Release Date: Dec. 6, 2022

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, 3.12.0a3 is the second 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.
• 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 and PEP 632. 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.
• Invalid backslash escape sequences in strings now warn with SyntaxWarning instead of DeprecationWarning, making them more visible. (They will become syntax errors in the future.)
• (Hey, fellow core developer, if a feature you find important is missing from this list, let Thomas know.)

For more details on the changes to Python 3.12, see What's new in Python 3.12. The next pre-release of Python 3.12 will be 3.12.0a4, currently scheduled for 2023-01-09.

More resources

• Online Documentation.
• PEP 693, the Python 3.12 Release Schedule.
• Report bugs via GitHub Issues.
• Help fund Python and its community.

And now for something completely different

December 6th is Sinterklaas, although it is usually celebrated on December 5th, Sinterklaasavond (Sinterklaas eve). It is traditionally an anonymous gift-giving holiday, where the gifts are accompanied by poems. So, here is a GPT-3-generated Sinterklaas poem to accompany today's release:

Sinterklaas is coming to town
To bring gifts to the Python community
Code that's fast and efficient
With syntax that's easy to see

For the beginners, a book on the basics
To guide them through the world of coding
For the experts, a new module to explore
With features that keep their skills honing

Sinterklaas will visit each and every coder
With presents to help them advance
In the world of Python programming
With skills that give them a chance

So let us all welcome Sinterklaas
With open arms and hearts full of cheer
For the gifts he brings to the Python community
Will help us all grow and persevere.

(Other traditional aspects of Sinterklaas include "surprise" gift-wrapping, in which the gift is disguised as something else entirely, as well as "Zwarte Piet" (Black Pete), Sinterklaas's "helper" with decidedly racist origins. I decided to stick with just the poem.)