Add 2014.12 announcement

docs/announce/2014.12.md

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+# Announce: Rakudo Perl 6 compiler, Development Release #83 ("Cologne")
+
+On behalf of the Rakudo development team, I'm happy to announce the
+December 2014 release of Rakudo Perl 6 #83 "Cologne". Rakudo is an
+implementation of Perl 6 on the Moar Virtual Machine[^1], the Java Virtual
+Machine and the Parrot Virtual Machine. The tarball for this release
+is available from <http://rakudo.org/downloads/rakudo/>.
+
+Please note: This announcement is not for the Rakudo Star
+distribution[^2] --- it's announcing a new release of the compiler
+only. For the latest Rakudo Star release, see
+<http://rakudo.org/downloads/star/>.
+
+The Rakudo Perl compiler follows a monthly release cycle, with each
+release named after a Perl Mongers group. This release is named after
+Cologne, in honour of the organizers of the Niederrhein.PM meeting this week.
+
+Some of the changes in this release are outlined below:
+
+These are only some of the changes in this release. For a more
+detailed list, see "docs/ChangeLog".
+
+INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES:
++ $str ~~ s/// now returns a Match or list of Matches
+
+Other notable changes:
++ Flakiness on OS X has been fixed (for the most part)
++ Method FALLBACK implemented
++ Updated List smart-matching to latest design
++ $*DISTRO and $*KERNEL updated ($*DISTRO now actually report the Linux dist)
++ Added Metamodel::Primitives, to open up more meta-programming possibilities
+  (publishing method caches, completely custom meta-objects, etc.)
++ Support for closure parameter signatures
++ Implemented chained sequences
++ Many optimizations, bug-fixes and other additions
+
+The development team thanks all of our contributors and sponsors for
+making Rakudo Perl possible, as well as those people who worked on
+Parrot, the Perl 6 test suite, MoarVM and the specification.
+
+The following people contributed to this release:
+
+Elizabeth Mattijsen, Larry Wall, Jonathan Worthington, Rob Hoelz, Moritz Lenz,
+Tobias Leich, Timo Paulssen, Christian Bartolomäus, Carl Mäsak, Solomon Foster,
+Geoffrey Broadwell, Will "Coke" Coleda, raydiak, Alexander Moquin
+
+If you would like to contribute, see <http://rakudo.org/how-to-help>,
+ask on the <perl6-compiler@perl.org> mailing list, or ask on IRC
+\#perl6 on freenode.
+
+The next release of Rakudo (#84), is scheduled for 22 January 2015.
+A list of the other planned release dates and code names for future
+releases is available in the "docs/release_guide.pod" file. A Rakudo
+development release typically occurs a few days (often two) after the
+third Tuesday of each month.
+
+The development team appreciates feedback! If you're using Rakudo, do
+get back to us. Questions, comments, suggestions for improvements, cool
+discoveries, incredible hacks, or any other feedback -- get in touch with
+us through (the above-mentioned) mailing list of IRC channel. Enjoy!
+
+[^1]: See <http://moarvm.org/>
+
+[^2]: What's the difference between the Rakudo compiler and the Rakudo
+Star distribution?
+
+The Rakudo compiler is a compiler for the Perl 6 language.
+Nothing else.
+
+The Rakudo Star distribution is the Rakudo compiler plus a selection
+of useful Perl 6 modules, a module installer, the most recent
+incarnation of the "Using Perl 6" book, and other software that can
+be used with the Rakudo compiler to enhance its utility.  Rakudo Star
+is meant for early adopters who wish to explore what's possible with
+Rakudo Perl 6 and provide feedback on what works, what doesn't, and
+what else they would like to see included in the distribution.