cpython/Misc/NEWS

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==> Release 1.1 (6 Oct 1994) <==
================================
This release adds several new features, improved configuration and
portability, and more fixed 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>