v2.1 Features Review
Rob,
If v2.1 had a theme, it would be common sense. Great features.
I feel I owe it to you to make specific comments about some of the new
features in 2.1.
> * The Single-Platform (DOS32-only) package, formerly $32,
> has been discontinued.
Common sense. This is a recognition that people are attempting to develo=
p
WIN32 programs, now.
> * The Dual-Platform (DOS32+WIN32) package, formerly $53
> has been reduced to $39 U.S., effective immediately.
Who wouldn't like this one? As a public domain user who looks to registe=
r
in the future, I really appreciate it.
> * The printed manual has been discontinued. Instead, there is no=
w
> an official HTML version of the manual, included with the
> Public Domain .ZIP file.
Smart business decision. I got boxes and boxes of print manuals in boxes=
in my room, yet Euphoria's docs are on disk! And no "desktop publishing"=
cost for RDS either!
> * All useful 3rd-party include files, such as Win32Lib.ew and
>many
> others, will be "stamped" by RDS with a code number that makes=
> them free, just like the files in euphoria\include. They will
>not
> add to your statement count, provided you do not significantly=
> modify them. This will also allow 3rd-party developers
> to get better diagnostic information from their users.
Uh, hmmm. Great plan. So will authors send like an e-mail to you and yo=
u
decide to stamp or not stamp the file? I assume not all these will be in=
the package. They should probably be in one section of the website, I
respectively submit.
> * Binding, shrouding and profiling will now be part of the
> Complete Edition only. These are features that beginners
> do not require, but serious users might find valuable.
After opening up so many, well, "freebees", I guess we owe you this one. =
I
can't see I use profiling. BUT I'VE USED BINDING TO GIVE PROGS TO OTHERS=
! =
I've also used some shrouding, a little. My biggest qualm is lack of
binding. But I should register, right? Again, this is totally cool; lik=
e
I said, we owe you one of these.
>* Short-form assignment operators +=3D -=3D *=3D /=3D &=3D have been add=
ed.
I like this; it'll make code shorter and more readable. Have you
considered Ralf's suggestion about seq[index..] to mean index subscript
from index to length seq? That will make code a lot more readable too.
>* Euphoria now uses "short-circuit" evaluation of "and" and "or"
> expressions in if/elsif/while conditions. e.g. in an "and" condition:=
Again, common (human) sense. Nice going.
> profile() - turns profiling on/off so you can focus your profil=
e
for registered users, right?
> equal() - compare any 2 Euphoria objects for equality.
> equivalent to: compare(a,b) =3D 0 but more readabl=
e
Again, the theme common sense comes to mind.
> sprint() - returns the string representation of any Euphoria
> object
How is this different from the current sprintf?
> arcsin() - inverse trig function
> arccos() - inverse trig function
Good. Ralf and I are having this discussion about which routines should =
be
included into Euphoria. Such routines which would be "hard" for users to=
code should. This qualifies. What about exp()?
> get_bytes() - returns the next n bytes from a file
This is helpful, to read in an entire file.
> prompt_number() - prompts the user to enter a number
> prompt_string() - prompts the user to enter a string
Oh, I have mixed feelings. I'll look at docs, but isn't this violating t=
he
purist "atom and sequences"?
> the constant PI - 3.14159... was added to misc.e
There is a prog to calculate this, but again, this is one of those things=
where its "difficult" for the end user to do precisely.
>* The main Euphoria documentation can now be viewed locally with a Web
> browser. The plain-text files REFMAN.DOC and LIBRARY.DOC are still
the way to go
>* Language War has had a major face-lift. It now runs in pixel-graphics
Excellent. I'm looking forward to downloading the alpha release. =
Stressing that we know its an ALPHA RELEASE. Let the testing begin!
Alan
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