Python Falcon - Uvicorn

Python-based libraries, Falcon and Uvicorn are two powerful tools that, when used together, form a robust framework for building high-performance web applications. Falcon is a minimalist web framework designed for building fast and efficient APIs. Uvicorn serves as an ASGI server, bringing asynchronous capabilities to Python applications. In this article, we will see the details of both Falcon and Uvicorn, and explore their combination to make web applications.

Introduction to the Falcon Framework

Falcon is known for its simplicity and speed, making it an ideal choice for developing RESTful APIs. It follows a minimalist design philosophy, allowing developers to focus on their application logic rather than dealing with unnecessary abstractions. Falcon is built to be lightweight, resulting in faster response times.

Understanding Uvicorn - ASGI Server for Asynchronous Python

Uvicorn stands for "ASGI server implementation, using uvloop and httptools." ASGI (Asynchronous Server Gateway Interface) is a specification for asynchronous web servers in Python. Uvicorn provides the infrastructure to run asynchronous web applications efficiently.

Falcon and Uvicorn

Combining Falcon with Uvicorn brings the strengths of both tools in one. Falcon simplifies API development, while Uvicorn ensures high performance and scalability through asynchronous processing.

Advantages of Using Falcon and Uvicorn Together

• Concurrent Request Handling: Uvicorn's asynchronous capabilities enable concurrent handling of multiple requests, making it suitable for applications with high traffic.
• Minimal Overhead: Falcon's minimalist design ensures that there is minimal overhead in processing requests, contributing to faster response times.
• Scalability: The combination of Falcon and Uvicorn provides a scalable solution, allowing applications to handle increased loads without sacrificing performance.

Installation

we need both falcon and uvicorn so simply install them by following cmd in terminal

pip install falcon uvicorn

Python Falcon - Uvicorn Example

Let's create a simple API which return simple message on GET request to it's endpoint.

falconUvicorn.py: Here, we created file named "falconUvicorn.py", we implement an asynchronous web application using the Falcon framework and the Uvicorn server. It defines a Falcon resource class, HelloWorldResource, which inherits from the Falcon asynchronous class and handles HTTP GET requests. The "on_get" method sets the HTTP response status to 200 (OK) and responds with the text "Hello, Welcome to GFG portal!" when accessed. Then we creates Falcon application (falcon.asgi.App()) and an instance of the HelloWorldResource class. It adds the HelloWorldResource to the Falcon application to handle requests at the "/hello" route. Then we runs the Falcon application with the Uvicorn server. The Uvicorn server is configured to run on the host '127.0.0.1' and port 8000, with the reload option set to True for automatic code reloading.

# falconUvicorn.py
# Importing the necessary modules
import falcon
import falcon.asgi
import uvicorn

# Defining a Falcon resource for handling GET requests

class HelloWorldResource:
    async def on_get(self, req, resp):
        # Setting the HTTP response status to 200 (OK)
        resp.status = falcon.HTTP_200
        # Setting the response content to "Hello, Welcom to GFG portal !"
        resp.text = 'Hello, Welcom to GFG portal !'


# Creating an asynchronous Falcon application instance
app = falcon.asgi.App()

# Creating an instance of the HelloWorldResource
helloResource = HelloWorldResource()

# Adding the HelloWorldResource to the Falcon application with the /hello route
app.add_route('/hello', helloResource)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    # Running the Falcon application with Uvicorn server
    uvicorn.run("falconUvicorn:app", host='127.0.0.1', port=8000, reload=True)

Output:

To run this code we can simply run this as we run any .py file.

Conclusion

In this article, we explored the individual features of Falcon and Uvicorn and discussed how combining them can lead to a powerful solution for building high-performance web applications. The lightweight nature of Falcon and the asynchronous capabilities of Uvicorn complement each other, providing developers with a versatile framework for developing scalable and efficient APIs.