[ndnSIM] Announcing release candidate 1 for ndnSIM version 0.5

[Alex Afanasyev]

Hi guys,

We are proud to announce a release candidate 1 for ndnSIM version 0.5, which includes a number of changes, not all of them are (will be) backward compatible with previous releases.   The code has been merged to the master branch, but if you prefer using the old version, please use tag v0.4.3 (e.g., git checkout -b old-version v0.4.3).

Highlights of what is new/changed since the previous release:

- Advanced application API
  * now it is possible to write full featured applications
  * possibility to write simulation scenarios as well as simulated applications in python

- Redesigned/simplified/unified API for Interest and Data packets, Forwarding strategy
  * not fully backward compatible, but simple to adapt
  (There could be more changes coming regarding refactoring in the final release of version 0.5)

- Exclude filter support
  * other interest selectors may be coming, if requested (let us know)

- Support for overlay-based simulations
  * using ndn::TcpFace and ndn::UdpFace (in ip-faces plugin, enabled by default)

- Support for multiple wire format selectable at runtime
  * optimized and simplified ndnSIM format (default format)
  * full-featured (but not too optimal) CCNb format
    To switch to CCNb, set ndn::WireFormat global variable, e.g.:
       Config::SetGlobal ("ndn::WireFormat", IntegerValue (ndn::Wire::WIRE_FORMAT_CCNB)       
  * other experimental formats may be added later


As always, comments, suggestion, code contributions, feature requests, and issues in ndnSIM issue tracker (http://redmine.named-data.net/projects/ndnsim) are always welcome and highly appreciated!

Sincerely,
ndnSIM team