Thu, Nov 29 2007 * zoem-07-333 released. * SYNOPSIS A bug in set#3 was removed, and two directives were added, namely batch definitions and a more legible way of appending to keys (see below). Keys local to environments (aka dollar keys) can now be defined using the same signature as when invoked, e.g. \begin{env}{{$k1}{v1}{$k2}{v2}}. This release also continues the focus on retiring what few special case syntax still exists. The format#2 specification syntax has been reworked (in an incompatible way) into a standard and extensible key-value syntax (see below). The format#2 implementation was redone and several new format#2 directives were added. xml/html syntactic sugar now stops introducing whitespace formatting when so instructed with the at directive \@{\w}. * Fixed bug in set#3 where usage of the {if} or {unless} directive corrupts state when combined with the {modes}{x} directive. * xml syntactic sugar cubes now obey the device scope \w directive. This means that xml elements, in the scope of an at directive \@{\w} no longer introduce white-space. This only affects the formatting of the XML/HTML code itself. This is for example useful when creating 
 elements.

   *  The set#3 {modes} directive now accepts a v (for vararg mode)
      where a batch of key-value pairs can be defined within a single set#3
      invocation. This may improve the readability of resource files
      containing many definitions. Example:

         \set{{modes}{vw}}{}{
            {is_last}   {0}
            {ctrprev}   {0}
            {ctrnow}    {1}
         }

   *  Introduced append mode in set#3:
         \set{foo}{bar}
         \set{{modes}{a}}{foo}{bar}
      sets foo to barbar.

      append#2 is an alias for \set{{modes}{a}}{\1}{\2}
      appendx#2 is an alias for \set{{modes}{ax}}{\1}{\2}

      Hence append#2 appends to keys without expanding and appendx#2 appends
      to keys after expanding the to be appended text.
      Keys that are not defined when appended to will first be instantiated
      with an empty string.

   *  Keys local to environments (started by \begin#2) can now
      be defined using the same signature as used when invoking them, i.e.
      \begin{env}{{$foo}{bar}} as well as \begin{env}{{foo}{bar}}.

   *  Some bugs were found and removed in the format#2 implementation.

   *  format#2 has acquired a reuse mode where a format specification
      can be be reused a number of times or exhaust all arguments (see below).
      It has also acquired the 'border' directive for adding constant strings
      to the left and right of the formatted units.

   *  The tr#2 specification language is now also described in zoem(1), the manual
      page of the interpreter. The idea is that all - as few as possible -
      special purpose sub-languages will be described in there for ease of
      reference.

   *  The unwieldy format#2 specification language has been redefined to
      follow standard zoem syntax using keys and vararg value lists.  It is
      more verbose, but also more robust, compatibly extensible, powerful, and
      more easily understandable. As an example one now writes

      \format{
         %{{padding}{-=-_}
           {delimit}{ }
           {align}{left}
           {length}{length}
           {subs}{{{arg}{foo}}}
           {width}{40}
          }%{
            {align}{right}
            {width}{40}
          }
      }{
         {arg1}{arg2}
      }

      rather than

      \format{%~{-=-_}{ }<40*{length}{foo}.%>40.}{
         {arg1}{arg2}
      }

      Formerly a format specifier was enclosed inbetween '%' and '.' . It
      interpreted special characters '<', '>', and '=', as well as the special
      characters '@', '*', '~' each of which had to be followed by two blocks.
      The same syntax is now obtained by a more customary key-value structure
      encoded as a zoem vararg.

      format#2 accepts new directives {border}{{left}{right}},
      {delimit}{{left}{right}}, {double}{{[{key}{value}]*}}, and
      {reuse}{|*}.

      {delimit} parameters decorate the formatted argument on the sides, and
      participate in the computations involving width, alignment and padding.
      There is no padding inbetween delimiters and the argument to be
      formatted.

      {border} parameters decorate the entire formatted product and do not
      participate in aforementioned computations. Padding is computed and
      produced before the borders are added.

      {double} can be used have the length computations performed on
      fake parameters. This can be useful when certain formatting
      elements need to be present in the true parameters.

