New in 3.6.0
- Core
  + Class.add_vtable_override now allows you to overwrite an override
  + Integers, floats and strings can now be stored in lexical variables.
    Previously, only PMCs could be stored in lexicals.
  + VTABLE_substr has been removed. VTABLE_substr_str has been renamed to
    VTABLE_substr
  + Added a new PackfileView PMC type, an intended replacement for the deprecated
    Eval PMC.
  + The is_integer vtable on the String PMC now works for all string encodings.
  + Unicode error messages on Win32 now work correctly.
  + A memory leak in IMCC was fixed.
- Languages
  + The snaphost of Winxed included with Parrot was updated to version 1.0.0
  + Winxed has migrated to Github: https://github.com/NotFound/winxed

New in 3.5.0
- Core
  + Parrot_PMC_destroy, Parrot_PMC_mark and Parrot_PMC_invoke were removed from
    the public extension API.
  + PAST now has PAST::Stmt node types, supports reusable temporary registers.
  + Test coverage of the embedding and extending interface is now at least 95%.
  + A snapshot of Winxed is now included in Parrot core to facilitate writing
    core Parrot tools from a higher level language than PIR.
- Languages
  + Winxed
    - Improved compile time scope search.
    - Added 'using namespace' statement.
    - Compiler classes and functions now live in the Winxed;Compiler namespace.
- Tests
  + The Parrot test suite harness now understands the HARNESS_TIMER environment
    variable. Setting it to a true value will show timing results for a test run.
  + IPv6 tests are now parallel testing friendly.

New in 3.4.0
- Core
  + The Generational Mark and Sweep garbage collector is the new default.
  + The --gc-nursery-size command line argument was added.
  + Parrot now gets entropy from the underlying OS.
  + The NCI subsystem now supports 8, 16, 32 and 64 bit integers.
  + The NCI subsystem now supports "long long" and "long double" signatures.
    Not all platforms/compilers support these non-standard types, so developers
    are cautioned to take note that using them reduces portability.
  + Many more OpenGL functions in the Parrot OpenGL bindings are available,
    which required the above-mentioned signatures.
  + Bytecode-related embedding api functions moved to src/embed/bytecode.c.
- Languages
  + Winxed
    - Use 'using extern' for module imports.
    - Improved stage 0 prefix ++ and -- operators.
    - Allow 'null' in conditional operator.
    - Several examples are updated.
- Community
  + Google Summer of Code Bonding period is going well. Students are mostly done
    with their classes and much code will flow soon.
- Documentation
  + More PCT introductions are available at: http://github.com/benabik/cish

New in 3.3.0
- Core
  + The isa and isa_pmc vtables can now be overridden from PIR
  + IMCC has a new improved external interface
  + A new IMCCompiler PMC adds prototype PDD31-alike functionality for the PIR and PASM compilers
  + New --with-llvm option to Configure.pl, which will link to LLVM if it is available
- Community
  + Parrot Virtual Machine was accepted into Google Summer of Code 2011
- Ecosystem
  + Rosella adds a stable "Event" library to implement a publish/subscribe mechanism
- Tests
  + The test coverage of the extend_vtable subsystem was greatly increased

New in 3.2.0
- Core
  + Full support for Unicode filenames on Linux and Win32
  + The configuration option --cxx is gone
  + New Generational GC implemented. To enable it run Configure.pl --gc=gms
  + Now op definitions are semantically parsed. It opens possibilities for
    future optimizations of parrot core.
  + A statement convert the '.param' PIR systax
  + A PMC is implemented for low-level buffer access which separate the
    representation from the pointers
  + Support added for 'long double', 'long long', and 64-bit to StructView
  + In math.h are tools available for Inf/NaN
  + Signature PMCs are used pervasively
- Languages
  + A few tests in Cardinal are fixed
  + A binary .dmg is created of Rakudo Star for OS X
  + Winxed
    - Minor fixes, refactors and cleaning
    - New predefs replace, push and provide a way to access multiple return
      values
    - Operators exits, class and .* (indirect method call) added
    - $loadlib directive
    - -o option to installable driver added
    - Indent generated PIR is added to improve clarity and avoid imcc pitfalls
      with non indented sub bodys
- Community
  + M0 roadmap is in progress
- Documentation
  + 'make docs' target, which was serving only to generate superfluous POD
    files, has been removed.
  + Svn remnants from PDDs are removed
- Tests
  + Added 'make release_check' target so that Release Manager can double-check
    tarball
  + Probes added for 'long long' and 64-bit C types
- Rosella (https://github.com/Whiteknight/Rosella)
  Rosella is a collection of tools and building blocks for Parrot
  + A working proxy library is created, that make mostly-transparent custom
    proxies for many types of Parrot PMCs
  + A mockobject testing library is created, using the new proxy library
  + The PLA test suite is updated to use the new Rosella testing tools,
    including the new mockobjects to test callbacks

New in 3.1.0
- Core
  + Exception PMCs are now subclassable from PIR
  + IPv6 is now supported and tested
  + Added Parrot_ext_try function to extend API (experimental), to allow
    implementation of try .. catch construct in C extensions.
  + We now have a YAML library called YAML::Tiny, a port of YAML::Tiny from Perl 5
  + Deprecated/experimental features are now stored in api.yaml in an easy-to-parse
    format, which will allow automated tools easy access to this data. This replaces
    DEPRECATED.pod, which no longer exists.
  + Improved GC latency
  + Improved GC performance on low-memory systems
  + Improved packfile annotation lookup complexity
  + Removal of unused code and SVN based code
- NQP
  + A repository for a new NQP version which has a new object model is
    created at http://github.com/perl6/nqp
- Languages
  + Cardinal (Ruby on Parrot) now compiles and passes it's test suite on master
    and is looking for developers : https://github.com/parrot/cardinal
  + Cardinal can send smoke reports with "rake smoke" or "parrot setup.pir smoke"
  + Jaspers, an implementation of Javascript on Parrot, now has a Github repo
    and is looking for developers: https://github.com/leto/jaspers
- Community
  + The following Parrot Google Code-In students were grand prize winners:
    Fernando Brito, Brazil       David Czech, Canada
    Nolan Lum, United States     Matt Rajca, United States
    Tony Young, New Zealand      Daniel Kang, United States
    We are very proud of them for their fine work and congratulate
    them for achieving top finalist status! For more info, see:
    http://google-opensource.blogspot.com/2011/02/google-code-in-grand-prize-winners.html
- Documentation
  + Many new Parrot-related terms were added to docs/glossary.pod
  + Removal of most remaining references to SVN
  + Internal project documentation is included in html output
- Tests
  + Test suite now passes on NetBSD 5.1
  + Test coverage increased greatly for the Embed/Extend subsystem,
    thanks to a TPF grant:
    http://leto.net/dukeleto.pl/2011/01/parrot-embed-grant-update-2.html

New in 3.0.0
- Core
  + A new embedding API is available in "parrot/api.h" and documented in
    docs/pdd/pdd10_embedding.pod .
  + Packfile PMCs were refactored and can now be used to produce runnable bytecode.
  + Packfile manipulation code now throws embedder-friendly exceptions rather
    than printing error details directly to stderr.
  + Unicode support for file IO, environment variables, program names, and
    command-line parameters was improved.
  + An experimental gdb pretty-printers in tools/dev for Parrot STRINGs and
    PMCs is now available.  (gdb 7.2 or later and Python are required)
  + c2str.pl and pmc2c.pl improvements result in a noticably faster build.
  + Bugs in our Digest::sha256 library and bit-related dynamic ops were fixed
    by GCI student Nolan Lum. Both now work correctly on 32 and 64 bit systems.
- Languages
  + Ωη;)XD - OMeta for Winxed https://github.com/plobsing/ohm-eta-wink-kzd
- Community
  + tree-optimization by GSoC student Tyler L. Curtis joined the nest and now
    lives at http://github.com/parrot/tree-optimization .
  + Plumage now lives at http://github.com/parrot/plumage and is installable.
  + Christmas proceeded as scheduled.  The Parrot team does not take credit for
    this event.
- Documentation
  + HTML documentation generation has been rewritten and greatly simplified.
  + We have improved documentation in docs/project/git_workflow.pod about
    keeping a fork of parrot.git in sync.
  + Translations of our README in various languages are now in the
    docs/translation directory, thanks to Google Code-In students.
- Tests
  + A better way to write "todo" tests with Parrot's Test::More was implemented
    by GCI student Fernando Brito.
  + Major increases in test coverage of many core PMCs, dynamic PMCs and
    dynamic opcodes resulted from GCI and the interpid students it attracted.
  + Jonathan "Duke" Leto set up Debian Linux x86_64 and sparc32 smokers
    in the GCC Compile Farm, which continually submit smoke reports with
    a variety of configuration options and compilers.  Thanks, GCC!
  + Makefile dependency checking is now automatically tested, resulting in a
    more reliable parallel build.
  + Coverage tests were improved for platforms with and without Devel::Cover.

New in 2.11.0
- Core
 + Just In Time native call frame generation using LibFFI
 + PIR op find_codepoint is no longer experimental, it is now supported
 + Several public functions in libparrot have been brought up to standard
   naming conventions.
 + Improved linked-list implementation in GC
 + set_addr opcode is being replaced with the new set_label opcode in core libraries
 + Removed deprecated CodeString PMC
 + Added close, is_closed, read, readline methods to Socket
 + Added experimental MappedByteArray PMC type
 + Added Parrot_warn_experimental, to warn the user about experimental features
 + Code for frontend executables moved from src/ to frontend/
 + Support for chunked receive in LWP library.
 + Added a "quickcover" make target
- Languages
 + PIRC
   - left the nest and is currently at https://github.com/parrot/pirc/
 + Community
   - Our README was translated into the following languages
    by Google Code-In students and mentors:
        Polish      README.polski
        Spanish     README.espanol
        German      README.deutsch
- Documentation
- Tests
 + Test coverage increase on PMCs: String, Integer, NameSpace, Complex, EventHandler
 + 'make quickcover' target added to speed up most essential
    parts of coverage analysis
 + 'tools/dev/headerizer.pl' refactored to improve maintainability
    (no change in functionality)

New in 2.10.0
- Core
 + We are on github now! https://github.com/parrot/parrot
 + Configure, build and test subsystems were made Git-aware
 + New parrot_config key 'osvers' which contains
   Operating System Version information
 + Updated to the latest nqp-rx
 + A proper exception is now thrown on IO read errors
 + Garbage Collector optimizations and memory leak fixes
 + Deprecated charset ops were removed
 + Configure system learned to detect IPv6
 + The mk_language_shell and create_language scripts have not yet been
   ported to Git.
- Documentation
 + How To Use Git to work on Parrot
    https://github.com/parrot/parrot/blob/master/docs/project/git_workflow.pod
 + Git Terminology
    https://github.com/parrot/parrot/blob/master/docs/project/git_terminology.pod
- Platforms
- Testing
 + Increased coverage on: String, FixedBooleanArray, PMCProxy, LexPad
- Community
 + Macports portfile updated to 2.6.0
 + A Fedora package for PL/Parrot ( postgresql-plparrot ) was created
   This package allows you to write stored procedures for PostgreSQL in
   PIR or Rakudo Perl 6     http://pl.parrot.org
 + Parrot Foundation is teaming up with The Perl Foundation and taking
   part in Google Code-In 2010. Learn about it and how to get involved here:

   http://trac.parrot.org/parrot/wiki/GoogleCodeIn2010Tasks

   http://leto.net/perl/2010/11/parrot-foundation-the-perl-foundation-google-code-in.html


New in 2.9.1
 - This is a bugfix release.  If you run out of memory on a box with < 512 MB physical RAM, please report it to us.

