273 lines
10 KiB
Racket
273 lines
10 KiB
Racket
#lang scribble/doc
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@(require scribble/struct scribble/racket "mz.rkt")
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@title[#:tag "notation"]{Notation for Documentation}
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This chapter introduces essential terminology and notation that is
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used throughout Racket documentation.
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@; ----------------------------------------
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@section{Notation for Module Documentation}
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Since Racket programs are organized into @tech{module}s, documentation
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reflects that organization with an annotation that the beginning of a
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section or subsection that describes the bindings that a particular
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module provides.
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For example, the section that describes the functionality provided by
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@racketmodname[racket/list] starts
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@nested[#:style 'inset
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(defmodule racket/list #:no-declare #:link-target? #f)]
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Instead of @racket[require], some modules are introduced with
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@hash-lang[]:
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@nested[#:style 'inset
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(defmodule racket/base #:lang #:no-declare #:link-target? #f)]
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Using @hash-lang[] means that the module is normally used as the
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language of a whole module---that is, by a module that starts
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@hash-lang[] followed by the language---instead of imported with
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@racket[require]. Unless otherwise specified, however, a module name
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documented with @hash-lang[] can also be used with @racket[require] to
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obtain the language's bindings.
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Sometimes, a module specification appears at the beginning of a
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document or at the start of a section that contains many subsections.
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The document's section or section's subsections are meant to
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``inherit'' the module declaration of the enclosing document or
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section. Thus, bindings documented in @other-doc['(lib
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"scribblings/reference/reference.scrbl")] are available from
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@racketmodname[racket] and @racket[racket/base] unless otherwise
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specified in a section or subsection.
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@; ----------------------------------------
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@section{Notation for Syntactic Form Documentation}
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@guideintro["syntax-notation"]{this notation for syntactic forms}
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Syntactic forms are specified with a grammar. Typically, the grammar
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starts with an open parenthesis followed by the syntactic form's name,
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as in the grammar for @racket[if]:
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@nested[#:style 'inset
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@defform[#:link-target? #f
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(if test-expr then-expr else-expr)]
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]
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Since every @deftech{form} is expressed in terms of @tech{syntax
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objects}, parentheses in a grammar specification indicate a @tech{syntax
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object} wrapping a list, and the leading @racket[if] is an identifier
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that starts the list whose @tech{binding} is the @racket[if] binding
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of the module being documented---in this case,
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@racketmodname[racket/base]. Square brackets in the grammar indicate
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a @tech{syntax-object} list in the same way as parentheses, but in
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places square brackets are normally used by convention in a program's
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source.
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Italic @tech{identifiers} in the grammar are @deftech{metavariables}
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that in correspond to other grammar productions. Certain metavariable
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names have implicit grammar productions:
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@itemize[
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@item{A metavariable that ends in @racket[_id] stands for an
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@tech{identifier}.}
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@item{A metavariable that ends in @racket[_keyword] stands
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for a @tech{syntax-object} @tech{keyword}.}
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@item{A metavariable that ends with @racket[_expr] stands for any
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form, and the form will be parsed as an expression.}
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@item{A metavariable that ends with @racket[_body] stands for any
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@tech{form}; the form will be parsed as either a local definition or
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an expression. A @racket[_body] can parse as a definition only
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if it is not preceded by any expression, and the last
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@racket[_body] must be an expression; see also
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@secref["intdef-body"].}
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@item{A metavariable that ends with @racket[_datum] stands for any
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@tech{form}, and the form is normally uninterpreted (e.g.,
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@racket[quote]d).}
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@item{A metavariable that ends with @racket[_number] or
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@racket[_boolean] stands for any @tech{syntax-object} (i.e.,
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literal) @tech{number} or @tech{boolean}, respectively.}
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]
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In a grammar, @racket[_form ...] stands for any number of forms
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(possibly zero) matching @racket[_form], while @racket[_form ...+]
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stands for one or more forms matching @racket[_form].
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Metavariables without an implicit grammar are defined by productions
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alongside the syntactic form's overall grammar. For example, in
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@nested[#:style 'inset
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@defform[#:link-target? #f
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(lambda formals body ...+)
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#:grammar ([formals id
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(id ...)
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(id ...+ . rest-id)])]
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]
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the @racket[_formals] metavariable starts for either an
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@tech{identifier}, a zero or more @tech{identifiers} in a
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@tech{syntax-object} list, or a @tech{syntax object} corresponding to
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a chain of one or more pairs where the chain ends in an
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@tech{identifier} instead of an empty list.
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Some syntactic forms have multiple top-level grammars, in which case
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the documentation of the syntactic forms shows multiple grammars. For
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example,
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@nested[#:style 'inset
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@defform*[#:link-target? #f
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((init-rest id)
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(init-rest))]
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]
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indicates that @racket[init-rest] can either be alone in its
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@tech{syntax-object} list or followed by a single @tech{identifier}.
