* add util.sc_encode() and util.sc_decode() for compression of sparse bitarrays * add util.any_and() * add util.intervals() * move functionality of the following utility functions entirely to C: hex2ba(), base2ba(), deserialize(), vl_decode(), zeros() * improve error checking for unpickling * add distance metrics OBS-URL: https://build.opensuse.org/package/show/devel:languages:python/python-bitarray?expand=0&rev=25