History of Versions & Features

A History of Python Versions and Features

Christopher Trudeau
Christopher Trudeau 11 Lessons 1h 22m basics python
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This course gives you a direct, practical overview of how Python has evolved—what changed in each major version, why it matters, and how to use the features that define modern Python. You’ll see both the historical context and hands-on code, so you understand not just what changed, but why and how to use it today.

In this course, you’ll learn:

  • Key new features introduced in every major Python version, starting from early Python 1 up to Python 3.14
  • The story behind pivotal changes, like list comprehensions, exception handling, the with statement, defaultdict, and the transition from Python 2 to Python 3
  • Hands-on use of modern Python tools: f-strings, dataclasses, the walrus operator (:=), match/case structural pattern matching, and new types like enum and pathlib
  • How to leverage improvements in each Python release for cleaner, faster, and more maintainable code
  • What’s coming in the latest Python releases, including t-strings and REPL improvements

What’s Included:

Downloadable Resources:

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Early & Adolescent Python

5 Lessons 47m

  1. 1. A History of Python Versions and Features (Overview)05:35
  2. 2. 2.5 - Introducing with and defaultdict11:37
  3. 3. 2.6 → 3.0 - Transitioning to Python 311:54
  4. 4. 3.1 → 3.3 - Exploring yield from & unittest.mock11:04
  5. 5. 3.4 - Diving Into enum & pathlib07:09

Python Hits Its Stride

6 Lessons 35m

  1. 1. 3.5 → 3.6 - Upgrading to F-Strings07:49
  2. 2. 3.7 - Seeing Data Classes in Practice04:54
  3. 3. 3.8 → 3.9 - Demonstrating the Walrus Operator07:21
  4. 4. 3.10 → 3.11 - Covering the match/case Statement06:55
  5. 5. Examining Python 3.12 & 3.1303:12
  6. 6. Looking Ahead to Python 3.14: T-Strings & REPL improvements05:19
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About Christopher Trudeau

Christopher has a passion for the Python language and writes, records, and podcasts for Real Python. He is a consultant who helps advise organizations on how to improve their technical teams.

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Each tutorial at Real Python is created by a team of developers so that it meets our high quality standards. The team members who worked on this tutorial are:

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