Python 3.1 beta 1 released

I'm pleased to announce that the first beta of Python 3.1 has been released. In addition to the features found in the previous alphas, the beta has several more improvements. Most importantly, I think, is PEP 383. It defines a way for undecodable paths in file systems to be safely round tripped from Unicode strings. The repr of floats also now uses a new algorithm which determines the shortest possible value.

It is planned that this will be the only beta in order for 3.1 to make a final in late June. Please download it and try it out. This is 3.x's future, and in my opinion, much of an improvement. As always, you can submit any problems you see to bugs.python.org