Python 3.8.

2
Release Date: Feb. 24, 2020

This is the second maintenance release of Python

3.8
The Python 3.8 series is the newest major release of the Python
programming language, and it contains many new features and
optimizations.

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

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
Gzipped source tarball Source release
XZ compressed source tarball Source release
macOS 64-bit installer Mac OS X for OS X 10
Windows help file Windows
Windows x86-64 embeddable zip file Windows for AMD64
Windows x86-64 executable installer Windows for AMD64
Windows x86-64 web-based installer Windows for AMD64
Windows x86 embeddable zip file Windows
Windows x86 executable installer Windows
Windows x86 web-based installer Windows