New in 2.9.0
- Core
  + Parrot and Rakudo's build and tests can now be run under the profiling runcore
  + IPv6 is now detected, laying the groundwork for future networking improvements
  + mk_language_shell.pl and create_language.pl no longer require an installed parrot
  + String PMC's 'reverse' method is now faster and supports all encodings
  + improvements and simplifications in internal string processing
  + Added API for adding STRINGs to the gc root set
  + Speed up ord, substr, index and string comparison opcodes
- Testing
  + "make smoke" supports parallel testing by honoring TEST_JOBS
  + Added tests for Socket PMC, StringBuilder PMC, ByteBuffer PMC,
    mk_language_shell.pl, create_language.pl
  + Fixed "Configure.pl" about missing tests
  + Parrot and Rakudo Perl 6 now have access to the GCC Compile Farm
  + Testing on Darwin/PPC
- Git Migration
  + Most developer tools have been ported to Git
  + Majority of developer docs have been written for Git
- Platforms
  + Parrot can now be built on Minix

New in 2.8.0
- Core
  + Inlined hashing and comparison functions
  + Hash memory allocation moved from system malloc to lazy allocated
  + Avoided infinite catching of exceptions while dying from exception
  + Some svn fixes
  + Added a check for duplicate vtable entries in PMCs
  + Building Parrot with Perl 5.12 and gcc-4.5 / g++-4.5
  + Eliminated cruft left over after dynops_mapping
  + Improved charset and string encoding
  + Better organisation of programs by reposition it to "tools/build" and "tools/release"
  + Implemented Exception clone vtable function
  + Added experimental function Parrot_getpid and getpid method
  + --gc-threshold command line argument added, which controls the % of memory wasted by the GC
  + Closed a lot of tickets
- Testing
  + Added more core pmc tests
  + Rearranged some tests with C coverage
  + We now have Smolder back, at http://smolder.parrot.org . Submit reports with "make smoke"
  + skip_all implementation in Parrot's Test::More completed
- GitMigration
  + Set up a test site for github trac plugin at http://mksig.org/trac/
  + Code of Trac plugin at github is on http://github.com/cotto/github-trac
  + Parrot is now mirrored on github at http://github.com/parrot/parrot
- Compilers
  + Fixed problem with imcc HLL in load_bytecode difference between loading a pbc and compiling a pir

New in 2.7.0
- Core
  + cleanups in packfile and freeze/thaw handling
  + Hash optimizations that improve HLL startup and run time
  + As always, many bug fixes and other optimizations
- Runtime
  + some runtime library cleanups
- Testing
  + added more tests to improve coverage
  + new codingstd test for documentation in .pmc files
- Documentation
  + added documentation to .pmc files (some still missing but headers in place)
  + general documentation improvements and bringing up-to-date
- NQP-rx
  + Updated version included from http://github.com/perl6/nqp-rx includes
    speed improvements

New in 2.6.0
- Core
  + Plug some memory leaks
  + As always, bug fixes and some optimizations
- Runtime
  + added (experimental) URI::Escape
- Testing
  + Improved test coverage of core parrot
- Documentation
  + Updated the Squaak tutorial to use modern NQP-rx and PCT
- Platforms
  + The Fedora package 'parrot-devel' install the files for syntax-highlighting
    and automatic indenting for the vim editor
- NQP-rx
  + Updated version included from http://github.com/perl6/nqp-rx includes
    new or improved: regex backtracking, named assertions, interactive mode,
    and setting (a minimal but useful runtime library)

New in 2.5.0
- Core
  + Added ByteBuffer PMC to allow direct byte manipulation
  + Modified some PMC vtable functions to reduce complexity, simplifying coverage.
  + Modified PAST to generate symbolic PASM constants in PIR output.
  + General STRING API cleanups
  + Increased test coverage of core PMCs
  + Fixed up 'exit' opcode, added CONTROL_EXIT exception type.
  + Experimental 'unroll' opcode renamed to 'finalize'
- NQP-rx
  + Added proper support for multisubs and multimethods
  + Fixed sigspace handling ** quantifier in regexes
  + Added \e strings
  + Added use of inversion lists for charclass lists in regexes
- Platforms
  + EPEL (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux) packages for RHEL6.beta are available
- Begin moving towards Lorito, the ops refactor to enable pervasive self-hosting and JIT compilation.
  + All ops are now built with the self-hosted opsc compiler.
  + For more Information about Lorito see:
      http://trac.parrot.org/parrot/wiki/Lorito
      http://trac.parrot.org/parrot/wiki/LoritoRoadmap

New in 2.4.0
- Core
  + Various long-standing bugs in IMCC were fixed
  + STRINGs are now immutable.
  + use STRINGNULL instead of NULL when working with strings
  + Fixed storage of methods in the NameSpace PMC
  + Added :nsentry flag to force method to be stored in the NameSpace
  + Added StringBuilder and PackfileDebug PMCs
  + Added experimental opcodes find_codepoint and unroll
- Compilers
  + Fixed reporting of line numbers in IMCC
  + Removed deprecated NQP compiler, replaced with new NQP-RX
  + Removed NCIGen compiler
- Deprecations
  + Tools to distribute on CPAN were removed
  + Deprecated dynpmcs have been removed to external repositories
  + Removed RetContinuation PMC
  + Removed CGoto, CGP, and Switch runcores
- Tests
  + Many tests for the extend/embed interface were added
  + done_testing() is now implemented in Test::More
- Tools
  + The fakexecutable tapir is renamed parrot-prove
  + Performance fixes to the pbc_to_exe tool
  + Fix data_json to work outside of trunk
  + The dynpmc GzipHandle (zlib wrapper) was added
  + The library Archive/Tar.pir was added.
  + The library Archive/Zip.pir was added.
  + The libraries LWP.pir, HTTP/Message.pir & URI.pir were added.
- Miscellaneous
  + Six Parrot-related projects accepted to GSoC
  + Improve use of const and other compiler hints

New in 2.3.0
- Core
  + Allow passing parameters to the dynamic linker ('dlopen' improved)
  + loadlib opcode added
  + Calling conventions are now much more consistent, and follows natural
    semantics of handling arguments and return values
  + Recursive make for src/dynpmc removed
  + Datatype STRINGNULL for a single Null STRING added
  + config_lib.pasm replaced with config_lib.pir
- Platforms
  + Improved handling of new compilers
  + Cygwin packages will be updated again with Parrot releases
  + Fedora packages add desktop files
  + gzip and bzip2 compressed tar files for releases
- Tools
  + tapir executable added; tapir is a TAP test harness
  + Added TAP options --merge --ignore-exit
- Miscellaneous
  + 3 month cycle for supported releases
  + Review and vote of GSoC applications

New in 2.2.0
- Core changes
  + Most internal allocations now use the GC
  + RNG non-randomnes fixes
  + Elimination of much dead code
- API changes
  + PMCs can now be initialized from an int
  + Many legacy ops are removed
- Platforms
  + Sun cc and Intel icc support have been restored
  + Compiler invocation no longer goes through a Perl script
- Tools
  + NCI thunks are now generated by self-hosted PIR code

New in 2.1.0
- Core changes
  + GC performance and encapsulation were greatly improved.
  + PMC freeze refactored.
  + More Makefile and build improvements.
- API Changes
  + The Array PMC was removed.
  + Several deprecated vtables were removed.
  + The OrderedHash PMC was substantialy improved.
- Platforms
  + Packaging improvements on some operating systems.
- Tools
  + Some cases in pbc_merge are now handled.
  + Improvements were made to the dependency checker.
  + New tool nativecall.pir added.

New in 2.0.0
- Features
  + Context PMCs now support attribute-based introspection
  + Context and CallSignature PMCs merged into CallContext
  + .lex directive throws exceptions when used with incorrect register types
- Platforms
  + Packaging improved for free OS distributions
  + PPC, PPC64, and ARM now tested when running Linux
- Performance
  + Minor improvements to the profiling runcore
  + Improvements from the CallContext PMC merge
- New deprecations
  + In/out parameters in STRING modification functions
  + Void handling in NCI signatures
  + Parameter passing opcodes order in PBC
- Tests
  + Continued migration of core tests from Perl 5 to PIR
- Tools
  + dependency checker improved
- Miscellaneous
  + Deprecation cycle length changed to three months from six
  + GC accuracy improved
  + PMC freeze improvements; much more reliable
  + Makefile improvements for dependency handling

New in 1.9.0
- Core
  + Made profiling runcore output format configurable and extensible
    options include "pprof" and "none" ("binary" and "callgrind" are planned)
  + Added environment variables to specify profiling output type and filename
    (PARROT_PROFILING_OUTPUT and PARROT_PROFILING_FILENAME)
  + Began merging Freeze/Thaw and Bytecode generator/loader
- Compilers
  + Included latest nqp-rx compiler, with many improvements
    - GLOBAL:: package identifier
    - dynamic variables look in global namespace
    - $obj."$method" syntax
    - :p(os) and :c(ontinue) option on regexes
    - try/CATCH/CONTROL handling
    - support leading & on subroutine declarations
    - allow "category:<symbol>" names (for builtin operators)
    - simple version of smartmatch operator
    - simple regex matches
    - updated HLL::Compiler with new import/export methods
- Miscellaneous
  + Portability updates for RTEMS, and Intel architectures with GNU compilers
  + Completed conversion of ticket tracking system from RT to Trac
  + New draft of PDD31 for HLL export API and import implementation
  + Several (build time, runtime) performance improvements
  + Converted many tests to PIR, reducing test execution time
  + Various bugfixes, code cleanups, and coding standard fixes

New in 1.8.0
- Functionality
  + The FileHandle PMC now exposes the exit code of child process that was run as pipe.
  + Experimental support for overriding VTABLE invoke in PIR objects was added.
  + The method 'type' was added to the PackfileAnnotations PMC.
  + The internals of the parrot calling conventions, PCC, were reworked.
    All call paths now use a CallSignature object for passing arguments and return values.
  + The new API-function  'Parrot_ext_call' was added for calling into C-land.
  + The fixed-size allocator was improved.
  + The files installed by 'make install-dev' are now covered by 'make install' as well.
  + The experimental ops 'fetch' and 'vivify' were added.
  + The -I option to the command 'parrot' now prepends items to the search path.
  + The Context struct was substituted with auto attributes (context_auto_attrs branch).
  + Use the osname determined in auto::arch in subsequent configuration steps (convert_OSNAME branch).
  + Eliminated dependence on Perl 5 '%Config' in auto::format (auto_format_no_Config branch).
  + MultiSub PMCs now stringify to the name of their first candidate,
    instead of the number of candidates.
  + The platform detection at the start of the configuration process was improved.
  + The 'lineof' method on CodeString objects now precomputes line number information
    to be more efficient on variable-width encoded strings.
  + P6object now supports .WHO and .WHERE methods on protoobjects.
- Compilers
  + A shiny new self-hosting implementation of NQP has been added in ext/nqp-rx.
    - New NQP available as nqp-rx.pbc or parrot-nqp fakecutable.
    - NQP includes direct support for grammars and regexes, including protoregexes.
    - NQP has a new PAST-based regex engine (intended to replace PGE).
    - Regexes may contain code assertions, parameters, lexical declarations, and more.
    - Double-quoted strings now interpolate scalar variables and closures.
    - Subroutine declarations are now lexical by default.
  + PCT
    - PAST::Block now supports an 'nsentry' attribute.
    - PAST::Var allows 'contextual' scope.
    - Attribute bindings now return the bound value.
- Platforms
  + Fixes for the port of Parrot to RTEMS were applied. Yay, first port to a real time OS!
  + On NetBSD, shared libs are now used.
- Performance
  + Use the the fixed-sized allocator in the Context and the CallSignature PMC.
  + Many small speed improvements.
- New deprecations
  + MT19937, the Mersenne twisted pseudorandom number generator, is now hosted on github and
    will be removed from the Parrot core. (eligible in 2.1)
  + The 'Parrot_call_*' functions for invoking a sub/method object from C are
    deprecated. They are replaced by 'Parrot_ext_call'. (eligible in 2.1)
  + All bitwise VTABLE functions are deprecated. (eligible in 2.1)
  + All bitwise ops will become dynops. (eligible in 2.1)
- Realized deprecations
  + The slice VTABLE entry was removed.
  + The last traces of the 'malloc' garbage collector were removed.
  + Parrot_pcc_constants() was renamed to Parrot_pcc_get_constants().
  + The deprecated functions from the Embedding/Extension interface were removed.
  + The library YAML/Parser/Syck.pir was removed.
  + The VTABLE function instantiate_str() was removed.
  + Building of parrot_nqp was removed.
- Tests
  + The test coverage of the time-related ops was much improved.
  + New testing functions in Test::More: lives_ok() and dies_ok().
  + The Perl 5 based test scripts t/op/bitwise.t, t/op/comp.t, t/op/inf_nan.t,
    t/op/literal.t, t/op/number.t, t/op/sprintf2.t, and t/op/00ff-dos.t were converted to PIR.
  + The test scripts t/op/annotate.t and t/op/time.t have begun
    to be translated from Perl 5 to PIR.
  + In some tests the dependency on %Config from Perl 5 was eliminated.
- Documentation
  + The meaning of 'p' means in NCI function call signatures was clarified.
- Tools
  + The stub for a new language, as created by mk_language_shell.pl,
    now relies on the PIR-based tools, which are replacing the Perl 5-based tools.
  + The library Configure.pir was added.
  + The library distutils.pir was added.
- Miscellaneous
  + The mailing list parrot-users and a corresponding google group was created,
    http://groups.google.com/group/parrot-users.
  + Many bugfixes, code cleanups, and coding standard fixes.

