Compiler Release Notes

Compiler 1.2.1

Fixed errors and malfunctions

• An incorrect reference to asm is removed from the compile reference manual.
  Own Id: OTP-2619

Improvements and new features

• It used to be the case that ?P and ?'P' (i.e., macro names starting with an uppercase letter) were references to different macros. This had the consequence that the form without quotes, which is the natural form to use, could not be set from outside the source file (for example, using the -D option to 'erlc'). Now, ?P and ?'P' have been made equivalent, so that "erl -DP=1" causes both ?P and ?'P' to expand to 1.
  Own Id: OTP-2608

Compiler 1.2

Fixed errors and malfunctions

• Giving floating points attributes in module attributes (like -vsn(1.0)) used to crash the Erlang compiler. This has been corrected.
  Own Id: OTP-2141
  Aux Id: seq 623, OTP-2302

Improvements and new features

• The fast option has been removed.
  The object code format is partly documented (see the compile module). With the help of this documentation, tools can be written to inspect, change, delete, or add module attributes. Also, function call tracing can be enabled or disabled by changing a single bit in the header of the object code.
  Own Id: OTP-2262
  Aux Id: seq 718
• The escape sequences \s in strings and $\s outside strings now give the ASCII code for space. It is recommended to use $\s instead of dollar followed by space, for readability reasons. Note that $\s in earlier releases was equivalent to $s.
  Own Id: OTP-2522