\chapter{Alien Objects}
\label{aliens}

\credits{by Robert MacLachlan and William Lott}


\section{Introduction to Aliens}

Because of Lisp's emphasis on dynamic memory allocation and garbage
collection, Lisp implementations use unconventional memory representations
for objects.  This representation mismatch creates problems when a Lisp
program must share objects with programs written in another language.  There
are three different approaches to establishing communication:

\begin{itemize}
\item The burden can be placed on the foreign program (and programmer) by
requiring the use of Lisp object representations.  The main difficulty with
this approach is that either the foreign program must be written with Lisp
interaction in mind, or a substantial amount of foreign ``glue'' code must be
written to perform the translation.

\item The Lisp system can automatically convert objects back and forth
between the Lisp and foreign representations.  This is convenient, but
translation becomes prohibitively slow when large or complex data structures
must be shared.

\item The Lisp program can directly manipulate foreign objects through the
use of extensions to the Lisp language.  Most Lisp systems make use of
this approach, but the language for describing types and expressing
accesses is often not powerful enough for complex objects to be easily
manipulated.
\end{itemize}

\cmucl{} relies primarily on the automatic conversion and direct manipulation
approaches: Aliens of simple scalar types are automatically converted,
while complex types are directly manipulated in their foreign
representation.  Any foreign objects that can't automatically be
converted into Lisp values are represented by objects of type
\code{alien-value}.  Since Lisp is a dynamically typed language, even
foreign objects must have a run-time type; this type information is
provided by encapsulating the raw pointer to the foreign data within an
\code{alien-value} object.

The Alien type language and operations are most similar to those of the
C language, but Aliens can also be used when communicating with most
other languages that can be linked with C.


\section{Alien Types}

Alien types have a description language based on nested list structure.  For
example:

\begin{example}
struct foo \{
    int a;
    struct foo *b[100];
\};
\end{example}

has the corresponding Alien type:

\begin{lisp}
(struct foo
  (a int)
  (b (array (* (struct foo)) 100)))
\end{lisp}


\subsection{Defining Alien Types}

Types may be either named or anonymous.  With structure and union
types, the name is part of the type specifier, allowing recursively
defined types such as:

\begin{lisp}
(struct foo (a (* (struct foo))))
\end{lisp}

An anonymous structure or union type is specified by using the name
\nil{}.  The \funref{with-alien} macro defines a local scope which
``captures'' any named type definitions.  Other types are not
inherently named, but can be given named abbreviations using
\code{def-alien-type}.

\begin{defmac}{alien:}{def-alien-type}{name type}  
  This macro globally defines \var{name} as a shorthand for the Alien
  type \var{type}.  When introducing global structure and union type
  definitions, \var{name} may be \nil, in which case the name to
  define is taken from the type's name.
\end{defmac}


\subsection{Alien Types and Lisp Types}

The Alien types form a subsystem of the \cmucl{} type system.  An
\code{alien} type specifier provides a way to use any Alien type as a
Lisp type specifier.  For example

\begin{lisp}
(typep foo '(alien (* int)))
\end{lisp}

can be used to determine whether \code{foo} is a pointer to an
\code{int}.  \code{alien} type specifiers can be used in the same ways
as ordinary type specifiers (like \code{string}.)  Alien type
declarations are subject to the same precise type checking as any
other declaration (\pxlref{precise-type-checks}.)

Note that the Alien type system overlaps with normal Lisp type
specifiers in some cases.  For example, the type specifier
\code{(alien single-float)} is identical to \code{single-float}, since
Alien floats are automatically converted to Lisp floats.  When
\code{type-of} is called on an Alien value that is not automatically
converted to a Lisp value, then it will return an \code{alien} type
specifier.


\subsection{Alien Type Specifiers}

Some Alien type names are \clisp{} symbols, but the names are
still exported from the \code{alien} package, so it is legal to say
\code{alien:single-float}.  These are the basic Alien type specifiers: 

\begin{deftp}{Alien type}{*}{%
    \args{\var{type}}}
  
  A pointer to an object of the specified \var{type}.  If \var{type}
  is \true, then it means a pointer to anything, similar to
  ``\code{void *}'' in ANSI C.  Currently, the only way to detect a
  null pointer is:
\begin{lisp}
  (zerop (sap-int (alien-sap \var{ptr})))
\end{lisp}
\xlref{system-area-pointers}
\end{deftp}

\begin{deftp}{Alien type}{array}{\var{type} \mstar{\var{dimension}}} 

  An array of the specified \var{dimensions}, holding elements of type
  \var{type}.  Note that \code{(* int)} and \code{(array int)} are
  considered to be different types when type checking is done; pointer
  and array types must be explicitly coerced using \code{cast}.
  
