Two ways to make python based webpages?

Question

I wanted to try out python to create webpages instead of using php. However I came across that you need either mod_python or mod_wsgi installed to apache to make it play with python. If you now use pure, i'm not sure if it should be said pure, python code, not using any web frameworks like django. I found out that making a simple page looks differently in mod_python and in mod_wsgi.

How come?, the more I looked into python it just seemed to be a harder language to use to make webpages comparing it to php. Is there some good starting point to learn python webdevelopment?

Sorry if my question is blurry. I simply want some guidance to start out with python webdevelopment

Answer 1

Yes, making a webpage with python without using a web framework is harder than it is in php. This is by design, since it gives you a great deal more control over how your page interacts with the server, allowing you to build sites that scale well, among other benefits. WSGI is the modern way to interact with a server, but as you observed, it includes many of the nuts and bolts that PHP hides from the user.

If you're looking for a php-like experience for python, you might look at web.py or Flask. They are pretty minimalistic as far as frameworks go, and take care of interacting with the server but otherwise stay out of your way.

That said, you really should consider Django or another similar framework - they provide some really great benefits that help you get what would otherwise be painfully complex sites going quickly. They solve a slightly different problem and provide different solutions from the common PHP frameworks, so you should consider them even if you don't like frameworks in PHP.

If you want to do things in an even more php-like fashion, you could use CGI. It's definitely not a recommended solution, and won't teach you best practices moving forward, but it can get you started...

Really though, consider a framework. It's how most development in Python for the web is done, and you'll learn more useful skills if you develop using one.

Answer 2

mod_wsgi is better, because it's based on the WSGI specification, which defines the interface between web applications (or frameworks) and web servers. A WSGI app at its simplest is nothing more than a function that sends some HTTP headers via a callback and returns a string in response to information about an HTTP request. And since WSGI is implemented by many web servers, you aren't tied to Apache.

The closest you can get to pure frameworkless web development in Python is to write the WSGI app directly. This will really help you see the things that a framework like Django will obscure.

To make things easier, you might consider using Werkzeug, which is a utility library for WSGI. It has many components that are framework-like, but you can choose which ones you want and which ones you don't. For example, it has a really neat system for parsing and dispatching URLs. Werkzeug also has a simple command-line WSGI server which is probably better for development than Apache.