drop support for Python 3.8

[FBruzzesi]

Description

Long shot but I am wondering if there is any plan to drop support for python 3.8.

The question originated from a narwhals thread

[gvwilson]

"under active discussion" :-)

[dangotbanned]

"under active discussion" :-)

Hey @gvwilson, just wanted to check in to see if there had been any internal discussions on dropping 3.8 support?

If not (which is understandable), some unsolicited advice I have is maybe to consider adopting one of the following support lifecycles:

1. https://devguide.python.org/versions/
   • 5-year cycle, aligned with python
2. https://scientific-python.org/specs/spec-0000/
   • 3-year cycle, aligned with pandas, numpy, ipython, a few others

[MarcoGorelli]

Hi - just FYI, Narwhals 1.43 will no longer support Python 3.8, as it has passed its end-of-life by nearly a year

I don't think this will affect Plotly in any case, the latest-supported Narwhals version for Python 3.8 (1.42.1) should be fine

Nonetheless, we remain committed to supporting Plotly, so if there was any future fix which you'd require, we could backport it and release 1.42.2 with just that fix backported

[gvwilson]

thanks @MarcoGorelli - as always, we appreciate your support.