New in 1.7.0
- Functionality
  + Parrot_capture_lex has been added to the PARROT_EXPORT API
  + PARROT_MAX_ARGS has been increased from 8 to 16 to allow for ops that take more than 8 args
- Performance
  + The profiling runcore now caches metadata for improved performance
- Maintenance and cleanup
  + Expanded the Parrot debugger documentation
  + Parrot debugger now uses the new Parrot STRING API
  + Continue to port rest of internals to use the STRING API
- Deprecations
  + The JIT subsystem has been removed and is being written from the ground up. More
    information can be found at https://trac.parrot.org/parrot/wiki/JITRewrite
  + Implicit optional named parameters (eligible in 2.1)
  + Continuation-based ExceptionHandlers (eligible in 2.1)
  + Use of undocumented variables in class_init (eligible in 2.1)
  + Parrot_oo_get_namespace (eligible in 2.1)
- Bugfix
  + Improved line number tracking in IMCC
- Tests
  + Converted many more Perl 5 tests to PIR
  + Expanded test coverage of the CallSignature, Namespace, FixedPMCArray,
    ResizeableIntegerArray and ExceptionHandler PMCs

New in 1.6.0
- Functionality
  + Added a fixed-size structure allocator to the Garbage Collector
  + Added a "lazy" mode to the PObj and Fixed-Size memory allocators
  + Added a profiling runcore, which generates Callgrind-compatible output
  + Added lexical subsystem opcodes: find_dynamic_lex, store_dynamic_lex
  + Converted Contexts to garbage-collectable PMC structures
  + Created a new Context API
  + Enhanced the PMC allocator to automatically allocate ATTR structures
- Performance
  + Optimized opcodes to cache the current Context for subsequent lookups
  + Reduced string comparisons in VTABLE_isa
- Maintenance and cleanup
  + Began proper encapsulation of STRING API
  + Unified all PMC destruction functions
  + Unified Continuation PMC and Parrot_cont structure
  + Unified Sub PMC and Parrot_sub structure
  + Removed PMC_EXT structure
  + Removed PMC_Sync from PMC
  + Removed UnionVal from PMC structure
- Bugfix
  + Fixed several stack-walking bugs in Garbage Collector code
  + Fixed bug when copying a NULL STRING, now returns empty STRING struct
- Tests
  + Converted several Perl5 tests to PIR
  + Expanded test coverage of NameSpace PMC
- Compilers
  + Made Parrot Compiler Toolkit available in the base install

New in 1.5.0
- Core
  + Removed several deprecated functions and features
  + Removed bsr, jsr, branch_cs, and ret opcodes
  + Removed global stacks system
  + Changed OPS file format to include explicit preamble
  + Changed all "new 'Iterator'" instructions into 'iter' instructions
  + Removed Configure.pl options for specifying non-working GC cores
  + Removed unexecuting code as found by Coverity
  + Improvements to the Parrot Debugger
  + Added experimental fixed-size structure allocator to the GC
  + Added experimental lazy arena allocation to the GC
  + Refactored hashes, keys, and iterators
  + Added "corevm" make target to build Parrot without all the supporting libraries
  + Removed Random PMC type and added in a "rand" dynop
  + Optimization and Improvements to the NCI thunk generator
  + New include file libpaths.pasm
- Compilers
  + Multiple .local with same name and different type is now an error on IMCC.
- Platforms
  + Improved support for detecting Fink and Macports
  + Updated search directories for libraries
- Documentation
  + "Parrot Developers Guide: PIR" released to publisher and available to purchase
  + Improved documentation about Parrot Debugger
  + Update PGE Documentation
- Miscellaneous
  + Deprecate 'PASM1' compiler object, update to warn instead of segfault
  + Added tests
  + Fixes to code, documentation, and standards

New in 1.4.0
- Core
  + Key and Iterator refactor
  + Major pbc_to_exe generated code speed improvement
  + New "Infinite Memory" GC core for demonstration purposes
  + gc_debug runcore and GC-related heisenbug fixes
  + Elimination of variable expansion in parrot_config
  + CLI arguments are processed as Unicode by default
  + Substantial optimizations in NCI
  + Parrot builds on Win64
  + Hashes can use native types as keys and values
  + Fixed installed pbc_to_exe
  + Simplification of PMC generation code
  + Improved GC encapsulation and API documentation
- Documentation
  + List of candidates for embedding API (docs/embed.pod)
  + PIR book sent to publisher
- Testing
  + Several conversions of Perl test to pure PIR.
  + C indentation coding standards test improvement
  + Improved test coverage of example code
- Deprecations
  + Removal of PGE rules: <null> <fail> <sp> <lt> <gt> <dot>
  + Removal of PGE methods: .text .item .result_object
  + Deprecation of most dynops
+ Miscellaneous
  + Beginnings of OpenGL::Math library; OpenGL bindings and library marked experimental
  + Localizing and consting fixes
  + Many memory and thread-related leaks plugged

New in 1.3.0
- Core
  + Optimized parts of the IO system
  + Fixed inheritance hierarchy of FileHandle and Socket PMC types
  + Fixed leaks involving subroutines and Parrot_Context
  + Cleaned up and refactored GC internals, including fixes and optimizations
  + Optimized PMC class manipulations to use type numbers instead of string names
  + Fixed problems involving hashval calculations in strings
  + Removed unnecessary MULTI dispatches in built-in PMCs
  + Fixed memory leaks involving PMCs that were not properly destroyed
  + Fixed creation of PMCProxy PMCs in correct namespaces
  + Added preliminary Pipe support
  + Fixed cloning of Object PMCs
  + Added root_new opcode
  + Added initial versions of Packfile PMCs with read/write capabilities
- Compilers
  + Fixed several memory leaks in IMCC
  + Updated PCT to use root_new opcode
  + Added support for keyword "self" in NQP
- Documentation
  + Improved and expanded /docs/book
  + Updated project documentation
  + Defined 'experimental' status and procedures in DEPRECATED.pod
- Miscellaneous
  + Cleaned code and improved code-level documentation
  + Various bugfixes, code cleanups, and coding standard fixes
  + Added an experimental compiler library to help use PIR libraries from HLLs
  + Updated OpenGL library and examples to support experimental HLL import

New in 1.2.0
- Core
  + Fixes for pir classes inheriting from core pmcs.
  + Cleaned up headers and reorganized some sources into subsystem directories.
  + Clean up PMCs so libparrot.so exports far fewer vtable/method symbols.
  + Clean up the GC API.
  + Several unicode identifier improvements in IMCC.
- Deprecations
  + Protoobject stringification is gone.
- Documentation
  + Rewrite several core documents.
  + Many reworks, improvements & additions to the Parrot Book.
  + Installation PDD is launched out of draft.
- Tools
  + Fixes for running the language shell generator outside the parrot tree.
  + Several fixes for developing and building HLLs from an installed parrot.
  + Configure.pl now has a --no-line-directives option to ease source level debugging.
- Miscellaneous
  + Portability updates for macports, netbsd, mingw32, hpux.
  + Several (build time, runtime) performance improvements.
  + Lots of updates to examples and tests.
  + Various bugfixes, code cleanups, and coding standard fixes.

New in 1.1.0
- Core
  + Added op: load_language, find_caller_lex
  + Socket IO are back as PMC
  + Refactor some PMC: Hash, ManagedStruct
  + Refactor GC API
- Compiler
  + PGE
    - Allow \x, \c, and \o in enumerated character classes (incl ranges)
    - Add initial greedy-only version of ** <exp> quantifier
  + PCT
    - Add HLL source line bytecode annotations
    - Add another dumper format to assist syntax highlighters
    - Revise mk_language_shell.pl to updated create_language.pl
- Deprecations
  + Removed ops: gcd, exec, classname, need_finalize, runinterp, substr_r
  + Removed dynamic op: mul
  + Removed .HLL_map directive; use interp's .hll_map() instead
  + Removed PMCs: slice, bound_nci, ref
  + Removed Configure.pl option: --pmc
  + Removed PMC union struct
- Documentation
  + Book
    - Reorganization and many improvements & additions
- Tools
  + Add a parrot-fuzzer
- Miscellaneous
  + Improve Debian/Ubuntu package
  + various bugfixes, code cleanups, and coding standard fixes


New in 1.0.0
- Documentation
  + New user documentation for exceptions.
  + Updates to Chapters 4 & 5 of the Parrot book.
  + Improved and expanded generated HTML documentation, as the input for
    http://docs.parrot.org.
  + Added Compiled HTML Help (.chm) version of documentation.
  + Cleanups and fixes.
- Languages
  + Pynie
    - left the nest and is now at http://pynie.googlecode.com/
  + Cardinal
    - left the nest and is now at http://github.com/cardinal
  + APL
    - left the nest and is now at http://paraplegic.googlecode.com/
  + ABC, Squaak, and Befunge moved to examples/.
  + All remaining languages moved to https://svn.parrot.org/languages/
- Tools
  + Support for language builds from an installed Parrot.
  + Expanded language shell generator for new languages.
  + 'parrotbug' utility repurposed for the Trac interface.
- Deprecations
  + Removed deprecated Tqueue and Closure PMCs.
  + String, Key, NCI, LexPad, Iterator, Sub, Continuation, RetContinuation,
    ExceptionHandler, ParrotLibrary, ParrotInterpreter, ParrotThread,
    ParrotRunningThread, Rational, FixedPMCArray, ResizablePMCArray, and
    GDBMHash PMCs now use declared attributes (ATTR), in place of the
    deprecated UnionVal.


