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RELEASES.md

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Version 1.1

This version mostly includes bugfixes and stdlib improvement since 1.0.

IMPORTANT: The main crate nickel-lang has been split between nickel-lang-cli (the binary) and nickel-lang-core (the library). If you're using cargo to install Nickel, please uninstall the previous crate by running cargo uninstall nickel-lang, and from now one use cargo install nickel-lang-cli to install 1.1 and do further updates.

Stdlib

  • Encode more pre-conditions of stdlib functions as additional contracts, replacing dynamic type errors with nice contract errors by @yannham in tweag#1358
  • ArraySliceFun incorrectly excluded the length of the array as the end index by @vkleen in tweag#1396

Tooling

  • Improve the pretty printing of terms in the CLI and within error messages by @vkleen in tweag#1262
  • Fix LSP panic when importing JSON by @yannham in tweag#1382
  • Fix LSP hanging under certain conditions involving external imports by @yannham in tweag#1390
  • Better error message when contract makes certain rows illegal by @Radvendii in tweag#1323
  • Fix function params hovering in the LSP by @yannham in tweag#1395
  • Fix LSP infinite loop on hovering on external imports by @yannham in tweag#1397

Fixes

  • Fixes incorrect variable names in type mismatch errors by @vkleen in tweag#1313
  • Improve error messages for polymorphic tail parametricity violations by @matthew-healy in tweag#1320
  • Fix panic on duplicated top-level idents in record destructuring by @matthew-healy in tweag#1324
  • Prevent panic when parsing record type with field path by @matthew-healy in tweag#1325
  • Give a better error message when trying to query a non-record by @jneem in tweag#1326
  • Fix error position by @jneem in tweag#1333
  • Fix panic when interpolating fields in a record type by @jneem in tweag#1332
  • Fix type annotations not generating contracts by @yannham in tweag#1379
  • Fix typechecker looping by adding missing check for unifying equal type vars by @yannham in tweag#1400
  • Fix panic on function contract failure (position of arrow functions not set) by @yannham in tweag#1407

Version 1.0

This is the 1.0 release! The syntax and the semantics of the core language have been stabilized and shouldn't evolve as much in the future.

  • The core semantics of the language have been reworked and stabilized, in particular (but not limited to) merging, types and contracts with the implementation of RFC005
  • The stdlib has been augmented with many new functions
  • Parts of the syntax and some builtin symobls (types, stdlib functions, and so on) have been improved and made consistent
  • New features for the LSP, and in particular code completion

Breaking changes

  • Various functions from the stdlib have been renamed for better discoverability, and the stdlib got a lot of new additions. Please refer to the documentation of the stdlib.
  • String functions are now unicode-aware, and operate on the Unicode grapheme cluster abstraction instead of the character abstraction (string.length, string.is_match, etc.)
  • The switch keyword has been replaced by match, and can now be used as a standalone function (doesn't need to be applied right away)
  • The Num and Str builtin types have been renamed to Number and String by @yannham in tweag#1164
  • The num and str stdlib modules have been renamed to number and string
  • The builtin.typeof function now returns 'Number, 'String, 'Function instead of respectively 'Num, 'Str, and 'Fun
  • The builtin.is_num, builtin.is_str and builtin.to_str functions have been renamed to is_number, is_string and to_string
  • The string.to_num and string.from_num functions have been renamed to to_number and from_number
  • All the stdlib modules array, string, record, etc. have been put under a std namespace. They must now be accessed as std.array, std.string and so on.
  • RFC005 was implemented, which changes the semantics of contract annotations and merging. See the RFC content for more details. Most notably, metadata annotation (default values, optional, documentation, etc.) can only appear next to a record field. Contract and type annotations can still appear anywhere. Documentation can still appear on let-bindings.
  • Use static dictionary types for record.fields and record.values by @matthew-healy in tweag#1024
  • Make type annotations to not propagate through merging by @yannham in tweag#1271
  • Change to dictionary contracts and introduction of a separate dictionary contract (in addition to dictionary type):
    • Fix dictionary contract semantics by @vkleen in tweag#1141
    • Introduce dictionary contracts by @yannham in tweag#1272
  • Stdlib string.Stringingable -> string.Stringable by @vkleen in tweag#1180
  • Fix the type of array.elem by @yannham in tweag#1223
  • Change the enum tag start delimiter from backtick to single-quote by @vkleen in tweag#1279
  • import is now a statement, import "foo.ncl" arg1 arg2 requires parenthesis now: (import "foo.ncl") arg1 arg2, see tweag#1293

Language features

  • Symbolic strings by @matthew-healy in tweag#994
  • [RFC005] Lazy propagation by @yannham in tweag#1086
  • Non-exported record fields by @vkleen in tweag#1132
  • Enrich label custom reporting data by @yannham in tweag#1152
  • Use type annotations in record patterns during typechecking by @matthew-healy in tweag#1176
  • Use arbitrary precision rationals as the underlying representation of numbers by @yannham in tweag#1182
  • Allow equal arrays to be merged in order to make merge idempotent by @yannham in tweag#1229
  • Use deterministic hashtables, making runtime errors and typechecking error deterministic by @yannham in tweag#1235

Stdlib

  • Add a %trace% primop (and std.trace function) by @vkleen in tweag#1055
  • Add std.contract.Equal contract to the stdlib by @yannham in tweag#1203

