Hey everyone! I'm a TypeScript developer who's spent the last decade working with frontend frameworks and Node.js. Recently, I joined a startup that's pushing me into the Python world, where I'm tasked with building a serverless REST API. I've only got a few days to get my head around what's currently considered industry standard in Python, and I'm hoping to avoid any missteps along the way.
For context, here are some of the parallels I can draw with my TypeScript experience:
1. ORM - I'm familiar with Drizzle (plan to use Postgres).
2. Deployment - Vercel is my go-to for TypeScript, but I'm unsure about the best options in the Python ecosystem.
3. Package Manager - I use pnpm.
4. Types - In TypeScript, I work with types extensively.
I'm mainly looking for insights on deployment, particularly with serverless options, and I've heard about Modal for deploying FastAPI, but not certain if that's the best choice either. Any guidance would be hugely appreciated!
3 Answers
I also transitioned to Python from JS not long ago. If you're looking for speed and ease, FastAPI is fantastic, really user-friendly with great documentation. I've been using it in my finance job and it's worked remarkably well for us. What’s your planned deployment strategy? That could shape your choices quite a bit!
For handling data types in Python, definitely check out Pydantic. It works great with FastAPI. I’ve used SQLAlchemy too, and it’s solid for SQL-like queries. FastAPI is pretty awesome overall, but it's lacking in some areas like gRPC support. I'd recommend adding in a different dependency injection library to standardize your testing and architecture – it's worth the effort for easier testing down the line!
You’re in for a nice surprise! The Python ecosystem is pretty streamlined – you'll likely use only a handful of dependencies, and you can get by with minimal setup. For ORM, SQLAlchemy is a long-standing favorite, and if you're using FastAPI, it pairs nicely with SQLModel, which builds on SQLAlchemy. You might even skip migrations altogether with Alembic unless your app grows complex. As for deployment, just make sure you test on the latest Python versions; breaking changes are rare but can happen. Just be cautious about libraries with binary dependencies when deploying to servers, but that’s getting less common.
I'm considering AWS Lambda, but I’m looking for something with a great developer experience. What do you recommend?