A first stab at describing what's new in 1.4. Still many XXX'es left.

Also would like to add an "author's note" at the beginning, basically
pointing everyone to the books.
This commit is contained in:
Guido van Rossum 1996-10-08 17:29:56 +00:00
parent f17fa685aa
commit 58124880cc
2 changed files with 446 additions and 42 deletions

View File

@ -249,18 +249,20 @@ statement.
\subsection{The Module Search Path}
When a module named {\tt spam} is imported, the interpreter searches
for a file named {\tt spam.py} in the list of directories specified by
the environment variable {\tt PYTHONPATH}. It has the same syntax as
for a file named {\tt spam.py} in the current directory,
and then in the list of directories specified by
the environment variable {\tt PYTHONPATH}. This has the same syntax as
the {\UNIX} shell variable {\tt PATH}, i.e., a list of colon-separated
directory names. When {\tt PYTHONPATH} is not set, or when the file
is not found there, the search continues in an installation-dependent
default path, usually {\tt .:/usr/local/lib/python}.
Actually, modules are searched in the list of directories given by the
variable {\tt sys.path} which is initialized from {\tt PYTHONPATH} and
the installation-dependent default. This allows Python programs that
know what they're doing to modify or replace the module search path.
See the section on Standard Modules later.
variable {\tt sys.path} which is initialized from the directory
containing the input script (or the current directory), {\tt
PYTHONPATH} and the installation-dependent default. This allows
Python programs that know what they're doing to modify or replace the
module search path. See the section on Standard Modules later.
\subsection{``Compiled'' Python files}
@ -272,13 +274,15 @@ modification time of the version of {\tt spam.py} used to create {\tt
spam.pyc} is recorded in {\tt spam.pyc}, and the file is ignored if
these don't match.
Normally, you don't need to do anything to create the {\tt spam.pyc} file.
Whenever {\tt spam.py} is successfully compiled, an attempt is made to
write the compiled version to {\tt spam.pyc}. It is not an error if
this attempt fails; if for any reason the file is not written
completely, the resulting {\tt spam.pyc} file will be recognized as
invalid and thus ignored later. The contents of the {\tt spam.pyc}
file is platform independent, so a Python module directory can be
shared by machines of different architectures.
shared by machines of different architectures. (Tip for experts:
the module {\tt compileall} creates {\tt .pyc} files for all modules.)
\subsection{Executable Python scripts}
@ -3867,24 +3871,45 @@ notice them anyway :-)
\chapter{New in Release 1.4}
This chapter describes additions to the Python language and library in
version 1.4.
This chapter describes the major additions to the Python language and
library in version 1.4. Many minor changes are not listed here;
it is recommended to read the file \code{Misc/NEWS} in the Python
source distribution for a complete listing of all changes, however
small.
\begin{itemize}
\item
Power operator. \code{x**y} is equivalent to \code{pow(x, y)}.
This operator binds more tightly than \code{*}, \code{/} or \code{\%},
and binds from right to left when repeated or combined with unary
operators. For example, \code{x**y**z} is equivalent to
\code{x**(y**z)}, and \code{-x**y} is \code{-(x**y)}.
\item
Complex numbers. Imaginary literals are writen with a \code{'j'}
suffix (\code{'J'} is allowed for consistency.) Complex numbers with
a nonzero real component are written as
\code{(\var{real}+\var{imag}j)}. The usual arithmetic operators on
complex numbers are supported, so that e.g. \code{1j**2} equals
\code{-1.0}. Module \code{cmath} provides versions of all math
functions that take complex arguments and return complex results.
(Module \code{math} only supports real numbers, so that
\code{math.sqrt(-1)} still raises a \code{ValueError} exception.)
suffix (\code{'J'} is allowed as well.) Complex numbers with a nonzero
real component are written as \code{(\var{real}+\var{imag}j)}. You
can also use the new built-in function \code{complex()} which takes
one or two arguments: \code{complex(x)} is equivalent to \code{x +
0j}, and \code{complex(x, y)} is \code{x + y*0j}.
The usual arithmetic operators on complex numbers are supported, so
that e.g. \code{1j**2} equals \code{complex(-1.0)}.
