[plum] Release Notes

Versions increment per semver (except for alpha/beta versions).

Beta (0.X.Y) Versions (X increments on backwards incompatible changes)

  • 0.5.0 2021-May-10

    • This beta release contains many breaking changes! This release note entry attempts to summarize most breaking changes. Please read the extensively rewritten documentation to assess in detail what has changed.

    • Python 3.6 support dropped.

    • Changed most plum constructs (e.g. Int, Float, etc.) from being a data store type (with transform properties) into a simple transform type (e.g. IntX, FloatX, etc.). Instead of subclassing to obtain a custom transform, now instantiate the transform.

    • ByteArray data store eliminated and replaced with BytesX transform.

    • Added ItemsX transform for specifying dict, list, tuple formats.

    • Structure & BitFields changes

      • Bitfield members cls argument name changed to typ.

      • Member cls argument name changed to fmt.

      • Type annotations no longer used for the member format transform (previously if cls was unspecified, the annotation was used).

      • Pack operations no longer accept dictionaries.

      • Reduced number of member definition classes (same abilities exist, but features were added to standard Member to accomodate them).

      • pack() now only usable as a class method. ipack() introduced for usage on instances.

    • Pack operations now return bytes instead of bytearray.

    • Unpack operations no longer support File I/O as input buffer.

    • pack() and unpack() functions/methods offer more flexibility for specifying data transform format.

    • pack_into() eliminated.

    • unpack_from() eliminated (use Buffer construct instead).

  • 0.4.0 2020-Aug-28

    • Support following boost performance improvements:

      • Improve performance of pack() and unpack() method calls for structure and integer based types.

      • Improve performance of calls to __pack__ and __unpack__ for structure and integer and based types.

  • 0.3.1 2020-Apr-13

    • Add support for passing a factory function as the cls argument for following variable member definitions:

      • VariableDimsMember

      • VariableSizeMember

    • Improve structure representation of enumeration members.

  • 0.3.0 2020-Mar-31

    • Add plum.items module for collections of typed items for data packing applications where the item structure is not predefined.

    • Change plum.structure.Structure behaviors as follows:

      • Remove support for accepting typed items (use plum.items instead).

      • Block subclasses from redefining members when inheriting from a class with members already defined.

      • Generate __init__ method only when not overridden (previously it generated __init__ only if an override was not present in the new structure class, now it also checks the base classes).

      • Facilitate subclassing structure base class without defining members as well as subclassing a structure that has defined members.

      • Eliminate restrictions on mutating structures (e.g. append(), extend(), etc.)

    • Add support to ByteArray to restrict instances to a specific size during unpacking (add nbytes parameter to __unpack__).

    • Simplifications

      • Remove cls argument in getbytes() function (backward incompatible change).

      • Eliminate need to set dump.cls in __pack__ and __unpack__ methods (it is now the responsibility of those calling add_record() dump method).

  • 0.2.0 2020-Mar-11

    • Fix IpV4Address iteration order.

      • Iteration/index/accepted iterables now ordered from least significant byte to most. (Previously it followed byte order of the class.)

    • Support source metaclass argument when subclassing Enum and Flag enumeration types. Argument facilitates inheriting enumeration members.