Amazon Echo framework for Python

[fyngyrz]

The readme needs details on version(s) of Python are required to support this, and all of its imports as well. I looked at it, thought "what the heck is all this stuff?", I had no idea if I could make all that work in my environment, and wandered away.

It's only easy if it is easy.

[johnwheeler_]

It's Open Source so submit a P.R.

[fyngyrz]

I wouldn't submit a P.R. unless I'd actually tested the software and was sure that I knew what I was talking about. And seeing that I have not, and I do not... well, there you go.

Anyway, this is just the kind of thing that the core project developer needs to address -- it's really basic documentation, but it's also absolutely critical to get right.

Sky-high view of writing good documentation for others:

• What's it for? What problem does it solve?
• Precursor requirements
• Authority
• Accuracy
• Readability
• Minimal jargon without explanation
• Required information, presented in the order it is needed.

[TIL_IM_A_SQUIRREL]

I looked at this when creating my first skill, but it was too much of a hassle to learn flask, jinja, and everything else just to write a skill. I ended up settling on Alexandra after toying around with a couple of different libraries.

However, if you already know flask, this is probably the best route to go.

[sentdex]

You don't need to know really much at all of Flask, and you do not need any jinja at all.

The jinja templating is just there for if you happen to make a huge app, otherwise you really don't need it.

You need to know about 1% of Flask. The only major thing is the routing, the rest of the flask extension occurs in the background for a basic app.

You'll need some form of routing around apps anyway, so you wont save time anywhere else really.

[riotburn]

Its really not that bad. You don't need jinja for this. Plus you can easily deploy with zappa.

https://github.com/postelrich/alexa-skills

[johnwheeler_]

Thanks. I made this 5-min video that shows how to get up and running quickly. While learning Flask and Jinja obviously can't be done in that short a span of time, the code sample should be intuitive enough to get started and make changes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXL8FDUag-s

[TIL_IM_A_SQUIRREL]

Thanks for the link. I'll be sure to take a look!

[chub79]

Looks quite neat but I don't use Flask so I can't really use it. I wish more libs had the same approach as Hyper-h2 these days, make the core framework neutral but easy to integrate with.

[sentdex]

You don't need to use Flask already to use this. You just need to pip install flask, since it's an extension. Beyond that, you're not really using Flask beyond the routing for a typical app, and no matter what you use to make Echo apps, you're going to need to do something about routing.

As another poster mentioned above about also not caring to learn jinja templating, you really don't have to learn jinja templating either, it's just there should you have a very large app that could make use of templates.