What is Flask? Flask is a micro web development framework for Python. It was developed to make it easy to get started with web development in Python. Although Flask is known as a “micro” framework, this should not be understood as if it lacks functionality. Flask is capable of building everything from small to large web applications.
What are the possibilities? Flask is very flexible and has many features. Here are some examples:
- Routing: Flask helps handle URLs so your web application knows what to do when a user visits a specific page.
- Templates: Flask uses a template engine called Jinja2, which makes it easy to generate dynamic HTML.
- Form Validation: Flask can handle and validate form input.
- File Uploads: Flask enables users to upload files.
- Cookies and Sessions: Flask can set and read cookies, and also store user information between requests in sessions.
Advantages of Flask Some of the benefits of Flask include:
- It’s easy to learn and get started with, especially for those already familiar with Python.
- Flask is very flexible. It does not enforce a particular structure or approach, which can be an advantage in projects where you need to be able to customize your codebase.
- Flask has extensive documentation, and there’s a large community that can help if you run into problems.
- Flask is lightweight. It means that it loads quickly and has relatively low memory overhead.
Getting Started with Flask Here’s a simple guide to getting started with Flask.
- Install Flask First, make sure you have Python installed on your computer. Flask requires Python version 3.5 or newer. Once you have Python installed, you can install Flask by running the following command in your terminal:
pip install flask - Create a Simple Flask App Now you’re ready to create your first Flask app. Create a new Python file, for example, app.py, and write the following code in the file:
pythonCopy codefrom flask import Flask
app = Flask(__name__)
@app.route('/')
def home():
return "Hello, World!"
if __name__ == '__main__':
app.run(debug=True)
This code creates a new Flask web app that has a single route (/) that returns the text “Hello, World!”.
- Run Your Flask App You can run your Flask app by running the following command in your terminal:
python app.pyYou can now see your Flask app here: http://127.0.0.1:5000/ in your web browser(Press CTRL+C to quit) in the terminal
