interim release 697

Build 697 is almost a real release.  It has been through all the regression
testing on win32.  A lot of bugs have been fixed the last few days and the
bug list is clear.

Ben is checking it on Linux now.  If no big problems come up it will be on
the website tomorrow.  You can pick it up as an interim release now if you
wish.

Not only is this change list long, but the changes are big ones ...

Version 0.1.2 - Build 697 - 7/03/04
 - print is now a function, not a keyword
 - function-as-command feature allows print to be used without parens
 - Added prop keyword and properties feature with wildcards
 - Changed del_ to final_ so properties could use get_, set_, & del_
 - a += b type assignments now always do a = a + b
 - New in-place modify operators a +! b, a -! b, a *! b, etc.
 - Formal parameter default values now evaluated at call time
 - String now stored with native 24-bit ordinal values
 - Split String type into seperate String and Bytes (binary) types
 - Split File into File and TextFile
 - Replaced String % operator with String.fmt()
 - Added object-oriented Directory object and methods
 - Added TempDir and TempFile (deleted at shutdown)
 - Added basic DateTime object
 - Added WeakRef object with callback feature on obj modification
 - Added Slice object
 - getItem_, setItem_, and delItem_ now allow any object indexing
 - Finalization now called on shutdown
 - Added built-in range() generator (not list function)
 - Added List(iter_) constructor
 - Octal constant format changed from 0377 to 0o377
 - except keyword no longer allowed alone, must use "except Exception"
 - except syntax changed from "except exc, var" to "except exc as var"
 - Function formal params now introspectable via simple attribute
 - *args param local variable in func is now a tuple, not a list
 - Fixed raise keyword so second arg is doc_ attribute of first
 - Added immutable check to dictionary function key parameter
 - Moved File from extension module to built-in
 - Changed File.stdxxx to sys.stdIn, sys.stdOut, and sys.stdErr
 - changed Len, Cmp, len,  cmp,  chr,  ord to
     len, cmp, len_, cmp_, chr_, ord_
 - changed Sys to sys, changed sys.ps1, sys.ps2 to sys.cons.ps1,
   sys.cons.ps2
 - Changed SQLite to sqlite, OS to os, Re to re
 - Change symbol prefix from backtick (`var) to dollar-sign ($var)
 - Changed console prompt from >>> to O>>
 - Fixed crash on printing recursive containers, now prints ...
 - Fixed assignment from sequences to arg lists and for statements
 - Fixed import in console
 - Fixed bug in Func constructor
 - Fixed bug in string.rstrip, string.strip, and string.find