Tiny-Fu
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  1. What is the best way to learn how to write Script-Fu scripts?
    Familiarity with the Scheme language will be a big help. Whether you already know Scheme or not you should get a copy of the R5RS (Scheme standards document) and read it. The Scheme interpreter in Script-Fu attempts to follow the Scheme standard. Just keep it in mind that not everything in the R5RS is implemented in the Scheme interpreter used in the Script-Fu plug-in. Features of Scheme which are not supported include any procedures with "syntax" in the name, bignums, and complex numbers.

    I believe one of the problems people have when learning Scheme is that most scripts are shown with multiple closing ) symbols at the end of a line. While you are getting comfortable with Scheme I would suggest you don't skimp on the whitespace. Put the closing parentheses on separate lines. It may violate some Scheme-based coding style guides but it is much easier to see the syntax of the language. It also makes it easier to find errors in your scripts.

    There are tutorials on the GIMP web site under "Script Authoring" and I have some notes about Script-Fu in the wiki section of this web site. Don't forget that you have about 100 you can look at that are shipped with GIMP.

    Be careful of any Script-Fu tutorial which was written before October 24, 2007 (the release date of the 2.4 version of GIMP). Tutorials written before that date may contain information that is out-of-date, or even wrong, as GIMP moved to a different Scheme interpreter with the 2.4 release.
  2. What is Tiny-Fu?
    Tiny-Fu is a plug-in for the 2.2 series of GIMP. With it you can run scripts (written in Scheme) to automate the operation of GIMP. It is essentially a modified version of the Script-Fu plug-in but with some major changes. Installing Tiny-Fu does not remove the Script-Fu plug-in. The code from this project was rolled in to the Script-Fu plug-in of GIMP in October, 2006. If you are running GIMP 2.4 then you are, in effect, using Tiny-Fu.
  3. What are the differences between Tiny-Fu and Script-Fu?
    The main difference between Tiny-Fu and the Script-Fu plug-in of GIMP (before the release of GIMP 2.4) is the use of TinyScheme as the Scheme interpreter instead of the much older, and non-standards compliant, SIOD interpreter.
  4. What are the advantages of Tiny-Fu over Script-Fu?
    There are several advantages to Tiny-Fu worth noting. I will point out three of the most important ones.

    First, the Scheme interpreter used in Tiny-Fu is a more recent generation interpreter which attempts to follow the Scheme standards as closely as possible unlike the over 9 year-old SIOD interpreter used in Script-Fu. This makes it easier for someone who knows Scheme to more quickly begin writing scripts for GIMP using Tiny-Fu. It is also re-entrant which should allow later versions of GIMP to run more than one script at a time.

    Second, Tiny-Fu includes a couple of extensions to the Scheme interpreter it uses. The extensions add some time/date and file I/O functions to the list of functions which can be used in scripts. The additions make the creation of some scripts possible which would not have been possible in Script-Fu. One such script (included with Tiny-Fu) is a contact sheet generation script.

    Third, debugging of scripts is much easier in Tiny-Fu. Tracing of script execution can be turned on and off at any (almost) point in a script. When tracing is turned on you will get very detailed information about the execution of the script. Just be careful that you aren't affecting the return value from a routine when you turn off tracing.
  5. Will I still be able to use Script-Fu after I install Tiny-Fu?
    Yes, you will. Installing Tiny-Fu does not remove the Script-Fu plug-in. The two plug-ins will happily co-exist. Be aware, however, that this may change in a future release of Tiny-Fu due to changes to the GIMP source tree currently being discussed.
  6. Which version of Tiny-Fu do I need for my copy of GIMP x.y?
    If you are using GIMP 2.2, you should be using version 1.0.2 of Tiny-Fu. If you are using GIMP 2.4, you do not need Tiny-Fu. The Tiny-Fu code was rolled in to the Script-Fu plug-in of version GIMP 2.4. If you are using the 2.5, or greater, version of GIMP you will need to wait a while as no working version of Tiny-Fu exists for that GIMP release as of November 5, 2007.
  7. How can I obtain a copy of Tiny-Fu?
    See the section on the main page titled Downloading Tiny-Fu for information on how to obtain source code and pre-compiled binary versions of Tiny-Fu.
  8. Where can I download a pre-compiled binary of Tiny-Fu? The only pre-compiled binary of Tiny-Fu currently available for download is an installer for Windows. See the section titled Downloading Tiny-Fu for the link to the executable file.
  9. Which Scheme interpreter is used in Tiny-Fu?
    Tiny-Fu uses the interpreter created by Dimitrios Souflis known as TinyScheme.
  10. Why doesn't GIMP use Guile (or some other Scheme interpreter)?
    The use of Guile has been proposed off and on as far back as 1998. Some of the reasons against its use were it adds a rather big dependency, its startup time, and people thought that GIMP should come with at least one script interpreter on it's own.

    One developer summarized the issue like this:
    I'm now quite convinced that Guile is not a very good solution for anything. There are far better full-fledged Scheme implementations around (eg. PLT scheme), and also much neater tiny embeddable ones (eg. TinyScheme). Guile is just a big mess.
  11. Where can I get more information about the TinyScheme interpreter?
    http://tinyscheme.sourceforge.net/download.html
    http://www.alphageeksinc.com/tinyscheme/doc/index.html
  12. Where can I get more information about the Scheme language?
    The main document which defines the current version of the Scheme language is titled "Revised5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme" or R5RS for short. A copy of this document in various formats can be found at http://www.schemers.org/Documents/Standards/R5RS/.
  13. Will Tiny-Fu run scripts created for Script-Fu?
    http://www.gimp.org/docs/script-fu-update.html
  14. What do I need to change in a Script-Fu script so it will run under Tiny-Fu?
    Some basic information about updating a Script-Fu script for use with Tiny-Fu is listed on the main Tiny-Fu page in the section titled Updating scripts. More script updating information can be found in my wiki.
  15. How do I turn on tracing of script execution?
    You can turn on tracing of script execution by the use of the Scheme statement (tracing 1). To turn off tracing, use (tracing 0).

    You need to be aware of two things regarding the use of the tracing feature. First, it can generate a *LOT* of output and slow down script execution (depending on where you enable/disable tracing). Second, these statements can change the value returned from a routine if you use them in the wrong place.
  16. How do I use parasites in a script?