  Arrays are accessed using \code{deref}, passing the indices as
  additional arguments.  Elements are stored in column-major order (as
  in C), so the first dimension determines only the size of the memory
  block, and not the layout of the higher dimensions.  An array whose
  first dimension is variable may be specified by using \nil{} as the
  first dimension.  Fixed-size arrays can be allocated as array
  elements, structure slots or \code{with-alien} variables.  Dynamic
  arrays can only be allocated using \funref{make-alien}.
\end{deftp}

\begin{deftp}{Alien type}{struct}{\var{name} 
    \mstar{(\var{field} \var{type} \mopt{\var{bits}})}}
  
  A structure type with the specified \var{name} and \var{fields}.
  Fields are allocated at the same positions used by the
  implementation's C compiler.  \var{bits} is intended for C-like bit
  field support, but is currently unused.  If \var{name} is \false,
  then the type is anonymous.
  
  If a named Alien \code{struct} specifier is passed to
  \funref{def-alien-type} or \funref{with-alien}, then this defines,
  respectively, a new global or local Alien structure type.  If no
  \var{fields} are specified, then the fields are taken from the
  current (local or global) Alien structure type definition of
  \var{name}.
\end{deftp}

\begin{deftp}{Alien type}{union}{\var{name} 
    \mstar{(\var{field} \var{type} \mopt{\var{bits}})}}
  
  Similar to \code{struct}, but defines a union type.  All fields are
  allocated at the same offset, and the size of the union is the size
  of the largest field.  The programmer must determine which field is
  active from context.
\end{deftp}

\begin{deftp}{Alien type}{enum}{\var{name} \mstar{\var{spec}}}
  
  An enumeration type that maps between integer values and keywords.
  If \var{name} is \false, then the type is anonymous.  Each
  \var{spec} is either a keyword, or a list \code{(\var{keyword}
    \var{value})}.  If \var{integer} is not supplied, then it defaults
  to one greater than the value for the preceding spec (or to zero if
  it is the first spec.)
\end{deftp}

\begin{deftp}{Alien type}{signed}{\mopt{\var{bits}}}  
  A signed integer with the specified number of bits precision.  The
  upper limit on integer precision is determined by the machine's word
  size.  If no size is specified, the maximum size will be used.
\end{deftp}

\begin{deftp}{Alien type}{integer}{\mopt{\var{bits}}}  
  Identical to \code{signed}---the distinction between \code{signed}
  and \code{integer} is purely stylistic.
\end{deftp}

\begin{deftp}{Alien type}{unsigned}{\mopt{\var{bits}}}
  Like \code{signed}, but specifies an unsigned integer.
\end{deftp}

\begin{deftp}{Alien type}{boolean}{\mopt{\var{bits}}}
  Similar to an enumeration type that maps \code{0} to \false{} and
  all other values to \true.  \var{bits} determines the amount of
  storage allocated to hold the truth value.
\end{deftp}

\begin{deftp}{Alien type}{single-float}{}
  A floating-point number in IEEE single format.
\end{deftp}

\begin{deftp}{Alien type}{double-float}{}
  A floating-point number in IEEE double format.
\end{deftp}

\begin{deftp}{Alien type}{function}{\var{result-type} \mstar{\var{arg-type}}}
  \label{alien-function-types}
  A Alien function that takes arguments of the specified
  \var{arg-types} and returns a result of type \var{result-type}.
  Note that the only context where a \code{function} type is directly
  specified is in the argument to \code{alien-funcall} (see section
  \funref{alien-funcall}.)  In all other contexts, functions are
  represented by function pointer types: \code{(* (function ...))}.
\end{deftp}

\begin{deftp}{Alien type}{system-area-pointer}{}
  A pointer which is represented in Lisp as a
  \code{system-area-pointer} object (\pxlref{system-area-pointers}.)
\end{deftp}


\subsection{The C-Call Package}

The \code{c-call} package exports these type-equivalents to the C type
of the same name: \code{char}, \code{short}, \code{int}, \code{long},
\code{unsigned-char}, \code{unsigned-short}, \code{unsigned-int},
\code{unsigned-long}, \code{float}, \code{double}.  \code{c-call} also
exports these types:

\begin{deftp}{Alien type}{void}{}
  This type is used in function types to declare that no useful value
  is returned.  Evaluation of an \code{alien-funcall} form will return
  zero values.
\end{deftp}

\begin{deftp}{Alien type}{c-string}{}
  This type is similar to \code{(* char)}, but is interpreted as a
  null-terminated string, and is automatically converted into a Lisp
  string when accessed.  If the pointer is C \code{NULL} (or 0), then
  accessing gives Lisp \false.
  
  Assigning a Lisp string to a \code{c-string} structure field or
  variable stores the contents of the string to the memory already
  pointed to by that variable.  When an Alien of type \code{(* char)}
  is assigned to a \code{c-string}, then the \code{c-string} pointer
  is assigned to.  This allows \code{c-string} pointers to be
  initialized.  For example:

\begin{lisp}
  (def-alien-type nil (struct foo (str c-string)))
  
  (defun make-foo (str) (let ((my-foo (make-alien (struct foo))))
  (setf (slot my-foo 'str) (make-alien char (length str))) (setf (slot
  my-foo 'str) str) my-foo))
\end{lisp}

Storing Lisp \false{} writes C \code{NULL} to the \code{c-string}
pointer.
\end{deftp}



\section{Alien Operations}

This section describes the basic operations on Alien values.

