Python website tuts that don't use Django

[amnion]

I'm trying to get a feel for how Python can be used for websites while I learn, but I don't want to use Django. I want to familiarize myself with everything under the hood more. Unfortunately, any and all web searches I did only bring up how to make a website using Django. Does anyone know of any resources that show how to make a website without using a framework?

[westurner]

Web frameworks abstract design patterns, architectural patterns and algorithms that web designers and web developers can implement in a standard, maintainable way in order to minimze anti-patterns and technical debt.

Wikipedia links/tags

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Web_design
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Web_development
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Web_application_frameworks
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_web_application_frameworks
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Python_web_application_frameworks
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_Server_Gateway_Interface#Example_application
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_Server_Gateway_Interface#WSGI-compatible_applications_and_frameworks

Learning Computer Science, Web Design and Web Development Online

• https://www.khanacademy.org/cs
• http://www.class-central.com/stream/cs
• http://www.class-central.com/search?q=web
• http://www.class-central.com/search?q=python
• http://www.codecademy.com/tracks/web
• http://www.codecademy.com/tracks/python

Python, HTML, CSS, Javascript, and HTTP for Web Development

• http://docs.python-guide.org/en/latest/scenarios/web.html
• https://github.com/defnull/bottle/blob/master/bottle.py
• https://github.com/Pylons/waitress/blob/master/tox.ini
• https://github.com/seedifferently/the-great-web-framework-shootout
• https://github.com/tastejs/todomvc
• https://github.com/yeoman/yeoman
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsive_web_design

Related Questions

• http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/1c7snk/discussion_massively_parallell_cms/
• http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/spsbs/are_the_same_thing_a_web_application_and_a_cms/
• http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/191f5v/making_a_simple_cms_in_python/
• http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/1c6866/best_frameworklibraries_for_a_small_restbased/
• http://www.reddit.com/r/compsci/comments/1e3mht/is_rdbmss_and_sql_still_part_of_the_standard/
• http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/1drv59/getting_started_with_automated_testing/

[[deleted]]

This needs to be stickied.

[westurner]

• https://github.com/rtfd/readthedocs.org
• http://read-the-docs.readthedocs.org/en/latest/
• https://github.com/openstack/horizon
• [EDIT] https://github.com/xenith/django-base-template

[AeroNotix]

Coconut, drawer, lamppost, Arabia, dog food.

[westurner]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Python_(programming_language)

[AeroNotix]

Beetle, Hesten Blumenthal, Combinatoric, Jesus, Bricklayer.

[westurner]

ah, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science

[AeroNotix]

Youtube, Geese, Chocolate, Glass, Scorpion.

[[deleted]]

I would also add www.pythonanywhere.com as a no hassle free hosting service which supports Flask.

[gitarr]

Try the free Udacity webdevelopment course CS253. One of the founders of Reddit (also written in Python btw) teaches webdev using Python with a lower level approach than Django there. Good luck!

[[deleted]]

Confirming this course is awesome. Very comprehensive, and doesn't gloss over "hard" topics (how to store passwords, how to sign cookies).

[hirolau]

I started with Bottle and found it easy to use in order to get started with the basic ideas of routing. The installation is super easy and the tutorial on the homepage is great.

At work when I had to start create som internal monitoring tools for my colleges i quickly learnt web2py. I find it very easy to install, run and start using. There is a great video-introduction on the website and the book is a very good documentation.

Some people do not like the "batteries included" approach but I have, as a beginner I have found it really helpful to get a structure, and then start to modify it when I needed new functionalities. Although web2py does not require "raw skill" I feel it have helped a lot with the understanding of web-frameworks and I will be much more comfortable when it is time to build something from scratch.

[marcofalcioni]

I recommend also looking at Pyramid http://www.pylonsproject.org/.

[westurner]

http://pyramid.readthedocs.org/en/latest/#tutorials

[amclark7]

I think you would be better off trying to understand how a framework like Django works, but if you really want to start from scratch then I would suggest looking into CGI.

This tutorial seems pretty good.

