[Python-checkins] r58251 - python/trunk/Doc/whatsnew/2.6.rst
andrew.kuchling
python-checkins at python.org
Tue Sep 25 02:09:42 CEST 2007
Author: andrew.kuchling
Date: Tue Sep 25 02:09:42 2007
New Revision: 58251
Modified:
python/trunk/Doc/whatsnew/2.6.rst
Log:
Add various items
Modified: python/trunk/Doc/whatsnew/2.6.rst
==============================================================================
--- python/trunk/Doc/whatsnew/2.6.rst (original)
+++ python/trunk/Doc/whatsnew/2.6.rst Tue Sep 25 02:09:42 2007
@@ -75,7 +75,23 @@
.. % XXX add general comment about Python 3.0 features in 2.6
-.. % XXX mention -3 switch
+The development cycle for Python 2.6 also saw the release of the first
+alphas of Python 3.0, and the development of 3.0 has influenced
+a number of features in 2.6.
+
+Python 3.0 is a far-ranging redesign of Python that breaks
+compatibility with the 2.x series. This means that existing Python
+code will need a certain amount of conversion in order to run on
+Python 3.0. However, not all the changes in 3.0 necessarily break
+compatibility. In cases where new features won't cause existing code
+to break, they've been backported to 2.6 and are described in this
+document in the appropriate place. Some of the 3.0-derived features
+are:
+
+* A :meth:`__complex__` method for converting objects to a complex number.
+* Alternate syntax for catching exceptions: ``except TypeError as exc``.
+* The addition of :func:`functools.reduce` as a synonym for the built-in
+ :func:`reduce` function.
A new command-line switch, :option:`-3`, enables warnings
about features that will be removed in Python 3.0. You can run code
@@ -406,11 +422,6 @@
Here are all of the changes that Python 2.6 makes to the core Python language.
-* Changes to the :class:`Exception` interface
- as dictated by :pep:`352` continue to be made. For 2.6,
- the :attr:`message` attribute is being deprecated in favor of the
- :attr:`args` attribute.
-
* When calling a function using the ``**`` syntax to provide keyword
arguments, you are no longer required to use a Python dictionary;
any mapping will now work::
@@ -426,8 +437,29 @@
.. % Patch 1686487
+* The built-in types now have improved support for extended slicing syntax,
+ where various combinations of ``(start, stop, step)`` are supplied.
+ Previously, the support was partial and certain corner cases wouldn't work.
+ (Implemented by Thomas Wouters.)
+
+ .. % Revision 57619
+
+* C functions and methods that use
+ :cfunc:`PyComplex_AsCComplex` will now accept arguments that
+ have a :meth:`__complex__` method. In particular, the functions in the
+ :mod:`cmath` module will now accept objects with this method.
+ This is a backport of a Python 3.0 change.
+ (Contributed by Mark Dickinson.)
+
+ .. % Patch #1675423
+
+* Changes to the :class:`Exception` interface
+ as dictated by :pep:`352` continue to be made. For 2.6,
+ the :attr:`message` attribute is being deprecated in favor of the
+ :attr:`args` attribute.
+
* The :func:`compile` built-in function now accepts keyword arguments
- as well as positional parameters. (Contributed by XXX.)
+ as well as positional parameters. (Contributed by Thomas Wouters.)
.. % Patch 1444529
@@ -487,17 +519,32 @@
fieldnames)` is a factory function that creates subclasses of the standard tuple
whose fields are accessible by name as well as index. For example::
- var_type = collections.NamedTuple('variable',
- 'id name type size')
- var = var_type(1, 'frequency', 'int', 4)
-
- print var[0], var.id # Equivalent
- print var[2], var.type # Equivalent
+ >>> var_type = collections.NamedTuple('variable',
+ ... 'id name type size')
+ # Names are separated by spaces or commas.
+ # 'id, name, type, size' would also work.
+ >>> var_type.__fields__
+ ('id', 'name', 'type', 'size')
+
+ >>> var = var_type(1, 'frequency', 'int', 4)
+ >>> print var[0], var.id # Equivalent
+ 1 1
+ >>> print var[2], var.type # Equivalent
+ int int
+ >>> v2 = var.__replace__('name', 'amplitude')
+ >>> v2
+ variable(id=1, name='amplitude', type='int', size=4)
(Contributed by Raymond Hettinger.)
