REST API in Python

Duration: 4 hours

Installation

1. npm install the nessecary node components
2. Use python3 -m venv venv to create a local virtual environment to work in
3. Activate the virtual environment
4. Use pip3 install -r requirements.txt to install all the needed python files
5. Setup a postgresql database using the queries in database.sql
6. Use python3 to run the server movies.py
7. npm run client starts up the JavaScript client

How it works (I think)

• The first line (after imports) and the last couple lines work together to start the server when the script is run and keep it running as long as the script is being run name becomes main while a script is running, and by passing the script into Flask() we are making this script a Flask app. (I'm far from certain about how Flask functions)
• Next we set some global variables so the app knows how to talk with the database and initialize a psycopg2 connection and a cursor, which is how we will be making SQL queries.
• @app.route is used to define how the server will respond to different requests. I use loops to organize the data and jsonify() to convert it into something that JavaScript can understand easily.