Head First Python, 3rd Edition

Chapter 7. Building a Webapp: Web Development

Ask ten programmers which web framework to use…

…and you’ll likely get eleven conflicting answers! When it comes to web development, Python is not short of technology choices, each with a loyal and supportive developer community. In this chapter, you’ll dive into web development, quickly building a webapp for the Coach that views any swimmer’s bar chart data. Along the way, you’ll learn how to use HTML templates, function decorators, get and set HTTP methods, and more. There’s no time to waste: the Coach is keen to show off his new system. Let’s get to it!

There are lots of choices.

And, of course, depending on what you’re planning do, some of these technologies are “better” than some of the others.

Let’s build the Coach’s webapp with Flask

Note

We made an Executive Decision.

Flask has a well-deserved reputation for getting developers from zero to working webapp in no time at all, so it seems like the best option for us. The Coach is not going to wait for much longer, so you need to show results, fast!

To begin, let’s take a moment to install Flask.

The best way to do this is to use Python’s built-in package management tool, called ...