Release Version 2.8.8 · scikit-hep/awkward

New features

feat: adapt __array__ according to numpy guidelines by @ikrommyd in #3592
feat: ensure ability to pickle ak.Array and ak.Record with VirtualArray buffers by @ikrommyd in #3612
feat: skip materialization of placeholders in to_packed by @ikrommyd in #3637

fix: catch off-by-one out of bound error by @agoose77 in #3621
fix: avoid unnecessary recursion if not needed by @pfackeldey in #3611
fix: VirtualArray's deep copy + accidental .data access by @ikrommyd in #3599
fix: allow arrays with Nones in single argument usage of ak.where by @ikrommyd in #3563
fix: properly handle VirtualArray in nplike.asarray by @ikrommyd in #3597
fix: do not materialize before custom pickling by @ikrommyd in #3633
fix: do not force LE data-order in form.py by @nileshpatra in #3629
fix: make to_packed work for typetracer backed IndexedOptionArray, BitMaskedArray, and UnionArray by @ikrommyd in #3608
perf: add slots to virtual array to reduce instance alloc size by @pfackeldey in #3613
perf: avoid method chaining for some shape_generators by @pfackeldey in #3615

chore: update pre-commit hooks by @pre-commit-ci[bot] in #3602
chore(deps): bump the actions group across 1 directory with 3 updates by @dependabot[bot] in #3624
chore: remove materialize_if_virtual by @ikrommyd in #3632
chore(deps): bump actions/attest-build-provenance from 2.4.0 to 3.0.0 in the actions group by @dependabot[bot] in #3635
chore: update pre-commit hooks by @pre-commit-ci[bot] in #3634
test: test the virtual array generator before calling .shape in copy test by @ikrommyd in #3631
refactor: VirtualArrays by @pfackeldey in #3620
docs: add nileshpatra as a contributor for code by @allcontributors[bot] in #3638
ci: move job to deploy doc preview to a separte workflow by @ariostas in #3627
ci: doc previews for PRs from forks by @ariostas in #3625

Full Changelog: v2.8.7...v2.8.8