Python 3.8.3rc1 is the release candidate of the third maintenance release of Python 3.8. Go get it here:
https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-383rc1/ <https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-383rc1/>
Assuming no critical problems are found prior to 2020-05-11, the scheduled release date for 3.8.3, no code changes are planned between this release candidate and the final release.
That being said, please keep in mind that this is a pre-release and as such its main purpose is testing.
Maintenance releases for the 3.8 series will continue at regular bi-monthly intervals, with 3.8.4 planned for mid-July 2020.
What’s new?
The Python 3.8 series is the newest feature release of the Python language, and it contains many new features and optimizations. See the “What’s New in Python 3.8 <https://docs.python.org/3.8/whatsnew/3.8.html>” document for more information about features included in the 3.8 series.
Detailed information about all changes made in version 3.8.3 specifically can be found in its change log <https://docs.python.org/release/3.8.3rc1/whatsnew/changelog.html#python-3-8…>.
We hope you enjoy Python 3.8!
Thanks to all of the many volunteers who help make Python Development and these releases possible! Please consider supporting our efforts by volunteering yourself or through organization contributions to the Python Software Foundation.
Your friendly release team,
Ned Deily @nad <https://discuss.python.org/u/nad>
Steve Dower @steve.dower <https://discuss.python.org/u/steve.dower>
Łukasz Langa @ambv <https://discuss.python.org/u/ambv>
On behalf of the entire Python development community, and the currently serving Python release team in particular, I’m pleased to announce the release of Python 3.9.0a6. Get it here:
https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-390a6/ <https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-390a6/>
This is an early developer preview of Python 3.9
Python 3.9 is still in development. This release, 3.9.0a6, is the last out of six planned alpha releases. Alpha releases are intended to make it easier to test the current state of new features and bug fixes and to test the release process. During the alpha phase, features may be added up until the start of the beta phase (2020-05-18) and, if necessary, may be modified or deleted up until the release candidate phase (2020-08-10). Please keep in mind that this is a preview release and its use is not recommended for production environments.
Major new features of the 3.9 series, compared to 3.8
Many new features for Python 3.9 are still being planned and written. Among the new major new features and changes so far:
PEP 584 <https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0584/>, Union Operators in dict
PEP 585 <https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0585/>, Type Hinting Generics In Standard Collections
PEP 593 <https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0593/>, Flexible function and variable annotations
PEP 602 <https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0602/>, Python adopts a stable annual release cadence
PEP 616 <https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0616/>, String methods to remove prefixes and suffixes
PEP 617 <https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0617/>, New PEG parser for CPython
BPO 38379 <https://bugs.python.org/issue38379>, garbage collection does not block on resurrected objects;
BPO 38692 <https://bugs.python.org/issue38692>, os.pidfd_open added that allows process management without races and signals;
BPO 39926 <https://bugs.python.org/issue39926>, Unicode support updated to version 13.0.0
BPO 1635741 <https://bugs.python.org/issue1635741>, when Python is initialized multiple times in the same process, it does not leak memory anymore
A number of Python builtins (range, tuple, set, frozenset, list) are now sped up using PEP 590 <https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0590> vectorcall
A number of standard library modules (audioop, ast, grp, _hashlib, pwd, _posixsubprocess, random, select, struct, termios, zlib) are now using the stable ABI defined by PEP 384 <https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0384/>.
(Hey, fellow core developer, if a feature you find important is missing from this list, let Łukasz know <mailto:lukasz@python.org>.)
The next pre-release, the first beta release of Python 3.9, will be 3.9.0b1. It is currently scheduled for 2020-05-18.
Your friendly release team,
Ned Deily @nad <https://discuss.python.org/u/nad>
Steve Dower @steve.dower <https://discuss.python.org/u/steve.dower>
Łukasz Langa @ambv <https://discuss.python.org/u/ambv>
Hi,
I am giving triage privileges to Lysandros Nikolaou (lys.nikolaou on bpo,
lysnikolaou in GitHub) .
Lysandros has been working with Guido and myself in PEP 617 for quite a
long time, being an indispensable
member of the team. In all this time he has proven to have a great set of
technical skills both in C and Python
while being a real pleasure to work with. Lysandros has also learned
greatly about the processes, workflow
and values of the core team and always has great enthusiasm and will to
improve. I can say with confidence
that Lysandros is an excellent developer, a compassionate person and
someone who has shown to care about
Python and its community.
As usual, I will ask him to ask me before closing bugs for the first weeks.
Congrats, Lysandros!
Hey all,
Unfortunately this year am too busy and cant even attend the language
summit mostly.
However if I knew the schedule, I could sign up for a session or two online.
Are we going to have recordings of the sessions this year given its a zoom?
A chance to catch up later.
--
Best,
Joannah Nanjekye
*"You think you know when you learn, are more sure when you can write, even
more when you can teach, but certain when you can program." Alan J. Perlis*
With two votes opened in 48 hours, I figured it was a good time to point out that https://devguide.python.org/coredev/#gaining-commit-privileges outlines the process of promoting someone from how to structure the vote to getting the person their commit privileges.