New in 0.9.1
- Implementation
  + Support for portable 'Inf', 'NaN' and -0.0
  + pbc_disassemble prints constants in constants table
  + New experimental BigNum implementation
  + Pair is now a dynamic loadable PMC
  + Various function name sanification
  + New implementation of Strings component
  + Replace various PMC value union access code by VTABLE method invocations
  + Replace various PMC value unions by ATTRibutes
  + Removed SArray PMC. Use FixedPMCArray instead.
- Documentation
  + Book
    - updates to Chapter 2 (getting started)
    - updates to Chapter 3 (PIR basics)
    - updates to Chapter 4 (PIR subroutines)
    - updates to Chapter 10 (HLLs)
    - updates to Chapter 12 (opcodes)
  + Function documentation
  + Pod documentation style modernized; no longer Perl 5 style.
  + PMC has an additional acronym: Poly Morphic Container
  + The DOD (Dead Object Detection) acronym is no longer used;
    use 'GC' to refer to the Garbage Collector component.
- Compilers
  + IMCC
    - :named flag can now take string registers as argument
    - A single '=cut' directive is now ignored (without initial Pod directive)
    - :vtable subs now have proper access to 'self' pseudo variable
- Languages
  + add new 'Pod' documentation parser
  + Pipp (PHP implementation):
    - Pipp is now at http://github.com/bschmalhofer/pipp
    - support for 'print', 'dirname', 'implode', 'str_replace',
    - various grammar fixes
  + ECMAScript
    + add 'quit', 'readline' builtins
    + fix 'Boolean' type and 'print' builtin
  + Lua
    - left the nest and is now at http://github.com/fperrad/lua/
  + Rakudo
    - left the nest and is now at http://github.com/rakudo/rakudo/
    - build instructions can be found at http://tinyurl.com/rakudo
  + lazy-k
    - left the nest and is now at http://github.com/bschmalhofer/lazy-k.git
  + unlambda
    - left the nest and is now at http://github.com/bschmalhofer/unlambda/
  + WMLScript
    - left the nest and is now at http://github.com/fperrad/wmlscript.git
  + removed Zcode implementation
- Tools
  + pmc2C
    - ATTRs are now inherited automatically in subclassing PMCs
- Deprecations
  + Parrot_readbc, Parrot_loadbc renamed to Parrot_pbc_read, Parrot_pbc_load.
  + .HLL_map directive in favour of 'hll_map' method on Parrot interpreter
  + Data::Escape library
- Tools
  + pbc_disassemble options added
  + pbc_dump renamed from pdump
- Miscellaneous
  + Parrot is now Copyright Parrot Foundation
  + Parrot's SVN repository is now hosted at https://svn.parrot.org
  + Various code cleanups, consting, 64-bit incompatibilities and other bug fixes


New in January 2009 release (0.9.0)
- Implementation
  + Implemented bytecode annotations
  + Role composition is now aware of multi-subs
  + Unbuffered IO PMCs now autopromote when buffering is necessary
  + Installation parrot binary and libparrot shared library now supported
  + Class registry now respects HLLs
- Compilers
  + IMCC
    - removed keyed string indexing, e.g. $S0[1].
    - removed slice syntax, e.g. $P0[1..2]
    - removed .namespace <ident>/.endnamespace <ident> pair
    - fixed 'new $P0, [classname]' syntax
  + PIRC
    - refactoring of various data structures
    - various bug fixes and updates
    - complete bytecode generation
    - add '-x' commandline option to run compiled code
  + PCT
    - add 'hll' and 'subid' attributes to PAST::Block
    - refactor loop handling code to handle last/redo/next
    - add :pasttype('stmts') and :pasttype('null')
    - improve "scope not found" error message
    - allow PAST::Val nodes to contain block references
  + PGE
    - add "skipkey" option to PGE::OPTable
    - allow spaces before modifiers in regexes
    - add '(' ~ ')' goal matching syntax
    - skip creating a class/grammar if it already exists
- Languages
  + Rakudo
    - improved error mesages in multi dispatch
    - implemented clone method for all objects
    - implemented MAIN sub
    - Unicode versions of infix hyper operators
    - refactored IO.readline
    - basic support for Inf and NaN
    - list and array slices with whatever star
    - hash slices
    - implemented last and redo
    - pointy blocks as terms
    - refactored variable and parameter passing
    - improved assignment semantics
    - improved parsing of type names and subs
    - mostly implemented parametric roles
    - separate types for blocks, subs and methods
    - basic support for submethods
    - implemented Junction autothreading of user code (not builtins yet)
    - eval supports :lang attribute
    - proto makes other subs in scope multis, including in role composition
  + Befunge
    - back to working state
    - ported to pir
  + Pipp
    - add support for predefined constant __CLASS__ and __METHOD__
    - add initial support for static members
    - add support for namespaced constants
    - constants are now handled as package vars
    - variables are now lexical variables
    - add support for superglobals in functions
    - Call the class __constructor when there is one
    - added incomplete support for closures
    - removed support for the alternative parsing strategies
    - added support for 'elsif'
    - added support for 'do-while'
  + HQ9+
    - left the nest and is now at https://github.com/bschmalhofer/hq9plus/
  + Eclectus
    - left the nest and is now at http://github.com/bschmalhofer/eclectus/
  + m4
    - left the nest and is now at http://github.com/bschmalhofer/m4/
  + Lua:
    - add a minimalist user back trace
  + PIR
    - "does" and "morph" VTABLE interfaces are now overridable from PIR
- Miscellaneous
  + Infrastructure
    - 'make smoke' now generates Smolder reports sent to
      http://smolder.plusthree.com/app/public_projects/smoke_reports/8
  + Improved const and null correctness for C function parameters
  + Sped up STRING manipulation (append, chop), improving PGE about 30%
  + BOOK
    - Added sections about Classes, OO programming, and methods.
    - Added information about Annotations, Exceptions, and Handlers
  + STM
    - Removed non-functional STM subsystem


New in 0.8.2
- Implementation
  + fixed lexical semantics
  + added the 'capture_lex' opcode
  + added automatic resume for nonfatal exceptions
  + added multidispatch cache
  + applied miscellaneous performance improvements, including startup time
  + fixed several bugs and leaks found by Coverity Scan
  + removed race conditions from parallel testing
- Compilers
  + IMCC
    - removed undocumented .param int <stringc> => <ident> syntax
    - .line directive now only takes an integer argument
    - new .file directive to specify the file name being compiled
  + PCT
    - properly handles lexical generation and closure semantics
    - uses :subid instead of name lookups to reference PAST::Block nodes
    - added PAST::Control node type (exception handlers)
  + PGE
    - add support for <?{{...}}> and <!{{...}}> assertions
    - Match objects use Capture PMC instead of Capture_PIR
  + PIRC
    - add macro handling to PASM mode
    - disable vanilla register allocation in PASM mode, but do allow optimization
    - add tests and bug fixes
    - first bits of bytecode generation. No sub calling/returning yet.
- Languages
  + Rakudo
    - fixed lexical handling and recursion
    - refactored subtypes implementation
    - support for quotes with multi-character delimiters
    - implemented list slices (Positional role)
    - list assignment
    - reduction meta operators
    - hyper meta operators
    - cross meta operators
    - more builtin functions
    - added Nil type
    - basic support for protos
    - iterator on filehandle objects
    - basic support for exception handlers
    - warn
  + Lua
    - added complex & mathx libraries
    - merged LuaClosure & LuaFunction PMC
  + Pipp
    - added support for a return value from user defined functions
    - added incomplete implementation of 'require_once'
  + Ecmascript
    - parser fixes, parses spidermonkey's top level test/shell.js
- Deprecations
  + PARROT_API is now PARROT_EXPORT
  + PIR
    - :lexid is now :subid
    - .arg is now .set_arg
    - .result is now .get_result
    - .yield (in .begin/end_yield) is now .set_yield
    - .return (in .begin/end_return) is now .set_return
    - .namespace x / .endnamespace x syntax is removed
  + Capture_PIR (runtime/parrot/library/Parrot/Capture_PIR.pir)

New in 0.8.1
- Implementation
  + added CPAN module Storable 2.12 as a configuration and build dependency
  + removed the pseudo PIR opcode 'addr'
  + added the 'box' opcode
  + fixed 'pop_eh' handling in PIR libraries and examples
  + removed usage of .return for tailcalls (use .tailcall instead)
  + removed 'get_hash' and 'get_array' from Capture PMC and Capture_PIR
  + improved debugger and HLL coordination
  + allowed MMD primitive autoboxing
  + fixed all known memory leaks in PIR "Hello, world!"
  + NCI signatures now JITted on x86-32 platforms (Windows and Linux)
  + made the .const directive take a quoted type name instead of a constant
  + made IMCC more re-entrant
- Languages
  + Rakudo
    - refactored Junctions implementation
    - added "fire and forget" tool to rebase/rebuild/test Parrot and Rakudo
    - updated container/reference semantics
    - added more builtin methods and functions
    - improved support for multilevel namespaces
    - added support for .Str, .succ, .pred in user-defined classes
    - implemented pointy blocks on if/loops
    - increased STD.pm convergence
    - added %*VM hash
    - improved MMD candidate sorting
    - improved integration of Num and Int
    - implemented increment on protoobjects
    - added initial support for MAIN subs
    - added .PARROT method
  + Pipp
    - added some predefined constants
    - added implementation of the function basename()
  + Cardinal (Ruby)
    - Added initial support for the classes Proc, Continuation, Queue, Dir, File, and FileStat
    - fixed various minor bugs
    - fixed broken Regexes
- Compilers
  + PCT
    - added '.isa' method to PCT::Node
    - cleaned up 'immediate block' handling
    - allowed arguments to immediate blocks in loops/conditionals
    - metaclass objects can now 'add_method'
  + PIRC
    - integrated macro processing in PIRC's lexer
    - integrated heredoc lexer in PIRC executable
    - added preprocess and heredoc-preprocess commandline options
    - integrated the PASM grammar into PIRC
    - added a register allocator to optimize the built-in vanilla allocator
    - code cleanups and documentation
    - added 'make test' target
   + TGE
    - updated to work with new namespace/classname syntax
- Deprecations
  + PARROT_API will become PARROT_EXPORT
  + :lexid will become :subid
- Miscellaneous
  + Documentation
    - updates and additions to the Parrot book (see docs/book/)
  + OpenGL
    - minor fixes to Parrot's base OpenGL bindings
    - converted OpenGL PIR examples to Perl 6 (two complete, one WIP)
    - added simplified OpenGL PIR example for NCI JIT testing
  + Tests
    - further improvements to parallel tests
    - tests no longer leave filesystem breadcrumbs
    - more thorough testing of Parrot::Test itself

New in 0.8.0
- Implementation
  + float precision expanded to 15 significant digits from 6
  + large integers autopromoted in PIR so as not to lose precision
  + improved precision of complex square root
  + exception handlers can register types of exceptions they catch
- Languages
  + Cardinal (Ruby)
    - implemented gather, take, and yield builtins
    - Range, Time, Math, GC, Kernel classes
    - many more tests
    - added a new committer
  + Markdown : new lightweight markup language
    - start implementation with PCT/NQP
  + partcl (Tcl 8.5.4)
    - Moved to its own repository: http://code.google.com/p/partcl/
  + Rakudo (Perl 6)
    - split() works with regexes
    - implemented Str.comb
    - ord() and chr() builtins
    - improved parsing of literal numbers
    - support for hyphens and dashes in identifiers
    - next() on for-loops
    - fixed floating point constant precision
    - improved namespace handling, closer to STD.pm model
    - support for exporting symbols
- Compilers
  + P6object
    - now generates classes in nested namespaces instead of :: names
    - supports class creation in caller's HLL namespace
  + PCT / PGE
    - now using true nested namespaces instead of :: names
    - cleaned up HLLCompiler interactive prompts and readline mode
    - updated to use typed exception handler registration
    - added initial support for loop control exceptions
  + PIRC
    - fixed Heredoc preprocessor
    - cleaned up Macro preprocessor
    - many code clean-ups, warning fixes and consting
    - updated Makefile for easier compilation
  + IMCC
    - Added .tailcall syntax to replace .return in tailcall context
- Examples
  + pirric (BASIC)
    - an old style line numbered Basic interpreter able to use parrot objects
    - example connecting to mysql via nci
    - example using classes to write and run an embedded Basic program
- Documentation
  + Book
    - Added chapters for PCT, PMCs, and Opcodes/Runcores
    - Expanded and improved formatting in various chapters
    - Renumbered chapters


