path: root/NEWS

GNU MDK -- History of visible changes.

Copyright (C) 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, Free Software Foundation, Inc.
See the end for copying conditions.

Please send mdk bug reports to bug-mdk@gnu.org.

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* Version 1.2 ()

** Graphical user interface (gmixvm) updated to gtk+ 2.4.x

   - gmixvm now uses the latest version of the gtk+ toolkit, including
     antialiased Pango fonts.
   - Individually detachable windows for the virtual machine, the
     source window and the devices notebook (there is no 'split mode'
     anymore).
   - Detachable toolbars.
   - Current source line and breakpoints are now marked via icons.
   - New menu option to change all fonts at once.


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* Version 1.1 (12/06/04)

** The typewriter device (19) is now input/output, so that you can
   read characters from standard input (mixvm) or a popup dialog
   (gmixvm) in your MIXAL programs (see samples/echo.mixal for a
   simple usage sample).

** Input character device files may now contain lines with less than the
   required block size; the virtual machine pads the missing
   characters in memory using 0 (MIX char 'space').

** The paper tape device (20) was incorrectly defined as an output
   device. It is now an input char device (cf. TAOCP vol.1 p. 133,
   where it is mentioned as the 'paper tape reader'; thanks to Michael
   Talbot-Wilson).

** Listings produced by mixasm improved: better layout, and correct
   identification of 'ALF' and 'CON' instructions (including those
   added by the compiler as a result of local constant definitions and
   future references.

** Local constants can now be modified by a field spec or an index,
   as in, say, CMPA =0=,1(3:2) (closes #5654).

** The virtual machine reader is now case-insensitive, i.e., it
   automatically converts lowercase characters in input char device
   files to their uppercase counterparts (which are the only ones
   admitted by MIX). The ASCII representation for MIX chars delta,
   sigma and pi is now ~, [ and #.

** Bug fix: mixvm prompt's ending whitespace is now correctly set.

** Bug fix: blocks in input char devices (e.g. the card reader) are
   now expected to be separated by newlines, mirroring char output,
   which is done so (i.e. with one ASCII line per block).

** Improved virtual machine error messages (bad memory address, device
   no., fspec, etc.).

** Bug fix: undefined symbols are transformed to new addresses just
   before the end of a compiled program (as per TAOCP v1 p. 156;
   thanks to WeiZeng).

** Bug fix: the vm no longer blows up on memory access violations
   (thanks to Joel R. Holveck; closes #5649).

** Bug fix: LDAN, LDXN and LDiN always negate the result, even if zero
   (thanks to Ruslan Batdalov; closes Debian's #247392).

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* Version 1.0.1 (09/06/03)

** New misc/mixal-mode.el for emacs (and associated docs), written by
   Pieter Pareit.

** Error message for unquoted ALF operand improved.

** Fixed bug that caused (g)mixvm to segfault when reading a false MIX
   file.

** All translatable strings are ready for i18n.

** Portability fixes to extend supported platforms.

** When the program counter reaches address 4000 during program
   execution, it is set back to its maximum value, 3999, and the
   program halts, to avoid infinite loops.

** Minor documentation improvements.

** Minor bug fixes.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Version 1.0 (08/04/02)

** The stable release.

** New command line option added to 'mixvm': -t (--time) to turn on
   virtual execution time printing (it is now off by default).

** New 'mixvm' command: prompt, lets you change the mixvm command
   prompt ("MIX > " by default).

** When the program counter reaches address 4000 during program
   execution, it wraps up to value 0, to keep always a valid
   address. Caveat: a program missing the HLT instruction can loop
   indefinitely.

** New supported platform: Mac OS X.

** User manual reviewed and updated.

** Bug fix: 'configure' libraries detection now works properly.

** Bug fix: missing #includes added to avoid compilation errors in
   some platforms (RedHat 7.1, ia64 with gcc 3.0).

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* Version 0.5 (29/09/01)

** Added Guile support:
       - New utility 'mixguile': a Guile shell with an embedded MIX
       virtual machine.
       - gmixvm and mixvm have an embedded Guile interpreter: Scheme
       can be used as an extension language.
       - See the updated User's Manual for details.

