COZ is excited to announce the release of Boa v1.4.0, the latest version of its Python compiler tailored for the Neo N3 blockchain. This update brings a host of new features and improvements to enhance the development experience for Neo developers.
Enhancements in Boa v1.4.0
One of the key highlights of this release is the inclusion of missing native contract methods such as StringSplit and StrLen from Neo’s standard library, as well as RecoverSecp256K1 from the CryptoLib native contract. Additionally, the update refines the behavior of hash functions like SHA256 and RIPEMD160 to only accept byte parameters.
Furthermore, the to_bytes and to_int methods now offer enhanced flexibility by accepting additional arguments for endianness and signedness. Boa v1.4.0 also introduces constructors and validation for Neo enum types, along with new case-sensitive checks during contract compilation. Developers can now easily access deployed contracts using the GetContractById method from the ContractManagement native contract.
Bug Fixes and Maintenance
This release addresses several compiler issues, including fixing a TypeHintMissing error when defining functions within classes, correcting the behavior of the Sequence.insert function, and resolving errors related to returning collections. Additionally, exceptions can now be utilized as valid function return values, and the update addresses issues with including multiple contract-decorated classes in the same file.
Boa’s documentation has been updated to refer to boa3.sc instead of the deprecated boa3.builtin package. Other maintenance changes include upgrading to Python 3.13, updating CircleCI configuration, and eliminating setuptools deprecation warnings.
For a detailed list of changes, you can view the full changelog here.