[ilypopv]

📝 Summary

This PR modernizes the codebase by adopting Python 3.10+ type hinting syntax (PEP 585 and PEP 604) across all modules, replacing legacy typing generics with
built-in collections. It also updates project metadata to reflect new repository URLs and migrates the testing suite from httpx to httpx2.

🛠 Type of Change

• Refactoring

🔍 Key Changes

• Type Hint Modernization: Replaced List, Dict, Tuple, Union, and Optional with modern alternatives like list, dict, tuple, and the |
  operator across the entire repository.
• Dependency Update: Migrated from httpx to httxt2 in pyproject.toml and updated all corresponding test implementations.
• Improved Error Handling: Refined exception blocks in app.py and web.py to catch specific error types (e.g., json.JSONDecodeError, OSError)
  instead of broad Exception catches, improving debuggability.
• FastAPI Refactoring: Utilized Annotated for defining Form parameters in the web application to align with modern FastAPI best practices.
• Metadata & URL Updates: Updated GitHub repository URLs in README.md, CITATION.cff, and static HTML assets to reflect the updated user handle.
• Project Maintenance: Added a comprehensive .gitignore file covering Python, Jupyter, and ML-related artifacts (models, datasets, etc.).

🧪 How Has This Been Tested?

• Verified that the existing test suite passes using pytest.
• Confirmed that all integration tests in tests/test_app_helpers.py and tests/test_web_routes.py correctly utilize the new httpx2 client.
• Validated that the web application launch sequence remains stable with the updated exception handling logic.