\subsection{Alien Access Operations}

\begin{defun}{alien:}{deref}{\args{\var{pointer-or-array} \amprest \var{indices}}}
  
  This function returns the value pointed to by an Alien pointer or
  the value of an Alien array element.  If a pointer, an optional
  single index can be specified to give the equivalent of C pointer
  arithmetic; this index is scaled by the size of the type pointed to.
  If an array, the number of indices must be the same as the number of
  dimensions in the array type.  \code{deref} can be set with
  \code{setf} to assign a new value.
\end{defun}
 
\begin{defun}{alien:}{slot}{\args{\var{struct-or-union} \var{slot-name}}}
  
  This function extracts the value of slot \var{slot-name} from the an
  Alien \code{struct} or \code{union}.  If \var{struct-or-union} is a
  pointer to a structure or union, then it is automatically
  dereferenced.  This can be set with \code{setf} to assign a new
  value.  Note that \var{slot-name} is evaluated, and need not be a
  compile-time constant (but only constant slot accesses are
  efficiently compiled.)
\end{defun}


\subsection{Alien Coercion Operations}

\begin{defmac}{alien:}{addr}{\var{alien-expr}}
  
  This macro returns a pointer to the location specified by
  \var{alien-expr}, which must be either an Alien variable, a use of
  \code{deref}, a use of \code{slot}, or a use of
  \funref{extern-alien}.
\end{defmac}

\begin{defmac}{alien:}{cast}{\var{alien} \var{new-type}}
  
  This macro converts \var{alien} to a new Alien with the specified
  \var{new-type}.  Both types must be an Alien pointer, array or
  function type.  Note that the result is not \code{eq} to the
  argument, but does refer to the same data bits.
\end{defmac}

\begin{defmac}{alien:}{sap-alien}{\var{sap} \var{type}}
  \defunx[alien:]{alien-sap}{\var{alien-value}}
  
  \code{sap-alien} converts \var{sap} (a system area pointer
  \pxlref{system-area-pointers}) to an Alien value with the specified
  \var{type}.  \var{type} is not evaluated.

\code{alien-sap} returns the SAP which points to \var{alien-value}'s
data.

The \var{type} to \code{sap-alien} and the type of the \var{alien-value} to
\code{alien-sap} must some Alien pointer, array or record type.
\end{defmac}


\subsection{Alien Dynamic Allocation}

Dynamic Aliens are allocated using the \code{malloc} library, so foreign code
can call \code{free} on the result of \code{make-alien}, and Lisp code can
call \code{free-alien} on objects allocated by foreign code.

\begin{defmac}{alien:}{make-alien}{\var{type} \mopt{\var{size}}}
  
  This macro returns a dynamically allocated Alien of the specified
  \var{type} (which is not evaluated.)  The allocated memory is not
  initialized, and may contain arbitrary junk.  If supplied,
  \var{size} is an expression to evaluate to compute the size of the
  allocated object.  There are two major cases:
  \begin{itemize}
  \item When \var{type} is an array type, an array of that type is
    allocated and a \var{pointer} to it is returned.  Note that you
    must use \code{deref} to change the result to an array before you
    can use \code{deref} to read or write elements:

\begin{lisp}
(defvar *foo* (make-alien (array char 10)))

(type-of *foo*) \result{} (alien (* (array (signed 8) 10)))

(setf (deref (deref foo) 0) 10) \result{} 10
\end{lisp}

    If supplied, \var{size} is used as the first dimension for the
    array.
    
  \item When \var{type} is any other type, then then an object for
    that type is allocated, and a \var{pointer} to it is returned.  So
    \code{(make-alien int)} returns a \code{(* int)}.  If \var{size}
    is specified, then a block of that many objects is allocated, with
    the result pointing to the first one.
  \end{itemize}
\end{defmac}
 
\begin{defun}{alien:}{free-alien}{\var{alien}}

  This function frees the storage for \var{alien} (which must have
  been allocated with \code{make-alien} or \code{malloc}.)
\end{defun}

See also \funref{with-alien}, which stack-allocates Aliens.


\section{Alien Variables}

Both local (stack allocated) and external (C global) Alien variables are
supported.


\subsection{Local Alien Variables}

\begin{defmac}{alien:}{with-alien}{\mstar{(\var{name} \var{type} 
      \mopt{\var{initial-value}})} \mstar{form}}
  
  This macro establishes local alien variables with the specified
  Alien types and names for dynamic extent of the body.  The variable
  \var{names} are established as symbol-macros; the bindings have
  lexical scope, and may be assigned with \code{setq} or \code{setf}.
  This form is analogous to defining a local variable in C: additional
  storage is allocated, and the initial value is copied.
  
