<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ANSI_X3.4-1968"><title>Preface</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="ecl.css" type="text/css"><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.75.2"><link rel="home" href="index.html" title="The ECL manual"><link rel="up" href="index.html" title="The ECL manual"><link rel="prev" href="index.html" title="The ECL manual"><link rel="next" href="pr01s02.html" title="2. What is ECL?"></head><body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF"><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">Preface</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="index.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center"> </th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="pr01s02.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr></div><div class="preface" title="Preface"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a name="preface"></a>Preface</h2></div></div></div><div class="toc"><dl><dt><span class="section"><a href="pr01.html#preface.words">1. About this book</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="pr01s02.html">2. What is <span class="application">ECL</span>?</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="pr01s03.html">3. History</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="pr01s04.html">4. Copyright of ECL</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="pr01s05.html">5. Copyright of this manual</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="pr01s06.html">6. Installation</a></span></dt><dd><dl><dt><span class="section"><a href="pr01s06.html#preface.platforms">6.1. Supported platforms</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="pr01s06.html#preface.autoconf">6.2. Autoconf based configuration</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="pr01s06.html#preface.osdep">6.3. Platform specific instructions</a></span></dt><dd><dl><dt><span class="section"><a href="pr01s06.html#preface.msvc">6.3.1. Windows with Visual C++ compiler</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="pr01s06.html#preface.mingw">6.3.2. Windows with Mingw/Cygwin</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="pr01s06.html#preface.netbsd">6.3.3. NetBSD</a></span></dt><dt><span class="section"><a href="pr01s06.html#preface.bsd">6.3.4. OpenBSD and FreeBSD</a></span></dt></dl></dd></dl></dd></dl></div><div class="section" title="1. About this book"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a name="preface.words"></a>1. About this book</h2></div></div></div><p>This manual is part of the <span class="application">ECL</span> software system. It documents deviations of <span class="application">ECL</span> from various standards (<a class="xref" href="bi01.html#bib.ANSI">ANSI</a>, <a class="xref" href="bi01.html#bib.AMOP">[AMOP]</a>,...), extensions, daily working process (compiling files, loading sources, creating programs, etc) and the internals of this implementation.</p><p>This book is not intended as a source to learn Common Lisp. There are other tutorials and textbooks available in the Net which serve this purpose. The homepage of the <a class="ulink" href="http://www.lisp.org" target="_top">Association of Lisp Users</a> contains a good list of links of such teaching and learning material.</p><p>This book is structured into three parts. We begin with <a class="xref" href="pt01.html" title="Part I. Standards">Part I</a> which documents all parts of the standard which are left as <span class="emphasis"><em>implementation specific</em></span>. For instance, precision of floating point numbers, available character sets, actual input/output protocols, etc.</p><p><a class="xref" href="pt02.html" title="Part II. Extensions and libraries">Part II</a> introduces all features which are specific to <span class="application">ECL</span> and which lay outside the standard. This includes configuring, building and installing <span class="application">ECL</span> multiprocessing capabilities, graphics libraries, interfacing with the operating system, etc.</p><p><a class="xref" href="pt03.html" title="Part III. Internals">Part III</a> deals with the internals of the implementation. This part is only intended for experienced programmers that want to learn how <span class="application">ECL</span> does its work and wish to extend it, customize it or port it to new architectures. This part of the documentation is the most fragile one and prone to change.</p></div></div><div class="navfooter"><hr><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="index.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"> </td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="pr01s02.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">The <span class="application">ECL</span> manual </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> 2. What is <span class="application">ECL</span>?</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