To extract the real and imaginary part from a complex number \code{z},
use \code{z.real} and \code{z.imag}. The conversion functions to
floating point and integer (\code{float()}, \code{int()} and
\code{long()}) don't work for complex numbers -- there is no one
obvious way to convert a complex number to a real number. Use
\code{abs(z)} to get its magnitude (as a float) or \code{z.real} to
get its real part.
Module \code{cmath} provides versions of all math functions that take
complex arguments and return complex results. (Module \code{math}
only supports real numbers, so that \code{math.sqrt(-1)} still raises
a \code{ValueError} exception. Numerical experts agree that this is
the way it shold be.)
\item
New indexing syntax. It is now possible to use a tuple as an indexing
@ -3893,7 +3918,7 @@ e.g. \code{x[1, 2, 3]}.
\item
New slicing syntax. In support of the Numerical Python extension
(distributed separately), slice indices of the form
(distributed independently), slice indices of the form
\code{x[lo:hi:stride]} are possible, multiple slice indices separated by
commas are allowed, and an index position may be replaced by ellipses,
as follows: \code{x[a, ..., z]}. There's also a new built-in function
@ -3903,8 +3928,185 @@ syntax. None of the standard sequence types support indexing with
slice objects or ellipses yet. Note that when any of these extensions
are used, the mapping interface for indexing will be used.
When a user-defined class instance is sliced using this extended slice
notation, its \code{__getitem__} method is invoked -- the
\code{__getslice__} method is only invoked when a single old-style
slice is used, i.e. \code{x[lo:hi]}, with possible omission or
\code{lo} and/or \code{hi}. Some examples:
\begin{verbatim}
x[1:2:-3] --> slice(1, 2, -3)
x[-1:2:] --> slice(-1, 2, None)
x[::] --> slice(None, None, None)
x[1, 2:3] --> (1, slice(2, 3, None))
x[1:2, 3:4] --> (slice(1, 2, None), slice(3, 4, None))
x[1:2, ..., 3:4] --> (slice(1, 2, None), Ellipses, slice(3, 4, None))
\end{verbatim}
For more help with this you are referred to the matrix-sig.
\item
XXX More!!!
The \code{access} statement is now truly gone; \code{access} is no
longer a reserved word. This saves a few cycles here and there.
\item
There is now limited support for class-private identifiers. Any
identifier of the form \code{__spam} (two leading underscores, no two
trailing underscores) is now textually replaced with
\code{_classname__spam}, where \code{classname} is the current class
name with leading underscore(s) stripped. This munging is done
without regard of the syntactic position of the identifier, so it can
be used to define class-private instance and class variables, methods,
as well as globals, and even class-private instance variables on
instances of {\em other} classes. Truncation may occur when the
munged name would be longer than 255 characters. Outside classes, no
munging occurs.
Name munging is mostly intended to give classes an easy way to define
``private'' instance variables and methods, without having to worry
about instance variables defined by derived classes, or mucking with
instance variables by code outside the class. Note that the munging
rules are designed mostly to avoid accidents; it still is possible for
a ``determined soul'' to access or modify a variable that's considered
private. This can even be useful, e.g. for the debugger, and that's
one reason why this loophole is not closed. (Buglet: accidental
derivation of a class with the same name as the base class makes
accidental use of private variables of the base class possible.)
Notice that code passed to \code{exec}, \code{eval()} or
\code{evalfile()} does not consider the classname of the invoking
class to be the current class; this is similar to the effect of the
\code{global} statement, the effect of which is likewise restricted to
code that is byte-compiled together.
\item
Syntax errors detected by the code generation phase of the Python
bytecode compiler now include a line number. The line number is
appended in parentheses. It is suppressed if the error occurs
in line 1 (this usually happens in interactive use).
\item
Unrecognized keyword arguments now raise a \code{TypeError} exception
rather than \code{KeyError}.
\item
A warning is written to sys.stderr when a \code{__del__} method raises
an exception. Formerly, such exceptions were completely ignored.
The new behavior, while needed in order to debug failing
\code{__del__} methods, is occasionally annoying, because if affects
the program's standard error stream. It honors assignments to
\code{sys.stderr}, so it can be redirected from within a program if
desired.
