Racket v5.3

[Eli Barzilay]

Racket version 5.3 is now available from

http://racket-lang.org/

* Submodules are nested module declarations that can be loaded and
run independently from the enclosing module. For an overview of
submodules, see

http://blog.racket-lang.org/2012/06/submodules.html

* The futures visualizer is a graphical profiling tool for parallel
programs using futures. The tool shows a detailed execution
timeline depicting the migration of futures between threads, and
gives detailed information about each runtime synchronization that
occurred during program execution. In addition, `would-be-future'
is a special type of future that always executes sequentially and
records all potential barricades a regular future would encounter.

* Optimization Coach (formerly Performance Report) reports
information about Racket's inlining optimizations. Optimization
Coach can be launched in any language through the View menu.

* The new `images/flomap' library defines floating-point bitmaps and
fast image processing operations on them. It is written in Typed
Racket, so Typed Racket code may use it without the cost of
contract checks.

* The new `json' library supports parsing and generating JSON.
(Originally based on Dave Herman's planet library.)

* `racket/string' is extended with a set of simplified string
manipulation functions that are more convenient than using
regexps. `regexp-match*' and friends can now be used with new
keyword arguments to return specific matched regexp group/s and
gaps between matches.

* The new `racket/generic' library allows generic function
definitions, which dispatch to methods added to a structure type
via the new `#:methods' keyword.

* The `class' form supports declaring a method abstract. An
abstract method prevents a class from being instantiated unless it
is overridden.

* The contract library comes with support for interfaces, generics,
prompts, continuation-marks, and structs.

* Most error messages use a new multi-line format that is more
consistent with contract errors and accommodates more information.

* Typed Racket supports function definitions with keyword arguments;
the startup time of Typed Racket programs has been sharply
reduced.

* The new `ffi/com' library replaces MysterX; a compatibility
`mysterx' library remains, but without ActiveX support. The new
`ffi/unsafe/com' library offers a more primitive and direct way to
use COM classes and methods.

* There is now a very complete completion code for zsh. It is not
included in the distribution though; get it at http://goo.gl/DU8JK
(This script and the bash completions will be included in the
standard installers in future versions.)

--- DEPRECATION ----------------------------------------------------

Effective this release:

- The `tex2page' and `combinator-parser' libraries have been moved
from the Racket distribution to PLaneT:

(require (planet plt/tex2page))
(require (planet plt/combinator-parser))

The following has been deprecated and will be removed in the
January 2013 release:

- the `planet' command-line tool; use `raco planet' instead.

The following has been deprecated and will be removed in the
August 2013 release:

- the `mzlib/class100' library; use `racket/class' instead.

Feedback Welcome,
--
((lambda (x) (x x)) (lambda (x) (x x))) Eli Barzilay:
http://barzilay.org/ Maze is Life!

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