New in 0.7.1
- Implementation
  + add -I and -L command line options
  + support for null strings in NCI calls
  + preliminary support for resumable exceptions
  + add '.hll_map' method for dynamic HLL type mapping
  + more parrot_debugger fixes
  + remove obsolete '.past' extension
- Languages
  + Rakudo (Perl 6)
    - now over 3300 passing spectests
    - precompiled modules
    - precompiled scripts  (--target=pir can now be executed standalone)
    - Support for @*INC and %*INC varialbes
    - additional builtin methods and subs
    - added 'fail' function, warnings on use of undefined values
    - m/.../ regexes
    - qq, qw, q quoting forms
    - run tests in parallel
    - gather/take
    - Perl6MultiSub
  + Cardinal (Ruby):
    - 'require' and precompiled modules
    - many new tests
    - all Array tests pass
    - regexes
    - default arguments to functions
    - new committer
- Compilers
  + PCT:
    - add :loadinit attribute for PAST::Block
  + PIRC:
    - major refactoring to allow all PIR keywords as identifiers
    - links to libparrot now, so all Parrot ops are recognized as such
    - implemented .loadlib, .HLL_map, .HLL
- Miscellaneous
  + add Xlib and Mysql modules and test programs to NCI examples
  + many updates and cleanups to PDD documents

New in 0.7.0
- Specification
  + PDD27: add multisub lookup
- Implementation
  + new concurrency implementation (see PDD25)
  + Exception PMC now captures a return continuation
  + improved PMC encapsulation (Iterator, Key, Pair)
- Languages
  + Cardinal (Ruby):
    - class variables
    - parsing improvements
    - minor additions to class builtins
    - add support for block parameters to functions
  + Lua:
    - various language fixes
    - refactor all libraries (namespace, method registration)
    - add a OpenGL binding (still incomplete)
    - lost user back trace (see ppd25 & pushaction)
  + Pipp (PHP):
    - add support for while- and for-loops
    - add support for increment and decrement
    - designate PHP 5.3 as the reference implementation
    - improve support for string literals
  + Pugs (Perl 6):
    - removed due to bit rot
  + Rakudo (Perl 6):
    - now over 2200 passing spectests
    - updated the Rakudo roadmap
    - Perl 6 multi dispatch
    - dispatch with slurpies
    - class attributes ("my $.x")
    - anonymous classes
    - OO and metaclass improvements (.WHAT, .WHICH, .WHENCE)
    - additional builtin methods and subs
    - improved make test targets and harness
  + Tcl:
    - implement [lreverse], [lsort -command]
    - allow [incr] to autovivify
    - update tclsh spec target to 8.5.3
    - fix bug in TclDict PMC, allowing ~200 more [dict] spec tests to pass
    - update 'make spectest' fudging, using TODO instead of SKIP if possible
- Compilers
  + PCT:
    - :scope('register') for PAST::Var nodes
    - allow invocant specification in attribute scope PAST::Var nodes
    - correct ordering of sub generation from POST
    - add 'loadinit' attribute to PAST::Block for block initialization
  + PIRC:
    - PIR registers now use the vanilla register allocator
    - all PASM output now uses PASM registers
    - all .locals and $registers are mapped
    - clean-up of grammar, back-end and documentation
    - implemented constant folding
    - implemented instruction selection
- Configuration
  + tests now clean up after themselves
  + improved parallel test support
  + ports/cygwin added
  + Darwin problems fixed
- Tools
  + parrot_debugger renamed from pdb, numerous tweaks
- Miscellaneous
  + IMCC cleanups
  + :vtable implies self in PIR
  + modest core speed improvements
  + Cygwin support improved
  + "say" now an opcode (was dispatched to a method; see Deprecations)
- Deprecations
  + ".pragma n_operators" is deprecated
  + old PASM register syntax (without "$") is deprecated
  + bare (unquoted) method names are deprecated
  + "#line" will be replaced with ".line"
  + ".HLL_map" syntax will change
  + ".loadlib" is now separate from ".HLL"
  + mmdvtregister and mmdvtablefind opcodes are deprecated
  + removed getfd, getclass opcodes
  + removed IMCC syntax that treated some methods as builtins
  + removed numeric get_attr and set_attr vtable entries

New in 0.6.4
- Documentation
  + removed a lot of old information from the FAQ
  + improved function level documentation
- Configuration
  + removed the configuration item 'has_gnu_m4'
  + refactored ICU-detection
- Languages
  + ChitChat
    - improved the Smalltalk implementation
  + Pipp
    - renamed Plumhead to Pipp
    - support for a lot of builtin functions.
    - Pipp now uses PHP specific data types.
    - converted from PCT with TGE to PCT with NQP actions
    - improvements in the PCT variant by using optok parsing
    - start of object support
  + pir
    - simple assignments work
  + json
    - added a PCT-based implementation of JSON parsing
  + lolcode
    - improved handling of symbols
    - added support for block handling
    - added support for globals
  + Lua
    - more tests
  + Rakudo
    - updated Range implementation
    - added enums
    - added generic type declarations (::T)
    - added runtime mixing of roles with 'does' and 'but'
    - fixed handling of implicit lexicals ($_, $!, and $/)
    - fixed implicit method calls on $_
    - improved complex math builtins, added Complex
    - moved many builtins to class Any
    - declaration of lists of variables now work
    - improved test infrastructure
    - 910 additional passing spec tests since last release
    - more convergence with STD.pm grammar
    - added named 0-ary parsing and ops
- Compilers
  + PCT:
    - allowed subroutine and method names to be a PAST tree that produces the name
    - Improved lexical handling
- Tools
  + pbc_disassemble renamed from disassemble
- Implementation
  + allowed .macro_const in PIR
  + added the flag :lexid(...) for subroutines
  + made multiple dispatch work for sub types
  + fixed garbage collection bug related to the metadata attached to a PMC_EXT structure
  + added a warning when using deprecated opcodes
  + simplified the stacks implementation
  + fixed C++ build
  + improved closure and lexical support
  + improved IMCC register allocator
  + added cache for all runtime-constant strings, reducing memory usage
- Miscellaneous
  + improved OpenGL/GLU/GLUT bindings
  + added a standard profile for Perl::Critic coding standard testing
  + added support for smoke testing with Smolder
  + enabled use of Test::Harness 3.0 if available, but don't require it for 'make test'
  + added the executable 'parrot_config' to query Parrot configuration

New in 0.6.3
- Specification
  + updated pdd09_gc.pod
- Languages
  + Cardinal:
    - dramatically improved parsing speed
    - added support for defining and instantiating classes
    - started fleshing out the builtin class hierarchy
    - added support for hashes and arrays
  + Chitchat: added the start of a smalltalk compiler
  + Pheme: updated to match PGE changes
  + Pynie: return statement, other minor updates
  + Rakudo:
    - added working list and hash contexts
    - added 'return' statements
    - added => pair constructor
    - added ?? !! ternary
    - added Range, range operators, Complex
    - added common List, Hash methods
    - refactored base classes
    - added Mutable, Perl6Scalar classes
    - added type-checking, is readonly/rw/copy for parameters
    - added make localtest, docs/spectest-progress.csv
    - fix named unaries
  + Squaak: implement return statement
  + Tcl: updated control flow exceptions to use new builtin types
- Compilers
  + All tools converted to P6object metamodel
  + PGE:
    - <?foo> is now a zero-width match
    - reduced backtracking to improve parsing speed
  + PCT:
    - added "return" PAST.op node type for subroutine returns
    - added "keyed_int" scoping to PAST::Var
    - fixed calls to closures
    - automatically transcode 7-bit unicode to ascii for faster processing
  + NQP: added "return" statement, ?? !! ternary operator
- Configuration
  + expanded step gen::opengl
- Implementation
  + updated function and macro names to match pdd09_gc.pod
  + removed Super PMC
  + add ".namespace []" as alternative to ".namespace"
  + "make codetest" target runs standard coding tests
- Miscellaneous
  + added P6object class for Perl 6 interfaces to objects in Parrot
  + ported OpenGL/GLU/GLUT bindings to Win32, BSD, and more Mac OS X variants
  + generate OpenGL/GLU/GLUT bindings by parsing system headers
  + new OpenGL example shapes.pir, covering basic OpenGL 1.1 / GLUT 3 APIs
  + new float4.pir structure-packing benchmark
  + reduced memory use for variables
  + improved constant string caching
  + made code g++ and gcc (with optimizations) safe
  + the usual collection of bugfixes and optimizations

New in 0.6.2
- Specification
  + updated and launched pdd28_strings.pod
  + updated pdd19_pir.pod
- Implementation
  + added implementation of Rational PMC.
  + simplified ops control flow syntax
  + enabled backtrace on non-glibc platforms too
  + improved some PIR error reporting
  + removed user stack opcodes
    (save, restore, lookback, entrytype, depth, rotate_up)
    (NOTE: This was scheduled to occur after 0.7.0, moved up to this release)
  + removed register stack, saveall, and restoreall opcodes
  + removed various deprecated features and unused code
- Languages
  + Amber: retired
  + C99: grammar updated
  + Cardinal: resurrected, method calls and do blocks work now
  + Eclectus: use NQP as PAST generating code
  + Lua:
    - added big number library
    - updated to match PGE changes
    - added a bytecode disassembler & a Lua 5.1 VM bytecode translator
  + Pheme: updated to match PGE/PCT changes
  + Plumhead:
    - use NQP as PAST generating code
    - use riaxpander for macro expansion
  + Rakudo:
    - updated ROADMAP
    - conditional and loop statement modifiers
    - lots of class, object, role, and method improvements
    - Str increment and decrement
    - improved spectest reporting
    - type checking on assignment
    - regexes and grammars
    - undef and self
    - placeholder vars
roadmap updated
  + Squaak: added to repository
  + TAP: retired
- Compilers
  + PGE: updated to match Synopsis 5, deprecated features removed
  + PCT:
    - improve handling of register types, conversion between registers
    - improved error diagnostics
    - add 'arity' to for loops
- Configuration
  + added step auto::opengl
  + added step gen::opengl
  + added step gen::call_list
- Miscellaneous
  + still more optimizations and performance improvements, especially in GC
  + new libraries: OpenGL/GLU/GLUT bindings (small subset working)
  + new dump_pbc.pl utility: PBC disassembly/source code weaver
  + improved C++ compiler support
  + optimized builds work again


New in 0.6.1
- Specification
  + drafted pdd29_compiler_tools.pod
  + updated pdd28_character_sets.pod draft
  + updated pdd19_pir.pod draft
- Languages
  + c99: added independent C pre-processor
  + HQ9+: reimplemented with PCT
  + Lua:
    . reimplementation with PCT, using PAST and POST
    . behavior aligned wih 5.1.3
  + Rakudo:
    . implemented basic I/O, including '$*IN', '$*OUT', '$*ERR', 'prefix:='
    . implemented simple typing and runtime type checking
    . added basic multi-method dispatch
    . expanded named argument handling, including Pair and colonpairs
    . added 'Whatever' and 'Capture' classes
    . implemented 'handles' trait verb
    . added 'loop' statement
    . implemented 'given', 'when', 'for', 'while', 'until' statement modifiers
    . implemented Hash methods '.keys' and '.values'
    . fixed bug to get '.WHAT' working correctly
    . initial implementation of 'eval'
- Compilers
  + NQP:
    . created a bootstrapped build, see 'make boot'
    . added 'infix:<', 'infix:<=', 'infix:>', 'infix:>=' relational operators
    . added 'postfix:++', 'postfix:--' operators
  + PCT:
    . added methods specifying default behaviors in PAST, reducing repeated code
    . improved symbol table lookup
  + PGE:
    . removed deprecated code including: P6Regex, P6Grammar, PAST-pm
- Miscellaneous
  + notable speedups during compilation and execution of parrot and HLLs
  + pdb (the parrot debugger) can now catch parrot exceptions
  + better detection of glibc and gettext during configuration
  + various bugfixes, code cleanups, deprecations, and coding standard fixes


