cpython/Misc/NEWS

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==> Release 1.1 (11 Oct 1994) <==
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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: many 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...


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


--Guido van Rossum, CWI, Amsterdam <Guido.van.Rossum@cwi.nl>
URL:  <http://www.cwi.nl/cwi/people/Guido.van.Rossum.html>