      {reuse}{} will reuse the current specification  times,
      {reuse}{*} will reuse it until all arguments are exhausted. Thus

      \format{%{{align}{right}{width}{10}{reuse}{*}{padding}{{'}{}}}}{
         {beauty}{lies}{in}{the}{eye}{of}{the}{beholder}
      }
      \textmap{{repeat}{8}}{1234567890}

      results in

''''beauty''''''lies''''''''in'''''''the'''''''eye''''''''of'''''''the''beholder
12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890


Fri, Nov 9 2007

   *  zoem-07-313 released.

   *  \set{''foo}{bar} now works. It sets a key in the bottom (global)
      user dictionary. Same semantics as \set{{modes}{g}}{foo}{bar}.

   *  \undef#1 now checks whether its argument is a valid key signature.

   *  \undef{''foo} now works.

   *  Streamlined the error-processing part of the code.

   *  Added \textmap{{repeat}{}}{} mode. This results in 
       times repeated.  is evaluated before use.

   *  The special magic comment sequences
         \:/   delete rest of line including newline
         \:!   replace by '\' (for quoting zoem comments)

      are now deprecated (but still supported). Preferably use
         \:{/}
         \:{!}

      instead. This syntax is both more robust and more extensible.  This
      change is similar to previous changes introducing \`{}, \={} and \*{}.

Wed, Jul 25 2007

   *  zoem-07-205 released.

   *  Zoem is now licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3
      (or later).

   *  Added \set#3 that provides all the modalities of set#2, setx#2,
      def#2, defx#2 (namely optional warning, expansion), as well as
      additional modalities. It is possible to define a key conditionally (if
      not set already), and a key can be explicitly set in the global (bottom)
      user dictionary.

   *  \''foo will look up foo in the bottom user dictionary, allowing
      this dictionary to function as a global namespace.

   *  Success status, as written in the session macro \__zoemstat__ by try#1
      and catch#2 is now associated with the string "done" rather than "ok".
      The status "done" can now be explicitly thrown with \throw{done}{}.  In
      this case the unprocessed part of the current interpretation stack is
      discarded, but no error is generated.

      When not captured by try#1 or catch#2, \throw{done}{} can be captured by
      eval#1 and while#2.  If neither of these four primitives catches the
      throw, it is captured at the file processing level and results in
      end-of-processing for the current file. This is fully equivalent
      with what used to be the primitive \done. This primitive has now
      been implemented as the alias \throw{done}{}.

   *  The primitive \done is now implemented as \throw{done}{}.

   *  Introduced \`{..} syntax, equivalent with \`..` syntax. These are only
      available within the \formatted#1 primitive (where .. is a placeholder
      for valid formatted#1 directives).  This change is similar to previous
      changes introducing \={} and \*{}. The old \`..` syntax is deprecated
      and if it is used error messages are issued. The rationale for these
      changes is that the new syntax is more pleasant on the eye and will be
      extendible if needed.

   *  Added \ifdef#3 and \ifdef#4 aliases. This is the ifdef#3
      definition:

      \set{ifdef#3}{\if{\defined{\1}{\2}{\3}}}

   *  \defined{mode}{} now accepts modes 'zoem', 'prim', 'alias'.
      mode zoem accepts the combined classes of prim(itives) and
      alias.

   *  The command line option -s accepts 'key' as well as 'key=val'
      syntax. In the former case the value of key will be set to '1'.

   *  Added two solutions to the N-queen problem in the examples directory.

Wed, Dec 13 2006

   *  zoem-06-347 released.

   *  Fixed display bug in PUD -- the { itemize, long-item, html, safari }
      combination where long-item would be split over lines.

   *  Clean-ups and modifications in underlying util library (mostly
      hash-related).

Wed, Aug 23 2006

   *  zoem-06-234 released.

   *  Added beta key \__env__#1 to retrieve environment variable settings.
      \defined#2 tests for existence of a name in the environment with
      the ENV type.

   *  Added caveat in zoem(1) and Zoem User Manual documentation;
      \done will stop processing the current file only if it was read in its
      entirety, i.e. if the chunk size is sufficiently large. The default
      chunk size (1Mb) should be more than sufficient for authoring
      environments.

