[racket-dev] Release Announcement for v5.1.1

The release announcement sketch that I have so far is below.  Please
mail me new items and/or other edits.

Still missing:

- Stephen: lazy racket news

- Casey: Redex news?

- James/Matthew: futures news?  (future semaphores, `future' in
  future, more ...)

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Racket version 5.1.1 is now available from

  http://racket-lang.org/

* The new `racket/stream' library provides `stream-first',
  `stream-rest', a lazy `stream-cons', and so on.  Streams are a
  subtype of sequences, so they work in `for' forms.  Some sequence
  generators, such as `in-range', now produce streams.  A
  `racket/sequence' library replaces the old `racket/stream'
  library.

* The new `racket/syntax' library contains facilities useful for
  writing macros; `syntax/srcloc' and `syntx/location' have been
  added for manipulating source locations.

* The new `ffi/file' library is useful for writing foreign library
  bindings that cooperate with Racket's security guard mechanism.

* The `racket/gui' library now supports multi-column list boxes and
  scrolling panels.

* Generators from the `racket/generator' library can now have formal
  arguments that are used when the generator is fired up.

* Single-precision floating-point number support is now enabled by
  default; single-precision floats print differently from their
  default double-precision counterparts, primitives to convert
  between or distinguish the two have been added, and reader syntax
  for single-precision specials is now available.

* JIT improvements include a small change to aid x86 branch
  prediction on function-call returns, which can speed up some
  programs significantly.

* Typed Racket:
  - the numeric tower has been entirely overhauled.  TR programs can
    now use more precise types than before, and check more numeric
    properties, such as sign or range properties.
  - fixnum optimizations have been improved and should apply more
    broadly.
  - The performance of the typechecker has been improved, in
    particular, dispatch on large union types should typecheck much
    faster than before.

* The "DrScheme" application (which simply ran DrRacket in the last
  few releases) has been removed.  The "MrEd" GUI executables for
  Windows and Mac OS X have also been removed, although the "mred"
  console executable remains for Unix and Mac OS X to support old
  scripts.

* PLaneT development links are now version-specific.

* Added `overlay/align', `underlay/align', `overlay/align/offset' and
  'underlay/align/offset' to the `2htdp/image' library.

* The Universe protocol of 5.1 and its predecessors are
  incompatible.

-- 
          ((lambda (x) (x x)) (lambda (x) (x x)))          Eli Barzilay:
                    http://barzilay.org/                   Maze is Life!