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GPC News
********

GPC's new or changed features since the last (non alpha/beta) GPC
release are listed here. Items without further description refer to new
routines, variables or options.

Features implemented for compatibility to other compilers are marked
with, e.g., `(B)' for BP compatibility.

A few old and obsolete features have been dropped or replaced by
cleaner, more flexible or otherwise more useful ones. This might lead
to minor problems with old code, but we suppose they're rare and easy
to overcome. Backward-incompatible changes are marked with `(@)'.

   * the `Pipe' unit was renamed to `Pipes' because of a name conflict
     (@)

   * empty parameter lists can be written as `()' (chief54*.pas,
     delphi6*.pas) (D)

   * GMP unit: `mpf_sin', `mpf_cos'

   * the test suite output is now by default stored in DejaGnu
     compatible files `gpc.log' and `gpc.sum' in the `p/test/'
     directory; other available test targets are `pascal.check-short'
     and `pascal.check-long' (@)

   * new options `-W[no-]dynamic-arrays' (fjf931*.pas)

   * new argument to `_p_initialize' (@)

   * `UMask'

   * new option `--no-debug-source'

   * new lexer (no directly user-visible difference, but should allow
     for better handling of lexer-based problems in the future)

   * `CompilerAssert' (fjf904*.pas)

   * options `--[no]-assert' renamed to `--[no]-assertions' (necessary
     to avoid a conflict with GCC) (@)

   * new options `--[no-]range-checking', also as short compiler
     directives `{$R+}'/`{$R-}' (default is on) (C, E, B, @)

   * new options `--[no-]methods-always-virtual' (fjf903*.pas) (M)

   * new options `--[no-]pointer-arithmetic',
     `--[no-]cstrings-as-strings', `-W[no-]absolute' (all of which
     `--[no-]extended-syntax' implies)

   * `Integer2StringBase', `Integer2StringBaseExt'

   * new constants `NumericBaseDigits', `NumericBaseDigitsUpper'

   * allow assigning, passing by value and returning objects, with
     assignments of an object of derived type to one of a base type
     (chief35[ab].pas, fjf451*.pas, fjf696[ef].pas, fjf884*.pas), BP
     compatible except for a bug in the BP feature itself (see the
     comment in `p/test/fjf451h.pas') (B)

   * new options `-W[no-]object-assignment'

   * warn (except in `--borland-pascal') if a virtual method overrides
     a non-virtual one (chief52*.pas)

   * warn when an non-abstract object type has virtual methods, but no
     constructor (chief51*.pas)

   * `--maximum-field-alignment' does not apply to `packed' records

   * `ArcSin', `ArcCos'

   * trimming string relations as functions (`EQPad' etc.) (fjf873.pas)

   * new options `-W[no-]interface-file-name'

   * `SeekEOF' and `SeekEOLn' use `Input' implicitly when no file is
     given (fjf871.pas) (B)

   * tagging feature for `with' statements (tom6.pas)
     <200012022215.eB2MFD614424@wsinpa16.win.tue.nl> (Sun Pascal)

   * new option `--sun-pascal'

   * field names and array indices in initalizers are recognized
     (waldek5*.pas) (options `-W[no-]field-name-problem' removed, @)

   * object directives `published', `public' (both equivalent),
     `protected' (scope limited to object type and derived object
     types), `private' (scope limited to current unit/module)
     (fjf864*.pas) (options `-W[no-]object-directives' removed, @)

   * the operator precedence and associativity of `+' and `-' is now as
     defined in EP by default (and as in BP with `--borland-pascal')
     <Pine.LNX.4.44.0210251249500.6181-100000@duch.mimuw.edu.pl>
     (fjf863*.pas) (@)

   * `Integer (16)' etc. changed to `Integer attribute (Size = 16)'
     (works for integer and Boolean types) (fjf861.pas) (@)

   * types can have attributes (note: no preceding `;') (fjf860*.pas)

   * dynamic object methods (fjf859.pas) (B)

   * in `--borland-pascal' mode, `Assign' unconditionally
     (re-)initializes its file parameter (fjf858.pas) (B)

   * GPC doesn't use `gpm' files anymore (instead, each module has an
     implicit `MODULENAME-all.gpi' interface which is a regular `gpi'
     file)

   * make the program/module/unit finalizers non-public (`static' in C
     sense), omit them if easily possible

   * new options `-W[no-]parentheses' (fjf848*.pas)

   * non-`interface' modules with empty implementation part (pmod1.pas,
     fjf843.pas)

   * `maximum-field-alignment' and `[no-]field-widths' work as local
     compiler directives now (fjf842.pas)

   * dropped `{$debug-statement}' (should not be necessary anymore, now
     that debug info mostly works)

   * new options `--[no-]longjmp-all-nonlocal-labels'

   * object methods can have attributes (fjf826*.pas)

   * new attributes `iocritical' (fjf824*.pas), `ignorable'
     (fjf839*.pas) for routines

   * dropped computed `goto' (never worked for nonlocal `goto' into the
     main program, implementing it would be quite difficult, probably
     not worth it) (@)

   * new type `AnyFile' for parameters and pointer targets (fjf821*.pas)

   * `TimeStamp' is now a packed record (E)

   * Mac Pascal specific features are supported according to the
     dialect options (M)

