From: Guido van Rossum <guido@CNRI.Reston.VA.US> Subject: Python 1.5.2 beta 1 released Date: Wed, 23 Dec 98 04:49:12 GMT I'm pleased to announce the release of Python version 1.5.2 beta 1. PSA members won't be too surprised when they compare it to version 1.5.2a2, but if you're used to 1.5.1 or 1.5, this is a Big Step Forward. I'm quite confident that this version works well, but it is still a beta version, so you might not want to install it in a production environment. However, it is worth checking out if you have any problems building it or running your favorite applications. I can use the feedback! Please mail all trouble reports to guido@python.org. I can't promise that I will be able to read the newsgroup, as I'm going away for 10 days on Christmas Eve. You may still want to cc trouble reports to the newsgroup (via python-list@cwi.nl), because while I'm away others may be able to provide fixes for urgent problems. I plan to release one more beta early in January and then release the final version of 1.5.2 later that month. That will conclude the 1.5 development cycle; while I may release some essential patches later, my main development focus will be on Pytohn 1.6 (with 2.0 on the horizon -- 1.6 will probably be the last of the 1.x versions). What's new? Too much to list here; many bugs have been fixed, performance has been cranked up a notch, quite a few new or improved modules are present. See Misc/NEWS in the distribution for the full scoop. There are very few incompatibilities -- if you find one that's a problem for you, please let me know. I did increment the API version, so if you have old extensions lying around you might get a warning message (but they should still work, unless they were using questionalbe APIs). Please check out IDLE, an Integrated DeveLopment Environment for Python that I implemented using Tkinter (so it requires Tcl/Tk). It's in Tools/idle in the distribution (also in the Windows installer). Features include: - editor with auto-indent, multiple undo, colorizing, word completion - Python shell (interpreter) window with command history - debugger and stack viewer - class browser The distribution is accessible via FTP, at the following URLs: ftp://ftp.python.org/pub/python/src/py152b1.tgz (source) ftp://ftp.python.org/pub/python/win32/py152b1.exe (Windows installer) Fred Drake will release the documentation package separately; the Windows installer includes full documentation in HTML form. I would like to thank the many volunteers, at CNRI and elsewhere, who contributed considerably to this release. Happy Holidays, --Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/) -- ----------- comp.lang.python.announce (moderated) ---------- Article Submission Address: python-announce@python.org Python Language Home Page: http://www.python.org/ Python Quick Help Index: http://www.python.org/Help.html ------------------------------------------------------------