🚫 Remove Python 3.10 Support

[shaneahmed]

This PR removes Python 3.10 support across TIAToolbox and updates code, tooling, and documentation to reflect Python 3.11+ as the new minimum supported version. This aligns the project with modern Python typing, timezone features, and the upstream ecosystem’s deprecation trajectory.

✅ Summary of Changes

Packaging & Tooling

• Set minimum supported Python to 3.11 in:
  • setup.py (python_requires)
  • Conda environment YAMLs
  • pyproject.toml (Ruff target-version & mypy python_version)
• Remove Python 3.10 from:
  • GitHub Actions matrices (python-package, mypy-type-check, pip-install)
  • Docker publish workflow

Docker Images

• Remove Debian and Ubuntu Dockerfiles for Python 3.10.

Code Modernization

• Switch from typing_extensions.Self → stdlib typing.Self.
• Replace timezone.utc → datetime.UTC (Python 3.11+).
• Update tests relying on specific Python version semantics (e.g., rename test_py310_init → test_py311_init).

Documentation

• Update supported Python versions in:
  • docs/installation.rst
  • CONTRIBUTING.rst
  • README.md (example env creation now uses Python 3.11)

🔍 Reviewed Changes

Copilot reviewed 18 out of 18 modified files and produced 2 comments.

Summary per file

File	Description
tiatoolbox/wsicore/wsireader.py	Switch to datetime.UTC and update timezone handling.
tiatoolbox/annotation/storage.py	Replace typing_extensions.Self with stdlib typing.Self.
tests/test_annotation_stores.py	Update version‑specific test names/values to target 3.11.
setup.py	Set python_requires >= 3.11 and drop 3.10 classifier.
requirements/*.conda.yml	Require Python ≥ 3.11 across all conda env specs.
pyproject.toml	Update Ruff target version and mypy python_version to 3.11.
docs/installation.rst	Remove 3.10 from “tested versions” list.
docker/3.10/*	Remove 3.10 Ubuntu/Debian Docker image definitions.
README.md	Update conda example to Python 3.11.
CONTRIBUTING.rst	Update contributor guidelines to Python 3.11+.
.github/workflows/*	Remove Python 3.10 from all CI matrices.

[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 99.88%. Comparing base (f06bf3b) to head (024d14c).

Additional details and impacted files

@@             Coverage Diff             @@
##           develop    #1034      +/-   ##
===========================================
- Coverage    99.88%   99.88%   -0.01%     
===========================================
  Files           85       85              
  Lines        11568    11567       -1     
  Branches      1510     1510              
===========================================
- Hits         11555    11554       -1     
  Misses           6        6              
  Partials         7        7              

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[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR removes Python 3.10 support across TIAToolbox’s packaging metadata, CI/tooling configuration, and documentation, and updates code to use Python 3.11+ standard-library typing/timezone features.

Changes:

• Bump minimum supported Python to 3.11 (setup metadata, Ruff target-version, mypy python_version, conda env specs).
• Update CI matrices and Docker publishing to stop building/testing Python 3.10.
• Modernize typing/timezone usage for 3.11+ (e.g., typing.Self, datetime.UTC) and update related tests/docs.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 18 out of 18 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
tiatoolbox/wsicore/wsireader.py	Switch to datetime.UTC and update related timezone-aware parsing.
tiatoolbox/annotation/storage.py	Replace typing_extensions.Self with stdlib typing.Self.
tests/test_annotation_stores.py	Update Python compatibility test naming/target version.
setup.py	Set python_requires >=3.11 and drop Python 3.10 classifier.
requirements/requirements.win64.dev.conda.yml	Require Python >=3.11 in Windows dev conda env.
requirements/requirements.win64.conda.yml	Require Python >=3.11 in Windows prod conda env.
requirements/requirements.dev.conda.yml	Require Python >=3.11 in dev conda env.
requirements/requirements.conda.yml	Require Python >=3.11 in prod conda env.
pyproject.toml	Update Ruff target-version and mypy python_version to 3.11.
docs/installation.rst	Update supported Python versions text.
docker/3.10/Ubuntu/Dockerfile	Remove Python 3.10 Ubuntu Docker image definition.
docker/3.10/Debian/Dockerfile	Remove Python 3.10 Debian Docker image definition.
README.md	Update example conda env creation to Python 3.11.
CONTRIBUTING.rst	Update contributor guidance to supported Python versions.
.github/workflows/python-package.yml	Remove 3.10 from test matrix; update release job to 3.11.
.github/workflows/pip-install.yml	Remove 3.10 from pip-install validation matrix.
.github/workflows/mypy-type-check.yml	Remove 3.10 from mypy workflow matrix.
.github/workflows/docker-publish.yml	Stop publishing 3.10 Docker image tags.

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