I wanted to experiment with GUI programming in Lisp. I wanted to do something more than a button that says "Click Me", and I had no desire to create a calculator or to-do list. I decided to create a GUI for generating a tone.

The examples are housed in the examples subdirectory. Each example has its own subdirectory. To run the examples, clone this repo and navigate to the examples subdirectory.

$ git clone https://github.com/goober99/lisp-gui-examples.git
$ cd lisp-gui-examples/examples

SBCL is available in the repository of most Linux distros. Depending on your desktop environment, you probably already have GTK installed (even if you use KDE, it's likely you already have GTK installed). For Debian/Ubuntu:

$ sudo apt install sbcl

The example uses Quicklisp to load cl-cffi-gtk and CL-PortAudio. Install Quicklisp and configure SBCL.

Navigate to the cl-cffi-gtk example subdirectory and execute bleep.lisp with SBCL.

$ cd cl-cffi-gtk
$ curl -O https://beta.quicklisp.org/quicklisp.lisp
$ sbcl --load quicklisp.lisp
> (quicklisp-quickstart:install)
> (ql:add-to-init-file)
> (exit)
$ sbcl --load bleep.lisp

Clojure and Leiningen are available in the repository of most Linux distros. Install them from your distro's repo. For Debian/Ubuntu:

$ sudo apt install clojure leiningen

Navigate to the cljfx example subdirectory and run the project with Leiningen.

$ cd cljfx
$ lein run

ECL and Qt are available in the repository of most Linux distros, but you'll probably need to compile EQL5 from source. For instruction on compiling EQL5, see the EQL5 tutorial.

The example uses CL-PortAudio to generate the tone. Install Quicklisp to load CL-PortAudio.

After compiling EQL5 from source, navigate to the eql5 example subdirectory and execute bleep.lisp with EQL5.

$ cd eql5
$ curl -O https://beta.quicklisp.org/quicklisp.lisp
$ ecl -load quicklisp.lisp
> (quicklisp-quickstart:install)
> (ql:add-to-init-file)
> (quit)
$ eql5 bleep.lisp

Chicken Scheme and Allegro are available in the repository of most Linux distros. Install it from your distro's repo. For Debian/Ubuntu:

$ sudo apt install chicken-bin liballegro5-dev

IUP doesn't appear to be packaged for many Linux distros, but there are pre-compiled binaries available for download on the IUP website. In addition to IUP, you also need to download two other libraries also developed by Tecgraf Institute at PUC-Rio called IM and CD. Position yourself in the directory where you downloaded the tarballs and:

$ mkdir iup
$ tar -xpvf iup-*_lib.tar.gz -C iup
$ sudo iup/install
$ sudo iup/install_dev
$ sudo cp iup/ftgl/lib/Linux*/* /usr/lib64
$ mkdir im
$ tar -xpvf im-*_lib.tar.gz -C im
$ sudo im/install
$ sudo im/install_dev
$ mkdir cd
$ tar -xpvf cd-*_lib.tar.gz -C cd
$ sudo cd/install
$ sudo cd/install_dev

The example uses the Allegro egg to generate the tone. You can install it and the iup egg with the chicken-install utility that comes with Chicken Scheme. The IUP install scripts install the libraries in non-standard paths on Debian. You can use the $CSC_OPTIONS and $LD_LIBRARY environment variables to tell Chickn where to find them.

Navigate to the iup example subdirectory and execute bleep.scm with Chicken Scheme.

$ CSC_OPTIONS='-I/usr/include/iup -I/usr/include/im -I/usr/include/cd -L/usr/lib64' chicken-install -sudo iup allegro
$ cd iup
$ LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib64 csi bleep.scm

For instruction on setting up LambdaNative, see the LambdaNative tutorial.

Navigate to the lambdanative example subdirectory. Copy apps/bleep into your LambdaNative apps directory. Then from your LambdaNative root directory, compile the example.

$ cd lambdanative
$ cp -r apps/bleep ~/lambdanative/apps
$ ./configure bleep
$ make
$ make install

Chicken Scheme, Tcl/Tk, and Allegro are available in the repository of most Linux distros. Install it from your distro's repo. For Debian/Ubuntu:

$ sudo apt install chicken-bin tcl tk liballegro5-dev

Optionally on Linux, you can install additional Tk themes and apply the theme of your choice system wide. With MATE on Debian, I prefer Arc (the screenshot above is with the Arc theme). KDE users might prefer Breeze while Ubuntu users might opt for Yaru.

$ sudo apt install tcl-ttkthemes
$ echo '*TkTheme: arc' | xrdb -merge -

The example uses the Allegro egg to generate the tone. You can install it and the PS/Tk egg with the chicken-install utility that comes with Chicken Scheme.

Navigate to the pstk example subdirectory and execute bleep.scm with Chicken Scheme.

$ chicken-install -sudo pstk allegro
$ cd pstk
$ csi bleep.scm

Racket is available in the repository of most Linux distros. Install it from your distro's repo. For Debian/Ubuntu:

$ sudo apt install racket

The example uses the RSound package to generate the tone. You can install it with the raco utility that comes with Racket.

Navigate to the racket example subdirectory and execute bleep.rkt with Racket.

$ raco pkg install rsound
$ cd racket
$ racket bleep.rkt

Since I exclusively use Linux, I have only tested these examples on Linux. If you find problems on a different platform, pull requests are welcome to improve cross-platform compatibility.

Artistic License 2.0