Notable Changes

• Python Version Support Update: Dropping Support for Python 3.8 and 3.9
  • Python 3.8 will reach its end-of-life in October 2024. As a result, we will no longer support Python 3.8 and 3.9.
    • Reasoning: Python 3.10 introduces a new typing system crucial for KernelFunctionFromMethod. Maintaining backward compatibility with older versions adds significant complexity and limits our ability to innovate. Thus, support for Python 3.9 will also be discontinued.
• Enhanced Function Calling Support for ChatMessages. You may view this ADR for more information.
  • New Content Types:
    • FunctionCallContent
    • FunctionResultContent
  • Chat Role Changes:
    • ChatRole has been renamed to AuthorRole.
  • Content Adaptation:
    • ChatMessageContent now supports one or more content types, such as TextContent and the new function calling content types.
  • OpenAI Classes Changes:
    • Removed OpenAIChatMessageContent and AzureChatMessageContent.
    • Enhanced the OpenAI classes to create and parse FunctionCallContent and other new content types.
• Improved Sample Organization: Reorganized Sample Folders:
  • Moved all notebooks to samples/getting_started.
  • Reorganized previous kernel syntax examples by topic in samples/concepts.
  • New Prompt Template Samples Folder:
    • Renamed the previous root-level prompt template samples in samples/plugins to a root-level folder called prompt_template_samples.

What's Changed

• Python: added kwargs to embedding and text memory by @eavanvalkenburg in https://github.com/microsoft/semantic-kernel/pull/5885
• Python: mypy coverage for functions by @eavanvalkenburg in https://github.com/microsoft/semantic-kernel/pull/5883
• Python: Bump idna from 3.6 to 3.7 in /python by @dependabot in https://github.com/microsoft/semantic-kernel/pull/5848
• Python: Refactor environment variable naming for clarity and consistency by @bx-h in https://github.com/microsoft/semantic-kernel/pull/5686
• Python: add mypy to python lint checks by @eavanvalkenburg in https://github.com/microsoft/semantic-kernel/pull/5905
• Python: fix lint mypy by @eavanvalkenburg in https://github.com/microsoft/semantic-kernel/pull/5906
• [Python Getting Started] Update base_url to endpoint by @andrewDoing in https://github.com/microsoft/semantic-kernel/pull/5765
• Python: mypy coverage for contents folder by @eavanvalkenburg in https://github.com/microsoft/semantic-kernel/pull/5904
• Python: reduce the amount of complex classes in the serialization to xml by @eavanvalkenburg in https://github.com/microsoft/semantic-kernel/pull/5907
• Python: fixing python readme by @LazaroHurtado in https://github.com/microsoft/semantic-kernel/pull/5903
• Python: drop support for python before 3.10 by @eavanvalkenburg in https://github.com/microsoft/semantic-kernel/pull/5947
• Python: (Astra DB) Include caller identity as user-agent when issuing HTTP request to Astra DB's Data API by @hemidactylus in https://github.com/microsoft/semantic-kernel/pull/5921
• Python: Bump ruff from 0.3.7 to 0.4.1 in /python by @dependabot in https://github.com/microsoft/semantic-kernel/pull/5966
• Python: move Hugging Face tests to integration by @eavanvalkenburg in https://github.com/microsoft/semantic-kernel/pull/5983
• Python: updated Chat Message Content with Function Call and Result Content by @eavanvalkenburg in https://github.com/microsoft/semantic-kernel/pull/5946
• Python: Replace 'import_plugin_from_object' with 'add_plugin' by @adityagesh in https://github.com/microsoft/semantic-kernel/pull/6025
• Python: Fix typo in line to instantiate Kernel. by @rcleveng in https://github.com/microsoft/semantic-kernel/pull/6020
• Python: Remove references to text-davinci-003 text models as it causes tests to hang. by @moonbox3 in https://github.com/microsoft/semantic-kernel/pull/6089
• Python: Update import paths for OpenAI settings functions by @demaen in https://github.com/microsoft/semantic-kernel/pull/6059
• Python: Update 04-kernel-arguments-chat.ipynb by @qlycool in https://github.com/microsoft/semantic-kernel/pull/5910
• Python: add new samples and fix streaming tool call FunctionCallContent formation by @moonbox3 in https://github.com/microsoft/semantic-kernel/pull/5877
• Python: Restructure samples into new folders to make things more clear. by @moonbox3 in https://github.com/microsoft/semantic-kernel/pull/6116
• Python: Add PF learn path resources by @moonbox3 in https://github.com/microsoft/semantic-kernel/pull/6122
• Python: added embedding dimensions support by @sinyubonnie-ho in https://github.com/microsoft/semantic-kernel/pull/6111
• Python: Bump py version for release by @moonbox3 in https://github.com/microsoft/semantic-kernel/pull/6123

New Contributors

• @bx-h made their first contribution in https://github.com/microsoft/semantic-kernel/pull/5686
• @andrewDoing made their first contribution in https://github.com/microsoft/semantic-kernel/pull/5765
• @LazaroHurtado made their first contribution in https://github.com/microsoft/semantic-kernel/pull/5903
• @hemidactylus made their first contribution in https://github.com/microsoft/semantic-kernel/pull/5921
• @adityagesh made their first contribution in https://github.com/microsoft/semantic-kernel/pull/6025
• @rcleveng made their first contribution in https://github.com/microsoft/semantic-kernel/pull/6020
• @demaen made their first contribution in https://github.com/microsoft/semantic-kernel/pull/6059
• @qlycool made their first contribution in https://github.com/microsoft/semantic-kernel/pull/5910
• @sinyubonnie-ho made their first contribution in https://github.com/microsoft/semantic-kernel/pull/6111

Full Changelog: https://github.com/microsoft/semantic-kernel/compare/python-0.9.6b1...python-0.9.7b1