[Visualpython-users] Visual 5.0 release candidate now available

[Bruce S. <Bru...@nc...>]

At vpython.org there is now available the Visual 5.0 release candidate 
for Windows, Intel Mac 10.5, and Linux. A version for PowerPC Mac is 
forthcoming. The Mac version does not use X11 nor depend on Fink.

This new version has been tested against a sizable suite of existing 
programs, but it is likely that wider use will identify bugs to be 
fixed, so please report problems you may encounter.

There remains a major component to be completed, which David Scherer is 
working on. There are various significant problems with IDLE, with 
particularly serious issues on the Mac (in fact, the MacPython IDLE has 
major mouse handling problems, which you can sometimes overcome by 
clicking in the title bar, and it doesn't even offer a configuration 
menu option for IDLE). If you find problems with IDLE, as you will at 
the very least on the Mac, you need not report them, as this is being 
worked on.

Visual 5.0 was created by David Scherer and Bruce Sherwood. Jonathan 
Brandmeyer provided support in Visual 4beta for opacity, local lighting, 
and textures, and made some important architectural changes, but had to 
stop work on the project before it was completed.  Further development 
has led to API changes which are incompatible with the Visual 4beta 
release, so this release is called version 5 instead of 4.

The late Arthur Siegel implemented dependence on the currently supported 
numpy library in place of Numeric, which is no longer supported. Hugh 
Fisher provided a big start on the native-mode Mac version. Michael 
Temkine fixed some bugs and implemented keyboard handling for Windows.

Previous to Visual 4beta, Jonathan Brandmeyer made several major 
contributions to Visual 3, including changing the connection between 
Python and C++ from CXX, which was no longer supported, to the Boost C++ 
libraries, and implementing auto-configurable installations for Linux.