In this tutorial series, we will use flask to create a URL shortener service. At the end of this tutorial series, I am expecting that you will be in a position to extend this knowledge for use in some other application.
Outcome
It is always better to start with the end in mind. So at the end of this tutorial series you will have a website something similar to the following image:
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| URL shortening service with python website outcome |
As you can see, the outcome will only have a textbox to accept the user input which on submission will return a shortened URL. Please remember that in the initial stages we will be using the localhost and once the website is ready then I will give you a hint on how to upload the website to a hosting service. Once you upload the functioning website to a hosting service your users can use this service to create shortened URLs.
What should you know?
I am expecting just the python basics like for loop, while loop, if else, functions etc. If you are a novice programmer and don't know the basics of python, then you should go to the official documentation and read from there.
If you have already programmed before and just want to learn python, then you can learn from the 10 minutes python tutorial. This tutorial is really great and even the people who are novice programmers can also cope up with this.
Apart from python, I am expecting a basic knowledge of HTML, CSS and Javascript. Even if you are not aware of these scripting languages, you can complete this tutorial series without any problem. But remember that you cannot be a web developer without knowing the basics of HTML and CSS. If you want to learn the web technologies then you should start from Mozilla Network.
A little bit of knowledge in databases is also welcome.
Why am I writing this tutorial?
Whenever I used a URL Shortening service I always wanted to build one using my programming skills. When I was young I only knew HTML and CSS, not even Javascript. After a year or so I have learned javascript. But even with these languages, I was not able to use any databases which were really essential for creating this kind of services. Then a year later I learned python with which sky is the only limit. Soon I learned Bottle. Bottle was so easy that you can use it directly without any experience. After that, I have learned flask. But with flask it had a lot of features and without touching any tutorial. In this tutorial series, I have broken down the bigger tutorial series into a lot of smaller parts and because of this, you will learn a lot of things faster and without any trouble understanding the complex parts involved.
I am hoping that you will enjoy this tutorial series and apply the knowledge learned from this tutorial series in some of your projects.
In the next chapter(Chapter 1), we will start programming with flask and will try to understand some of its core features. Please do remember that we will not go in depth in any of the parts in this tutorial series. We will try to give you a kick start for making use of the project and you have to go to the project documentation for more information.
As always I will be glad to hear your doubts if any. Comment in the comment box below and I will reply to your comment as soon as possible.