Awkward

Bump version number to try to upload to PyPI again. ([1.8.0rc4 might have failed](https://github.com/scikit-hep/awkward-1.0/actions/runs/1877841929) because of a resurgence of https://github.com/pypa/twine/issues/696).

henryiii updated the Python style to take advantage of Python 3.6 and above (format strings!): PR 1244, 1246. Fixed a problem associated with building twice: PR 1254. Added shellcheck: PR 1243. Updated pytest config: PR 1255. Added dependabot: PR 1263. Updated black: PR 1267. Added nox and pylint support: PR 1262. Updated style using pylint: PR 1275.

agoose77 and ianna fixed a segfault in reducers on >= 4-dimensional arrays with `axis != -1` (v1 and v2): PR 1274.

jpivarski allowed `ak.nan_to_num` arguments to be arrays: PR 1298. This is a blocker for https://github.com/scikit-hep/vector/pull/172, motivating the final push toward 1.8.0 release.

Reverted the PowerPC build: PR 1239.

ianna fixed the intermittent MacOS segfault, which was a bug on all architectures, v1 and v2, though it only showed up in MacOS v2 tests: PR 1232.

henryiii split the build/deploy procedure between CPython and PyPy to specify which architecture/platform/version combinations to build with more granularity: PR 1237.

jpivarski dropped Windows 32 Python 3.10 test and musllinux in deployment: PR 1212.

chrisburr added wheels for ppc64le: PR 1224.

swishdiff updated the generate-cuda script (only works in Python >= 3.8, but it's a developer tool, used offline, and not for much longer before CUDA source code will be maintained by hand): PR 1231.

**Dropped support for Pythons 2.7 and 3.5:** PR 1182. From now on, Awkward Array only supports Python 3.6 and up.

henryiii added Python 3.10 to testing: PR 1186. Bumped pybind11 to version 2.8.0: PR 1011. To 2.9.0: PR 1199. Included a Numba release candidate for Python 3.10: PR 1188.

ianna replaced `std::shared_ptr` with `std::unique_ptr` in ArrayBuilder and also removed a pointer assignment from a hot loop for a performance increase: PR 1155. Added diagrams for future tutorials: PR 948.

agoose77 improved `ak.packed` to additionally project IndexedArrays: PR 1195.

BioGeek fixed a typo in the documentation: PR 1187.

jpivarski fixed a bug in ak.unflatten: PR 1178. Added an exception for an unworkable case in ak.unzip: PR 1179. Fixed ak.to_numpy with RegularArray of size zero and non-zero length: PR 1180. Fixed `NumpyArray::numbers_to_type`: PR 1175. Fixed zeros in RegularArray shape: PR 1181. Fixed a typo: PR 1172. Removed distutils dependence: PR 1196. Fixed ak.singletons for non-optional data: PR 1197. Extended the default case of NEP 18 to allow arguments to be non-array iterables: PR 1198. Improved an error message in `Content::axis_wrap_if_negative`: PR 1202. Filled `ak._v2` with the symbols that will eventually be in `ak`: PR 1208.

Version 2 development:

jpivarski simplified type-tracers, so they no longer try to know their lengths: PR 1183 and 1184. Implemented v2 `to_list` and switched all v2 tests to use it: PR 1201 and 1203. Ensured that v2 `to_numpy` is done: PR 1204. Fixed up reducers (including non-reducers) and moved a lot of tests from v1 to v2: PR 1206.

**The 1.7.x series is the last to support Python 2.7 and Python 3.5. From 1.8.0 onward, only Python 3.6 and above will be supported.**

ianna fixed a division-by-zero bug: 1168 and 1169.

jpivarski applied the 1.7.0 deprecation (see [Roadmap](https://github.com/scikit-hep/awkward-1.0#roadmap)): 1118. Enabled codecov: 1120. Updated Azure's Windows VM: 1129. Fixed order in RecordForm.contents property: 1166. Fixed Parquet reading for files with zero RecordBatches: 1170.

Version 2 development:

ioanaif: 1082, 1116, 1130, 1137, 1145, 1147, 1148, 1161,

ianna: 1111, 1141, 1140, 1138, 1142, 1149, 1150, 1164,

ctrl-stormy: 1135,

jpivarski: 1117, 1119, 1121, 1122, 1123, 1124, 1125, 1131, 1132, 1134, 1143, 1146, 1154, 1153, 1156, 1159, 1160, 1162, 1165,