A Web API or application programming interface is used to exchange data and communicate between two different applications over the internet. Web APIs are open-source and can be used by programmers to create high-quality apps and improve the performance and user experience. As a result, businesses require a tool that can craft high-quality API efficiently.
FastAPI is a modern Python framework that simplifies the process of API development. It creates APIs with Python 3.7+ and is an upgrade from its contemporaries, such as the Express.js framework. It offers a practical solution to businesses that aim to provide high-quality, robust APIs with short development time to their customers. In this blog, we will discuss FastAPI in greater depth, where it stands compared to other frameworks, its benefits and real-world applications.
A] What is FastAPI?
FastAPI Python is a micro-framework that simplifies the process of designing APIs. Developers can leverage the simplicity of FastAPI to create APIs in less time, without compromising on quality. In addition to APIs, it can also deliver web pages. FastAPI is currently one of the best Python web frameworks for web application development. We can compare FastAPI with other Python-based frameworks to get a better idea of its pros and cons.
1. FastAPI vs Flask
Flask is a Python-based lightweight WSGI framework that helps to design APIs and web applications. As it is a lightweight micro-framework, it only offers the essentials required to design a web application. FastAPI runs faster than Flask as it uses the ASGI server in lieu of WSGI.
Flask is usually reserved for small to medium-sized web applications with a high degree of customisation. On the other hand, FastAPI is designed and used for creating high-performing APIs without complex coding.
2. FastAPI vs Django
Django is a free and open-source framework for developing dynamic websites. While FastAPI focuses on developing APIs quickly and with ease. Django offers a set of features for creating dynamic web applications.
As we have mentioned above, FastAPI is for the fast-paced development of quality APIs. On the other hand, if you are planning to design a web application with a robust framework and a lot of functionality, Django would be the correct choice. It is also important to consider that Django is more complex and hence, an experienced programmer is required for optimal results.
3. FastAPI vs RestAPI
RestAPI is the conventional API framework and is very popular. While FastAPI and RestAPI have many similarities, FastAPI is a modern framework with some key upgrades that distinguish them.
FastAPI, doing justice to its name, is faster and is capable of creating high-performance APIs. It is also more manageable and readable making it a favourite amongst developers. FastAPI also offers scalability as it is capable of handling a large number of concurrent connections, which RestAPI is not capable of.
B] How Can FastAPI Benefit Businesses?
FastAPI is a modern, lightweight framework for designing high-quality APIs and web applications in less time. APIs are an important aspect of modern software development. FastAPI offers a number of benefits for API designing which make it a viable tool for businesses. Here are some of the benefits it offers.
1. Speed and Efficiency
FastAPI is designed to handle high-traffic loads and run at the most optimal speed. It can achieve such incredible speed on the basis of its high-performance libraries such as Pydantic and Uvicorn. As FastAPI uses Python as its programming language, it can also benefit from its async/await syntax. This allows it to process a different request concurrently when another request is waiting for confirmation.
The ASGI (Asynchronous Server Gateway Interface) features make FastAPI efficient to use and reliable even with high traffic. This offers exceptional response time, enhancing performance and user satisfaction.
2. Reduced Development Time
FastAPI framework allows for Test Driven Development (TDD) with the help of the “test client” feature offered by it. FastAPI is also capable of generating its API documentation automatically, based on Python-type hints. These in total simplify the process and reduce the development time of an API.
It can also validate the API requests and responses automatically with the help of Python-type hints. It can be leveraged to streamline the development process by eliminating boilerplate code and automating the process of serialising and deserialising data to and from JSON.
3. Enhanced Security
Data security is a major concern of every business. FastAPI offers a host of security tools that help to ensure the best practices. It uses OAuth2 and OAuth1 authentication methods which specify the authentication and authorisation process.
These security methods are quite complex and cover a range of complex use cases. OAuth2 has several ways to authenticate using third-party systems. While OAuth1 encrypts the communication when you have your application served with HTTPS.
4. Scalability
Scalability is one of the selling points of Python FastAPI. It offers a high degree of scalability that is not offered by other frameworks. The ASGI server allows a large number of concurrent connections due to its asynchronous nature.
When the traffic increases, FastAPI can still offer a number of services without any decrease in efficiency. When the demand and user base increase, these features can be a definite advantage for the business.
C] Success Stories: Real-World Business Applications Of FastAPI
Doing justice to its name, FastAPIs are one of the fastest Python frameworks. As a result, many companies have adopted FastAPI as their go-to framework for web applications. Some of the well-known companies that use FastAPI libraries are Uber, Netflix, and Microsoft.
As these companies need to keep up with their growing customer base, FastAPI is a viable solution to their problems. It also makes the software development process simpler, easier, and efficient. The popularity of the software of these companies is a testament to the capabilities of FastAPI.
Conclusion
FastAPI is a modern solution for creating high-performance APIs in less time. It is a stable and easy-to-use Python framework. Various businesses have leveraged this framework to create exceptional APIs for their web applications. The ASGI on which it runs, allows developers to run multiple tasks concurrently without having to wait for the previous one.
In addition, ASGI equips FastAPI with a host of features, such as enhanced performance, high scalability, and complex authentication and authorization for security. If you are looking for a Python programming company in India to help you create high-performance Web APIs, Get in touch with us today!
FAQs
The ASGI framework allows FastAPI to develop quality asynchronous applications. FastAPI is capable of developing real-time and interactive web applications.
Some of the notable companies that use FastAPI include Netflix, Uber, and Microsoft.
FastAPI offers excellent speed, simplicity, and scalability among several other features, making it a preferred choice of many Python development company in India. It also improves code management, readability, and development process.
RestAPI is the classic framework for API development. It uses HTTP protocol as its transfer protocol. On the other hand, FastAPI is the modern and lightweight counterpart of RestAPI, based on Python. FastAPI is faster, streamlined, and easy to use compared to RestAPI.