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General Discussion

Zachary Kaufman
Zachary Kaufman
1,463 Points

Web app without a website?

I am curious what qualifies as a "Web app" I am taking the Django Python track and they talk about how Python can make good web apps. Is a Web App anything that uses the internet? Or is a Web App always an extension of a website? I am asking because I want to make an AI, but one that can return information from the internet (Such as Siri telling you the weather when you ask). But this AI would be an app on my computer not from a website. Does this qualify as a web app and can it be done by Python Django? Thanks!

1 Answer

Kevin Korte
Kevin Korte
28,148 Points

A website is typically, static, or fairly static. Usually, you are presenting information to someone. A bakery, with their menu, hours, and some pictures, would be a website. The customer doesn't really interact dynamically with the website. Web apps are much more dynamic. They typically involve user accounts, and an input/output from the user. Zillow is very much so a real estate web app, because I can give it parameters and it returns to me a map or properties that fit those parameters.

There is no hard and fast definition, it's a gray line.

If you're talking about an app you download and install on your computer, that would be getting into the realm of software development, and I'm not knowledgeable about that. I would say if it's not visible at a domain name, it's not a web app, it would be a software app. I don't know if it's possible with Python to build a software app. If I'm not mistaken, Python is a scripting language too, so maybe it is.

Zachary Kaufman
Zachary Kaufman
1,463 Points

Thanks for your response! What languages would you suggest for software application development on my computer?

Kevin Korte
Kevin Korte
28,148 Points

I'm not sure bud, sorry. I wouldn't even know where to start, or what to use to create an executable software program for a computer. I'm a web only guy.

Zachary Kaufman
Zachary Kaufman
1,463 Points

No problem, thanks for your help. I will make a new thread about application software dev