\item
New built-in function \code{list()} converts any sequence to a new list.
Note that when the argument is a list, the return value is a fresh
copy, similar to what would be returned by \code{a[:]}.
\item
New built-in module \code{operator}. XXX
\item
New built-in module \code{errno}. XXX
\item
Rewritten \code{cgi} module. XXX
\item
Improved restricted execution module (\code{rexec}). New module
\code{Bastion}. XXX
\item
New string operations: lstrip(), rstrip(), capitalize(), capwords(),
translate(), maketrans(); extended string operation: split(s, sep,
maxsep). XXX
\item
New regsub operations: capwords(), splitx(), and split(s, sep, maxsep).
XXX
\item
Module files pdb.py and profile.py can now be invoked as scripts to
debug c.q. profile other scripts easily.
\item
The \code{os} module now supports the \code{putenv()} function on
systems where it is provided in the C library (Windows NT and most
Unix versions). The call \code{os.putenv('PATH', '/bin:/usr/bin')}
sets the environment variable \code{PATH} to the string
\code{'/bin:/usr/bin'}. Such changes to the environment affect
subprocesses started with \code{os.system()}, \code{os.popen()} or
\code{os.fork()} and \code{os.execv()}. When \code{putenv()} is
supported, assignments to items in \code{os.environ} are automatically
translated into corresponding calls to \code{os.putenv()}; however,
calls to \code{os.putenv()} don't update \code{os.environ}, so it is
actually preferable to assign to items of \code{os.environ}. For this
purpose, the type of \code{os.environ} is changed to a subclass of
\code{UserDict.UserDict} when \code{os.putenv()} is supported.
(Buglet: \code{os.execve()} still requires a real dictionary.)
\item
New functions in the os module: mkfifo, plock, remove (== unlink),
and ftruncate. More functions are also available under NT. XXX
\item
New function in the fcntl module: flock. XXX
\item
The first item of the module search path, \code{sys.path}, is the
directory containing the script that was used to invoke the Python
interpreter. If the script directory is not available (e.g. if the
interpreter is invoked interactively or if the script is read from
standard input), \code{sys.path[0]} is the empty string, which directs
Python to search modules in the current directory first. Notice that
the script directory is inserted {\em before} the entries inserted as
a result of \code{\$PYTHONPATH}. There is no longer an entry for the
current directory later in the path (unless explicitly set by
\code{\$PYTHONPATH}).
\item
Some more configuration information is now available to Python
programs. The variable \code{sys.prefix} gives the site-specific
directory prefix where the platform independent Python files are
installed; by default, this is the string \code{"/usr/local"}. The
main collection of Python library modules is installed in the
directory \code{sys.prefix+"/lib/python"+sys.version[:3]} while the
platform independent header files (all except \code{config.h}) are
stored in \code{sys.prefix+"/include/python"+sys.version[:3]}.
Similarly, the variable \code{sys.exec_prefix} gives the site-specific
directory prefix where the platform {\em de}pendent Python files are
installed; by default, this is also \code{"/usr/local"}.
Specifically, all configuration files (e.g. the \code{config.h}
header file) are installed in the directory
\code{sys.exec_prefix+"/lib/python"+sys.version[:3]+"/config"},
and shared library modules are installed in
\code{sys.exec_prefix+"/lib/python"+sys.version[:3]+"/sharedmodules"}.
On non-Unix systems, these variables are meaningless.
\item
You can now discover from which file (if any) a module was loaded by
inspecting its \code{__file__} attribute. This attribute is not
present for built-in or frozen modules. It points to the shared
library file for dynamically loaded modules. (Buglet: this may be a
relative path and is stored in the \code{.pyc} file on compilation.
If you manipulate the current directory with \code{os.chdir()} or move
\code{.pyc} files around, the value may be incorrect.)
\item
While sites are strongly discouraged from modifying the standard
Python library (e.g. by adding site-specific modules or functions),
there is now a standard way to invoke site-specific features. The
standard module \code{site}, when imported, appends two site-specific
directories to the end of \code{sys.path}:
\code{\$prefix/lib/site-python} and
\code{\$exec_prefix/lib/site-python}, where \code{\$prefix} and
\code{\$exec_prefix} are the directories \code{sys.prefix} and
\code{sys.exec_prefix} mentioned above.