New in 0.6.0
- Specification
  + launched pdd18_security.pod
  + updated pdd17_pmc.pod
  + launching draft of pdd28_character_sets.pod
- Documentation
  + cleanup of IMCC documentation
- Configuration
  + add step auto::gettext
  + add step auto::crypto
- Compilers
  + PCT:
    . Fix '-e' option
    . Phase out P6Regex in favor of Perl6Regex
  + IMCC:
    '.local Array my_arr' is illegal now
- Languages
  + C99: reimplementation with PCT
  + lolcode:
    . various updates
    . add support for functions with params
    . add math functions
  + Rakudo:
    . support for 'say'
    . first cut at smart matching
    . indirect method calls
    . support for Pairs
    . added methods 'grep' and 'first'
    . implement auto{increment,decrement}
    . initial implementation of 'perl6doc'
  + Lua:
    . various updates
    . add base64 library
  + Cardinal: basic support for functions with parameters
  + Pheme: various updates
  + Ecmascript: various updates
  + Tcl: now targeting tcl 8.5.1, no more expected failures in test suite.
    (No, this doesn't mean everything's implemented. =-)
  + Eclectus: various updates
  + WMLScript: various updates
- Implementation
  + PDD17 (PMCs)
  + Add library YAML::Dumper
  + Add the MD2, MD4, MD5, RIPEMD160, SHA & SHA1 PMC, as a wrapper
     around libcrypto
- Miscellaneous
  + various bugfixes, code cleanups and coding standard fixes
  + consting
  + remove external Perl 5 modules from the Parrot distribution

New in 0.5.3
- Documentation
  + PDD09 (garbage collection) - approved
  + PDD28 (character sets) - draft started
  + added function documentation to some core functions
  + PCT beginners guide, optable guide and PAST nodes guide, bug fixes
- Compilers
  + IMCC: plugged various memory leaks and other cleanups
  + PCT:
    . add "attribute" as a scope variant to PAST::Var nodes
    . add 'shift' and 'pop' methods to PAST:: nodes
  + NQP: add '=:=' op, tests for scalar and list contextualizers, \x escapes
- Languages
  + APL: reimplementation with PCT
  + Cardinal (Ruby): re-implementation with PCT
  + Ecmascript: reimplementation with PCT
  + lolcode: improved expression parsing, ifthen, IT, YARN
  + lua:
    . aligned with Lua official release 5.1.3.
    . added initial PCT-based implementation.
  + Punie (Perl 1): refactor to use standard PCT-based filenames
  + Pynie (Python): add functions
  + Rakudo (Perl 6):
    . rebranded, formerly known as 'perl6'
    . passes many more official Perl 6 Specification tests
    . added 'perl6doc' utility
    . oo including meta?classes, objects, methods, attributes, role composition
    . match variables, while/until statements, traits
    . many new methods for Str, List, Hash, Junction
- Implementation
- Deprecations
  + PCCINVOKE syntax for named arguments using []; use () instead.
  + see DEPRECATED.pod for details
- Miscellaneous
  + pbc_to_exe refactored for code reduction, portability, and maintainability
  + various bug fixes
  + #line directives added to generated JIT files, improving debugging
  + consting, attribute marking, refactoring, warnings cleanup

New in 0.5.2
- Documentation
  + PDD27 (multiple dispatch) - debut of new design
  + Numerous small updates to glossary.pod, etc
- Compiler Toolkit
  + NQP: optional, named, and named/required parameters
  + PIRC: cleanups
  + PAST: "defined-or"
- Languages
  + New mk_language_shell.pl script creates language stubs
  + LOLCODE: new
  + Lua: various
  + Eclectus: start with support for local variables and procedures,
    use SXML as intermediate representation
  + Perl 6: list builtins, compiler directives, command-line options, etc.
  + "make perl6" now builds a Perl 6 executable
  + punie: more builtins, control structures, code refactoring
  + pynie: builtin stubs, more tests
- Implementation
  + New "pbc_to_exe" utility turns bytecode to executables
  + New set_outer method for subs
  + Further configuration refactoring for testability
  + All functions now completely headerized
  + Concurrency: interpreter schedulers
- Deprecations
  + DYNSELF (changes to SELF; SELF to STATICSELF)
  + METHOD (replaced by renaming PCCMETHOD)
  + pmcinfo op (superseded by 'inspect')
  + get_attr, set_attr, and 8 other vtable methods
  + See DEPRECATED.pod for details
- Miscellaneous
  + Many bug fixes
  + Minor speed enhancements with UTF-8 string handling
  + Debian packaging
  + consting, attribute marking, warnings cleanup, memory leaks plugged ...

New in 0.5.1
- Documentation
  + PDD19 (PIR) - reflect state on the ground; incorporate old IMCC docs
  + PDD25 (Concurrency) - launch out of draft
  + Improve documentation of deprecated parrot features.
- Compilers
  + PCT: Parrot Compiler Toolkit redesigned and updated
  + NQP: major updates, including support for namespaces,
    module/class declarations, methods
  + IMCC: remove .sym as alias for .local. Remove .pcc_
    prefix for calling directives (.pcc_begin became .begin_call).
  + PIRC: creates an AST during the parse.
  + PGE: more updates to match S05 syntax.
- Languages
  + perl6: re-implemented using PCT and NQP, new object subsystem
  + abc: re-implemented using PCT and NQP
  + eclectus: initial implementation
  + plumhead: add PCT variant
  + punie: re-implemented using PCT and NQP, extended to handle subroutines
    Happy 20th Birthday, Perl!
  + pynie: re-implemented using PCT and NQP
  + PIR: start conversion to NQP (under construction)
- Implementation
  + new opcodes: 'die', 'addhandler', 'copy'
  + Initial implementation of Concurrency PDD
  + Add 'arity' method to Sub and NCI PMCs
- Miscellaneous
  + Bug cleanup
  + consting, attribute marking, warnings cleanup, memory leaks, GC...
  + dead code removal (includes some defunct languages)

New in 0.5.0
- Implementation
  + PDD15 (OO) branch merged with trunk; this release contains a working,
    tested implementation of the latest OO model
  + Added pop_eh/push_eh_p/count_eh opcodes
  + Add --runcore command line option
  + Add gcdebug runcore to help track down GC bugs
  + minor improvements to IA-32 JIT
- Documentation
  + PDD19 (PIR): updates to macros, .pcc* directives
  + PDD25 (Concurrency): updated
  + PDD26 (AST):  draft approved
  + PDD23 (Exceptions): draft approved
  + Copyright cleanups
- Languages/Compilers
  + languages/APL: minor updates, PDD15 conformance
  + languages/dotnet: minor updates
  + languages/lua: minor updates, PDD15 conformance
  + languages/lisp: minor updates
  + languages/perl6: minor updates, PDD15 conformance
  + languages/plumhead: minor updates
  + languages/punie: minor updates, PDD15 conformance
  + languages/nqp: minor updates
  + languages/scheme: many updates, PDD15 conformance, improved tests, use
    PMCs instead of primitive registers to represent values
  + languages/tcl: bugfixes, PDD15 conformance
  + languages/WMLScript: minor updates
  + compilers/pirc: updates from PDD19, PDD06
  + compilers/pct: minor updates, PDD15 conformance
  + compilers/pge: PDD15 conformance
  + compilers/tge: PDD15 conformance
- Configuration
  + Improve test coverage
  + Improve reporting when a step fails; allow abort on failure
- Miscellaneous
  + More coding standard conformance, tests, cleanup, speedups,
    warnings cleanup
  + Bug cleanup, esp. GC bugs
  + Eliminate .imc extension (use .pir)
  + Simplify some core config steps to not allow interactive prompting
- Removed
  + clear_eh opcode

New in 0.4.17
- Implementation
 + Bug fixes (including Coverity IDs 20, 22, 30, 119-122, 124-126, 129-131)
   Also various GC, memory, and segfault issues
 + Fix & reenable CGP core
 + Parrot's -r flag now works again (compile to and execute bytecode)
 + Updates to pmc2c & PIR syntaxes
 + Fix Complex PMC
 + Minor performance improvements, especially in PGE
- Documentation
 + PDD02 "Vtables" - superceded by PDD17
 + PDD06 "PASM" - minor updates
 + PDD17 "PMC" - add VTABLE syntax, update core PMC struct, restore UnionVal
 + PDD19 "PIR" - early review started
 + PDD21 "Namespaces" - cleanup
 + PDD24 "Events" - draft approved
 + PDD25 "Concurrency" - minor updates
 + PDD26 "AST" - draft version begun
 + PIR tutorials updated
- Languages/Compilers
 + Make scheme work with the current calling conventions, other major work.
 + Updates to m4, lua, compilers/pirc, languages/PIR, dotnet, tcl
- Miscellaneous:
 + make -j functional again
 + Code cleanup (refactoring, optimizations)

New in 0.4.16
- Implementation:
 + Performed code review on every PMC
 + Modified PMC code generation to use Storable, reducing compile times
 + Added a makefile target to generate test coverage data of C sources
- Languages:
 + NQP: added lists, for loops, operators, comparison and multiplicative operators
 + Announced Kea-CL, Kea Common Lisp, an ANSI Common Lisp implementation
   The repository is available at https://rgrjr.dyndns.org/svn/kea-cl/trunk/
- Documentation
 + PDD17 "PMCs" - draft approved, the design is complete
 + Added more PIR tutorials, see examples/tutorial/00_README.pod
- Miscellaneous:
 + Many bugfixes, enhancements, documentation, and coding standard updates
 + Deprecated PMC constants and other crufty syntax, see DEPRECATED.pod
 + Improved icc compiler compatibility for error line reporting

New in 0.4.15
- Implementation:
 + Lots of code review, many bugs fixed
 + Many more code cleanups and compiler warning levels
 + Started a new jit engine for 64-bit processors
 + Refactored configure process, with tests and new diagnostic options
 + Added new CodeString PMC for dynamic generation of PIR code
 + More pdd15 support for object metamodel.
- Languages:
 + Added NQP ("Not Quite Perl"), a very lightweight Perl 6-like language
 + Significant improvements and refactors to PCT (Parrot Compiler Toolkit)
 + perl6 passes more spec tests
 + Lua works now with a PGE/TGE/PAST-pm based compiler, lives in one pbc,
   and the interpreter has same behavior as original.
- Documentation
 + Added a committers' HOWTO
 + More PIR tutorial examples
 + Added PAUSE guide

New in 0.4.14
- Now, with Seat Belts!
 + added makefile targets for Sun lint, BSD lint, and splint
 + corrected many errors picked up by these tools
 + decorated source code with compiler hints, assertions, and attribute macros
 + automated creation of function declarations to prevent common errors
 + increased compiler warnings levels
 + converted more exceptions to a recoverable form
- Languages:
 + updated Lisp, Lua, Perl 6, tcl, regex, Scheme ("Pheme")
 + Perl 6 now fetches selected tests from pugs, and even passes some
 + PGE modified to handle {*} action subs for top-down and bottom-up parsers,
   and to allow grammar subclassing
 + HLLCompiler now has better exception, eval, and exit support
 + Introduced PCT, a refactor of HLLCompiler and PAST-pm
- Design:
 + PDD15 "Objects" - details added to 'new' and 'getattribute' opcodes
 + PDD17 "PMCs" - notes added on instantiation and dynamic extention in PIR
- Documentation:
 + added Parrot-related text from "Perl 6 and Parrot Essentials" book,
   tutorial examples from "Learning PIR" talk, and PDD15 metamodel diagrams
- Implementation:
 + reduced memory footprint when using named registers
 + implemented overridding of vtable methods by PDD15 classes
 + improved PDD15 support for 'new', 'instantiate', and others
 + added makefile targets to ease core and HLL makefile regeneration
 + updated parrot dubugger, "pdb", to allow loading of commands from file
- Misc:
 + many bugfixes, enhancements, documentation, and coding standard updates

