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Diffstat (limited to 'README')
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@@ -1,109 +1,19 @@ -This is Python release 1.5 -========================== +This is Python release 1.5.1 +============================ -This version is officially released on Wednesday, December 31, 1997. -It doesn't differ very much from 1.5b2 (released on Dec. 12). +This version is officially released on Tuesday, April 14, 1997. It is +mostly a bugfix release on Python 1.5. What's new in this release? --------------------------- -There's a loooong list of changes since release 1.4 in the file -Misc/NEWS. Some highlights: +See the Misc/NEWS file. Nothing spectacular this time, only small +changes (as you would expect from a release called "1.5.1"). - - It's much faster (almost twice for the Lib/test/pystone.py - benchmark.) - - - There is now an assert statement: ``assert <condition>'' or - ``assert <condition>, <errormessage>''. It raises AssertionError if - the condition evaluates to false. The default error message is - empty; the source text of the assertion statement is printed as part - of the traceback. - - - There is now built-in support for importing hierarchical module - names (e.g. "import spam.ham.eggs"); ni is declared obsolete. Note - that the built-in package support is somewhat simpler (no __ and - __domain__) and differs in one crucial aspect: __init__.py is - required, and loaded in the package's namespace instead of as a - submodule. For more information, see - http://www.python.org/doc/essays/packages.html. - - - The new "re" module (Perl style regular expressions) is here. It - is based on Philip Hazel's pcre code; the Python interfaces were put - together by Andrew Kuchling, Tim Peters and Jeffrey Ollie. The - regex module is declared obsolete. - - - In support of the re module, a new form of string literals is - introduced, "raw strings": e.g. r"\n" is equal to "\\n". - - - All standard exceptions and most exceptions defined in standard - extension modules are now classes. Use python -X to revert back to - string exceptions. See - http://www.python.org/doc/essays/stdexceptions.html - for more info. - - - Comparisons can now raise exceptions (previously, exceptions - occuring during comparisons were swept under the rug). - - - New dictionary methods: .clear(), .copy(), .update(), .get(). The - first two are obvious; d1.update(d2) is equivalent to the for loop - ``for k in d2.keys(): d1[k] = d2[k]''; and d.get(k) returns d[k] if - it exists and None (or the optional second argument) if not. - - - There is a new regression test harness, which tests many more - modules. (To run the tests, do "import test.autotest".) - - - The interpreter is much smarter about the initial value for - sys.path; you can control it easier using $PYTHONHOME (see the usage - message, e.g. try ``python -h''). In most situations, the - interpreter can be installed at an arbitrary location without having - to recompile. - - - The build process now builds a single library (libpython1.5.a) - which contains everything except for the main() entry point. This - makes life much easier for applications that embed Python. - - - There is much better support for embedding, including threads, - multiple interpreters(!), uninitialization, and access to the global - interpreter lock. - - - There is a -O option that removes SET_LINENO instructions, assert - statements and code prefixed with ``if __debug__: ...''. (It still - only makes a few percent difference, so don't get all worked up - about this.) - - - The Grand Renaming is completed: all linker-visible symbols - defined by Python now have a "Py" or "_Py" prefix, and the same is - true for most macros and typedefs. - -If you previously downloaded 1.5b2, here are the most relevant changes -since then (of course all known bugs have been fixed, leaks plugged, -and quite a bit of documentation has been added -- including doc -strings here and there). The full list of changes since 1.5b2 is -presented at the end of the Misc/NEWS file. - - - Thanks to all who contributed doc strings or other documentation! - - - Many small improvements to the quality of the documentation, both - PostScript, HTML and even Emacs info (library manual only). - - - New module telnetlib.py. - - - New tool versioncheck. - - - Two bugs with ftp URLs fixed in urllib.py. - - - Fixed infinite recursion when printing __builtins__. - - - A bunch of small problems fixed in Tkinter.py. - - - Ported zlibmodule.c and bsddbmodule.c to NT. - - - Better NT support in tempfile.py. - - - Fixed 4294967296==0. - - - Latest re and pcre modules (versions of Dec. 22). +One big organizational change: the documentation sources have been +unbundled. We will release a version of the Doc subtree separately, +but probably not simultaneously with the source release. If you don't read instructions |