   *  The session key \__fnup__ is set to the file that includes
      the current file to aid in diagnostics.

   *  The underlying utility library was overhauled - it's integer
      type system was redone and a more rigorous design was put in place,
      following common practices (size_t and ssize_t wise).

Tue, Mar 22 2006

   *  zoem-06-080 released.

   *  A number of developments have settled with release. To sum up the most
      noteworthy items (C, F and H stem from this release):

         A) primitive namespace identification with \'
         B) user keys can shadow primitives
      +  C) user keys can inspect (vararg) argument structure with \nargs#1
  ABC => D) improved facilities for backward compatability
         E) PUD or portable UNIX documentation is now a separate entity
      +  F) \__line__ now yields what it promises
         G) many primitives recoded as user macros (counters and references)
      +  H) \switch#2 can group branches
         I) \register adds useful processing hook registration
         J) \whilst#2 flushes output immediately

   *  A long standing minor bug has been fixed. Comments up to and including
      the newline can be stripped with the sequence \:/.
      This used to corrupt the file line counter as seen in the session macro
      \__line__ and in error messages. No more.

   *  \switch#2 can collect several cases together using a vararg.
      In the \nargs#1 example below one might use e.g.

      \def{test#1}{
         \switch{\nargs{\1}}{
            {{-1}{-2}} { .. regular stuff .. }
            {   .. apply stuff .. }
         }
      }

      to do the same thing for both of the -1 and -2 cases.
      Different devices can easily be lumped together using the idiom

      \${ {{txt}{roff}}  { .. stuff A .. }
          {html}          { .. stuff B .. }
       }

       In this case the txt and roff devices pass through the same
       branch. \$#1 is a new alias introduced further below.

   *  Added \nargs#1 primitive which counts the number of scopes in its
      argument - WHICH IS NOT EVALUATED. This allows construction of user
      macros that can overload one or more particular arguments, i.e.  behave
      differently depending on the number of scopes in the argument.

      A likely application is an argument that either specifies a simple
      string (assuming default modes) or a vararg with strings and 
      modes specified using a key-value vararg.
      One usage is to extend a macro's functionality while retaining
      backward compatibility.

      \nargs{{abc}def}     : -2      \: neither fish nor fowl
      \nargs{abc}          : -1      \: regular argument
      \nargs{abc{def}}     : -1      \: regular argument too
      \nargs{}             :  0      \: empty vararg (not empty regular arg)
      \nargs{   }          :  0      \: empty vararg again
      \nargs{{abc}}        :  1      \: vararg with 1 argument
      \nargs{{abc}{def}}   :  2      \: vararg with 2 arguments
      \nargs{   {abc}
                {def}
      }                    :  2      \: vararg with 2 arguments
      etc.

      User macros can now use a framework such as

      \def{test#1}{
         \switch{\nargs{\1}}{
            {-2}{\inform{mixed feelings}\exit}
            {-1}{ .. regular stuff .. }
            {  \switch{\let{\nargs{\1}%2}}{
                  {0}{\apply{_#2\!{{ .. stuff with \1 and \2 .. }}}{\1}}
                  {\inform{vararg invocation requires paired arguments\exit}}
               }
            }
         }
      }

      to branch on scope presence/absence. The purpose of the -2 return value
      is to promote frameworks that spot errors early. Group -2 and -1
      as {{-2}{-1}} within switch to make them pass through the same branch.

   *  Added $#1 and $#3 aliases.
      $#1 maps to \switch{\__device__}{\1}            \: switch
      $#3 maps to \switch{\__device__}{{\1}{\2}{\3}}   \: ifelse

   *  within write#3 invocations the key \__fnwrite__ is set to the
      appropriate output file name. This allows easy branching on the file
      being written to from macros accessed within the third argument. The key
      is deleted after evaluation of the third argument has finished.  Nested
      invocations will currently overwrite this key.

   *  Spreading \foo over two lines as in
      \fo\:/
      o

      (with the 'o' at the beginning of line) will be correctly parsed
      regardless of chunk size.

Wed, 22 Feb 2006

   *  zoem-06-053 released.

