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Python 3.8.2

Release Date: Feb. 24, 2020

This is the second maintenance release of Python 3.8

Note: The release you're looking at is Python 3.8.2, a bugfix release for the legacy 3.8 series. Python 3.11 is now the latest feature release series of Python 3. Get the latest release of 3.11.x here.

Major new features of the 3.8 series, compared to 3.7

  • PEP 572, Assignment expressions
  • PEP 570, Positional-only arguments
  • PEP 587, Python Initialization Configuration (improved embedding)
  • PEP 590, Vectorcall: a fast calling protocol for CPython
  • PEP 578, Runtime audit hooks
  • PEP 574, Pickle protocol 5 with out-of-band data
  • Typing-related: PEP 591 (Final qualifier), PEP 586 (Literal types), and PEP 589 (TypedDict)
  • Parallel filesystem cache for compiled bytecode
  • Debug builds share ABI as release builds
  • f-strings support a handy = specifier for debugging
  • continue is now legal in finally: blocks
  • on Windows, the default asyncio event loop is now ProactorEventLoop
  • on macOS, the spawn start method is now used by default in multiprocessing
  • multiprocessing can now use shared memory segments to avoid pickling costs between processes
  • typed_ast is merged back to CPython
  • LOAD_GLOBAL is now 40% faster
  • pickle now uses Protocol 4 by default, improving performance

There are many other interesting changes, please consult the "What's New" page in the documentation for a full list.

More resources

Windows users

  • The binaries for AMD64 will also work on processors that implement the Intel 64 architecture. (Also known as the "x64" architecture, and formerly known as both "EM64T" and "x86-64".)
  • There are now "web-based" installers for Windows platforms; the installer will download the needed software components at installation time.
  • There are redistributable zip files containing the Windows builds, making it easy to redistribute Python as part of another software package. Please see the documentation regarding Embedded Distribution for more information.

macOS users

  • For Python 3.8, we provide one installer: 64-bit-only that works on macOS 10.9 (Mavericks) and later systems.
  • Please read the "Important Information" displayed during installation for information about SSL/TLS certificate validation and the running the "Install Certificates.command".

And now for something completely different

Michelangelo: Good evening, your Holiness.
Pope: Evening, Michelangelo. I want to have a word with you about this painting of yours, "The Last Supper."
Michelangelo: Oh, yeah?
Pope: I'm not happy about it.
Michelangelo: Oh, dear. It took me hours.
Pope: Not happy at all.
Michelangelo: Is it the jellies you don't like?
Pope: No.
Michelangelo: Of course not, they add a bit of color, don't they? Oh, I know, you don't like the kangaroo?
Pope: What kangaroo?
Michelangelo: No problem, I'll paint him out.
Pope: I never saw a kangaroo!
Michelangelo: Uuh... he's right in the back. I'll paint him out! No sweat, I'll make him into a disciple.

Full Changelog

Files

Version Operating System Description MD5 Sum File Size GPG
Gzipped source tarball Source release f9f3768f757e34b342dbc06b41cbc844 22.9 MB SIG
XZ compressed source tarball Source release e9d6ebc92183a177b8e8a58cad5b8d67 17.0 MB SIG
macOS 64-bit installer macOS for OS X 10.9 and later f12203128b5c639dc08e5a43a2812cc7 28.6 MB SIG
Windows help file Windows 7506675dcbb9a1569b54e600ae66c9fb 8.1 MB SIG
Windows x86 embeddable zip file Windows 1b1f0f0c5ee8601f160cfad5b560e3a7 6.8 MB SIG
Windows x86 executable installer Windows 6f0ba59c7dbeba7bb0ee21682fe39748 25.3 MB SIG
Windows x86 web-based installer Windows 04d97979534f4bd33752c183fc4ce680 1.3 MB SIG
Windows x86-64 embeddable zip file Windows for AMD64/EM64T/x64 1a98565285491c0ea65450e78afe6f8d 7.6 MB SIG
Windows x86-64 executable installer Windows for AMD64/EM64T/x64 b5df1cbb2bc152cd70c3da9151cb510b 26.3 MB SIG
Windows x86-64 web-based installer Windows for AMD64/EM64T/x64 2586cdad1a363d1a8abb5fc102b2d418 1.3 MB SIG