[Visualpython-users] VPython for Python 2.2

[Bruce S. <ba...@an...>]

Today the final version of Python 2.2 was released. At vpython.org this is 
now the version supported for Windows, and we are working on bringing the 
Linux and Mac versions up to speed.

The new Windows version includes the new mouse and keyboard machinery (see 
the documentation), and zooming is now done with the middle button, making 
it possible to write programs which drag with the left button. (On the 
2-button mouse, the middle button is expressed by pressing both left and 
right buttons; on a 1-button mouse the middle button is expressed by 
holding down the CTRL key while holding the mouse button down.)

With the new version is a revised suite of demo programs that exploit the 
new mouse capabilities.

Note that with Python 2.2 you can put in your program the following 
statement:

	from __future__ import division

in which case 3/2 is 1.5 rather than truncated to 1. This is an important 
change for our physics students, who often trip over the truncation problem 
when doing scientific calculations. The intent of the Python developers is 
to make this behavior of division the default in Python 3.0, in the 
somewhat distant future.

Bruce Sherwood