   *  inspect#4 was broken since the previous release; the parse
      code responsible for firing of the callback macro had not
      been updated properly. Fixed.

   *  minor documentation improvements.

   *  The TODO was shrunk to a more reasonable size and PUD
      now has its own DOPUD.

Wed, 15 Feb 2006

   *  zoem-06-046 released.

   *  Major clean-ups in both code and documentation. Facilitated
      syntactic separation of primitives and user macros.

   *  (minor) Backward incompatible change in the PUD macro package.

      As a further clean-up of the reference framework (in which refload#2
      and friends moved to ref.zmm), publanch#2 and publref#1 have now
      moved to ref.zmm and have been renamed to reference#2 and refer#1
      for better consistency.

      ref.zmm is now documented in pud-ref(7).

   *  pud-ref(7)
      pud(7)

      were added. The first describes the reference framework, which was
      recently removed from the Zoem User Manual as it is no longer
      implemented by primitives. The second is an introduction to and an
      overview of Portable Unix Documentation.

   *  The counter primitives \ctradd#2, \ctrset#2, \ctrput#1 and the builtins
      \ctrinc#2 and \ctrdec#2 were recoded as user macros in the new macro
      package ctr.zmm .

   *  For primitives or builtins with standard alphabetic names
      and the special primitive \$#2 and the special builtins
      \"" and \""#1 the syntax

         \'standard{arg1}..
         \'${arg1}{arg2}
         \'""
         \'""{arg1}

      is now accepted. Moreover, primitive definitions can be shadowed in
      the user dictionary. Currently a warning is issued when this happens.

      The prefered way of accessing primitives is now with the new syntax.
      This makes existing zoem files compatible in case future zoem
      primitives clash with user-defined keys.

      It also makes works based on such files still extendible since the
      new primitive can be unambiguously accessed by the new syntax.

      Finally, with the new syntax zoem needs to do less hash table
      lookups, making it again slightly faster. Said tiny speed increment
      has been fully negated by the redefinition of counter primitives
      as user macros however.

   *  The number of builtin aliases has been cut back.

   *  The idiosyncratic \> (close XML-type tag) syntax has been removed.
      Use \<> or explicit \ style syntax.

   *  Cleanups and deduplication in the parsing code. Examples:
         \apply{<>#2}{{foo}{bar}}
         \apply{$#2}{{html}{yes}}
      now do something. You probably will not need it.
         \def{<>}{foo}
      now chokes.

   *  Documentation fixes and additions.

Tue, 10 Jan 2005

   *  zoem-06-010 released.

   *  Assembled the man and FAQ macros under the Portable Unix
      Documentation label.

      -  the man_zmm(7) manual page was renamed to pud-man.
      -  the faq_zmm(7) manual page was renamed to pud-faq.
      -  the generic_zmm(7) manual page was renamed to pud-base.

   *  Redid a lot of documentation. Further separated package descriptions
      from core zoem documentation.

Thu 5 Jan 2006

   *  zoem-06-005 released.

   *  Pruned the Zoem User Manual to only describe the core zoem language.
      Diatribes and mini-language excursions were removed.

   *  A missing clearerr in util/io.c caused
         ./zoem --unsafe -E '\register{END}{\system{date}}'
      to loop on EOF on at least one architecture (mac OSX). Fixed.

Thu, 24 Nov 2005

   *  zoem-05-328 released.

   *  This release contains substantial behind-the-scenes changes.
      Oddbal zoem primitives were reimplemented as macros of exisisting
      primitives or as special cases of a new more generic primitive.  Users of
      packages (man, faq, doc) should not be affected, with this exception:
       ____________________________________________________________________ 
      {                                                                    }
      {  The new zoem will choke on existing *.zmr and *.zmt auxiliary     }
      {  files. Remove these and you should be fine.                       }
      {____________________________________________________________________}

      The reason being that the primitive refload#6 is now replaced by
      the macro refload#2 provided by the new ref.zmm package.

   *  Added \register#2, use e.g. as

      \register{END}{
         \if{\ctrput{zoem::ref::misses}}{
          \write{stderr}{txt}{>>> [REF] \ctrput{zoem::ref::misses} missing references\|}
         }{}
      }

      This example is from the file ref.zmm that now implements zoem
      references.  This particular registered macro outputs a warning after all
      input has been processed if missing references were found during a run.

