[ANN] IPython 0.8.0 is out

[Fernando Perez]

Hi all,

The IPython team is happy to release version 0.8.0, with a lot of new
enhancements, as well as many bug fixes.

We hope you all enjoy it, and please report any problems as usual.


WHAT is IPython?
----------------

1. An interactive shell superior to Python's default. IPython has many
features for object introspection, system shell access, and its own special
command system for adding functionality when working interactively.

2. An embeddable, ready to use interpreter for your own programs. IPython
can
be started with a single call from inside another program, providing access
to
the current namespace.

3. A flexible framework which can be used as the base environment for other
systems with Python as the underlying language.

4. A shell for interactive usage of threaded graphical toolkits. IPython has
support for interactive, non-blocking control of GTK, Qt and WX applications
via special threading flags. The normal Python shell can only do this for
Tkinter applications.


Where to get it
---------------

IPython's homepage is at:

http://ipython.scipy.org

and downloads are at:

http://ipython.scipy.org/dist

We've provided:

      - Source download (.tar.gz)
      - A Python Egg (http://peak.telecommunity.com/DevCenter/PythonEggs).
      - A python 2.4 RPM.
      - A native win32 installer.

The egg is 'light', as it doesn't include documentation and other ancillary
data.  If you want a full ipython installation, use the source tarball or
your
distribution's favorite system.

We note that IPython is now officially part of most major Linux and BSD
distributions, so packages for this version should be coming soon, as the
respective maintainers have the time to follow their packaging procedures.
Many thanks to the distribution packagers for their work, which helps users
get
IPython more conveniently.

Thanks to all the users who contributed bug reports, ideas and especially
patches.  The ChangeLog has hopefully detailed acknowledgements, but please
let
us know if we've accidentally ommitted giving you due credit.

Many thanks to Enthought for their continued hosting support for IPython.


Release notes
-------------

As always, the full ChangeLog is at http://ipython.scipy.org/ChangeLog.  The
highlights of this release follow.  Also see the "What's New" page at

    http://ipython.scipy.org/moin/WhatsNew

 * Support for KeyboardInterrupt (Ctrl-C) when running in multithreaded mode
   with GUI support.  This had been a long-requested feature that we had
never
   quite been able to implement correctly.  Many thanks to Tomer Filiba's
for
   his ctypes-based trick: http://sebulba.wikispaces.com/recipe+thread2,
which
   we used (any implementation mistakes are our own and not his fault). 
Users
   of Python 2.4 should note that they need to install ctypes separately to
   access this feature; ctypes is part of Python 2.5 already.

 * Fully syntax-highlighted tracebacks and debugger listings.  IPython used
to
   color tracebacks, but only certain elements; now the source is actually
   highlighted by the same engine that handles '??' source listings, both in
   tracebacks and during interactive debugging.
   
 * Improved the ipipe system: http://ipython.scipy.org/moin/UsingIPipe,
   including a new WX-based graphical browser.

 * Much improved unicode support.  There may still be bugs remaining, but a
   number of known-incorrect cases have been fixed.

 * Make the execution of 'from pylab import *' when -pylab is given be
otional.
   A new flag (which can be set in your ipythonrc file), pylab_import_all
   controls this behavior, the default is True for backwards compatibility.
   
 * Extensions for perforce support via a new magic (%p4) and custom command
   completers.

 * Improved support for (X)Emacs under win32.

 * Several small fixes and improvements to the interactive demo module.

 * Add \N for the actual prompt number, without any coloring, as an escape
for
   customized prompt definitions.  This lets users write their own custom
   prompts with arbitrary coloring schemes.
 
 * Many more bugfixes and small features everywhere (the ChangeLog linked
above
   has the gory details).

   
API changes:

 * genutils.clock() now returns user+system time.  The new clocku/clocks
   functions return respectively user and system time only.


Enjoy, and as usual please report any problems.


The IPython team.