Vowpalwabbit

We tagged `9.4.0` a few weeks ago but a few delays caused the rest of the release to only be completed now. The contents of these release notes and all associated artifacts correspond to the `9.4.0` tag on September 15.

DotNet Core

DotNet core support is here! It works if you [manually import dependencies](https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/issues/4214), but it will become automatic in the upcoming `9.4.1`.

Native CSV Parser

As part of RLOS Fest this year HollowMan6 implemented Native CSV parsing support. It is currently disabled by default but is available using a CMake option (`VW_BUILD_CSV`). This feature makes it possible to download CSV datasets and process them without any extra steps. HollowMan6 also created a [tutorial](
https://vowpalwabbit.org/docs/vowpal_wabbit/python/latest/tutorials/cmd_csv_with_iris_dataset.html) to explain how to use the feature on the well known iris dataset. Thanks for all of your hard work!


<details>
<summary>Click here to see all changes in this release</summary>

Changes

Features

* feat: native CSV parsing by HollowMan6 in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4073
* feat: [las] spanner rank one determinant update implementation by olgavrou in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4090
* feat: confidence sequences estimator by bassmang in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4120
* feat: .NET Core Support by lokitoth in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/3969
* feat: Semantic Versioning by byronxu99 in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4134
* feat: ptr queue to generic queue by olgavrou in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4140
* feat: simple thread pool by olgavrou in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4137
* feat: [LAS] use thread pool in LAS one_pass implementation by olgavrou in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4141
* feat: Performance benchmarks for .NET C bindings by byronxu99 in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4133

Fixes

* fix: [automl] multiple fixes by lalo in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4089
* fix: [las] unit-test-fails to link by lalo in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4118
* fix: dump_options typo by bassmang in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4119
* fix: [automl] call process_example before predict by lalo in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4122
* fix: [automl] generate challengers on first example by lalo in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4123
* fix(csv): default label regardless of if label column present by jackgerrits in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4127
* fix: Fix minor typos in large action space benchmarks by zwd-ms in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4128
* fix: add one_of to csoaa_ldf by bassmang in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4130
* fix: Only create launch_vs target if it does not already exist by byronxu99 in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4135

Other changes

* refactor: [automl] split config oracle out by lalo in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4107
* refactor: [automl] move files to details dir by lalo in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4108
* refactor: [automl] small refactors by lalo in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4109
* refactor: clear labels before reading from cache by bassmang in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4113
* refactor: [automl] template for oracle by lalo in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4111
* chore: [las] separate spanners and remove aatop SVD impl by olgavrou in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4116
* test: [automl] add unit tests for oracle & refactor by lalo in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4115
* refactor: [automl] remove estimator dependency from oracle by lalo in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4117
* refactor: [automl] prepare aml_estimator for other estimator impl by lalo in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4114
* test: add csv parser to throughput measurement tool by jackgerrits in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4110
* ci: check all runtests models for forwards model compatibility by olgavrou in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4126
* ci: clang-tidy only errors by lalo in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4129
* ci: Build and test with AddressSanitizer by byronxu99 in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4103
* refactor: [automl] iterator based config generators by lalo in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4121
* perf: [LAS] speedup by removing branch from hot path by olgavrou in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4136
* test: Resolve gtest loading issues on Windows by jackgerrits in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4131
* docs: pin theme to 0.9.0 to resolve missing TOC by jackgerrits in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4139
* ci: Fix pytype error by byronxu99 in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4142
* build: fix windows.h GetObject issue by jackgerrits in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4143
* refactor: [automl] allow_override for selected options by bassmang in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4144
* test: [LAS ] add spanner tests and test file separation by olgavrou in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4146
* test: [LAS] calculate num of non-degenerate singular values by olgavrou in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4147
* docs: [LAS] add some comments in the code explaining one-pass SVD by olgavrou in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4148
* refactor: one_of for wap_ldf and cbzo, clean rank options by bassmang in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4145
* chore: Update Version to 9.4.0 by lokitoth in https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/4151


**Full Changelog**: https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/compare/9.3.0...9.4.0

</details>

This release includes a new experimental feature to merge VW models and bug fixes.

[Click here to read the full release notes.](https://vowpalwabbit.org/blog/vowpalwabbit-9.3.0.html)

This release includes a large refactoring of the library structure, support for learn and predict directly from a string in Java, access to model weights in Python, and many more small features and bug fixes.

[Click here to read the full release notes.](https://vowpalwabbit.org/blog/vowpalwabbit-9.2.0.html)

This release includes a new way to output readable weights, removal of the Boost Program Options dependency, a new loss function and plenty of bug fixes.

[Click here to read the full release notes.](https://vowpalwabbit.org/blog/vowpalwabbit-9.1.0.html)

This patch releases resolves a build issue when VW is built against fmtlib version 8 or newer as well as a few bugs.

- [fix: use different syntax for opening namespace for custom formatters ](https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/commit/57e8ff252a8b790d14acdb7867ba25b55f3b6d26)
- [build: use correct platform suffix for Python native shared library](https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/3678)
- [fix: dftovw address post PR feedback](https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/3671)
- [ci: run twine check in ci](https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/3675)
- [fix: Remove content from image directives in README.rst](https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/3676)
- [build: fixing run_tests.py with custom paths](https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/3665)
- [fix: add long_description_content_type](https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/3673)
- [fix: fix compile issues when consuming fmt 8.1.1](https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/pull/3669)

Vowpal Wabbit 9 is the first major release in [over 6 years](https://github.com/VowpalWabbit/vowpal_wabbit/releases/tag/8.0)! There are a number of usability improvements, new reductions, bug fixes and internal improvements here. The Python package has undergone a bit of a modernization with a more understandable module structure, naming and types. Most changes should be non breaking for standard use cases. See [here for the Python migration guide](https://vowpalwabbit.org/docs/vowpal_wabbit/python/latest/reference/python_8110_900_migration_guide.html).

[Click here to read the full release notes.](https://vowpalwabbit.org/blog/vowpalwabbit-9.0.0.html)