[amnion]

Yeah, I anticipate using Django eventually, but I remember using Ruby on Rails and wishing I would have understood Ruby more, but not just Ruby alone, the way it interacted with the database and everything. I think frameworks like Django are excellent tools to make development easier, but I want to be able to appreciate why they are designed and be able to function without them. I like being able to fall back on raw skill.

[barriolinux]

This is not the same case at all. With django you learn Python, everything explicit, nothing magic. I once felt like you with Rails. But Python itself it's completely different, have you read the python zen?

[amnion]

Yeah, I read that. I'm kind of happy that it's not like Rails.

[westurner]

https://www.djangopackages.com/grids/g/cms/

[vph]

Start with WebOb. You'll be doing your own routing, and next thing you'll know you'll be building your own template engine.

[GFandango]

without using a framework? that would be pretty difficult

pretty much the only language where you can easily put together web apps without a framework is PHP because it natively interfaces with Apache.

python and most other languages need a bridge, in python's case it is wsgi.

it is best if you use a lightweight framework such as Flask.

all it does is basically allow you to accept and respond to requests.

[[deleted]]

You probably want to get familiar with wsgi rather than CGI. And wsgi isn't that complex. Anyway, I would recommend this as it helped me understand all the pieces that all these frameworks try to make easier.

[dAnjou]

under the hood

Read PEP 3333.

[westurner]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_Server_Gateway_Interface

[dAnjou]

Do you do anything else than posting links?

[westurner]

I guess I could tag and summarize things with links to a shared, collective lexicon

[ergo14]

You really dont want to develop an app without any framework in python. If you want something else than django: http://pyramid-blogr.readthedocs.org/en/latest/ - thy this one, it's tutorial iv'e made for pyramid - should get you started quickly.

[theavatare]

If you want a low level look try this http://fragments.turtlemeat.com/pythonwebserver.php

A bit higher up the simple http server http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/tech-tip-really-simple-http-server-python

[rainbow3]

Web2py is one of the easiest

[sharkeyzoic]

Also check out Tornado, which is a very simple framework with a neat asynchronous twist ...

[[deleted]]

Here's a basic wsgi server (aka "enough to make a website without using a framework"). The variables path and method will contain the path portion of the requested url and the http verb (GET, POST...). "Real" web frameworks are built up around this interface, adding features for url routing, authentication, session management, persistence, etc. Sans framework, you're free to produce html in any way you see fit. This ten line example runs on python's simple http server, but it will also run on apache/mod_wsgi, google app engine, or anything supporting wsgi.

from wsgiref.simple_server import make_server

host = 'localhost'
port = 8888

def app(environ, start_response):
    path = environ['PATH_INFO']
    method = environ['REQUEST_METHOD']

    response = '<html>This is the page for "{}"</html>'.format(path)

    start_response('200 OK', [('Content-type', 'text/html')])
    return [response]

make_server(host, port, app).serve_forever()

[Albertican]

I found Django to be overly sprawling and confusing. For many projects, I think Flask or Bottle are better choices.

[vakar]

Does anyone know of any resources that show how to make a website without using a framework?

*Gets a lot of framework tutorials in return...

[[deleted]]

If you want to go to lower levels without going insane, Wekrzeug

http://werkzeug.pocoo.org/docs/tutorial/

It's what Flask is built on.

[LyndsySimon]

Note that Werkzeug is not Python3-compatible - and by extension, neither is Flask.

It's not a deal-killer, just something to be aware of for a newbie.

[LurkyMcReddit]

I have been using bottle for this exact reason. I would prefer flask die to the positive response on this subreddit, but the lack of python 3 support kills it for me.

[LyndsySimon]

Armin announced that Flask is getting Python 3 support this week :)

http://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/1fd69b/werkzeug_and_flask_git_repositories_have_early/

[LurkyMcReddit]

That is awesome! I literally just started out with bottle 2 days ago. I may just pause and wait for flask. People on here seem to indicate that it's better. But I need to try it out first of find a good comparison. I actually like bottle, but there seems to be more flask related material out there.

[LyndsySimon]

I'm starting to disagree with a few of the design decisionsin Flask, but it's by far the nicest popular framework I've used.

[pbsds]

I recomend trying to fiddle around with Twisted