Python Development and Release Timelines Overview Python a popular high level programming language has a well defined development and release timeline which ensures regular updates and improvements Python Release Timeline Python follows a predictable and consistent release schedule with new versions released every 18 months The version numbering scheme is major minor micro where Major releases introduce incompatible changes and new features Minor releases provide new features that are backward compatible Micro releases are bug fixes and security patches for the current version Python has had several major releases so far Python 2 0 2000 Introduction of list comprehensions garbage collection system and Unicode support Python 3 0 2008 Major changes to the language syntax semantics and libraries with a focus on improving code readability and removing duplicative functionality Python 3 5 2015 Introduction of async await syntax for asynchronous programming and type hints for static analysis Python 3 7 2018 Introduction of data classes breaking changes to the built in dict type and the addition of the f string syntax for formatted string literals Python 3 8 2019 Introduction of the walrus operator for assignment expressions and the math isqrt function for integer square root calculation Python Development Model Python s development is managed by a core development team led by Guido van Rossum until his retirement in 2018 The development process is open and community driven with contributions from thousands of developers worldwide Python uses a contributor agreement to ensure that all contributions are licensed under the Python Software Foundation PSF license The development process includes 1 Proposals PEPs Proposed changes to the language or standard library are documented in Python Enhancement Proposals PEPs 2 Discussion PEPs are discussed and refined on the python dev mailing list 3 Implementation Once a PEP is accepted it is implemented by one or more developers 4 Testing The changes are tested and reviewed by the community 5 Release Once the changes are deemed stable they are included in a new release Release Cycle The Python release cycle consists of three phases 1 Development Phase A new major version is developed for 18 months with three alpha releases two beta releases and one release candidate 2 Support Phase A major version is supported for five years with bug fixes and security patches provided The first three years of support are provided by the core development team while the remaining two years are provided by the community 3 End of Life EOL After five years a major version reaches its end of life and no further updates are provided Python s development and release timelines ensure that the language remains up to date and relevant with regular updates and improvements