X-Git-Url: http://git.kpe.io/?a=blobdiff_plain;ds=inline;f=doc%2Fintro.sgml;h=df58ab6683625a9f0144e945f97ab212b7cbd7f5;hb=fc85b603152cea9b5fff03fa7085cce3536b17f7;hp=d432b9f218ff03fa9f237913cd45e99046046c56;hpb=737a3e3a8d18dd80f4cda0d93bc20a3b5677dbee;p=uffi.git
diff --git a/doc/intro.sgml b/doc/intro.sgml
index d432b9f..df58ab6 100644
--- a/doc/intro.sgml
+++ b/doc/intro.sgml
@@ -5,8 +5,8 @@
Purpose
This reference guide describes
- &uffi;, a Lisp package that provides persistent cross-implementation
- support of C-language compatible libraries.
+ &uffi;, a package that provides a cross-implementation
+ interface from Common Lisp to C-language compatible libraries.
@@ -16,10 +16,12 @@
Every Common Lisp implementation has
a method for interfacing to C-language compatible
- libraries. Unfortunately, these method vary widely amongst
- implementations. Currently, to support multiple implementations,
- developers must write a different interface library for each Common
- Lisp implementation.
+ libraries. These methods are often termed a
+ Foreign Function Library Interface
+ (&ffi;). Unfortunately, these methods vary widely
+ amongst
+ implementations, thus preventing the writing of a portable FFI to a
+particular C-library.
&uffi; gathers a common subset of functionality between Common Lisp
@@ -45,20 +47,16 @@
-
- Installation
-
- Installation is fairly simple. The main requirement is that you
- have a copy of &defsystem;. You can download the latest version
- of &defsystem; from the
- CLOCC
- CVS tree. After installing &defsystem;, simply
- push the
- directory containing &uffi; into
- mk:*central-registry*. Whenever you
-want to load the &uffi; package, use the function
- (mk:load-system :uffi).
-
-
+
+ Design Overview
+
+ &uffi; was designed as a cross-implementation compatible
+ Foreign Function Interface. Necessarily,
+ only a common subset of functionality can be
+ provided. Likewise, not every optimization for that a specific
+ implementation provides can be supported. Wherever possible,
+ though, implementation-specific optimizations are invoked.
+
+
+