@comment -*-texinfo-*-
@comment $Id: NEWS.texi,v 1.39 2005-04-29 08:23:49 Singular Exp $
@comment this file contains the News about Singular versions
@comment Unix
@ifclear VERSION
@include version.texi
@end ifclear

@majorheading NEWS in SINGULAR @value{VERSION}

@ifclear singularmanual
@macro nref{what}
\what\
@end macro
@end ifclear

@ifset singularmanual
@macro nref{what}
@ref{\what\}
@end macro
@end ifset

The current version @value{VERSION} is a pre-release to the new
release series version 3-0. 

Singular version 3 has a greater functionality and an improved architecture.
Major new features are:
@itemize
@item
dynamic modules
@item
non-commutative extensions (plural)
@item
name spaces (package)
@item
easy manipulation of rings (ringlist)
@item
improved speed of maps (subst, map)
@item
improved factorization (integration of NTL, factorization over algebraic extensions,
zeroset.lib)
@item
improved gcd of polynomials (including bug fixes)
@item
ports to more architectures including automatic building from source (fink on Mac, ebuild on Gentoo)
@item
more help browser supported, user extendable (help.cnf)
@item
many bugs fixed
@end itemize
Besides theses internal changes, Singular version 3 offers many new
features and functionalities (which were partly already incorporated in
the 2-0 series).

@heading Factorizing algorithms revisited
Starting with version 2-0-4, we use NTL (of Victor Shoup) for factoring
univariate polynomials. The multivariate factoring code in libfac/factory
does now also work over algebraic extension fields.

@heading New @sc{Singular} libraries

Reorganisation of libraries into "Categories".
@table @asis
@item @nref{mregular_lib}  procedures for computing the Castelnuovo-Mumford regularity
@item @nref{mprimdec}
procedures for primary decomposition of modules
@item @nref{gmspoly_lib}, @nref{gmssing_lib}
procedures for the Gauss-Manin connection of a singularity
@end table

@heading Changes in @sc{Singular} libraries
Many procedures were moved into different libraries,
the documentation of libraries was generally improved.
@table @asis
@end table

@heading New @sc{Singular} functions

@table @asis
@item @code{ringlist}
@end table

@heading @sc{Singular} functions whose syntax/semantics has changed
@table @asis
@item @nref{degree}
outputs degree and dimension instead of returning an int
@item @nref{attrib}
new attribute: @code{rowShift}
@end table

@heading Internal Changes
@table @asis
@item new mapping code
@item non-commutative extensions (plural)
@item factory revisited
@end table

@heading Porting

@itemize @bullet
@item
@item Singular is available for ix86-Linux, HPUX_9, HPUX_10,
SunOS-4, SunOS-5, IRIX-6, ix86-Win (runs on Windows 95/98/NT4/2000),
FreeBSD, MacOS X, DecAlpha-Linux, x86_64-Linux (AMD64/Opteron/EM64T),
IA64-Linux
@end itemize