New in 0.4.13
- Languages:
 + Updated Lisp, Lua, PHP ("Plumhead"), Python ("Pynie"), ABC,
   WMLScript, and Tcl ("ParTcl").
 + Perl 6 passes all of the sanity tests.
 + PGE supports latest Perl 6 grammar syntax. Perl 6, Python
   ("Pynie"), and ABC parsers updated to match.
 + Updated PHP ("Plumhead") to Antlr 3.0.
 + Lua added the beginnings of a PGE/TGE based compiler (not yet
   replacing the Perl/Yapp compiler).
 + Lisp updated for current features, added a test suite.
- Core Implementation:
 + Filled in features and backward compatibility for PDD 15 objects.
   New object metamodel passes 85% of old test suite.
 + GCC API symbols are visible externally only when explicitly exported.
 + Added generated GCC compiler attributes to increase warnings, and
   cleaned up resulting warnings.
 + Code cleanup efforts and fixed memory leaks by the cage cleaners,
   resulting in notable speed increases.
- Misc:
 + Updated Parrot distribution to Artistic License 2.0, from dual
   Artistic 1/GPL license.
 + SDL examples brought up-to-date with current features.

New in 0.4.12
- Build:
 + even more refactorings and improvements in configuration system
 + improved tests and documentation for configuration system
- Languages:
 + Updated abc, PHP ("Plumhead"), Lua, Tcl
 + Reclaimed Lisp
- Design:
 + new PMC PDD draft partially completed
- Implementation:
 + continued implementation of PDD 15 (Objects)
 + minor garbage collector and memory management improvements
 + several memory leaks resolved
 + extended support for compilers other than GCC
 + improved C++ compiler compatibility
 + enhanced support for Solaris, non-MSVC Win32, and other platforms

New in 0.4.11

- Compilers:
 + IMCC: added documentation for C-based Parrot Calling Conventions,
   refactorings and bug fixes
 + PGE: new perl6regex front end reflecting recent S05 syntax changes
 + PIRC: new prototype PIR parser
- Languages:
 + Updated Lua, PHP ("Plumhead"), BASIC, pynie
 + Lua implements environment
- Design:
 + PDD15 "Objects" - details added, and draft approved
- Documentation:
 + Added guidelines for PMC documentation
- Implementation:
 + PDD15 implementation is largely complete, including role-based composition,
   introspection, and C3 method resolution order
 + new Exporter PMC for importing globals between namespaces
 + new string utilities for radix conversion
 + PCCINVOKE and Parrot_PCCINVOKE allow calling using the full Parrot Calling
   Conventions from PMCs and C code respectively
- Build:
 + Refactorings and improvements in test coverage for 'Configure.pl'
- Misc:
 + many bugfixes, enhancements, and code cleanup
 + added example subversion config file
 + extended support for gcc, icc, and other compilers
 + extended support for Solaris and other platforms


New in 0.4.10

- Compilers:
 + IMCC: Parrot calling conventions now available between two C PMCs (PMINVOKE)
 + PGE: Match object improvements
 + smop: added Attribute and Class PMCs
 + HLLCompiler: improvements for interactive mode
- PAST:
 + extended binding to a list of variables
- Languages:
 + Updated Lua, PHP ("Plumhead"), Tcl ("ParTcl"), Ruby ("Cardinal")
 + Update PIR, regex, Zcode
 + New language: Pynie - a Python compiler for Parrot
 + Lua implements require and many other ops, improved regex support
 + Remove parakeet
- Design:
 + PDD01 "Overview" - updated architecture and platform information
 + PDD15 "Objects" - details on roles, objects, and classes added
 + PDD22 "I/O" - added async ops and Status PMC details
- Documentation:
 + Added guides for Metacommitter, Relase Manager, and Cage Cleaner roles
- Implementation:
 + Object, Class, Role, and Attribute PMC implementation has begun
 + Perl 5 module "Parrot::Embed" now compiles and links on all platforms
- Build:
 + Major improvements in test coverage for 'ops2c.pl'
- Misc:
 + New utility: Crow, a template processor
 + New library module: Config/JSON for reading/writing JSON files
 + many bugfixes, enhancements, and coding standard updates, code cleanup

New in 0.4.9

- Compilers:
   + IMCC: Parrot calling conventions now available in C PMCs, allowing
     named, optional, slurpy, and flat parameter passing
   + PGE: extended support for Perl 5 Regexes
   + smop: prototype object model implementation
   + hllcompiler: refactored to run a configurable set of compilation stages
- PAST:
   + redesigned assign/binding to support Perl 6 binding semantics
- Languages:
   + Updated Lua, PHP ("Plumhead"), Tcl ("ParTcl"), perl6, perl5
   + New language: PIR - a PGE-based implementation of Parrot PIR
   + perl6 now supports binding (':=') and 'join'
   + lua generates tail calls, and supports its own regex flavor (PGE-based)
   + Pheme still works, huzzah!
- Design:
   + PDD21 "Objects" - rewritten
   + PDD22 "I/O" - updated and 'TODO' tests added
- Documentation:
   + Interface stability classification standards approved
   + Roles and Responsibilities documented approved
   + Official 'drafts' directory created (was 'clip')
- Implementation:
   + More NameSpace and OS PMC methods implemented
   + Parrot executable fullname and basename now available in PIR/PASM code
   + new 'chomp' library function
- Build:
   + Major improvements in test coverage for 'ops2pm.pl'
- Misc:
   + many bugfixes, enhancements, and coding standard updates
   + extended support for Sun Workshop Compilers
   + Parrot now builds on PocketPC platform

New in 0.4.8

- Compilers:
   + HLLCompiler: added tracing options, modified api
   + PGE & TGE bugfixes and updates
- PAST:
   + added global and lexical variable support
   + added looping constructs, arrays, hashes
- Languages:
   + Updated PHP ("Plumhead"), Tcl ("ParTcl"),
     forth, perl6, lua, abc, APL, WMLScript, punie
   + ParTcl is passing > 24.9% of Tcl cvs-latest test suite
   + perl6 now supports hashes, arrays, method calls, arity-based
     multisubs, quoted terms, ranges (non-lazy), try blocks, $!
- Design:
   + PDD01 "Overview" - updated
   + PDD22 "I/O" - rewritten and approved
- Test Suite:
   + Converted Perl 5 Regex tests to PIR, with notable speedup
   + Added tests for opcodes, compilers, languages, and coding standards
- Build:
   + Major improvements in test coverage for 'pmc2c.pl'
- Misc:
   + many bugfixes, enhancements, and coding standard updates
   + extended support for non-core platforms including Cygwin, Tru64

New in 0.4.7

- New languages: PHP ("Plumhead"), Forth
- Updated languages: Ruby ("Cardinal"), Tcl, Lua
- Remove old Python implementation from Parrot repository; the new Python
  language code is hosted at http://pirate.tangentcode.com
- Compilers:
   + PGE updated with more expressions, latest changes to S05
   + new Perl 6 grammar compiler
- Integration:
   + Perl 5 module "Parrot::Embed" allows easy embedding of a Parrot
     runtime into a Perl 5 program
- PIR:
   + new :init pragma for subs that must run before the main function
   + new :vtable pragma to identify subs that override PMC vtable methods,
     eliminating the need for special subroutine names
   + PIR parser/compiler does not stop on first syntax error
   + Vanilla register allocator ("register alligator") greatly improves
     performance compiling large functions
   + Eliminated limit on number of PIR macros
- PMCs:
   + hash lookups return null instead of None for missing keys
- Design:
   + PDD13 "Bytecode files: format and manipulation" - new
   + PDD10 "Embedding" - new
   + PDD25 "Concurrency" - rewritten
   + PDD15 "Objects" - new section on redesign requirements
   + PDD07 "Coding standards" - significant updates and automated tests
- Test Suite:
   + Many many more new tests
- Build Process:
   + autoconf compatible install options
- Misc:
   + Namespace refinements
   + Coroutine improvements
   + An impressive swarm of other bugfixes and enhancements

New in 0.4.6

- New languages: Ruby ("Cardinal"), Javascript ("ecmascript")
- Updated languages: Tcl, dotnet, bc, Pheme, Punie, WMLScript
- Updated compilers: PGE, TGE
- IMCC updates:
   + ".loadlib" directive expresses dependencies
   + ".namespace" with no parameter goes to HLL root
   + lexer is reentrant (reentrant grammar in progress)
- Namespace improvements:
   + new suite of opcodes to access namespaces and globals
     ("find_global" and "store_global" will be phased out)
   + namespace '' no longer means HLL root
- Design document updates:
    namespaces (pdd23), basic types (pdd17), embedding
- Updated tool requirements for developers:
    flex 2.5.33, bison 2.1, perl 5.6.1
- New to-do list for people new to Parrot:
    cage/todo.pod
- The usual plethora of bugfixes and enhancements

New in 0.4.5

- unicode subroutine names
- hierarchical class names finished including MMD support
- new dotnet CLI to PIR translator
- improved TGE code and compiler
- APL: vector handling
- new STM branch in the svn repository
- the usual bugfixes and enhancements

New in 0.4.4

- hierarchical class names
- APL compiler
  - under development
  - understands simple vector ops, strings
  - demonstrates use of Unicode in Parrot
- pgc, a compiler for rules and operator precedence parsers
- Major redesign and improvements for PGE
  - compilers understand named parameter options
  - :ratchet option implemented to support non-backtracking quantifiers
- TGE (tree grammar engine) for tree transformations
  - tgc, tree grammar compiler
- perl6 compiler
  - support for many operators, lexical scalars, regex matches
- new pheme (Parrot scheme) compiler

New in 0.4.3

- namespaces partially implemented
- rulec, Perl 6 rule compiler
- PGE improvements including return values for closure
- parts of a Perl 6 parser based on PGE
- complex trigonometric methods
- type of Sub PMC is now overridable by HLL
- NetBSD support
- many bug fixes and improvements

New in 0.4.2

- improved PPC and x86 JIT support including JIT compilation
  of very simple PASM/PIR subroutines
- preliminary libreadline support
- better trace and debug features
- pkgconfig support
- META.yml to support proper indexing on CPAN
- new opcode: hcf (in "my_ops" in dynamic op library)
- new File pmc for file specific ops (is_dir, is_file, copy, rename...)
- named arguments and parameters (both :named("") and => syntaxes)
- ongoing config improvements
- tons of bug fixes and other small improvements - too much to list all

New in 0.4.1

- Installation: 'make install' is using standard locations now
  (/usr/local is the default --prefix)
- Produce static and shared libraries on some systems
- Configure system rearragement
- OS pmc started (mkdir,cd,cwd,rm,umask,stat)
- Shootout examples
- Test files are now testable with 'prove'
- Smoke (and smokej) outputs progress
- PIR supports: I = A < B (>,<=,>=,==,!=)
- Add support for octal number constants
- partcl updates:
  - almost finish [string]; start [file]
  - add build tool for generating inline'd tcl builtins from templates.
- Jako updates: NCI, subroutines, global variables and constants all work.
  (Gregor)

