[Idle-dev] Updates to the IDLE Dev Guide

[Kevin Walzer]

On 5/9/15 1:56 PM, Terry Reedy wrote:
> Kevin, it looks like tcl.tk only distributes 8.5 and 8.6.  How long 
> has it been since 8.4 was distributed?  I am wondering how long 
> tkinter should keep code for pre 8.5.

8.4 was EOL'ed a year or two ago. The last release was (I think) 8.4.20.
>
> Also, does 8.6.4 have any new features versus 8.6.0, or just bug 
> fixes, as with Python? 

In terms of language design, no new features (an object system and 
coroutines were major features with 8.6.0 in Tcl). The Windows and X11 
versions of Tk have had minor updates  /  bug fixes only, I believe.

Because it has never been very stable, the Mac port of Tk has remained 
under heavy development even with minor point releases (Marc Culler, 
developer of the Python scientific visualizer SnapPy, has contributed 
many patches, and I have also done a lot of work). It remains based on 
Cocoa, but a lot of under-the-hood engineering has taken place to firm 
up the event loop and simplify drawing of widgets with a lower-level 
API. These changes will be present in 8.6.5, which I think will be the 
first truly stable version of Tk since it was ported to Cocoa.

--Kevin

-- 
Kevin Walzer
Code by Kevin/Mobile Code by Kevin
http://www.codebykevin.com
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