What is new in Algosim 3.2?
April 2025
Major changes
Algosim 3.2 has a completely redesigned IDE with a fully customizable panel-based layout. The current layout can be queried and changed programmatically, and layout presets can be specified using an XML-based file format. Moreover, the IDE now supports state-of-the-art per-monitor DPI scaling on the Windows desktop.
Algosim 3.2 also introduces support for plotting implicit equations in Cartesian coordinates and level curves (contours) of two-dimensional scalar fields.
In addition, a large number of improvements have been made in kernel functions and front-end facilities.
Language changes
The only core language change is that the tokeniser now accepts the ASCII colon-equals sequence as a substitute for the proper ≔ operator. In previous versions of Algosim, a common user mistake was to write
a:=5
only to be greeted with the
syntax error
Operand missing before operator = at column 3.
message. The user should have written
a ≔ 5
(or only a≔5, but with the spaces the := ASCII sequence would have been automatically replaced with the proper ≔ operator).
In Algosim 3.2, the tokeniser is more forgiving and understands that the := ASCII sequence means ≔. (Of course, the ASCII sequence := is not replaced within string literals or comments. Only those cases that would have resulted in syntax errors in Algosim 3.1 and earlier are reinterpreted. This more forgiving behaviour is possible because the operators : and = are binary infix operators and so cannot be placed next to each other.)
New functions
Significantly extended functions
-
plot (now supports implicit plots)
Other changes
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A substantial number of improvements have been made in the on-line documentation.
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Many images in the documentation have been rerendered in 200% DPI scaling.
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A centralised settings manager can be used to view and alter Algosim settings, both programmatically and using a new graphical interface.