Corman Lisp 2.51 Release Notes
April 14, 2005

Corman Lisp 2.51 changes (since 2.5):

-Fixed a bug in hash-tables: CLRHASH and REMHASH now adjust the count correctly.

-The HASH-TABLE-COUNT is now set properly.

-Fixed a problem when SAVE-IMAGE is called when other threads are 
 active (such as in the IDE). Other threads are now suspended.

-Added check of *compiler-fold-constants* var when symbol constant is folded.

-Fixed a problem with %chars-to-float implementation (reading of floats).

-Fixed DEFSTRUCT to handle named structures of specified types (to generate a 
 predicate).

-Changed :encoding-func property to x86::encoding-func to conform to common 
 lisp standard.

-Converted projects to Visual Studio 2003.

-Fixed a bug in WRITE: print-escape works correctly with ';' in symbols.

-Fixed DEFINE-MODIFY-MACRO by using CMU implementation.

-Added ability to overwrite read-only files in the IDE.

-Added Windows DebugBreak() call to Win32 functions.

-Added support for :readably option to WRITE function.
 This provides ANSI compatibility and corrects an issue with 
 ct:TRANSCRIBE-FILE.

-Fixed a problem with ISQRT and certain bignums.

-Corrected the types of error conditions in many cases.

-Fixed a problem with TIME.

-Fixed a problem with UPGRADED-ARRAY-ELEMENT-TYPE.

-Fixed a problem with DEFMACRO, DESTRUCTURE-BIND.

-Fixed a problem with DEFPACKAGE.

-Added implementation of WITH-OPEN-STREAM.

-Manual syntax coloring now saves the current selection.

-Fixed a problem with DEFSETF long form.

-Fixed a problem with pretty-printing, having to do 
 with how the column position is retrieved when writing to a stream 
 other than the console.

-DECODE-UNIVERSAL-TIME now handles daylight time in a manner 
 consistent with other common lisp implementations (I couldn't understand 
 the standard) and the time zone does not include the adjustment for daylight 
 time.

-Fixed a problem with gc.lisp when the lisp heap grows--it will generate an 
 error rather than crashing if the reserve area is exceeded.

-If the array being allocated exceeeds the array size limit an error will be 
 thrown.

-Modified garbage collector to try to better handle cases where there are large 
 numbers of finalization objects.

-Fixed a bug in the FFI for handling of 16 bit signed and unsigned quantities.

-Added ability to see variable values displayed as a tooltip in the edit window.


Corman Lisp 2.5 includes:

-improved ANSI Common Lisp compatibility 
-enhanced IDE features
-defect fixes
-performance improvements
-threading synchronization improvements
-new library functions and macros
-rolls in all existing patches

These notes detail changes made since the Corman Lisp 2.01 release. Please
see the Corman Lisp 2.01 release notes for information regarding 2.01
changes (which are also included in this release).

This is a free upgrade to everyone who purchased a license for 
Corman Lisp 2.0, and is offered at a low upgrade price to 
registered owners of prior versions of Corman Lisp. 
Licensing details are the same as for previous versions.

IDE:

- Editor now supports automatic syntax colorization of Lisp code. The 
  implementation of this is in the file sys/edit-window.lisp and can
  be customized (even live while the editor is running).

- When the IDE exits, the state of all open windows (position, etc.) are
  saved. They are reopened in the same position when it is restarted. These
  options can be disabled in the Preferences dialog. In addition, the IDE
  screen position is saved and restored.

- Edit windows now show the whole file path in the title bar.

- Added Close All Documents command.

- New preferences for window saving, auto-colorization, pathname in title.

- Added Make Uppercase, Make Lowercase options to context menu popup
  (when text is selected in the editor and you righ-click).

- Context menu supports pretty-printing of selected text, which uses the
  XP pretty-printer library (with very nice results). You can use this for
  in-place formatting of selected lisp expressions.

- IDE now loads a lisp file correctly when double-clicked from the Windows
  Explorer.


Compiler and Kernel:

- A NIL block no longer implicitly wraps lambdas. This behavior was 
  inconsistent with ANSI, and allowed all sorts of non-portable code
  to creep in (the Corman Lisp libraries and example programs, for example).
  The behavior is now consistent with ANSI, and all Corman Lisp code has
  been corrected. If your code starts giving errors about "no NIL enclosing
  block" you probably need to convert (RETURN) to (RETURN-FROM <func-name>).

- Added compiler support for IGNORABLE declaration.

- Added compiler debug info to assembler (DEFASM) functions. This means
  you can see the name and arguments of assembly functions in a stack trace.

- Added synchronization objects to all packages.

- Added synchronization to all exported package functions. This fixed some
  occasional threading problems. Only one thread at a time can manipulate
  packages. This was sometimes resulting in messed up heaps.

- Added proper support for LOAD-TIME-VALUE. It is now 
  supported properly for LOAD, EVAL, COMPILE and COMPILE-FILE. 
  LOAD-IMAGE will not cause LOAD-TIME-VALUE to evaluate (I don't 
  believe it should).

- Improvements to DEFSTRUCT to improve COMPILE-FILE with structures.

- Removed warnings on unreferenced dispatching variables in CLOS methods.

- Improved performance of MAKE-ARRAY when :initial-contents 
  is a large list, and this greatly improves performance of reading long 
  literal strings.

- Fixed a code generation problem with BLOCK returns when used a parameter 
  to a function call.

