diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'Doc/whatsnew')
| -rw-r--r-- | Doc/whatsnew/whatsnew23.tex | 126 |
1 files changed, 69 insertions, 57 deletions
diff --git a/Doc/whatsnew/whatsnew23.tex b/Doc/whatsnew/whatsnew23.tex index ad88b54..722a7a6 100644 --- a/Doc/whatsnew/whatsnew23.tex +++ b/Doc/whatsnew/whatsnew23.tex @@ -11,14 +11,26 @@ \maketitle \tableofcontents -% To do: -% MacOS framework-related changes (section of its own, probably) - -%\section{Introduction \label{intro}} - -This article explains the new features in Python 2.3. The tentative +This article explains the new features in Python 2.3. The release date of Python 2.3 is currently scheduled for August 2003. +The main themes for Python 2.3 are polishing some of the features +added in 2.2, adding various small but useful enhancements to the core +language, and expanding the standard library. The new object model +introduced in the previous version has benefited from 18 months of +bugfixes and from optimization efforts that have improved the +performance of new-style classes. A few new built-in functions have +been added such as \function{sum()} and \function{enumerate()}. The +\keyword{in} operator can now be used for substring searches (e.g. +\code{"ab" in "abc"} returns \constant{True}). + +Some of the many new library features include Boolean, set, heap, and +date/time data types, the ability to import modules from ZIP-format +archives, metadata support for the long-awaited Python catalog, an +updated version of IDLE, and modules for logging messages, wrapping +text, parsing CSV files, processing command-line options, using BerkeleyDB +databases... the list of new and enhanced modules is lengthy. + This article doesn't attempt to provide a complete specification of the new features, but instead provides a convenient overview. For full details, you should refer to the documentation for Python 2.3, @@ -303,6 +315,57 @@ Hisao and Martin von~L\"owis.} %====================================================================== +\section{PEP 273: Importing Modules from Zip Archives} + +The new \module{zipimport} module adds support for importing +modules from a ZIP-format archive. You don't need to import the +module explicitly; it will be automatically imported if a ZIP +archive's filename is added to \code{sys.path}. For example: + +\begin{verbatim} +amk@nyman:~/src/python$ unzip -l /tmp/example.zip +Archive: /tmp/example.zip + Length Date Time Name + -------- ---- ---- ---- + 8467 11-26-02 22:30 jwzthreading.py + -------- ------- + 8467 1 file +amk@nyman:~/src/python$ ./python +Python 2.3 (#1, Aug 1 2003, 19:54:32) +>>> import sys +>>> sys.path.insert(0, '/tmp/example.zip') # Add .zip file to front of path +>>> import jwzthreading +>>> jwzthreading.__file__ +'/tmp/example.zip/jwzthreading.py' +>>> +\end{verbatim} + +An entry in \code{sys.path} can now be the filename of a ZIP archive. +The ZIP archive can contain any kind of files, but only files named +\file{*.py}, \file{*.pyc}, or \file{*.pyo} can be imported. If an +archive only contains \file{*.py} files, Python will not attempt to +modify the archive by adding the corresponding \file{*.pyc} file, meaning +that if a ZIP archive doesn't contain \file{*.pyc} files, importing may be +rather slow. + +A path within the archive can also be specified to only import from a +subdirectory; for example, the path \file{/tmp/example.zip/lib/} +would only import from the \file{lib/} subdirectory within the +archive. + +\begin{seealso} + +\seepep{273}{Import Modules from Zip Archives}{Written by James C. Ahlstrom, +who also provided an implementation. +Python 2.3 follows the specification in \pep{273}, +but uses an implementation written by Just van~Rossum +that uses the import hooks described in \pep{302}. +See section~\ref{section-pep302} for a description of the new import hooks. +} + +\end{seealso} + +%====================================================================== \section{PEP 277: Unicode file name support for Windows NT} On Windows NT, 2000, and XP, the system stores file names as Unicode @@ -654,57 +717,6 @@ Walter D\"orwald.} %====================================================================== -\section{PEP 273: Importing Modules from Zip Archives} - -The new \module{zipimport} module adds support for importing -modules from a ZIP-format archive. You don't need to import the -module explicitly; it will be automatically imported if a ZIP -archive's filename is added to \code{sys.path}. For example: - -\begin{verbatim} -amk@nyman:~/src/python$ unzip -l /tmp/example.zip -Archive: /tmp/example.zip - Length Date Time Name - -------- ---- ---- ---- - 8467 11-26-02 22:30 jwzthreading.py - -------- ------- - 8467 1 file -amk@nyman:~/src/python$ ./python -Python 2.3 (#1, Aug 1 2003, 19:54:32) ->>> import sys ->>> sys.path.insert(0, '/tmp/example.zip') # Add .zip file to front of path ->>> import jwzthreading ->>> jwzthreading.__file__ -'/tmp/example.zip/jwzthreading.py' ->>> -\end{verbatim} - -An entry in \code{sys.path} can now be the filename of a ZIP archive. -The ZIP archive can contain any kind of files, but only files named -\file{*.py}, \file{*.pyc}, or \file{*.pyo} can be imported. If an -archive only contains \file{*.py} files, Python will not attempt to -modify the archive by adding the corresponding \file{*.pyc} file, meaning -that if a ZIP archive doesn't contain \file{*.pyc} files, importing may be -rather slow. - -A path within the archive can also be specified to only import from a -subdirectory; for example, the path \file{/tmp/example.zip/lib/} -would only import from the \file{lib/} subdirectory within the -archive. - -\begin{seealso} - -\seepep{273}{Import Modules from Zip Archives}{Written by James C. Ahlstrom, -who also provided an implementation. -Python 2.3 follows the specification in \pep{273}, -but uses an implementation written by Just van~Rossum -that uses the import hooks described in \pep{302}. -See section~\ref{section-pep302} for a description of the new import hooks. -} - -\end{seealso} - -%====================================================================== \section{PEP 301: Package Index and Metadata for Distutils\label{section-pep301}} |