matter of judgment.
By "generic", we mean to select those data types whose typical use as
_data_ in a wide variety of programming contexts is more important than
their use in the implementation of a particular piece of
_functionality_. The last section of this chapter provides references
for all the data types that are documented not here but in a
"functionality-centric" way elsewhere in the manual.
Menu
* Booleans True/false values.
* Numbers Numerical data types.
* Characters New character names.
* Strings Special things about strings.
* Regular Expressions Pattern matching and substitution.
* Symbols Symbols.
* Keywords Self-quoting, customizable display keywords.
* Other Types "Functionality-centric" data types.
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