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Add a bunch of items

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Andrew M. Kuchling 2007-12-19 02:02:04 +00:00
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Doc/whatsnew/2.6.rst
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@ -72,8 +72,6 @@ new feature.
Python 3.0
================
.. % XXX add general comment about Python 3.0 features in 2.6
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.
@ -95,7 +93,9 @@ are:
A new command-line switch, :option:`-3`, enables warnings
about features that will be removed in Python 3.0. You can run code
with this switch to see how much work will be necessary to port
code to 3.0.
code to 3.0. The value of this switch is available
to Python code as the boolean variable ``sys.py3kwarning``,
and to C extension code as :cdata:`Py_Py3kWarningFlag`.
.. seealso::
@ -103,6 +103,62 @@ code to 3.0.
Python 3.0 and various features that have been accepted, rejected,
or are still under consideration.
Development Changes
==================================================
While 2.6 was being developed, the Python development process
underwent two significant changes: the developer group
switched from SourceForge's issue tracker to a customized
Roundup installation, and the documentation was converted from
LaTeX to reStructured Text.
New Issue Tracker: Roundup
--------------------------------------------------
XXX write this.
New Documentation Format: ReStructured Text
--------------------------------------------------
Python's documentation had been written using LaTeX since the
project's inception around 1989. At that time, most documentation was
printed out for later study, not viewed online. LaTeX was widely used
because it provided attractive printed output while
remaining straightforward to write, once the basic rules
of the markup have been learned.
LaTeX is still used today for writing technical publications destined
for printing, but the landscape for programming tools has shifted. We
no longer print out reams of documentation; instead, we browse through
it online and HTML is the most important format to support.
Unfortunately, converting LaTeX to HTML is fairly complicated, and
Fred L. Drake Jr., the Python documentation editor for many years,
spent a lot of time wrestling the conversion process into shape.
Occasionally people would suggest converting the documentation into
SGML or, later, XML, but performing a good conversion is a major task
and no one pursued the task to completion.
During the 2.6 development cycle, Georg Brandl put a substantial
effort into building a new toolchain called Sphinx
for processing the documentation.
The input format is reStructured Text,
a markup commonly used in the Python community that supports
custom extensions and directives. Sphinx concentrates
on its HTML output, producing attractively styled
and modern HTML. (XXX finish this -- mention new search feature)
.. seealso::
`Docutils <http://docutils.sf.net>`__: The fundamental
reStructured Text parser and toolset.
`Documenting Python <XXX>`__: Describes how to write for
Python's documentation.
PEP 343: The 'with' statement
=============================
@ -352,6 +408,24 @@ bound to a variable, and calls ``object.close`` at the end of the block. ::
.. % ======================================================================
.. _pep-0366:
PEP 366: Explicit Relative Imports From a Main Module
============================================================
Python's :option:`-m` switch allows running a module as a script.
When you ran a module that was located inside a package, relative
imports didn't work correctly.
The fix in Python 2.6 adds a :attr:`__package__` attribute to modules.
When present, relative imports will be relative to the value of this
attribute instead of the :attr:`__name__` attribute. PEP 302-style
importers can then set :attr:`__package__`. The :mod:`runpy` module
that implements the :option:`-m` switch now does this, so relative imports
can now be used in scripts running from inside a package.
.. % ======================================================================
.. _pep-3110:
PEP 3110: Exception-Handling Changes
@ -414,7 +488,7 @@ XXX
:pep:`3119` - Introducing Abstract Base Classes
PEP written by Guido van Rossum and Talin.
Implemented by XXX.
Backported to 2.6 by Benjamin Aranguren (with Alex Martelli).
Backported to 2.6 by Benjamin Aranguren, with Alex Martelli.
Other Language Changes
======================
@ -443,6 +517,25 @@ Here are all of the changes that Python 2.6 makes to the core Python language.
.. % Revision 57619
* Properties now have two attributes,
:attr:`setter` and :attr:`deleter`, that are useful shortcuts for
adding a setter or deleter function to an existing property.
You would use them like this::
class C(object):
@property
def x(self):
return self._x
@x.setter
def x(self, value):
self._x = value
@x.deleter
def x(self):
del self._x
* 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
@ -452,11 +545,26 @@ Here are all of the changes that Python 2.6 makes to the core Python language.
.. % Patch #1675423
A numerical nicety: when creating a complex number from two floats
on systems that support signed zeros (-0 and +0), the
:func:`complex()` constructor will now preserve the sign
of the zero.
.. % Patch 1507
* 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 :exc:`GeneratorExit` exception now subclasses
:exc:`BaseException` instead of :exc:`Exception`. This means
that an exception handler that does ``except Exception:``
will not inadvertently catch :exc:`GeneratorExit`.
(Contributed by Chad Austin.)
.. % Patch #1537
* The :func:`compile` built-in function now accepts keyword arguments
as well as positional parameters. (Contributed by Thomas Wouters.)
@ -653,6 +761,20 @@ complete list of changes, or look through the CVS logs for all the details.
.. % Patch #1490190
* The :mod:`new` module has been removed from Python 3.0.
Importing it therefore
triggers a warning message when Python is running in 3.0-warning
mode.
* New functions in the :mod:`os` module include
``fchmod(fd, mode)``, ``fchown(fd, uid, gid)``,
and ``lchmod(path, mode)``, on operating systems that support these
functions. :func:`fchmod` and :func:`fchown` let you change the mode
and ownership of an opened file, and :func:`lchmod` changes the mode
of a symlink.
(Contributed by Georg Brandl and Christian Heimes.)
* 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
@ -703,6 +825,15 @@ complete list of changes, or look through the CVS logs for all the details.
changed and :const:`UF_APPEND` to indicate that data can only be appended to the
file. (Contributed by M. Levinson.)
* The :mod:`random` module's :class:`Random` objects can
now be pickled on a 32-bit system and unpickled on a 64-bit
system, and vice versa. Unfortunately, this change also means
that Python 2.6's :class:`Random` objects can't be unpickled correctly
on earlier versions of Python.
(Contributed by Shawn Ligocki.)
.. % Issue 1727780
* The :mod:`rgbimg` module has been removed.
* The :mod:`sets` module has been deprecated; it's better to
@ -725,6 +856,17 @@ complete list of changes, or look through the CVS logs for all the details.
.. % Patch #957003
* A new variable in the :mod:`sys` module,
:attr:`float_info`, is a dictionary
containing information about the platform's floating-point support
derived from the :file:`float.h` file. Key/value pairs
in this dictionary include
``"mant_dig"`` (number of digits in the mantissa), ``"epsilon"``
(smallest difference between 1.0 and the next largest value
representable), and several others. (Contributed by Christian Heimes.)
.. % Patch 1534
* The :mod:`tarfile` module now supports POSIX.1-2001 (pax) and
POSIX.1-1988 (ustar) format tarfiles, in addition to the GNU tar
format that was already supported. The default format
@ -883,6 +1025,17 @@ Changes to Python's build process and to the C API include:
.. % Patch 1551895
* Several functions return information about the platform's
floating-point support. :cfunc:`PyFloat_GetMax` returns
the maximum representable floating point value,
and :cfunc:`PyFloat_GetMin` returns the minimum
positive value. :cfunc:`PyFloat_GetInfo` returns a dictionary
containing more information from the :file:`float.h` file, such as
``"mant_dig"`` (number of digits in the mantissa), ``"epsilon"``
(smallest difference between 1.0 and the next largest value
representable), and several others.
.. % Issue 1534
.. % ======================================================================