[python] Upgrade to python 3.8 using conda

Python 3.8.0 is out, but I haven't been able to find any post on how to update to python 3.8 using conda - maybe they will wait for the official release? Any suggestions?

Open Anaconda Prompt (base):

1. Update conda:

conda update -n base -c defaults conda

2. Create new environment with Python 3.8:

conda create -n python38 python=3.8

3. Activate your new Python 3.8 environment:

conda activate python38

4. Start Python 3.8:

python

Update for 2020/07

Finally, Anaconda3-2020.07 is out and its core is Python 3.8!

You can now download Anaconda packed with Python 3.8 goodness at:

• https://www.anaconda.com/products/individual

Now that the new anaconda individual edition 2020 distribution is out, the procedure that follows is working:

Update conda in your base env:

conda update conda

Create a new environment for Python 3.8, specifying anaconda for the full distribution specification, not just the minimal environment:

conda create -n py38 python=3.8 anaconda

Activate the new environment:

conda activate py38

python --version
Python 3.8.1

Number of packages installed: 303

Or you can do:

conda create -n py38 anaconda=2020.02 python=3.8

--> UPDATE: Finally, Anaconda3-2020.07 is out with core Python 3.8.3

You can download Anaconda with Python 3.8 from https://www.anaconda.com/products/individual

You can update your python version to 3.8 in conda using the command

conda install -c anaconda python=3.8

as per https://anaconda.org/anaconda/python. Though not all packages support 3.8 yet, running

conda update --all

may resolve some dependency failures. You can also create a new environment called py38 using this command

conda create -n py38 python=3.8

Edit - note that the conda install option will potentially take a while to solve the environment, and if you try to abort this midway through you will lose your Python installation (usually this means it will resort to non-conda pre-installed system Python installation).