title: What does the 'b' mean here: ValueError: could not convert string to float: b'1.94E+02,2.02E-03'
body: <p>When I run this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>import numpy as np
  
  filename = "C:\\AV GIS\\ILS_measure\\sunshine_oct18.csv"
  #filename = "C:\\AV GIS\\ILS_measure\\testcsv.csv"
  data = np.loadtxt(filename, skiprows=0)
  print(data.shape)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I get this:</p>
  
  <pre><code> ValueError: could not convert string to float: b'1.94E+02,2.02E-03'
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>What does the 'b' mean before the "number-string" arguments?</p>
  
  <p>I did hand-craft a .csv file to see if there was something peculiar to my real .csv data file, but even the simple .csv file produces the same error. </p>