[Python-checkins] CVS: python/dist/src/Misc NEWS,1.135,1.136

[Guido van Rossum]

Update of /cvsroot/python/python/dist/src/Misc
In directory usw-pr-cvs1:/tmp/cvs-serv17393

Modified Files:
	NEWS 
Log Message:
Add some news for 2.1b2.  I'd still like someone else to add news
about these packages:

- distutils

- xml


Index: NEWS
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/python/python/dist/src/Misc/NEWS,v
retrieving revision 1.135
retrieving revision 1.136
diff -C2 -r1.135 -r1.136
*** NEWS	2001/03/21 08:01:39	1.135
--- NEWS	2001/03/22 14:17:21	1.136
***************
*** 2,12 ****
  ================================
  
  Core language, builtins, and interpreter
  
  Standard library
  
! - A new module Tix was added, which wraps the Tix extension library for Tk.
!   With that module, it is not necessary to statically link Tix with _tkinter,
!   since Tix will be loaded with Tcl's "package require" command.
  
  What's New in Python 2.1 beta 1?
--- 2,64 ----
  ================================
  
+ (Unlisted are many fixed bugs, more documentation, etc.)
+ 
  Core language, builtins, and interpreter
  
+ - The nested scopes work (enabled by "from __future__ import
+   nested_scopes") is completed; in particular, the future now extends
+   into code executed through exec, eval() and execfile(), and into the
+   interactive interpreter.
+ 
+ - When calling a base class method (e.g. BaseClass.__init__(self)),
+   this is now allowed even if self is not strictly spoken a class
+   instance (e.g. when using metaclasses or the Don Beaudry hook).
+ 
+ - Slice objects are now comparable but not hashable; this prevents
+   dict[:] from being accepted but meaningless.
+ 
+ - Complex division is now calculated using less braindead algorithms.
+   This doesn't change semantics except it's more likely to give useful
+   results in extreme cases.  Complex repr() now uses full precision
+   like float repr().
+ 
+ - sgmllib.py now calls handle_decl() for simple <!...> declarations.
+ 
  Standard library
+ 
+ - unittest.py, a unit testing framework by Steve Purcell (PyUNIT,
+   inspired by JUnit), is now part of the standard library.  You now
+   have a choice of two testing frameworks: unittest requires you to
+   write testcases as separate code, doctest gathers them from
+   docstrings.  Both approaches have their advantages and
+   disadvantages.
+ 
+ - A new module Tix was added, which wraps the Tix extension library
+   for Tk.  With that module, it is not necessary to statically link
+   Tix with _tkinter, since Tix will be loaded with Tcl's "package
+   require" command.  See Demo/tix/.
+ 
+ - tzparse.py is now obsolete.
+ 
+ - In gzip.py, the seek() and tell() methods are removed -- they were
+   non-functional anyway, and it's better if callers can test for their
+   existence with hasattr().
+ 
+ Python/C API
+ 
+ - PyDict_Next(): it is now safe to call PyDict_SetItem() with a key
+   that's already in the dictionary during a PyDict_Next() iteration.
+   This used to fail occasionally when a dictionary resize operation
+   could be triggered that would rehash all the keys.  All other
+   modifications to the dictionary are still off-limits during a
+   PyDict_Next() iteration!
+ 
+ - New extended APIs related to passing compiler variables around.
+ 
+ - New abstract APIs PyObject_IsInstance(), PyObject_IsSubclass()
+   implement isinstance() and issubclass().
  
! - Py_BuildValue() now has a "D" conversion to create a Python complex
!   number from a Py_complex C value.
  
  What's New in Python 2.1 beta 1?