changes.txt

Changes to Clojure in Version 1.2

= CONTENTS =

 0 Changes from beta up to 1.2
    0.0 Clojure 1.2 is Clojure 1.2 RC3
    0.1 Changes from RC2 to RC3
    0.2 Changes from RC1 to RC2
    0.3 Changes from beta1 to RC1
 1 Deprecated and Removed Features
    1.1 metadata reader macro is now ^
 2 New/Improved Features in clojure.core
    2.1 Protocols, Records, and Types
    2.2 Sequence Library
    2.3 Destructuring
    2.4 Case
    2.5 Duplicate Key Prevention
    2.6 Primitive Vectors
    2.7 Agent Error Handling
    2.8 Improved Ratio Support
    2.9 Macro Implicit Args
    2.10 Multimethod Enhancements
    2.11 Function Metadata (Alpha)
    2.12 Java Annotations
    2.13 Namespace Collision Warnings
 3 New Namespaces
    3.1 clojure.java.io
    3.1 clojure.java.javadoc
    3.3 clojure.java.shell
    3.4 clojure.pprint
    3.5 clojure.repl
    3.6 clojure.string
 4 Functions with Improved Performance
 5 Bug Fixes

= 0 Changes from beta1 -> RC1 -> RC2

= 0.0 Clojure 1.2 is the same code as Clojure RC3

  * only change is build metadata and changes.txt

= 0.1 Changes from RC2 to RC3

  * #382 underive fixed
  * #423 future now clears closed-over variables, allowing gc
  * #404 clojure.java.io: reader and writer work correctly for sockets
  * #422 fixed corner case in finally blocks where code could execute twice

= 0.2 Changes from RC1 to RC2

Record/map equality is now symmetric in all cases. There are two
variants:

  * In most cases, you should use =. Calls to = include type
    information, so instances of different record types can never be =
    to each other, or to plain maps.

  * Calls to .equals are different. They respect the Java semantics
    for maps, which is a requirement for correct interop. Type
    information is *not* included, so any kind of map can be .equals
    to any other.

Possible impacts for your programs:
  
  * If you create a custom implementation of Clojure's IPersistentMap,
    you probably want it to be able to be = to other maps. If so, all
    you need to do is implement the marker interface
    clojure.lang.MapEquivalence. Note that APersistentMap does this
    for you.

= 0.3 Changes from beta1 to RC1 =

  * switch to soft refs for class and keyword cache
  * update reify, defprotocol, extend-protocol docstrings (#340)
  * fix fieldless defrecord corner case (#402)
  * sh reads stdout and stderr in parallel
  * sh stdin, stdout default to UTF-8 (#413)
  * gen-class checks validity of method names (#407)
 
= 1 Deprecated and Removed Features =

== 1.1 metadata reader macro is now ^ ==

^ is the metadata reader macro. The former syntax #^ is deprecated and
will be removed in a future version of Clojure.


= 2 New Features in clojure.core =

== 2.1 Protocols, Records, Reify, and Types ==

defprotocol provides polymorphism without type intrusion.

defrecord, reify, and deftype provide datatypes. They support, in a
relatively clean manner, access to the highest-performance primitive
representation and polymorphism mechanisms of the host.

See http://clojure.org/protocols and http://clojure.org/datatypes for
a more complete description.


== 2.2 Sequence Library ==

The sequence library has several new functions in Clojure 1.2. The
notes in parentheses indicate differences from the similarly-named
functions in clojure-contrib.

  * flatten - New
  * frequencies - New
  * group-by - New        (note: unsorted)
  * keep - New
  * keep-indexed - New    (preferred over contrib's indexed for perf)
  * map-indexed - New     (preferred over contrib's indexed for perf)
  * partition-all - New
  * partition-by - New 
  * rand-nth - New        (name indicates dependency on nth's perf)
  * range - Improved      (added zero arity)
  * reductions - New
  * repeatedly - Improved! (added "do n times" semantics)
  * shuffle - New


== 2.3 Destructuring Enhanced ==

If you associatively destructure a seq, it will be poured into a map first:

  (defn foo [& {:keys [a b c]}]
    [a b c])

  (foo :c 3 :b 2)
  => [nil 2 3]


== 2.4 Case ==

Case provides constant time dispatch on its clauses, which can be any
compile-time literal

  (defn release-status
    [version]
    (case version
     (0.9 1.0 1.1) "History"
     1.2           "Right now"
     :sentient     "RSN"
     "The default"))

The string "The default" represents the default clause and can be any
expression, not only a compile-time literal.