      Currently only END is supported. registered macros are processed in
      the order of registration.

   *  Reference handling was removed from the core zoem language.
      \refload#6 and \ref#2 were reimplemented as simple macros (\refload#2 and
      \ref#2) using the zoem data facilities and the new register#2 primitive.
      They are found in the new macro file ref.zmm.

      \refloadx#2 was added, it can be used to attach custom information to
      a reference.

   *  \ucase#1 \roman#1 and \alpha#1 are reimplemented as simple
      macros - and deprecated. They are now specific invocations
      of the new \textmap#2 primitive.

   *  \textmap#2 implements a variety of text transformations. Among them:

         {word}{ucase}
         {word}{lcase}
         {number}{roman}
         {number}{alpha}
         {caesar}{}
         {vigenere}{}
         {vigenerex}{}

      These transformations are applied sequentially, implying that

         \textmap{{number}{roman}{word}{ucase}}{\your_nice_counter}

      does what you expect it to do. Use caesar and vigerene[x] to
      encrypt your sensitive data.

   *  Added \whilst2, which sends output to the current output file
      without building up intermediate results.

   *  The tr#4 was sanitized. See further below.

   *  The zoem output implementation was thoroughly cleansed
      and is in a maintainable state now. This bears on the handling of
      multiple output sinks (altiplexing?).

      Same for environment well-formedness checks.  As part of the clean-up an
      experimental (but backwards compatible) feature was put in place; see
      immediately below.

   *  This item is important only for people that write their own
      environment definitions.  Dictionary stacks are now tied to (output)
      sinks. This implies that

      \begin{foo}
         \write{zutfut}{device}{\begin{zut}}
      \end{foo}
         \write{zutfut}{device}{\end{zut}}

      is now legal zoem, and any dollar key within a write scope is tied to the
      output stream defined by the write invocation.  Different instances of
      the same environment spread over different output sinks will thus not
      clobber one another.

      If a dollar key is not found within some write scope, it is searched
      in the default output scope.

   *  added \genoptref#1 to the generic package, for generic (html) linking to
      an option only using the option identifier string.

   *  The first argument of inspect now takes a vararg rather than
      a single string. The modifiers previously accepted as the first
      argument are now accepted as argument to the 'mods' key.
      So use e.g. \inspect{{mods}{count-matches}}{..}{..}{..}
      if counting matches is what you are after.

   *  Incompatible change in what presumably is one of the
      lesser-used primitives.

      Removed \tr#4 because its interface was broken beyond repair.
      Added \tr#2.

         \tr{  {from}{from-spec}
               {to}{to-spec}
               {delete}{delete-spec}
               {squash}{squash-spec}
            }{
               data
            }

      Data is unprotected, all specs are subject to tilde expansion.

      Specs are largely POSIX compliant except that repeats are
      denoted

         [*c*20]     \: repeat c 20 times
         [*\012*20]  \: repeat newline 20 times
         [*X*]       \: fill with X
         [*X#]       \: repeat X until class/range boundary

      The magic repeat operator # stops on boundaries. A boundary happens at
      start or end of a class or range.  Complements are denoted by a leading
      caret.

   *  \push#1 and \pop#1 semantics have changed.  \push#1 now always pushes the
      user dictionary stack. Its argument now denotes the name of dictionary
      stack that is pushed.  The matching \pop#1 should specify the same name.

   *  made -o work with -e and -E.

   *  rewrote parts of zmm_generic for the html device. It now makes
      more use of style sheets and is reworked towards better
      customizability.

   *  Included a description of the \inspect#4 and \format#2
      (mini-mini) sublanguages in the zoem(1) manual. This covers
      respectively tilde expansion for \inspect#4 and the format
      specification strings for \format#2.

