ats2-postiats-0.0.1:

Date: September 2, 2013

This is the first release of ATS2, the successor of the ATS
programming language. The compiler for ATS2 is given the name
ATS/Positats, ATS2/Postiats or simply Postiats.

The official website for ATS is:

http://www.ats-lang.org

ATS-Postiats is hosted at github:

https://github.com/githwxi/ATS-Postiats

Major releases of ATS2 are available at:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/ats2-lang/

The actual implementation of ATS2 started in the March of 2011, and
it took about two and one-half years to reach this stage. As of now,
the code base for the compiler of ATS2 consists of 140,000+ lines of
code (LOC), which are nearly all written in ATS1.

When compared to ATS1, the single most important new feature is the
template system of ATS2. This is a feature that could potentially change
the way a programmer writes his or her code. One can certainly feel that
this is a very powerful feature (a bit like feeling that OOP is a very
powerful feature). However, how this feature should be properly and
effectively used in practice needs a lot more investigation.

Another thing about ATS2 is that it is a lot leaner than ATS. One can make
good use of ATS2 without any need for compiled library (libatslib.a). Also,
GC support in ATS1 is now removed; if needed, third-party GC (e.g.,
Bohem-GC) can be readily employed.

I will gradually list differences between ATS and ATS2, helping people
make the transition from ATS1 to ATS2.