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ANNOUNCE
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Pike 0.5b
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Pike 0.5 is now available for public beta testing, though
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unfortunately a bit crippled. Unfortunately, we are not able to supply the
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cryptographic toolkit and the full library of algorithms, due to Swedish
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export restrictions. However an application is being processed by the
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the authorities and as soon as we get an export license we will
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make an updated distribution available. However, this document is a
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brief presentation of the major characteristics of Pike 0.5.
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In spite of its youth, Pike has matured over the last few years and
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the coordination of the development is now managed by a team at Idonex
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AB. Still, Pike is released under the GNU General Public License
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(GPL), and is freely distributed and will continue being so. In short,
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this means that you are free to use and modify the source code in any
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way you please, see the file COPYING for details. Though, Idonex
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maintains the right to the brand name and the copyright, which is a
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guarantee that Pike future will be continuously developed and enhanced
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and to remain free software.
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Pike is an easy programming language to learn. Just as easily Pike
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lets you develop powerful applications. Pike is designed to be useful
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and powerful. As the syntax of Pike is similar to C, most programmers
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will find it easy to use. Being a a high-level, interpreted and
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modular object-oriented language, powerful applications can be
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developed rapidly. Pike has evolved rather than been designed. The
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changes to Pike that have been made have been guided by its users'
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needs. In general, the better you get to know Pike, the better you
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will appreciate it, from a user's perspective.
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Pike is just as suitable for intricate and large applications as for
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creating use-once scripts. When needed, you can also write
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Pike-modules in C, to gain better performance or access C
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libraries. This is transparent to the module's users; the modules
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written in C and those written in Pike are accessed in exactly the
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same way.
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Pike comes with 0.5 comes a comprehensive manual, including both a
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tutorial and a reference. This will help you to quickly get the most
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out of Pike. A concise list of characteristics, or pros, of Pike:
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+ General Purpose Programming Language
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+ Freely distributed under the GPL
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+ Interpreted - No compilation and linking needed to run code
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+ Object Oriented - Straightforward and powerful object
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orientation, including multiple inheritance
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+ Modular - Extendible with modules written in C or Pike
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+ Powerful - High-level language, concise code
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+ Incremental - Allows on-the-fly modifications and recompilations
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+ Source Code Available - To promote sharing of useful code
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+ Portable - Platform independent and available on most flavors of Unix
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At present the following platforms are supported:
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Solaris 2.5 & 2.6 (Sun SPARC & Intel x86)
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Digital UNIX 4.0
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AIX 4.2.1
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IRIX 6.3
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SCO UnixWare
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FreeBSD 2.2.2
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HP-UX 10.20
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Linux Red Hat 4.2 (Intel x86)
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+ Powerful, Flexible and Efficient Data Types
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+ Automatic Memory Management
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+ Scalable - as useful for small scripts as for powerful and
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complex applications.
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+ Text Processing - e.g. for filtering
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+ Exception Handling
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+ Multi-Threaded Application Development Possible
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How Pike relates to other programming languages:
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+ Optimized - Faster run-times than Perl, Python, tcl and Java
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+ Faster Development than in C or C++
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+ C-like Syntax - Easy to learn
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Below you will find a list of some desired but missing features, or
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cons, of Pike. As indicated by the version number 0.5, Pike is still
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under development and the goal is to incorporate those in future
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versions.
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- No Pike native compiler or debugger available
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- Limited image format import and export support
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- Not optimal for heavy numeric processing jobs
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- Not for GUI based applications
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- Limited range special effect image filters for image processing
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Some successful applications using Pike include:
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+ Network Applications - as Client/Server applications
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e.g. the Roxen Challenger Server and a range of server extensions
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Mail Gateways
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Client/server Protocol Implementations
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Multi-User-Dungeons
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+ System Administration Tools & Utilities - Even as quick one-shots
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e.g. adduser or adddomain scripts that setup users/domains
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Real-time Client/Server Status Monitor
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+ Assorted Text Processing Utilities
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+ CGI Programs
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Pike is distributed with a set of modules that, some of whicha are
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described below.
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Image - Image Processing Module
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The Image module lets you perform common image manipulation and
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processing operations from Pike programs. The supported operations
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include cut and paste, scaling, rotation, linear filtering of most
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kinds, rendering text, etc. All drawing uses anti-alias. Using the
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Image module, you can automate jobs that you would otherwise have
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required tedious work in an interactive image processing program such
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as Adobe PhotoShop.
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Currently, the only input format is ppm. Output formats are ppm and
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gif.
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Sql - Interface to SQL Databases
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The SQL interface makes it possible to use common SQL databases from
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within your applications. It includes support for mSQL, MySQL and
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Postgres.
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MIME - Multimedia Internet Mail Extension Module
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This module makes it easy to create and decode e-mails, including
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attachments.
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Gz - Data Compression Module
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With this module you can compress data. It's name is a little
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misleading, as it uses ZLIB. ZLIB uses the same compression algorithm
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as gzip, but the format for the compressed data is not compatible with
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gzip.
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Crypto - Cryptographic Toolkit
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The crypto toolkit is a set of objects implementing various
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cryptographic algorithms, as well as objects used to glue the other
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objects together. The toolkit includes block ciphers IDEA, DES
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(includng tripple DES) and CAST, the RC4 stream cipher, the hash
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functions MD5 and SHA, and the public key cryptography algoritm
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RSA. It also includes a some randomness sources.
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The toolkit can be used for most kinds of cryptographic applications,
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including encrypted network connections, as well as encryption of
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files or other data.
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Unfortunately, the cryptograpy toolkit in this release has been
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stripped of all real cryptography. It includes only the hash functions
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and the glue objects. The full cryptographic toolkit will be released
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as soon as the export issues have been resolved.
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Newline at end of file added.