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Diffstat (limited to 'Misc/NEWS')
| -rw-r--r-- | Misc/NEWS | 214 |
1 files changed, 60 insertions, 154 deletions
@@ -1,161 +1,67 @@ =================================== -==> Release 1.1.1 (10 Nov 1994) <== +==> Release 1.2 <== =================================== -This is a pure bugfix release again. See the ChangeLog file for details. -One exception: a few new features were added to tkinter. - - -================================= -==> Release 1.1 (11 Oct 1994) <== -================================= - -This release adds several new features, improved configuration and -portability, and fixes more bugs than I can list here (including some -memory leaks). - -The source compiles and runs out of the box on more platforms than -ever -- including Windows NT. Makefiles or projects for a variety of -non-UNIX platforms are provided. - -APOLOGY: some new features are badly documented or not at all. I had -the choice -- postpone the new release indefinitely, or release it -now, with working code but some undocumented areas. The problem with -postponing the release is that people continue to suffer from existing -bugs, and send me patches based on the previous release -- which I -can't apply directly because my own source has changed. Also, some -new modules (like signal) have been ready for release for quite some -time, and people are anxiously waiting for them. In the case of -signal, the interface is simple enough to figure out without -documentation (if you're anxious enough :-). In this case it was not -simple to release the module on its own, since it relies on many small -patches elsewhere in the source. - -For most new Python modules, the source code contains comments that -explain how to use them. Documentation for the Tk interface, written -by Matt Conway, is available as tkinter-doc.tar.gz from the Python -home and mirror ftp sites (see Misc/FAQ for ftp addresses). For the -new operator overloading facilities, have a look at Demo/classes: -Complex.py and Rat.py show how to implement a numeric type without and -with __coerce__ method. Also have a look at the end of the Tutorial -document (Doc/tut.tex). If you're still confused: use the newsgroup -or mailing list. - - -New language features: - - - More flexible operator overloading for user-defined classes - (INCOMPATIBLE WITH PREVIOUS VERSIONS!) See end of tutorial. - - - Classes can define methods named __getattr__, __setattr__ and - __delattr__ to trap attribute accesses. See end of tutorial. - - - Classes can define method __call__ so instances can be called - directly. See end of tutorial. - - -New support facilities: - - - The Makefiles (for the base interpreter as well as for extensions) - now support creating dynamically loadable modules if the platform - supports shared libraries. - - - Passing the interpreter a .pyc file as script argument will execute - the code in that file. (On the Mac such files can be double-clicked!) - - - New Freeze script, to create independently distributable "binaries" - of Python programs -- look in Demo/freeze - - - Improved h2py script (in Demo/scripts) follows #includes and - supports macros with one argument - - - New module compileall generates .pyc files for all modules in a - directory (tree) without also executing them - - - Threads should work on more platforms - - -New built-in modules: - - - tkinter (support for Tcl's Tk widget set) is now part of the base - distribution - - - signal allows catching or ignoring UNIX signals (unfortunately still - undocumented -- any taker?) - - - termios provides portable access to POSIX tty settings - - - curses provides an interface to the System V curses library - - - syslog provides an interface to the (BSD?) syslog daemon - - - 'new' provides interfaces to create new built-in object types - (e.g. modules and functions) - - - sybase provides an interface to SYBASE database - - -New/obsolete built-in methods: - - - callable(x) tests whether x can be called - - - sockets now have a setblocking() method - - - sockets no longer have an allowbroadcast() method - - - socket methods send() and sendto() return byte count - - -New standard library modules: - - - types.py defines standard names for built-in types, e.g. StringType - - - urlparse.py parses URLs according to the latest Internet draft - - - uu.py does uuencode/uudecode (not the fastest in the world, but - quicker than installing uuencode on a non-UNIX machine :-) - - - New, faster and more powerful profile module.py - - - mhlib.py provides interface to MH folders and messages - - -New facilities for extension writers (unfortunately still -undocumented): - - - newgetargs() supports optional arguments and improved error messages - - - O!, O& O? formats for getargs allow more versatile type checking of - non-standard types - - - can register pending asynchronous callback, to be called the next - time the Python VM begins a new instruction (Py_AddPendingCall) - - - can register cleanup routines to be called when Python exits - (Py_AtExit) - - - makesetup script understands C++ files in Setup file (use file.C - or file.cc) - - - Make variable OPT is passed on to sub-Makefiles - - - An init<module>() routine may signal an error by not entering - the module in the module table and raising an exception instead - - - For long module names, instead of foobarbletchmodule.c you can - use foobarbletch.c - - - getintvalue() and getfloatvalue() try to convert any object - instead of requiring an "intobject" or "floatobject" - - - All the [new]getargs() formats that retrieve an integer value - will now also work if a float is passed - - - C function listtuple() converts list to tuple, fast - - - You should now call sigcheck() instead of intrcheck(); - sigcheck() also sets an exception when it returns nonzero +- Most known bugs have been fixed. For example the pow(2,2,3L) bug on +Linux has been fixed. Also the re-entrancy problems with __del__ have +been fixed. + +- Most known memory leaks have been fixed. + +- Phase 2 of the Great Renaming has been executed. The header files +now use the new names (PyObject instead of object, etc.). The linker +also sees the new names. Most source files still use the old names, +by virtue of the rename2.h header file. If you include Python.h, you +only see the new names. Dynamically linked modules have to be +recompiled. + +- The hooks for implementing "safe-python" (better called "restricted +execution") are in place. Specifically, the import statement is +implemented by calling the built-in function __import__, and the +built-in names used in a particular scope are taken from the +dictionary __builtins__ in that scope's global dictionary. See also +the new module rexec.py. + +- The import statement now supports the syntax "import a.b.c" and +"from a.b.c import name". No meaningful implementation exists, but +one can be prototyped by replacing the built-in __import__ function. + +- All machinery used by the import statement (or the built-in +__import__ function) is now exposed through the new built-in module +"imp". All dynamic loading machinery is moved to the new file +importdl.c. + +- Persistent storage is supported through the use of the module +"pickle" and "shelve" (implemented in Python). Read the .py files for +more info. There's also a "copy" module implementing deepcopy and +normal (shallow) copy operations. + +- Documentation strings for many objects types are accessible through +the __doc__ attribute. Modules, classes and functions support special +syntax to initialize the __doc__ attribute: if the first statement +consists of just a string literal, that string literal becomes the +value of the __doc__ attribute. The default __doc__ attribute is +None. Documentation strings are also supported for built-in +functions, types and modules; however this feature hasn't been widely +used yet. See the 'new' module for an example. + +- The __coerce__ and __cmp__ methods for user-defined classes once +again work as expected. As an example, there's a new standard class +Complex in the library. + +- The functions posix.popen() and posix.fdopen() now have an optional +third argument to specify the buffer size, and default their second +(mode) argument to 'r' -- in analogy to the builtin open() function. + +- Improved support for the Apple Macintosh, e.g. interfaces to (a few) +resource mananger functions, get/set file type and creator, gestalt, +sound manager, speech manager, MacTCP, comm toolbox, and the think C +console library. (Sorry, no Mac binary yet. Will try to produce one +shortly, plus instructions on how to compile with THINK C 6.0.) + +- Used autoconf 2.0 to generate the configure script. Adapted +configure.in to use the new features in autoconf 2.0. --Guido van Rossum, CWI, Amsterdam <Guido.van.Rossum@cwi.nl> |