Why I love Google App Engine
A simple and quick recipe for a web app
This article was updated in September 2022 to reflect new versions and the use of Google NDB
When it comes to quickly creating a highly interactive website, whether for a niche audience or as a demonstration of a concept, I find that a combination of Google App Engine, Angular and Python provides the best solution.
The Requirement
I often find myself needing to quickly create a full-stack web application.
This is partly because of my personal approach to creation, which is very much prototypical. And it is partly because I believe that too many sites that should end up highly interactive end up as passive sites because people think a good web app is too expensive and my belief takes the form of “let me just put something together quickly to show what is possible” … :)
“Fast” and “cheap” are important for this. But, you also want something that is low maintenance, easily scaleable and can morph seamlessly into a production-ready solution.
Given the conflicting nature of these requirements, it is a little surprising that I have settled into a recipe that actually meets them all.
Following this recipe, I can usually get a simple three-tier scaleable web application up in…