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Finally, a grammar specification that includes @racket[_expr]
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metavariables may be augmented with run-time @tech{contract}s on some
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of the metavariables, which indicate a predicates that the result of
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the expression must satisfy at run time. For example,
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@nested[#:style 'inset
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@defform[#:link-target? #f
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(parameterize ([parameter-expr value-expr] ...)
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body ...+)
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#:contracts
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([parameter-expr parameter?])]
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]
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indicates that the result of each @racket[_parameter-expr] must be a
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value @racket[_v] for which @racket[(parameter? _v)] returns true.
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@; ----------------------------------------
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@section{Notation for Function Documentation}
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Procedures and other values are described using a notation based on
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@tech{contract}s. In essence, these contracts describe the interfaces of
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the documented library using Racket predicates and expressions.
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For example, the following is the header of the definition of a
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typical procedure:
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@nested[#:style 'inset
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@defproc[#:link-target? #f
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(char->integer [char char?]) exact-integer?]
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]
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The function being defined, @racket[char->integer], is typeset as if it
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were being applied. The metavariables that come after the function name
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stand in for arguments. The white text in the corner identifies the
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kind of value that is being documented.
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Each metavariable is described with a contract. In the preceding
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example, the metavariable @racket[_char] has the contract
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@racket[char?]. This contract specifies that any argument
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@racket[_char] that answers true to the @racket[char?] predicate is
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valid. The documented function may or may not actually check this
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property, but the contract signals the intent of the implementer.
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The contract on the right of the arrow, @racket[exact-integer?] in this case,
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specifies the expected result that is produced by the function.
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Contract specifications can be more expressive than just names of
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predicates. Consider the following header for @racket[argmax]:
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@nested[#:style 'inset
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@defproc[#:link-target? #f
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(argmax [proc (-> any/c real?)]
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[lst (and/c pair? list?)])
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any]
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]
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The contract @racket[(-> any/c real?)] denotes a function contract specifying
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that @racket[proc]'s argument can be any single value and the result should be
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a real number. The contract @racket[(and/c pair? list?)] for @racket[_lst]
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specifies that @racket[_lst] should pass both @racket[pair?] and @racket[list?]
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(i.e., that it is a non-empty list).
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Both @racket[->] and @racket[and/c] are examples of @tech{contract combinator}s.
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Contract combinators such as @racket[or/c], @racket[cons/c], @racket[listof],
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and others are used throughout the documentation. Clicking on the hyperlinked
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combinator name will provide more information on its meaning.
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A Racket function may be documented as having one or more optional arguments.
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The @racket[read] function is an example of such a function:
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@nested[#:style 'inset
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@defproc[#:link-target? #f
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(read [in input-port? (current-input-port)])
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any]
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]
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The brackets surrounding the @racket[_in] argument in the application
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syntax indicates that it is an optional argument.
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The header for @racket[read] specifies a contract for the parameter
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@racket[_in] as usual. To the right of the contract, it also specifies
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a default value @racket[(current-input-port)] that is used if
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@racket[read] is called with no arguments.
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Functions may also be documented as accepting mandatory or optional
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keyword-based arguments. For example, the @racket[sort] function has
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two optional, keyword-based arguments:
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@nested[#:style 'inset
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@defproc[#:link-target? #f
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(sort [lst list?] [less-than? (any/c any/c . -> . any/c)]
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[#:key extract-key (any/c . -> . any/c) (lambda (x) x)]
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[#:cache-keys? cache-keys? boolean? #f]) list?]
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]
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The brackets around the @racket[_extract-key] and
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@racket[_cache-keys?] arguments indicate that they are optional as
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before. The contract section of the header shows the default values
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that are provided for these keyword arguments.
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@; ----------------------------------------
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@section{Notation for Parameter Documentation}
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A @tech{parameter} is documented the same way as a function:
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@nested[#:style 'inset
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@defparam*[#:link-target? #f
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current-command-line-arguments
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argv
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(vectorof (and/c string? immutable?))
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(vectorof string?)]
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]
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Since @tech{parameters} can be referenced or set, there are two entries in the
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header above. Calling @racket[current-command-line-arguments] with no
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arguments accesses the parameter's value, which must be a vector whose elements
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pass both @racket[string?] and @racket[immutable?]. Calling
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@racket[current-command-line-arguments] with a single argument
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sets the parameter's value, where the value must be a vector whose
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elements pass @racket[string?] (and a guard on the @tech{parameter}
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coerces the strings to immutable form, if necessary).
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@; ----------------------------------------
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@section{Notation for Other Documentation}
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Some libraries provide bindings to constant values. These values are
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documented with a separate header:
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@nested[#:style 'inset
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@defthing[#:link-target? #f object% class?]
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]
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The @racketmodname[racket/class] library provides the @racket[object%]
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value, which is the root of the class hierarchy in Racket. Its
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documentation header just indicates that it is a value that satisfies
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the predicate @racket[class?].
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