Even though we're working with a short month here, I had to take some time this week because of more medical problems that took me partially out of commission. Yeah, it hasn't been fun.

I did however get a few more bugs fixed in 513 that needed looking after, and I also went to work on that prospective change to associative lists I mentioned last week that could potentially be a big performance booster. That will need a lot more work yet and significant testing, but the bones are in place so that's quite good. I may however wait and sneak that change in later in 514's beta cycle.

With all the bug fixes that were pending, including some new ones, I put out a new maintenance release for 513 yesterday, which was the first in quite a while. However, my hopes that 513.1537 would be the last maintenance release of the year, and probably the last for 513 period, took a nose dive within hours when some users discovered a compiler bug related to one of the fixes. I've figured out now why that bug slipped through testing, and I have a fix standing by. I am however deeply reluctant to release 513.1538 today because of the Friday curse, but also I want to see if any other edge cases appear that might influence this and require yet another release. Already at least one other case popped up, and possibly a third that I have yet to test.

Don't forget you can score great last-minute points with the big guy who brings you presents by helping support BYOND! You can do so through Membership or via Patreon or SubscribeStar. For those not in the know, on Patreon I usually post under-the-hood technical types of discussions and give early access to Patrons, and on SubscribeStar it's more of a journalish thing where I tend to post at least twice a week. I plan to keep up posts on SubscribeStar during the Christmas break.

It's getting time to do any last-minute Amazon orders, and I still have a couple to do myself. Yikes! I'm not used to waiting this late but life has been slapping me upside the throat lately. I feel I'm way, way behind on so many Christmas preparations, including just planning what to do over the break. Who else is with me on that? And what are your big plans for after Christmas?