This summary of recent DWS changes is coming a bit late, and there is quite a bit to cover. Here is a quick, partial roundup of what changed since the last update.

Language changes:

• Initial support for overloads (currently limited to standalone functions/procedures).
• New operator “sar” for bitwise shift arithmetic right.
• Delphi-like “dotted unit names” are now supported.
• Support for classic Delphi-style local procedures declaration in units (before the “begin”).
• Support const “blocks” in units.
• Support for “array [TEnumeratedType] of” short declaration for static arrays.
• New hints for unused private symbols and redundant scope specifiers.
• New built-in functions: LastDelimiter, dynamic array’s Insert(), Min()/Max() overloads.

Library and script engine changes:

• TContextMap & TSymbolDictionary were renamed to TdwsSourceContextMap & TdwsSymbolDictionary.
• The context map content has been significantly reorganized, fixed and is now more detailed.
• TdwsSuggestions can now optionally suggest keywords too.
• Random functions now based on XorShift, with independent random per execution.
• New demo/sample: simple web server based on Indy with multi-threaded server-side script execution.
• Faster DWS SynEdit highlighter.
• Improved documentation.
• Various minor fixes and improvements.

JavaScript & CodeGen changes:

• Closures are now supported by the JavaScript CodeGen.
• Added Smart-Linking capabilities to the CodeGen when program is compiled with context map & symbol dictionary. Its capabilities and limitations are currently roughly similar to Delphi’s.
• Improved JavaScript CodeGen for various code generation cases (faster and smaller, as measured through jsperf benchmarking on various browser engines).
• Improved JavaScript obfuscator.
• Improved JavaScript minifier.