Table of Contents
Python remains one of the best general-purpose programming languages that can be used to develop various applications. Over the years, python versions have been released back to back, and now it has emerged first-class in modern software development, infrastructure management, and data analysis. Why Python? It is an interactive, high-level programming language and also object-oriented scripting.
It can easily work on different platforms such as Windows, Mac, Linux, Raspberry Pi, and so on. Python is as simple English but again very powerful. To be a good software engineer under the current trend in technology, I would suggest you studying Python, which explains why we need to discuss Python releases. You will need to know how to install python in windows.
In this tutorial, we will classify python into three major categories, i.e., Python 1, 2, and 3, which is the most recent version. We will then go further and have a brief discussion on each version. We will start with the most recent one and end with the earliest. We will also provide you with the links to download them directly.
Although, if we decide to discuss all the Python versions, we may repeat ourselves since most of them are just a mere bug fix. Due to this reason, we will list the stable versions. To get all the Python versions, you can download any version from here.
Python Releases
Python 3
This is the most recent version. There are also multiple releases of python three, with the latest release been Python 3.9.4
-
Python 3.9
Released on October 5, 2020. To download it, click here. The latest update of this version is Python 3.9.4. Added features include Type Hinting, String Methods, and Dictionary Unions, proper time zone support, simpler updating of dictionaries, more flexible decorators, and The new path is Parser change and Development cycles.
-
Python 3.8
Released on October 14, 2019. To download it, click here. The latest update of this version is Python 3.8.9. To download this version, click here. This version cannot be used on Windows XP or earlier. Features added are new assignment expressions(:=), positional-only arguments, Vector call, Pickle protocol 5 with out-of-band data, and F-Strings now support (=).
-
Python 3.7
Released on June 27, 2018. To download it, click here. The latest update of this version is Python is 3.7.10. To download this version click, here. This version cannot be used on Windows XP or earlier. Added features are Positional-only parameters, Postponed evaluation of annotations, Legacy C Locale Coercion, Forced UTF-8 runtime mode, New C API for thread-local storage, etc.
-
Python 3.6
Released on December 17, 2016. To download it, click here. The latest update of this version is Python is 3.6.13. To download this version, click here. This version cannot be used on Windows XP or earlier. Added features are Formatted String Literals, Syntax for Variable Annotations, Underscores in Numeric Literals, Asynchronous Generators, Asynchronous Comprehensions, Local Time Disambiguation, Change Windows filesystem encoding to UTF-8, Preserving Class Attribute Definition Order, among others.
-
Python 3.5
Released on September 13, 2015. To download it, click here. The latest update of this version is Python is 3.5.10. To download this version, click here. This version cannot be used on Windows XP or earlier. Added features include co-routines with async and await syntax, a dedicated infix operator for matrix multiplication, additional unpacking generalizations, percent formatting support for bytes and byte array, type hints, etc.
-
Python 3.4
Released on March 17, 2014. To download it, click here. The latest update of this version is Python is 3.4.10. To download this version, click here. Added features include Explicit bootstrapping of PIP in python installations, Non-inheritable file descriptors, module type for the import system, and an improvement to Codec handling.
-
Python 3.3
Released on September 29, 2012. To download it, click here. The latest update of this version is Python is 3.3.7. To download this version, click here. Added features include added virtual environments, implicit namespace packages, new memory view implementation and buffer protocol documentation, flexible string representation, a windows python launcher, a syntax for delegating to sub-generator others.
-
Python 3.2
Released on June 27, 2018. To download it, click here. The latest update of this version is Python is 3.2.6. To download this version, click here. Added features include support for pyc repository directories, support for version tagged dynamic libraries, dictionary-based logging configuration, a stable ABI for extension modules, etc.
-
Python 3.1
Released on June 27, 2009. To download it, click here. The latest update of this version is Python is 3.1.5. To download this version click, here. Added features include new, improved and deprecated modules IDLE’s format menu has an option of the strip trailing white-space from the source file.