+* The :mod:`ctypes` module now supports a :class:`c_bool` datatype
+ that represents the C99 ``bool`` type. (Contributed by David Remahl.)
+
+ .. % Patch 1649190
+
* A new method in the :mod:`curses` module: for a window, :meth:`chgat` changes
- the display characters for a certain number of characters on a single line. ::
+ the display characters for a certain number of characters on a single line.
+ ::
# Boldface text starting at y=0,x=21
# and affecting the rest of the line.
@@ -505,11 +552,33 @@
(Contributed by Fabian Kreutz.)
+* The :mod:`decimal` module was updated to version 1.66 of
+ `the General Decimal Specification <http://www2.hursley.ibm.com/decimal/decarith.html>`__. New features
+ include some methods for some basic mathematical functions such as
+ :meth:`exp` and :meth:`log10`::
+
+ >>> Decimal(1).exp()
+ Decimal("2.718281828459045235360287471")
+ >>> Decimal("2.7182818").ln()
+ Decimal("0.9999999895305022877376682436")
+ >>> Decimal(1000).log10()
+ Decimal("3")
+
+ (Implemented by Facundo Batista and Mark Dickinson.)
+
* An optional ``timeout`` parameter was added to the
:class:`ftplib.FTP` class constructor as well as the :meth:`connect`
method, specifying a timeout measured in seconds. (Added by Facundo
Batista.)
+* The :func:`reduce` built-in function is also available in the
+ :mod:`functools` module. In Python 3.0, the built-in is dropped and it's
+ only available from :mod:`functools`; currently there are no plans
+ to drop the built-in in the 2.x series. (Patched by
+ Christian Heimes.)
+
+ .. % Patch 1739906
+
* The :func:`glob.glob` function can now return Unicode filenames if
a Unicode path was used and Unicode filenames are matched within the directory.
@@ -548,7 +617,7 @@
.. % Patch #1490190
-* The :func:`os.walk` function now has a "followlinks" parameter. If
+* The :func:`os.walk` function now has a ``followlinks`` parameter. If
set to True, it will follow symlinks pointing to directories and
visit the directory's contents. For backward compatibility, the
parameter's default value is false. Note that the function can fall
@@ -574,10 +643,17 @@
On Windows, :func:`os.path.expandvars` will now expand environment variables
in the form "%var%", and "~user" will be expanded into the
- user's home directory path. (Contributed by XXX.)
+ user's home directory path. (Contributed by Josiah Carlson.)
.. % Patch 957650
+* The Python debugger provided by the :mod:`pdb` module
+ gained a new command: "run" restarts the Python program being debugged,
+ and can optionally take new command-line arguments for the program.
+ (Contributed by Rocky Bernstein.)
+
+ .. % Patch #1393667
+
* New functions in the :mod:`posix` module: :func:`chflags` and :func:`lchflags`
are wrappers for the corresponding system calls (where they're available).
Constants for the flag values are defined in the :mod:`stat` module; some
@@ -701,6 +777,17 @@
(Added by Facundo Batista.)
+* The XML-RPC classes :class:`SimpleXMLRPCServer` and :class:`DocXMLRPCServer`
+ classes can now be preventing from immediately opening and binding to
+ their socket by passing True as the ``bind_and_activate``
+ constructor parameter. This can be used to modify the instance's
+ :attr:`allow_reuse_address` attribute before calling the
+ :meth:`server_bind` and :meth:`server_activate` methods to
+ open the socket and begin listening for connections.
+ (Contributed by Peter Parente.)
+
+ .. % Patch 1599845
+
.. % ======================================================================
.. % whole new modules get described in \subsections here
@@ -712,7 +799,7 @@
Changes to Python's build process and to the C API include:
-* Detailed changes are listed here.
+* Detailed changes will be listed here.
.. % ======================================================================
@@ -737,7 +824,7 @@
Some of the more notable changes are:
-* Details go here.
+* Details will go here.
.. % ======================================================================
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