\item
XXX
\end{itemize}

View File

@ -249,18 +249,20 @@ statement.
\subsection{The Module Search Path}
When a module named {\tt spam} is imported, the interpreter searches
for a file named {\tt spam.py} in the list of directories specified by
the environment variable {\tt PYTHONPATH}. It has the same syntax as
for a file named {\tt spam.py} in the current directory,
and then in the list of directories specified by
the environment variable {\tt PYTHONPATH}. This has the same syntax as
the {\UNIX} shell variable {\tt PATH}, i.e., a list of colon-separated
directory names. When {\tt PYTHONPATH} is not set, or when the file
is not found there, the search continues in an installation-dependent
default path, usually {\tt .:/usr/local/lib/python}.
Actually, modules are searched in the list of directories given by the
variable {\tt sys.path} which is initialized from {\tt PYTHONPATH} and
the installation-dependent default. This allows Python programs that
know what they're doing to modify or replace the module search path.
See the section on Standard Modules later.
variable {\tt sys.path} which is initialized from the directory
containing the input script (or the current directory), {\tt
PYTHONPATH} and the installation-dependent default. This allows
Python programs that know what they're doing to modify or replace the
module search path. See the section on Standard Modules later.
\subsection{``Compiled'' Python files}
@ -272,13 +274,15 @@ modification time of the version of {\tt spam.py} used to create {\tt
spam.pyc} is recorded in {\tt spam.pyc}, and the file is ignored if
these don't match.
Normally, you don't need to do anything to create the {\tt spam.pyc} file.
Whenever {\tt spam.py} is successfully compiled, an attempt is made to
write the compiled version to {\tt spam.pyc}. It is not an error if
this attempt fails; if for any reason the file is not written
completely, the resulting {\tt spam.pyc} file will be recognized as
invalid and thus ignored later. The contents of the {\tt spam.pyc}
file is platform independent, so a Python module directory can be
shared by machines of different architectures.
shared by machines of different architectures. (Tip for experts:
the module {\tt compileall} creates {\tt .pyc} files for all modules.)
\subsection{Executable Python scripts}
@ -3867,24 +3871,45 @@ notice them anyway :-)
\chapter{New in Release 1.4}
This chapter describes additions to the Python language and library in
version 1.4.
This chapter describes the major additions to the Python language and
library in version 1.4. Many minor changes are not listed here;
it is recommended to read the file \code{Misc/NEWS} in the Python
source distribution for a complete listing of all changes, however
small.
\begin{itemize}
\item
Power operator. \code{x**y} is equivalent to \code{pow(x, y)}.
This operator binds more tightly than \code{*}, \code{/} or \code{\%},
and binds from right to left when repeated or combined with unary
operators. For example, \code{x**y**z} is equivalent to
\code{x**(y**z)}, and \code{-x**y} is \code{-(x**y)}.
\item
Complex numbers. Imaginary literals are writen with a \code{'j'}
suffix (\code{'J'} is allowed for consistency.) Complex numbers with
a nonzero real component are written as
\code{(\var{real}+\var{imag}j)}. The usual arithmetic operators on
complex numbers are supported, so that e.g. \code{1j**2} equals
\code{-1.0}. Module \code{cmath} provides versions of all math
functions that take complex arguments and return complex results.
(Module \code{math} only supports real numbers, so that
\code{math.sqrt(-1)} still raises a \code{ValueError} exception.)
suffix (\code{'J'} is allowed as well.) Complex numbers with a nonzero
real component are written as \code{(\var{real}+\var{imag}j)}. You
can also use the new built-in function \code{complex()} which takes
one or two arguments: \code{complex(x)} is equivalent to \code{x +
0j}, and \code{complex(x, y)} is \code{x + y*0j}.
The usual arithmetic operators on complex numbers are supported, so
that e.g. \code{1j**2} equals \code{complex(-1.0)}.
