Python 2.1 for RISC OS

[Dietmar Schwertberger]

============================================================================
  Python 2.1 for RISC OS release 2001-05-05
============================================================================


I'm pleased to announce that binaries of Python 2.1 for RISC OS are
available from http://www.schwertberger.de .

If you don't know the Python programming language, you may have
a look at the Executive Summary below or at http://www.python.org/ .


RISC OS Python includes the following highlights:

  * An integrated interface to the SWI system
  * Drawfile support
  * Interfaces to the RISC OS WIMP and toolbox (with examples)
  * Numeric and plotting packages


For use of Python you will need a filing system with long filename and >77
files/directory support.




What is Python?  Executive Summary
==================================

Python is an interpreted, object-oriented, high-level programming
language with dynamic semantics.  Its high-level built in data
structures, combined with dynamic typing and dynamic binding, make it
very attractive for rapid application development, as well as for use
as a scripting or glue language to connect existing components
together.  Python's simple, easy to learn syntax emphasizes
readability and therefore reduces the cost of program maintenance.
Python supports modules and packages, which encourages program
modularity and code reuse.  The Python interpreter and the extensive
standard library are available in source or binary form without charge
for all major platforms, and can be freely distributed.

Often, programmers fall in love with Python because of the increased
productivity it provides.  Since there is no compilation step, the
edit-test-debug cycle is incredibly fast. Debugging Python programs is
easy: a bug or bad input will never cause a segmentation fault.
Instead, when the interpreter discovers an error, it raises an
exception.  When the program doesn't catch the exception, the
interpreter prints a stack trace. A source level debugger allows
inspection of local and global variables, evaluation of arbitrary
expressions, setting breakpoints, stepping through the code a line at
a time, and so on. The debugger is written in Python itself,
testifying to Python's introspective power. On the other hand, often
the quickest way to debug a program is to add a few print statements
to the source: the fast edit-test-debug cycle makes this simple
approach very effective.




Who & Thanks
============

Thanks to Chris T. Stretch, Laurence Tratt, James Bursa, Andrew Clover and
Simon Callan for porting and maintaining previous versions of RISC OS Python,
contributing code and working on the future (32bit, RM version) for RISC OS
Python...
Thanks to Guido v. Rossum and Martin v. Loewis for merging the RISC OS
patches with the standard Python source tree (and of course special thanks
to Guido for creating Python).




Bug reports etc.
================

RISC OS specific bug reports, contributions, comments, critics, links to
RISC OS compatible Python libraries to dietmar@schwertberger.de