Hi Miguel, and welcome to the Chicken community! Your project looks very thourogh and the Scheme code looks good.
There are a couple of issues related to building that I thought I'd point out. Like Felix points out, load and load-relative open files at runtime. So sdb fails when run outside of its repo directory because of these: > make > ./sdb -h > cd ~ ~> ~/opt/simple_db/sdb Error: (load) cannot open file: "./db-utils.scm" ==== In the same manner, the help-file is opened and read at runtime here: https://github.com/MigAP/simple_db/blob/main/cli.scm#L31. This results in a similar problem when sdb is used outside its repo directory: > ~/opt/simple_db/sdb -h Error: (open-input-file) cannot open file - No such file or directory: "./cli-interface.txt" In Scheme, the ordinary string syntax can have multiple lines. So if you wanted to, you could wrap the content of cli-interface.txt in double-qoutes and embed it directly into your sources. That'll eliminate these kinds of runtime issues. You could also use include or read cli-interface.txt at compile time using define-syntax or let-syntax. ==== There are also egg dependencies in use which don't seem to be mentioned anywhere. Without these, I get this error message. > ./sdb -h Error: (import) during expansion of (import ...) - cannot import from undefined module: list-utils.basic I'm guessing I need to install list-utils, but that olso fails because of transitive dependencies. So I need to run `chicken-install check-errors`, then `chicken-install list-utils`. Then another `chicken-install gnuplot-pipe`. Manual dependency management like quickly gets out of hand. You can use egg-files, which you've probably come across. Here's a bare minimum to get dependencies and transitive dependencies installed: ~/o/simple_db (main)> cat sdb.egg ((dependencies list-utils gnuplot-pipe)) ~/o/simple_db (main)> chicken-install ... building gnuplot-pipe installing gnuplot-pipe building sdb installing sdb chicken-install runs for the current directory if nothing is specified, so it picks up sdb.egg. I often use egg files even for small toy project that I don't tend to release because of this, amongst other things. You can also use egg files to install programs like sdb if you wish. If you run chicken-install with -test, it'll run test/run.scm, where you can put your unit tests. This is all chicken-specific stuff, other Schemes do it their way. A Makefile like you have is a pretty global mechanism so it has its advantages. === I hope none of this is discouraging! Looking forward to seeing what else you produce. Hoppy holidays, K. On Fri, Mar 22, 2024, 19:54 <felix.winkelm...@bevuta.com> wrote: > > Hello everyone! > > > > My name is Miguel, and I am interested in developing in Chicken Scheme. > > > > I just created a toy project to put in practice what I have been > > learning in the Little Schemer and SICP books, you can find it here: > > > > https://github.com/MigAP/simple_db > > > > It is a simple database to store urls. I am not a developer, so I would > > appreciate any feedback from you. In particular, it is the first time I > > write unit tests, and I am not sure if this is the correct way of > doing-it. > > > > I thank you in advance for any feedback. I am looking forward to start > > building stuff using Chicken Scheme! > > > > I wish you all a good day. > > Hi! > > Your code looks good to me. I haven't examined it in detail, but > the overall impression is fine. Also, the unit-tests seem to be similar > to what I've seen in other code by more experienced Schemers. > > Note that you compile your program but load additional files via > "load-relative". This technically works, but if you want all code to > be compiled, I recommend to use "include" instead: that way, > the parts are inserted into your main program and fully compiled, > which is of course more efficient and also makes it easier to > move the compiled program around or call it from a different > location. > > > PS: Is there any small/medium project that I could study to learn the > > "good practices" for Chicken Scheme? One of my goals is to use Chicken > > Scheme for scientific computing and embedded applications. > > The egg sources are usually good examples for how to structure > libraries. Some of these have example programs that you might > want to study. Also, you can look at > > http://wiki.call-cc.org/Software > > which lists a couple of larger projects that use CHICKEN. > > > cheers, > felix > > >
