World Images (MIT/GNU Scheme 12.0.90)

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### 3.3 World Images

A world image, also called a band, is a file that contains a complete Scheme system, perhaps additionally including user application code. Scheme provides a method for saving and restoring world images. The method writes a file containing all of the Scheme code and data in the running process. The file `all.com` that is loaded by the microcode is just such a band. To make your own band, use the procedure `disk-save`.

procedure: disk-save filename [identify] ¶

  Causes a band to be written to the file specified by filename. The optional argument identify controls what happens when that band is restored, as follows:

  not specified

    Start up in the top-level REPL, identifying the world in the normal way.

  a string

    Do the same thing except print that string instead of ‘`Scheme`’ when restarting.

  the constant `#t`

    Restart exactly where you were when the call to `disk-save` was performed. This is especially useful for saving your state when an error has occurred and you are not in the top-level REPL.

  the constant `#f`

    Just like `#t`, except that the runtime system will not perform normal restart initializations; in particular, it will not load your init file.

To restore a saved band, give the `--band` option when starting Scheme. Alternatively, evaluate ‘`(disk-restore filename)`’, which will destroy the current world, replacing it with the saved world. The argument to `disk-restore` may be omitted, in which case it defaults to the filename from which the current world was last restored.

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