[m-dev.] diff: merge NEWS file sections

[Fergus Henderson]

Estimated hours taken: 0.5

NEWS:
	Merge the "post 0.10" section into the main section,
	since we've decided that we'll do the release from a new branch
	of the cvs repository, rather than the version-0_10_x branch.

Workspace: /home/venus/fjh/ws-venus2/mercury
Index: NEWS
===================================================================
RCS file: /home/mercury1/repository/mercury/NEWS,v
retrieving revision 1.200
diff -u -d -r1.200 NEWS
--- NEWS	2001/02/19 06:28:32	1.200
+++ NEWS	2001/02/19 10:27:00
@@ -1,62 +1,3 @@
-NEWS since Mercury release 0.10
--------------------------------
-Note that Mercury 0.10 has not actually been released yet;
-this section documents changes in the development version of
-Mercury since we established a feature freeze for Mercury 0.10
-and split development of that version off onto a separate branch
-of our CVS repository.
-
-Changes to the standard library:
-
-* We've changed the semantics of deconstruct/4, in light of the introduction
-  of existentially quantified types. Previously, if deconstruct/4 was given
-  a value of type `univ' it automagically unwrapped it and gave back the
-  functor, arity and arguments of the unwrapped value. This behaviour was
-  not documented, but made sense because there was no way to unwrap a
-  univ without knowing (or guessing) its type. Now that univ is defined
-  as a normal (existentially quantified) type, this behaviour is unnecessary,
-  and a wart besides, so has been removed. If you have a univ and you want
-  to get the unwrapped value's functor, arity and arguments, then you can
-  call "univ_value(Univ)" to extract the value before calling deconstruct.
-  (Doing that also works in Mercury 0.9 and Mercury 0.10.)
-
-* We've addes some new library predicates: assoc_list__keys_and_values,
-  list__map2 and list__map3.
-
-* We've added func versions of the remaining preds in int.m that
-  did not already have them.
-
-* We've added a new `bitmap' library module.
-
-* We've added std_util__dynamic_cast/2 for type-safe runtime dynamic
-  type casting for ground types.
-
-* We've extended the array module with array__sort/1, array__foldl/3 and
-  array__foldr/3.
-
-* We've added a new `hash_table' library module.
-
-Changes to the Mercury implementation:
-
-* Native code compiler.
-
-  There's a new back-end for the Mercury compiler that compiles
-  directly to assembler, rather than than going via C.  This
-  back-end is enabled using the new `--target asm' option.
-
-  This new back-end is implemented by linking the Mercury compiler
-  with the (relatively) language independent GNU Compiler Collection
-  back-end.  In other words, there is now a Mercury front-end for GCC.
-
-  Note that this should be considered as a beta release of the native
-  code compiler.  Furthermore our current version of the native code
-  compiler is based on an unreleased snapshot version of the GCC
-  back-end.
-
-  So far we have only tested it on i686-pc-linux-gnu (Intel x86-based
-  PCs running Linux).  But in theory it should work fine on other
-  platforms too.
-
 NEWS for Mercury release 0.10:
 ------------------------------
 
@@ -76,8 +17,11 @@
 * We've added several new standard library modules:
   - `pprint', for pretty printing.
   - `counter', for managing counters.
-  - `sparse_bitset', an abstract data type for storing sets of integers.
   - `enum', a typeclass for types which can be converted to and from integers.
+  - `sparse_bitset', an abstract data type for storing sparse sets of integers
+     or enumerations.
+  - `bitmap', an abstract data type for storing sets of integers.
+  - `hash_table', an generic hash table implementation
 * The `store' module now makes use of existential types.
 
 Changes to the Mercury implementation:
@@ -85,6 +29,10 @@
   This features improved compilation speed, offers better portability,
   and sometimes generates substantially better code.
   (The original back-end is still included.)
+* There's a version of the new back-end which generates code
+  for Microsoft's new .NET system.
+* There's a version of the new back-end which compiles directly
+  to to assembler, using the GCC back-end.
 * Various improvements to `mtags'.
 
 DETAILED LISTING
@@ -191,7 +139,7 @@
 * There is a new library module `counter' for managing counters.
 
 * We've added a new library module `sparse_bitset', which implements
-  an abstract data type for storing sets of integers.
+  an abstract data type for storing sets of integers or enumerations.
 
 * There is a new library module `enum' which contains a typeclass
   describing types which can be converted to and from integers.
@@ -233,6 +181,34 @@
 
 * We've added a new function, math__solve_quadratic/3.
 
+* We've changed the semantics of deconstruct/4, in light of the introduction
+  of existentially quantified types. Previously, if deconstruct/4 was given
+  a value of type `univ' it automagically unwrapped it and gave back the
+  functor, arity and arguments of the unwrapped value. This behaviour was
+  not documented, but made sense because there was no way to unwrap a
+  univ without knowing (or guessing) its type. Now that univ is defined
+  as a normal (existentially quantified) type, this behaviour is unnecessary,
+  and a wart besides, so has been removed. If you have a univ and you want
+  to get the unwrapped value's functor, arity and arguments, then you can
+  call "univ_value(Univ)" to extract the value before calling deconstruct.
+  (Doing that also works in Mercury 0.9 and Mercury 0.10.)
+
+* We've addes some new library predicates: assoc_list__keys_and_values,
+  list__map2 and list__map3.
+
+* We've added func versions of the remaining preds in int.m that
+  did not already have them.
+
+* We've added a new `bitmap' library module.
+
+* We've added std_util__dynamic_cast/2 for type-safe runtime dynamic
+  type casting for ground types.
+
+* We've extended the array module with array__sort/1, array__foldl/3 and
+  array__foldr/3.
+
+* We've added a new `hash_table' library module.
+
 Changes to the Mercury implementation:
 
 * We've implemented a new back-end for the Mercury compiler.
@@ -300,6 +276,25 @@
   
   For more details, see the README.DotNet file, and
   <http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/research/mercury/dotnet.html>.
+
+* Native code compiler.
+
+  There's a new back-end for the Mercury compiler that compiles
+  directly to assembler, rather than than going via C.  This
+  back-end is enabled using the new `--target asm' option.
+
+  This new back-end is implemented by linking the Mercury compiler
+  with the (relatively) language independent GNU Compiler Collection
+  back-end.  In other words, there is now a Mercury front-end for GCC.
+
+  Note that this should be considered as a beta release of the native
+  code compiler.  Furthermore our current version of the native code
+  compiler is based on an unreleased snapshot version of the GCC
+  back-end.
+
+  So far we have only tested it on i686-pc-linux-gnu (Intel x86-based
+  PCs running Linux).  But in theory it should work fine on other
+  platforms too.
 
 * The names of some of the `--enable-*' options to `configure' have changed.
 

-- 
Fergus Henderson <fjh at cs.mu.oz.au>  |  "I have always known that the pursuit
                                    |  of excellence is a lethal habit"
WWW: <http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/~fjh>  |     -- the last words of T. S. Garp.
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