• A Scheme Primer: for a basic understanding of Scheme
• Guile 3.0 Manual: The most important part of this manual is API Reference, when in doubt, check the API Reference.

How to practice Guile Scheme Language(on NixOS):

nix shell nixpkgs#racket-minimal --command "racket"

Tutorials for Guix itself:

• GNU Guix Reference Manual: read this first for installation and basic usage & setup.
• GNU Guix Cookbook: read this after you have your Guix installed and have some basic knowledge about Guix.

How to use Guix on NixOS: https://github.com/ryan4yin/nix-config/blob/main/modules/nixos/desktop/guix.nix

• https://github.com/abcdw/rde
• https://github.com/nonguix/nonguix

1. ‘a: a syntax sugar of (quote a), a symbol a is not evaluated.
2. #t and #f: true and false
3. ’() or null: empty list
4. (list arg1 arg2 …) or =’(arg1 arg2 …)=: a linked list,
5. cons* arg1 arg2 …: similar to (list arg1 arg2 …), but its last cons cell is a dotted list, which does not have null for its cdr.
   1. This function is called list* in some other Schemes and in Common LISP.

scheme@(guile-user)> (cons* 1 2 3 4 5)
$4 = (1 2 3 4 . 5)
scheme@(guile-user)> (list 1 2 3 4 5)
$5 = (1 2 3 4 5)
scheme@(guile-user)> '(1 2 3 4 5)
$6 = (1 2 3 4 5)

scheme@(guile-user)> '(1 2)
$7 = (1 2)
scheme@(guile-user)> (cons 1 (cons 2 '()))
$8 = (1 2)
;; a list which does not have `null` for its cdr is called a dotted list.
scheme@(guile-user)> (cons 1 2)
$9 = (1 . 2)

1. cons create a pair with two elements, the first element is its car and the second element its cdr.
2. (list a b ...) create a linked list with multiple elements, and a null is appended to the end of the list.
3. (cons* a b ... g h) create a linked list with multiple elements, but the last element is not null, it is the last element of the list.

cons* is useful when you want to insert multiple elements at the front of a list. For example, (cons* 1 2 3 '(4 5 6)) will insert 1 2 3 at the front of (4 5 6), and the result is (1 2 3 4 5 6).

nonguix’s installation description use cons* ... %default-channels to insert its channel infront of guix’s default channels.

if we use list ... %default-channels, the result have an extra null at the end of the list, which is not what we want.

scheme@(guile-user) [1]> (list 1 2 3 (list 4 5 6))
$13 = (1 2 3 (4 5 6))
scheme@(guile-user) [1]> '(1 2 3 (4 5 6))
$14 = (1 2 3 (4 5 6))
scheme@(guile-user) [1]> (cons* 1 2 3 (list 4 5 6))
$15 = (1 2 3 4 5 6)

1. guix search <package-name> to find the package’s location.
   1. For example, guix search kitty will show the package’s location is gnu/packages/terminals.scm.
2. add (use-package-modules terminals) to the top of config.scm.
3. add kitty to the packages list in config.scm.

1. docs for use-modules: it’s provided by guile, see https://www.gnu.org/software/guile/manual/html_node/Using-Modules.html
2. docs for use-service-modules, use-package-modules & use-system-modules: No docs for them. But you can read their definition in source code: https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/guix.git/tree/gnu.scm#n143
3. Source code:
   1. https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/guix.git/tree/
   2. https://github.com/nonguix/nonguix/tree/master/nongnu

Learn more: https://guix.gnu.org/manual/en/html_node/Channels-with-Substitutes.html

When executing guix pull, Guix initially compiles the definitions of every available package. This is a resource-intensive process for which substitutes (refer to Substitutes) may be accessible.

For nonguix, you can enhance the speed of the guix pull operation by incorporating its official substitutes. To delve into the details, refer to the ‘substitutes’ section in https://gitlab.com/nonguix/nonguix.

In NixOS, nix undergoes no compilation phase and functions as a fully interpreted language. Consequently, nix flake update outpaces guix pull in terms of speed.

The substitutes you integrate into config.scm will become effective only after the initial completion of guix system reconfigure! For expediting the inaugural reconfiguration, consult nonuix’s official README for guidance.

• https://github.com/engstrand-config/guix-dotfiles
• https://github.com/migalmoreno/guix-config
• https://github.com/Tass0sm/dotfiles
• https://github.com/yveszoundi/guix-config
• https://github.com/hiecaq/guix-config