The Minority Report

Wesley J. Chun brings us a twelve page article on the changes to the Python programming language in version 3.
I’m guessing these changes have been discussed for a while due to this Python Regrets document from Guido van Rossum^W back in 2002.

p.s. I think I’m running out of “clever” Python headlines…

p.p.s. Guido van Rossum discusses What’s New in Python 3.0 in greater detail here.

Major revisions to any programming language are alarming, but Wesley J. Chun believes that Python 3.x brings real improvements to solve long-established problems. He points out some of the more interesting changes that obliterate design flaws and outdated functionality carried across from release to release, promising that you’ll find Python 3 to be leaner, meaner, and more powerful than ever before.
InformIT: Python 3: The Evolution of a Programming Language > Why Is Python Changing?

As you may already know, Python is undergoing its most significant transformation since it was released in the early 1990s. Even the revision change from 1.x to 2.x in the fall of 2000 was relatively mild—Python 2.0 ran 1.5.2 software just fine back then. One of the main reasons for Python’s stability over the years has been the steadfast determination of the core development team to preserve backward compatibility. Over the years, however, certain “sticky” flaws (that stick around from release to release) were identified by creator Guido van Rossum, Andrew Kuchling, and other users, making it clear that difficult changes were needed in order to ensure that the language evolved. Python 3.0 marks the first time that a Python interpreter has been released that deliberately breaks compatibility.

The changes aren’t mind-boggling; you’ll still recognize Python. The remainder of this article gives an overview of some of the big changes.
InformIT: Python 3: The Evolution of a Programming Language > Why Is Python Changing?