  \code{with-alien} also establishes a new scope for named structures
  and unions.  Any \var{type} specified for a variable may contain
  name structure or union types with the slots specified.  Within the
  lexical scope of the binding specifiers and body, a locally defined
  structure type \var{foo} can be referenced by its name using:
\begin{lisp}
  (struct foo)
\end{lisp}
\end{defmac}


\subsection{External Alien Variables} 
\label{external-aliens}

External Alien names are strings, and Lisp names are symbols.  When an
external Alien is represented using a Lisp variable, there must be a
way to convert from one name syntax into the other.  The macros
\code{extern-alien}, \code{def-alien-variable} and
\funref{def-alien-routine} use this conversion heuristic:
\begin{itemize}
\item Alien names are converted to Lisp names by uppercasing and
  replacing underscores with hyphens.
  
\item Conversely, Lisp names are converted to Alien names by
  lowercasing and replacing hyphens with underscores.
  
\item Both the Lisp symbol and Alien string names may be separately
  specified by using a list of the form:
\begin{lisp}
  (\var{alien-string} \var{lisp-symbol})
\end{lisp}
\end{itemize}

\begin{defmac}{alien:}{def-alien-variable}{\var{name} \var{type}}
  
  This macro defines \var{name} as an external Alien variable of the
  specified Alien \var{type}.  \var{name} and \var{type} are not
  evaluated.  The Lisp name of the variable (see above) becomes a
  global Alien variable in the Lisp namespace.  Global Alien variables
  are effectively ``global symbol macros''; a reference to the
  variable fetches the contents of the external variable.  Similarly,
  setting the variable stores new contents---the new contents must be
  of the declared \var{type}.
  
  For example, it is often necessary to read the global C variable
  \code{errno} to determine why a particular function call failed.  It
  is possible to define errno and make it accessible from Lisp by the
  following:
\begin{lisp}
(def-alien-variable "errno" int)

;; Now it is possible to get the value of the C variable errno simply by
;; referencing that Lisp variable:
;;
(print errno)
\end{lisp}
\end{defmac}

\begin{defmac}{alien:}{extern-alien}{\var{name} \var{type}}
  
  This macro returns an Alien with the specified \var{type} which
  points to an externally defined value.  \var{name} is not evaluated,
  and may be specified either as a string or a symbol.  \var{type} is
  an unevaluated Alien type specifier.
\end{defmac}


\section{Alien Data Structure Example}

Now that we have Alien types, operations and variables, we can manipulate
foreign data structures.  This C declaration can be translated into the
following Alien type:

\begin{lisp}
struct foo \{
    int a;
    struct foo *b[100];
\};

 \myequiv

(def-alien-type nil
  (struct foo
    (a int)
    (b (array (* (struct foo)) 100))))
\end{lisp}

With this definition, the following C expression can be translated in this way:

\begin{example}
struct foo f;
f.b[7].a

 \myequiv

(with-alien ((f (struct foo)))
  (slot (deref (slot f 'b) 7) 'a)
  ;;
  ;; Do something with f...
  )
\end{example}


Or consider this example of an external C variable and some accesses:

\begin{example}
struct c_struct \{
        short x, y;
        char a, b;
        int z;
        c_struct *n;
\};

extern struct c_struct *my_struct;

my_struct->x++;
my_struct->a = 5;
my_struct = my_struct->n;
\end{example}

which can be made be manipulated in Lisp like this:

\begin{lisp}
(def-alien-type nil
  (struct c-struct
          (x short)
          (y short)
          (a char)
          (b char)
          (z int)
          (n (* c-struct))))

(def-alien-variable "my_struct" (* c-struct))

(incf (slot my-struct 'x))
(setf (slot my-struct 'a) 5)
(setq my-struct (slot my-struct 'n))
\end{lisp}


\section{Loading Unix Object Files}

\cmucl{} is able to load foreign object files at runtime, using the
function \code{load-foreign}. This function is able to load shared
libraries (that are typically named \verb|.so|) via the dlopen
mechanism. It can also load \verb|.a| or \verb|.o| object files by
calling the linker on the files and libraries to create a loadable
object file. Once loaded, the external symbols that define routines
and variables are made available for future external references (e.g.
by \code{extern-alien}.) \code{load-foreign} must be run before any of
the defined symbols are referenced.

Note that if a Lisp core image is saved (using \funref{save-lisp}), all
loaded foreign code is lost when the image is restarted. 


\begin{defun}{ext:}{load-foreign}{%
    \args{\var{files} \keys{\kwd{libraries} \kwd{base-file} \kwd{env}}}}
  
  \var{files} is a \code{simple-string} or list of
  \code{simple-string}s specifying the names of the object files. If
  \var{files} is a simple-string, the file that it designates is
  loaded using the platform's dlopen mechanism. If it is a list of
  strings, the platform linker \code{ld} is invoked to transform the
  object files into a loadable object file. \var{libraries} is a list
  of \code{simple-string}s specifying libraries in a format that the
  platform linker expects. The default value for \var{libraries} is
  \code{("-lc")} (i.e., the standard C library). \var{base-file} is
  the file to use for the initial symbol table information. The
  default is the Lisp start up code: \file{path:lisp}. \var{env}
  should be a list of simple strings in the format of Unix environment
  variables (i.e., \code{\var{A}=\var{B}}, where \var{A} is an
  environment variable and \var{B} is its value). The default value
  for \var{env} is the environment information available at the time
  Lisp was invoked. Unless you are certain that you want to change
  this, you should just use the default.
\end{defun}


\section{Alien Function Calls}

The foreign function call interface allows a Lisp program to call functions
written in other languages.  The current implementation of the foreign
function call interface assumes a C calling convention and thus routines
written in any language that adheres to this convention may be called from
Lisp.

