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Python 2.3b2 is the second beta release of Python 2.3. There have be a slew of fixes since the first beta, and a few new "features". Our goal is to have a final Python 2.3 release by early August, so we encourage lots of testing for this beta. Highlights since beta 1 include: - IDLEfork has been merged in and now replaces the old IDLE. - The Windows installer now ships with Tcl/Tk 8.4.3. - list.index() has grown optional `start' and `end' arguments. - A new C-only API function PyThreadState_SetAsyncExc() which can be used to interrupt threads by sending them exceptions. - Python programs can enter the interactive prompt at program exit by setting the PYTHONINSPECT environment variable. - Many new doctest improvements, including the ability to write doctest based unit tests. - New and improved documentation for writing new types in C that participate in cyclic garbage collection. There is at least one known bug: we have seen crashes on both Windows and Linux with certain interactions between test_logging and test_bsddb3. We intend to fix this for the next release. For more highlights, see http://www.python.org/2.3/highlights.html Other new stuff since Python 2.2: - Many new and improved library modules, e.g. sets, heapq, datetime, textwrap, optparse, logging, bsddb, bz2, tarfile, ossaudiodev, and a new random number generator based on the highly acclaimed Mersenne Twister algorithm (with a period of 2**19937-1!). - New builtin enumerate(): an iterator yielding (index, item) pairs. - Extended slices, e.g. "hello"[::-1] returns "olleh". - Universal newlines mode for reading files (converts \r, \n and \r\n all into \n). - Source code encoding declarations. (PEP 263) - Import from zip files. (PEP 273 and PEP 302) - FutureWarning issued for "unsigned" operations on ints. (PEP 237) - Faster list.sort() is now stable. - Unicode filenames on Windows. - Karatsuba long multiplication (running time O(N**1.58) instead of O(N**2)). If you have an important Python application, we strongly recommend that you try it out with a beta release and report any incompatibilities or other problems you may encounter, so that they can be fixed before the final release. To report problems, use the SourceForge bug tracker: http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=5470&atid=105470 Enjoy, -Barry
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Thanks, Barry, for getting a release out on a Sunday, while I was still recovering from a week of Belgian food, beer and hacking. And thanks also to Tim, Fred, Jeremy, Neil, and all others who helped getting this release out. Looking over the list of highlights it's clear that 2.3 is focusing on stability. I hope that we can limit trunk checkins to bugfixes only between now and the final release of 2.3. I can now mention why I suddenly wanted to accelerate 2.3's schedule. At EuroPython I was cornered by the key Macpython developers with exciting news: Apple's next release of Mac OSX, code-named Panther, uses Python and Apple is planning to include Python 2.3 in that release. (Apple already ships Mac OSX with Python 2.2 included in the developer tools, but Panther will actually use Python for some essential functionality.) Apple's schedule is such that August 1st is about the latest release date for Python 2.3 that will make this possible. I appreciate everybody's help with keeping this schedule! --Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)
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Guido van Rossum wrote:
Thanks, Barry, for getting a release out on a Sunday, while I was still recovering from a week of Belgian food, beer and hacking.
What was Belgian hacking like? ;-)
And thanks also to Tim, Fred, Jeremy, Neil, and all others who helped getting this release out.
And thank *you* for adding the thread interruption C API we discussed at EuroPython. Although I was looking forward to working with Alex on it, I sure could use a Python-free evening when I got back; I'm sure Alex felt the same way...
(Apple already ships Mac OSX with Python 2.2 included in the developer tools,
(Nit: Python 2.2 is actually in the plain OSX 10.2 release, not in the dev tools. In other words, *any* 10.2 user has Python installed.) Just
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Tests to test for fixed bugs are always okay, of course. I would be conservative in rewriting tests -- only do this if it's easy to see that the new test is equivalent to the old test.
All I know is that it has to do with PDF generation workflow. --Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)
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If more test development can potentially expose bugs, then that is a plus, but let's avoid creating suites that are their own can of worms (like test_logging). Also, new tests should continue to go in for each bugfix (to make sure it works for everyone and stays working). Raymond Hettinger
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In article <200306301358.h5UDwWk25149@odiug.zope.com>, Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> wrote:
Wonderful news! I am excited that you're willing to try to get 2.3 out in time for Panther. Python 2.3 is a tremendous improvement over the unix Python 2.2. included with macOS X 10.2. \r line endings in source code OK, framework build, plays well with Tkinter and wxPython, included IDE...frabjous day! -- Russell
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Thanks, Barry, for getting a release out on a Sunday, while I was still recovering from a week of Belgian food, beer and hacking. And thanks also to Tim, Fred, Jeremy, Neil, and all others who helped getting this release out. Looking over the list of highlights it's clear that 2.3 is focusing on stability. I hope that we can limit trunk checkins to bugfixes only between now and the final release of 2.3. I can now mention why I suddenly wanted to accelerate 2.3's schedule. At EuroPython I was cornered by the key Macpython developers with exciting news: Apple's next release of Mac OSX, code-named Panther, uses Python and Apple is planning to include Python 2.3 in that release. (Apple already ships Mac OSX with Python 2.2 included in the developer tools, but Panther will actually use Python for some essential functionality.) Apple's schedule is such that August 1st is about the latest release date for Python 2.3 that will make this possible. I appreciate everybody's help with keeping this schedule! --Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)
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Guido van Rossum wrote:
Thanks, Barry, for getting a release out on a Sunday, while I was still recovering from a week of Belgian food, beer and hacking.
What was Belgian hacking like? ;-)
And thanks also to Tim, Fred, Jeremy, Neil, and all others who helped getting this release out.
And thank *you* for adding the thread interruption C API we discussed at EuroPython. Although I was looking forward to working with Alex on it, I sure could use a Python-free evening when I got back; I'm sure Alex felt the same way...
(Apple already ships Mac OSX with Python 2.2 included in the developer tools,
(Nit: Python 2.2 is actually in the plain OSX 10.2 release, not in the dev tools. In other words, *any* 10.2 user has Python installed.) Just
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Tests to test for fixed bugs are always okay, of course. I would be conservative in rewriting tests -- only do this if it's easy to see that the new test is equivalent to the old test.
All I know is that it has to do with PDF generation workflow. --Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)
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If more test development can potentially expose bugs, then that is a plus, but let's avoid creating suites that are their own can of worms (like test_logging). Also, new tests should continue to go in for each bugfix (to make sure it works for everyone and stays working). Raymond Hettinger
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In article <200306301358.h5UDwWk25149@odiug.zope.com>, Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> wrote:
Wonderful news! I am excited that you're willing to try to get 2.3 out in time for Panther. Python 2.3 is a tremendous improvement over the unix Python 2.2. included with macOS X 10.2. \r line endings in source code OK, framework build, plays well with Tkinter and wxPython, included IDE...frabjous day! -- Russell
participants (6)
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Barry Warsaw
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Guido van Rossum
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Just van Rossum
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Raymond Hettinger
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Russell E. Owen
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Walter Dörwald