New in 0.4.0

- New lexical handling and closure support including better
  introspection for caller and outer
- PGE (Parrot Grammar Engine) provides now compilers for P6Rule,
  P6Grammar, P5Regexp, and Glob
- ca. 1000 new tests including 800 for Perl5 regexp
- Improved unicode charset and encoding support
- Calling conventions for exception handlers
- Punie (Perl 1) uses TGE (Tree Grammar Engine) to convert from
  PGE match objects to AST via two steps of tree transformation grammars
- New languages: amber and lua
- The usual code fixes, cleanup, and improvements, including an overhaul
  of the config and test framework

New in 0.3.1

- Variable sized register frames are finished. Each subroutine gets
  the amount of registers that it actually needs. No more spilling.
- Vastly improved PGE (Parrot Grammar Engine) including shift-reduce,
  precedence-based expression parser and support for matching of
  bracketed text delimited by e.g. ()[]{}'"
- uniccode character classification (is_upper ...)
- support for heredoc syntax in assembler
- improved examples, basic JSON support
- debian packaging support
- the usual improvements, bug fixes, and cleanup
- test count exceeds 3000

New in 0.3.0

- New calling conventions implemented: see PDD03 for details
- Merge multiple Parrot bytecode (PBC) files into a singe PBC file
- 'make smoke' target going beta
- bc now supports if statements, comparison ops, prefix inc/dec
- ParTcl adds [lassign], [switch] (partially); [expr] converted to a compiler
- Many exciting doc updates, tests, and bugfixes, too numerous to mention

New in 0.2.3

- Dynamic classes now compile on Windows (including ParTcl)
- New Super PMC allows easy access to superclass methods
- Implement C3 method resolution order (just like Perl 6 & Python)
- ParTcl has new PIR-based parser and passes more Tcl tests
- added character class support in Globs to PGE
- added language implementations of unlambda, Lazy-k
- many bugfixes, including GC and memory leaks
- the new calling scheme continued to evolve in branches/leo-ctx5

New in 0.2.2

- new call scheme: docs/pdds/pdd03_calling_conventions.pod
- partial implementation of the new calling conventions
  PASM only, don't mix PIR foo() call syntax with the new scheme
- grammar and rule support in PGE - the Parrot Grammar Engine
- TCL passes >10% of the tcl test suite
- the usual bugfixes and improvements

New in 0.2.1

- better HLL support (short names for object attributes, and
  .HLL and n_operators pragmas)
- string encoding and charset can now be set independently
- experimental mmap IO layer for slurping files
- distinct debug and trace flag settings
- glob support in PGE
- new character classification opcodes and interfaces

New in 0.2.0

- parrot repository is now under subversion
- MMD (Multi Method Dispatch) enhanced
- new unary and infix opcodes that return new result PMCs
- dynamic scalar PMCs inherit now almost all from Parrot core PMCs
- more unification of PMCs and ParrotObjects
- tailcalls for functions and methods
- PGE (Parrot Grammar Engine) reworked
- Pugs creates Parrot code and Pugs is a registered compiler now
- new languages/lisp
- the usual bug fixes and improvements

New in 0.1.2

- New string handling code. Strings now have charset and encoding
- Parts of a generation garbage collector
- Better Python code, separated in dynclasses
- Parrot Grammar Engine
- Improved test coverage and documentation

New in 0.1.1

Parrot 0.1.1 is an intermediate release with tons of updates and fixes.
 - Python support: Parrot runs 4/7 of the pie-thon test suite
 - Better OS support: more platforms, compiler, OS functions
 - Improved PIR syntax for method calls and <op>= assignment
 - Dynamic loading reworked including a "make install" target
 - MMD - multi method dispatch for binary vtable methods
 - Library improvement and cleanup
 - BigInt, Complex, *Array, Slice, Enumerate, None PMC classes
 - IA64 and hppa JIT support
 - Tons of fixes, improvements, new tests, and documentation updates.
A lot is unfinished and keeps changing. Nethertheless Parrot is stable
and usable at the surface, while internals are moving.

New in 0.1.0
 - "Ladies and gentlemen, I give you... objects!"
 - Huge documentation overhaul
 - More supported platforms, s. PLATFORMS
 - Basic thread support for pthread based architectures
 - Basic event handling for timers and signals including:
 - PASM callbacks for NCI (native C) functions.
 - Improved platform configuration
 - COW stacks now working, stacks code redone
 - Structure handling vastly improved
 - Random PMC and rand primitives
 - Better subroutine call syntax in PIR
 - Make PIR subroutines compliant with pdd03
 - Improved profiling (DOD, GC timings)
 - Hash code improvements, incl. random key order support
 - Experimental freeze/thaw code for some PMC types
 - IO improvements for buffered layer and Win32
 - String iterators
 - String bitwise vtables
 - Many new opcodes
 - Support for JIT, where malloced memory isn't executable
 - Priority DOD scheme for objects that need timely destruction
 - Improved byte code loading (e.g. onLoad functions)
 - Language updates: forth, Perl 6/P6C, m4
 - Libraries: Getopt_Long, SDL, Dumper, Sort
 - new JAPH examples
 - Unified imcc and parrot test handling
 - Many new tests (make test reports 1386 tests)
 - Numerous bug fixes

New in 0.0.13
 - The Big Move: Parrot source and build files rearranged into sub dirs
 - Build imcc as parrot
 - Objects more finished
 - Delegate vtable methods to byte code
 - Binary multi-method dispatching
 - Isa and does methods for PMCs
 - Call byte code from C
 - Start of extension interface
 - Experimental struct handling
 - Catch access to NULL PMCs
 - Experimental network socket interface code and opcodes
 - IO fixes and improvements
 - Dynamic opcode libraries
 - Fix-assigned opcode numbers
 - Argument flattening for function calls
 - More native call interface (NCI) signatures
 - Ncurses, postgres, and pcre interface libraries
 - Forth language is vastly improved
 - BSD and Win32 build improvements
 - Many new tests and fixes

New in 0.0.12
 - This number intentionally left blank

New in 0.0.11
 - Executable output
 - Dynamic PMC registration
 - Trial exception system
 - Beginnings of object system
 - Iterators
 - Ordered hashes
 - I/O system improvements
 - References
 - Documentation for basic PMC types
 - IMCC support of Parrot Calling Conventions
 - Runtime loading of chartypes (and other string improvements)
 - Conditional breakpoints
 - Dramatically accelerated sweeps for finalizable objects
 - Small PMCs (PMCs split into core and extensions)
 - Loadable bytecode packfiles
 - Constant PMCs
 - Sub variants that deal with the stack correctly
 - Switched runops core
 - Line numbers in warnings
 - Environment access
 - Many documentation cleanups
 - Conversion to CPS style!
 - BASIC debugger and many other wacky features
 - Filename, line number parsing support in IMCC

New in 0.0.10
 - IMCC integration
 - eval
 - some more benchmarking
 - cgp core
 - optimized math ops
 - intersegment branches
 - more complete use of PObjs
 - beefed up packfiles
 - sub/continuation/coroutine fixes
 - better NCI (native calling interface)
 - many imcc improvements
 - jako improvements

New in 0.0.9

- Native function calling interface (Dan)
- Stack/list aggregate rewrite (Leo)
- Scratchpads (Jonathan Sillito)
- Preliminary DotGNU support -- type conversion ops (Gopal V + Leo)
- Buffer/PMC unification (Leo)
- stabs debugging support for JIT (Leo)
- Jako overhaul (Gregor)
- Optional Lea allocator (Leo)
- Parrot sprintf (Brent)
- Miniparrot (Josh)
- PMC Properties (Dan)
- Various JIT improvements (D. Grunblatt + Leo)
- Extensible packfiles (Juergen)
- Restructured PMC hierarchy (Leo)
- Real Scheme (Juergen)

New in 0.0.8

- Several new grammars and a BNF -> perl5 and perl6 converter (Jeff)
- Working Perl 6 REs (Sean)
- Keyed Access (Tom Hughes et al)
- New PMCs (Alberto et al)
- Better Documentation
- New COW semantics
- GC acceleration (Mike Lambert)
- Lexical scope (Jonathan Sillito)
- IMCC patches
- JIT for the ARM

New in 0.0.7

- Perl 6 Grammar and Compiler (Sean)
- Subroutines, coroutines, and continuations (Melvin)
- GC improvements (Peter Gibbs, Mike Lambert)
- Global variables (Melvin)
- Intermediate bytecode compiler (Melvin, Angel)
- And much, much more.

New in 0.0.6

- New assembler that support keyed types (Jeff)
- New macro layer, allowing constants (Jeff)
- New Configure.pl (Brent)
- Changes to bytecode format, endian issues resolved (Melvin)
- GC improvements and bug fixes (Peter Gibbs, Mike Lambert)
- JIT compiler rewrite (Jason and Daniel)
- Parrot assembler in Parrot (Daniel)
- Parrot debugger (Daniel)
- BASIC polished, Eliza.bas is new (Clint)
- Cola compiler committed and working, with limited OOP (Melvin)
- Keyed aggregates (Steve Fink)
- Global ops (Melvin)
- Compile-time speedup (Melvin)
- Much documentation
- New PDDs (Dan)
- Contributed tetris and lzw files
- And many more, from the cast of thousands

New in 0.0.5

- Full GC
- Perl Scalar support in PMCs
- Array and Hash types almost ready for prime-time
- Internal support for keyed types
- EMACS editing mode
- New PDDs
- New Language - BASIC
- Regular expression compiler
- More tests
- Many, many bug fixes, enhancements, and speedups

New in 0.0.4

- Arena-based memory allocation system
- Copying GC
- New IO subsystem
- "Predereferencing" mode - ./parrot -P - 22% speedup
- JIT compiler - ./parrot -j
- Parrot now builds warnings-clean on many platforms
- Many more PMC methods implemented
- Regular expression operations
- Added a FAQ
- Basic support for embedding Parrot in other programs
- Warnings support
- Added PDDs to distribution
- Bignum library

- PMC inheritance
- Added an assembly optimizer
- Improved string encoding/type support
- Many more tests
- Source reformatting
- Major refactoring in packfile library
- More Miniperl functionality
- New PMC "clone" operator
- Beginnings of key-based access to PMCs - arrays and hashes
- MOPS comparisons in examples/mops/

New in 0.0.3

- PMCs!
- Perl base scalar types implemented
- A new minilanguage, Scheme
- Much improved documentation
- Register stacks pushing and popping
- User stack pushing, popping and rotating
- Jako updates: subroutines, more example programs, optimizations
- test_prog renamed to 'parrot'

- Added features to the assembler: @ for current location, and global
  labels
- Build tweaks for VMS
- Bytecode typing clean-ups
- More platforms: OS X, HPUX, OS/2
- The proliferation of runops cores reduced to one fast and one slow one
- Opcode tracing, bounds checking, profiling
- Vastly improved string support, with separation of encoding and
  charset
- Lots more tests
- Multiple interpreter creation support - the beginnings of threading
- Much better resource handling - the beginnings of GC

New in 0.0.2

- Parrot now works on all core platforms
- A large number of tests, in the standard Perl testing framework
- A new minilanguage (Jako) which compiles to Parrot assembly
- Documentation about the assembly language (docs/parrot_assembly.pod)

- Separate modules for assembly (Parrot::Assemble) and bytecode
  manipulation (Parrot::PackFile::*, packfile.c)
- Assembler completely rewritten
- Better operand-type guessing in the assembler
- Assembler support for '\n' etc. in string constants
- Code reformatted to match the coding standards
- New ops for register-constant INTEGER comparisons
- Macro expansion in the assembler
- IVs and NVs renamed to more friendly INTVAL and NUMVAL
- Hard-coded pack("") formats removed
- Better handling of floating-point numbers in assembler
- Moved floats to constant table (fixing many alignment issues)
