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RELEASED - Python 2.2 final

John Bell jbell at iinet.net.au
Fri Dec 21 17:15:54 EST 2001 
Great!  Will the RPM's be released pre Xmas too?

John Bell

Guido van Rossum wrote:

> On December 21, just in time to be placed under the Christmas tree,
> we're issuing the final release of Python 2.2.  We're proud of this
> release, and expect that you'll like it.  Please check it out here:
>
>     http://www.python.org/2.2/
>
> Our thanks to everyone who helped test Python 2.2 during the alpha,
> beta and release candidate phases, and to everyone who contributed
> patches, feedback, and suggestions!  Please continue to report any
> bugs you find to the bug tracker:
>
>     http://sourceforge.net/bugs/?group_id=5470
>
> Highlights of what's new for this release are outlined below.  For a
> more complete list, please see:
>
>     http://sf.net/project/shownotes.php?release_id=??????
>
> What's new since 2.1
> --------------------
>
> In brief (for PEPs, see http://www.python.org/peps/):
>
> - type/class unification (PEP 252 and 253)
> - iterators (PEP 234) and generators (PEP 255)
> - nested scopes standard (PEP 227)
> - int overflows return longs (PEP 237)
> - new operator // to future-proof int division (PEP 238)
>
> Andrew Kuchling has written a gentle introduction to the most important
> changes, titled "What's New in Python 2.2":
>
>   http://www.amk.ca/python/2.2/
>
> A thorough introduction to the type/class unification is at:
>
>   http://www.python.org/2.2/descrintro.html
>
> Status of the type/class unification
> ------------------------------------
>
> With a set of changes as large as this, it's unavoidable that after
> the release we'll find that there are certain things that would work
> better if we did them a little differently.  Also, it is clear that
> some of the new features (e.g. class and static methods, properties,
> super, and slots, to mention a few) could use additional syntactic
> sugar to make their use easier and more intuitive.
>
> This will almost certainly require us to make changes in future
> releases.  However, with the release of these features as part of the
> Python 2.2 release, we are committed to the same standard of
> release-to-release compatibility that we have used in the past, as
> explained in PEP 5.
>
> When we feel the need to change things, we'll use the PEP system to
> propose changes, and we'll provide warnings and backwards compatiblity
> for at least a year -- or more in cases where a year is deemed too
> short by the user community.
>
> In the meantime, we'll work on completing the documentation for these
> features (both in Python and in the C API) as they are found in Python
> 2.2.  This documentation will clarify the status of individual
> features.
>
> What's new since 2.2c1
> ----------------------
>
> (Adapted from the Misc/NEWS file.)
>
> Type/class unification and new-style classes
>
> - pickle.py, cPickle: allow pickling instances of new-style classes
>   with a custom metaclass.
>
> Core and builtins
>
> - weakref proxy object: when comparing, unwrap both arguments if both
>   are proxies.
>
> Extension modules
>
> - binascii.b2a_base64(): fix a potential buffer overrun when encoding
>   very short strings.
>
> - cPickle: the obscure "fast" mode caused stack overflows on the Mac.
>   We fixed this by setting the recursion limit much smaller.  If the
>   limit is too low (it only affects performance), you can change it by
>   defining PY_CPICKLE_FAST_LIMIT when compiling cPickle.c (or in
>   pyconfig.h).
>
> Library
>
> - dumbdbm.py: fixed a dumb old bug (the file didn't get synched at
>   close or delete time).
>
> - rfc822.py: fixed a bug where the address '<>' was converted to None
>   instead of an empty string (also fixes the email.Utils module).
>
> - xmlrpclib.py: version 1.0.0; uses precision for doubles.
>
> - test suite: the pickle and cPickle tests were not executing any code
>   when run from the standard regresssion test.
>
> Windows
>
> - distutils package: fixed broken Windows installers (bdist_wininst).
>
> - tempfile.py: prevent mysterious warnings when TemporaryFileWrapper
>   instances are deleted at process exit time.
>
> - socket.py: prevent mysterious warnings when socket instances are
>   deleted at process exit time.
>
> - posixmodule.c: fix a Windows crash with stat() of a filename ending
>   in backslash.
>
> Mac
>
> - The Carbon toolbox modules have been upgraded to Universal Headers
>   3.4, and experimental CoreGraphics and CarbonEvents modules have
>   been added.  All only for framework-enabled MacOSX.
>
> --Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~gu
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