Lisp sets up various interrupt handling routines and other environment
information when it first starts up, and expects these to be in place at all
times.  The C functions called by Lisp should either not change the
environment, especially the interrupt entry points, or should make sure
that these entry points are restored when the C function returns to Lisp.
If a C function makes changes without restoring things to the way they were
when the C function was entered, there is no telling what will happen.


\subsection{The alien-funcall Primitive}

\begin{defun}{alien:}{alien-funcall}{%
    \args{\var{alien-function} \amprest{} \var{arguments}}}
  
  This function is the foreign function call primitive:
  \var{alien-function} is called with the supplied \var{arguments} and
  its value is returned.  The \var{alien-function} is an arbitrary
  run-time expression; to call a constant function, use
  \funref{extern-alien} or \code{def-alien-routine}.
  
  The type of \var{alien-function} must be \code{(alien (function
    ...))} or \code{(alien (* (function ...)))},
  \xlref{alien-function-types}.  The function type is used to
  determine how to call the function (as though it was declared with
  a prototype.)  The type need not be known at compile time, but only
  known-type calls are efficiently compiled.  Limitations:
  \begin{itemize}
  \item Structure type return values are not implemented.
  \item Passing of structures by value is not implemented.
  \end{itemize}
\end{defun}

Here is an example which allocates a \code{(struct foo)}, calls a foreign
function to initialize it, then returns a Lisp vector of all the
\code{(* (struct foo))} objects filled in by the foreign call:

\begin{lisp}
;; Allocate a foo on the stack.
(with-alien ((f (struct foo)))
  ;;
  ;; Call some C function to fill in foo fields.
  (alien-funcall (extern-alien "mangle_foo" (function void (* foo)))
                 (addr f))
  ;;
  ;; Find how many foos to use by getting the A field.
  (let* ((num (slot f 'a))
         (result (make-array num)))
    ;;
    ;; Get a pointer to the array so that we don't have to keep
    ;; extracting it:
    (with-alien ((a (* (array (* (struct foo)) 100)) (addr (slot f 'b))))
      ;;
      ;; Loop over the first N elements and stash them in the
      ;; result vector.
      (dotimes (i num)
        (setf (svref result i) (deref (deref a) i)))
      result)))
\end{lisp}


\subsection{The def-alien-routine Macro}

\begin{defmac}{alien:}{def-alien-routine}{\var{name} \var{result-type}
    \mstar{(\var{aname} \var{atype} \mopt{style})}}
  
  This macro is a convenience for automatically generating Lisp
  interfaces to simple foreign functions.  The primary feature is the
  parameter style specification, which translates the C
  pass-by-reference idiom into additional return values.
  
  \var{name} is usually a string external symbol, but may also be a
  symbol Lisp name or a list of the foreign name and the Lisp name.
  If only one name is specified, the other is automatically derived,
  (\pxlref{external-aliens}.)
  
  \var{result-type} is the Alien type of the return value.  Each
  remaining subform specifies an argument to the foreign function.
  \var{aname} is the symbol name of the argument to the constructed
  function (for documentation) and \var{atype} is the Alien type of
  corresponding foreign argument.  The semantics of the actual call
  are the same as for \funref{alien-funcall}.  \var{style} should be
  one of the following:
  \begin{Lentry}
  \item[\kwd{in}] specifies that the argument is passed by value.
    This is the default.  \kwd{in} arguments have no corresponding
    return value from the Lisp function.
  
  \item[\kwd{out}] specifies a pass-by-reference output value.  The
    type of the argument must be a pointer to a fixed sized object
    (such as an integer or pointer).  \kwd{out} and \kwd{in-out}
    cannot be used with pointers to arrays, records or functions.  An
    object of the correct size is allocated, and its address is passed
    to the foreign function.  When the function returns, the contents
    of this location are returned as one of the values of the Lisp
    function.
  
  \item[\kwd{copy}] is similar to \kwd{in}, but the argument is copied
    to a pre-allocated object and a pointer to this object is passed
    to the foreign routine.
  
