Coding Python Powered Web Page

Python is one of the easiest to comprehend programming languages. Python has various web frameworks which provide a wide range of functionalities to develop a website. The web development capabilities of Python allow running numerous websites without any complexity. This general-purpose language provides pre-built web development packages to form a structural website. Many famous websites use python frameworks at their backend. Some of these popular websites are the following:

• Instagram
• Google
• Spotify
• Netflix
• Uber
• Dropbox
• Pinterest
• Instacart
• Reddit
• Lyft

Moreover, most tech companies prefer using Python for their backend development processes.

1. Python Web Frameworks
2. Benefits of Using Python Frameworks
3. Developing Websites using Django
4. Developing Websites Using Flask

Python Web Frameworks

Python provides the best frameworks to build websites having a wide range of functionalities. These frameworks save users from handling low-level details like protocols, sockets, or process management. These frameworks provide rapid development for websites and automate performance. These features are helpful for web designers, website developers, system administrators, and Linux operators as they provide built-in application structuring, which is rapid, effortless, and easy to maintain.

Following are three types of Python web frameworks which are:

1. Full-Stack Frameworks
2. Micro Frameworks
3. Asynchronous Frameworks

Full-Stack Frameworks

Full-Stack frameworks can utilize various databases and components to perform form validation and use the template layout and form generators. Following are some of the full-stack frameworks:

• Django
• Giotto
• CubicWeb
• Web2Py
• Pyramid
• TurboGears
• Pylon Framework

Micro Frameworks

These are lightweight frameworks and provide limited functionalities compared to full-stack frameworks. Users must focus on coding and manually add the advanced features to utilize these open source web frameworks. Following are some examples of these microframeworks:

• Flask
• CherryPy
• Falcon
• Dash
• Pycnic
• Hug
• MorePath
• Bottle

Asynchronous Frameworks

Asynchronous web frameworks use asyncio networking library for coding. Sanic web server allows async and wait syntax to help the users perform operations for an HTTP server, which helps support request handlers. Following are some famous asynchronous frameworks:

• Sanic
• AIOHTTP
• Tornado
• Growler

Benefits of Using Python Frameworks

Python web frameworks provide easy-to-use functionalities to help build complex websites. These frameworks increase the productivity, simplification, and organization of codes and functionalities for a smooth developing environment. Some of the main advantages of Python web frameworks are:

• Easier integration
• Faster implementation
• Useful documentation
• Framework security
• Reusable code
• Operation efficiency

Developing Websites using Django

Django is the best free and open-source Python web framework to develop complex web applications. Users can benefit from realistic web designs and a fast-developing environment. Moreover, Django provides users with a highly secure framework to manage user accounts and passwords to avoid any breach. Django follows the Model, View, Controller architecture. It allows easy access to admin, database, and authentication features. Django helps users write versatile, secure, scalable, portable, and easy to maintain software. Django operates on an application-based concept. Here, every application represents a separate code unit without having any external dependencies. Some of these Django apps are following:

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    'django.contrib.admin',
    'django.contrib.auth',
    'django.contrib.contenttypes',
    'django.contrib.sessions',
    'django.contrib.messages',
    'django.contrib.staticfiles',
]

Django Example

Below is a simple example of using the Django web framework to build customized websites. Following commands set up the directory for the project:

mkdir rp-example
cd rp-example

The users have to create a virtual environment to manage dependencies, for example, the “venv” environment:

python3 -m venv venv

The following command activates this virtual environment:

source venv/bin/activate

The next step is to install Django:

pip install Django

The users have to run the following command while being in the “rp-example” directory to create a Django project:

django-admin startproject example_project

The users can reorder the files in the directories and run the following command to test the server:

python manage.py runserver

Similarly, the following command creates an application for Django:

python manage.py startapp sample_app

This command creates a sample_app directory having files like __ini__.py, admin.py, apps.py, models.py, tests.py, and views.py. Moreover, the users have to add “sample_app” in the “INSTALLED_APPS” to install it to their project. Moreover, the users can create a view by navigating to the views.py file and adding the following code:

from django.shortcuts import render

def sample_app(request):

    return render(request, 'sample_app.html', {})

Similarly, the users can add various functionalities, hook the URLs, use bootstrap, and customize the website however they like by using the Django web framework.

Developing Websites Using Flask

Flask is an open-source microframework lacking specific features such as authorization and authentication. On the other hand, it provides flexibility to include libraries and extensions. Flask provides the basic features of any web application. Flask is helpful for simpler, smaller, and less complex applications. Flask helps create a simple portfolio website. This framework provides a wide range of flexible and extendable features to tackle with architecture, libraries, highly specialized microservices, and contrasting features.

Flask caters the users with higher flexibility, scalability, customization, and framework performance. The inspiration for Flask is the Sinatra Ruby framework. Flask is more adaptable than Django due to its restful request dispatching, modular and lightweight frontend, and request handling features.

Flask Example

Following is a simple code example using Flask:

from flask import Flask
app = Flask(__name__)
@app.route("/")
def home():
    return "Flask example!"
if __name__ == "__main__":
    app.run(debug=True)

Similarly, the users can create a web application using Flask. Users need Python 3 for this example. The first step is to activate the Python environment and install Flask using the pip installer. The following command activates the environment:

source env/bin/activate

The following command installs Flask:

pip install flask

Users can create a file “sample.py” in the project directory and write a simple example code in the file for testing.

from flask import Flask
app = Flask(__name__)
@app.route('/')
def hello():
    return 'Sample application'

The next step is to specify the file location to Flask using the FLASK_APP environment variable:

export FLASK_APP=sample

The following command runs the file in development mode using the FLASK_ENV environment variable:

export FLASK_ENV=development

The next step is to run the application by using the following command:

flask run

The above command returns the output containing the application’s name, running environment, debug mode, the local URL, and the port number. Users can open the local URL in the browser to see the string ‘Sample application’. Moreover, the users can move back to the project folder, set the environment variables, activate the environment, and continue building their respective applications.

Furthermore, users can add HTML templates to their applications by using the “render_template()” function to use the Jinja template engine. There is a need to create a file “sample.py” in the project directory and add the following code to use HTML in the project:

from flask import Flask, render_template
app = Flask(__name__)
@app.route('/')
def index():
    return render_template('index.html')

Similarly, users can create their required applications and add as many functionalities and features as they want by using Flask as their web development framework. Moreover, Flask is more suitable for building single-page web applications and does not have a built-in bootstrapping tool. Therefore, the choice of relevant and suitable web framework depends on the complexity of any application.