Separate out the type/class-related news and reword some items.
Add news items about comparisons, repr(), __class__ assignment.
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 3691616..30e225f 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -1,7 +1,19 @@
What's New in Python 2.2a4?
===========================
-Core
+Type/class unification and new-style classes
+
+- pydoc and inspect are now aware of new-style classes;
+ e.g. help(list) at the interactive prompt now shows proper
+ documentation for all operations on list objects.
+
+- Applications using Jim Fulton's ExtensionClass module can now safely
+ be used with Python 2.2. In particular, Zope 2.4.1 now works with
+ Python 2.2 (as well as with Python 2.1.1). The Demo/metaclass
+ examples also work again. It is hoped that Gtk and Boost also work
+ with 2.2a4 and beyond. (If you can confirm this, please write
+ webmaster@python.org; if there are still problems, please open a bug
+ report on SourceForge.)
- property() now takes 4 keyword arguments: fget, fset, fdel and doc.
These map to readonly attributes 'fget', 'fset', 'fdel', and '__doc__'
@@ -9,6 +21,56 @@
discoverable from Python in 2.2a3. __doc__ is new, and allows to
associate a docstring with a property.
+- Comparison overloading is now more completely implemented. For
+ example, a str subclass instance can properly be compared to a str
+ instance, and it can properly overload comparison. Ditto for most
+ other built-in object types.
+
+- The repr() of new-style classes has changed; instead of <type
+ 'M.Foo'> a new-style class is now rendered as <class 'M.Foo'>,
+ *except* for built-in types, which are still rendered as <type
+ 'Foo'> (to avoid upsetting existing code that might parse or
+ otherwise rely on repr() of certain type objects).
+
+- The repr() of new-style objects is now always <Foo object at XXX>;
+ previously, it was sometimes <Foo instance at XXX>.
+
+- For new-style classes, what was previously called __getattr__ is now
+ called __getattribute__. This method, if defined, is called for
+ *every* attribute access. A new __getattr__ hook mor similar to the
+ one in classic classes is defined which is called only if regular
+ attribute access raises AttributeError; to catch *all* attribute
+ access, you can use __getattribute__ (for new-style classes). If
+ both are defined, __getattribute__ is called first, and if it raises
+ AttributeError, __getattr__ is called.
+
+- The __class__ attribute of new-style objects can be assigned to.
+ The new class must have the same C-level object layout as the old
+ class.
+
+- The builtin file type can be subclassed now. In the usual pattern,
+ "file" is the name of the builtin type, and file() is a new builtin
+ constructor, with the same signature as the builtin open() function.
+ file() is now the preferred way to open a file.
+
+- Previously, __new__ would only see sequential arguments passed to
+ the type in a constructor call; __init__ would see both sequential
+ and keyword arguments. This made no sense whatsoever any more, so
+ now both __new__ and __init__ see all arguments.
+
+- Previously, hash() applied to an instance of a subclass of str or
+ unicode always returned 0. This has been repaired.
+
+- Previously, an operation on an instance of a subclass of an
+ immutable type (int, long, float, complex, tuple, str, unicode),
+ where the subtype didn't override the operation (and so the
+ operation was handled by the builtin type), could return that
+ instance instead a value of the base type. For example, if s was of
+ a str sublass type, s[:] returned s as-is. Now it returns a str
+ with the same value as s.
+
+Core
+
- file.writelines() now accepts any iterable object producing strings.
- PyUnicode_FromEncodedObject() now works very much like
@@ -22,40 +84,6 @@
of a print statement must support Unicode objects, i.e. they must
at least convert them into ASCII strings.
-- The builtin file type can be subclassed now. In the usual pattern,
- "file" is the name of the builtin type, and file() is a new builtin
- constructor, with the same signature as the builtin open() function.
- file() is now the preferred way to open a file.
-
-- In 2.2a3, *for new-style classes only*, __getattr__ was called for
- every attribute access. This was confusing because it differed
- significantly from the behavior of classic classes, where it was
- only called for missing attributes. Now, __getattr__ is called only
- if regular attribute access raises AttributeError; to catch *all*
- attribute access, *for new-style classes only*, you can use
- __getattribute__. If both are defined, __getattribute__ is called
- first, and if it raises AttributeError, __getattr__ is called.
-
-- In 2.2a3, __new__ would only see sequential arguments passed to the
- type in a constructor call; __init__ would see both sequential and
- keyword arguments. This made no sense whatsoever any more, so
- now both __new__ and __init__ see all arguments.
-
-- In 2.2a3, hash() applied to an instance of a subclass of str or unicode
- always returned 0. This has been repaired.
-
-- In 2.2a3, an operation on an instance of a subclass of an immutable type
- (int, long, float, complex, tuple, str, unicode), where the subtype
- didn't override the operation (and so the operation was handled by the
- builtin type), could return that instance instead a value of the base
- type. For example, if s was of a str sublass type, s[:] returned s
- as-is. Now it returns a str with the same value as s.
-
-- Applications using Jim Fulton's ExtensionClass module can now safely
- be used with Python 2.2. In particular, Zope 2.4.1 now works with
- Python 2.2 (as well as with Python 2.1.1). The Demo/metaclass
- examples also work again.
-
- Thread scheduling on Solaris should be improved; it is no longer
necessary to insert a small sleep at the start of a thread in order
to let other runnable threads be scheduled.
@@ -102,10 +130,6 @@
Tool to a standard library package. (Tools/compiler still exists as
a sample driver.)
-- pydoc and inspect are now aware of new-style classes;
- e.g. help(list) at the interactive prompt now shows proper
- documentation for all operations on list objects.
-
Tools
Build