[Edu-sig] [ANNC] pybotwar-0.8

[Lee Harr]

pybotwar is a fun and educational game where players
write computer programs to control simulated robots.

http://pybotwar.googlecode.com/


The focus of this release is making all functionality
available from the PyQt interface and making PyQt
the default interface.

pybotwar uses pybox2d for the physical simulation.
It can be run in text-only mode -- useful for longer
tournaments -- or use pyqt or pygame for a graphical
interface and visualization of the action.

pybotwar is released under GPLv3.


Changes in pybotwar-0.8:
    - pybox2d-2.0.2b2 is now the required version

    API
    - Robot.turret() now takes turret speed instead of angle
    - PING sensor now differentiates own bullets from enemy bullets
    - PING differentiates dead robots when remove_dead_robots=False
    - made internal Robot state variables less likely to conflict with user code

    Settings
    - added "robots dir" setting to make it easier to run pybotwar
        from an installed copy, rather than from the unpacked folder
        - logs, lineups, and db all go in robots dir
        - robot modules are now loaded by full path
    - If using Qt settings, remembers most recently used set of robots

    PyQt4 Interface
    - PyQt4 view mode is now the default
        - (text mode and pygame/pygsear still available)
    - all settings are available from PyQt interface
    - remembers most recently used set of robots
    - added debug window showing sensor values, commands, and logs
    - can now start tournaments (and multiple battles) from pyqt
    - can also start tournaments to run in background
    - editor automatically adds .py to robot filename if needed

    Other changes
    - made template.py a valid robot program
    - single battles are now run as 1-battle tournaments
    - renamed kill stat to outlasted
    - started tracking kills as dealing final damage to other robot
    - commandline can now take a list of robots to load
    - added "Super Tournaments"
        - runs tournaments with all possible combinations of robots

    Fixes:
    - made POSition sensor scale same as PING sensor
    - fixed editor backspace between left edge and start of text
    - fixed inability to re-open file once its window was closed
    - fixed crash when cancelling file-open dialog
    - limited motor speed on turret
    - log messages in testmode when using qt4 view
    - fall back to :memory: database if unable to open db file