  \item[\kwd{in-out}] is a combination of \kwd{copy} and \kwd{out}.
    The argument is copied to a pre-allocated object and a pointer to
    this object is passed to the foreign routine.  On return, the
    contents of this location is returned as an additional value.
  \end{Lentry}
  Any efficiency-critical foreign interface function should be inline
  expanded by preceding \code{def-alien-routine} with:

\begin{lisp}
(declaim (inline \var{lisp-name}))
\end{lisp}

  In addition to avoiding the Lisp call overhead, this allows
  pointers, word-integers and floats to be passed using non-descriptor
  representations, avoiding consing (\pxlref{non-descriptor}.)
\end{defmac}


\subsection{def-alien-routine Example}

Consider the C function \code{cfoo} with the following calling convention:

\begin{example}
/* a for update
 * i out
 */
void cfoo (char *str, char *a, int *i);
\end{example}

which can be described by the following call to \code{def-alien-routine}:

\begin{lisp}
(def-alien-routine "cfoo" void
  (str c-string)
  (a char :in-out)
  (i int :out))
\end{lisp}

The Lisp function \code{cfoo} will have two arguments (\var{str} and \var{a})
and two return values (\var{a} and \var{i}).


\subsection{Calling Lisp from C}

% Calling Lisp functions from C is sometimes possible, but is rather hackish.
% See \code{funcall0} ... \code{funcall3} in the \file{lisp/arch.h}.  The
% arguments must be valid \cmucl{} object descriptors (e.g.  fixnums must be
% left-shifted by 2.)  See \file{compiler/generic/objdef.lisp} or the derived
% file \file{lisp/internals.h} for details of the object representation.
% \file{lisp/internals.h} is mechanically generated, and is not part of the
% source distribution.  It is distributed in the \file{docs/} directory of the
% binary distribution.

% Note that the garbage collector moves objects, and won't be able to fix up any
% references in C variables, so either turn GC off or don't keep Lisp pointers
% in C data unless they are to statically allocated objects.  You can use
% \funref{purify} to place live data structures in static space so that they
% won't move during GC.

\cmucl{} supports calling Lisp from C via the \funref{def-callback}
macro:

\begin{defmac}{alien:}{def-callback}{\var{name} (\var{return-type}
    \mstar{(arg-name arg-type)}) \ampbody\ body}
  This macro defines a Lisp function that can be called from C and a
  Lisp variable.  The arguments to the function must be alien types,
  and the return type must also be an alien type.  This Lisp function
  can be accessed via the \funref{callback} macro.

  \var{name} is the name of the Lisp function.  It is also the name of
  a variable to be used by the \code{callback} macro.

  \var{return-type} is the return type of the function.  This must be
  a recognized alien type.

  \var{arg-name} specifies the name of the argument to the function,
  and the argument has type \var{arg-type}, which must be an alien type.
\end{defmac}

\begin{defmac}{alien:}{callback}{\var{callback-symbol}}
  This macro extracts the appropriate information for the function
  named \var{callback-symbol} so that it can be called by a C
  function.  \var{callback-symbol} must be a symbol created by the
  \code{def-callback} macro.
\end{defmac}

\begin{defmac}{alien:}{callback-funcall}{\var{callback-name} \amprest
    \var{args}}
  This macro does the necessary stuff to call the callback named
  \var{callback-name} with the given arguments.
\end{defmac}

\subsection{Callback Example}

Here is a simple example of using callbacks.
\begin{lisp}
(use-package :alien)
(use-package :c-call)

(def-callback foo (int (arg1 int) (arg2 int))
  (format t "~&foo: ~S, ~S~%" arg1 arg2)
  (+ arg1 arg2))

(defun test-foo ()
  (callback-funcall foo 555 444444))
\end{lisp}

In this example, the callback function \code{foo} is defined which
takes two C \code{int} parameters and returns a \code{int}.  As this
shows, we can use arbitrary Lisp inside the function.

The function \code{test-foo} shows how we can call this callback
function from Lisp.  The macro \code{callback} extracts the necessary
information for the callback function \code{foo} which can be
converted into a pointer which we can call via \code{alien-funcall}.

The following code is a more complete example where a foreign routine
calls our Lisp routine.
\begin{lisp}
(use-package :alien)
(use-package :c-call)

(def-alien-routine qsort void
  (base (* t))
  (nmemb int)
  (size int)
  (compar (* (function int (* t) (* t)))))

(def-callback my< (int (arg1 (* double))
                       (arg2 (* double)))
  (let ((a1 (deref arg1))
        (a2 (deref arg2)))
    (cond ((= a1 a2)  0)
          ((< a1 a2) -1)
          (t         +1))))

(defun test-qsort ()
  (let ((a (make-array 10 :element-type 'double-float
                       :initial-contents '(0.1d0 0.5d0 0.2d0 1.2d0 1.5d0
                                           2.5d0 0.0d0 0.1d0 0.2d0 0.3d0))))
    (print a)
    (qsort (sys:vector-sap a)
           (length a)
           (alien-size double :bytes)
           (alien:callback my<))
    (print a)))
\end{lisp}

We define the alien routine, \code{qsort}, and a callback, \code{my<},
to determine whether two \code{double}'s are less than, greater than
or equal to each other.

