On behalf of the IronPython team, I'm happy to announce the second beta release of IronPython 2.7.4. This release includes everything from IronPython 2.7.3 and earlier. Like all IronPython 2.7-series releases, .NET 4 is required to install it. Installing this release will replace any existing IronPython 2.7-series installation.

This is the last beta release. The final release is scheduled for August 10.

Improvements in IronPython 2.7.4 are mainly a collection of bug fixes, many of which are directed at getting IPython working.

Android and Silverlight 4 assemblies have been dropped from this version. The Android assemblies need some more work to be usable with Xamarin.Android, and Silverlight 4 is just plain dead.

For Visual Studio integration, check out Python Tools for Visual Studio which has support for IronPython as well as CPython, and many other fantastic features.

IronPython 2.7.4 is also available for embedding via NuGet. The main package is IronPython, and the standard library is in IronPython.StdLib. Because this is a prerelease package, you must use -IncludePrerelease on the command line or select "Include Prerelease" from the package drop-down menu.

A huge thanks goes out to Pawel Jasinski, Michael van der Kolff, and Aleksander Heintz, who contributed most of the changes for this release.