   * `--interface-only' does not require `-S' or `-c' anymore (and does
     not create an object file)

   * `initialization', `finalization' (D)

   * `TimeZone' in `TimeStamp' counts seconds _east_ of UTC now (not
     west, as before) (datetimedemo.pas) (@)

   * `export FOO = all (...)' (fjf811*.pas)

   * new options `-W[no-]local-external' (implied by `-Wall')

   * type-casts are BP compatible now, in particular, value type-casts
     between ordinal and real or complex types don't work anymore (B)
     (@)

   * all non-ISO-7185 keywords can be used as identifiers (with two
     small exceptions) (fjf440.pas)

   * `pack-struct' does not imply bit-level packing anymore (only
     explicit `packed' records and arrays do) (@)

   * new options `--[no-]ignore-packed' (`--ignore-packed' is the
     default in BP mode) (fjf796*.pas) (B) (@)

   * new option `--maximum-field-alignment=N'

   * new options `{$[no-]pack-struct}' as a compiler directive

   * `attribute' for routines doesn't imply `forward' anymore (so you
     don't have to declare routines twice in a program or
     implementation part when setting the linker name or some other
     attribute) (@)

   * `static', `volatile' and `register' for variables and `inline' for
     routines are no prefix-directives anymore, but `attribute's (@)

   * combining several dialect options (such as `--extended-pascal
     --borland-pascal') doesn't work anymore (what should this mean,
     anyway? Combine the features, but also the warnings from
     both!?!?!?) (@)

   * `external' without `name' defaults to all-lowercase now (@)

   * `c', `c_language' and `asmname' are deprecated (@)

   * `external name 'foo'' (fjf780.pas), `external 'libname' name
     'foo'' (where `libname' is ignored) (B)

   * Mac Pascal directives `definec', `macro', `undefc', `ifc',
     `ifoptc', `elsec', `elifc', `endc', `errorc' (treated as
     equivalent to the corresponding existing ones) (M)

   * units without `implementation' part (M)

   * new options `--vax-pascal', `--mac-pascal'

   * attributes `const' for variables and `name' for variables,
     routines and modules; assembler names and module/unit file names
     can now be expressions (which must yield string constants)
     (fjf781*.pas, fjf809*.pas)

   * the utilities `gpidump' and `binobj' are installed with GPC (B)

   * new options `-W[no-]identifier-case',
     `-W[no-]identifier-case-local' (fjf751*.pas)

   * new compiler directive `$R foo', equivalent to `$L foo.resource'
     (B)

   * dropped `--[no-]borland-char-constants' (now simply coupled to
     dialect options) (@)

   * test suite: support progress messages (`TEST_RUN_FLAGS=-p' from
     the Makefile; `-p' in testgpc); see
     `http://fjf.gnu.de/misc/progress-messages.tar.gz'

   * `=' and `<>' comparisons of structures (arrays, records, ...)
     except strings and sets are forbidden now (@) (E)

   * irrelevant operands and arguments (e.g.: `foo in []'; `bar * []';
     `Im (baz)' if `baz' is of real type) are not necessarily evaluated
     anymore (which is allowed by the standard); instead, a warning is
     given if they have side-effects (@)

   * accept only one program, unit, module interface or implementation
     or a module interface and the implementation of the same module in
     one file; new options `--[no-]ignore-garbage-after-dot'
     (fjf735*.pas) (@)

   * new options `-W[no-]implicit-io' (fjf734*.pas)

   * new options `--enable-keyword', `--disable-keyword' (fjf733*.pas)

   * `CBoolean' (fjf727.pas)

   * dropped the usage of `GetMem' as a function with one parameter
     (only the BP compatible usage as a procedure with two parameters
     remains) (@)

   * accessing the variable `FileMode' now requires using the `GPC'
     (or, for BP compatibility, the `System') unit (@)

   * `DupHandle'

   * dropped the predefined dialect symbols `__CLASSIC_PASCAL__',
     `__STANDARD_PASCAL__', `__EXTENDED_PASCAL__', `__OBJECT_PASCAL__',
     `__UCSD_PASCAL__', `__BORLAND_PASCAL__', `__DELPHI__',
     `__PASCAL_SC__' and `__GNU_PASCAL__' (one can use `{$ifopt
     borland-pascal}' etc. instead) (@)

   * `Succ', `Pred', `Inc', `Dec' for real numbers (fjf714*.pas)

   * use environment variables `GPC_UNIT_PATH', `GPC_OBJECT_PATH'

   * new options `-W[no-]float-equal'

   * new option `--ucsd-pascal'

   * dropped the syntax `type foo = procedure (Integer, Real)' (i.e.,
     without parameter names) (@)

   * CRT: new argument `On' to `CRTSavePreviousScreen'

   * `SetUserID', `SetGroupID'

   * `HeapChecking'

   * new built-in procedure `Assert'; new options `--[no]-assert' (also
     `{$C+}', `{$C-}' for Delphi compatibility) (fjf665*.pas) (D)

   * `ProcessGroup'

   * StringUtils: `QuoteEnum'

   * `CurrentRoutineName' (fjf752.pas)

   * TFDD: new unit

   * gpc-run: new options `-e FILE' and `-E FILE' (redirect/append
     standard error)

Have fun,

The GNU Pascal Development Team