The test function \code{test-qsort} shows how we can call the alien
sort routine with our Lisp comparison routine to produce a sorted
array.

\subsection{Accessing Lisp Arrays}

Due to the way \cmucl{} manages memory, the amount of memory that can
be dynamically allocated by \code{malloc} or \funref{make-alien} is
limited\footnote{\cmucl{} mmaps a large piece of memory for its own
use and this memory is typically about 256~MB above the start of the C
heap. Thus, only about 256~MB of memory can be dynamically allocated.
In earlier versions, this limit was closer to 8~MB.}.

To overcome this limitation, it is possible to access the content of
Lisp arrays which are limited only by the amount of physical memory
and swap space available.  However, this technique is only useful if
the foreign function takes pointers to memory instead of allocating
memory for itself.  In latter case, you will have to modify the
foreign functions.

This technique takes advantage of the fact that \cmucl{} has
specialized array types (\pxlref{specialized-array-types}) that match
a typical C array.  For example, a \code{(simple-array double-float
  (100))} is stored in memory in essentially the same way as the C
array \code{double x[100]} would be.  The following function allows us
to get the physical address of such a Lisp array:

\begin{example}
(defun array-data-address (array)
  "Return the physical address of where the actual data of an array is
stored.

ARRAY must be a specialized array type in \cmucl{}.  This means ARRAY
must be an array of one of the following types:

                  double-float
                  single-float
                  (unsigned-byte 32)
                  (unsigned-byte 16)
                  (unsigned-byte  8)
                  (signed-byte 32)
                  (signed-byte 16)
                  (signed-byte  8)
"
  (declare (type (or (simple-array (signed-byte 8))
                     (simple-array (signed-byte 16))
                     (simple-array (signed-byte 32))
                     (simple-array (unsigned-byte 8))
                     (simple-array (unsigned-byte 16))
                     (simple-array (unsigned-byte 32))
                     (simple-array single-float)
                     (simple-array double-float)
                     (simple-array (complex single-float))
                     (simple-array (complex double-float)))
                 array)
           (optimize (speed 3) (safety 0))
           (ext:optimize-interface (safety 3)))
  ;; with-array-data will get us to the actual data.  However, because
  ;; the array could have been displaced, we need to know where the
  ;; data starts.
  (lisp::with-array-data ((data array)
                          (start)
                          (end))
    (declare (ignore end))
    ;; DATA is a specialized simple-array.  Memory is laid out like this:
    ;;
    ;;   byte offset    Value
    ;;        0         type code (should be 70 for double-float vector)
    ;;        4         4 * number of elements in vector
    ;;        8         1st element of vector
    ;;      ...         ...
    ;;
    (let ((addr (+ 8 (logandc1 7 (kernel:get-lisp-obj-address data))))
          (type-size
           (let ((type (array-element-type data)))
             (cond ((or (equal type '(signed-byte 8))
                        (equal type '(unsigned-byte 8)))
                    1)
                   ((or (equal type '(signed-byte 16))
                        (equal type '(unsigned-byte 16)))
                    2)
                   ((or (equal type '(signed-byte 32))
                        (equal type '(unsigned-byte 32)))
                    4)
                   ((equal type 'single-float)
                    4)
                   ((equal type 'double-float)
                    8)
                   (t
                    (error "Unknown specialized array element type"))))))
      (declare (type (unsigned-byte 32) addr)
               (optimize (speed 3) (safety 0) (ext:inhibit-warnings 3)))
      (system:int-sap (the (unsigned-byte 32)
                        (+ addr (* type-size start)))))))
\end{example}

We note, however, that the system function
\findexed{system:vector-sap} will do the same thing as above does.

Assume we have the C function below that we wish to use:

\begin{example}
  double dotprod(double* x, double* y, int n)
  \{
    int k;
    double sum = 0;

    for (k = 0; k < n; ++k) \{
      sum += x[k] * y[k];
    \}
    return sum;
  \}
\end{example}

The following example generates two large arrays in Lisp, and calls the C
function to do the desired computation.  This would not have been
possible using \code{malloc} or \code{make-alien} since we need about
16 MB of memory to hold the two arrays.

\begin{example}
  (alien:def-alien-routine "dotprod" c-call:double
    (x (* double-float) :in)
    (y (* double-float) :in)
    (n c-call:int :in))
    
  (defun test-dotprod ()
    (let ((x (make-array 10000 :element-type 'double-float 
                         :initial-element 2d0))
          (y (make-array 10000 :element-type 'double-float
                         :initial-element 10d0)))
        (sys:without-gcing
          (let ((x-addr (sys:vector-sap x))
                (y-addr (sys:vector-sap y)))
            (dotprod x-addr y-addr 10000)))))
\end{example}

In this example, we have used \code{sys:vector-sap} instead of
\code{array-data-address}, but we could have used \code{(sys:int-sap
  (array-data-address x))} as well.

