Can Python be Used for Web Development?
Python is the order of the day as it is the most trending language when it comes to developing software applications. While you have the habit of categorizing coding languages based on their support for certain activities, python, which can help you in working on excel, changes this game.
Is Python Good for Web Development?
Python is a versatile language whose possibilities are endless. It is mostly used with artificial intelligence and machine learning. But little do people know that Python can be used to even develop websites. Yes! You heard me right. It is known for its simplicity and English-like coding capabilities. Let us further check in this article the reasons that justify my previous statement.
However, in the beginning, it might not be as straightforward as other familiar languages that have been there for a long time. It has all the tools built in to develop world-class modern websites that are extremely fast.
Python libraries are so robust that they can tackle all the problems on the web as it does things offline. Some extra libraries have to be used in addition to the existing ones.
Can Python be Used for Front-end Web Development?
For front-ending, Python uses Javascript plus JQuery UI to create simple to complex applications along with the strength of Python’s in-built syntax that is pretty easy to use.
We will be using CherryPy, which will be taking care of the server-side execution of the code. JQuery’s AJAX functionality will come in handy to update the contents of the web application dynamically.
These vital tools make python a robust programming language both in terms of user interface and ease of use for the user.
Let us now go ahead and see if Python can be used as a backend.
Can Python be Used for Backend Web Development?
Yes! Python can be used in the backend as a programming language that communicates between the front end and the database. The server-side requests are efficiently handled by python by sending the request to the database and retrieving the data.
While HTTP requests are passed on to python for handling, python in turn passes the responses after performing the required functionalities back to the client as a response thus efficiently handling the request.
Further when required python retrieves data from the database after communicating with it and shows the result once it is processed. To show the data it communicates with the front-end tools that help in UI.
Can Python be Used for Mobile App Development?
Of course! Being the most trending programming language, it is better if it supports mobile application development. Python does not have inbuilt capabilities that can directly build a mobile app.
Instead, several frameworks like
- Kivy
- PyQT
- Toga
helps us in assisting the development of mobile apps.
Out of these, the first one, which is Kivy, is a better choice for the fact that:
- The end result will look the same on all platforms
- There is no need for the developer to compile the code each time the code is changed
- Python’s clear syntax will come in handy while you are at work
How to Use Python in Web Development?
As already told in one of the first few sections of this post, web development is not straightforward in Python. It requires us to get ready with a few other tools that assist Python in creating a website.
What do you need to Start Python Web Development?
Along with the latest version of Python, to create a website you need the following other open-source software:
- CherryPy
- jQuery
- jQuery UI
The firebug extension of Firefox will be helpful to debug the client side of web applications.
Who can Create Python Web Applications?
Even moderately experienced programmers of Python can learn how to create complex, data-driven, cross-browser-compatible web applications that can be easily maintained and do look good.
It is easier along with this if you have a fair idea about javascript because javascript plays an important role in many web applications. But don’t worry, if you know Python well, it is not a big deal to understand JavaScript.
HTML tags are still relevant and it is no herculean task to learn that. They are all pretty straightforward for a Python developer to understand.
Web Development with Python and JavaScript
Even if you consider developing a simple application, you need to implement it using JavaScript and jQuery UI. Along with these two, we will have to configure CerryPy to deliver the pages that contain the applications directly.
We will also need to concentrate on creating UI elements like buttons using jQuery UI widgets that are all a part of jQuery UI’s theme framework. There are many other free jQuery plugins that we can make use of while we are developing the web application.