** New (g)mixvm commands:
       - psrc: print the current program's source file path
       - pprog: print the current program's path
       - pline: print the current program line
       - pstat: print the current virtual machine status
       - slog: set on/off the logging of info messages to stdout (or
         the command log in gmixvm)

** For the sake of coherence, the following (g)mixvm commands
   have been renamed:
       - tracing -> strace
       - timing -> stime (set on/off timing),
                   ptime (print timing stats)
       - devdir -> sddir (set the devices dir),
                   pddir (print the devices dir)

** Major documentation update to include Guile support and various
   cosmetic corrections for pretty ps and pdf manuals (provided in the
   distribution in addition to the html format).

** In gmixvm, when a font specified in the config file cannot be
   loaded, it is removed from the configuration.

** gmixvm now accepts the standard command line options -vuh

** Bug fix: when the MIX font is changed in gmixvm, the loc widget
   font is correctly updated.

** Bug fix: help messages are now correctly aligned in (g)mixvm.

** Bug fix: timing statitics for the MOVE instruction are correctly
   computed.

** Bug fix: pressing return at an empty 'MIX >' prompt does not
   produce an error message.

** Bug fix: the configure script now correctly detects the absence of
   libglade (needed by gmixvm).

** Bug fix: makefiles corrected so that mdk accepts a VPATH build
   ('make distcheck' works now)

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* Version 0.4.2 (17/08/01)

** New toolbars for gmixvm windows.

** Toolbars can be hidden, using View->Toolbar checkbox.

** New icon for the "goto loc pointer address" button.

** The menu entry "Split windows" has been moved from "Settings" to
   "View" main menu, and renamed to "One window" in split mode.

** In split mode, the MIXAL window has its own statusbar to display
   symbol values in it (instead of in the main window toolbar).

** Bug fix: the visibility of split windows when changing mode is now
   correctly handled.

** Bug fix: the devices window is now correctly destroyed, avoiding
   GTK warnings on gmixvm exit.

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* Version 0.4 (22/07/01)

** Split mode: gmixvm can now be run with the MIXVM, MIXAL and Devices
   windows detached (instead of arranged in a notebook).

** When running in split mode, the MIXVM, MIXAL and Devices windows
   can be hidden.

** Conditional breakpoints can be set in mixvm and gmixvm using the
   commands 'sbp[rmco]', which cause the execution to stop when a
   given register, memory cell contents, comparison flag or overflow
   toggle change (e.g. 'sbpr A' will set a breakpoint on register A
   contents change). Conditional breakpoints can be deleted using the
   new commands 'cbp[rmco]'.

** New vm command 'pbt' which prints a backtrace of the last executed
   instructions.

** The gmixvm main window displays the path to the current MIX file in
   its title bar.

** The mixvm and gmixvm configuration files are now stored in ~/.mdk
   (instead of ~/.gmixvm).

** The default device files directory is also ~/.mdk. It can be
   configured using the new command 'devdir' or (in gmixvm) with the
   new Settings->Devices dir menu command.

** The commands 'tron' and 'troff' have been substituted by 'tracing
   on|off'.

** The trace flag is saved as a configuration parameter in mixvm and
   gmixvm.

** New vm commands:  'pedit'/'sedit' (print/set editor command) and
   'pasm'/'sasm' (print/set compile command). Their value is stored as
   a config param also in mixvm.

** New command 'timing' for setting on/off and printing the timing
   statistics (both in gmixvm and mixvm). Its value is also stored as
   a config param.

** mixvm and gmixvm now save a history file so that they remember
   commands typed in previous sessions.

** Bug fix: changes in the device format are now correctly stored (gmixvm).

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* Version 0.3.5 (23/06/01)

** In gmixvm, when the mouse pointer is over a MIXAL source line, the
   status bar shows the value of the variables appearing in this line.

** The current symbol table can be displayed, in gmixvm, using the menu
   command Debug->Symbols...

** Bug fix: the load, compile and run file dialogs now get the correct
   filename under linux.

** Bug fix: fonts used by gmixvm are now always correctly saved.

** Bug fix: 'psym' now works correctly in gmixvm.

** Bug fix: the symbol table for a MIX file is now correctly recovered
   both in gmixvm and mixvm (negative values where incorrectly
   converted to a positive value).

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Version 0.3.4 (12/06/01)

** Bug fix for a segfault which made gmixvm unusable in version 0.3.3.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Version 0.3.3 (10/06/01)

** The output of the contents of binary devices in gmixvm can be
   configured to be in decimal or word format (for each block device).

