What is Flask?

Flask python web framework

Introduction 

Flask is a microframework for developers that makes it simple and quick for them to build and scale web applications. It is a Python-based micro web framework that is free and open source. Flask has been categorised as a microframework because it does not require any tools or libraries. It enables us to create simple Python web applications. In Flask we can Build to complex applications and are made to be quick and simple. Currently, The Flask is among the most widely used Python web frameworks. 

Flask offers the recommendation, but it won't make many choices—for instance, which database to use—and those choices are flexible. Which tools and libraries a developer chooses to use is up to him. In order to create an application that is more powerful and is simple to develop, the community offers a vast ecosystem. 

Flask was developed by Armin Ronacher who leads an international group of python enthusiasts (Pocco). It  has the main two dependencies Werkzeug (WSGI ) and jinja2. The debugging, routing and Web Server Gateway Interface (WSGI) subsystems come from Werkzeug and the template support is provided by jinja2. These two dependencies Werkzeug  and jinja2  are authored by the core developers of flask

Flask is known as WSGI. This stands for Web Server Gateway Interface, In essence, this is a method for web servers to send requests to frameworks or web apps. The WSGI external library and the Jinja2 template engine are prerequisites for Flask's operation. The Web Server Gateway Interface (WSGI) has been used as a standard for Python web application development. Its  specification of a common interface between web servers and web applications.

How do web developers use python?

The python language is not only for the domain of data scientist and analyst. The flexibility of the python language is one of the reasons why web developers learn python and use it professionally for all kinds of projects. 

They mostly utilise it to develop robust, quick-handling backend web applications. They can use it for different tasks like data scraping, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. 

Python is popular among developers because it is simple to use and delivers safe, fast-loading websites. Python is perfectly suited for designing and testing prototypes even before the roll-out stage, enabling them to quickly iterate and progress to the final product. 

There are so many advantages to learning and using python web development. There are many alternatives available to creating a web application in Python, but Django and Flask are at the top of the list. 

Why Flask?

Flask is very explicit compared to django and it is easy to learn because it requires less code to implement the web application.

• It is Lightweight 
• It is easy to set up and get in going
• It is easy to get started 
• It is easy to develop and maintain applications. 

Advantages and disadvantages of Flask 

Scalable 

Size matters, and because Flask is a microframework, you can use it to expand a tech project like a web app extremely quickly. It's the perfect option if you want to create an app that starts small but has the potential to grow quickly and in areas you haven't fully figured out. It can operate without interruption even as it scales up and higher because to its ease of usage and lack of dependencies. 

Flexible 

One of Flask's main benefits and its fundamental feature. The Zen of Python states that simplicity is preferable to complexity since it is more easily rearranged and moved around. This ensures that the structure won't fall apart when a portion is changed, in addition to making it simple for your project to change course. Flask is more adaptable than Django itself due to its minimalist design and capacity for creating smaller web projects. 

Lightweight

When we refer to the design of a tool or framework when we use this term, it means that there aren't many elements that need to be put together and taken apart, and it doesn't require a lot of more work. Web designers have some degree of control with this layout. Additionally, Flask enables modular programming, which allows for the division of its functionality into a number of swappable modules. Each module serves as a standalone construction block that can carry out a specific functionality. Its indicates that each of the structure's individual components is adaptable, movable, and tested on its own. 

Disadvantages

There are not a lot of tools in the flask. The lightweight design of this microframework inevitably has some drawbacks. The main one is that Flask doesn't have as many tools as Django does. Developers will therefore need to manually add extensions like libraries. Additionally, if you add a lot of extensions, the app may start to run slowly from the volume of requests.

How to Getting started with Flask

Required python 2.6 or higher version for the installation of the Flask in the system. To install flask, run this command 'pip install flask' or ‘python -m pip install flask' in the anaconda command prompt. After the installation is successful we can build the flask web application.

How to run a flask project?

Here we created Simple web application project print ‘Hello World!’

This is a simple program of a flask project web application, In this the message “Hello World!” will appear on the web browser page.

Example code :

First save the above code with the .py extension. To run the flask project open the anaconda command prompt and set the path to the folder that will contain the python file of your flask project. Set the flask application and run the file using the following command

• “FLASK_APP=file_name.py”
• flask run.

After executing the above command Copy link and past it in any web browser.

Now, when you start the server and visit http://127.0.0.1:5000/, you should be able to see the message.

In this article we have discussed about Flask, What is Flask? advantages and disadvantages of flask, How to getting started with flask

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