Release Notes

Version 5.3 (2001-11-24)

This release contains enhancements to the kernel, various libraries and the embedding features. It also contains preliminary versions of features which are still under development. Incompatibilities with the previous version should be very minor.

Libraries

lib(ic) nearing completion
This is the new hybrid real/integer interval constraint solver. Functionality added since the last, preliminary release: nonlinear constraints, strict inequalities, reified constraints.
New Library: lib(notify_ports)
Implements a form of one-to-many message passing, where send and receive ports are ECLiPSe data structures. A typical application is the implementation of AC-4 style algorithms.
New Library: lib(viewable)
Experimental release of the ECLiPSe side of the visualisation architecture planned for future releases. The viewable library allows you to declare in your ECLiPSe program arrays of data elements which will be viewable by future visualisation clients.
lib(branch_and_bound) enhancements
Incorporates a new single-pass, non-restart algorithm (strategy continue), which has been made the default. It is often, but not necessarily,  faster than the old default (strategy step) and supersedes the minimize/n predicates of the fd library.
lib(graph_algorithms) enhancements
New predicates: minimum_spanning_tree/4, minimum_spanning_forest/5, single_pair_shortest_path/5, single_pair_all_shortest_paths/5.
lib(eplex) enhancements

Enbedding and Interfaces

Unified High-Level External Language Interface Support
The concept of peers allows a uniform way of viewing the high-level language interfaces (currently Tcl/Tk, Java (see the next entries)) and connection methods (embedded and remote). Support is provided in ECLiPSe for creating and maintaining peer queues (previously this can only be done on the external side). The remote protocol is described in the manual and can be used to provide remote interfaces to other languages.
Tcl/Tk-ECLiPSe Interface
Increased compatibility between embedded and remote Tcl interfaces
(support for ECLiPSe handler in to-ECLiPSe queues).  Support for creation of
peer queues from the ECLiPSe side.
Java-ECLiPSe Interface
major new features (see Embedding and Interfacing manual chapter for more details):
minor new features, see Java-ECLiPSe interface changes from 5.2 to 5.3
Visual Basic Interface Sample Code
This is no longer supported by the ECLiPSe group and has therefore been removed from the distribution. We have made the code freely available for anyone interested to take over.
Environment variables
Java and Tcl/Tk embedding now work without the need for setting LD_LIBRARY_PATH on Unix or PATH on Windows.
Runtime subset
For the deployment of ECLiPSe-based applications, this release contains a separately packaged (eclipse_rt.tgz) runtime subset of the system.

Development Environment

Kernel features

Incompatibilities


Previous release notes