python 2.3 final

[Skip Montanaro]

    >> I'm new to Python. I have been using 2.3b2 for several months now
    >> with good results. I assumed that once the beta was good enough that
    >> Python 2.4 would be released, but today I noticed that there is a 2.3
    >> final release. I'm used to odd point releases being beta or testing,
    >> but it seems that that isn't true in Python. Could someone shed some
    >> light on this?

Python's pre-release numbering works like this:

    M.Na1, M.Na2, ...          alpha 1, alpha 2, etc (2.3a1, ...)
    M.Nb1, M.Nb2, ...          beta 1, beta2, etc (2.3b2, ...)
    M.Nc1, ...                 release candidate 1, etc (2.3c1, ...)
    M.N                        final release (2.3 or more precisely, 2.3.0)
    M.N.1a1, M.N.1a2, ...      more alphas (2.3.1a1, ...)
    M.N.1b1, M.N.1b2, ...      more betas (2.3.1b1, ...)
    M.N.1c1, ...               more release candidates (2.3.1b1, ...)
    M.N.1                      next release (2.3.1)

So, for several months you've been using the second beta test version of
Python 2.3.  You should upgrade to 2.3, even though it naively appears to be
an "older" version.

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