[jflex-announce] JFlex 1.4 released

[Gerwin K. <ls...@jf...>]

Hi all,

the long awaited version 1.4 of JFlex is out. Because of the long running 
prerelease versions it should be as stable as you are used to.

The most notable new features in 1.4 are:

* new, very fast minimization algorithm
* new --jlex option for strict compatibility to JLex
* support for even larger scanners (up to 64K DFA states)
* faster character classes
* new %apiprivate switch that causes all generated and skeleton 
  methods to be made private
* allow user defined javadoc class comments
* optional parameter to %eofclose: "%eofclose false" turns 
  off %eofclose if it was turned on previously (e.g. by %cup)
* some internal changes: jflex build script switched to ant, better
  integration with build tools and IDEs, change scheme for generated 
  names to comply with Java naming standard 

You can download JFlex 1.4 from any of the mirrors at:
http://www.jflex.de/mirrors.html

Changes from the latest prerelease 1.4_pre5 are minimal:

- new internal naming policy to conform with Java standard
- removed IOException from yyreset
- %eofclose false 
- no %eofclose for %cup in --jlex mode

The complete log of changes from 1.3.5 to 1.4 is attached at the end.

Happy scanning,
Gerwin


* Changes from JFlex 1.3.5 to JFlex 1.4 
- new, very fast minimization algorithm (also fixes memory issues)
- new --jlex option for strict compatibility to JLex. Currently it 
  changes %ignorecase to JLex semantics, that is, character classes 
  are interpreted in a caseless way, too.  
  (fixes bus #751757, %ignorecase ignored by char classes).
  Thanks to Edward D. Willink for spotting the incompatibility.
- support for even larger scanners (up to 64K DFA states).
  Thanks to Karin Vespoor.
- removed eclipse compiler warnings for generated classes
  (feature request #778747)
- implemented faster character classes (feature request #604589).
  Expressions like [a-z] | [A-Z] are interpreted as one atomic class
  [a-zA-Z], reducing NFA states and generation time significantly
  for some specifications. This affects the generation process only,
  generated scanners remain the same.
- new %apiprivate switch (feature request #513500/1) that causes all 
  generated and skeleton methods to be made private. Exceptions to this
  are user defined functions and the constructor. Thanks to Stephen 
  Ostermiller for the suggestion.
- allow user defined javadoc class comments (feature request #513500/2)
  If the user code section ends with a javadoc comment, JFlex takes this
  instead of the generated comment. Thanks to Stephen Ostermiller for 
  the suggestion.  
- fixed bug #491095 (undefined macros in complement expressions do 
  not throw exception in generator). Thanks to Stephen Ostermiller
  for the bug report.
- fixed bug #495422 (yypushStream/yypopStream in skeleton.nested 
  work as advertised)
- fixed bug #611118 (no wrong macro warnings on regexp negation)
- fixed bug #655528 (%cupsym now also affects %cupdebug)
  Thanks to Eric Schweitz for the fix.
- fixed bug #510010 (single-line %initthrow works now 
  in case of extra whitespace before newline)
- yyreset() does no longer close the associated reader (use yyclose() 
  explicitly for that). Makes some reader objects reusable (feature
  request #513492). Thanks to Stephen Ostermiller for the suggestion.  
- fixed modifier order in generated code, removes jikes compiler warnings
  Thanks to Michael Wildpaner for the fix.
- ant task now also works with ant >= 1.4 (fixes bug #526905)
- yyreset() does not declare an execption any more (fixes bug #913132)
- %cup does not include %eofclose in JLex mode (--jlex). (Fixes bug #910562)
- optional parameter to %eofclose: "%eofclose false" turns off %eofclose if 
  it was turned on previously (e.g. by %cup). (Fixes bug #910562)
- jflex build script switched to ant
- internal: central Options class for better integration with 
  build tools and IDEs
- internal: change naming scheme for generated internal variables from 
  yy_ to zz to comply with Java naming standard. Thanks to Max Gilead 
  for the patch.