[RELEASE] The cursed fourth Python 3.11 beta (3.11.0b4) is available

[Pablo Galindo Salgado]

I cannot believe I am writing this, but Python 3.11.b4 is finally
available!! [image: :scream:] [image: :tada:] [image: :tada:] [image:
:tada:]

https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-3110b4/

##[image: :warning:][image: :warning:][image: :warning:] PLEASE HELP US TO
TEST THIS RELEASE [image: :warning:][image: :warning:][image: :warning:]

Due to the modified release schedule and the stability concerns regarding
the past beta releases, please, please, please, please, help us to test
Python 3.11 by testing this beta releases.

* if you maintain a library or a third-party package. Test the beta
releases!
* If you have code that you maintain at work/research
centre/classroom/whatever. Test the beta releases!
* If you are a multi-million corporation that uses Python. Test the beta
releases!
* If you are a single-person company that uses Python. Test the beta
releases!
* If you have a bunch of Python scripts. Test the beta releases!
* If you use Python for work, research, teaching or literally for anything.
Test the beta releases!
* If you ...

In summary: no matter who you are or what you do. Test the beta releases!

Is **very** important for us that we identify all possible things that may
break your code **before** the final release is done and we can only do
this if you help us by testing the beta releases and then report anything
that doesn't work!

## Credit where credit is due [image: :pray:]

Lots of thanks to Christian Heimes, Brandt Bucher, Irit Katriel, Mark
Shannon, Dennis Sweeney, Kumar Aditya and other contributors (sorry if I am
missing any names) that worked really hard against time to help me and the
release team with the release blockers. They are all awesome and we and the
Python community are very lucky to have them in the team [image: :heart:]

## What happens with the next betas?

As stated in [my previous communication](
https://mail.python.org/archives/list/python-dev@python.org/thread/3JWVCSBPBFWY5ZWSJ7RYB6FS5NIMCEOY/)
we are in a special situation regarding beta releases. As the requirements
to continue with the regular schedule are met, we are going to still target
the final release of Monday, 2022-10-03.

Python 3.11.0b5 was supposed to be released two days ago, so we are
obviously delayed. As we are targeting the regular release schedule, I'm
going to try to release 3.11.0b5 on Thursday, 2022-07-25.

## This is a beta preview of Python  3.11

Python 3.11 is still in development. 3.11.0b4 is the fourth of five planned
beta release previews. Beta release previews are intended to give the wider
community the opportunity to test new features and bug fixes and to prepare
their projects to support the new feature release.

We **strongly encourage** maintainers of third-party Python projects to
**test with 3.11** during the beta phase and report issues found to [the
Python bug tracker](https://github.com/python/cpython/issues) as soon as
possible.  While the release is planned to be feature complete entering the
beta phase, it is possible that features may be modified or, in rare cases,
deleted up until the start of the release candidate phase (Monday,
2021-08-02).  Our goal is have no ABI changes after beta 5 and as few code
changes as possible after 3.11.0rc1, the first release candidate.  To
achieve that, it will be **extremely important** to get as much exposure
for 3.11 as possible during the beta phase.

Please keep in mind that this is a preview release and its use is **not**
recommended for production environments.

# Major new features of the 3.11 series, compared to 3.10

Some of the new major new features and changes in Python 3.11 are:

## General changes

* [PEP 657](https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0657/) -- Include
Fine-Grained Error Locations in Tracebacks
* [PEP 654](https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0654/) -- Exception Groups
and except*
* [PEP 680](https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0680/)-- tomllib: Support
for Parsing TOML in the Standard Library
* [PEP 681](https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0681/)-- Data Class
Transforms
* [bpo-46752](https://bugs.python.org/issue46752)-- Introduce task groups
to asyncio
* [bpo-433030](https://github.com/python/cpython/issues/34627/) -- Atomic
grouping ((?>...)) and possessive quantifiers (`*+, ++, ?+, {m,n}+`) are
now supported in regular expressions.
* The [Faster Cpython Project](https://github.com/faster-cpython/) is
already yielding some exciting results. Python 3.11 is up to 10-60% faster
than Python 3.10. On average, we measured a 1.22x speedup on the standard
benchmark suite. See [Faster CPython](
https://docs.python.org/3.11/whatsnew/3.11.html#faster-cpython) for details.

## Typing and typing language changes

* [PEP 673](https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0673/)  -- Self Type
* [PEP 646](https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0646/)-- Variadic Generics
* [PEP 675](https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0675/)-- Arbitrary Literal
String Type
* [PEP 655](https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0655/)-- Marking individual
TypedDict items as required or potentially-missing

<small>(Hey, **fellow core developer,** if a feature you find important is
missing from this list, [let Pablo know](mailto:pablogsal at python.org
).)</small>

The next pre-release of Python 3.11 will be 3.11.0b5, currently scheduled
for Thursday, 2022-07-25.

# More resources

* [Online Documentation](https://docs.python.org/3.11/)
* [PEP 664](https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0664/), 3.11 Release
Schedule
* Report bugs at [https://bugs.python.org](https://bugs.python.org).
* [Help fund Python and its community](/psf/donations/).


# And now for something completely different

The Planck temperature is 1.416784×10**32 K. At this temperature, the
wavelength of light emitted by thermal radiation reaches the Planck length.
There are no known physical models able to describe temperatures greater
than the Planck temperature and a quantum theory of gravity would be
required to model the extreme energies attained. Hypothetically, a system
in thermal equilibrium at the Planck temperature might contain Planck-scale
black holes, constantly being formed from thermal radiation and decaying
via Hawking evaporation; adding energy to such a system might decrease its
temperature by creating larger black holes, whose Hawking temperature is
lower.

Rumours say the Planck temperature can be reached in some of the hottest
parts of Spain in summer.

# We hope you enjoy the new releases!

Thanks to all of the many volunteers who help make Python Development and
these releases possible! Please consider supporting our efforts by
volunteering yourself or through organization contributions to the Python
Software Foundation.

https://www.python.org/psf/

If you have any questions, please reach out to me or another member of the
release team :)

Your friendly release team,

Ned Deily @nad https://discuss.python.org/u/nad
Steve Dower @steve.dower https://discuss.python.org/u/steve.dower
Pablo Galindo Salgado @pablogsal https://discuss.python.org/u/pablogsal