- Fixed a code generation problem, where special declarations were not 
  properly shadowing lexical variable declarations.

- Added GROW-CODE-BUFFER implementation to assembler (to allow arbitrarily
  large assembler functions).

- Improved message when the package for a read symbol does not exist.

- Added CT:DUMP-C-STRUCT implementation, for dumping contents
  of foreign structures.

- Modified TRACE to work with methods and generic functions.

- Added some functions to assist reading/writing binary floats:
    CCL:WRITE-DOUBLE-FLOAT, CCL:READ-DOUBLE-FLOAT.

- Added COMPILE-FILE-PATHNAME implementation.

- CLOS class objects are now handled specially by COMPILE-FILE, 
  making the compiled code much smaller (and work correctly). 

- Fixed a bug in the compiler when multiple blocks with the same 
  name are used in a function.

- Foreign heap blocks with null pointers are no longer saved as size 0 
  blocks when the heap is written.

- Added code to heap loading code to allow for garbage collection to 
  occur.

- Increased the max number of jump table entries from #x4000 to #x8000.

- Increased the initial lisp heap size from 12 megs to 16 megs.

- Removed name on internal InitializationEvent--the name was
  causing it to be shared with other Corman Lisp processes (which
  caused problems if multiple instances were running).

- Kernel stringNode() now handles chars > 127 correctly, which
  means CT:C-STRING-TO-LISP-STRING handles them correctly.

- Added WIN:WITH-COM-INTERFACE macro.

- Cleaned up some places in the kernel that would occasionally hit an 
  unexpected debugger breakpoint.

Common Lisp:

- DEFSTRUCT: Included structure definitions are now considered 
  superclasses.

- Added LISTEN implementation.

- When DEFSTRUCT :include option is used, accessors are no longer generated 
  for included slots.

- DEFSTRUCT: supplied-p args are supported in BOA constructor functions.

- Fixed an order-of-evaluation inconsistency in SETF.

- Fixed problem with SETF and macros defined via MACROLET.

- PSETQ now always returns NIL, even if only one variable is set.

- GO tags can now be bignums.

- Added BOOLEAN type specifier.

- Backquoted expressions now print correctly.

- Fixed a problem with zero-length symbols.

- Fixed a problem with COERCE.

- Fixed a formatting problem in DESCRIBE with function argument.

- Fixed #. reader macro to respect *READ-EVAL*.

- Fixed a problem with parsing of floating point literals.

- Fixed a problem with strings separated by ~; in ~[ constructs (FORMAT).

- Included xp.lisp in the standard image. All pretty-printing now uses this
  (it permanently replaces the previous pretty-printer). This is the one 
  the ANSI standard was based on.

- New improved macro implementations: DEFSETF, DEFINE-SETF-EXPANDER, PUSH

- Added STRUCTURE-CLASS definition, and made it the metaclass of all
  structure classes.

- Added WITH-ACCESSORS implementation (Karsten Poeck).

- Added support for ~< ~> FORMAT directive.

- BIT-VECTORs with fill pointers now print correctly.

- Fixed DEFPACKAGE to work when a symbol is used as the package name.

- HANDLER-BIND now checks that valid types have been passed to it.

- ASSERT now handles the case with no places correctly.

- DEFSTRUCT handles doc string correctly.

- WITH-PACKAGE-ITERATOR now calls FIND-PACKAGE on each package in the list.


Enhancements and fixes from Frank Adrian:

- Improved DEFGENERIC macro.

- Updated MAKE-PACKAGE macro implementation.

- Replaced DEFPACKAGE macro implementation.

 
Enhancements and fixes from JP Massar:

- Fixed a problem with CASE, TYPECASE

- Rewritten CTYPECASE macro

- Improved (ANSI) MULTIPLE-VALUE-BIND macro

- Improved DEFUN-CALLBACK. It now puts an implicit named block around
  the code, and allows doc string and declarations.

- Corrected behavior of DEFUN when used with (SETF name).

- Improved code generated by win:DEFWINxxx macros.

- Added WITH-STANDARD-IO-SYNTAX implementation.

- Added compiler error for erroneous symbol declarations in 
  DO, DO*.

- Fixed READ to handle stream of t or nil correctly.

- GENSYM no longer increments before it is used.

- If a file is loaded with a pathname, a string is saved for 
  DB:FIND-SOURCE functionality.

- Enhancement to EVAL enhancement for handling of top-level PROGN 
  forms.

- Change to WITH-OPEN-FILE to avoid trying to close NIL.

- Enhanced directory functions CL::DIRECTORY-SUBDIRS, etc.

Modules/Libraries:

- Modified build script to list files as they are compiled from the console.

- "LOOP". "DESCRIBE", and "THREADS" packages are now loaded into default 
  image (no longer auto-loaded).

- New Registry functions added: WIN:REGISTRY-SET, WIN:REGISTRY-LOOKUP


GUI Library:

- MOstly rewritten, cleaned up. This version is not compatible (without
  some significant changes) with code written using the previous version.
  The changes were intended to support serious development on this framework
  going forward.

- Numerous enhancements. Commands are supported, and many event types.

- Status bars are supported.

- MDI-Example now uses edit windows and has a status bar and a menu, and
  accepts commands. It also has a functional Window menu.

- Updated example files. Added some new ones.

Code contributors (thanks!):

-JP Massar
-Frank Adrian
-Karsten Poeck
-Dave Richards
-Chris Double

and others...