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PIKE 7.4 ANNOUNCEMENT 
$Id: ANNOUNCE,v 1.11 2003/03/19 20:22:31 nilsson Exp $  
 
Pike is an interpreted, object-oriented programming language with a 
syntax reminiscent of C and Java, and freely available and distributable 
under the GNU General Public License (GPL). 
 
Pike is just as suitable for intricate and large applications as for 
creating use-once scripts. When needed, you can also write 
Pike modules in C, to gain better performance or access C 
libraries. This is transparent to the module's users; the modules 
written in C and those written in Pike are accessed in exactly the 
same way. 
 
Some Pike highlights: 
 
    + Freely distributable under GPL 
    + Interpreted - no compilation and linking needed to run code 
    + Object Oriented - straightforward and powerful object 
          orientation, including multiple inheritance 
    + Modular - extendible with modules written in C or Pike 
    + Powerful - high-level language, concise code 
    + Incremental - allows on-the-fly modifications and recompilations 
    + Source Code Available - promoting sharing of useful code 
    + Portable - Platform independent and available on most common 
      flavors of Unix, as well as Windows. 
    + Powerful, Flexible and Efficient Data Types 
    + Automatic Memory Management 
    + Scalable - as useful for small scripts as for powerful and 
          complex applications. 
    + Text Processing - e.g. for filtering 
    + Exception Handling 
    + Multi-Threaded Application Development Possible 
    + Easy-to-Learn C-like Syntax 
 
The standard Pike distribution comes with a number of modules for 
various useful purposes. Among these are: 
 
    + Image processing with support for several graphic file 
          formats (such as JPEG, PNM, PNG, TIFF and IFF), and 
          numerous image manipulation functions 
    + Cryptographic functions, including SSL support 
    + Database interface to several common SQL databases, 
          including MySQL and Oracle 
    + Embedding interfaces for Java and Perl 
 
Some other modules include support for MIME, Gz, Gmp, Gdbm, GTK, 
XML, and regular expressions.