[E-Lang] Announcing 0.8.10alpha1: Many tool improvements

[Mark S. Miller]

 From the second part of the Highlights section:


* The evalServer enables remote evaluation of expressions, and the reporting 
  back of the results. This is suitable for remote Elmer-like command line 
  interaction (though Elmer hasn't yet been changed to use it), simulated 
  command line interaction (as in the new Updoc), or those needing to 
  bootstrap up multi-vat computation (ie, it should replace eBrowser's current 
  use of the vatMaker). 
  ( Track this issue... )

* Updoc has been extended to do multi-vat testing, and to properly obey 
  blockAtTop(), continueAtTop(), and exitAtTop() messages sent by the scripts 
  being tested. In combination, this has enabled us to write replayable 
  regression tests of CapTP functionality. Unfortunately, in the process, 
  we've temporarily lost the ability to iterate of a directory tree.
  ( Track this issue... )

* eBrowser is rapidly becoming a serious development tool. 
   o  It now does intelligent indentation based on the lexical structure of 
       the language. (Actually, it currently parses as well as lexes, but it 
       should only need to lex.) (Note: Elmer now uses this indenter also, 
       but neither properly unindents closing brackets.)
   o  The first syntax error causes the offending code to be selected in the 
       editor, leading to a more Smalltalk-like rapid correction loops.
   o  It spins off a separate vat to calculate the left and right outline 
      panes in the background whenever the source has changed. Even though the 
      panes are, at any moment, often slightly stale, the effect works 
      amazingly well.
   o  Just coming in under the wire, eBrowser now supports drag-n-drop. Both 
       among eBrowsers, and also between eBrowser and the rest of the desktop.
  ( Track this issue... )

* Bug Tracking. As you can see from all these "Track this issue..." 
  annotations, due to Steve Jenson (Thanks!), starting with this release, we 
  are making extensive use of the bug tracking system. He had us try several 
  before we selected the SourceForge bug tracking software. We selected this 
  one because it made life easiest for someone who had just encountered a bug 
  and wanted to report it, without having encountered the bug tracking system 
  before: new bugs can be entered without reading any documentation or 
  starting an account. So, everyone, please make use of this convenience and 
  report problems as you find them. 


        Cheers,
        --MarkM