   *  itemize accepts {smallertext}{1}

   *  Added fase support for centering with \format#2. With centering,
      the default now is that strings of length 1 and 2 will be layed-out
      thusly:           (even width)
         [....8...]
         [....9...]
         [...10...]
         [...11...]
      or                (odd width)
         [....8....]
         [....9....]
         [...10....]
         [...11....]
      This can be changed by using '==' as the centering specification:
         [...8....]
         [...9....]
         [...10...]
         [...11...]
      and
         [....8....]
         [....9....]
         [....10...]
         [....11...]

      This pattern applies generally to strings of length (2*k+1, 2*k+2).
      In case you need it, the fase will alternate with each equal sign
      appended to it.

   *  Zoem's \alpha#1 macro (now implemented as
      \textmap{{number}{roman}}{\1}) transforms numbers to strings by writing
      them in base 27, using _ as zero.  It's use is primarily to enable a) b)
      c) style itemization.  While experimenting with alpha#1, I found that

         \alpha{1444} = azm

     The most wonderful coincidence as azm is the zoem suffix
     and 1444 is 38 squared - 38 is one of my lucky numbers no less.

     This is a universal truth rather than a change. However, the simple act of
     perceiving a universal truth instantly creates truth ripples through the
     fabric of everything, and in doing so changes the course of the universe
     in profound ways.  I thought you might like to know this.

Fri, 3 Jun 2005

   *  zoem-05-154 released.

   *  Fixed segmentation fault occurring with -e option, introduced
      in previous release.

   *  Added a regression test suite, stress2.azm.
      stress.azm is now also called a regression test suite.

   *  Tested a large number of error paths, fixed a few
      to yield truncated output as they should.

   *  Fixed doc.zmm to produce better W3C compliant output -
      specifically compliant  anchors.

   *  Added a tilde escape mechanism to inspect#4 to prevent
      cumbersome regexes when slashes are needed (either as a
      literal or as a regex metacharacter).

   *  Sanitized the \inspect#4 implementation and interface.
         supported options:
            iter-args            (was vararg)
            iter-lines           (was lines)
            discard-nmp          (was skip)  [non-matching-part]
            discard-nil-out      (was snip)
            count-matches        (was count)
            discard-miss
            dotall
            icase

Tue, 24 May 2005

   *  zoem-05-144 released

   *  Writeto obeys the --unsafe and --unsafe-silent options (or their
      absence) when its filename contains a path separator, the forward
      slash (entirely UNIX-centric). Such a path separator is considered
      a risk in overwriting sensitive files. Zoem will prompt
      the user according to the safety settings. It will never prompt the
      user if the filename does not contain a path separator.

   *  The primitive env#3 has become env#4 and env#3 is now a macro
      expanding to \env{\1}{}{\2}{\3}.
      The second argument of env#4 is a list of key-value pairs
      in a vararg that are set as default dollar keys. This simplifies
      the definition of environments.

   *  keys set in the second (vararg) argument begin#2 can now
      be keys taking arguments. e.g.

         \begin{foo}{{bar#2}{\!2\!1}}

      defines a key that is used as

         \$bar{a}{b}

      which would result in

         ba

   *  Environments set \$__args__ and \$__xargs__ so that they can pass
      the full argument list onwards if needed.

   *  Environments will now silently overwrite local keys previously defined.
      This enables a convenient override system when one environment
      encapsulates another environment - it can append user arguments
      (using \$__args__) to default settings.

   *  Changed --allow=[:]* syntax to
      -allow [:]* syntax.

   *  Moved option parsing to structured mcxOption framework.

Mon, 21 Jun 2004

   *  zoem-04-173 released.

   *  Repeated use of \special#1 would decrease available stack space.
      Quite rare bug revealed by Tim Hughes as one of the first to use
      clmformat/zoem on a larger scale.
      This will not affect normal usage of zoem.
      Fixed.

   *  Made the code better ISO-C compliant (split long constant strings).

Wed, 16 Jun 2004

   *  zoem-04-168 released.

   *  fixed embarassing special-related bug. It *did* affect exisiting macro
      packages (see below).

Tue, 15 Jun 2004

   *  zoem-04-167 released.

   *  \special#1 now evaluates its argument. This does not affect existing
      macro packages.

   *  Updated generic_zmm documentation.

   *  Treat spaces in manual name correctly (fixed bug in man.zmm results
      spotted by Joost van Baal).

