Highlights:

• Android
  • Add initial support of Android in GGUI (#3845) (by Gabriel H)
• Bug fixes
  • Query device attribute when using cuda 11 and above (#3930) (by Bo Qiao)
  • Fix the ttf path (#3931) (by Xiangyun Yang)
• Language and syntax
  • Initial matrix argument support for ti.kernel (#3905) (by Xiangyun Yang)
  • Enable dynamic indexing of matrix field elements when possible (#3865) (by Yi Xu)
• Miscellaneous
  • Support logging on Android platforms (#3849) (by Gabriel H)
• Refactor
  • Remove all occurrences of print_preprocessed and print_ast (#3911) (by Xiangyun Yang)
  • Deprecate excepthook and completely remove _taichi_skip_traceback (#3902) (by Haidong Lan)
• Tests
  • Add initial AOT CPP test (#3850) (#3899) (by Gabriel H)
  • Add initial AOT CPP test (#3850) (by Gabriel H)

Full changelog:

• [ci] Install torch for windows release (#3932) (by Bo Qiao)
• [Bug] fix the ttf path (#3931) (by Xiangyun Yang)
• [Bug] [cuda] Query device attribute when using cuda 11 and above (#3930) (by Bo Qiao)
• [refactor] Optimize vector and matrix ndarray fill (#3921) (by Bo Qiao)
• [opt] [ir] [refactor] Remove exceptions from offload pass (#3925) (by Xiangyun Yang)
• [opt] [refactor] Remove the variable_optimization pass (#3927) (by Mingkuan Xu)
• [doc] Add a tutorial: Run Ndarray Taichi program (#3908) (by Vissidarte-Herman)
• [opt] [ir] [refactor] Remove exceptions from lower_ast pass (#3916) (by Xiangyun Yang)
• [cuda] Use cuMemsetD32 to fill scalar ndarray (#3907) (by Bo Qiao)
• [ci] Add self-hosted Windows buildbot for GPU testing (#3852) (by Frost Ming)
• [Lang] Initial matrix argument support for ti.kernel (#3905) (by Xiangyun Yang)
• [doc] Add example of color_edit_3 (#3919) (by Vineyo)
• [perf] Clear global_vars/matrix_fields after materialize() (#3914) (by Yi Xu)
• [gui] Update camera.py (#3898) (by stamnug)
• [bug] Enable field-related checks in materialize() not only in first call (#3906) (by Yi Xu)
• [Refactor] Remove all occurrences of print_preprocessed and print_ast (#3911) (by Xiangyun Yang)
• [perf] Avoid using property for simple attributes to reduce python overhead. (by Ailing Zhang)
• [opengl] Respect max_block_dim in ti.init (by Ailing Zhang)
• [dx11] Add DX11 device interface definition (#3880) (by quadpixels)
• [Refactor] Deprecate excepthook and completely remove _taichi_skip_traceback (#3902) (by Haidong Lan)
• [opengl] Optimize range_for for ndarrays (by Ailing Zhang)
• [Test] [aot] Add initial AOT CPP test (#3850) (#3899) (by Gabriel H)
• [refactor] Merge taichi/lang/linalg_impl.py into _funcs.py (by Ailing Zhang)
• [refactor] Remove import taichi in taichi/lang/quant_impl.py (by Ailing Zhang)
• [refactor] Remove import taichi in taichi/lang/util.py (by Ailing Zhang)
• [cuda] Increase saturating grid dim to reduce tail effect (#3855) (by Bo Qiao)
• [opengl] Reduce repeated read to args buffer. (by Ailing Zhang)
• [refactor] Remove import taichi from lang/init.py (#3889) (by Yi Xu)
• Revert "[Test][aot] Add initial AOT CPP test (#3850)" (#3890) (by Ye Kuang)
• [Android] [gui] Add initial support of Android in GGUI (#3845) (by Gabriel H)
• [Test][aot] Add initial AOT CPP test (#3850) (by Gabriel H)
• [Lang] Enable dynamic indexing of matrix field elements when possible (#3865) (by Yi Xu)
• [cuda] Hide debug info (#3878) (by Ye Kuang)
• [refactor] Remove legacy helper functions for testing (#3874) (by Yi Xu)
• [refactor] Remove import taichi from expr.py (#3871) (by Yi Xu)
• [refactor] Remove import taichi from field.py (#3870) (by Yi Xu)
• [refactor] Remove import taichi from mesh.py (#3869) (by Yi Xu)
• [refactor] Remove import taichi in ast_transformer (#3827) (by lin-hitonami)
• [refactor] Remove import taichi from struct.py (#3866) (by lin-hitonami)
• [autodiff] Provide stmt name for auto-diff related assert info (#3864) (by Mingrui Zhang)
• [lang] Cleanup parallel sort utility (#3858) (by Dunfan Lu)
• [refactor] Enforce destruction order of OpenGlRuntime. (#3861) (by Ailing)
• [refactor] Add _MatrixFieldElement class (#3862) (by Yi Xu)
• [opt] Add more accurate alias analysis for ExternalPtrStmt (#3859) (by Yi Xu)
• [mesh] A small fix for mesh loop syntax in python frontend (#3836) (by bx2k)
• [test] Add more complicated tests for building and destroying SNodeTrees (#3415) (by ysh329)
• [lang] Calculate dynamic indexing strides of matrix field elements (#3854) (by Yi Xu)
• [bug] Fix autodiff for ceil. (#3844) (by Ailing)
• [refactor] Remove import taichi in matrix.py (#3842) (by lin-hitonami)
• [Misc] [android] Support logging on Android platforms (#3849) (by Gabriel H)
• [opengl] Allocate new arg bufs per kernel launch (#3848) (by Ailing)
• [opengl] Only sync per ti.kernel when there's external array arg. (by Ailing Zhang)
• [refactor] Rename is_external_array -> is_array and arr_bufs_ -> ext_arr_bufs_ (by Ailing Zhang)
• [opengl] Only bind buffers per ti.kernel. (by Ailing Zhang)
• [misc] Version bump: v0.8.8 -> v0.8.9 (#3846) (by Yi Xu)