[slang-users] slang 2.1.0 released

["John E. Davis" <davis@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Version 2.1.0 of the slang library is now available.  See
<http://www.jedsoft.org/slang/download.html> for downloading options.
It may take a day or so for the mirror sites to pick up the latest
version.  The relevant MD5 sums are:

  65d79b966e60e9b3cf9249a678f4c9d7  2.0.7__2.1.0.diff.bz2
  f3ceadfa533530de9ce3121c1903f832  2.0.7__2.1.0.diff.bz2.sig
  659be912427adba3649da7edd79853fe  2.0.7__2.1.0.diff.gz
  02379ea006faf1e17629421618076063  2.0.7__2.1.0.diff.gz.sig
  dd390256bf7e3b47c03248ea71993c34  changes.txt
  eecc51a998467c22dc17e95859b343f9  changes.txt.sig
  f542820c19c0cfb815b46bcd7b1784f2  slang-2.1.0.tar.bz2
  1292f73054f64fa24b2bc76e87a46fed  slang-2.1.0.tar.bz2.sig
  451f341b271a81bf9027031b4cfd2acf  slang-2.1.0.tar.gz
  bfd89a4363145c9e51aa0d8b4a387e45  slang-2.1.0.tar.gz.sig

This version contains a number of significant new features-- see below
for what's new.  Version 2.1.0 is binary compatible with previous
slang-2 versions.

Enjoy.
--John

NEWS for version 2.1

Building the library
====================

   `make install' installs the shared version of the library.
   Previously `make install' installed just the static version and a
   separate step (`make install-elf') was required to install the
   shared version.  Now, `make install-static' is necessary to install
   the static one.

Interpreter News
=================

Syntax enhancements:
--------------------

   1.  Short circuiting boolean operators:
   
           if ((x == y) || (y == 3) && (x != 4)) ...

       (orelse and andelse are deprecated)
       
   2.  Structure definitions allow embdedded assignment expressions:
   
           s = struct {x = 3, name="foo", a = [1:10]};

   3.  Qualifiers (aka "keywords") added to the language:
   
           save_file ("foo.c"; overwrite=1);
	   plot_points ([1:10], sin([1:10]); color="red", style="solid");

   3.  Expressions such as (a < b < c) now interpreted to mean
       (a<b)and(b<c).

   4.  New keywords: ifnot, then
   
       ifnot may be used instead of !if, which has been deprecated.
       For "then" see the next item.

   5.  Looping constructs support a "then" clause that will get
       executed if the loop runs to completion, e.g.,
       
           loop (20)
	    {
	       if (this ())
	         break;  % The then clause will NOT get executed
	    }
	   then do_that ();
	   
   6.  A floating point array of exactly N elements may be created
       using the form [a:b:#N], where the elements are uniformly
       spaced and run from a to b, inclusive.
       
   7.  References to array elements and structure fields are
       supported, e.g., &A[3], &s.foo.
       
   8.  An exception may be rethrown by calling "throw" without any
       arguments:
       
           try { something (); }
	   catch AnyError: { do_this (); throw; }

New Intrinsic Functions:
------------------------

   wherenot(x) :
              Equivalent to where (not(x))

   _$(str) :
              Evaluates strings with embedded "dollar" variables, e.g.,
              _$("$TERM");

   __push_list/__pop_list :
              Push list items onto the stack

   prod(x) :
              Computes the product of an array a[0]*a[1]*...

   minabs(x), maxabs(x):
              Equivalent to min(abs(x)) and max(abs(x))
	      
   getpgrp,setgid, getpgid:
              Get and set the process group (Unix)
   setsid  :
              Create a new session


API News
========

  Although not new I feel that this point should be stressed now
  because it was not emphasized earlier:  The SLarray_* functions that
  deal with indices or sizes use `SLindex_Type' instead of `int'.
  Currently, `SLindex_Type' is typedefed to be an `int', but this will
  change in a future version.  So for future compatibility, use
  `SLindex_Type' instead of `int' in functions that deal with slang
  arrays.  See the array-specific examples in the documentation for
  more information.

  There have been significant enhancements to the slang readline
  interface.  The interface has been opened up to the interpreter
  allowing for such features as completion and a persistent history
  mechanism.  Applications wishing to take advantage of these features
  should use the new function `SLrline_open2' instead of
  `SLrline_open'.  For an example, see how this function is used in
  slsh/src/readline.c.

  SLclass_patch_intrin_fun_table was added to facilitiate the patching
  of intrinsic tables during runtime.  If you have created dynamically
  loaded modules, then you may have a good idea what this function is
  for.

  The SLang_Traceback variable is now interpreted as a bitmapped
  integer providing greater flexibility and control over traceback
  messages.
  
  SLerr_throw was added to permit applications to mimic the semantics
  of the `throw' statement.
  
  SLang_verror_va was added to support calling the error routines with
  a va_list argument.


slsh enhancements
=================

  When configured to use slang's readline routines, new features
  include filename completion and persistent history.
  
  The profiler was rewritten to be much more friendly, flexible, and
  more accurate.
  
  struct_filter and struct_combine defined in structfuns.sl have been
  made more flxible.  See their documentation for more information.
  
  A command-line parsing interface was added.  See the documentaton
  for cmdopt_new for more information.
  
New modules
===========

  The following modules have been added:
   
      iconv:  Performs character-set conversion using the iconv library.
      onig:   A regular expression module using oniguruma RE library.