Prepare v0.18.0

Ref: #448

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -19,15 +19,32 @@ Planned/Upcoming Changes
 
 Here are some outlines of changes we intend to make that affect the public API:
 
-- **Bindnode improvements**: Candidates for merge and release include:
-  - Custom Go type to IPLD kind conversion `Option`s: https://github.com/ipld/go-ipld-prime/pull/414
-  - Type registry for easier local maintenance of type to `Type` & `TypedPrototype` mappings and utilities for dealing with them: https://github.com/ipld/go-ipld-prime/pull/437
+- **IPLD Amend**: is likely to land soon; it implements a more efficient underlying architecture to support IPLD Patch and related features. IPLD Amend adds an interface to allow incremental changes to `Node`s in an efficient way. Whereas IPLD Patch is a protocol for expressing changes. We're still working on figuring out exactly where it fits in the stack and making sure it won't be disruptive but early benchmarks are very promising for both Patch and traversal-based transforms. See https://github.com/ipld/go-ipld-prime/pull/445 for more.
+- **Layered `Node` implementation optimizations**: When layering different implementations of `Node` builders or consumers, having to defer through basicnode types can lead to large inefficiencies of memory and speed. We are looking at ways to improve this situation, including ways to *assemble* layered assemblers. See https://github.com/ipld/go-ipld-prime/issues/443 for discussion and some initial plans.
 - **Selectors**: There have been some recurring wishes to do something about the Selector package layout.  There's no intended or prioritized date for this.  See https://github.com/ipld/go-ipld-prime/issues/236 for more.
 - **Absent / "Not found" values**: There may be some upcoming changes to exactly how "not found" values are handled in order to clarify and standardize the subject.  There's no finalized date for this.  See https://github.com/ipld/go-ipld-prime/issues/360 for more.
 
 Released Changes
 ----------------
 
+### v0.18.0
+
+_2022 August 01_
+
+go-ipld-prime's release policy says that:
+
+> even numbers should be easy upgrades; odd numbers may change things
+
+So, as an even number, this v0.18.0 release should be a smooth ride for upgraders from v0.17.0. We have 3 major feature additions, all focused on [Bindnode](https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/ipld/go-ipld-prime/node/bindnode).
+
+#### 🔦 Highlights
+
+* **Bindnode**: [Custom Go type converters](https://github.com/ipld/go-ipld-prime/pull/414) - Bindnode performs bidirectional mapping of Go types to the IPLD Data Model, and in doing so, it assumes a straightforward mapping of values to their encoded forms. But there are common cases where a Go type doesn't have a straightforward path to serialization, either because the encoded form needs a custom layout, or because bindnode doesn't have enough information to infer a serialization pattern. Custom Go type converters for bindnode allow a user to supply a pair of converter functions for a Go type that dictate how to map that type to an IPLD Data Model kind. See the **[bindnode documentation](https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/ipld/go-ipld-prime/node/bindnode)** for more information.
+* **Bindnode**: [Type registry](https://github.com/ipld/go-ipld-prime/pull/437) - Setting up Go type mappings with Bindnode involves some boilerplate. A basic type registry is now available that takes some of this boilerplate away; giving you a single place to register, and perform conversions to and from Go types, Data Model (`Node`) forms or directly through serialization. See the **[bindnode/registry documentation](https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/ipld/go-ipld-prime/node/bindnode/registry)** for more information.
+* **Bindnode** [Full `uint64` support](https://github.com/ipld/go-ipld-prime/pull/414/commits/87211682cb963ef1c98fa63909f67a8b02d1108c) - the `uint64` support introduced in go-ipld-prime@v0.17.0 has been wired into Bindnode. The Data Model (`Node`) forms expose integers as `int64` values, which is lossy for unsigned 64-bit integers. Bindnode Go types using `uint64` values are now lossless in round-trips through serialization to codecs that support the full range (DAG-CBOR most notably).
+
+You can see all of these new features in action using Filecoin Go types, allowing a mapping between Go types, Data Model (`Node`) forms, and their DAG-CBOR serialized forms with [data-transfer vouchers](https://github.com/filecoin-project/go-fil-markets/pull/713). These features also allow us to interact with the original Go types, without modification, including `big.Int` serialization to `Bytes`, Filecoin `Signature` serialization to a byte-prefix discriminated `Bytes` and more. Since the Go types are unchanged, they can also simultaneously support [cbor-gen](https://github.com/whyrusleeping/cbor-gen) serialization, allowing an easier migration path.
+
 ### v0.17.0
 
 _2022 Jun 15_

version.json

@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 {
-  "version": "v0.17.0"
+  "version": "v0.18.0"
 }