Release date: Jan. 4, 2021

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, 3.10.0a4 is the fourth 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 (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 -- Remove wstr from Unicode
• PEP 604 -- Allow writing union types as X | Y
• PEP 612 -- Parameter Specification Variables
• PEP 626 -- Precise line numbers for debugging and other tools.
• bpo-38605: from __future__ import annotations (PEP 563) is now the default.

• PEP 618 -- Add Optional Length-Checking To zip.

• (Hey, fellow core developer, if a feature you find important is missing from this list, let Pablo know.)

The next pre-release of Python 3.10 will be 3.10.0a5, currently scheduled for 2021-02-01.

More resources

• Online Documentation
• PEP 619, 3.10 Release Schedule
• Report bugs at https://bugs.python.org.
• Help fund Python and its community.

And now for something completely different

The Majumdar–Papapetrou spacetime is one surprising solution of the coupled Einstein-Maxwell equations that describe a cluster of static charged black holes with the gravitational and the electrostatic forces cancelling each other out. Each one of these many black holes of the multi-black holes system has a spherical topology and follows the Reissner–Nordström metric. Unsurprisingly, the movement of a test particle in such spacetime is not only a very chaotic system but also has some fractals hiding the complexity of its movement.