20 reasons you should use Python 3.10 over 3.8

Raja CSP Raman
featurepreneur
Published in
3 min readFeb 26, 2024

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Photo by Bruno Nascimento on Unsplash

If you are hesitant about upgrading your python to 3.10 and above, these things will convince you:

  1. Performance Improvements: Python 3.10 includes optimizations that can make your Python programs run faster. These optimizations are across the board, affecting the Python interpreter and standard library.
  2. Structural Pattern Matching: One of the headline features of Python 3.10 is the introduction of structural pattern matching, which allows for more expressive and readable code for complex conditionals, through the match statement and case patterns.
  3. Parenthesized Context Managers: Python 3.10 supports using parentheses with context managers, allowing for cleaner code when using multiple context managers in a single with statement.
  4. Precise Types: The introduction of more precise types in function annotations with Python 3.10’s typing enhancements (such as Union types using the | operator) makes type hinting more concise and readable.
  5. New Syntax Features: Python 3.10 introduced new syntax features, such as the match statement for pattern matching, which can simplify and enhance readability of code that involves complex conditional logic.
  6. Better Error Messages: Error messages in Python 3.10 are more informative and user-friendly, especially for syntax errors. This can make debugging and development more efficient, especially for beginners.
  7. Removal of Deprecated Features: Python 3.10 removes or deprecates older features and modules that were marked for deprecation in previous versions, making the language cleaner and more consistent.
  8. New Modules and Standard Library Enhancements: Python 3.10 includes new modules and numerous enhancements to the standard library, offering more functionality out-of-the-box and improving existing features.
  9. Security Improvements: Updates in Python 3.10 include security improvements over older versions, which is crucial for writing secure applications, especially in web development and data analysis.
  10. Future Compatibility: Adopting Python 3.10 prepares your projects for future updates to Python, as new features and optimizations are built on the foundation laid by Python 3.10 and beyond.
  11. Enhanced Type Hints: Python 3.10 further refines type hinting with features like TypeGuard, which helps in more accurately expressing runtime type checks, enhancing static analysis and code clarity.
  12. Better Asyncio Debugging: Improvements to the asyncio module, including better debugging capabilities, make it easier to develop and maintain asynchronous applications, with clearer messages and error handling.
  13. Performance Monitoring Features: New additions like the sys.settrace() function for easier tracing and performance monitoring can aid in profiling and optimizing Python applications more effectively.
  14. Consistent Union Types: Python 3.10 allows for the use of the union operator | in type hints instead of importing Union from typing, making type annotations cleaner and more consistent with future versions of Python.
  15. Deprecation Warnings: Python 3.10 makes it clearer when you’re using features that are deprecated and will be removed in future versions, helping maintain future-proof code.
  16. Enhanced Dictionary Merge & Update Operators: Python 3.10 introduces new operators for merging (|) and updating (|=) dictionaries, simplifying dictionary manipulation and making code more expressive.
  17. Standalone typing.TypeGuard: This allows for more precise type checks, making functions that validate the type of objects easier to use with static type checkers.
  18. removeprefix() and removesuffix() String Methods: These new string methods simplify common tasks involving string manipulation, making code cleaner and more readable.
  19. Flexible Function and Variable Annotations: The enhancements in annotations allow for a more flexible definition of function parameters and return types, including the use of typing.Annotated.
  20. Module and Runtime Improvements: Python 3.10 includes numerous under-the-hood improvements in the Python runtime and standard library modules, enhancing overall efficiency and stability.

Let’s use Python 3.10!!

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