Release date: Feb. 25, 2019

This is an early developer preview of Python 3.8

Major new features of the 3.8 series, compared to 3.7

Python 3.8 is still in development. This release, 3.8.0a2 is the second of four 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 (2019-05-26) and, if necessary, may be modified or deleted up until the release candidate (2019-09-29) . Please keep in mind that this is a preview release and its use is not recommended for production environments.

Many new features for Python 3.8 are still being planned and written. Among the new major new features and changes so far:

• PEP 572, Assignment expressions
• BPO 35766, typed_ast is merged back to CPython
• BPO 35813, multiprocessing can now use shared memory segments to avoid pickling costs between processes
• (Hey, fellow core developer, if a feature you find important is missing from this list, let Łukasz know.)

The next pre-release of Python 3.8 will be 3.8.0a3, currently scheduled for 2019-03-25.

More resources

• Online Documentation
• PEP 569, 3.8 Release Schedule
• Report bugs at https://bugs.python.org.
• Help fund Python and its community.

And now for something completely different

Cut to the BBC world symbol.
Adrian (voice over): We interrupt this programme to annoy you and make things generally irritating for you.

Cut back to Mr Orbiter-5.
Mr Orbiter: ... with a large piece of wet paper. Turn the paper over - turn the paper over keeping your eye on the camel, and paste down the edge of the sailor's uniform, until the word 'Maudling' is almost totally obscured. Well, that's one way of doing it.

Cut to the BBC world symbol again.
Adrian (voice over): Good evening, we interrupt this programme again, a) to irritate you and, b) to provide work for one of our announcers.
Jack (voice over): Good evening, I'm the announcer who's just been given this job by the BBC and I'd just like to say how grateful I am to the BBC for providing me with work, particularly at this time of year, when things are a bit thin for us announcers...

Full Changelog