Can We Use Python For Web Development ?

Python for developing database oriented applications can be developed as a standalone application or simply as a web application, in this article I will be discussing about web development using Python.

Lets first start by understanding what the term web development means, web development in simple words means the process of creating a website and making it functional, now websites are of various types namely they are :-

Static websites – These websites are hardcoded websites and content within these websites are inalterable hence the term static, coded in HTML(Hyper Text Markup Language),they are good for very small businesses who are interested in creating introductory web pages, these websites are not fully and completely functional, in some cases the contact forms also does not work I have noticed, thus its mostly a template.

Dynamic Websites – These websites are fully functional websites everything inside these websites are alterable, the contact forms and everything else within these kind of websites are functional. These websites are coded with server side scripting languages like PHP.

CMS Websites – These websites have a backend for the users to interact with and make changes to the live website on the go, examples of these includes websites built with CMS platforms like WordPress, Joomla, Shopify etc. From the backend of these kind of websites you can create,read,update and delete your website content hence the name CMS or content management system.

And then there are web applications, this is where Python actually works like a charm, PHP is a very proper language for developing web applications but it has too many syntaxes, it does not have a large stock of library as Python & on the top of that at times PHP does not seem to be a very reliable language when it comes to the security standards for a nominal web application.

Web applications are generally applications that you host on a web server so that you can access it from anywhere and that’s the convenience with using web applications they require internet connection to be accessed, standalone applications are installed in your systems and not in the web servers so they can only be accessed from the system where its installed, in other words, standalone apps are the applications that run offline in your system much like MS Word, or Libre Office.

Now lets try to understand can we perform website development with help of Python.

Well, in one word yes, obviously because its one of the most potent language out there, whether data science, software development ,AI or developing web applications Python has aced it all, so how do we do it well the process may sound complicated by is really simple. Here is a simple road map to preparing your web development projects using Python.

Firstly figure which web framework to opt for, here you will have to choose between Django and Flask while both the frameworks are kickass but I always prefer Flask, go the official website of the web framework chosen by you and learn a little but about its command you will come across something like this in case of Flask. This is generally the thingy that will help your website design to come live online. Those who are website developers they already know what exactly I am talking about, for the others, you notice the index.html out there thats what will render your HTML file, this html file will act as the UI(user interface).

Secondly If you opt for Flask or Django you will have to install it as well, get to their official websites and you will find the installation guideline in its documentation. Assuming you already know Python and advanced Python you know what to do next.

Thirdly have all your resources ready like your html files for creating the user interface, in case you don’t know html you can always use stuffs from bootstrap they have everything pre made out there already you will just have to pick them up as per your requirements, after implementing your html files in the way I have show above your website development part will be pretty much over. Now if you want to host your website you will just have to create a python application and give the path to it after which your server will create a python application folder, in the path you have specified, you will find WSGI file, rewrite it with your main flask code with all the html file specified in your render templates and your website will be available online.

Lastly, This step is for those who wants to have a web application instead of a website, websites are just some design with some functionality for user interaction whereas web applications tend to have database operations coupled with some advanced programming features, a good example would be an online student management system. In this step therefore you will have put your programs for database operations in the flask main app after placing all your codes out there your web application will be pretty much ready, now your hosting your supposed to create your python application and upload your application, a WSGI file will be created which you will have to rewrite with your main flask code you have created with all your render templates and database connections and operations contained in it and you will see it available online.

Hence, Python being the most easy to learn language is also easy to use and get desired results, in the above article I have tried to do my best in providing a road map for developing your website using Python, while there is more to it, this article is not a tutorial and cannot be treated as such, but yes, you can use this to research about the topics discussed here and develop your own website or web application using python.