[racket-dev] drafting the v5.1 release announcement

At Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:49:37 -0600, Robby Findler wrote:
> I think there are a non-trival number of people who deal with snips to
> process student submissions that it is worth an extra line or two

Ok, but let's make it a separate (later) bullet.

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Racket version 5.1 is now available from

  http://racket-lang.org/

The most significant change in version 5.1 is a rewrite of the GUI
library:

 http://blog.racket-lang.org/2010/12/racket-version-5.html

Unix/X users will see the biggest difference with this change, because
DrRacket and all Racket GUI programs now take on the desktop theme for
menus, buttons, and other GUI widgets.

In the long run, Racket GUI programs on all platforms will improve as a
result of the library rewrite. In the short run, beware that this first
release of a new library will inevitably include a new set of bugs.

Version 5.1 changes in more detail:

 * The `racket/draw' library --- which implements the drawing half the
   GUI toolkit --- can be used independent of the `racket/gui/base'
   library and without a graphics display (e.g., without an X11
   connection).

   The new library has one small incompatibility with the old GUI
   toolbox: 'xor drawing is no longer supported. The new library has
   many additional features: rotation and general affine
   transformations, PDF and SVG drawing contexts, gradients, and
   alpha-channel bitmaps.

 * The GRacket executable is no longer strictly necessary for running
   GUI programs, because the `racket/gui/base' library can be used from
   Racket. To the degree that a platform distinguishes GUI and console
   applications, however, the GRacket executable still offers some
   additional GUI-specific functionality (e.g., single-instance
   support).

   The new `racket/gui/base' library includes small incompatibilities
   with the old GUI toolbox: the `send-event',
   `current-ps-afm-file-paths', and `current-ps-cmap-file-paths'
   functions have been removed. The `racket/gui/base' library
   re-exports `racket/draw', so it includes the same drawing
   functionality as before (except for 'xor drawing).

 * The new `racket/snip' library can be used independently of
   `racket/gui/base' to work with graphical editor content (e.g.,
   images in student programs). Like `racket/draw', the `racket/snip'
   library is re-exported by `racket/gui/base'.

 * The Web Server includes a backwards incompatible change that
   prevents X-expressions and lists of bytes from being directly
   returned from servlets. This change will increase performance for
   those types of responses and allow easier experimentation with
   response types. Please see "collects/web-server/compat/0/README" in
   the installation to learn about porting your servlets
   forward. Don't worry. It's easy.

 * The new `raco demodularize' tool collapses a module's dependencies
   into a single module comprising the whole program.  This
   transformation currently provides no performance improvement, but
   is the basis for cross-module optimization and dead-code
   elimination tools to come. The transformation is currently useful
   for static analysis of whole Racket programs.

 * The picturing-programs teachpack, formerly installed via PLaneT, is
   now bundled with the standard distribution. Use the teachpack with
   `(require picturing-programs)' instead of `(require
   installed-teachpacks/picturing-programs)'. The old PLaneT-based
   installation procedure still works, but it now merely installs a
   stub that invokes the bundled version.

 * Slideshow picts, `racket/draw' bitmaps, and images created with
   `2htdp/image' can now be used directly in Scribble documents. More
   generally, the new `file/convertible' protocol enables any value
   that is convertible to a PNG and/or PDF stream to be used as an
   image in a Scribble document.

 * The Same game sports a new look and an improved scoring system. 
   (The current known high score is 12,429; can you beat that?)