Re: Names in libguile

[Jim Blandy <jimb at red-bean dot com>]

>    If there's a C variant of something provided at the Scheme level
>    (like the current scm_internal_dynamic_wind), it has the prefix
>    scm_c_ instead of scm_.
> 
> this is the only one i don't understand.  why is it important to
> reflect the origin of the definition?

A function named scm_c_FOO serves the same purpose as the function
named scm_FOO, except that its interface is tailored for use from C,
while scm_FOO is tailored for use from Scheme, and is probably
exported as a Scheme primitive.

For example, scm_FOO might expect Scheme procedures as arguments,
while scm_c_FOO might take C function pointers and a passthrough
value.