PLNews: Programming Language News

Trends in Functional Programming 2006 has put out a third call for papers. It is an "international forum for researchers with interests in all aspects of functional programming languages, focusing on providing a broad view of current and future trends in Functional Programming. It aspires to be a lively environment for presenting the latest research results through acceptance by extended abstracts.

It will be held from April 19 to 21, 2006, at the University of Nottingham, UK. Abstract submissions are due by February 17, 2006.

The January 2006 Core Java Technologies Newsletter is now available. It "highlights the latest core Java technology releases, products, tools, resources, events, news, and views about Java technology and its direction.

This edition covers topics such as: recent JSRs, a review of Java developments during 2005, Java SE 6 enhancements, 2006 JavaOne Conference suggestions, and more.

Motion-Twin ActionScript 2 Compiler 1.12 has been released. It is an open-source ActionScript 2 compiler which can generate SWF bytecode without relying on Macromedia Flash or other tools.

This release: allows dynamic static classes, includes improved Flash 8 shapes support, allows access to private variables inside locally defined functions, offers faster SWF parsing, plus other changes.

The January 30, 2006 edition of the Python-URL! is now available. It lists recent developments in the Python world.

This edition covers topics such as: the release of ActivePython 2.4.2.10, changing the class of an instance, the use of Unicode in Python operators, and more.

It has been announced that registration is now open for Yet Another Perl Conference::Asia 2006. The conference will be held on March 29 and 30, 2006, in Tokyo, Japan.

The Silicon Valley Ruby Conference has been announced. It will be held on April 22 and 23, 2006. The speakers will include: Chad Fowler, Hal Fulton, Rich Kilmer, Eric Hodel, Marcel Molina, and Joe O'Brien.

The location, cost and other registration information will be announced in the future. Submissions for talk proposals are now being accepted.

ActivePython 2.4.2.10 has been released. It is a quality-assured distribution of Python from ActiveState, supporting Linux, Solaris, Windows, Mac OS X, AIX and HP-UX.

This release includes: early support for Mac OS X on Intel, support for Windows/x64, support for Linux/x86_64, an upgrade to PyWin32 build 207 on Windows/x86, an upgrade of Tkinter to Tcl/Tk 8.4.12, plus other changes and fixes.

The January 30, 2006 edition of the Haskell Weekly News is now available. It lists recent developments within the Haskell community.

This edition covers topics such as: Robert Dockins' new C-- front-end, recent Haskell' developments, adding impredicative types to GHC, and more.

Perl 5.9.3 has been released.

This development release includes: the removal of $#, support for the feature pragma, a switch statement and smart match operator, improvements to the support for assertions, new core modules, cheaper weak references, plus numerous other changes and fixes.

Factor 0.80 has been released. Factor is a dynamic language with a postfix syntax, offering support for object-oriented programming, and inspired by languages such as Forth, Common Lisp, Joy, K and Slate.

This release includes: a new help system; changes concerning sequences, hashtables, and streams; math-related improvements; support for binding to Objective-C libraries; an AMD64 back-end; plus other changes and fixes.

Digital Mars D 0.145 has been released. D is a general-purpose language designed as a successor to C++, offering features such as design by contract, garbage collection, first class arrays, closures, templates, and more.

This release includes a number of bugfixes.

Object Arts has announced that Dolphin Community Edition is now available. It is a free version of Dolphin X6, a Smalltalk implementation for Windows.

The Scala Wiki has been announced. Scala is a statically typed, extensible, multi-paradigm language, offering object-oriented and functional capabilities.

Squirrel Shell 0.8b has been released. It is a shell based on the Squirrel scripting language.

This release includes: a PLATFORM constant, symbolic access modes for the fopen() function, readdir() and filetype() functions, mathematical functions, and examples.

BBC BASIC for Windows 5.00a has been released. It is a version of BBC BASIC which offers integration with Windows.

This release includes: new shorthand forms LEFT$(A$) and RIGHT$(A$), new GET(X,Y) and GET$(X,Y) functions, support for indirect procedure and function calls, support for passing procedure or function names to procedures and functions, support for structure prototypes, plus other changes and bugfixes.

The 2006 International Rexx Symposium has put out a call for papers. "In addition to open source Rexx issues, the technical program will feature topics addressing Rexx solutions to business problems, application development challenges, Rexx language enhancements and extensions, novel Rexx programming ideas, and the design and implementation of Rexx interpreters and compilers.

The symposium will be held from April 10 to 13, 2006, in Austin, Texas. Presentation and paper proposals are due by February 24, 2006.

It has been announced that Scheme Request for Implementation 84: "Universal Identifiers", by Andrew Wilcox, is available for discussion.

Objections (~45 KB .pdf) have been raised to the use of the name C++/CLI by the ISO fast-tracking of the ECMA-372: "C++/CLI Language Specification" standard. It has been suggested that the name conflicts with the existing ISO/IEC 14882:2003 C++ standard, as C++/CLI should be considered a different language than C++.

A number of differences between C++ and C++/CLI are pointed out, including: the addition of numerous new keywords to C++/CLI, the non-standard uses of existing C++ keywords, changes to the meaning of currently-valid C++ syntax, changes to the behavior of constructors and destructors, conflicts between C++ templates and C++/CLI generics, and more. It is suggested that C++/CLI has evolved into a separate language from C++, and that referring to both of the two languages by the name "C++" could lead to confusion among programmers, employers, and consumers.

Several new names are suggested, including: CLIpp, CliPP, CLI++, ++CLI, Ceeli, and eCma++. It has also been requested that "Ecma withdraw this document from fast-track voting and if they must re-submit it, do so under a name which will not conflict with Standard C++.

StarLogo TNG has been announced. StarLogo is a specialized version of Logo, allowing for numerous graphic turtles to be controlled in parallel.

StarLogo TNG includes support for 3D models, joystick and keyboard inputs, 1st and 3rd person views, and more. A preview version for Windows is available, with Mac OS X and Linux versions coming soon. The final release is expected during the late spring or summer of 2006.

C to C++ Converter 1.4 has been released. It is a script which translates C to C++ by generating classes, converting functions to methods, replacing function calls with method invocations, and more.

Tom Tromey has suggested that the Eclipse Java compiler ("ecj") be used as the Java front-end by the GNU Compiler Collection. He points out that ecj is fully Java 1.5-compliant, is tested against the TCK, has some 1.6 improvements, and is better and more complete than the existing gcj front-end and Tromey's own gcjx front-end.

Io 2006-01-27 has been released. Io is an embeddable, prototype-based language drawing from Smalltalk, Self, NewtonScript, Act1, Lisp and Lua.

This release includes an ActivationContext object to replace thisMessage and similar slots, documentation improvements, build fixes, and bugfixes.

F# 1.1.8.1 has been released. F# is a variant of ML running on .NET, sharing a core language with Objective Caml.

This release includes: a redesign, cleanup and renaming of the expression quotation library; a redesign of the math library; a sample showing how F# can work with LINQ; all the source code to F#, the library and the tools; plus other changes and bugfixes.

It has been announced that the next SeaFunc meeting will be held on January 31, 2006. SeaFunc is a group for people in the Seattle area who are interested in functional programming and other advanced programming language paradigms.

A new C-- frontend written in Haskell has been announced. C-- is a portable assembly language.

It includes a lexer, parser, pretty-printer, semantic checker, and unit test suite.