Subject: SWI-Prolog 3.3.0 (Beta) available

From: Jan Wielemaker <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 21:45:19 +0100

I've uploaded SWI-Prolog 3.3.0 to 

	ftp://swi.psy.uva.nl/pub/SWI-Prolog/BETA/

Formats: source and binary for Windows 95/98/2000/NT

This is a  major  release  that  should   be  handled  with  some  care.
Highlights:

	* Much more ISO support: more exceptions, support for character
	  lists as one-character atoms (atom_chars/2, numer_chars/2,
	  `double-quote' prolog-flag, etc.).

	* Operators and two syntax-affecting Prolog flags are now local
	  to modules (with definitions in module user as defaults)!

	* The `logical-update-view' is now supported: modifying a
	  predicate while it is executing does not alter the executing
	  goals.  Compatible with ISO and most modern Prolog systems.
	
	* The message-printing mechanism has been abstracted and now
	  uses the new complete implementation of print_message/2 and
	  friends.  This provides more flexible handling of messages
	  in applications and Quintus/SICStus compatibility

	* The I/O package has been modified completely, removing any
	  other than system limits on the number of streams and
	  providing various new features.  Mainly modified to support
	  multi-threading reasoanbly cleanly.
	
	* Multi-threading is getting more or less `beta'.  The API is
	  fairly complete and the system appears to be running
	  reasonably stable.  Currently Unix with POSIX threads only,
	  actually only tested in Linux 2.2 (SuSE 6.2).  To select
	  this option, using --enable-mt for configuration.

	* In cpp.tgz, you find the new C++ interface.  Much simpler
	  for writing foreign code.  Enjoy!

	* Fixes for some platforms (notably IRIX, HP/UX).  Dynamically
	  loading foreign-code on HP/UX (.sl files there) now works, as
	  do sparse-allocation based stacks.

	* SWI-Prolog is now simply GPL.  We continue selling licenses
	  for embedding into proprietary software.  See the SWI-Prolog
	  home page licensing conditions for details.

This version is not entirely compatible, though modification of sources
generally won't take long. See the release notes in the reference manual
for details (the reference manual is in the refman3.3 directory as HTML
and PDF file).

Please note that XPCE 5.0.6 (the latest public version) does not run
on 3.3.0 due to these compability problems.  Registered XPCE users can
find version 5.0.7 in the registered area (Source and Windows binary).
Use `browse versions'!

Please test you programs on this version and report problems.

	Regards --- Jan