Python 3.10.0a6 is available, now with 100% more pattern matching

[Pablo Galindo Salgado]

Remember us? It's your friendly CPython release team and we have something
we think you may like: The new alpha release of Python 3.10 is here, now
with 100% more pattern matching. If I were you, I would download it and
start playing with it. Extra points if you report us any bugs you find
along the way! Are you confused about all this pattern matching business?
Fear not, this release also includes some fantastic documentation and some
shiny new "What's new" entries.

Check them here and tell us how we can improve it:

What's new: https://docs.python.org/3.10/whatsnew/3.10.html
Tutorial:
https://docs.python.org/3.10/tutorial/controlflow.html#match-statements

Go get the new alpha here:

https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-3100a6/

**This is an early developer preview of Python 3.10**

# Major new features of the 3.10 series, compared to 3.9

Python 3.10 is still in development.  This release, 3.10.0a6 is the sixth
of seven 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 (2021-05-03) and, if necessary, may be modified or deleted up
until the release candidate phase (2021-10-04).  Please keep in mind that
this is a preview release and its use is **not** recommended for production
environments.

Many new features for Python 3.10 are still being planned and written.
Among the new major
new features and changes so far:

* [PEP 623](https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0623/) -- Remove wstr from
Unicode
* [PEP 604](https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0604/) -- Allow writing
union types as X | Y
* [PEP 612](https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0612/) -- Parameter
Specification Variables
* [PEP 626](https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0626/) -- Precise line
numbers for debugging and other tools.
* [bpo-38605](https://bugs.python.org/issue38605): `from __future__ import
annotations` ([PEP 563](https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0563/)) is now
the default.
* [PEP 618 ](https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0618/) -- Add Optional
Length-Checking To zip.
* [bpo-12782](https://bugs.python.org/issue12782): Parenthesized context
managers are now officially allowed.
* [PEP 632 ](https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0632/) -- Deprecate
distutils module.
* [PEP 613 ](https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0613/) -- Explicit Type
Aliases
* [PEP 634 ](https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0634/) -- Structural
Pattern Matching: Specification
* [PEP 635 ](https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0635/) -- Structural
Pattern Matching: Motivation and Rationale
* [PEP 636 ](https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0636/) -- Structural
Pattern Matching: Tutorial


* <small>(Hey, **fellow core developer,** if a feature you find important
is missing from this list, [let Pablo know](mailto:pablogsal at python.org
).)</small>

The next pre-release of Python 3.10 will be 3.10.0a7 ( last alpha release),
currently scheduled for Monday, 2021-04-05.

# More resources

* [Online Documentation](https://docs.python.org/3.10/)
* [PEP 619](https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0619/), 3.10 Release
Schedule
* Report bugs at [https://bugs.python.org](https://bugs.python.org).
* [Help fund Python and its community](/psf/donations/).

# And now for something completely different
Schwarzschild wormholes, also known as Einstein–Rosen bridges (named after
Albert Einstein and Nathan Rosen), are connections between areas of space
that can be modelled as vacuum solutions to the Einstein field equations,
and that are now understood to be intrinsic parts of the maximally extended
version of the Schwarzschild metric describing an eternal black hole with
no charge and no rotation. Here, "maximally extended" refers to the idea
that the spacetime should not have any "edges": it should be possible to
continue this path arbitrarily far into the particle's future or past for
any possible trajectory of a free-falling particle (following a geodesic in
the spacetime).

Although Schwarzschild wormholes are not traversable in both directions,
their existence inspired Kip Thorne to imagine traversable wormholes
created by holding the "throat" of a Schwarzschild wormhole open with
exotic matter (material that has negative mass/energy).

Regards from rainy London,

Pablo Galindo Salgado