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This is probably quite unpopular, seeing as the FastAPI docs have been so praised in the past... but I really dislike how FastAPI is documented, which has reall

This is probably quite unpopular, seeing as the FastAPI docs have been so praised in the past... but I really dislike how FastAPI is documented, which has really put me off of the project. The FastAPI docs read like a full project, a very dense project. Sometimes you just want to learn about a specific feature, but you walk into a page that assumes you have the context of the previous chapters, that puts me off a lot. I also dislike how some of the documentation is absolutely enormous (the SQL chapters is one example), but I suspect this might have to do with the not-so-simple approach FastAPI takes, as opposed to Flask, which is indeed very simple. I really can't join the crowd here. I don't think FastAPI is a replacement for Flask, even when async is taken out of the equation. Flask has some weird quirks to it (like "g"), but it really is a beautiful and simple API for the web.

misnome 4y ago
I like FastAPI and using it feels nice. But it could _really_ do with some "Reference" documentation. Sometimes I just want to know exactly what a call does or what the various parameters mean.
- a1445c8b 4y ago
  I agree. There are generally 4 types of documentation as per the diagram in this page[0] and FastAPI’s solely focuses on the top left quadrant and falls flat on the lower right. [0] https://documentation.divio.com/ https://documentation.divio.com/
CharlieDavies 4y ago
I agree with you entirely about the issues with the docs, there is no API reference, and Tiangolo has rejected PRs with automated documentation before. I by no means think the project is perfect, but I think it is a better starting point for most small projects. I just don't see any advantage to Flask at this point unless you specifically want to use one of tiny handful of Flask-X packages that are actually worthwhile.
- timojeajea 4y ago
  One major advantage Flask has over FastAPI is maturity. FastAPI has 1000+ open issues on Github vs 14 for Flask. That is quite scary.
  - 5d8767c68926 4y ago
  - wdroz 4y ago
    It's interesting the see the number of open issues of popular python projects: Pytorch, 8400 Pandas, 3400 Tensorflow, 2100 jupyter notebook, 2000 scikit-learn, 1500 pytest, 720 requests, 170 The outlier seem to be Flask.
    - timojeajea 4y ago
      You picked mainly data science python projects. It would make more sense to compare with other python web frameworks. django, 1101 open, 32662 closed cherrypy, 218 open, 1505 closed starlette, 31 open, 570 closed pyramid, 70 open, 966 closed falcon, 168 open, 789 closed flask, 14 open, 2318 closed fastapi, 1044 open, 1855 closed Fast api has one of the worst ratio regarding open/closed issues.
      - wdroz 4y ago
        I wanted to add django but their issues aren't on github as they are using their own system. IMO an external issue tracker lead to a higher barrier to create new issues, so this isn't not necessary fair. Also fastapi allows people to ask questions with the issues. On the 1000+ open issues, 826 are tagged as question. It's hard to find a fair metric. Open/close ratio rewards older project with fluctuating/stable popularity. Fastapi popularity is still growing[0], so having some difficulties to work on issues is expected. [0] -- https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&q=fastapi https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&q=...

misnome 4y ago

I like FastAPI and using it feels nice. But it could _really_ do with some "Reference" documentation. Sometimes I just want to know exactly what a call does or what the various parameters mean.

a1445c8b 4y ago
I agree. There are generally 4 types of documentation as per the diagram in this page[0] and FastAPI’s solely focuses on the top left quadrant and falls flat on the lower right. [0] https://documentation.divio.com/ https://documentation.divio.com/

CharlieDavies 4y ago

I agree with you entirely about the issues with the docs, there is no API reference, and Tiangolo has rejected PRs with automated documentation before. I by no means think the project is perfect, but I think it is a better starting point for most small projects. I just don't see any advantage to Flask at this point unless you specifically want to use one of tiny handful of Flask-X packages that are actually worthwhile.

timojeajea 4y ago
One major advantage Flask has over FastAPI is maturity. FastAPI has 1000+ open issues on Github vs 14 for Flask. That is quite scary.
- 5d8767c68926 4y ago
- wdroz 4y ago
  It's interesting the see the number of open issues of popular python projects: Pytorch, 8400 Pandas, 3400 Tensorflow, 2100 jupyter notebook, 2000 scikit-learn, 1500 pytest, 720 requests, 170 The outlier seem to be Flask.
  - timojeajea 4y ago
    You picked mainly data science python projects. It would make more sense to compare with other python web frameworks. django, 1101 open, 32662 closed cherrypy, 218 open, 1505 closed starlette, 31 open, 570 closed pyramid, 70 open, 966 closed falcon, 168 open, 789 closed flask, 14 open, 2318 closed fastapi, 1044 open, 1855 closed Fast api has one of the worst ratio regarding open/closed issues.
    - wdroz 4y ago
      I wanted to add django but their issues aren't on github as they are using their own system. IMO an external issue tracker lead to a higher barrier to create new issues, so this isn't not necessary fair. Also fastapi allows people to ask questions with the issues. On the 1000+ open issues, 826 are tagged as question. It's hard to find a fair metric. Open/close ratio rewards older project with fluctuating/stable popularity. Fastapi popularity is still growing[0], so having some difficulties to work on issues is expected. [0] -- https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&q=fastapi https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&q=...