repl.md

REPL

A Venice REPL (Read-Eval-Print Loop), is an interactive programming environment that takes user inputs (lines of code), executes them, and returns the result to the user. This process allows for real-time feedback and is great for learning, testing code snippets, and debugging.

Installing Venice and the REPL

Install Venice and the REPL following the Getting started guide.

Start a REPL

Open a terminal and run the REPL start script.

on MacOSX and Linux (e.g.: Venice installed to /Users/foo/venice):

foo% /Users/foo/venice/repl.sh

on Windows (e.g.: Venice installed to C:\Users\foo\venice):

foo> C:\Users\foo\venice\repl.bat

Run expressions in the REPL

Type an expression like (+ 1 1) followed by a <CR>

venice> (+ 1 1)
=> 2
venice>

The REPL supports multi-line editing:

venice> (defn sum [x y]
           (+ x y))
venice> (sum 1 4)
=> 5
venice>

REPL commands

Type ! from the REPL to get the help. Browse through the history expressions with the up/down arrows.

A history of the last three result values is kept by the REPL, accessible through the Venice symbols *1, *2, *3, **.

If the REPL colors don't harmonize well with your terminal color schema omit the '-colors' option or place a 'repl.json' config file with customized ANSI escape code colors on the working dir. The REPL command !config shows a sample 'repl.json' that can be modified.

Built-in documentation

The documentation for a function can be printed from the REPL:

venice> (doc map)

venice> (doc +)

To learn more about the REPL see Advanced REPL