| | 1 | = FASL format = |
| | 2 | |
| | 3 | The system supports 2 types of FASL files (compiles lisp files): Uncompressed and compressed ones. These FASL files can be loaded into a running Lisp image. Both compressed and uncompressed fasls have the extension '.abcl'. |
| | 4 | |
| | 5 | == Uncompressed == |
| | 6 | |
| | 7 | An uncompressed fasl is a '.abcl' file and a series of '.cls' files. The .abcl file contains (textual) Lisp instructions, some of which may be to load a compiled function file (a '.cls' file). The '.cls' files are Java class files containing compiled Lisp functions: Lisp functions translated into java byte code. |
| | 8 | |
| | 9 | == Compressed == |
| | 10 | |
| | 11 | A compressed fasl is a single '.abcl' file: a zip archive containing the files as described above. The difference being that the '.abcl' file as described above has a '._' extension in the archive. |
| | 12 | |
| | 13 | = FASL loading = |
| | 14 | |
| | 15 | The FASL loader reads the instructions (mostly Lisp) from the uncompressed '.abcl' or '._' file. When so instructed, it loads a compiled function from a '.cls' file into memory, using a custom class loader to load the Java class in the memory buffer. |
| | 16 | |
| | 17 | When the FASL is a compressed one, the compiled-functions loader finds the files it needs to load inside the .abcl (zipped) archive. |
