Python News Wrap-Up for July 2022
Python 3.11 progress, RStudio's new name, and VS Code extension updates! Learn more about recent happenings in the world of Python.
Hello Grokking Python readers, and happy Thursday!
Without further ado, let's take a look at what's been brewing in the Python world as of late.
Progress on Python 3.11
Python 3.11 is just around the corner, and progress on its development is well underway!
This month, we saw the release of Python 3.11.b4 and 3.11.b5! Python 3.11.b4 was the fourth planned beta release for Python 3.11, and just yesterday, Python 3.11.b5 was announced as a fifth and final beta release.
There will be two more planned release candidates before the stable release: Python 3.11.0rc1, which is planned for Aug. 1, and Python 3.11.0rc2, which is planned for Sept. 5. After that, it's smooth sailing until the final release of Python 3.11 on Oct. 5!
As always, you can find more information about the release schedule on Python.org.
RStudio is becoming Posit
RStudio announced that they are entering a new phase of RStudio's development and wished to rename RStudio to better reflect their mission to create free and open-source software for data science, scientific research, and technical communication. RStudio originally started as an IDE for the R programming language but has since expanded to support other languages and data science tools, most notably, Python.
The new name, Posit, is meant to remove the focus on any one particular language or tool. Posit will instead emphasize a commitment to developing software that promotes collaboration among data scientists, researchers, and developers of all levels of experience.
With that in mind, keep an eye out for more Python-centric features in upcoming releases of Posit!
Python and Jupyter extension updates for Visual Studio Code
Microsoft released new versions of the Python and Jupyter extensions for Visual Studio Code! Several small enhancements and bug fixes to improve the code editor experience were included in these releases. Most notably, two types of inlay hints were added for variable types and return types when using Pylance, Microsoft's Python language server. These updates should make it easier for Python developers using Visual Studio Code to get more information about their code.
The Jupyter extension was updated to improve the extension recommendation flow within notebooks, making the setup experience much smoother.
You can try these updates out by downloading the Python and Jupyter extensions from the Microsoft Marketplace.
Bonus Announcement: Another new Python course on Educative
As the final note for today, we're thrilled to announce that Leonardo Giordani, author of "Clean Architecture in Python" worked with Educative recently to create a course bearing the same name. This Python-based course is designed for developers and architects who want to learn how to build clean, well-organized codebases. It's a great course for anyone who wants to learn how to design and maintain Python code, regardless of their experience or level of expertise.
The goals of this course are to help you:
Learn the importance and principles of clean architecture.
Design and build applications using the principle of layering functional components.
Understand external connectivity using the Flask Python framework.
Learn to integrate both structured and unstructured data with Postgres and MongoDB.
So, if you're looking to up your Python game (and avoid writing the dreaded "spaghetti code"), be sure to check out Leonardo's course on Educative.
That's all for this month! We hope you have a great summer and stay tuned for more exciting news in the Python world.
As always, happy learning!