From: Eli Barzilay <eli@barzilay.org>
To: plt-scheme@list.cs.brown.edu, plt-announce@list.cs.brown.edu
Subject: [plt-scheme] PLT Scheme v300
Date: Sun, 18 Dec 2005 12:22:57 -0500

PLT Scheme version 300 is now available from

    http://download.plt-scheme.org/

Version 300 offers many improvements over version 209 (the previous
stable release), including:

 * Unicode characters and strings

 * access to foreign functions and libraries directly from Scheme

 * anti-aliased drawing (on most platforms), with improved GUI and
   text performance on Mac OS X and a more modern look for X11

 * DrScheme’s initial configuration guides new users to pick a
   language, instead of defaulting to HtDP "Beginner Scheme"

 * tabbed editing in DrScheme

 * a Debug button in DrScheme provides limited debugging support

 * PLaneT (distribution system) enhancements, including compilation
   support, Help Desk integration, and a command-line interface

 * FrTime refinements and performance enhancements

 * improved "image.ss" and "world.ss" teachpacks for HtDP

 * a new "Java+dynamic" ProfessorJ language that streamlines
   interoperability between Scheme and Java

 * continuations that are portable among threads

 * reader extensions via readtables, printer customization through
   structure properties, and support for structure serialization

 * improved contract library, macro system, class system (augment-only
   methods), and OpenGL support; #:-prefixed keywords and a library
   for procedures with keyword arguments

 * user files moved to registry-specified locations under Windows

 * web-server improvements and bug fixes, including a revised
   configuration format; see the documentation for details

 * new games: Parcheesi, Jewel, Spider, 3-D checkers, and more :)

 * PLT is pleased to provide its own technical reports series for now.
   The site comes with its own bibtex entries so that you can properly
   refer to the pieces of PLT Scheme if you have the urge to publish
   papers.

     http://www.plt-scheme.org/techreports/

Many programs that run in the v200 series of PLT Scheme must be
changed to work with version 300. The most significant
incompatibilities include (1) support for Unicode breaks old programs
that treat characters as bytes or pathnames as strings; (2)
case-sensitivity is now the default; (3) the built-in exception
hierarchy has been revised; and (4) many methods in the GUI toolkit
must now be `augment’ed instead of `override’n.

For more details, follow the "Release" and then "Release Notes" links
in Help Desk, or see
    http://pre.plt-scheme.org/plt/notes/mzscheme/MzScheme_300.txt
    http://pre.plt-scheme.org/plt/notes/mzscheme/HISTORY
    http://pre.plt-scheme.org/plt/notes/mred/HISTORY
    http://pre.plt-scheme.org/plt/notes/drscheme/HISTORY
Complete history changes are at:
    http://download.plt-scheme.org/chronology/

Feedbackk VVelkome.
-- 
          ((lambda (x) (x x)) (lambda (x) (x x)))          Eli Barzilay:
                  http://www.barzilay.org/                 Maze is Life!