O Alpha 3, O Alpha 3, how lovely are your branches!

https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-3140a3/

This is an early developer preview of Python 3.14.

Python 3.14 is still in development. This release, 3.14.0a3, is the third
of seven planned alpha releases.

Alpha releases are intended to make it easier to test the current state of
new features and bug fixes and to test the release process.

During the alpha phase, features may be added up until the start of the
beta phase (2025-05-06) and, if necessary, may be modified or deleted up
until the release candidate phase (2025-07-22). Please keep in mind that
this is a preview release and its use is not recommended for production environments.

Many new features for Python 3.14 are still being planned and written.
Among the new major new features and changes so far:

* PEP 649: deferred evaluation of annotations
* PEP 741: Python configuration C API
* PEP 761: Python 3.14 and onwards no longer provides PGP signatures for release artifacts. Instead, Sigstore is recommended for verifiers.
* Improved error messages
* (Hey, fellow core developer, if a feature you find important is missing
from this list, let Hugo know.)

The next pre-release of Python 3.14 will be 3.14.0a4, currently scheduled
for 2025-01-14.

More resources:

* Online documentation: https://docs.python.org/3.14/
* PEP 745, 3.14 Release Schedule: https://peps.python.org/pep-0745/
* Report bugs at https://github.com/python/cpython/issues
* Help fund Python and its community: https://www.python.org/psf/donations/

And now for something completely different

A mince pie is a small, round covered tart filled with “mincemeat”, usually eaten during the Christmas season – the UK consumes some 800 million each Christmas. Mincemeat is a mixture of things like apple, dried fruits,
candied peel and spices, and originally would have contained meat chopped small, but rarely nowadays. They are often served warm with brandy butter.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest mention of
Christmas mince pies is by Thomas Dekker, writing in the aftermath of the
1603 London plague, in Newes from Graues-end: Sent to Nobody (1604):

Ten thousand in London swore to feast their neighbors with nothing but plum-porredge, and mince-pyes all Christmas.

Here’s a meaty recipe from Rare and Excellent Receipts, Experienc’d and Taught by Mrs Mary Tillinghast and now Printed for the Use of her Scholars
Only (1678):

XV. How to make Mince-pies.

To every pound of Meat, take two pound of beef Suet, a pound of Corrants,
and a quarter of an Ounce of Cinnamon, one Nutmeg, a little beaten Mace,
some beaten Colves, a little Sack & Rose-water, two large Pippins, some
Orange and Lemon peel cut very thin, and shred very small, a few beaten Carraway-seeds, if you love them the Juyce of half a Lemon squez’d into
this quantity of meat; for Sugar, sweeten it to your relish; then mix all
these together and fill your Pie. The best meat for Pies is Neats-Tongues,
or a leg of Veal; you may make them of a leg of Mutton if you please; the
meat must be parboyl’d if you do not spend it presently; but if it be for present use, you may do it raw, and the Pies will be the better.

Enjoy the new release

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 organisation contributions to the Python Software Foundation.

Regards from a snowy and slippery Helsinki,

Your release team,
Hugo van Kemenade
Ned Deily
Steve Dower
Łukasz Langa

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