Also, we have wrapped the inner \code{let} expression in a
\code{sys:without-gcing} that disables garbage collection for the
duration of the body.  This will prevent garbage collection from
moving \code{x} and \code{y} arrays after we have obtained the (now
erroneous) addresses but before the call to \code{dotprod} is made.


\section{Step-by-Step Alien Example}

This section presents a complete example of an interface to a somewhat
complicated C function.  This example should give a fairly good idea
of how to get the effect you want for almost any kind of C function.
Suppose you have the following C function which you want to be able to
call from Lisp in the file \file{test.c}:

\begin{verbatim}                
struct c_struct
{
  int x;
  char *s;
};
 
struct c_struct *c_function (i, s, r, a)
    int i;
    char *s;
    struct c_struct *r;
    int a[10];
{
  int j;
  struct c_struct *r2;
 
  printf("i = %d\n", i);
  printf("s = %s\n", s);
  printf("r->x = %d\n", r->x);
  printf("r->s = %s\n", r->s);
  for (j = 0; j < 10; j++) printf("a[%d] = %d.\n", j, a[j]);
  r2 = (struct c_struct *) malloc (sizeof(struct c_struct));
  r2->x = i + 5;
  r2->s = "A C string";
  return(r2);
};
\end{verbatim}

It is possible to call this function from Lisp using the file \file{test.lisp}
whose contents is:

\begin{lisp}
;;; -*- Package: test-c-call -*-
(in-package "TEST-C-CALL")
(use-package "ALIEN")
(use-package "C-CALL")

;;; Define the record c-struct in Lisp.
(def-alien-type nil
    (struct c-struct
            (x int)
            (s c-string)))

;;; Define the Lisp function interface to the C routine.  It returns a
;;; pointer to a record of type c-struct.  It accepts four parameters:
;;; i, an int; s, a pointer to a string; r, a pointer to a c-struct
;;; record; and a, a pointer to the array of 10 ints.
;;;
;;; The INLINE declaration eliminates some efficiency notes about heap
;;; allocation of Alien values.
(declaim (inline c-function))
(def-alien-routine c-function
    (* (struct c-struct))
  (i int)
  (s c-string)
  (r (* (struct c-struct)))
  (a (array int 10)))

;;; A function which sets up the parameters to the C function and
;;; actually calls it.
(defun call-cfun ()
  (with-alien ((ar (array int 10))
               (c-struct (struct c-struct)))
    (dotimes (i 10)                     ; Fill array.
      (setf (deref ar i) i))
    (setf (slot c-struct 'x) 20)
    (setf (slot c-struct 's) "A Lisp String")

    (with-alien ((res (* (struct c-struct))
                 (c-function 5 "Another Lisp String" (addr c-struct) ar)))
      (format t "Returned from C function.~%")
      (multiple-value-prog1
          (values (slot res 'x)
                  (slot res 's))
        ;;              
        ;; Deallocate result {\em after} we are done using it.
        (free-alien res)))))
\end{lisp}

To execute the above example, it is necessary to compile the C routine as
follows:

\begin{example}
cc -c test.c
\end{example}

In order to enable incremental loading with some linkers, you may need to say:

\begin{example}
cc -G 0 -c test.c
\end{example}

Once the C code has been compiled, you can start up Lisp and load it in:

\begin{example}
% lisp
;;; Lisp should start up with its normal prompt.

;;; Compile the Lisp file.  This step can be done separately.  You don't have
;;; to recompile every time.
* (compile-file "test.lisp")

;;; Load the foreign object file to define the necessary symbols.  This must
;;; be done before loading any code that refers to these symbols.  next block
;;; of comments are actually the output of LOAD-FOREIGN.  Different linkers
;;; will give different warnings, but some warning about redefining the code
;;; size is typical.
* (load-foreign "test.o")

;;; Running library:load-foreign.csh...
;;; Loading object file...
;;; Parsing symbol table...
Warning:  "_gp" moved from #x00C082C0 to #x00C08460.
Warning:  "end" moved from #x00C00340 to #x00C004E0.

;;; o.k. now load the compiled Lisp object file.
* (load "test")

;;; Now we can call the routine that sets up the parameters and calls the C
;;; function.
* (test-c-call::call-cfun)

;;; The C routine prints the following information to standard output.
i = 5
s = Another Lisp string
r->x = 20
r->s = A Lisp string
a[0] = 0.
a[1] = 1.
a[2] = 2.
a[3] = 3.
a[4] = 4.
a[5] = 5.
a[6] = 6.
a[7] = 7.
a[8] = 8.
a[9] = 9.
;;; Lisp prints out the following information.
Returned from C function.
;;; Return values from the call to test-c-call::call-cfun.
10
"A C string"
*
\end{example}

If any of the foreign functions do output, they should not be called
from within \hemlock{}. Depending on the situation, various strange
behavior occurs. Under X, the output goes to the window in which Lisp
was started; on a terminal, the output will overwrite the \hemlock{}
screen image; in a \hemlock{} slave, standard output is
\file{/dev/null} by default, so any output is discarded.
