Introduction

Flask is a lightweight and versatile web framework for Python that makes it easy to create web applications. Whether you're building a simple web page or a complex, database-driven website, Flask provides the tools you need while keeping the core functionality minimal. This allows you to scale your application as needed without unnecessary overhead

Setting Up Your Flask Environment
Before we start coding, we need to set up our development environment. Here are the steps

1. Install Python
Make sure you have Python installed on your machine. You can download it from the official Python website here.

2. Install Flask
Use pip, the Python package installer, to install Flask. Open your terminal or command prompt and run:

pip install Flask

3. Create a Project Directory
Create a directory for your Flask project and navigate into it:

mkdir flask_app
cd flask_app

4. Create a Virtual Environment
It's a good practice to use a virtual environment for your projects. This keeps your project dependencies isolated. Run the following commands to create and activate a virtual environment:

python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate 
#or
venv\Scripts\activate

Creating Your First Flask Application
Now that our environment is set up, let's create a simple Flask application.

1. Create the Application File
Inside your project directory, create a file named app.py. This file will contain our Flask application code.

2. Write Your Flask Application
Open app.py in your text editor and add the following code:

from flask import Flask

app = Flask(__name__)

@app.route('/')
def home():
    return "Hello, Flask!"

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app.run(debug=True)

3. Run Your Application
Save the file and run the application by executing the following command in your terminal:

python app.py

If everything is set up correctly, you should see output indicating that the Flask server is running. Open your web browser and go to http://127.0.0.1:5000/. You should see "Hello, Flask!" displayed on the page.

Conclusion
In this post, we've introduced Flask, a lightweight web framework for Python. We covered the basics of setting up a Flask project and creating a simple web application. Flask's simplicity and flexibility make it an excellent choice for both beginners and experienced developers.