Tooling

  • Display meta information when providing completion in tweag#966
  • LSP completion for import terms by @ebresafegaga in tweag#993
  • Fix LSP server not giving completion when a non-contract meta-information is present in a declaration by @ebresafegaga in tweag#991
  • Fix LSP not giving completion when an identifier is prefixed by a delimiting character by @ebresafegaga in tweag#1043
  • Improve the "goto definition" feature of the LSP by making it work across multiple files by @ebresafegaga in tweag#1029
  • Add --color option to the CLI by @matthew-healy in tweag#1033
  • Make the "find references" feature of the LSP work across multiple files by @ebresafegaga in tweag#1037
  • Add support for LSP completion using the surrounding context by @ebresafegaga (context completion) in tweag#1057
  • Support completion for field names inside recursive records. by @ebresafegaga in tweag#1088
  • Improve contract violation error reporting by @ebresafegaga in tweag#1139
  • Add a JSON documentation export option by @vkleen in tweag#1209
  • Add support for formatting capabilities to the LSP by @ebresafegaga in tweag#1216

Fixes

  • Do not panic on type path mismatch by @yannham in tweag#1028
  • Fix multiline string interpolation when preceded by a " character by @matthew-healy in tweag#1023
  • Improve the performance of std.array.fold_left and std.array.fold_right by @vkleen in tweag#1075
  • Correctly type identifiers introduced in destructuring patterns by @matthew-healy in tweag#1099
  • Always include fields with a value in record.fields by @vkleen in tweag#1225
  • Make partially applied boolean operators work by @vkleen in tweag#1282

Version 0.3.1 (2022-12-15)

Fixes

  • Fix blame error when calling string.find by @euank in tweag#988

Version 0.3 (2022-12-07)

Fixes

  • Fix polymorphic contracts unduly changing semantics by @ebresafegaga in tweag#802
  • Fix typechecking and unification in presence of flat types (aka opaque types, aka contracts) by @yannham in tweag#766
  • Fix polarity for polymorphic contract failure by @ebresafegaga in tweag#831
  • Fix panic when a row mismatch occurs while unifying row tails by @matthew-healy in tweag#847
  • Fix type to term conversion causing unbound type variables errors by @francois-caddet in tweag#854
  • Fix bad lexing of enum tags by @matthew-healy in tweag#874
  • Fix multiple recursive overriding by @yannham in tweag#940

Language features

  • Optional fields by @yannham in tweag#815
  • Numeral merge priorities by @yannham in tweag#829
  • Recursive merge priorities (or push-priorities, or leafy priorities) by @yannham in tweag#845
  • Change switch to match and make it a proper function by @yannham in tweag#970

Stdlib

  • Statically type string.join by @matthew-healy in tweag#946

Tooling

Performances

  • Lazy array contracts by @fuzzypixelz in tweag#809
  • Array slices by @fuzzypixelz in tweag#776
  • String interning for identifiers by @Acaccia in tweag#835

Version 0.2 (2022-07-29)

Breaking changes

  • Using a contract as part of a static type annotation will in most cases fail with an appropriate error message. This is a temporary limitation in order to fix previously unsound behavior in the typechecker. This restriction will likely be lifted in the upcoming 0.3.x release. For more details, see issues #701 and #724

Fixes

  • Fix unnecessarily restricted record contract for record.update
  • Fix wrong interpretation of long interpolation-like sequences %..%{ in strings
  • Fix panic when evaluating a switch in specific cases
  • Fix fields without definition being assigned to null, instead of just being marked as undefined

Language features

  • Merging null values together gives null, and merging empty lists together gives an empty list, instead of failing with error: non mergeable terms
  • Add recursive let-bindings (let rec)
  • Add type wildcards. Use _ in place of a type to let the typechecker fill the gap. Example: let foo : _ = array.all ((==) 2) [1,2,3]
  • Add builtin.to_str and string.from to convert generic values to a string
  • Re-introduce an official syntax for enum types

Tooling

  • Add the nickel pprint-ast command to pretty print a parsed program (mostly debugging purpose)
  • Add the nickel doc command to produce markdown documentation from the in-code doc metadata

Documentation

  • Fix various typos and remove use of deprecated syntax in the user manual

Version 0.1 (2022-03-10)

First release! The main focus has been the design of the Nickel language itself.

Language features

  • Gradual type system with row types, polymorphism and type inference
  • Contract system for data validation
  • Merge system for recursive records that supports one level of overriding
  • Metadata annotations (default values, documentation, etc.)
  • Unified syntax for terms, types and contracts (RFC002)
  • Record destructuring

Tooling

  • The main binary supports the following subcommands:

    • nickel query to show metadata and documentation of library functions, the field of a configuration, etc.
    • nickel export to serialize to JSON, YAML, or TOML
    • nickel repl to launch an REPL
    • nickel typecheck to do typechecking without evaluating

  • An LSP-server is included

Documentation

  • User manual sections on syntax, correctness (types and contracts), and merging
  • The standard library has been documented in-code (use nickel query/:query to retrieve it)

Known limitations

  • The roadmap for overriding and the merge system (RFC001) has not been implemented fully yet.

  • Performance has not been prioritized.

  • Due to the use of reference counting as a memory management strategy, mutually recursive record fields are currently leaking memory. This shouldn't be an issue in a standard workflow.

  • Standard library APIs and language features are subject to change. There is no backward compatibility guarantees for this version. In general, this release is meant for experimenting and getting user feedback, but isn't intended to be used in production.