particle writes "On behalf of the Parrot team, I'm proud to announce Parrot 0.8.0
"Pareto Principle." Parrot (http://parrotcode.org/) is a virtual machine aimed
at running all dynamic languages.
Parrot 0.8.0 is available via CPAN (soon), or follow the download
instructions at http://parrotcode.org/source.html. For those who would like to develop on
Parrot, or help develop Parrot itself, we recommend using Subversion on
the source code repository to get the latest and best Parrot code.
Parrot 0.8.0 News:
- Implementation
+ float precision expanded to 15 significant digits from 6
+ large integers autopromoted in PIR so as not to lose precision
+ improved precision of complex square root
+ exception handlers can register types of exceptions they catch
- Languages
+ Cardinal (Ruby)
implemented gather, take, and yield builtins
Range, Time, Math, GC, Kernel classes
many more tests
added a new committer
+ Markdown : new lightweight markup language
start implementation with PCT/NQP
+ partcl (Tcl 8.5.4)
Moved to its own repository: http://code.google.com/p/partcl/
+ Rakudo (Perl 6)
split() works with regexes
implemented Str.comb
ord() and chr() builtins
improved parsing of literal numbers
support for hyphens and dashes in identifiers
next() on for-loops
fixed floating point constant precision
improved namespace handling, closer to STD.pm model
support for exporting symbols
- Compilers
+ P6object
now generates classes in nested namespaces instead of :: names
supports class creation in caller's HLL namespace
+ PCT / PGE
now using true nested namespaces instead of :: names
cleaned up HLLCompiler interactive prompts and readline mode
updated to use typed exception handler registration
added initial support for loop control exceptions
+ PIRC
fixed Heredoc preprocessor
cleaned up Macro preprocessor
many code clean-ups, warning fixes and consting
updated Makefile for easier compilation
+ IMCC
Added .tailcall syntax to replace .return in tailcall context
- Examples
+ pirric (BASIC)
an old style line numbered Basic interpreter able to use parrot objects
example connecting to mysql via nci
example using classes to write and run an embedded Basic program
- Documentation
+ Book
Added chapters for PCT, PMCs, and Opcodes/Runcores
Expanded and improved formatting in various chapters
Renumbered chapters
Many thanks to all our contributors for making this possible, and our sponsors
for supporting this project. Our next scheduled release is 18 Nov 2008.
Enjoy!"
