retroforth/RELEASE_NOTES.md

RETRO 12.2019.1

In this release, the executables have been renamed to avoid naming conflicts with other applications and packages.

old name       new name
==========     ================
rre            retro
embedimage     retro-embedimage
extend         retro-extend
muri           retro-muri
repl           retro-repl
ri             retro-ri
unu            retro-unu

The addition of the new | prefix makes compiler macros easier to write. Contrast:

:IF   &[ class:macro ; immediate
:THEN &] class:macro &choose class:word ; immediate

:IF   |[ ; immediate
:THEN |] |choose ; immediate

Bug Fixes

• s:empty now returns a terminated string

Build

• add Makefile.linux to help with building on some Linux systems
• recreate bin if it's not present

Core Language

• add c:to-number
• minor optimizations and cleanups throughout
• s:format now treats \0 as ASCII NUL
• added prefix:| for use with compiler macros
• inline select words for better performance and code density
• add set:counted-results
• deprecate set:from-results

Nga

• new instructions

  • add ie (i/o enumerate)
  • add iq (i/o query)
  • add ii (i/o interact)

Interfaces

retro (formerly rre)

• moved Windows implementation to interfaces/windows
• now starts the listener when run w/o any arguments
• added -s command line parameter to silence input echo & ok prompt
• merged in the FloatingPointEncoding words (u: namespace)
• added f:store, f:fetch

retro.py

• fixed the bug causing it to run at a glacial pace

barebones

• a small repl minimizing the C portion of the code

listener

• removed. use retro or retro-repl instead

Tools

• added commentary to Unu
• Retro implementation of Unu
• Retro implementation of Muri
• added Muri support for I/O instructions

Other

• builds no longer fail if bin/ does not exist

Documentation

• Glossary expanded to cover the new words

Examples

• atua now caps selector length at 255 characters (as per spec)
• atua no longer needs to read in entire file before sending
• prime sieve now does primes <= 3000 (no longer crashing when using default memory size)
• added matrix example
• added lightweight flow control words
• gopher client now works on the standard retro interface

Final Notes

While this release has taken longer than expected to finish, I am very pleased with it. The better naming of binaries, new I/O model, and numerous small optimizations in the core language make it better than ever.