Python 3.12.0 alpha 4 released

[Thomas Wouters]

I'm pleased to announce the release of Python 3.12 alpha 4.

https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-3120a4/

*This is an early developer preview of Python 3.12*.

Major new features of the 3.12 series, compared to 3.11

Python 3.12 is still in development. This release, 3.12.0a4 is the fourth
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 (2023-05-08) and, if necessary, may be modified or deleted up
until the release candidate phase (2023-07-31). Please keep in mind that
this is a preview release and its use is *not *recommended for production
environments.

Many new features for Python 3.12 are still being planned and written.
Among the new major new features and changes so far:

   - Even more improved error messages. More exceptions potentially caused
   by typos now make suggestions to the user.
   - Support for the Linux perf profiler to report Python function names in
   traces.
   - The deprecated wstr and wstr_length members of the C implementation of
   unicode objects were removed, per PEP 623
   <https://peps.python.org/pep-0623>.
   - In the unittest module, a number of long deprecated methods and
   classes were removed. (They had been deprecated since Python 3.1 or 3.2).
   - The deprecated smtpd and distutils modules have been removed (see PEP
   594 <https://peps.python.org/pep-0594/> and PEP 632
   <https://peps.python.org/pep-0632/>). The setuptools package (installed
   by default in virtualenvs and many other places) continues to provide the
   distutils module.
   - A number of other old, broken and deprecated functions, classes and
   methods have been removed.
   - (Hey,* fellow core developer*, if a feature you find important is
   missing from this list, let Thomas know <thomas at python.org>.)


For more details on the changes to Python 3.12, see What's new in Python
3.12 <https://docs.python.org/dev/whatsnew/3.12.html>. The next pre-release
of Python 3.12 will be 3.12.0a5, currently scheduled for 2023-02-06.

More resources

Online Documentation <https://docs.python.org/3.12/>.
PEP 693 <https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0693/>, the Python 3.12
Release Schedule.
Report bugs via GitHub Issues <https://github.com/python/cpython/issues>.
Help fund Python and its community <https://www.python.org/psf/donations/>.

And now for something completely different

Two haikus apt, as Python's development springs ever forward.

I write, erase, rewrite
> Erase again, and then
> A poppy blooms.


Haiku by Katsushika Hokusai.

O snail
> Climb Mount Fuji,
> But slowly, slowly!


Haiku by Kobayashi Issa.

Enjoy the new releases

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.

Regards from chilly Amsterdam,

Your release team,
Thomas Wouters
Ned Deily
Steve Dower
-- 
Thomas Wouters <thomas at python.org>