Asynchronous programming has become increasingly popular in Python web development. The aiohttp library provides a simple yet powerful framework for writing asynchronous Python web apps and APIs.
Why Async IO?
Synchronous code executes line-by-line, blocking on I/O operations like network requests or file access. Async code allows other processing to continue while waiting on these operations, improving utilization of system resources.
For I/O bound apps like web servers, asyncio can lead to substantial performance gains over synchronous frameworks like Flask or Django.
Key Features of aiohttp
Some handy features of aiohttp:
async def handle(request):
name = request.match_info.get('name', "Anonymous")
text = "Hello, " + name
return web.Response(text=text)
app = web.Application()
app.add_routes([web.get('/', handle)])When to Use aiohttp
aiohttp shines for I/O bound services like web APIs, real-time apps, network clients, and backends for frontend JavaScript apps.
For CPU intensive work like scientific computing or AI, asyncio may not help much. Stick to threads or processes.
In Summary
aiohttp brings the performance benefits of async I/O to Python web development while retaining a simple, Pythonic API. With Python 3.7+ support for async/await syntax, it's a great fit for modern web and networked application development.