To extract the real and imaginary part from a complex number \code{z},
use \code{z.real} and \code{z.imag}. The conversion functions to
floating point and integer (\code{float()}, \code{int()} and
\code{long()}) don't work for complex numbers -- there is no one
obvious way to convert a complex number to a real number. Use
\code{abs(z)} to get its magnitude (as a float) or \code{z.real} to
get its real part.
Module \code{cmath} provides versions of all math functions that take
complex arguments and return complex results. (Module \code{math}
only supports real numbers, so that \code{math.sqrt(-1)} still raises
a \code{ValueError} exception. Numerical experts agree that this is
the way it shold be.)
\item
New indexing syntax. It is now possible to use a tuple as an indexing
@ -3893,7 +3918,7 @@ e.g. \code{x[1, 2, 3]}.
\item
New slicing syntax. In support of the Numerical Python extension
(distributed separately), slice indices of the form
(distributed independently), slice indices of the form
\code{x[lo:hi:stride]} are possible, multiple slice indices separated by
commas are allowed, and an index position may be replaced by ellipses,
as follows: \code{x[a, ..., z]}. There's also a new built-in function
@ -3903,8 +3928,185 @@ syntax. None of the standard sequence types support indexing with
slice objects or ellipses yet. Note that when any of these extensions
are used, the mapping interface for indexing will be used.
When a user-defined class instance is sliced using this extended slice
notation, its \code{__getitem__} method is invoked -- the
\code{__getslice__} method is only invoked when a single old-style
slice is used, i.e. \code{x[lo:hi]}, with possible omission or
\code{lo} and/or \code{hi}. Some examples:
\begin{verbatim}
x[1:2:-3] --> slice(1, 2, -3)
x[-1:2:] --> slice(-1, 2, None)
x[::] --> slice(None, None, None)
x[1, 2:3] --> (1, slice(2, 3, None))
x[1:2, 3:4] --> (slice(1, 2, None), slice(3, 4, None))
x[1:2, ..., 3:4] --> (slice(1, 2, None), Ellipses, slice(3, 4, None))
\end{verbatim}
For more help with this you are referred to the matrix-sig.
\item
XXX More!!!
The \code{access} statement is now truly gone; \code{access} is no
longer a reserved word. This saves a few cycles here and there.
\item
There is now limited support for class-private identifiers. Any
identifier of the form \code{__spam} (two leading underscores, no two
trailing underscores) is now textually replaced with
\code{_classname__spam}, where \code{classname} is the current class
name with leading underscore(s) stripped. This munging is done
without regard of the syntactic position of the identifier, so it can
be used to define class-private instance and class variables, methods,
as well as globals, and even class-private instance variables on
instances of {\em other} classes. Truncation may occur when the
munged name would be longer than 255 characters. Outside classes, no
munging occurs.
Name munging is mostly intended to give classes an easy way to define
``private'' instance variables and methods, without having to worry
about instance variables defined by derived classes, or mucking with
instance variables by code outside the class. Note that the munging
rules are designed mostly to avoid accidents; it still is possible for
a ``determined soul'' to access or modify a variable that's considered
private. This can even be useful, e.g. for the debugger, and that's
one reason why this loophole is not closed. (Buglet: accidental
derivation of a class with the same name as the base class makes
accidental use of private variables of the base class possible.)
Notice that code passed to \code{exec}, \code{eval()} or
\code{evalfile()} does not consider the classname of the invoking
class to be the current class; this is similar to the effect of the
\code{global} statement, the effect of which is likewise restricted to
code that is byte-compiled together.
\item
Syntax errors detected by the code generation phase of the Python
bytecode compiler now include a line number. The line number is
appended in parentheses. It is suppressed if the error occurs
in line 1 (this usually happens in interactive use).
\item
Unrecognized keyword arguments now raise a \code{TypeError} exception
rather than \code{KeyError}.
\item
A warning is written to sys.stderr when a \code{__del__} method raises
an exception. Formerly, such exceptions were completely ignored.
The new behavior, while needed in order to debug failing
\code{__del__} methods, is occasionally annoying, because if affects
the program's standard error stream. It honors assignments to
\code{sys.stderr}, so it can be redirected from within a program if
desired.
\item
New built-in function \code{list()} converts any sequence to a new list.
Note that when the argument is a list, the return value is a fresh
copy, similar to what would be returned by \code{a[:]}.