== 2.5 Duplicate Key Prevention ==

Associative literals and their constructor functions hash-map and
hash-set now prevent duplicate keys:

  #{1 1}
  => java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Duplicate key: 1


== 2.6 Primitive Vectors ==

vector-of creates a vector of unboxed Java primitives, which follows
the contract of Clojure vectors.  It takes one keyword argument
corresponding to its primitive type that can be any of :int, :long,
:float, :double, :byte, :short, :boolean, or :char.


== 2.7 Agent Error Handling ==

Agent error handling has been reworked in Clojure 1.2.

  * agent-error - New
  * restart-agent - New
  * set-error-handler - New
  * error-handler - New
  * set-error-mode! - New
  * error-mode - New
  * await - improved docstring, explains failed agent semantics
  * agent-errors - DEPRECATED
  * clear-agent-errors - DEPRECATED


== 2.8 Improved Ratio Support ==

  * numerator - New
  * denominator - New
  * bigint - Enhanced, now ratio aware


== 2.9 Macro Implicit Args ==

Macros now have access to implicit arguments:
 
  * &form - the macro form
  * &env  - the local bindings


== 2.10 Multimethod Enhancements ==

Multimethods have been enhanced to improve interactive development:
 
  * remove-all-methods - New
  * defmulti - Enhanced to have defonce semantics


== 2.11 Function Metadata ==

Clojure functions can now have metadata. Please treat this capability
as alpha and subject to possible change or removal in a future version
of Clojure.


== 2.12 Java Annotations ==

Java Annotations can be added simply by making a Java annotation
class a key in a Clojure metadata map:

  ;; Name is deprecated
  (defrecord ^{Deprecated true} Name [first last])

Please use Java annotations for interop purposes only. 

== 2.13 Namespace Collision Warnings ==

If a namespace defines a Var whose name collides with a name in the
clojure.core namespace, you will see a warning but the definition will
be allowed to proceed. This facilitates promoting useful functions
into clojure.core without causing a breaking change.

Please track down and fix these warnings, as matching names do not
always imply matching semantics!


= 3 New Namespaces =

Complete documentation for all namespaces is in the source and API
docs: http://clojure.github.com/clojure/


== 3.1 clojure.java.io ==

Java I/O libraries distilled from the duck-streams and io namespaces
in clojure-contrib.


== 3.2 clojure.java.javadoc ==

Launch a Javadoc browser from the REPL, promoted from the javadoc and
repl-util namespace in clojure-contrib.


== 3.3 clojure.java.shell ==

Utilities for launching a subprocess, promoted from shell-out
namespace in clojure-contrib.


== 3.4 clojure.pprint ==

Pretty-printer for Clojure, promoted from pprint in clojure-contrib.


== 3.5 clojure.repl ==

Utilities for a more pleasant REPL experience, promoted from the
repl-utils and ns-utils namespaces in clojure-contrib.


== 3.6 clojure.string ==

String utilities promoted from the str-utils, str-utils2, str-utils3,
and string namespaces in clojure-contrib.


= 4 Performance Enhancements =

Many functions have improved performance in Clojure 1.2:
    
  aget
  array-map
  aset
  bit-shift-left
  bit-shift-right
  boolean
  byte
  count
  double
  false?
  float
  future-call
  get
  into
  keyword
  line-seq
  long
  nil?
  nth
  promise
  re-seq
  reduce
  resultset-seq
  set
  short
  true?
  vector
   
= 5 Bug Fixes = 

Please see the complete list at 
https://www.assembla.com/spaces/ticket_reports/show/13167?space_id=clojure.