@raonitimo

Overview

The AWS Advanced Python Wrapper currently supports Python 3.8-3.11. This issue requests adding support for Python 3.12 and 3.13 to keep the wrapper current with the latest Python releases.

Why Python 3.12 and 3.13 Support is Important

Performance Improvements

Python 3.12:

• 15% faster than Python 3.11 on average according to official benchmarks
• Improved error messages with better tracebacks and suggestions
• Optimized comprehensions and frame handling
• Better memory management for long-running applications

Python 3.13:

• Experimental JIT compiler for significant performance gains in compute-intensive workloads
• Free-threaded Python (experimental) removes the GIL for true parallelism
• Improved garbage collection and memory allocation
• Enhanced asyncio performance

Developer Experience

• Modern typing features - Latest type hints and generic syntax improvements
• Better debugging - Enhanced error messages and stack traces
• IDE support - Better autocomplete and static analysis with newer Python versions
• Security updates - Latest security patches and vulnerability fixes

Ecosystem Compatibility

• Library compatibility - Many popular libraries now require Python 3.12+ for latest features
• Cloud environments - AWS Lambda, containers, and other cloud services support Python 3.12+
• CI/CD pipelines - Teams want to test against latest Python versions in their workflows
• Future-proofing - Python 3.8 reached end-of-life in October 2024

Business Impact

• Database performance - Faster Python execution means better database operation throughput
• Resource efficiency - Performance improvements reduce compute costs in cloud environments
• Development velocity - Teams can leverage latest Python features and ecosystem improvements
• Compliance - Organizations need to stay current with supported Python versions

Current State

The wrapper is currently limited to Python 3.8-3.11, preventing users from:

• Leveraging Python 3.12/3.13 performance improvements in database-heavy applications
• Using modern Python features in their database access code
• Testing their applications against the latest Python versions
• Deploying to environments that have migrated to Python 3.12+

Proposed Solution

Add Python 3.12 and 3.13 to the supported version matrix:

• Update pyproject.toml classifiers
• Add Python 3.12/3.13 to CI test matrix
• Update documentation
• Verify compatibility with existing functionality

Related Work

A pull request implementing this support is available: #966

Environment

• Current supported versions: Python 3.8-3.11
• Requested versions: Python 3.8-3.13 (adding 3.12 and 3.13)
• Impact: Enables performance improvements and modern Python features for database operations