-
Python 3.0
Released on December 3, 2008. To download it, click here. The latest update of this version is Python is 3.0.1. To download this version click, here. “print” has been replaced with “print()”, there are views instead of lists, the rules for ordering comparisons are now simplified, and there is new syntax, among other features.
Python 2
Its first version is Python 2.0, and the latest version been Python 2.7. The Strings in python 2 are stored as ASCII, and the print statement does not use the print () function.
-
Python 2.7
Released on July 3, 2010. To download it, click here. The latest update of this version is Python is 2.7.18. To download this version click, here. This release introduces a new “OrderedDict” class in the “collections” module. The standard library can now support the use of ordered dictionaries in several modules. There is a format Specifier for thousands of separators, among other features.
-
Python 2.6
Released on October 2, 2008. To download it, click here. The latest update of this version is Python is 2.6.9. To download this version, click here. This release comes with the “with” statement always a keyword, explicit relative imports from the main module, comes with per-user site-packages directory, multiprocessing package, and advanced string formatting.
-
Python 2.5
Released on September 19, 2006. To download it, click here. The latest update of this version is Python is 2.5.6. To download this version, click here. New features include a partial function application, metadata for python software packages version 1.1, and absolute and relative imports, among other features.
-
Python 2.4
Released on November 30, 2004. To download it, click here. The latest update of this version is Python is 2.4.6. To download this version, click here. This version has decorators for functions for methods, reverse iteration, new sub-process module, and decimal data type, among others.
-
Python 2.3
Released on June 29, 2006. To download it, click here. The latest update of this version is Python is 2.3.7. To download this version, click here. A brand new version of IDLE is now included as Lib/idlelib. The old Tools/idle is no more.
-
Pythonhttp://idlefork.sf.net/ 2.2
Released on December 21, 2001. To download it, click here. The latest update of this version is Python is 2.2.3. To download this version, click here. This release has type and class changes and introduces multiple inheritances (the diamond rule).
-
Python 2.1
Released on April 15, 2001. To download it, click here. The latest update of this version is Python is 2.1.3. To download this version, click here. New features include nested scopes, warning frameworks,s, and weak references, among others.
-
Python 2.0
Released on September 19, 2006. To download it, click here. The latest update of this version is Python is 2.0.1. To download this version, click here. The biggest new feature of this release is the Unicode strings. An augmented assignment is also another feature that came with it, among others.
Python 1
This was the version of python, which ranged from python 1.0 to python 1.6.
-
Python 1.6
Released on September 5, 2000. To download it, click here. The latest update of this version is Python is 1.6.1. To download this version, click here. This release makes deleting objects safely, including deeply nested data structures and string formatting, also changed to ‘%r’ among other features.
The following versions of Python are older and are not available for download on the official website of Python. For that reason, we will only list them without their download links, and we also won’t mention the changes they came with.
-
Python 1.5
Released on January 3, 1998. The latest update of this version is Python is 1.5.2
-
Python 1.4
Released on October 26, 1996. It is the only version released.
-
Python 1.3
Released on October 13, 1995. It is the only version released.
-
Python 1.2
Released on April 13, 1995. It is the only version released.
-
Python 1.1
Released on October 11, 1994. The latest update of this version is Python is 1.1.1
-
Python 1.0
Released on January 26, 1994. The latest update of this version is Python is 1.0.4
Python 2 Versus Python 3
Python 2 is considered to be a legacy, while python 3 is the future. While python 2 used ASCII to store strings, python 3 uses Unicode, which is more versatile because it can store foreign languages. Python 3 uses the print () function to display, which replaced the print statement.
Most companies prefer to use Python three due to the more benefits in python 3, such as the supports for Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data science.
Python 3 sample code:
def main():
print("Good Morning Python!")
if __name__== "__main__":
main()
Python 2 sample code:
def main(): print "Good Morning Python!" if __name__== "__main__": main()
Conclusion
From the above list, you can tell Python has really been worked on for more than a decade, let us say a decade and a half. This tells you it is now more advanced at this point. It also has a promising future as it is still being worked on, and better versions are expected to be released later, if not soon. We have provided you with the versions available for Windows, and I would suggest using the latest version.