Python 3.0 is out! As Jeremy Hylton has pointed out, Python 3000 was first discussed nine years ago. When I first started following python-dev back in June 2002, Python 3000 was this somewhat mythical version that pretty much any idea that seemed somewhat reasonable somehow to someone was attached to. To an extent I viewed it as a joke for a while since the Py3K title was tossed about so loosely.
But no longer. Python 3.0 is a real piece of software for the world to use. It's been quite the ride. With the amount of wild hacking everyone did on the p3yk/py3k branch and just the sheer amount of fundamental changes underneath the hood, I think python-dev has done a helluva job in getting 3.0 out the door within the release schedule we set for ourselves (we only slipped three months from a schedule we set quite a while ago). I still wish I could have gotten my import rewrite in, but the standard library reorganization was more important.
I am very happy with the way the language has turned out. I think the language is cleaner and easier to use. It is a good step forward and will help keep Python relevant for a long time. I for one plan to pretty much focus on Python 3 from this point forward in terms of new features since I like it so much more.
So now what? Well, we have a transition to deal with. I am willing to wager that 2.7/3.1 will be pretty much just bug fixes and helping make the transition from 2 to 3 even cleaner. We also have to continue to move the community over to 3 and off of 2. My hope is that by the time 3.2 is out the door the 2 series is pretty much just there for the stoggy, stubborn people who refuse to upgrade.
Oh, and I love the fact we beat Perl 6 out the door. =)
