Add various items

Doc/whatsnew/2.6.rst

@@ -75,7 +75,23 @@ Python 3.0
 
 .. % XXX add general comment about Python 3.0 features in 2.6
 
-.. % XXX mention -3 switch
+The development cycle for Python 2.6 also saw the release of the first
+alphas of Python 3.0, and the development of 3.0 has influenced 
+a number of features in 2.6.
+
+Python 3.0 is a far-ranging redesign of Python that breaks
+compatibility with the 2.x series.  This means that existing Python
+code will need a certain amount of conversion in order to run on
+Python 3.0.  However, not all the changes in 3.0 necessarily break
+compatibility.  In cases where new features won't cause existing code
+to break, they've been backported to 2.6 and are described in this
+document in the appropriate place.  Some of the 3.0-derived features 
+are:
+
+* A :meth:`__complex__` method for converting objects to a complex number.
+* Alternate syntax for catching exceptions: ``except TypeError as exc``.
+* The addition of :func:`functools.reduce` as a synonym for the built-in
+  :func:`reduce` function.
 
 A new command-line switch, :option:`-3`, enables warnings
 about features that will be removed in Python 3.0.  You can run code
@@ -406,11 +422,6 @@ Other Language Changes
 
 Here are all of the changes that Python 2.6 makes to the core Python language.
 
-* Changes to the :class:`Exception` interface
-  as dictated by :pep:`352` continue to be made.  For 2.6, 
-  the :attr:`message` attribute is being deprecated in favor of the
-  :attr:`args` attribute.
-
 * When calling a function using the ``**`` syntax to provide keyword
   arguments, you are no longer required to use a Python dictionary;
   any mapping will now work::
@@ -426,8 +437,29 @@ Here are all of the changes that Python 2.6 makes to the core Python language.
 
   .. % Patch 1686487
 
+* The built-in types now have improved support for extended slicing syntax,
+  where various combinations of ``(start, stop, step)`` are supplied.
+  Previously, the support was partial and certain corner cases wouldn't work.
+  (Implemented by Thomas Wouters.)
+
+  .. % Revision 57619
+
+* C functions and methods that use 
+  :cfunc:`PyComplex_AsCComplex` will now accept arguments that 
+  have a :meth:`__complex__` method.  In particular, the functions in the 
+  :mod:`cmath` module will now accept objects with this method.
+  This is a backport of a Python 3.0 change.
+  (Contributed by Mark Dickinson.)
+
+  .. % Patch #1675423
+
+* Changes to the :class:`Exception` interface
+  as dictated by :pep:`352` continue to be made.  For 2.6, 
+  the :attr:`message` attribute is being deprecated in favor of the
+  :attr:`args` attribute.
+
 * The :func:`compile` built-in function now accepts keyword arguments
-  as well as positional parameters.  (Contributed by XXX.)
+  as well as positional parameters.  (Contributed by Thomas Wouters.)
 
   .. % Patch 1444529
 
@@ -487,17 +519,32 @@ complete list of changes, or look through the CVS logs for all the details.
   fieldnames)` is a factory function that creates subclasses of the standard tuple
   whose fields are accessible by name as well as index.  For example::
 
-     var_type = collections.NamedTuple('variable', 
-                  'id name type size')
-     var = var_type(1, 'frequency', 'int', 4)
-
-     print var[0], var.id		# Equivalent
-     print var[2], var.type          # Equivalent
+     >>> var_type = collections.NamedTuple('variable', 
+     ...             'id name type size')
+     # Names are separated by spaces or commas.
+     # 'id, name, type, size' would also work.
+     >>> var_type.__fields__
+     ('id', 'name', 'type', 'size')
+
+     >>> var = var_type(1, 'frequency', 'int', 4)
+     >>> print var[0], var.id		# Equivalent
+     1 1
+     >>> print var[2], var.type          # Equivalent
+     int int
+     >>> v2 = var.__replace__('name', 'amplitude')
+     >>> v2
+     variable(id=1, name='amplitude', type='int', size=4)
 
   (Contributed by Raymond Hettinger.)
 