Sun, 13 Jun 2004

   *  zoem-04-165 released.

   *  fixed bug where inline files would cause zoem to crash.

   *  introduced enclosing variants for all paragraph incarnations.
      \par     ->    \par#1         (content)
      \cpar#1  ->    \cpar#2        (caption, content)
      \car     ->    \car#1         (content)
      \ccar#1  ->    \ccar#2        (caption, content)
      Separation tags (such as \par) will be phased out from the
      zoem macro packages. \item and \sec are to follow.

   *  \formatted#1 now skips \<> scope as well.

   *  Embedded newlines in *ml syntactic sugar \<..> would screw up the
      line count. Now fixed.

   *  \<> stacks are now tied to files, so that alternating output
      can never erroneously corrupt the well-formedness stack. (Do note that
      funny user-side inverse processing could and still can do that).

   *  Environment stacks (\begin and \end stuff) are now also tied to files,
      same as above.

   *  The hash module in the underlying library code was overhauled.
      hashes now maintain private storage for links and key-value pointers.

Tue, 20 Apr 2004

   *  zoem-04-111 released.

   *  small documentation fixes.


Mon, 19 Apr 2004

   *  zoem-04-110 released.

   *  the builtin alias \error#1 is gone, replaced by \inform#1.

   *  Streamlined the examples, made them more suitable for web-publishing.

   *  Fixed a bug recently introduced into the util library;
      file read from STDIN would only read a single line.

   *  (updated web index, otherwise irrelevant).

Sat, 17 Apr 2004

   *  zoem-04-108 released.

   *  Some activity at meta-zoem primitive level.
      A new exception mechanism was fully integrated with the error
      framework.

      -  Introduced \throw#2, which generalizes \quit (now removed).
      -  Removed \zoem#1. It is generalized by \catch{label}{expression}
         and \try{expression}.
      -  Reimplemented \quit as \done, specialized for clean premature
         file exit.

      This enables

         \catch{towel}{
            \while{1}{
               do stuff
               \if{ifstuff}{\throw{towel}}{}
               do stuff
            }
         }

      and
      
         \catch{error}{
            do possibly erroneous *or* towel stuff
         }

      or

         \try{ stuff }

         inspect
            \__zoemstat__ (towel|error|ok) and
            \__zoemput__  (the possibly truncated result of \try{stuff})

      \catch#2 and \try#2 can be arbitrarily nested.
         
   *  The primitive \throw#2 is used as
         \throw{towel}{msg}
         \throw{error}{msg}

      The macros
         \throw{towel}
         \throw{error}

      expand to \throw{towel}{} and \throw{error}{} and do not issue a message.

   *  The new alias \error#1 generates an error message, it expands to
      to \write{stderr}{device}{\1\@{\N}}

   *  Removed alias \ignore#1, use \""#1 instead.
      (e.g. \""{ignore
               stuff
            }
      )

   *  Fixed zum.azm, which contained bogus begin#1 description.

   *  Fixed small bug; \write#3 would erroneously set \__fnout__.
      Using \__fnout__ as in \write{\__fnout__}{filter}{stuff}
      now works as expected.

Wed, 7 Apr 2004

   *  zoem-04-098 released.

   *  fixed documentation to exclusively use/describe the begin#2 primitive.

   *  The old and ugly \begin{itemize{{foo}{bar}}} syntax now generates
      a syntax error. (use \begin{itemize}{{foo}{bar}}, introduced
      in zoem-04-072).

   *  fixed -e option related bug, changed its implementation.

   *  Introduced \*{'e} syntax, equivalent with \*'e* syntax. The new syntax
      is optionally extendible and more in line with the rest of zoem.
      This move is similar to the inline file name change \=fname= -> \={fname}
      introduced earlier.  The old \*'e* syntax will not be removed but
      if used error messages are issued.

   *  The \formatted#1 tokens \`<` and \`>` were changed to \`[` and \`]` for
      esthetic reasons.

Tue, 30 Mar 2004

   *  zoem-04-090 released.

   *  Fixed some small documentation glitches.

   *  At request of the zoem user community, the faqsec environment
      was moved to a key/value based syntax. The two positional arguments