Python Fastest Web Framework

What is the fastest web framework for Python? In this post we will examine a trivial 'Hello World!'. See also:

1. Performance Benchmarks
   • Routing
   • Reverse URLs
   • Caching
2. Code Quality
   • PEP8 Consistency
   • Excessive Complexity
3. Template Engines
   • Big Table
   • Includes, extends and widgets

The application (see source) is written for various Python web frameworks and deployed to uWSGI application container (version 1.9.6 on CPython 2.7.4/3.3.1) and gunicorn (version 0.15.0 on PyPy 1.9). Latest available versions as of this writing (March 15, 2013):

1. bobo 1.0.0
2. bottle 0.11.6
3. cherrypy 3.2.4
4. circuits 2.1.0
5. django 1.5.1
6. flask 0.9
7. pyramid 1.4
8. tornado 3.0.1
9. turbogears 2.2.0
10. web.py 0.37
11. web2py 2.1.1
12. wheezy.web 0.1.365

Let setup few prerequisites to be able run this in clean debian testing installation.

apt-get install make python-dev python-virtualenv \
    mercurial unzip

# Up TCP connection limits
sysctl net.core.somaxconn=2048
sysctl net.ipv4.tcp_max_syn_backlog=2048

The source code is hosted on bitbucket, let clone it into some directory and setup virtual environment (this will download all necessary package dependencies per framework listed above).

hg clone https://bitbucket.org/akorn/helloworld
cd helloworld/01-welcome && make env

The make file has a target for each framework and runs particular example in uWSGI, e.g. in order to run django application just issue make django.

How to restore vim screen when exiting

When you exit vim it does not restore the terminal screen (particularly in FreeBSD), here is how to fix that (file ~/.vimrc):

" Restore terminal screen when exiting Vim
if &term =~ "xterm"
  let &t_ti = "\<Esc>[?47h"
  let &t_te = "\<Esc>[?47l"
endif

Rebuilding World and Kernel on FreeBSD

Building the world and kernel on FreeBSD is just few steps procedure. The Handbook explains everything in great details. Here is short version.

Keep FreeBSD up to date with csup

csup is a simple tool to keep you FreeBSD source and/or ports collection up to date (rewrite of CSVup in C). There are a number of mirrors around the world hosting the source code and you need to select one that is closest to your location. Use a tool like traceroute to find a one that responds best (shortest path, low delays).

FreeBSD Binary/Security Updates

freebsd-update is a tool to fetch and update binary security patches for official releases. e.g. FreeBSD 9.0-RELEASE. Once you made fresh OS install this is the way to update your system quickly.

freebsd-update fetch
freebsd-update install

Note, this tool doesn't work if you build world/kernel from source.