** The main gmixvm window is not shown until it is completely drawn.

** The commands 'edit' and 'compile' are now understood by gmixvm. The
   external programs used can be configured using the menu entry
   Settings->External programs.

** The commands 'edit' and 'compile' can be now executed without
   argument (both in mixvm and gmixvm). When no argument is given, the
   MIXAL source file corresponding to the currently loaded MIX program
   is edited/compiled.

** Bug in CON fixed : 'CON wexpr' didn't compile correctly unless wexpr
   represented a valid instruction; now, wexpr can evaluate to an
   arbitrary value (Vasilij Ozmetelenko).

** The completion key for the gmixvm command prompt is now TAB
   (instead of RETURN).

** The gmixvm command prompt maintains now a history of previously
   typed commands, which can be visited using the arrow keys (UP for
   previous command, DOWN for next one).

** When a file is reloaded by the virtual machine (both in mixvm and
   gmixvm), the currently set breakpoints are conserved.

** When compiling a source file which is not in the current directory, the
   correct path is now stored in the compiled file.

** Fixed a bug which caused gmixvm to segfault when creating the
   virtual machine (Andrew Hood)

** The GNU MDK documentation is now distributed under the GFDL
   license.

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* Version 0.3.2 (10/05/01)

** The colors used for highlighting MIXAL source lines in gmixvm are now
   customizable.

** The fonts used in the different gmixvm widgets are now
   customizable.

** Input/output for all MIX block devices is shown in gmixvm.

** All gmixvm customizations are stored in a configuration file
   (inside ~/.gmixvm directory).

** Device files used by gmixvm are stored in ~/.gmixvm, instead of the
   working directory.

** Output to binary devices works now correctly.

** Bug on pmem fixed (thanks to Christoph von Nathusius and Jason
   Uhlenkott).

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Version 0.3.1 (9/04/01)

** New binary and html RPMs (RedHat) contributed by Agustin Navarro
   <anp@cantv.net>.

** The package can be correctly build in FreeBSD 4.2 (Ying-Chieh Liao)

** Fixed configuration process when included gettext is used.

** The info files are now properly categorized in a dir entry, so that
   they can be properly installed.

** Compilation warnings fixed.

** getopt implementation provided for systems missing it.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Version 0.3 (28/03/01)

** MDK is now an official GNU package.

** New GTK+ interface for the virtual machine (gmixvm).

** New mixvm-Emacs/GUD interface via mixvm.el (Philip King).

** Readline and history support for mixvm are now optional features.

** JRED is now properly implemented (bug pointed out by
   Vasilij Ozmetelenko).

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Version 0.2 (07/01/01)

** mixvm provides virtual execution time statistics after each
   invocation of run or next.

** mixvm can trace instructions as they are executed. tron/troff
   commands turn on/off instruction tracing.

** mixvm accepts a new command, w2d, which computes the
   decimal value of a MIX word given as a series of
   bytes (e.g. - 01 00 34 32 22).

** Symbols can be defined at the mixvm prompt with the
   new command ssym.

** mixvm accepts a new command, weval, which allows the
   evaluation of MIXAL w-expressions.

** Expressions containing strings of successive '*' are now
   correctly evaluated.

** When using block devices in mixvm, the buffers are now
   flushed after each OUT operation.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Version 0.1.1 (18/11/00)

** MDK is now compilable in rpm-based linuxes.
** MDK fully compliant with Knuth's specification. In particular,
   local symbols are now properly handled in special cases such as
     3H ORIG 3B
   instructions. See samples/stress{1,2}.mixal.
** Future references affected by unary minus are accepted
   with a warning (they are banned in Knuth's specification).
   Also future refs in EQU directives are now properly handled.
   See samples/stress{3,4}.mixal.
** When mixvm executes a program and reaches the end of the
   available memory without encountering a HALT instruction,
   it halts anyway.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Version 0.1 (31/10/00)

** Initial version

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copying information:

Copyright (C) 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

   Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
   of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
   copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
   thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.

   Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
   of this document, or of portions of it,
   under the above conditions, provided also that they
   carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.


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$Id: NEWS,v 1.51 2004/07/10 23:15:02 jao Exp $