-- The whole implementation is now more table-driven.
-- Unsigned integers. Format characters 'B', 'H', 'I' and 'L'
mean unsigned byte, short, int and long. For 'I' and 'L', the return
value is a Python long integer if a Python plain integer can't
represent the required range (note: this is dependent on the size of
the relevant C types only, not of the sign of the actual value).
-- A new format character 's' packs/unpacks a string. When given a
count prefix, this is the size of the string, not a repeat count like
for the other format characters; e.g. '10s' means a single 10-byte
string, while '10c' means 10 characters. For packing, the string is
truncated or padded with null bytes as appropriate to make it fit.
For unpacking, the resulting string always has exactly the specified
number of bytes. As a special case, '0s' means a single, empty
string (while '0c' means 0 characters).
-- Various byte order options. The first character of the format
string determines the byte order, size and alignment, as follows:
First character Byte order size and alignment
'@' native native
'=' native standard
'<' little-endian standard
'>' big-endian standard
'!' network (= big-endian) standard
If the first character is not one of these, '@' is assumed.
Native byte order is big-endian or little-endian, depending on the
host system (e.g. Motorola and Sun are big-endian; Intel and DEC are
little-endian).
Native size and alignment are determined using the C compiler's sizeof
expression. This is always combined with native byte order.
Standard size and alignment are as follows: no alignment is required
for any type (so you have to use pad bytes); short is 2 bytes; int and
long are 4 bytes. In this mode, there is no support for float and
double.
Note the difference between '@' and '=': both use native byte order,
but the size and alignment of the latter is standardized.
The form '!' is available for those poor souls who can't remember
whether network byte order is big-endian or little-endian.
There is no way to indicate non-native byte order (i.e. force
byte-swapping); use the appropriate choice of '<' or '>'.
* Stubs for faster implementation of local variables (not yet finished)
* Added function name to code object. Print it for code and function
objects. THIS MAKES THE .PYC FILE FORMAT INCOMPATIBLE (the version
number has changed accordingly)
* Print address of self for built-in methods
* New internal functions getattro and setattro (getattr/setattr with
string object arg)
* Replaced "dictobject" with more powerful "mappingobject"
* New per-type functio tp_hash to implement arbitrary object hashing,
and hashobject() to interface to it
* Added built-in functions hash(v) and hasattr(v, 'name')
* classobject: made some functions static that accidentally weren't;
added __hash__ special instance method to implement hash()
* Added proper comparison for built-in methods and functions
Guido van Rossum
Barry Warsaw
Jack Jansen