\item
New built-in module \code{operator}. XXX
\item
New built-in module \code{errno}. XXX
\item
Rewritten \code{cgi} module. XXX
\item
Improved restricted execution module (\code{rexec}). New module
\code{Bastion}. XXX
\item
New string operations: lstrip(), rstrip(), capitalize(), capwords(),
translate(), maketrans(); extended string operation: split(s, sep,
maxsep). XXX
\item
New regsub operations: capwords(), splitx(), and split(s, sep, maxsep).
XXX
\item
Module files pdb.py and profile.py can now be invoked as scripts to
debug c.q. profile other scripts easily.
\item
The \code{os} module now supports the \code{putenv()} function on
systems where it is provided in the C library (Windows NT and most
Unix versions). The call \code{os.putenv('PATH', '/bin:/usr/bin')}
sets the environment variable \code{PATH} to the string
\code{'/bin:/usr/bin'}. Such changes to the environment affect
subprocesses started with \code{os.system()}, \code{os.popen()} or
\code{os.fork()} and \code{os.execv()}. When \code{putenv()} is
supported, assignments to items in \code{os.environ} are automatically
translated into corresponding calls to \code{os.putenv()}; however,
calls to \code{os.putenv()} don't update \code{os.environ}, so it is
actually preferable to assign to items of \code{os.environ}. For this
purpose, the type of \code{os.environ} is changed to a subclass of
\code{UserDict.UserDict} when \code{os.putenv()} is supported.
(Buglet: \code{os.execve()} still requires a real dictionary.)
\item
New functions in the os module: mkfifo, plock, remove (== unlink),
and ftruncate. More functions are also available under NT. XXX
\item
New function in the fcntl module: flock. XXX
\item
The first item of the module search path, \code{sys.path}, is the
directory containing the script that was used to invoke the Python
interpreter. If the script directory is not available (e.g. if the
interpreter is invoked interactively or if the script is read from
standard input), \code{sys.path[0]} is the empty string, which directs
Python to search modules in the current directory first. Notice that
the script directory is inserted {\em before} the entries inserted as
a result of \code{\$PYTHONPATH}. There is no longer an entry for the
current directory later in the path (unless explicitly set by
\code{\$PYTHONPATH}).
\item
Some more configuration information is now available to Python
programs. The variable \code{sys.prefix} gives the site-specific
directory prefix where the platform independent Python files are
installed; by default, this is the string \code{"/usr/local"}. The
main collection of Python library modules is installed in the
directory \code{sys.prefix+"/lib/python"+sys.version[:3]} while the
platform independent header files (all except \code{config.h}) are
stored in \code{sys.prefix+"/include/python"+sys.version[:3]}.
Similarly, the variable \code{sys.exec_prefix} gives the site-specific
directory prefix where the platform {\em de}pendent Python files are
installed; by default, this is also \code{"/usr/local"}.
Specifically, all configuration files (e.g. the \code{config.h}
header file) are installed in the directory
\code{sys.exec_prefix+"/lib/python"+sys.version[:3]+"/config"},
and shared library modules are installed in
\code{sys.exec_prefix+"/lib/python"+sys.version[:3]+"/sharedmodules"}.
On non-Unix systems, these variables are meaningless.
\item
You can now discover from which file (if any) a module was loaded by
inspecting its \code{__file__} attribute. This attribute is not
present for built-in or frozen modules. It points to the shared
library file for dynamically loaded modules. (Buglet: this may be a
relative path and is stored in the \code{.pyc} file on compilation.
If you manipulate the current directory with \code{os.chdir()} or move
\code{.pyc} files around, the value may be incorrect.)
\item
While sites are strongly discouraged from modifying the standard
Python library (e.g. by adding site-specific modules or functions),
there is now a standard way to invoke site-specific features. The
standard module \code{site}, when imported, appends two site-specific
directories to the end of \code{sys.path}:
\code{\$prefix/lib/site-python} and
\code{\$exec_prefix/lib/site-python}, where \code{\$prefix} and
\code{\$exec_prefix} are the directories \code{sys.prefix} and
\code{sys.exec_prefix} mentioned above.
\item
XXX
\end{itemize}