PLT Scheme v200alpha9 available

[steck@ccs.neu.edu (Paul Steckler)]

This message announces the availability of PLT Scheme v200alpha9.  

THIS IS AN ALPHA RELEASE.

A new alpha release of DrScheme v200, alpha9, is available now from 

  http://download.plt-scheme.org/

There have been many bug fixes and small improvements since the alpha1 
release.  Those who have installed alpha1 are encouraged to download 
this new release.

For those who did not see the announcement of the alpha1 release, 
the following information may be helpful in deciding whether to 
download alpha9.

DrScheme v200alpha9 is incompatible with v103 in many ways:  
The teaching languages are slightly different; 
the stepper is not ready; and DrScheme has not been tested 
as thoroughly.  Teachers and students using DrScheme in 
coursework should wait for the final 200 release, expected soon.  
Others should upgrade with caution.

For those who can upgrade, however, v200alpha9 is likely to 
work significantly better than 103.  On the surface, DrScheme 
looks much as it did in version 103, but it tends to load 
programs faster, provide better error messages, and adapt 
more easily to new variants of Scheme.  Below the surface, 
v200 is organized around a new module system that simplifies 
many tasks, such as managing multi-file programs, developing 
syntactic extensions, compiling with mzc, and building 
stand-alone executables.

The improvements include: 

 - DrScheme now provides a fully-compliant R5RS language, 
    including hygienic macros.

 - New languages can be added to DrScheme easily.  See 
    the Tools manual for details.

 - The PLT Scheme language includes a new namespace-managing 
    `module' form (which complements the component-defining 
    `unit' form).

 - TeachPacks now support macro definitions (v103 TeachPacks 
    are not compatible with v200 DrScheme, however).

 - A Web server provides support for developing fast, interactive 
    servlets

 - DrScheme's GUI interface supports French, Spanish, German, 
    and Danish, as well as English

 - The space used for the Definitions and Interactions
    windows in DrScheme is interactively resizable.

 - Dorai Sitaram's Teach Youself Scheme in Fixnum Days is 
    included in the DrScheme documentation.

 - An online version checker makes sure the installed versions 
    of DrScheme and other packages are up-to-date.

DrScheme v200alpha9 is available for

 - Sparc Solaris 8
 - Linux (tar.gz and RPM formats)
 - Windows (95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP)

Please note that DrScheme v200alpha9 is not currently available 
for any Macintosh platform.  MzScheme v200alpha9 is available 
for Mac OS X, but not for Mac Classic OS.  Further support for
Mac OS X is in progress; the latest code is available from the
PLT CVS server.  See http://www.cs.utah.edu/plt/anoncvs/
for access details.	

Enjoy!

-- Paul Steckler

 ----------------------------------------------
| Paul Steckler                                |
| steck@ccs.neu.edu                            |
| "I'm the type-checker; I'm here to help you" |
 ---------------------------------------------