+* The :mod:`ctypes` module now supports a :class:`c_bool` datatype 
+  that represents the C99 ``bool`` type.  (Contributed by David Remahl.)
+
+  .. % Patch 1649190
+
 * A new method in the :mod:`curses` module: for a window, :meth:`chgat` changes
-  the display characters for a  certain number of characters on a single line. ::
+  the display characters for a  certain number of characters on a single line.
+  ::
 
      # Boldface text starting at y=0,x=21 
      # and affecting the rest of the line.
@@ -505,11 +552,33 @@ complete list of changes, or look through the CVS logs for all the details.
 
   (Contributed by Fabian Kreutz.)
 
+* The :mod:`decimal` module was updated to version 1.66 of 
+  `the General Decimal Specification <http://www2.hursley.ibm.com/decimal/decarith.html>`__.  New features
+  include some methods for some basic mathematical functions such as
+  :meth:`exp` and :meth:`log10`::
+
+    >>> Decimal(1).exp()
+    Decimal("2.718281828459045235360287471")
+    >>> Decimal("2.7182818").ln()
+    Decimal("0.9999999895305022877376682436")
+    >>> Decimal(1000).log10()
+    Decimal("3")
+
+  (Implemented by Facundo Batista and Mark Dickinson.)
+
 * An optional ``timeout`` parameter was added to the
   :class:`ftplib.FTP` class constructor as well as the :meth:`connect`
   method, specifying a timeout measured in seconds.  (Added by Facundo
   Batista.)
 
+* The :func:`reduce` built-in function is also available in the 
+  :mod:`functools` module.  In Python 3.0, the built-in is dropped and it's
+  only available from :mod:`functools`; currently there are no plans
+  to drop the built-in in the 2.x series.  (Patched by 
+  Christian Heimes.)
+
+  .. % Patch 1739906
+
 * The :func:`glob.glob` function can now return Unicode filenames if 
   a Unicode path was used and Unicode filenames are matched within the directory.
 
@@ -548,7 +617,7 @@ complete list of changes, or look through the CVS logs for all the details.
 
   .. % Patch #1490190
 
-* The :func:`os.walk` function now has a "followlinks" parameter. If
+* The :func:`os.walk` function now has a ``followlinks`` parameter. If
   set to True, it will follow symlinks pointing to directories and
   visit the directory's contents.  For backward compatibility, the
   parameter's default value is false.  Note that the function can fall
@@ -574,10 +643,17 @@ complete list of changes, or look through the CVS logs for all the details.
 
   On Windows, :func:`os.path.expandvars` will now expand environment variables 
   in the form "%var%", and "~user" will be expanded into the 
-  user's home directory path.  (Contributed by XXX.)
+  user's home directory path.  (Contributed by Josiah Carlson.)
 
   .. % Patch 957650
 
+* The Python debugger provided by the :mod:`pdb` module 
+  gained a new command: "run" restarts the Python program being debugged,
+  and can optionally take new command-line arguments for the program.
+  (Contributed by Rocky Bernstein.)
+
+  .. % Patch #1393667
+
 * New functions in the :mod:`posix` module: :func:`chflags` and :func:`lchflags`
   are wrappers for the corresponding system calls (where they're available).
   Constants for the flag values are defined in the :mod:`stat` module; some
@@ -701,6 +777,17 @@ complete list of changes, or look through the CVS logs for all the details.
 
   (Added by Facundo Batista.) 
 
+* The XML-RPC classes :class:`SimpleXMLRPCServer` and :class:`DocXMLRPCServer`
+  classes can now be preventing from immediately opening and binding to
+  their socket by passing True as the ``bind_and_activate``
+  constructor parameter.  This can be used to modify the instance's
+  :attr:`allow_reuse_address` attribute before calling the 
+  :meth:`server_bind` and :meth:`server_activate` methods to 
+  open the socket and begin listening for connections.
+  (Contributed by Peter Parente.)
+
+  .. % Patch 1599845
+
 .. % ======================================================================
 .. % whole new modules get described in \subsections here
 
@@ -712,7 +799,7 @@ Build and C API Changes
 
 Changes to Python's build process and to the C API include:
 
-* Detailed changes are listed here.
+* Detailed changes will be listed here.
 
 .. % ======================================================================
 
@@ -737,7 +824,7 @@ are likely to be underestimates.
 
 Some of the more notable changes are:
 
-* Details go here.
+* Details will go here.
 
 .. % ======================================================================