[Announcement] Zero 2.0.5 published

[baltasarq]

        I send this message to this list because I think it could be 
of interest as Zero borrows some important properties from Self 
(such as the lack of classes). If you are not interested, please 
warn me. 
  
        In the system's web page,  
  
        http://trevinca.ei.uvigo.es/~jgarcia/TO/zero/  
  
        there are new packages for zero, the 2.0.5 version, this  
time for   
windows and   
for linux. However, the linux executables are dynamic ones. This  
means they   
are tied to libstdc++6-3.4.3.  
  
        What's Zero ?  
        =========  
  
        Zero is a simple, tiny object-oriented, prototype-based  
programming   
system   
which has been designed for education. Right now, the virtual  
machine, the   
assembler and the macroassembler are available.  
  
  
        Installation  
        =======  
  
        The install of Zero is very simple, and it doesn't affect  
the OS in   
which it   
lies: it is merely a matter of uncompressing the zip file in any new  
folder.   
Then, you should browse and follow the instructions in "readme.txt".  
  
        In order to uninstall, you do only need to erase the folder.  
  
        Web changes  
        ============  
  
        The web page has been extended with the following sections:  
How to   
contribute, Standard's Library capabilities manual, and Examples. In  
the   
first web page it is explained that you can specially contribute to  
Zero if   
you are a lecturer and want to use Zero in any subject related to  
object   
technology. Other ways of helping specially include creating  
programs with   
Zero and eventually find bugs, which will make the virtual machine  
even more   
stable. Those programs sent to the contact address will be published  
in the   
section of Examples. Last but not least, The Standard's Library  
capabilities   
manual explore the basic capabilities of the VM and explains them  
with tiny   
examples.  
  
        Aditions to Zero  
        ===========  
  
        Visual Zero  
        --------------  
        The windows zip file includes Visual Zero, as usual since  
version   
2.0.4: it   
is graphic user application able to show the execution of a Zero  
program step   
by step, like a debugger, as well as exploring the objects present  
in the   
system. It is a good tool for demonstrating system's work in the  
classroom,   
for example.  
  
        Structural reflection  
        -------------------------  
  
        Structural reflection is now available and complete, for  
attributes   
and   
methods.  
  
        The compiler has been inserted into the virtual machine. Now  
it is   
possible   
to create and modify new methods in execution time. For this, you  
only need   
to use the inherited methods addMethod() and compilteToMethod(),  
which are   
explained in the web page in detail.  
  
  
        Kind regards,  
  
                Baltasar  
  
--   
  
  
PBC -- J. Baltasar García Perez-Schofield  
jbgarcia en uvigo de es  http://webs.uvigo.es/jbgarcia/  
Dep. Informática, Universidad de Vigo, España (Spain)