[Haskell] ANNOUNCE: diagrams 0.5

[Brent Yorgey]

I am pleased to announce the release of version 0.5 of diagrams [1], a
full-featured framework and embedded domain-specific language for
declarative drawing. Check out the gallery [2] for examples of what it
can do!

[1] http://projects.haskell.org/diagrams
[2] http://projects.haskell.org/diagrams/gallery.html


Highlights of this release include:

-   A new diagrams-contrib [3] package of user-contributed modules,
    which so far contains code for tree drawing, Apollonian gaskets,
    planar tilings, "wrapped" layout, and turtle graphics.

-   Experimental support for animation, built on top of the new active
    [4] library.

-   Numerous small additions and improvements, including more general
    rounded rectangle shapes and better text support.

-   Much better performance in some common situations, such as laying
    out a very long list of diagrams using 'cat' and related
    combinators.

-   Added support for GHC 7.4.

See the release notes [5] for complete details, and the diagrams wiki
[6] for help migrating code from 0.4 to 0.5 (changes should be minimal).

[3] http://hackage.haskell.org/package/diagrams%2Dcontrib
[4] http://hackage.haskell.org/package/active
[5] http://projects.haskell.org/diagrams/releases.html
[6] http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Diagrams/Migrate0.5


Try it out
----------

For the truly impatient:

    cabal install gtk2hs-buildtools
    cabal install diagrams

Diagrams is supported under GHC 6.12, 7.0, 7.2, and 7.4. However,
getting cairo to build can be tricky on some platforms; see the
diagrams wiki [8] for more information and workarounds regarding
specific platforms. (A new native SVG backend is in the works,
targeted for the 0.6 release.)

To get started with diagrams, read the quick tutorial [9], which will
introduce you to the fundamentals of the framework.

For those who are even less impatient but want to really dig in and use
the power features, read the user manual [10].

[7]  http://projects.haskell.org/gtk2hs/development/#development
[8]  http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Diagrams
[9]  http://projects.haskell.org/diagrams/tutorial/DiagramsTutorial.html
[10] http://projects.haskell.org/diagrams/manual/diagrams-manual.html


Get involved
------------

Subscribe to the project mailing list [11], and/or come hang out in
the #diagrams IRC channel on freenode.org for help and
discussion. Make some diagrams. Fix some bugs [12]. Submit your cool
examples for inclusion in the gallery or your cool code for inclusion
in the diagrams-contrib package!

[11] http://groups.google.com/group/diagrams-discuss
[12] http://code.google.com/p/diagrams/issues/list


Happy diagramming!

Brought to you by the diagrams team:

-   Peter Hall
-   Ian Ross
-   Michael Sloan
-   Ryan Yates
-   Brent Yorgey

with contributions from:

-   Sam Griffin
-   Claude Heiland-Allen
-   John Lato
-   Vilhelm Sjoberg
-   Luite Stegeman
-   Kanchalai Suveepattananont
-   Scott Walck