Google has built an infrastructure that allows developers to create web applications programmed in Python code and upload them to and run on Google servers. Developers are provided with a number of optional Google-related services such as an authentication service built on top of Google accounts, a fast datastore backend based on Google's BigTable project, and Google's infrastructure for delivering e-mail. The Google App Engine currently only supports the Python runtime for running applications and supports any frameworks that speak CGI or WSGI (with a CGI adaptor). While individuals who are unfamiliar with Python may find this initial requirement a setback, there are a number of web frameworks compatible with the service to make their transition easier. These include Django, CherryPy, Pylons, and web.py. Although many of these work just fine, the App Engine does not support certain aspects of some of these. Most noticeably, Django's models are not supported due to the unique nature of Google's datastore. These have been supplanted with Google APIs for storage, authentication, and more. Google also provides some workarounds for applications that depend on Django database models to function, like a bridge for Django form validation.
saved by3 people, first byAni Saraf on 2008-04-09, last byAlain Antone on 2008-04-17
